Plumbing and electrical permits

The architect gets you a plan approval; the contractor does obtain separate permits, also from DoB, to perform the work according to the approved plans.

That said, $3500 is almost certainly excessive, even accounting for some staff time required to process the paperwork on the contractor's end. Get them to break out what the actual permit fees cost (e.g. what the checks to DoB are worth) and then negotiate a modest additional amount for the processing work.

You could dig around the Department of Buildings site and see what the fees were for similar work.

E.g., for the last couple in my building, a $50,000 HVAC job per the Cost Affidavit had $750 under Fees Paid, and a $95,000 general renovation had $1,100.

That wouldn't include the cost of an expeditor.

I don't know how the $ in a Cost Affidavit relate to an owner's actual cost.

I paid something like $1000 each for limited plumbing and electrical work permits

Greencat,

Its not so insane, my plumber charges me 2k and my electrician 1k

Seems a bit too much. I remember my expediter charging me around $500 for getting permits.

Yo no,

The Expeditor getting building permits is a different thing. When the plumber and electrician file they also have to meet with the inspectors and sign off on the projects.

The OP said that the contractor wants 3.5K for "obtaining the permits". Moreover, self-certified plumbers/electricians most of the time don't even have to meet with inspectors.

Our condo renovation project cost us $1200 for the plumber to get/pull permits and close it at the end of the job. It was a Alt2/ self certification project so there was no need to meet with any inspectors as @yknp has mentioned

Projects are filed by architects differently. Just like everything else there are good architects and there are some architects that are not. There are many times when an architect will file a project incorrectly. It depends on how they file that determines if the plumbing needs to be inspected. There are some plumbers that will charge less for pulling permits and might charge more for the actual work. In my experience it is always better to pay a little more for great plumbers and electricians. Very much worth it in the end.