A City Council committee is considering legislation to boost fines for violators of certain sections of the building code — a push the Bloomberg administration endorsed during a hearing yesterday.

“Construction is just out of control in this city,” Council Member Tony Avella of Queens said.

Several members of the Housing and Buildings Committee also urged the administration to enforce the building code with the help of police, and to seek jail time for the most flagrant violators.

“Listen, I don’t like to throw anybody in jail, to see anyone go to jail. But if that’s what it’s going to take to make these developers and contractors pay attention, to respect the community, then that’s what we have to do,” Council Member Domenic Recchia Jr. said.

Fining and jailing contractors who flagrantly violate the law would “give some teeth to the buildings department and some oomph to the penalties,” Council Member Lewis Fidler said.

The prospect that contractors could face prison unnerved a lawyer for the New York City Demolition Contractors’ Association, Irwin Echtman, who said criminal penalties could be unfair because violation notices are sometimes inadequately served. Mr. Echtman, who said members of the association handle about 80% of city demolition, urged committee members to change the way notices are served if they want to introduce criminal charges.

“The city can overregulate construction companies,” Mr. Echtman said. He did concede that many of the violations inspectors issue are well deserved, but said the threat of jail could have the unintended consequence of slowing development in the city.

A senior counsel to the city buildings commissioner, Stephen Kramer, said the Buildings Department favors almost all the proposals contained in four bills being considered, and that administration officials have discussed using the city sheriff for enforcement.

For example, the legislation would increase tenfold — to $5,000 from $500 — the fine for work without a permit, and the punishment for disobeying an order to stop work would increase to $2,000 a day from $500 a day. More than 1,700 stop-work orders were issued between July and September, Mr. Kramer said.

Although Mr. Echtman said he agreed the building code should be enforced, he asked that inspectors more adequately notify builders when they have been cited.

Mr. Recchia said Mr. Echtman’s pleas didn’t earn any sympathy.

“You know why we were forced to write these bills? Because it was your members that have a total disregard for the people of the City of New York. Do you realize that?” Mr. Recchia said before Chairman Erik Martin Dilan interrupted to ask his colleague not to “personalize” the attack.