Between 2015 and 2017, Lou Rubino inspected four homes in Williamsburg — four jobs, each with a written report, and the photographs below come from them. Three of the four reports cover two town homes and one contemporary, new construction.
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Across three of the four reports, the summaries listed 24 repair-or-replace items, most of them under the roof, chimney and attic, the kitchen and plumbing. A repair-or-replace item is HomeGauge's term for something that was not working as intended or needed a specialist's look — it is not a verdict on the house, and the full report explains each one with photographs.
Williamsburg is in Brooklyn, and Lou covers it from his base in Wantagh the same way he covers every other place on this site: same licence, same report format, same-day report as a rule. The count above is history from his own files, not a service boundary — call or text 516-330-3870 and he will quote the actual property.
Related: The Brooklyn page · What an inspection costs · Schedule an inspection.
All three photographs are from Lou's own Williamsburg inspection reports, chosen because they show a building component and nothing that identifies a property or an owner.
The Census puts the median year built for homes in zip code 11206 at 1965, and about 25% of the 34,838 housing units there were built before 1940. An older house is not a worse house, but its wiring, plumbing and roof were installed under different rules and replaced piecemeal, which is exactly what the inspection looks for. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2019–2023 5-year estimates, tables B25035 and B25034, ZCTA 11206.
Of 34,838 housing units in zip 11206, about 2% are detached single-family houses, 5% are two-unit buildings, and 11% of occupied homes are owner-occupied. A two-family or a co-op is a different inspection from a detached house: shared systems, common areas and what the board or the other unit controls. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2019–2023 5-year, tables B25024 and B25003, ZCTA 11206.
NYC Department of Buildings handles permits and certificates of occupancy for every address in the borough. Permits and COs are kept by the municipality, not the inspector; checking them is a records search, usually through your attorney. The inspection reports the condition of what is there and flags work that typically needs a permit — a finished basement, a dormer, a moved panel — so you know what to ask about. NYC Department of Buildings. Lookups: BIS https://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/bispi00.jsp; DOB NOW Public Portal https://a810-dobnow.nyc.gov/publish/#!/
Brooklyn is governed by the New York City Construction Codes enforced by the NYC Department of Buildings; the State Uniform Code does not apply inside New York City. Source: www.nyc.gov.
NYC DEP supplies the borough with more than 1 billion gallons a day from upstate reservoirs, serving about nine million customers; there is no private-well supply. NYC DEP runs the sewer system (over 6,000 miles of sewers) and 14 wastewater resource recovery facilities treating 1.3 billion gallons a day; homes are on city sewer, not septic. The inspection reports what the house actually has and its visible condition; a cesspool or septic system needs its own evaluation. Source: www.nyc.gov.
Flood zones follow the address, not the town. OpenFEMA holds 6,319 NFIP claim records for Kings County (FIPS 36047). NYC notes FEMA's city flood maps have not been significantly updated since 1983 and insurance rates still rest on the 2007 Effective FIRMs. Look the address up on FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center before you sign. Source: www.fema.gov.
Brooklyn is in EPA Zone 3 (low potential) — Zone 3 counties have a predicted average indoor radon screening level below 2 pCi/L; EPA still recommends testing every home. NYSDOH's borough estimate (Feb 2007, 339 homes measured) is 1.3% of living areas and 7% of basements above 4 pCi/L. Radon is a separate, optional test arranged alongside the inspection. Source: www.epa.gov.
Co-op and condo units are sold under an offering plan reviewed by the NY Attorney General's Real Estate Finance Bureau under the Martin Act; the AG advises reading the whole plan and consulting an attorney before signing. Source: ag.ny.gov.
Across his reports in Williamsburg, the summaries listed 24 repair-or-replace items, most of them under the roof, chimney and attic, the kitchen and plumbing. Every one is in the written report with a photograph; see what a report looks like.
Lou quotes the actual property, not a flat rate — what drives the price is size, age and what is included. The written report arrives the same day as a rule; a large or complex house can run to the next morning. Call or text 516-330-3870.
Lou covers Long Island, the five boroughs and Westchester from his base in Wantagh, and the archive behind these pages shows where that work has actually concentrated.
Also nearby: Broadway Triangle · Cypress Hills · Bay Ridge · all 250 towns.
His Williamsburg file goes back to 2015. Yours would not be the first.
Not sure yet? Read what New York requires of your inspector or see a real report.