Every number from DOB filings, re-checked weekly. A back-test on one cycle, limits shown.
Where the data comes from, how a building counts as open, how firms are matched across cycles and how the priority is back-tested. Every number on this page is recomputed with the weekly data run.
About half of the buildings changed inspection firm last cycle
We counted every first report in the Department of Buildings' facade filings for cycles 8, 9 and 10 (87,000 reports). Three patterns stand out.
The market is re-divided every cycle
Between cycle 8 and 9, 53.8% of buildings with a report in both cycles signed with a different firm (60.8% by inspector license). By the cycle 8 rating: SAFE buildings changed firm in 58% of cases, SWARMP buildings in 49%.
9,520 buildings with a first report in cycles 8 and 9, firm names normalisedSmall firms lose most, large firms collect
Buildings whose cycle 8 firm had 1-4 buildings went elsewhere in 77% of cases; with 5-19 buildings, 66%. Of all buildings that switched, 58% landed at firms with 100 or more buildings.
Switch rate by size of the prior firm, cycle 8 to 9A fragmented market
349 QEWI firms signed cycle 9 reports; the median firm has 10 buildings. In cycle 10, 14,263 buildings across 10A, 10B and 10C have no report on file yet.
Firms with at least one cycle 9 first report, names normalisedBuilt on the DOB's own cycle rule
The requirement
Every building taller than six stories, as counted by the DOB, needs a facade report by a qualified exterior wall inspector (QEWI) once per cycle. Our floor count comes from PLUTO and can differ: 1,374 open 10B buildings on the DOB list have six floors or fewer there. Cycle 10 runs from Feb 21, 2025 to Feb 21, 2030 in three two-year sub-cycles.
NYC DOB, Facade Inspection & Safety Program · 1 RCNY 103-04The signal
The last digit of the tax block sets the sub-cycle (4, 5, 6, 9 = 10A; 0, 7, 8 = 10B; 1, 2, 3 = 10C; DOB rule, checked against 99.3% of filing numbers). A building in the sub-cycle without a cycle 10 report is open. Every week we compare the DOB filings to the previous run: new reports move buildings to "filed" and tell you who signed them.
NYC Open Data xubg-57si · DOB facade filing status listA = the prior firm had 4 buildings or fewer in cycle 9, or has not filed any cycle 10 report yet. B = prior firm with 5-19 buildings, or UNSAFE in cycle 9. C = the rest, buildings without a cycle 9 report and public owners (NYCHA, city, state: procurement); non-profit owners are B at most. Applied to cycle 8 data, priority A buildings changed firm in 82% of cases, priority C in 50% (back-test). Late filing and SWARMP did not predict a change; they are shown as notes. The reason is on every row, so you can judge each building yourself.When 13,326 buildings filed their first cycle 9 report
filed in the last six months before their deadline, 28% after it and 37% in the deadline month alone (Feb 2023 for 9B: 1,475 reports against 30-100 in a normal month)
- Feb 2026
- the 10B window opened; 636 buildings have filed so far
- 12-18 m
- before the deadline: where the 10B list is today, while most buildings have no report. Owners likely choose now; the public data shows when a report is filed (the inspection typically about 15 days earlier), not when the firm was hired
- late
- after Feb 21, 2028 the DOB charges $1,000 per month late and $5,000 per year for failure to file
Our own count of NYC Open Data filings, updated weekly. Past cycles do not guarantee cycle 10; so far it runs earlier (10B: 661 initial reports in the open filings dataset 16 months out, against 369 for 9B; building counts use the DOB status list, so they can differ slightly). What happened last cycle
See it on your own buildings
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