Granted I probably didn’t ask enough of the right questions before hiring the last engineer however, this time, armed with the knowledge of exactly what I need to get inspected, a combination of questions and gut feeling will determine who I’ll go with.

Just some background on the qualifications needed in New York state:
A licensed New York PE has earned a minimum of 12 years of education/experience credit and has passed a 16-hour national licensing examination. Most New York PEs have a four-year bachelor’s degree from an accredited engineering program and have earned qualifying experience as an intern engineer. Many engineers also have a master’s degree in their field.

Not a whole lot done just yet, but here’s the list of resources that I’m working with so far:

National Academy of Building Inspection Engineers: Formed in 1989 to give building inspectors help with legislation, court cases and gov’t activity. Why should you visit? Basically to use their Find an Engineer page. While not much better (IMHO) than scanning the yellow pages under “Engineers”, members are taking their careers serious enough to shell out the membership dues.

Verifying a New York Professional Engineer or Architects License

So after a quick call to NYC’s 311 line, it turns out that to verify that the building is up to code, I have to make an appointment with an inspector from the Department of Buildings Construction Division.

Building must meet local building, plumbing structural, electrical and zoning codes or ordinances.

* Certificate of correction — Construction division in the dept of buildings: (718) 286-0600

Construction Inspection Appointments:

Manhattan: (212) 566-5232
Bronx: (718) 579-6905/06
Brooklyn: (718) 802-3685/3684
Queens: (718) 286-0610/0691
Staten Island: (718) 816-2209

The Environmental Control Board (ECB) http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/ecb.html

Dept of State Energy Code http://www.dos.state.ny.us/code/energycode/residential.htm

HPD Entry Page http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/online-tools/hpd-online-portal.html

NYC Code Enforcement Offices http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/about-us/code-enf-offices.html
http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/for-owners/code-enforcement.html

Citywide Inspection Unit
http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/for-tenants/sro-compliance-unit.html