Tom Preiato’s friendly, matter-of-fact style has served him well in the 25 years he has been a building inspector on the South Fork.
He started in 2000 as principal building inspector in the town, moved to Sag Harbor Village in 2014, and has been East Hampton Village’s chief inspector since 2021. At tomorrow’s East Hampton Village Board meeting, he will announce his retirement, and the trustees will vote on a resolution to hire Joe Palermo, who has been the chief building inspector for the town, as his successor.
In his 25 years as a building inspector, Mr. Preiato has seen a lot — the 9/11 boom, the Great Recession of 2008, the Covid-19 building explosion, the corporatization of residential zones. Along the way, while brushing up against the rich and famous, fabulously wealthy, and sometimes sneaky who have built their houses along our gilded shores only with his approval, he has collected stories.
Early in his career, he had to get involved when Jerry Seinfeld renovated his Further Lane estate, which he had purchased from Billy Joel, without the proper permits. He was quoted on Page Six of The New York Post, saying Mr. Seinfeld’s renovations had gone too far.
“At times I’ve been the building inspector to the stars,” he said. “I’m just a regular guy. I don’t get caught up with who they are.”
Regular guy or not, he started in construction, and it’s been hard not to marvel at some of the houses.
“You have golf simulators in basements. In one village residence, there’s an indoor swimming pool with a retractable cover that becomes a patio when it’s closed. We have bowling alleys. What I find most amusing is the endless wealth on the ocean. Someone can have a 20-bedroom house, but they’ll buy the lot next door for their kids, for when they visit. It’s nuts.”
Building inspectors are charged with making sure building plans align with a municipality’s code and then again with making sure that what is built aligns with the plans. They ensure health and safety standards are met, and that state and federal regulations are enforced.
One memorable inspection involved a buried pool. “Somebody covered a pool with plywood and mulch, trying to hide it. It was too close to a property line. I knew a pool was going in, but then the survey came in with nothing. I’m not sure if the surveyor was helping the builder or if he was just stupid. It was kind of obvious, but you had to look. They ended up filling it in and relocating it.”
Then there was the guy who tried to hide three bedrooms and a bathroom.
“This was on Cedar Street. The hallway ended abruptly. Nice trim, everything. You couldn’t tell. As a builder inspector, I look at plans all day. You know how far it should go. I was knocking on the wall and was like, ‘What’s over here?’ Through the wall, three bedrooms and a bathroom. They had the damned toilet paper up, ready to go.” In the end, the homeowner received a variance for the additions from the zoning board of appeals.
“I think we need to tighten up on the variances that are given out, and not let it be a rubber stamp,” he said. He especially took issue with houses that are demolished. They begin with a clean slate, yet they ask the Z.B.A. for variances. “That’s when you buy a bigger lot.”
On the other end of the spectrum, people have attempted to bribe him, once with “a good chunk of money.”
“You need to turn around and walk away, is what you need to do. I don’t want to get in trouble, and I don’t want to get you in trouble,” he said. “I’m very much about being a straight shooter.”
He’s never gotten paranoid though, or lost faith in people.
“You have your repeat offenders, but I like to give everyone a fair chance. Once I know we have to watch it, we’re going to watch it and that’s it. We have a justice court if they don’t, but that’s a long path. My goal is to see compliance.”
He was noncommittal about town legislation that seeks to reduce the maximum house size through the gross floor area calculation. “They have a good cap. I don’t think they need to cap further,” he said, while acknowledging that one recent trend in building has been the maxxing out of building lots. “There’s more investors and I guess to some extent they have become greedy. When I started there were no clearing restrictions. People just used common sense. You don’t clear-cut the thing. They didn’t do a stupid house on a tiny lot. You’re taking value away from the property if you cap it too much, but maybe that needs to be done.”
“For a long time, we were the village of ‘No,’ “ said Mayor Jerry Larsen, who brought in Mr. Preiato when he became mayor. “Having a Building Department that has ideas and recommendations and is friendly is really helpful. He has a way of going to an inspection saying, ‘Everything looks great. You need to fix this and that. Fix it, I’ll come back in a month, and you’ll have your approval.’ Instead of simply, ‘Here’s your fail report.’ Tom was terrific, and I’m going to miss having him.”
In a memo sent out to village staff when Mr. Preiato announced his retirement, Marcos Baladron, the village administrator, summed it up nicely: “Through his leadership, expertise, and dedication, Tom has played a pivotal role in shaping the village’s Building Department into what it is today. His commitment to fair and respectful treatment of all residents — a priority set by this board — has strengthened trust in our processes and set a high standard for public service.”
