To find New York City construction filings, search the property in the NYC Department of Buildings’ DOB NOW Public Portal, then check the legacy BIS system as well. Compare application records with permit-issuance records to confirm whether work was actually permitted. Proposed plans are not viewable in the public portal; request drawings separately through DOB NOW: BIS Options.
Start with the property’s identifiers
Search using the street address, borough-block-lot (BBL), building identification number (BIN), or a DOB job number. Begin with the address, then try the BIN or BBL if results seem incomplete. A building can have multiple addresses, so a BIN search may surface records that an address search misses. Keep a note of each relevant job number: you will need it to follow a filing across systems and request certain records.
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The DOB NOW Public Portal is available for public searches without logging in. Its property profile status is described by DOB as real-time, and the portal displays DOB NOW application information. The profile is a useful starting point, not a complete history of every filing for the property.
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Search both DOB NOW and BIS
DOB NOW Public Portal
Open the DOB NOW Public Portal and look up the property by address, BBL, BIN, or job number. In the property profile, review the BUILD: Job Filings section. Record the job type, filing status, job number, and any associated permit information for each relevant entry.
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BIS for legacy and other filings
Search the same property in DOB’s Building Information Search (BIS). DOB NOW Build jobs do not appear in BIS; eFiling and borough-office jobs are found through BIS. DOB’s guidance is to use both systems to research all filings and permits for an address. A result missing from one system is not proof that the work has no filing in the other.
Use the systems together
When you find records in either system, compare their identifiers and status rather than treating a property profile or job listing as proof that a permit was issued. NYC DOB has reported substantial activity in both systems: in the first four months of Fiscal 2026, it recorded 92,311 DOB NOW job filings, compared with 88,976 in the same period of Fiscal 2025, and 4,885 BIS job filings, down 19 percent from the comparable prior-year period. These are filings during that reporting period, not full-year totals or counts of all open projects; DOB says BIS jobs remain in BIS until completed. The Fiscal 2026 Preliminary Mayor’s Management Report also reports 53,662 first plan reviews in DOB NOW and 861 in BIS over those first four months.
Verify whether a permit was issued
A job application, proposal, or approval status is not interchangeable with an issued permit. DOB provides separate datasets for applications and permit issuance. Use its Building Applications & Permits data page to find datasets including DOB Job Applications (January 2014 to current), DOB NOW: Build Job Applications, DOB NOW approved permits, DOB Permit Issuance, and historical permit issuance.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFor a specific project, match the application and permit records by job number and property identifiers. The application dataset helps establish that work was filed; the issuance dataset is the relevant check for whether a permit was issued. If records do not match, recheck the BIN, BBL, address, system, and job number before drawing a conclusion.
Understand the work-type labels
DOB identifies New Building (NB), Alteration-CO (Alt-CO), and Alteration (Alt) as primary application types. These labels describe different scopes; they do not by themselves establish that a permit was issued.
- New Building (NB): construction of a new structure.
- Alteration-CO (Alt-CO): a new structure or major alteration that changes building use, egress, or occupancy.
- Alteration (Alt): work that does not change those factors.
DOB says most construction requires a permit. Plans filed with DOB must be prepared by a New York State registered design professional—a licensed professional engineer or registered architect. See DOB’s Obtaining a Permit guidance for the agency’s description of permit categories and requirements.
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Request proposed building plans separately
The Public Portal does not provide a plan viewer. DOB’s FAQ states, “No. Plans cannot be viewed in the Public Portal.” To obtain drawings or related records, use DOB NOW: BIS Options for record requests.
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If a record does not appear
- Try the BIN or BBL as well as the street address; a building may have multiple addresses.
- Search both DOB NOW and BIS. The systems cover different filing paths and are not duplicates.
- Use any known job number to search directly and to make a drawing request.
- Check the separate application and permit datasets; an application record alone does not confirm issuance.
- Allow for the possibility that a record is missing, unavailable, or indexed under another property or job identifier. An empty search result alone does not establish that no work was filed.
DOB’s Filing Permit Applications page describes review, objections, approval, and issuance in the borough-office workflow. Treat that as guidance for the process it describes, not as a single current procedure for all work: DOB NOW has its own online filing and status paths.
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