Elevators, boilers, gas, backflow, energy and fire safety are the inspections most owners know about. Then there is everything else: the local laws, ordinances and one-off rules that vary city by city and are easy to miss until a violation posts. This is where we cover them.
Every building sits under a different mix of city, county and state rules. Many of them are narrow: they apply only above a certain height, only to buildings of a certain age, only to certain equipment, or only in one city. Below are the most common ones we see. The examples are illustrative, not a complete list, and the rules that apply to your building depend on its address.
The Americans with Disabilities Act applies nationwide to public accommodations and commercial facilities. Existing buildings carry an ongoing duty to remove barriers where that is readily achievable, and alterations must meet the 2010 ADA Standards. Some states add their own rules, such as California’s Certified Access Specialist (CASp) inspections. An accessibility survey shows where a property stands before a complaint does.
Many large cities require a periodic critical examination of exterior walls, balconies and appurtenances above a set height, usually by a licensed engineer or architect, with a filed report and repair deadlines. Examples include New York City (FISP / Local Law 11), Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia and San Francisco.
Example: NYC FISP →Some jurisdictions tie structural inspections to a building’s age rather than its height. Florida requires milestone inspections of condominium and cooperative buildings three stories or taller at 30 years and every 10 years after, and Miami-Dade and Broward counties run their own recertification programs.
Example: Miami →Street-facing parapets can fall on the public even on low buildings. New York City requires an annual parapet observation for nearly every building with a parapet facing a public right-of-way, regardless of height, with the report kept on file for six years.
Example: NYC Local Law 126 →California requires multifamily owners to inspect balconies, decks, stairways and other exterior elevated elements that rely on wood-based framing: every six years for apartment buildings (SB 721) and every nine years for condominium associations (SB 326).
Garages and walls that hold back soil next to streets can be regulated on their own schedules. New York City requires periodic condition assessments of parking structures by a qualified engineer, and inspection every five years of retaining walls ten feet or taller that face a public right-of-way.
Buildings with cooling towers can owe registration, routine inspections, annual certification and a written Legionella management plan. New York State and New York City both regulate this, and water-management expectations are spreading to hospitals and other facilities nationwide.
Underground petroleum tanks fall under federal EPA rules for walkthroughs, testing and operator training, and many states register aboveground tanks too, such as New York’s Petroleum Bulk Storage program. Emergency generator and heating oil tanks are the ones most often overlooked.
We check your address against the city, county and state rules that apply, including the narrow ones.
Where a rule requires a licensed engineer, architect or specialist, we assign one from the Insparisk Network.
We schedule the work, track the filing and repair deadlines, and stay the accountable party on one contract.
Reports and filings live in Insparisk Command alongside your other inspections, with reminders before the next cycle.
Enter an address in the Compliance Assistant to see which requirements apply, including local rules that are easy to miss.
Open the Compliance Assistant →See recurring deadlines by jurisdiction so the less common requirements show up next to the familiar ones.
View Calendars →It is everything outside the core recurring inspections (elevators, boilers, gas piping, backflow, energy benchmarking and fire and life safety). That includes ADA accessibility, facade and exterior wall ordinances, structural recertification, parapets, balconies and elevated elements, parking structures, retaining walls, cooling towers and storage tanks. Which of these apply depends on where the building is, how tall and old it is, and what equipment it has.
No. Most are local. A facade ordinance may apply in one city and not the next county over, and some rules only apply to buildings above a certain height or age. That is why we start with the address rather than a fixed checklist.
We perform the work where we hold the credentials and manage the rest through the Insparisk Network of licensed engineers, architects and specialists. Either way you have one contract, one calendar and one accountable party.
Tell us the address and we will confirm which inspections and local rules apply, including the ones outside the usual list.
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