What to Know
Before Hiring an Engineer
Who is qualified to conduct LL126 inspections and reports?
According to the DOB, inspections must be conducted by certified Qualified Parking Structures Inspectors (QPSI).
In order to become a certified QPSI, a candidate must be a registered professional engineer in New York State. The QPSI candidate will also be required to document to the Department structural engineering experience with the following, as it pertains to parking structures: Structural Design, Design of Structural Repairs, Inspection and Structural Evaluation, and Forensic Structural Engineering Assessments.
Be sure to ask these questions before you hire an engineer for your assessment.
Expert Engineering Matters
Experienced engineers not only have important technical expertise, but also pre-existing relationships with contractors, garage operators, and manufacturers that ensure fair and balanced pricing.
This saves you time, money, and resources.
Questions to Ask Before Hiring a QPSI
How many garage restoration filings have you completed?
Expert-level QPSI’s will have a minimum of 50 DOB filings, with at least half being in NYC.
Can you show me your portfolio of previous NYC garage restoration work?
A portfolio should include a minimum of 25 different NYC parking garage projects, with different types of parking structures. It is important that the portfolio is comprised of New York City projects as NYC building code is more nuanced than NYS.
How many years of experience do you have working on parking garage structures?
Expert engineers will have a minimum of seven years experience.
Can I see a list of your previous parking structure clients?
A client list should include a minimum of four of the major NYC parking garage operators.
Do you have relationships with NYC parking operators? If so, can you show me the work you have completed for each?
A expert-level QPSI will have proof of long-standing relationships with multiple major NYC parking operators. Adequate proof is a list of multiple projects per operator, with repeat work on several locations.
How many repeat clients do you have?
Quality engineering will yield a minimum of 90% repeat clients.
Can you provide a list of references?
References should include a diverse list of client types with both minor and major project scopes.
