NYS and NYC M/WBE Certified Contractor
Most demolition projects in Manhattan don’t stall because of the physical work. They stall because someone didn’t file the ACP-5 asbestos assessment before pulling the DOB permit, or because the contractor had no idea the building required co-op board approval before a single wall could come down. These aren’t rare edge cases here they’re the standard reality for nearly every pre-war building from the Upper West Side to the Financial District.
When you work with us, those stalls don’t happen. We handle the permit sequence correctly the first time. The asbestos assessment happens before the permit application, not after demolition has already started. The alteration agreement gets reviewed and signed before your building’s super is even involved. You don’t lose weeks to paperwork that should have been done upfront.
The other thing that changes is accountability. In Manhattan, you’re not just managing a contractor you’re managing a project that touches your co-op board, your building’s management company, and potentially the Landmarks Preservation Commission if you’re in one of the borough’s many historic districts. Having one contractor who handles demolition, asbestos abatement, and remediation in-house means one point of contact through all of it, not three separate companies you’re trying to coordinate across a project that was supposed to take two weeks.
Green Island Group has been operating across New York City’s five boroughs for over 12 years, with more than 340 documented demolition projects completed in Manhattan and throughout the city. That track record wasn’t built on suburban teardowns it was built on the kind of dense, regulated, multi-stakeholder work that Manhattan demands.
We are MWBE certified and an approved contractor for New York State agencies, which matters directly in a borough that includes some of the largest concentrations of public housing, institutional facilities, and city-managed properties in the state. From gut renovations in Harlem co-ops to remediation projects in pre-war buildings on the Upper East Side, our work reflects a real familiarity with how Manhattan operates not just how demolition works in general.
We carry EPA and OSHA certifications, an active NYC Department of Buildings license you can verify on the DOB’s public website, and a 4.7-star verified rating backed by real reviews that name specific people and describe specific projects. That’s the kind of track record that holds up when you actually check it.
It starts with an assessment. Before anything is filed or scheduled, we evaluate the scope of work, identify whether asbestos-containing materials are likely present based on the building’s age and construction type, and map out the full permit sequence. In Manhattan, where the majority of the building stock predates April 1, 1987, that almost always means an ACP-5 asbestos assessment gets initiated before the DOB permit application is even submitted. Getting that order wrong is one of the most common reasons demolition projects get stopped mid-job in this borough.
From there, the permitting process moves in the right sequence DOB filings, DEP asbestos notifications if abatement is required, and coordination with your building’s management on alteration agreement requirements. If the property falls within one of Manhattan’s historic districts, LPC review gets factored into the timeline from the start, not discovered as a surprise two weeks in. We handle all of it directly, so you’re not chasing down agencies or translating permit language on your own.
Once everything is cleared, the physical work begins. Debris removal, dust containment, truck routing all of it gets planned around Manhattan’s logistics, including building access restrictions, DOT routing requirements, and work hour limitations that most co-op and condo buildings enforce on weekdays. When the job is done, final DEP completion forms are submitted and the project is closed out cleanly, with no loose ends left for you to follow up on.
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Demolition in Manhattan rarely exists in isolation. A gut renovation in a Tribeca loft uncovers asbestos floor tiles that need licensed abatement before the project can continue. A burst steam riser in a pre-war Upper West Side building floods three floors and requires emergency demolition of soaked walls and ceilings before mold takes hold. A commercial tenant improvement in Midtown needs a full interior demolition walls, ceilings, mechanical completed within a tight window before the new lease term begins. These aren’t unusual scenarios here. They’re the norm.
We handle all of it under one roof: interior and full building demolition, asbestos abatement, mold remediation, water damage restoration, and fire damage restoration. No subcontractors, no handoffs, no gaps between phases. That matters in a borough where every additional vendor is another alteration agreement to negotiate, another insurance certificate to collect, and another schedule to coordinate with your building’s management.
We’re also available 24 hours a day for emergency demolition situations the kind that don’t wait for business hours. Multiple clients have documented on-site response within an hour of their initial call, which in a dense residential building where water damage can spread across floors quickly, is the difference between a contained problem and a building-wide event. Whether the project is planned or urgent, the process is the same: one team, one timeline, one contractor accountable from start to finish.
In almost every case, yes. New York City requires an ACP-5 asbestos assessment to be filed with the Department of Buildings before a demolition permit can be issued for any building constructed before April 1, 1987. Given that the majority of Manhattan’s residential and commercial building stock from pre-war co-ops on the Upper East Side to older commercial buildings in the Financial District falls into that category, the asbestos assessment isn’t optional. It’s a mandatory prerequisite that has to happen in the right sequence before anything else moves forward.
If the assessment identifies asbestos-containing materials, an ACP-7 Notification must then be submitted to the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, abatement has to be completed by licensed professionals, and DEP completion forms have to be filed before the DOB permit process can proceed. Contractors who don’t handle abatement in-house will stop your project the moment ACMs are found and send you to a third party. We handle the full sequence assessment, abatement, and DEP filings internally, so the project keeps moving on a single timeline.
Yes, and in most Manhattan co-op and condo buildings, board approval through a formal alteration agreement is required before any significant demolition or renovation work can begin. The alteration agreement typically specifies approved work hours most Manhattan co-op buildings restrict major work to weekday business hours noise and dust containment requirements, insurance minimums the contractor must carry, damage deposit terms, and coordination requirements with the building’s superintendent or property manager.
Many buildings also require proof of DOB permit filings before the board will even grant approval, which means the permit process and the board approval process have to run in a coordinated sequence. This is something a lot of property owners discover mid-project when they’ve already hired a contractor who wasn’t familiar with the building’s requirements. Working with us means those requirements get addressed upfront before the schedule is set and before any expectations are made to your board.
For most demolition work in Manhattan, a permit from the NYC Department of Buildings is required before physical work can begin. The specific requirements depend on the scope a full building demolition has different requirements than an interior gut renovation but in general, the process involves submitting engineering drawings, a site safety plan, documentation of utility disconnection, and any applicable asbestos compliance forms through the DOB NOW online portal.
As of 2025, full demolitions involving mechanical equipment beyond handheld tools require full plan examination at the DOB, meaning they go through a more thorough review process rather than professional certification. For taller buildings which make up a significant portion of Manhattan’s residential and commercial stock additional site safety requirements apply, including Licensed Site Safety Manager credentials for buildings of certain heights. We manage the entire permit process on your behalf, from initial filing through final sign-off, so you’re not navigating a multi-agency system on your own while also trying to manage a construction project.
Roughly 20% of Manhattan’s properties are either individually designated landmarks or located within historic districts governed by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission. If your property falls into either category, LPC review and approval is required before DOB permits can be issued for any work affecting the exterior and in some cases, significant interior features as well. This applies to properties throughout neighborhoods like Greenwich Village, SoHo, Tribeca, the Upper East Side Historic District, and many others across the borough.
The LPC process requires specific architectural documentation and runs on its own timeline, independent of the DOB and co-op board processes. Contractors who aren’t familiar with Manhattan’s landmark environment often discover this requirement after they’ve already committed to a project schedule, which means weeks of unexpected delay once the review process is identified. Identifying LPC applicability at the start of a project before the timeline is set is part of how we approach every Manhattan job. It’s not a surprise that gets discovered mid-project.
Yes, and in Manhattan’s pre-war building stock, same-day response for emergency demolition isn’t just convenient it’s often critical. The borough’s aging steam heating systems are particularly vulnerable to pipe failures during winter cold snaps, and when a steam riser fails in a pre-war building on the Upper West Side or in Harlem, water can move through multiple floors within hours. The window for removing damaged materials before mold begins to develop is short, and waiting until the next business day can turn a contained problem into a multi-unit remediation event.
We are available 24 hours a day for emergency demolition and remediation situations, and multiple clients have documented on-site response within an hour of their initial call. We handle emergency demolition of water-damaged or fire-damaged materials, mold remediation, and full restoration under one roof which means no waiting for a second contractor to be scheduled after the demolition phase is complete. We also work directly with insurance carriers throughout the claims process, which is something Manhattan property owners dealing with a building emergency consistently find as valuable as the physical work itself.
Interior demolition costs in Manhattan vary based on scope, building type, and what’s found once work begins but for a standard apartment gut renovation, you’re generally looking at a range starting around $8,000 to $15,000 for a full interior, with larger or more complex projects running higher depending on square footage, the number of trades involved, and whether asbestos abatement is required. In a borough where the majority of the residential building stock predates 1987, asbestos abatement is a realistic line item in most project budgets, and factoring it in upfront avoids the kind of mid-project cost surprises that happen when it’s discovered after demolition has already started.
It’s also worth accounting for the full cost picture in Manhattan specifically permit fees, DEP filing fees, and the logistical realities of working in a dense urban building (limited staging areas, restricted work hours, debris removal routing through the city) all affect total project cost in ways that don’t apply in suburban markets. A written, itemized quote that accounts for all of it upfront is the clearest way to avoid surprises. We provide detailed written estimates before any work begins, so you know exactly what you’re committing to before the project starts.
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