Considerate residential renovations: what does your project mean for your neighbors?

Embarking on a large-scale renovation is an exciting time, but it is easy to get caught up in the project and lose sight of what your construction means for your neighbors. Equally, if your neighbor is renovating, you need to be aware of what this means for you – and what protection you need.

VAKOTA’s Stephen Taylor is a licensed architect as well as a construction site superintendent – so his insights when it comes to site surveys are invaluable. We had performed a number of renovations in an apartment building on East 3^rd Street, New York City for a large developer. It sits on the corner of 3^rd Street and backs onto another large building on 2^nd Avenue. Now, the building on 2^nd Avenue is undergoing a major demolition and construction project, so we were brought in to ensure the right level of monitoring and protection is in place to protect our client’s newly renovated building.

In New York City, if your property is undergoing major renovations you must give notice to the neighbors for any construction work. A neighbor’s agreement is incredibly important and will protect both you and your neighbor’s property and rights moving forwards. These agreements can take an incredibly long time and could hold up the construction of a project if not executed properly. We suggest that negotiations start as soon as a schematic design is created.

If the buildings are side-by-side, for example, it is imperative that you undergo a pre-construction survey. The contractor will survey the building, looking for things like cracks, loose paint, or structural issues, and note as much as possible.

Where older buildings are concerned, there may be several cracks. In this case, we would ask the owners to put in crack monitoring. This simply involves a small piece of monitoring tape to check if the crack moves or grows. If the buildings are touching – particularly in brick buildings – we might also recommend seismic monitoring.

This involves installing a small device which picks up any vibrations in the building, and is required when heavy machinery is to be used or if underpinning is required for new foundation work. There are a lot of brick buildings in New York, and older brick buildings often share a wall and structure, which means that any seismic movement in one property will naturally affect the other. It also creates a risk of bricks or debris falling into the neighboring property.

Our approach at VAKOTA is to place probes in as many inconspicuous places as we can. This helps us understand the building when designing the renovations and proposed work. This also helps us to identify how to plan for any renovation or construction before construction actually begins, with as little risk to our client’s building and the neighboring structure as possible.

The 2^nd Avenue building that neighbors our client’s property is in the process of demolishing their basement – meaning there will be some compromise to the foundation of our client’s building on East 3^rd Street. In addition, any heavy machinery use in New York City requires seismic monitoring by law – so we’re currently working to protect the owner by giving them the insights and knowledge into city codes, rules and regulations that they need to keep their property safe and covered.

Once the demolition process is complete, we will conduct the same process backwards. It is our job to protect our clients by giving them as much information as possible, so that they understand what’s happening and there are no surprises.

Fostering strong neighbor relationships in a construction setting is hugely important – and the very first step is ensuring everyone has the full breadth of required knowledge.