PW2 Work Permit: Requirements, Filing in DOB NOW, and Penalties

The PW2 work permit is the New York City Department of Buildings form that authorizes a specific contractor to begin a specific scope of construction on a property. Approved plans alone are not enough: until the DOB issues a PW2 for the work being performed, no one may legally start building, altering, repairing, demolishing, or installing systems on the site.¹ The permit links the approved plans to the licensed party doing the work and to the city’s enforcement authority.

What Work Requires a PW2

City law makes it illegal to construct, alter, repair, demolish, or change the use of any building or structure without a written DOB permit. The same rule covers installation or modification of electrical, gas, mechanical, plumbing, fire suppression, and fire protection systems.² That written permit is the PW2.

The DOB issues a separate PW2 for each trade or scope on a job. General construction, plumbing, mechanical, electrical, boiler, sprinkler, fire alarm, foundation, earthwork, curb cut, elevator, solar, standpipe, and demolition each have their own permit type.³ On a typical renovation, the plumber, the electrician, and the general contractor each pull their own PW2 tied to the master job filing.⁴

Where the PW2 Fits After the PW1

The PW1 is the Plan/Work Approval Application, filed first to get the DOB to review your project plans.¹ The PW2 comes after. Once the PW1 job filing reaches “Approved” or “Permit Issued” status, the applicant can submit a PW2 request for authorization to actually start work.⁵

The PW1 tells the city your plans are acceptable. The PW2 tells the city that a named, insured contractor may now perform the work. A site with an approved PW1 but no PW2 is still unauthorized. The one exception is professional certification filings, where the PW2 request can be initiated during prefiling and submitted alongside the job filing.⁵

What You Need Before Filing

Insurance

Three policies have to be in place, and the DOB verifies all three before issuing the permit.

Workers’ compensation. The contractor must carry a valid New York State workers’ compensation policy, shown by a C-105.2 from a private insurer or a U-26.3 from the New York State Insurance Fund.⁶
Disability benefits. A disability benefits insurance policy is required by law as a condition of permit issuance or renewal.⁷
General liability. Commercial general liability insurance must name the City of New York, along with its officials and employees, as an additional insured. The policy must come from a company rated at least A-VII by A.M. Best and meet per-occurrence and aggregate limits set by the DOB’s table for the work type.⁷

Applicant Information

The PW2 asks for license type, business name, taxpayer ID, and registration or tracking number. If a filing representative acts for the applicant, their information goes in as well.⁵ A mismatched license number or outdated registration will stall the filing, so check everything against your current DOB records before submitting.

Asbestos Determination

Most PW2 applications require an asbestos determination from a Certified Asbestos Investigator before the DOB will issue the permit.

ACP-5, the Asbestos Assessment Report, is filed when the investigator determines the building or affected area is free of asbestos-containing material, or that the work will not disturb any asbestos present, or that only a minor, non-project-level amount is involved. The DOB verifies the ACP-5 before proceeding.⁸⁹
ACP-7, the Asbestos Project Notification, is required when work will disturb more than 25 linear feet or more than 10 square feet of asbestos-containing material. The building owner or authorized agent files the ACP-7 with the Department of Environmental Protection at least one week before abatement begins. After abatement is complete, DEP issues completion forms (ACP-21 or ACP-20), which then go to the DOB before the construction permit can move forward.⁸⁹

For full demolitions, the DOB requires an ACP-5 confirming the entire building is free of asbestos-containing material before it will issue the demolition permit.⁹

How to File in DOB NOW

PW2 applications are filed through the DOB NOW: Build portal, and only the applicant of record for the PW2 can submit the request. From the dashboard, you select the job filing and choose “Work Permit Request” from the action dropdown.⁵

The PW2 window has several tabs. General Information takes the permit type, expected work start date, and applicant details including license type and registration number. The insurance fields for liability, workers’ compensation, and disability sit on the same screen. The Documents tab generates a list of required uploads for insurance certificates and any asbestos forms. The final tab, Statements and Signatures, asks whether the work requires adjacent property insurance and takes the electronic applicant/contractor signature.⁵

Older filings still living in the legacy BIS system follow a different path: certain actions, such as renewals with changes, require dropping off a completed paper PW2 at a borough office.¹⁰ New filings go through DOB NOW.

Permit Fees

Fees are set by Table 28-112.2 of the NYC Administrative Code and 1 RCNY 101-03, and they vary by building type, project scope, and the cost of the alteration.¹¹¹² Common categories:

New one- to three-family dwelling: $0.06 per square foot of total floor area, minimum $130 per structure.
New building, all others under 7 stories and under 100,000 sq. ft.: $0.26 per square foot, minimum $280 per structure.
New building, 7+ stories or 100,000+ sq. ft.: $0.45 per square foot, minimum $290 per structure.
Alteration of a one- to three-family dwelling: minimum $130, plus $2.60 per $1,000 of alteration cost above $5,000.
Alteration of other buildings under 7 stories: minimum $195 to $280 depending on alteration type, plus $10.30 per $1,000 of alteration cost above $3,000.
Minor electrical work: $15. Standard electrical permits start at a $40 application fee, with per-unit charges that can reach up to $5,000 total.

For a sizable commercial alteration, the cost-based formula can push the filing fee into the thousands. Renewal is a flat $130 per work type regardless of project size.¹⁰

How Long the Permit Lasts and How to Renew

A PW2 issued through DOB NOW expires at whichever of three events comes first: expiration of any required insurance policy, expiration of the applicant’s license, or one year from the date of issuance.¹⁰

Under the Administrative Code, a permit also becomes invalid if the work is not started within 12 months, or if it is suspended or abandoned for 12 months once started. The DOB commissioner can reinstate a permit within two years of the original issuance for good cause, but the work must comply with whatever code is in effect at reinstatement, and reinstatement fees apply.¹³ A permit expires automatically if the required insurance lapses or the DOB-issued license expires or is revoked during the term.

Renewal costs $130 per work type, whether the permit expired for insurance, license, or time reasons. Renewals are available for active permits and for permits that expired within the past two years, provided there has been activity on the application within that window.¹⁰ Letting the permit expire and continuing to work is treated as working without a permit, which carries much steeper penalties.

Posting the Permit On Site

Once issued, the permit or a copy must be posted in a conspicuous place at the work site, visible to the public, for the full duration of the work. The permit may only be displayed at the premises for which it was issued. If it is exposed to weather, it has to be laminated or placed in a plastic covering. The posted permit must also indicate whether any dwelling units in the building will be occupied during construction, and if so, how many.¹³

Penalties for Working Without a PW2

Civil penalties for working without a permit are calculated from what the permit would have cost and the type of building involved:

One- or two-family dwelling: the greater of six times the permit fee or $600, up to $10,000.
All other buildings: the greater of twenty-one times the permit fee or $6,000, up to $15,000.
Expired permits or after-hours work without a variance: $600 for one- or two-family dwellings, $6,000 for all other buildings.

These penalties must be paid before the DOB will issue a permit for the space where the unpermitted work happened, accept a certificate of correction, or rescind a stop work order. If only part of the planned work was done without a permit, the DOB can reduce the penalty proportionally based on how much remains, but it will not drop below the floor amounts of $600 for small dwellings and $6,000 for everything else.¹⁴

The DOB can also issue a Stop Work Order, halting all activity on site. Work cannot resume until the permit is issued and the SWO is formally rescinded. Continuing to work against an active SWO makes things worse: the first offense carries a $6,000 civil penalty, and subsequent offenses jump to $12,000. The DOB will not lift the SWO until those penalties are paid, and they sit on top of any fines assessed by the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings for the underlying conditions.¹⁵

1
NYC Buildings. Forms
2
American Legal Publishing Corporation. New York City Administrative Code 28-105.1 – General
3
NYC Buildings. Permit Type and Job Status Codes
4
New York City Department of Buildings. PW2 Work Permit Application
5
New York City Department of Buildings. Work Permit (PW2) for All Work Types – Step by Step Guide
6
New York State Workers’ Compensation Board. Obtaining a C-105.2 Certificate of NYS Workers Compensation Insurance
7
American Legal Publishing Corporation. Rules of the City of New York 101-08 – Required Insurance and Indemnification
8
NYC Environmental Protection. Asbestos Abatement Forms
9
NYC Buildings. Project Requirements: Asbestos
10
NYC Buildings. Permit Renewal
11
American Legal Publishing Corporation. New York City Administrative Code 28-112.2 – Schedule of Permit Fees
12
New York City Department of Buildings. 1 RCNY 101-03 – Fees Payable to the Department of Buildings
13
American Legal Publishing Corporation. New York City Administrative Code 28-105.11 – Posting of Permit
14
American Legal Publishing Corporation. Rules of the City of New York 102-04 – Civil Penalties for Work Without a Permit
15
NYC Buildings. Stop Work Order