Long Island builders oppose potential NY fire sprinkler rule, citing housing affordability
Carpenters frame a roof on a home under construction in Nesconset. Credit: Newsday/John Paraskevas
Builders would have to install automatic fire sprinkler systems in new single-family and two-family homes in New York if a key state regulator adopts the policy at a meeting later this month.
Long Island’s largest group of homebuilders opposes the change, saying it will add tens of thousands of dollars to home construction costs and worsen housing affordability in the region. Builders could absorb these costs and keep prices the same, but the shortage of available homes for sale gives them greater power to pass costs onto consumers.
“Our concern is you’re adding to the already expensive cost of a home,” said Mike Florio, CEO of the Long Island Builders Institute in Islandia.
The measure is backed by the Firefighters Association of the State of New York, which represents volunteer firefighters, as necessary to protect people caught in house fires and contain blazes until firefighters can arrive.
“It’s a worthwhile investment,” said John D'Alessandro, the association’s board secretary and a volunteer firefighter in Halfmoon in Saratoga County. “When it comes down to it, what price for a life?”
Local builders and the state firefighters association expect the State Fire Prevention and Building Code Council to consider a requirement at its Feb. 28 meeting. Mercedes Padilla, a spokeswoman for the New York Department of State, which administers the state building code, said the agenda for the meeting is still under review.
There were 126 home fire fatalities in New York last year, according to U.S. Fire Administration data for 2024. Ten Long Islanders died in home or apartment fires last year as of late November, Newsday previously reported.
The issue of whether New York should require fire sprinklers has been the subject of debate since the International Residential Code, a model building code developed by a U.S. nonprofit, updated its standards in 2009 to recommend sprinklers in one- and two-family homes.
However, New York's building code hasn't followed suit. The state code sets a minimum standard for local governments, which can adopt those rules or set stricter codes.
New York has taken steps to encourage adoption of ceiling sprinklers. In 2014, the state passed a law requiring builders to provide potential homebuyers information about sprinkler systems. In 2021, the state required builders to provide a cost estimate to buyers of new homes.
New York builders estimate the addition of fire sprinklers to new homes would cost $20,000 to $30,000 based on a report published last year by Churchville, New York-based Asterhill Research Company for the New York State Builders Association.
The report relied on an online construction calculator and included estimates for the state's 10 regions. It estimated the additional cost in Hicksville, which it used to illustrate costs on Long Island, would be nearly $30,000, or $11.76 per square foot. That was the second-highest amount of any region in the state behind New York City.
Peter Florey, principal at affordable housing developer D&F Development Group in Levittown, said he believes the additional $30,000 is a conservative estimate for Long Island.
“Plumbing costs in particular have skyrocketed since the pandemic,” Florey said. “You have huge increases in materials and labor costs.”
Florey, also president of the New York State Builders Association, said an automatic sprinkler requirement would hurt affordability.
“The price of new homes is out of reach to too many already,” he said. “The percentage of people who could afford one — it shrinks that pool of people.”
New homes on Long Island are significantly more expensive than existing ones and represent a small fraction of total home sales. The average price of a new home sold on Long Island was about $1.7 million last year through the 12 months ending in September 2024, according to a report from the Builders Institute.
D'Alessandro, at the state Firefighters Association, said he believes builders are overstating the costs of sprinkler systems, but he declined to provide a specific estimate of his own.
Requiring fire sprinklers in new homes would help give residents more time to evacuate, buy time for firefighters to rescue people and help them put out fires more quickly, said Michael Uttaro, chief fire marshal for Nassau County, who supports the requirement.
“In our eyes, those sprinklers are like having a fireman in every home,” he said.
He noted that local building codes already require fire sprinklers in some cases, including the gated community Manhasset Crest, where national builder Toll Brothers has created a subdivision of luxury homes with prices starting at $3.1 million.
A national study of fire fatalities found the rate of civilian deaths was 90% lower when a sprinkler system was present, according to a report last year from the nonprofit National Fire Protection Association. Those statistics include fires in all types of structures, not just houses.
Florio, of the Builders Institute, believes mandating sprinkler systems in new homes won’t result in a meaningful improvement in safety. The Asterhill Research report last year found none of the fire fatalities that occurred from 2019 to 2023 occurred in one- or two-family homes built after 2000.
Tom Maher, a building inspector and president of the Building Officials Association of Suffolk County, said he believes working smoke detectors are enough to protect homeowners.
“In single-family homes, I don’t know that it’s really going to be worth the cost,” he said, noting he was expressing his own opinion, not an official stance of the association.
In some cases, Long Islanders have already added sprinklers to their homes, Maher said. State code requires new homes exceeding two stories to include fire sprinklers, which meant owners using federal funds to raise their homes after Superstorm Sandy needed to install them.
Maher recalled those systems cost about $15,000 more than a decade ago, when federal funding helped cover the cost for storm-damaged homes.
Builders would have to install automatic fire sprinkler systems in new single-family and two-family homes in New York if a key state regulator adopts the policy at a meeting later this month.
Long Island’s largest group of homebuilders opposes the change, saying it will add tens of thousands of dollars to home construction costs and worsen housing affordability in the region. Builders could absorb these costs and keep prices the same, but the shortage of available homes for sale gives them greater power to pass costs onto consumers.
“Our concern is you’re adding to the already expensive cost of a home,” said Mike Florio, CEO of the Long Island Builders Institute in Islandia.
The measure is backed by the Firefighters Association of the State of New York, which represents volunteer firefighters, as necessary to protect people caught in house fires and contain blazes until firefighters can arrive.
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND
- Homebuilders would be required to install automatic fire sprinkler systems in new homes if a regulatory council responsible for updating state building code adopts the policy.
- Long Island homebuilders are fighting the requirement, saying it would add tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of building a new house.
- The Firefighters Association of New York State, which represents volunteer firefighters, supports the change as a way to protect people caught in house fires as well as its members.
“It’s a worthwhile investment,” said John D'Alessandro, the association’s board secretary and a volunteer firefighter in Halfmoon in Saratoga County. “When it comes down to it, what price for a life?”
Local builders and the state firefighters association expect the State Fire Prevention and Building Code Council to consider a requirement at its Feb. 28 meeting. Mercedes Padilla, a spokeswoman for the New York Department of State, which administers the state building code, said the agenda for the meeting is still under review.
There were 126 home fire fatalities in New York last year, according to U.S. Fire Administration data for 2024. Ten Long Islanders died in home or apartment fires last year as of late November, Newsday previously reported.
The issue of whether New York should require fire sprinklers has been the subject of debate since the International Residential Code, a model building code developed by a U.S. nonprofit, updated its standards in 2009 to recommend sprinklers in one- and two-family homes.
However, New York's building code hasn't followed suit. The state code sets a minimum standard for local governments, which can adopt those rules or set stricter codes.
New York has taken steps to encourage adoption of ceiling sprinklers. In 2014, the state passed a law requiring builders to provide potential homebuyers information about sprinkler systems. In 2021, the state required builders to provide a cost estimate to buyers of new homes.
Fight over costs
New York builders estimate the addition of fire sprinklers to new homes would cost $20,000 to $30,000 based on a report published last year by Churchville, New York-based Asterhill Research Company for the New York State Builders Association.
The report relied on an online construction calculator and included estimates for the state's 10 regions. It estimated the additional cost in Hicksville, which it used to illustrate costs on Long Island, would be nearly $30,000, or $11.76 per square foot. That was the second-highest amount of any region in the state behind New York City.
Peter Florey, principal at affordable housing developer D&F Development Group in Levittown, said he believes the additional $30,000 is a conservative estimate for Long Island.
“Plumbing costs in particular have skyrocketed since the pandemic,” Florey said. “You have huge increases in materials and labor costs.”
Florey, also president of the New York State Builders Association, said an automatic sprinkler requirement would hurt affordability.
“The price of new homes is out of reach to too many already,” he said. “The percentage of people who could afford one — it shrinks that pool of people.”
New homes on Long Island are significantly more expensive than existing ones and represent a small fraction of total home sales. The average price of a new home sold on Long Island was about $1.7 million last year through the 12 months ending in September 2024, according to a report from the Builders Institute.
D'Alessandro, at the state Firefighters Association, said he believes builders are overstating the costs of sprinkler systems, but he declined to provide a specific estimate of his own.
Requiring fire sprinklers in new homes would help give residents more time to evacuate, buy time for firefighters to rescue people and help them put out fires more quickly, said Michael Uttaro, chief fire marshal for Nassau County, who supports the requirement.
“In our eyes, those sprinklers are like having a fireman in every home,” he said.
He noted that local building codes already require fire sprinklers in some cases, including the gated community Manhasset Crest, where national builder Toll Brothers has created a subdivision of luxury homes with prices starting at $3.1 million.
A national study of fire fatalities found the rate of civilian deaths was 90% lower when a sprinkler system was present, according to a report last year from the nonprofit National Fire Protection Association. Those statistics include fires in all types of structures, not just houses.
Florio, of the Builders Institute, believes mandating sprinkler systems in new homes won’t result in a meaningful improvement in safety. The Asterhill Research report last year found none of the fire fatalities that occurred from 2019 to 2023 occurred in one- or two-family homes built after 2000.
Tom Maher, a building inspector and president of the Building Officials Association of Suffolk County, said he believes working smoke detectors are enough to protect homeowners.
“In single-family homes, I don’t know that it’s really going to be worth the cost,” he said, noting he was expressing his own opinion, not an official stance of the association.
In some cases, Long Islanders have already added sprinklers to their homes, Maher said. State code requires new homes exceeding two stories to include fire sprinklers, which meant owners using federal funds to raise their homes after Superstorm Sandy needed to install them.
Maher recalled those systems cost about $15,000 more than a decade ago, when federal funding helped cover the cost for storm-damaged homes.
Jonathan LaMantia covers residential real estate and other business news on Long Island. He previously covered the business of health care for Crain's New York Business.
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