Late NOI Amendment on a Fast-Track Demolition
A general contractor schedules demolition of a 1958 school building for Monday. On Thursday afternoon the abatement subcontractor's certified supervisor calls your program office. The original NOI was submitted 12 working days ago and lists abatement of 1,200 linear feet of pipe insulation plus 4,000 sq ft of floor tile, starting Monday. The supervisor says the inspection just found an additional 600 sq ft of transite panels in a mechanical room and that they intend to remove those panels the same day. He asks whether he can fax an amended NOI Friday morning and still start Monday. The original NOI was accepted without comment. No emergency order exists.
1. Can the contractor proceed Monday with the added transite panels if the amendment arrives Friday morning? Walk through the timing rule and what you tell the supervisor.
Read the worked answer
No. The amended NOI adds a new regulated category and a new quantity; the 10-working-day review clock restarts from receipt of the amendment for the added work. Friday receipt means the earliest start for the transite is roughly 10 working days later, not Monday.
What I tell the supervisor:
- The pipe and tile work on the accepted NOI may proceed Monday as scheduled.
- The transite panels cannot be disturbed until the amended NOI has been on file the full review period and is accepted.
- Options: (a) sequence the transite later, (b) submit the amendment immediately and wait, or (c) if the panels are truly friable and a hazard, pursue an emergency order - but that requires a documented imminent hazard, not scheduling convenience.
Key point: an amendment is not a free pass to accelerate; it resets the clock for the added scope.
2. The contractor argues the transite is non-friable and therefore outside the NOI altogether. How do you evaluate that claim?
Read the worked answer
Category matters. Non-friable transite is generally not a regulated category unless it will be sanded, ground, cut, or otherwise made friable, or unless it is in poor condition. Ask:
- Will the panels be cut, broken, or abraded during removal? If yes, treat as friable and amend.
- What is the condition?
- What is the removal method?
If the method will render it friable, the amendment is required and the clock applies. If genuinely intact and removed without breaking, document the determination in the file and state the basis. Do not accept a bare assertion - get the method description in writing.