Automatic sprinkler systems may soon be required in newly constructed homes in New York — a move fired-up contractors on Long Island say will only drive up home prices with systems costing as much as $30,000.
The mandate would force homebuilders to install automatic home sprinkler systems in newly constructed single-family and two-family houses in the Empire State, Newsday reported.
It’s supported by the Firefighters Association of New York State, which touted the sprinklers as a lifesaving measure.
John D’Alessandro, the association’s board secretary and a firefighter himself, called it “a worthwhile investment.”
“When it comes down to it, what’s price for a life?” he told the paper.
But the trade group Long Island Builders Institute in Islandia believes it won’t do much to improve safety — and will lead to skyrocketing home prices, ultimately affecting the homeowner.
“The price of homeownership is becoming harder and harder for most people to obtain,” Mike Florio, the group’s CEO, told The Post.
“By mandating sprinklers you are putting that homeownership further and further out of reach for most people.”
The contractors estimate the sprinklers will cost upwards of $20,000 to $30,000 based on a 2024 study for the New York State Builders Association.
Zero fatalities occurred in one- and two-bedroom homes built after the year 2000, the study found while researching fires that happened between 2019 and 2023.
“It’s really the older homes that are the problem, so mandating fire sprinklers in new homes are not really going to solve the issue,” Florio said.
Other Long Island builders also denounced the pricey proposal.
“The price of new homes is out of reach to too many already,” Peter Florey, the president of the New York State Builders Association, told Newsday.
“The percentage of people who could afford one — it shrinks that pool of people.”
D’Alessandro threw cold water on the builders’ estimates, telling Newsday they’re overestimating the cost.
“In our eyes, those sprinklers are like having a fireman in every home,” he said.
Under current state law, builders are required to give new homeowners a cost estimate on sprinkler installation.
“When they do that, most people say, ‘Eh, no thanks,’” Florio told The Post.
The State Fire Prevention and Building Code Council will consider adopting the sprinkler rule on Feb. 28.
