In 2021, Lou Rubino inspected one home in Flatiron — one job, one written report, and the photographs below come from it. The report describes an apartment house, about 111 years old.
Rated 4.9 on Google as of November 2026 · U.S. Army veteran owned · NY licence #16000039568 · 516-330-3870
The report, as Lou wrote it up.
2021, an apartment house, about 111 years old: 5 items flagged: 2 kitchen; 2 rooms; 1 roof, chimney and attic. As recorded: flat roof, kemper, seen from: walked roof; attic: no attic access and no storage, passive ventilation; brick and cement stucco full brick siding, chimney: brick; brick and rock foundation, supporting walls; hot water off the boiler; 100-amp (educated guess) circuit breakers (Cutler Hammer), BX wiring, public water, through wall a/c units; double-hung and thermal/insulated windows, tile and wood floors, laminate cabinets, quartz counters. Flagged, in Lou’s words: “Leader pipe from stairwell roof needs splash block”; “Base cabinet handles loose to right of dishwasher”; “Base cabinet draw next to stove face plate is loose”; “Wall cabinet door next to fire sprinkler, door is restricted from opening too wide”; “Oven door handle loose and left side oven light switch does not work”; “Safety Item: Asphalt asbestos like floor tile in common laundry room”; “Living room left side upper sash slides down”; “In hall bath laundry closet door scrapes tile floor”. Also noted: “Roof is a kemper roof about 5 years old”; “Left side water faucet valve is very difficult to open and close”; “Toilet tank flushing handle very loose”; “Safety Item: Wall light in shower must be on GFCI circuit breaker”; “Dual pumps for hot water system”; “Water heaters are 16 years old”; “Average life of a water heater storage tank is 14.3 years”; “Warranty for this unit is 5 years”; “Only inspected in apartment sub panel”; “Boiler site glass full of rust”; “Rusty water should be drained from boiler during year”; “Clean water boils faster than rusty water”; “Safety Item: Asbestos like insulation on heat pipes in storage room”. On the day: 79°F, clear, dry ground, no rain in the three days before; the house faces SW. Not inspected that day: basement windows; ceilings; electric meter; floors; fuels storage and distribution systems; heating equipment; insulation in attic; insulation under floor system; main fuel shut-off; main water shut-off device; normal operating controls; roof structure and attic; service and grounding equipment, main overcurrent device, main and distribution panels; service entrance conductors; visible electric wiring in attic; wall cladding, flashing and trim. Not present in this house: clothes dryer vent piping; gas/lp firelogs and fireplaces; range hood; solid fuel heating devices; trash compactor; vapor retarders; ventilation fans and thermostatic controls.
“Flagged” is HomeGauge’s Repair or Replace mark, not a verdict on the house. See a complete report.
Related: The Manhattan page · What an inspection costs · Schedule an inspection.
The photograph is from Lou's own Flatiron inspection report, chosen because it shows a building component and nothing that identifies a property or an owner.
Median year built in zip 10010: 1954 (Manhattan: 1951). Of 19,014 units, 35% predates 1940; 12% is from 2000 on. Next come the 1960s at 14% and the 1970s at 13%. An older house is not a worse house, but its wiring, plumbing and roof were installed under different rules and replaced piecemeal, which is what the inspection looks for. Lou’s reports here: 111 years old. (ACS)
47% utility gas, 33% electricity; fuel oil 9% against 15% county-wide. NYSDEC logs Manhattan home oil spills under the borough, not Flatiron. A gas conversion can leave a tank behind. An abandoned tank is most likely in a house that was converted from oil. Buried tanks are outside the standards New York sets for a home inspection, so the seller’s answer matters. (ACS, NYSDEC)
71% buildings of 50 or more units, 14% buildings of 20 to 49 units, 7% buildings of 10 to 19 units; 28% owner-occupied (Manhattan: 25%). With 85% of units in buildings of 20 or more, many purchases here are apartments: the inspection covers the unit, and the roof, plant and risers belong to the board. Lou’s jobs here included a co-op apartment. (ACS)
Manhattan (reported by borough): 131 basement tests, average 2.09 pCi/L, 16 at 4 or above (12%). First-floor tests there: 68, average 2.7. The highest basement reading was 49.5 pCi/L. EPA’s action level is 4 pCi/L, and it advises testing every home whatever the area’s results. Radon testing is optional. (NYSDOH)
70 flood-insurance claims from zip 10010 since 1979, most in 2012 (26): 85th of the 189 zips on these pages. A claim count describes the zip, not the house; 2012 was the year of Hurricane Sandy. Flood zones follow the address. Check the address on FEMA’s map. (OpenFEMA)
The NYC Department of Buildings. Look the address up on BIS or DOB NOW. Your attorney usually runs the search. The inspection reports the condition of what is there and flags work that typically needs a permit, such as a finished basement, a dormer or a moved panel, so you know what to ask about.
By median year built, fuel-oil share and owner-occupancy: Flatiron (zip 10010) 1954, 9%, 28%; Chelsea (zip 10011): built 1938, oil 13%, 36% owner-occupied; Midtown East (zip 10017): built 1957, oil 8%, 31% owner-occupied; Greenwich Village (zip 10012): built 1938, oil 16%, 22% owner-occupied. (ACS)
The New York City Construction Codes, the NYC Department of Buildings records, NYC water and sewer and the offering-plan rules for co-ops and condos: county-wide, written once. They are the same for every town in Manhattan, so they are set out there with their sources instead of on each page.
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.
Nearby towns Lou has inspected: Gramercy Park · Chelsea · Midtown East · Greenwich Village · Sutton Place · Midtown · all 250 towns.
His Flatiron file goes back to 2021. Yours would not be the first.
Not sure yet? Read what New York requires of your inspector or see a real report.