whats the benefits of doing it the right way??

Danny,

Something is very wrong. That should not take anywhere near 4 months to get approval. I cannot imagine why you need revisions, we work on full gut renovations where we are moving bathrooms and kitchens that take 4 months. What is the building's architect coming back with?

To answer your question, you should do it the right way.

If you sell, the buyer will look for whether you converted legally. The city or the building could force you to take down illegal partition. In the case of fire, you may be liable for any damages due to illegal partitioning.

The benefit to doing it the legal way is that you will have no (or fewer) problems when you are ready to sell the unit, and may get a higher price (because the new owner won't have to fix potential errors. And the board will be somewhat limited in their power over you, as it will have been approved by their architect and the DOB. I'm a little surprised that you're paying the building architect by the hour -- he's the building's employee, not yours. You should have him contact your architect directly to answer questions -- they can speak pro to pro, rather than having you (a non-pro) as middleman.

>>I'm a little surprised that you're paying the building architect by the hour -- he's the building's employee, not yours. <<

Costs for architectural review of alteration plans are customarily passed along to the shareholder.

I think from reading one of the other threads that the building's issue is having to do with heating and cooling the newly created room.

Not clear why they would care about that but, the architect should provide a light and air calculation (required for alt 2 permits but may not be necessary for what you're doing).

I feel your pain though, I'm down 25K for architect, DOB, and building fees for a not very big project.

Alyssa,

If your project isn't large I am not sure why your costs would be 25k. Seems pretty high