NYS and NYC M/WBE Certified Contractor
When you’ve lived in a Hollis home for years or inherited one that’s been in the family you already know the kitchen doesn’t work the way it should. The layout is tight, the cabinets are dated, the counter space is never enough. You’ve made it work, but you’re past the point of making it work. You want it done right.
Here’s what changes after a full kitchen renovation: you get a space designed around how you actually cook and live, not around what was standard in 1958. New cabinetry with real storage. Countertops that hold up. Lighting that makes the room feel twice as large. And a layout that makes sense for the way your household moves.
What makes Hollis different from newer neighborhoods is the housing stock itself. These are mid-century brick homes with real bones but also real history inside the walls. Older plumbing. Wiring that wasn’t designed for today’s appliances. And in many cases, materials from an era when asbestos and lead paint were just part of how things were built. A kitchen remodel in Hollis isn’t just a design project. It’s a renovation that needs to be handled by people who understand what they might find and are equipped to deal with it without stopping your project cold.
We started as an environmental remediation company. That background matters here more than it would almost anywhere else, because southeastern Queens Hollis, St. Albans, Queens Village, the whole corridor is filled with homes that were built during the peak years of asbestos and lead paint use. When we open a kitchen wall in a 1952 home off Jamaica Avenue in Hollis, we’re not surprised by what we find. We’re prepared for it. We hold active lead abatement certifications and full environmental licensing, and we handle it in-house no subcontractors, no work stoppages, no surprise costs.
Beyond the environmental piece, we’re a full-service renovation contractor licensed by the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP HIC license 2025058-DCA). That means we handle everything: design, permits, cabinetry, countertops, flooring, electrical, plumbing from the first consultation to the final DOB inspection. One team. One contract. One point of contact throughout.
It starts with a free consultation at your home. We walk the space, talk through what you want to change, what’s not working, and what your budget looks like. From there, we put together a 3D rendering of your new kitchen your actual kitchen, with your dimensions and your layout so you can see exactly what you’re getting before we order a single cabinet or open a single wall. This step alone eliminates most of the anxiety that comes with a renovation this size.
Once the design is approved, we handle all permitting with the NYC Department of Buildings. If your remodel touches electrical, plumbing, or gas lines which most full kitchen renovations do that means filing an ALT-2 permit or a Limited Alteration Application. The DOB process in New York City averages one to three months, and navigating it without someone who does this regularly is genuinely frustrating. We manage the entire filing, the review process, and every inspection. You don’t need to log into DOB NOW or make a single call to a city office.
Construction follows a clear schedule. We’ll tell you the timeline upfront, communicate throughout, and flag anything that comes up including any environmental findings that need to be addressed before the renovation continues. When the job is done, we do a final walkthrough with you before we close anything out.
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A full kitchen remodel with us covers every part of the project. Custom cabinetry with soft-close hardware. Quartz or granite countertops. Backsplash, flooring, and lighting. Updated electrical and plumbing to meet current NYC code. And if the scope involves structural changes removing a wall to open up a galley layout, for example, which is one of the most common requests we get in Hollis homes we handle that too.
What sets this apart from what most kitchen remodelers in Queens offer is the environmental piece. Because our team is licensed for lead abatement and asbestos remediation, we don’t have to stop work if something turns up during demolition. In a neighborhood where the majority of homes were built before 1970, that’s not a rare scenario it’s a likely one. We build that possibility into our process from the start, so it doesn’t become your problem mid-project.
We also work directly with insurance companies for projects that involve prior water damage or storm-related kitchen deterioration. If part of your renovation is connected to a covered event a burst pipe, water infiltration from a roof issue we know how to document and navigate that claims process alongside the renovation itself. Minor kitchen remodels in the Hollis market typically run in the $30,000–$45,000 range, with larger full renovations going higher depending on scope. We’ll give you a detailed, line-item estimate after the initial consultation no lump sums, no guessing.
It depends on what the remodel involves. If you’re doing a cosmetic update replacing cabinet doors, installing new countertops, swapping out a faucet you generally don’t need a permit from the NYC Department of Buildings. But if your remodel touches electrical wiring, plumbing lines, gas connections, or involves any structural changes like removing a wall, you do. In that case, you’re looking at an ALT-2 permit or a Limited Alteration Application, depending on the scope.
This is one of the most common points of confusion for Hollis homeowners, and it’s also one of the most consequential. Doing unpermitted work on systems that require permits can create real problems when you go to sell your home or file an insurance claim. We handle the entire NYC DOB permitting process in-house the filings, the drawings, the review, and every inspection so you’re never left trying to figure out a system that isn’t designed to be easy.
For a small to mid-range kitchen renovation in Hollis and the broader Queens market, you’re typically looking at $30,000 to $45,000 for a solid, full remodel new cabinetry, countertops, flooring, backsplash, updated electrical and plumbing. Larger kitchens or projects with significant layout changes, custom cabinetry, or high-end finishes can run $55,000 or more.
What often surprises Hollis homeowners is the cost of what’s behind the walls. In homes built in the 1940s through 1960s which describes much of Hollis it’s not unusual to find outdated wiring, old plumbing that needs to be brought up to code, or materials that require licensed remediation before the renovation can continue. These aren’t costs we invent they’re real conditions that come with older housing stock, and we’d rather you know about them upfront than discover them mid-project. We provide a detailed, line-item written estimate after your consultation, so you have a clear picture of what you’re committing to before any work begins.
This is a question worth asking before you hire anyone because most kitchen remodeling contractors in Queens are not equipped to answer it well. If a standard contractor opens your walls and finds asbestos floor tiles or lead-painted plaster, they are legally required to stop work and bring in a licensed remediation specialist. That means your project stalls, often for weeks, while you wait on a subcontractor to get cleared and scheduled.
We hold active lead abatement certifications (NAT-F122209-1, NAT-F122209-2, LBP-F122209-1) and are fully licensed to handle both lead and asbestos in-house. In a Hollis home built in the 1950s or early 1960s, the EPA estimates there’s roughly a 69% chance of lead paint being present. Asbestos was standard in floor tiles, pipe insulation, and ceiling materials through the late 1970s. We build the possibility of finding these materials into our process from the start so if something turns up during demolition, we handle it without stopping your project and without a surprise subcontractor walking into your home.
The honest answer is that it depends heavily on permitting. For a full kitchen renovation in New York City that requires an ALT-2 permit which most projects involving electrical, plumbing, or gas work do the DOB review process alone typically takes one to three months. That’s not construction time; that’s just the city’s review timeline. It’s one of the most significant differences between renovating in NYC and renovating in Nassau or Suffolk County, where permit timelines are considerably shorter.
Once permits are approved, the physical construction on a typical Hollis kitchen remodel runs four to eight weeks depending on the scope of work. Layout changes, structural modifications, or environmental remediation findings can extend that timeline. We give you a realistic schedule at the start including the permit phase so you’re not caught off guard. And we communicate throughout, so you always know where the project stands.
Most homeowners do stay in their homes during a kitchen renovation, and it’s generally manageable with some planning. The most disruptive phase is demolition typically the first few days and any period when gas or plumbing is temporarily shut off. We’ll walk you through what to expect at each phase so you can plan accordingly, whether that means setting up a temporary cooking space in another room or planning to eat out for a few days during the most intensive work.
One factor specific to Hollis homes worth knowing: if we find lead paint or asbestos during demolition, there are containment and air quality protocols that apply during remediation. These are standard procedures under EPA and NYC regulations, and we follow them fully. In some cases, depending on the extent of the remediation, we may recommend limiting access to the kitchen area during that specific phase. We’ll always be upfront about what’s required and why you won’t be left guessing about what’s happening in your own home.
This is one of the most important questions you can ask and one that a surprising number of homeowners don’t ask until after something goes wrong. In New York City, any contractor performing home improvement work is legally required to hold a Home Improvement Contractor license issued by the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. It’s not the same as a general contractor’s license, and it’s not the same as a Nassau or Suffolk County HIC license. They’re separate credentials, and a contractor licensed only on Long Island is not automatically authorized to work in Queens.
You can verify any contractor’s NYC DCWP license directly on the city’s website using their license number. Our NYC DCWP HIC license number is 2025058-DCA look it up before you call us if you want to. Beyond the HIC license, ask any contractor you’re considering whether they hold lead abatement certification and environmental remediation licensing. In a Hollis home built before 1970, those credentials aren’t a bonus they’re a baseline for doing the job safely and legally.
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