If you are in a multi-family apartment building anything you change (other than reasonable repairs) is required by code to be designed and stamped by an engineer or an architect and the installation of a new electrical panel requires a licensed electrician to do the work.

What floor levels does the dumbwaiter penetrate? Is it within your apartment or does it extend beyond your apartemnt? If it extends beyond your apartment the shaft walls will almost certainly be of 2 hour fire rated fire construction and cannot be interrupted by anything including an electric panel.

When was the shaft constructed? Can you determine the thickness?

The difficulty will finding an architect or engineer willing to do such a small project. You might try craigslist because there are a lot of out of work architects but be sure they have a NY stamp.

The shaft can be abandoned but you will probably have to block it off in some manner either at the new panel or at the floor line in order to penetrate the wall surface thereby losing the shaft fire rating.

The building department will be more willing to assist the architect because they know he/she will be responsible for the final design regardless of what they say. If you are in Manhattan things can get a bit more complicated.

I know about the "licensed electrician" bit, I don't need that info.

What I want to know is how payment and information are exchanged when you consult an architect.

(I had sort of hoped I could remove the door and install a new fire-rated something, maybe drywall, behind the electrical panel, on the inside of the door opening, thereby preserving the fire rating. The shaft is definitely thick enough that I'm pretty certain it's a fire wall.)

But I'm still curious about how getting an architect's help would play out, in terms of payment, etc. THAT is what my question is about.

call reputable architects in your area and find out. A consultation fee might be charged you.

An architect will either charge you an hourly rate with a budget based on the scope of the work or if the scope is easily determined, a lump sum fee. Because of the limited scope of the work and the fact that the architect must stamp and be liable for any errors in the design there might be a minimum fee regardless of the hours it takes to do the work.

If this work is in a building owned by others, it is likely that they will have to act as the owners instead of you. You would certainly need their permission in writing to make these changes.

macv, I do know how a co-op works. I live in one. I'm trying to gather information so I can decide whether to bring the issue to the co-op board in order to get their permission.

And how do I find out how much an architect would charge without being committed to spending money, is my question. It's the getting STARTED, and the "how do I know what I'm in for before I'm in for it?" is what I want to know.

I guess I'll go w/ sierraeast's info, since it's particularly pertinent.

I'm just wondering whether I have to pay to find out how much I'd have to pay.

If that's all you wanted to know you could have asked earlier. The answer is no. You don't owe an architect anything until you sign a contract.

I thought that was what I asked--it was the title of the thread.
And it was the last two lines of my very post--the ones w/ question marks on them.

I guess I gave too much info on the project itself, which apparently was distracting. Sorry to have bothered you.

It was interesting to be reminded what New Yorkers are like.

"It was interesting to be reminded what New Yorkers are like."
Macv, what does that mean?

oofasis........since you're from N.Y. I think you're very aware what macv meant.

I found the post pretty funny, especially since it was apparent talley didn't appreciate macv's effort to provide extra, helpful info.

There was no need for one to be so snarky when people are trying to help.

It sounds like you do need an architect to come out and see if the project is feasible. My architect charges by the hour - $100/hour in Chicago. And here in Chicago too, you need to have an architect submit plans to the city for just about everything. I've tried looking at building code and couldn't figure out some pretty basic stuff, and the electrical plans on my architect's drawings are even more incomprehensible to me, so I feel like money spent bringing in an expert is money well spent. Your time in valuable too. I think you should look at it this way: Even if the architect charges you for the initial consult (not sure if they will, it's worth sending an email to a couple of firms you find online and asking them), is it worth $200 to you to find out once and for all if this project is a possibility?

I would post this query about the breaker box being in the dumbwaiter shaft on the brownstoner.com forum. the folks who answer there are informed about NYC codes and there are many professionals, engineers, and trades-persons who probably can answer this. My gut says the shaft connects various apts and that fire could spread. You can't have breaker box in a closet, so seems dumbwaiter also against NYC electrical code. In this case, I would start with an electrician and not an architect.

Here is a link that might be useful: brownstoner forum

The OP is not interested in advice about how to do the work and only wants to know if an architect will look at the job and make a proposal without charging for that time. Offer any other kind of advice and you'll get chastised for trying to help.

By the way, all an electrician will be able to say is that you can't touch a fire-rated wall and that is probably how the issue came up in the first place.

The wall is probably "shaftwall" which is a special "back-to-back-E shaped) stud with a continuous 1" shaft liner gypsum board inserted in a slot on the shaft side and one or two layers of drywall screwed to the face of the studs.

The simple solution is to remove the dumbwaiter and shaft and seal the floors with fire-rated construction then add whatever you want.

Oops, I said too much!

I'd recommend to the OP: pick up the phone and just call up an architect and say, "how much would you charge me to tell me if it's even possible?"

Wow.
This was my first venture onto the Remodeling Forum - usually spend my time lurking on Home Decorating. I have to say that anyone completely new to these forums might be afraid to post an answer OR a question after reading this particular thread. Hopefully no one will be too intimidated by the snarkiness of the OP - I have found most people on these forums to be very helpful AND appreciative of help.