NYS and NYC M/WBE Certified Contractor
Most North Lynbrook homes were built before 1939. That’s not a minor detail — it means your floors, ceilings, and pipe insulation were installed during an era when asbestos was standard. When you hire a demolition contractor who isn’t licensed for abatement, you’re not saving money. You’re creating a liability that follows your property long after the project ends.
Here’s what actually changes when the work is done right: your project moves from start to finish without a stop-work order, a second contractor, or a surprise remediation bill. The materials that come out of your North Lynbrook home are tested, handled by licensed professionals, and disposed of with documentation you can keep. If you ever sell, your buyer’s attorney will ask questions — and you’ll have clean answers.
North Lynbrook is unincorporated, which means your permits come from the Town of Hempstead Building Department — not Lynbrook Village, not Malverne Village. That’s a distinction that trips up a lot of homeowners and even some contractors. We’ve navigated that process on projects throughout this corridor, and we know exactly what’s required before a single wall comes down.
Green Island Group is a full-service environmental contracting and demolition firm serving Nassau County and the broader Long Island area. We hold a NYS Department of Labor Asbestos Handling Contractor License — a credential that’s required by state law to legally remove asbestos-containing materials and one that most demolition contractors you’ll find in a search don’t carry.
We’ve completed projects in North Lynbrook, Malverne, and Lynbrook, which means we know this housing stock intimately. We know what’s inside a 1935 Cape Cod on the South Shore. We know the Town of Hempstead permit process and the specific requirements for unincorporated North Lynbrook. And we know what happens when a crew that isn’t prepared for hazmat opens a wall in a pre-war home.
Our review record reflects what matters most to North Lynbrook homeowners: same-day response, clear communication, and no surprises mid-project. That’s not a talking point — it’s what our clients say, by name, in their reviews.
Before anything gets touched, we assess the scope. In a pre-war North Lynbrook home, that means a thorough walkthrough to identify materials that may contain asbestos or lead paint — floor tiles, ceiling texture, pipe insulation, joint compound. We test before we disturb. That’s not optional; it’s the law, and it protects you.
Once the assessment is complete, we handle permitting through the Town of Hempstead Building Department. Because North Lynbrook is unincorporated, this step catches a lot of homeowners off guard — they’ve called the wrong office, waited days, and gotten nowhere. We know which forms are required, what inspections are scheduled, and how to keep the project moving without unnecessary delays.
From there, abatement and demolition happen in the correct sequence, with the same licensed crew managing both phases. Nothing gets handed off to an unknown subcontractor. When the work is done, you receive complete post-project documentation — disposal manifests, air clearance results, permit close-out records. If regulated materials were present and removed, you’ll have the paperwork to prove it was done legally, which matters when it comes time to sell your home in this tight Nassau County market.
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We cover the full range of demolition work that North Lynbrook homeowners and property owners actually need. Interior selective demolition — kitchens, bathrooms, basements, full gut renovations — is where most of the demand in this community sits, given the age of the housing stock and the pace of renovation activity among long-term owners and recent buyers alike.
We also handle structural and full-structure demolition for properties that need more than a refresh. For commercial properties along the Merrick Road and Hempstead Avenue corridors, we carry the bonding capacity, commercial insurance, and project management infrastructure that those jobs require — while staying accessible and communicative with residential clients who need a contractor they can actually reach.
What sets the work apart here isn’t just the licensing — it’s the integration. When you hire a demolition contractor who can’t handle asbestos abatement in-house, you’re accepting a gap in the middle of your project. In North Lynbrook’s pre-war homes, that gap almost always gets filled by a stop-work order or an emergency call to a second contractor. With Green Island Group, assessment, abatement, and demolition are handled by one team, on one contract, with one point of contact from the first call to the final inspection.
Yes — and in North Lynbrook specifically, the permit comes from the Town of Hempstead Building Department, not from Lynbrook Village or Malverne Village. Because North Lynbrook is an unincorporated hamlet, it doesn’t have its own village government or building department. That distinction matters practically: if you call the wrong office, you’ll get redirected, lose time, and potentially delay your project start date.
The permit requirement applies to both full-structure demolition and significant interior demolition work. What’s required varies by scope, but at a minimum you’ll need a demolition permit, and if regulated materials like asbestos are present above threshold quantities, there are additional EPA NESHAP notification requirements — including a mandatory 10-working-day notice period before work begins. We handle the permitting process as part of the project, so you’re not navigating the Town of Hempstead process alone.
You don’t — not without testing. That’s the honest answer. Asbestos-containing materials are not visually distinguishable from materials that don’t contain asbestos. The nine-inch vinyl floor tiles found in thousands of North Lynbrook kitchens and basements from the 1940s and 1950s look identical to non-asbestos tiles. The same goes for popcorn ceiling texture, pipe insulation, and joint compound in pre-war homes throughout this area.
The only way to know is laboratory analysis of a collected sample. Before any demolition work begins in a home built before 1980 — which describes virtually every home in North Lynbrook — a licensed contractor should perform a pre-demolition hazardous materials survey. We conduct this assessment in-house as part of our standard process. If asbestos is found, we’re already licensed to handle abatement. Your project doesn’t pause while you search for a second contractor.
In most cases in North Lynbrook, you need both — but that doesn’t mean you need to hire two separate companies. A standard demolition contractor license does not authorize asbestos abatement work in New York State. The NYS Department of Labor issues asbestos handling contractor licenses separately, and they require documented training, insurance, and compliance history that go beyond a general contractor license.
Where homeowners get into trouble is hiring a demolition-only contractor who isn’t licensed for abatement, then discovering asbestos mid-project. At that point, work stops, a second contractor has to be called in, and the cost and timeline both expand significantly. In a pre-war home on the South Shore — where asbestos in some form is present more often than not — this isn’t a hypothetical scenario. We hold both licenses, which means you’re not exposed to that gap.
The honest answer is that it depends on scope, and in North Lynbrook’s pre-war housing stock, the scope almost always includes an environmental component that affects the final number. A straightforward interior selective demolition — a kitchen or bathroom gut in a home with no regulated materials — might run a few thousand dollars. A full gut renovation in a 1930s or 1940s North Lynbrook home that requires asbestos abatement before demolition can proceed will cost more, and the abatement portion is priced based on the type, quantity, and location of the materials involved.
What inflates costs in this market isn’t the demolition itself — it’s the surprises. A homeowner who hires the cheapest demo crew, skips the hazmat assessment, and encounters asbestos mid-project ends up paying for emergency abatement on top of the original quote, plus potential EPA fines and project delays. Our estimates are detailed and transparent: we explain what’s included, what the regulatory requirements are, and why the project is priced the way it is. You’ll understand exactly what you’re paying for before anyone picks up a tool.
Interior demolition — gut renovations, kitchen and bathroom demo, basement work — runs year-round on Long Island without meaningful weather-related interruption. If your project is interior, there’s no practical reason to wait for spring. Exterior and full-structure demolition is more weather-dependent, and on the South Shore of Nassau County, winter conditions can affect site access, utility disconnection timelines, and inspection scheduling.
That said, the more relevant timing factor for North Lynbrook homeowners is often post-storm urgency rather than seasonal preference. Water damage in a pre-war home doesn’t wait for a convenient season. Water intrusion in a 1930s or 1940s North Lynbrook home becomes mold within 48 hours, and mold remediation in a home with asbestos-containing materials requires a licensed contractor from the first moment of response. If you’re dealing with storm or water damage, waiting for spring is not an option — and we respond the same day.
In North Lynbrook specifically, where the majority of the housing stock was built before 1939, the question isn’t really whether asbestos will be encountered — it’s where and how much. When demolition and abatement are handled by two separate companies, the coordination gap between them becomes your problem. The demo crew can’t start until abatement is done. The abatement contractor has their own schedule. If something unexpected is found mid-demo — and in a pre-war home, it often is — the whole project pauses while you make calls and wait for availability.
When one licensed team handles both phases, that gap disappears. The same crew that assesses your home is licensed to remove what they find and then complete the demolition. There’s one contract, one timeline, and one point of contact who is accountable for the entire scope. For homeowners in North Lynbrook’s pre-war homes, that integration isn’t a convenience — it’s the difference between a project that finishes on schedule and one that drags on for weeks longer than it should.
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