NYS and NYC M/WBE Certified Contractor
Chichester’s building stock isn’t like most towns. A lot of what’s standing here traces back to the 1860s and 1920s, when the Chichester brothers built out a full company town along the Stony Clove Creek worker housing, a factory, a church, a general store. Those structures were maintained and updated through the mid-20th century, which is exactly when asbestos-containing materials were standard in pipe insulation, floor tiles, joint compound, and ceiling treatments. If you’re opening walls, pulling up floors, or replacing old heating systems in a Chichester property, you’re likely dealing with materials that need a licensed eye before anyone touches them.
The second thing most people don’t think about is water. The Stony Clove Creek runs right through this hamlet, and that watershed moves fast when a storm rolls through. Flood damage to an older Chichester home doesn’t just mean wet floors it can disturb asbestos-containing materials that were stable for decades. When that happens, you’re not just dealing with water damage anymore. You need someone who can handle both without calling in two separate crews and coordinating a scheduling nightmare.
When the job is done right, you get documented air clearance results showing your home is safe not a verbal “looks good” from someone who isn’t licensed to say it. That documentation matters whether you’re finishing a renovation, preparing to sell, or simply trying to get back inside your house.
We hold the NYS Department of Labor Asbestos Handling License the specific credential required under New York State Industrial Code Rule 56 before any contractor can legally perform asbestos abatement work in this state. That’s not a general contractor license or a handyman registration. It’s the one that matters, and it’s verifiable through the NYS DOL website.
We serve the full Town of Shandaken, including Chichester, and we know what it means to work in a hamlet that’s only accessible via Route 214. We’re not going to tell you we’re “in the area” and then show up three weeks late. We cover Ulster County including the communities that other contractors write off as too far out.
Beyond asbestos, we’re licensed and certified for mold remediation, water damage restoration, lead abatement, and demolition. For a property sitting in the Stony Clove Creek corridor with 100-year-old bones, that matters more than it would almost anywhere else.
It starts with an inspection. Before anything is disturbed, we conduct a certified survey of the materials in question pipe insulation, floor tiles, ceiling systems, joint compound, roofing and take samples for laboratory analysis. In older Chichester properties, especially those built or renovated between the 1920s and 1980s, it’s common to find asbestos in more than one location. The inspection tells you exactly what you’re dealing with before a single tool comes out.
If abatement is needed, we handle the pre-project notification to the NYS Department of Labor and coordinate with the Town of Shandaken’s building department on your behalf. For second-home owners managing a renovation from Brooklyn or Manhattan, that permit process is a real obstacle we take it off your plate entirely. The abatement itself is performed by NYS-certified handlers under a licensed supervisor, with the work area fully contained and sealed before removal begins.
After the material is removed, properly packaged, and transported to a licensed disposal facility, we conduct post-abatement air monitoring. You receive documented clearance results not a handshake, not a verbal sign-off, but actual data showing fiber counts are within safe limits. That documentation is what your contractor, your insurance company, and your real estate attorney will ask for. We make sure it’s ready.
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The scope of what we handle covers the full range of asbestos-containing materials found in Ulster County’s older residential properties. Asbestos tile removal is one of the most common requests we get 9×9 floor tiles installed in mid-century additions are almost a given in homes that were updated between the 1950s and 1970s. Asbestos popcorn ceiling removal is another frequent call, particularly from buyers who’ve purchased older Catskills properties and are updating interiors before moving in or renting. We also handle pipe and duct insulation, roofing shingles, exterior cement board, joint compound, and textured wall coatings.
Because many properties in and around Chichester have multiple overlapping issues asbestos in the basement, mold from years of moisture infiltration, water damage from creek flooding, lead paint on original woodwork we’re built to handle more than one problem per visit. We’re IICRC-certified for water damage restoration, USEPA-certified for lead abatement, and licensed for demolition work. That means if your renovation uncovers more than one issue, you’re not starting the contractor search over again.
We also bill insurance directly when asbestos abatement is part of a covered loss flood damage, storm damage, or other insured events. If you’re dealing with the aftermath of a Stony Clove Creek flood event and the remediation is tied to an insurance claim, we handle that documentation and billing process so you don’t have to.
Yes and this isn’t a gray area in New York State. Under NYS Industrial Code Rule 56, any disturbance of 10 or more square feet or 25 or more linear feet of asbestos-containing material must be performed by a contractor holding a NYS Department of Labor Asbestos Handling License. A general contractor license doesn’t cover it. A demolition permit doesn’t cover it. The specific DOL credential is required, and the project must be filed with the state before work begins.
In a rural area like Chichester, it’s not uncommon for homeowners to be approached by general contractors or handymen who offer to “take care of it” without the proper license. If something goes wrong a failed air test, a complaint filed with the DOL, a real estate transaction that falls apart over improper documentation the liability lands on the property owner. Hiring a licensed contractor isn’t just about doing the right thing; it’s about protecting yourself legally and financially.
Costs vary based on the size of the affected area, the type of material, and the complexity of the containment required. For a small residential project a single room of floor tile or a section of pipe insulation you’re generally looking at a starting range of $1,500 to $3,000. Larger projects involving multiple material types, extensive pipe systems, or full-room ceiling removal can run $5,000 or more depending on scope.
It’s worth knowing that asbestos abatement costs in New York increased 8 to 12 percent in recent years, driven in part by mandatory post-abatement air monitoring requirements that are now standard across the state. That monitoring adds cost, but it also gives you the documented clearance results that protect you legally and confirm the job was done correctly. For properties in Chichester and the broader Shandaken area where older building stock means asbestos can turn up in multiple locations getting a full inspection before budgeting is the right move. You don’t want to price one room and discover there are three more.
Given that much of Chichester’s residential building stock traces back to the company-town era of the 1860s through 1920s and was updated repeatedly through the mid-20th century there are several common locations where asbestos turns up. Pipe and duct insulation on older steam and hot water heating systems is one of the most frequent findings. Floor tiles, particularly the 9×9 inch variety installed in kitchens, bathrooms, and utility areas between the 1950s and 1970s, are another. Popcorn ceilings applied during renovation work in the 1960s and 1970s are a third.
Beyond those, joint compound used in drywall finishing, textured wall coatings, roofing shingles, and exterior cement board siding can all contain asbestos depending on when they were installed. If your property was built before 1980 and has never been tested or if it was renovated in layers over several decades, which is common in older Catskill Mountain homes the safest assumption before any renovation work is that testing is warranted. Disturbing an unknown material without testing first is the scenario that creates real health and legal exposure.
Yes, and this is a scenario that comes up more in the Shandaken area than most homeowners expect. The Stony Clove Creek watershed covers 32 square miles of steep mountain terrain, and when a significant storm moves through the kind that hit the Catskills hard during Tropical Storm Irene and similar events water can enter basements and lower levels quickly. When floodwater contacts older pipe insulation, floor tiles, or ceiling materials that contain asbestos in a Chichester home, it can make those materials friable meaning they start to break apart and release fibers.
If you’ve had water intrusion in an older property and you’re not sure whether the damaged materials contain asbestos, don’t start pulling things out before testing. The combination of flood damage and asbestos disturbance is exactly the kind of situation where having one contractor who handles both water damage restoration and licensed asbestos abatement makes the process significantly faster and less complicated. We’re IICRC-certified for water damage and NYS DOL licensed for asbestos abatement, so both sides of that response happen under one coordinated scope of work.
Under New York State regulations, an asbestos survey is required before renovation work begins if the project involves disturbance of building materials in a structure that may contain asbestos which generally means anything built before 1980. This isn’t optional if your project crosses the regulatory thresholds under NYS Industrial Code Rule 56. And in a hamlet like Chichester, where properties routinely date to the early 20th century or earlier, the question isn’t really whether to test it’s which materials to prioritize.
For second-home buyers who’ve purchased an older property and are planning a renovation, this step is especially important to get right before the work starts. Discovering asbestos mid-project after walls are open or tiles are already broken creates a stop-work situation that’s far more disruptive and expensive than a pre-renovation survey. Testing first keeps your timeline intact and your contractor out of a regulatory problem. Given that the renovation season in the Catskills runs roughly from spring thaw to first frost, losing weeks to an unplanned abatement delay in the middle of that window is a real cost.
The timeline depends on the scope of work, but for a typical residential project in the Chichester area, here’s a realistic picture. The initial inspection and lab results generally take two to five business days. Once results confirm asbestos-containing material, we file the required pre-project notification with the NYS Department of Labor state regulations require a minimum notification period before abatement can begin, which is typically ten business days for non-emergency projects. Emergency situations have a shorter notification window.
The abatement work itself can range from a single day for a contained area like a section of pipe insulation or a single room of floor tile, to several days for larger or more complex scopes involving multiple material types. Post-abatement air monitoring is conducted after the work area is cleaned and before containment is removed, and lab results typically come back within 24 to 48 hours. From first call to final clearance documentation, most residential projects in the Shandaken area run two to three weeks when everything moves on schedule which is why calling before your renovation starts, rather than after something’s already been disturbed, is always the better position to be in.
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