NYS and NYC M/WBE Certified Contractor
After a flood tears through Highland Falls or Fort Montgomery, the visible damage is only part of the story. Water moves into wall cavities, under subfloors, and through insulation long before you can see or smell it. If that moisture doesn’t get found and dried completely, it becomes a mold problem — sometimes weeks or months after the water is gone.
That’s exactly what happened to homeowners across Highlands after July 2023. Residents who cleaned up on their own, ran fans for a few days, and thought they were fine discovered mold behind their baseboards come fall. Mold can begin growing in as little as 24 hours on saturated materials — that’s documented local history in this town.
What full recovery looks like is this: your home is dry all the way through, not just on the surface. Your air quality is tested. Any mold that started growing is remediated by a licensed contractor — not masked, not ignored. And if your home is one of the many in Highland Falls built before 1960, any asbestos or lead-containing materials disturbed during the process are handled by crews that are legally certified to do so. That’s what complete restoration means, and that’s the standard every Highlands home deserves.
We’ve been doing this work across New York State for over 12 years, with more than 5,000 completed restoration projects behind us. We hold the NYS DOL Mold License, the NYS DOL Asbestos License, USEPA Lead and RRP certifications, and IICRC Water Damage Certification — the full stack of credentials required to legally and safely restore older homes in communities like Highland Falls and Fort Montgomery, where pre-1960 construction is the norm, not the exception.
We’re NYS and NYC M/WBE Certified and work directly with the NYS Office of General Services. That means we’ve been audited, verified, and trusted with public-sector work. In a town where West Point sets the standard for institutional accountability, we think that matters.
We bill your insurance directly, and for residents in Highlands who found themselves underinsured after the 2023 disaster, we offer financing up to $200,000 at 0% APR. No hidden fees, no pressure — just a clear path to getting your home back.
When you call, we move. Our team is on-site within 60 minutes, any time of day, any day of the year. That response time matters in Highlands specifically — because when Highland Brook or Popolopen Creek backs up into your neighborhood, the damage compounds fast. The first thing we do on arrival is assess the full scope: not just what’s wet on the surface, but what’s saturated inside walls, beneath flooring, and in structural cavities using thermal imaging and professional moisture detection equipment.
From there, we extract standing water using industrial-grade equipment and begin the structural drying process — a step that takes days, not hours, and requires monitoring to confirm the moisture levels are actually dropping to safe thresholds. If the floodwater involved any sewage contamination, which was a real concern in Highland Falls after the wastewater treatment plant was damaged in 2023, we follow Category 3 Black Water decontamination protocols from the start.
Once drying is confirmed, we test for mold and address any growth that’s already started. If your home was built before 1978 and demolition is required, we handle asbestos and lead-paint materials under our state-issued licenses — filing all required notifications with the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation before work begins, as the law requires. When the remediation is complete, we move into reconstruction. One company, start to finish.
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Not every restoration company serving Orange County can legally complete a full flood restoration job in a Highland Falls or Fort Montgomery home. Mold remediation in New York State requires a NYS DOL Mold License — it’s not optional, and several competitors operating in this area don’t hold it. Asbestos abatement requires a separate NYS DOL license plus a formal notification to the DEC at least 10 days before work begins. Any demolition or repair work disturbing lead paint in pre-1978 structures requires USEPA RRP certification. We hold all of it.
This matters because Highlands has one of the older residential housing stocks in Orange County. Homes along the civilian corridor of Highland Falls include structures built in the early 1900s, and some date back even further. When floodwater saturates pipe insulation, floor tiles, or joint compound in a home that old, those materials can become hazardous. A contractor without the right licenses can’t legally touch them — and if they do anyway, the liability falls on you.
Beyond the environmental credentials, our service covers emergency water extraction, industrial structural drying, moisture verification, mold testing and remediation, sewage decontamination, and complete structural reconstruction. We handle direct insurance billing, assist with damage documentation for claims, and offer 0% APR financing up to $200,000 for out-of-pocket costs. Everything your home needs, under one roof.
We commit to being on-site within 60 minutes of your call, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In Highlands, that response time is especially critical. The town’s geography — steep terrain above Highland Falls, fast-moving creek systems like Popolopen Creek and Highland Brook, and a narrow civilian corridor with limited road access — means that floodwater can rise and spread through a home very quickly. The longer water sits in contact with walls, subfloors, and insulation, the deeper the saturation goes and the harder it becomes to dry completely.
Mold can begin colonizing wet materials in as little as 24 hours. That’s what Highlands residents experienced firsthand after the July 2023 flood, when some homes that appeared cleaned up developed visible mold within weeks. Getting our crew on-site fast, with the right equipment to extract water and begin structural drying immediately, is the single most important factor in determining whether your home fully recovers or continues to deteriorate after the water recedes.
Standard homeowners insurance policies typically do not cover flooding caused by rising water from outside the home — which is exactly the type of damage Popolopen Creek and Highland Brook caused in July 2023. That type of event is generally covered only by a separate flood insurance policy through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) or a private flood insurer. Many Highland Falls and Fort Montgomery residents discovered this distinction the hard way after the 2023 storm, finding that their standard policy covered some interior water damage but not the structural flooding from the creek overflow.
What homeowners insurance typically does cover is sudden and accidental water damage from internal sources — a burst pipe, a failed sump pump, or an appliance leak. If your damage falls into that category, we bill your insurance directly so you’re not writing checks while your home is still wet. For residents whose flood damage falls outside their coverage — or who are still carrying out-of-pocket costs from 2023 — we offer financing up to $200,000 at 0% APR. We can also help you document the full scope of damage for any FEMA or insurance claim you’re filing.
Water damage restoration typically refers to damage from internal sources — a pipe that burst, a washing machine that overflowed, a roof leak that let rain in. Flood restoration refers to damage caused by water entering the home from outside, usually from a storm, a rising creek, or a backed-up drainage system. The distinction matters because the type of water involved changes the entire scope of the work.
Water from an overflowing creek or a storm drain is classified as Category 3 Black Water under IICRC standards — the most contaminated category, which may contain sewage, bacteria, chemicals, and debris. The Highland Falls wastewater treatment plant was damaged during the July 2023 flood, which means some of the water that entered homes in that event carried contamination risk beyond what a standard water extraction job addresses. Black Water events require full decontamination of affected surfaces, removal of contaminated porous materials like drywall and carpet, and verification testing before the space is safe to reoccupy. That’s a significantly more involved process than drying out a clean water leak, and it requires a contractor equipped and certified to handle it properly.
New York State doesn’t mandate remediation in a specific timeframe, but it does regulate who can legally perform it. Under New York State Department of Labor rules, any mold remediation project involving more than 10 square feet of visible mold growth must be performed by a contractor holding a NYS DOL Mold License. Homeowners can perform limited cleanup on smaller areas themselves, but anything beyond that threshold requires a licensed professional.
In practice, after a flood event like the ones Highlands has experienced, mold growth rarely stays contained to a small area. Water that soaks into wall cavities, insulation, and subfloor materials creates conditions where mold can spread extensively before it becomes visible on the surface. By the time you see a patch on your drywall, the growth behind it may already exceed what’s legal to address without a licensed contractor. We hold the NYS DOL Mold License and perform all remediation in full compliance with state requirements. We also test after remediation is complete to confirm the space is clear — not just cleaned up on the surface.
Homes in Highland Falls and Fort Montgomery frequently contain asbestos and lead paint — this is not unusual in a town where much of the civilian housing stock dates to the early and mid-twentieth century. Asbestos was commonly used in floor tiles, pipe insulation, joint compound, and roofing materials in homes built before 1980. Lead paint was standard in homes built before 1978. When floodwater saturates these materials, they can become friable — meaning they break apart easily and release particles into the air.
Any contractor disturbing asbestos-containing materials in New York State must hold a NYS DOL Asbestos License and file a formal notification with the Department of Environmental Conservation at least 10 days before work begins. Work disturbing lead paint in pre-1978 homes requires USEPA Lead and RRP certification. We hold both. We identify these materials before demolition begins, follow all required notification and handling protocols, and dispose of hazardous materials properly. Hiring a contractor without these credentials to work in an older Highlands home isn’t just a quality risk — it creates legal liability for the homeowner.
If your home is in Highland Falls, Fort Montgomery, or anywhere near Popolopen Creek or Highland Brook, the July 2023 event demonstrated clearly that your flood risk is real and can escalate without much warning. There are practical steps worth taking before the next major storm: having your sump pump tested and backed up with a battery-powered secondary unit, checking that your basement floor drains are clear, and confirming that any previous water damage was fully dried and not harboring hidden mold.
One of the most useful things you can do right now is have a professional moisture assessment done on your home — particularly if you had any water intrusion in 2023 and handled the cleanup yourself. Thermal imaging can identify residual moisture inside walls and under floors that looks and feels dry on the surface but is still elevated enough to support mold growth. We’ve seen this pattern repeatedly in homes across Highlands. Beyond the physical prep, knowing who to call before an emergency happens — and having that number saved — means you’re not searching for a contractor while your basement is filling with water. Save our number. If the next storm hits Route 9W the way the last one did, 60 minutes is what separates manageable from catastrophic.
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