The FISP report is in, and the board has one question: how bad is it? The answer is in the word your QEWI put next to each condition on the façade: Safe, SWARMP or Unsafe. That word decides how much you have to do, how quickly, and whether a shed goes up on your sidewalk.

If your report came back with a list of SWARMP items, our page on SWARMP repairs covers how we scope and schedule that work. Below is what each classification means and what it sets in motion.

What do Safe, SWARMP and Unsafe mean?

The definitions come from DOB's FISP rule, 1 RCNY 103-04:

  • Safe: Not requiring repair or maintenance, and won't become unsafe in the next five years.
  • SWARMP (Safe With a Repair and Maintenance Program): Safe at inspection, but needs repair or maintenance within the five-year cycle (not less than one year) to keep it from becoming unsafe.
  • Unsafe: Hazardous to people or property.

Classifications are given condition by condition, so a building can carry a long SWARMP list and a single Unsafe item. That single item will run your next three months.

Who decides which classification a condition gets?

Your QEWI. That's a Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector: a New York State registered architect or engineer with at least seven years of relevant façade experience on buildings over six stories. Your QEWI must personally do the final inspection, including close-up, hands-on inspections at intervals of no more than 60 feet along façades that front a public right-of-way. Drones don't replace those.

The classification is the QEWI's professional judgment, and their signature goes on the report. Our job as the contractor is to repair what the report lists and document the work so your QEWI can verify it.

What does a SWARMP condition require you to do?

Repair it on time. For each SWARMP condition, the rule requires your QEWI to give a recommended timeframe for the repair, written as the date by which the work must be done. DOB won't accept a timeframe shorter than one year, or one that says "ASAP" or "immediately." If something needs work that soon, it isn't SWARMP. In practice, the dates on your report will land somewhere between one and five years out.

SWARMP doesn't require public protection on its own. What it does require is a plan:

  1. List every SWARMP item with your QEWI's date beside it.
  2. Have each item scoped on its own line, using the report's numbering.
  3. Group the work by elevation so access goes up once per side of the building.
  4. Keep dated photos of each repair, keyed to the report, for your QEWI's next inspection.
  5. Finish everything well before your next filing window. The FISP deadline finder shows when yours opens.

What happens if SWARMP items aren't fixed by the next inspection?

They become Unsafe. A SWARMP condition from the prior cycle that hasn't been repaired must be filed as Unsafe, and DOB charges a $2,000 penalty for failure to correct SWARMP. This has applied since the Cycle 9 rule took effect on February 20, 2020.

The $2,000 is the least of it. An Unsafe filing brings a shed, a 90-day deadline and the rest of the list below.

What does an Unsafe condition require next?

Several things, all on short deadlines:

  • Your QEWI notifies DOB and you immediately.
  • Public protection goes up immediately: a shed, fencing or netting, as your QEWI advises.
  • The condition must be corrected within 90 days of filing, or within an extension of up to 90 days ($305 fee, with supporting documents). Further extensions are limited to unforeseen delays (weather, strikes), unforeseen events (fire, collapse) or hazards needing more than 90 days.
  • Your QEWI files an amended report within two weeks after the repairs are completed.
  • Protection stays up until DOB accepts the amended report, or approves your QEWI's signed and sealed request to remove it because the conditions are corrected.

If the shed protecting an Unsafe façade was first permitted on or after January 12, 2026, Local Law 51 of 2025 adds a second clock: complete construction documents filed within 5 months, a complete permit application filed and diligently pursued within 8 months, and repairs finished within 2 years. Missing any one of them carries a penalty of $5,000 to $20,000.

We walk through that sequence week by week in Our engineer filed Unsafe. What happens in the next 90 days?

How do the three classifications compare?

Safe SWARMP Unsafe
What it means No repair or maintenance needed; won't become unsafe in five years Safe now; needs repair within the cycle to stay safe Hazardous to people or property
Who decides Your QEWI Your QEWI Your QEWI
Public protection None Not required by the classification Required immediately
Deadline None this cycle Your QEWI's date, at least one year out 90 days from filing, plus an extension on application
Penalty risk None $2,000 if still unrepaired at the next inspection Monthly penalties for failure to correct, plus shed penalties
What closes it Nothing The repair, documented for the next inspection The repair, the amended report and DOB's acceptance

Why is SWARMP worth fixing early?

Because most SWARMP conditions are water problems, and water doesn't wait for your QEWI's date. Open joints, small cracks, failed sealant and early lintel rust all let water into the wall. In winter that water freezes, expands and opens the gap a little further. Rusting steel swells and shoves the brick around it out of place (see why brick cracks above your windows).

So the condition your QEWI called SWARMP in year one is usually bigger by year four, and the scope grows with it. If it crosses into Unsafe, you add a shed, a 90-day deadline and the penalties above.

Fixing SWARMP early also keeps the timing in your hands. You pick the season, phase the work over several seasons if that suits the board, put up access once per elevation and give residents real notice. Unsafe repairs run on DOB's clock instead.

The rule of thumb we give boards: treat your QEWI's dates as the latest acceptable dates, and schedule ahead of them.

Sources

This article is general information, not legal advice. Your QEWI and expediter confirm how the rules apply to your building.