Dodge, BuildingConnected and lead services vs. Facade Repair Radar
They answer different questions. Bid boards show jobs that are already out to bid. Facade Repair Radar shows facade repairs that are due but not yet filed - before a bidder list exists.
| Dodge (project leads) | BuildingConnected (bid invitations) | Lead and referral services | Facade Repair Radar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you see | Construction projects collected from plans, permits and bid documents, across all trades | Bid invitations from general contractors and owners who use the platform | Individual requests from property owners | Every NYC building with a filed SWARMP or UNSAFE facade report and no repair work in public DOB data |
| When you see it | Once a project is reported or out to bid | Once someone invites you to bid | Once an owner asks | After the facade report, before the repair is filed - median 446 days between the two in cycle 9, for the 52% of reports that got a repair filing |
| Whom you contact | The project team named in the report | The GC or owner who sent the invitation | The owner the service passes on | The inspection firm of record (usually writes the scope and invites bidders), managing agent, owner entity |
| How you pay | Subscription, price set by the vendor | Free account for invited bidders; paid add-ons from the vendor | Per lead or a share of the contract | Flat annual price ($590-$990 founding price for the first 10 firms), no fee per case, no commission |
| NYC facade focus | General - all project types | General - depends on who invites you | Mostly residential and small jobs | Only cycle 10 FISP repairs: shed age, LL48/LL51 risk, job size per case |
| Where it falls short | Facade repairs before filing rarely appear | You only see jobs you were already invited to | You compete with other firms the service sends | No plans or specs, no bid management; contracts signed but not yet filed cannot be seen |
Based on the public product descriptions of each vendor as of October 2026; features and prices change - check with the vendor. Dodge and BuildingConnected are trademarks of their owners. Facade Repair Radar is not affiliated with them.
Use them together
A bid board is the right tool once a job is out to bid: drawings, specs, addenda, deadlines. Facade Repair Radar is earlier and narrower: it tells you which facade repairs are coming in your boroughs and whom to ask so that your firm is on the bidder list when the scope goes out. Many contractors will want both.
Why the timing matters for facade work
A SWARMP or UNSAFE report obliges the owner to repair. The engineer of record who filed it usually prepares the repair scope and invites contractors. By the time a job shows up on a bid board, that list is set. Since 2026, Local Laws 48 and 51 add monthly penalties for sheds without work and fixed repair milestones - owners have a reason to move. Penalties in detail · shed penalty calculator
What you can do yourself for free, step by step
Everything on our list comes from public data, and you can check it yourself without paying anyone. This is the route we take every week:
- Find the reports. Open the dataset DOB NOW: Safety - Facades Compliance Filings on NYC Open Data, filter for cycle 10 and the statuses SWARMP and UNSAFE, and keep the first report of each building. The DOB's Local Law 11 map shows the same filing status on a map.
- Check for repair work since the report. For each building (by BIN), look up job filings and permits issued after the report date in DOB NOW job filings, DOB NOW approved permits and the older BIS records (job filings, permits), or one by one in DOB NOW. A repair, facade-related or scaffold permit means someone is already on it.
- Look for a sidewalk shed. Shed permits are in the same permit datasets; the first permit of the shed job tells you how long it has been up.
- Find whom to ask. The inspection firm is named on the facade report; the managing agent and owner entity are in the HPD registrations for most residential buildings.
- Repeat every week, because permits are issued and new reports are filed all the time.
We do not give a time estimate for this, because it depends on how many buildings you check. What the subscription adds is that the matching is done for every SWARMP and UNSAFE building in the city each week, with the rules on our method page, plus shed age, penalty risk, job size, a shared work list and an e-mail with what changed.
What we do not do
We do not sell leads, take commissions or put firms on bidder lists. Facade Repair Radar is a flat-price subscription to public data, re-checked every week - sources and limits.
Five open cases in your borough, free
Real cases from this week’s list, addresses masked. No sign-up, no payment details.