NYS and NYC M/WBE Certified Contractor
When your Addisleigh Park home was built in the 1920s, demolition isn’t just about knocking things down. Behind those walls in the floor tiles, the pipe insulation, the ceiling materials there’s almost certainly asbestos. Lead paint is on every surface. And if your basement has flooded more than once, mold has already started working on your structure. Hiring a crew that can only do one of those things means you’re managing three separate contractors, three separate timelines, and three separate chances for something to go sideways.
We handle the full sequence. We test, abate, and demolish all under one contract. For Addisleigh Park homeowners dealing with the chronic groundwater flooding that’s been documented throughout southeast Queens for decades, that means we can respond to water damage, begin mold remediation, and execute the demolition needed to restore your home without you having to coordinate a thing.
The other piece that matters here specifically: Addisleigh Park is an NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission historic district. That adds a regulatory layer most demolition contractors have never dealt with. We have. You get a team that knows what approvals are needed before the first wall comes down not one that figures it out mid-project at your expense.
We’ve been working across Queens and the New York metro area for over 12 years, with deep experience throughout the Addisleigh Park Historic District and the surrounding southeast Queens neighborhoods. We hold NYS Department of Labor asbestos abatement licensing, NYC Department of Buildings authorization, and we carry the full insurance coverage you should be asking every contractor about before anyone sets foot on your property.
We understand what makes Addisleigh Park different. The homes along 175th Street and throughout the historic district aren’t just old they’re structurally complex, historically protected, and sitting on a water table that’s been rising since the city stopped pumping groundwater in the 1990s. That combination creates conditions that require more than a standard demolition crew.
With 340+ completed projects and a 4.7-star rating, we’re not building a reputation here we’re maintaining one. Our reviews consistently mention one thing above everything else: we explain what’s happening, we answer the phone, and we don’t disappear after the estimate.
It starts with a site assessment. Before any work begins, we walk the property and identify what we’re dealing with structural conditions, potential hazardous materials, access considerations, and scope. For homes in the Addisleigh Park Historic District, this step also includes reviewing what the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission requires for your specific project. Some work needs LPC approval before a permit can even be pulled. We flag that upfront so it doesn’t stall your project later.
From there, if testing confirms asbestos or lead and in a pre-1940 home, it usually does abatement happens first. That’s non-negotiable under New York State law, and it protects you, your neighbors, and the crew. Once abatement is complete and clearance air monitoring confirms the space is clean, demolition proceeds. We handle debris removal, recycling of salvageable materials, and full site cleanup so your contractor can walk in and start the next phase immediately.
If you’re dealing with water damage or flooding which is common throughout Addisleigh Park given the elevated groundwater levels in southeast Queens we can integrate water damage response and mold remediation into the same workflow. One call, one crew, one timeline. We also bill insurance carriers directly, which matters when you’re already dealing with the stress of a damaged home.
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Most of what we do in Addisleigh Park falls into one of two categories: planned interior demolition for homeowners doing gut renovations on their Tudor or Colonial homes, and emergency or water-damage-driven demolition for homeowners dealing with the flooding and structural damage that comes with living in southeast Queens. Both require the same foundation proper licensing, hazardous material expertise, and knowledge of the local regulatory environment.
On the residential side, we handle everything from selective interior demolition taking down walls, removing flooring, gutting kitchens and bathrooms to full structural teardowns where required. For commercial properties along the Linden Boulevard corridor or within the broader St. Albans area, we bring the same licensed, permitted approach to larger-scale commercial demolition work.
What makes this different from a general contractor picking up a demo job on the side is the environmental piece. Every home in the Addisleigh Park historic district is pre-1940. That means asbestos testing is required under NYC Local Law 76 before any renovation or demolition begins no exceptions. We’re licensed to handle that testing, the abatement, the required air monitoring afterward, and the demolition itself. You’re not patching together a team. You’re working with one crew that carries the full scope from start to finish, including direct insurance billing for water and storm-related claims.
It depends on the scope of work, but the short answer is: possibly yes, and you need to find out before anything starts. Addisleigh Park was designated an NYC Landmark Historic District in 2011, which means the Landmarks Preservation Commission has authority over any restoration, alteration, reconstruction, or demolition affecting properties within the district. For work that impacts the exterior or character-defining features of a historic structure, LPC approval called a Certificate of Appropriateness is required before a NYC Department of Buildings permit can be issued.
Interior-only demolition that doesn’t affect the building’s exterior or historic character may not require LPC review, but that determination needs to be made carefully. Getting it wrong means stop-work orders, fines, and potentially mandatory restoration at your cost. When we assess a project in Addisleigh Park, reviewing the LPC requirements for your specific property and scope is part of the process not an afterthought.
Not every home from that era tests positive, but the odds are high enough that you should assume it’s there until testing says otherwise. The EPA estimates that 87% of homes built before 1940 contain lead-based paint, and asbestos-containing materials were standard in construction throughout that period floor tiles, pipe insulation, ceiling tiles, joint compound, roofing materials, and more. In Addisleigh Park, where essentially every home was built between 1910 and the early 1930s, this isn’t a rare edge case. It’s the baseline.
Under NYC Local Law 76, an asbestos investigation is required before any renovation or demolition project in the city no exceptions. If asbestos is found, it has to be abated by a NYS Department of Labor licensed contractor before demolition can proceed. We hold that license, which means we can handle the testing, the abatement, the post-abatement air monitoring, and the demolition itself without you needing to bring in a separate abatement company and start the coordination process over.
When the water has been sitting long enough to compromise structural materials, or when mold has gotten into framing, subflooring, drywall, or insulation, remediation alone isn’t enough. At that point, the damaged material has to come out. That’s demolition selective in most cases, but demolition nonetheless. In Addisleigh Park and throughout southeast Queens, where the groundwater table has been elevated since the city stopped pumping groundwater after acquiring the Jamaica Water Supply Company in the 1990s, this isn’t a one-time storm event. It’s a recurring problem that the Addisleigh Park Civic Organization has been fighting for years.
Mold begins growing within 24 to 48 hours of water intrusion. If your basement has flooded more than once and you’ve been managing it without fully addressing the structural materials that got wet, there’s a good chance the damage runs deeper than it looks. We can assess the extent of it, handle the mold remediation, and execute the demolition needed to get your home back to a clean, stable condition and if it’s an insurance claim, we bill the carrier directly so you’re not stuck in the middle.
At minimum, structural demolition in New York City requires a permit from the NYC Department of Buildings. That permit requires the contractor to be authorized by the DOB a credential that isn’t easy to obtain and that many smaller or out-of-area contractors don’t hold. On top of that, any project involving asbestos requires compliance with NYS Department of Labor Industrial Code Rule 56, which governs abatement procedures, worker certification, and air monitoring requirements. Federal USEPA NESHAP regulations also apply for projects above certain asbestos thresholds, including advance notification requirements.
For properties in the Addisleigh Park Historic District specifically, there’s also the LPC layer the Landmarks Preservation Commission may need to review and approve the scope before a DOB permit can be issued. That’s three separate regulatory frameworks that need to be navigated correctly. We hold NYC DOB authorization and NYS DOL asbestos licensing, and we’ve worked within the LPC review process. When you hire us, you’re not learning about permit requirements the hard way mid-project.
It varies significantly based on scope, but New York City demolition costs are meaningfully higher than what you’ll find on national cost-estimator websites and for good reason. Licensing, permits, asbestos abatement, post-abatement air monitoring, and compliant disposal all add real cost that a cheap or unlicensed quote won’t include. Asbestos removal in New York runs $20 to $65 per square foot depending on the material and extent. Independent air monitoring, which is legally required after abatement, typically costs $600 to $1,200 per day.
For interior selective demolition in a single-family home gutting a kitchen, bathroom, or basement you’re generally looking at a few thousand dollars on the low end for a straightforward scope, with costs rising based on square footage, hazardous material findings, and permit complexity. Full structural demolition on a Queens residential property can run significantly higher. The most important thing to understand is that a dramatically low bid in this market almost always means something is being skipped and in a landmark historic district, the consequences of cutting corners fall on you as the property owner, not the contractor.
Yes and for most homeowners in Addisleigh Park, that’s exactly the kind of help that’s actually useful. The flooding situation in southeast Queens isn’t a simple water cleanup job. When groundwater rises into a basement, it doesn’t just wet the floor it gets into framing, it soaks insulation, it works behind drywall, and it creates the conditions for mold to take hold fast. By the time a homeowner calls, there’s often a remediation problem and a demolition problem happening at the same time.
We offer water damage restoration, mold remediation, and demolition as integrated services. We can respond to an emergency, assess what’s structurally compromised, begin remediation, and execute the demolition needed to restore the space all under one contract. We’re available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, because flooding in Addisleigh Park doesn’t wait for business hours. And for homeowners filing an insurance claim, we bill your carrier directly so the administrative burden of the claim doesn’t fall on you while you’re already dealing with a damaged home.
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