NYS and NYC M/WBE Certified Contractor
University Gardens is one of Nassau County’s most governed communities. The original subdivision dates back to 1927, and nearly every structure in the hamlet — whether it’s in the Waverly Hills section or along the Great Neck Terrace corridor — was built before asbestos-containing materials were phased out of residential construction. That matters because New York State law requires a certified asbestos inspection before any demolition permit can be issued. If your contractor isn’t licensed for abatement, your project doesn’t move forward until you find one who is.
When you work with a contractor who handles asbestos testing, abatement, permitting, demolition, and site cleanup under one contract, you’re not just saving time — you’re eliminating the gaps where projects stall. No waiting on a separate abatement firm to clear their schedule. No coordinating handoffs between vendors. No discovering mid-project that someone forgot the Nassau County rodent-free certification requirement.
What you get at the end is a properly cleared, permit-closed, inspection-ready lot — handled by one team that knew what was required before they ever showed up. For homeowners managing an estate, planning a rebuild, or simply dealing with a structure that’s past its useful life, that kind of straightforward execution is hard to find and genuinely valuable.
Green Island Group is a full-service demolition and environmental remediation company based in Bohemia, NY, serving Nassau County, Suffolk County, and the five boroughs. Over 12 years and 340+ completed projects, our work has ranged from single-family teardowns in quiet North Shore neighborhoods like University Gardens to larger commercial structures — but the process has always been the same: licensed, documented, and fully compliant from start to finish.
Serving the University Gardens area means understanding the Town of North Hempstead’s building department, Nassau County’s permit requirements, and the specific regulatory layers that come with older housing stock. We hold EPA certification, OSHA certification, NYS DOH asbestos licensing, and a Nassau County Home Improvement License — not because those credentials look good on a website, but because you can’t legally do this work in New York without them.
If your property is within the original University Gardens subdivision, there’s also the UGPOA architectural review process to navigate. That’s a step most contractors have never heard of. It’s one we build into the project timeline before work begins.
The first step is a site assessment. Before anything is scheduled or submitted, we evaluate the structure, identify potential hazardous materials, and map out what the full project scope looks like. For any home built before 1980 — which covers virtually every structure in University Gardens — that means a certified asbestos inspection is part of the process, not an afterthought.
From there, permitting begins. That includes the Town of North Hempstead demolition permit, Nassau County’s separate permit through the Department of Public Works, and the rodent-free certification that Nassau County requires before any residential demolition can proceed. If your property falls within the original 218-home University Gardens subdivision, the UGPOA Board also needs to receive your construction plans for review — a 30-day process that we build into the schedule so it doesn’t hold anything up. Tree removal, if needed, requires its own Town permit, and we handle that too.
Once approvals are in place, abatement comes first. Any asbestos or lead-containing materials are removed, contained, and disposed of according to NYS Industrial Code Rule 56 before structural demolition begins. Then the structure comes down, debris is hauled, and the site is graded and prepared for whatever comes next — whether that’s new construction, a sale, or simply a clean lot. You get one point of contact throughout, and the project doesn’t close until every inspection is signed off.
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House demolition in University Gardens isn’t a single-trade job. The housing stock here — spanning 1920s planned-community homes, 1940s Waverly Hills residences, and post-war construction throughout the broader hamlet — almost universally contains materials that require licensed abatement before a structure can legally come down. Our scope covers the full sequence: asbestos testing and abatement, lead paint assessment and removal, mold remediation where needed, full structural demolition, debris removal, and post-demolition site preparation.
What that means practically is that you’re not managing multiple contractors or chasing down subcontractors to coordinate their schedules. The asbestos crew and the demolition crew are the same company, operating under the same license, on the same timeline. For homeowners in University Gardens where the average commute already runs nearly 47 minutes each way, that single-contractor model isn’t a convenience — it’s the difference between a project that moves and one that drags.
If your project extends beyond demolition into restoration or new construction, we handle that too. The same team that takes the structure down can take the rebuild through to completion, which means no re-permitting delays, no new contractor vetting, and no starting over with someone who wasn’t there for the first half of the job.
If your property is within the original University Gardens subdivision — the 218-home planned community established in 1927 — then yes, the University Gardens Property Owners Association requires that construction plans be submitted to the UGPOA Board before any work begins. The Board has 30 days to respond, and their standard is whether the proposed work is “in harmony with the community.” If they don’t respond within that window, approval is assumed.
This is a private covenant requirement that runs with the land, meaning it applies to every owner regardless of when they purchased. It exists on top of — not instead of — the Town of North Hempstead’s public building permit requirements. A contractor who isn’t familiar with this process can inadvertently start work before the review period closes, which creates real legal exposure for the homeowner. We build this step into the project schedule from day one.
Yes — and it’s not optional. New York State Industrial Code Rule 56 requires a certified asbestos inspection before any demolition permit can be issued for a structure that may contain asbestos-containing materials. Given that virtually every home in University Gardens was built before 1980, that inspection is a practical certainty for any demolition project in this community. The materials most commonly found in homes of this era include pipe insulation, boiler wrap, floor tiles, ceiling tiles, roofing shingles, and textured plaster.
The inspection must be performed by a NYS-certified asbestos inspector, and if ACMs are found, they must be removed by a licensed abatement contractor before structural demolition begins — not during, not after. Skipping this step doesn’t just violate state law; it exposes you as the property owner to fines, stop-work orders, and potential liability that can far exceed whatever was saved by cutting corners. Working with a contractor who holds NYS DOH asbestos licensing in-house means this step is handled correctly, on schedule, without you needing to source a separate firm.
University Gardens is an unincorporated community governed by the Town of North Hempstead, so all demolition permits go through the Town’s Building Department — not a village hall. The Town requires proof of current contractor insurance and a valid Nassau County Home Improvement License before any permit is issued. In addition to the Town permit, Nassau County requires its own separate demolition permit through the Nassau County Department of Public Works.
There’s also a step that catches a lot of homeowners off guard: Nassau County requires a rodent-free certification before a demolition permit will be issued for any residential building. An experienced contractor builds this into the timeline from the start. If your project involves removing trees — which is common during demolition and site prep — front-yard tree removal requires a Town of North Hempstead tree permit, and if you’re within the original University Gardens subdivision, UGPOA approval is required for tree removal anywhere on the property. That’s a lot of moving parts, and the right contractor manages all of them without putting the burden back on you.
Nationally, house demolition ranges from roughly $6,000 to $25,000 for a standard single-family home. In the New York metro area — and Nassau County specifically — expect that range to run 20 to 30 percent higher due to labor costs, permit fees, and regulatory requirements. For a University Gardens project, the total cost depends on the size of the structure, the extent of hazardous materials found during the asbestos inspection, whether foundation removal is included, and what the post-demolition site work involves.
The bigger variable most homeowners don’t anticipate is asbestos abatement. If a pre-1950 home has original pipe insulation, boiler wrap, or textured plaster, the abatement scope can meaningfully affect the total project cost. A contractor who quotes demolition without first assessing the abatement scope is giving you an incomplete number. The right approach is a thorough site assessment upfront that accounts for the full scope — permits, abatement, demolition, debris removal, and site prep — so the number you’re given reflects what the project actually costs, not just the easy part of it.
Yes, and it’s a fairly common path in University Gardens. With median home values in the community approaching $870,000 and land values on well-located lots being strong, the economics of tearing down an aging structure and building new often make more sense than investing heavily in a renovation. The UGPOA Board has also made clear — including a unanimous vote in April 2024 to oppose lot subdivision at 74 Wensley Drive — that it actively resists subdivision-driven redevelopment. That means teardown-and-rebuild on an existing parcel is the more viable path for most owners within the original subdivision.
What you’ll need is a demolition permit from the Town of North Hempstead, Nassau County’s separate permit, UGPOA plan review if you’re within the original 218-home subdivision, and a new construction permit once the lot is cleared. The sequencing matters — new construction permits typically can’t be issued until demolition is closed out and the lot passes inspection. A contractor who handles both demolition and restoration can keep that handoff clean and prevent the delays that come from switching teams mid-project.
The physical demolition of a standard single-family home typically takes one to three days once work begins. But the total project timeline — from first call to cleared, inspection-ready lot — is usually four to eight weeks when you account for the full permit and approval process. In University Gardens specifically, that timeline includes the Town of North Hempstead permit, Nassau County’s separate demolition permit, the rodent-free certification, and for properties within the original subdivision, the UGPOA Board’s 30-day review window.
The asbestos inspection and any required abatement work also need to be completed before structural demolition can begin, and scheduling that work in sequence — rather than discovering it mid-project — is what keeps the timeline predictable. Contractors who don’t account for these steps upfront tend to hit delays that push projects out by weeks. The way to avoid that is straightforward: work with someone who knows the full checklist for this specific community before the first permit application is submitted, not someone who figures it out as they go.
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