Pipe scaffold permit in NYC

A supported pipe scaffold needs a New York City Department of Buildings permit once it exceeds 40 feet in height. Below 40 feet no permit is required, but only if three specific conditions all hold. The filing goes into DOB NOW under work type SF.

The 40 foot threshold

Supported scaffold means scaffold whose platform is supported by rigid members bearing on the ground or on a structure below. Tube and clamp pipe scaffold is the common form on New York facade work. Once the scaffold exceeds 40 feet in height, a permit is required and the scaffold must be designed by a registered design professional.

Height is not always measured from the sidewalk. Where the scaffold stands on a sidewalk shed or other temporary equipment, the height of that structure counts toward the 40 feet.

The three conditions below 40 feet

A supported scaffold under 40 feet is exempt from both the permit and the sealed design requirement, but only if all three of the following are true:

• It is not an outrigger, sometimes called thrust out, scaffold
• No hoisting equipment rated above 2,000 pounds is installed on it
• It is not loaded, and not designed to be loaded, above 75 pounds per square foot

Break any one and the exemption is gone. A 30 foot scaffold with a 3,000 pound hoist on it needs a permit and a sealed design just as much as a 60 foot one.

Scaffold on top of a sidewalk shed

This is the most common configuration on facade repair jobs and the most common source of objections. Two things follow from it. First, the shed height counts toward the scaffold height. Second, the drawings must be accompanied by a loads imposed letter, signed and sealed by a registered design professional, confirming the structure below can carry the scaffold above.

Key facts

DOB NOW work type

SF

Permit threshold

Over 40 feet

Design by

Registered design professional over 40 feet

Common pairing

Filed alongside a sidewalk shed