Questions, answered.
How alerts work, what a BIN is, what to do when one lands, and what it all costs. Reach out at hello@flaghound.com if your question is not here.
Getting started.
How do I add a job site?
Sign in, open Jobsites, and click "Add jobsite". You can paste a BIN directly, or type a NYC street address and we will resolve the BIN through the NYC Geoclient API. Bulk-add is available too: drop in one address per line and we will queue them all. We start pulling the last few years of ECB, DOB, 311, and OATH records the second a BIN lands in your portfolio.
What is a BIN?
A BIN is a NYC Building Identification Number. It is a 7-digit code that the city uses to track every building in the five boroughs. The first digit tells you the borough: 1 = Manhattan, 2 = Bronx, 3 = Brooklyn, 4 = Queens, 5 = Staten Island. Every DOB filing, ECB violation, and 311 complaint about a building is keyed to its BIN, which is why we use it as the primary join key.
How long until I see my first alert?
It depends on what is happening at your jobsites. The backfill runs in the background after onboarding and surfaces existing violations and permits within a few minutes. New alerts (complaints, permit changes, new violations) typically arrive within a few hours of a record being published to the NYC source feed. Slow weeks happen and are a good sign, it means none of your sites are showing up in the city's problem queue.
Learn more: how a 311 call triggers an inspection →
Do I need to install anything?
No. Alerts arrive by email and SMS so you do not have to log in every day. The dashboard is there when you want to dig into a specific jobsite, file a hearing, or pull a compliance report.
Alerts and what to do.
Why did I get an early-warning alert?
An early-warning alert means a 311 or DOB complaint was filed at a BIN you are watching, before the city has decided whether to issue a violation. We send these because complaints predict violations. Open the alert to see the complaint category, the building's 12-month complaint history, and the historical conversion rate for that complaint type. If your crew is on site, swing by, take photos, and make sure permits are posted. If the complaint is about noise after hours and you have not been working there, it is almost certainly unrelated to your job.
Learn more: what happens after a 311 complaint →
Why did I get a permit-expiration alert?
We warn you when a permit you filed for is within 30 days of expiration, and again on the day it expires. Working past an expired permit is one of the most common ways contractors trigger an ECB violation. Renew the permit on DOB NOW before the expiry date, or close it out if the work is done.
Learn more: expired permits and the violation cascade →
Why did I get an ECB violation alert?
A violation has already been issued at a BIN you are watching. We pull ECB, DOB, and FDNY violations every few hours. The alert includes the violation number, penalty amount, OATH hearing date, and the underlying inspector finding. From the alert, you can mark it as handled (renewed, responded, appeared at hearing, dismissed) so it stops cluttering your feed. If the hearing is in the next 30 days, it is also pinned to the calendar so it does not slip.
Learn more: the 72-hour response playbook →
Pricing and account.
How much does FlagHound cost?
Three tiers. Watchdog is $39/mo and covers up to 10 jobsites, single user, email alerts. The Bloodhound tier is $99/mo and adds SMS alerts, branded PDF compliance reports, the impact dashboard, and up to 50 jobsites with 3 users. Cerberus is $249/mo and covers up to 200 jobsites with unlimited users, full team workflow, CSV export, and FISP tracking. Annual plans save roughly two months. See the pricing page for the full feature matrix.
How do I upgrade or cancel?
Open Settings → Billing and click "Manage subscription". We use Stripe's billing portal, so you can change tier, switch monthly to annual, update your card, or cancel with a single click. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period, you keep access until then. First paid subscription includes a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Can I monitor multiple sites?
Yes, every paid tier includes a generous monitored-property limit and you can add or remove jobsites at any time. Free accounts are limited to a single jobsite for evaluation.
How the data works.
Where does the data come from?
NYC Open Data (SODA API), DOB NOW, OATH, and the Federal Register. We poll roughly every 2-6 hours depending on the source. Everything is public record. The data sources, polling cadence, and matching rules are documented on the methodology section of the homepage.
Learn more: DOB NOW vs BIS, where your violations live →
How fast are alerts?
We poll NYC complaint feeds roughly every two hours. Alerts typically reach you within a few hours of a record being published to the source feed, though timing depends on the agency's own publishing cadence and is not a guaranteed SLA.
Do you auto-alert on fuzzy matches?
No. By design, only license number, exact company name, or BIN matches trigger an alert. Fuzzy name matches are logged internally for later review rather than surfaced as alerts. We tested this and 85-92% fuzzy matches were 100% false positives, so we keep them in shadow mode.
Email us, we read every message.
We are a small team building this for working NYC contractors. Reply to any alert email or write to hello@flaghound.com and a human will get back to you, usually within a business day.