NYS and NYC M/WBE Certified Contractor
Most of the homes along Centereach’s residential streets were built in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. That matters because when water gets in through a damaged roof, a cracked foundation, or a flooded basement it doesn’t just sit there. It migrates into wall cavities, saturates older insulation, and creates conditions for mold within 24 to 48 hours. What looks like surface damage on Monday can be a mold problem inside your walls by Wednesday.
There’s another layer that most restoration companies won’t bring up: Centereach has no municipal sewer system. Every home runs on a cesspool or septic tank. When storm water intrudes and contacts that system, what started as a water damage event can become a contamination issue that requires a completely different level of response. Knowing that distinction on arrival and having the training to act on it is the difference between a clean restoration and one that leaves your family exposed to health risks.
When the job is done right, you’re not just patching what broke. You’re walking back into a home that’s been fully dried, tested, documented, and restored with every permit pulled, every hazardous material assessed, and an insurance claim that reflects the actual scope of what happened.
We’re headquartered in Bohemia about 10 to 12 miles south of Centereach in Suffolk County. This isn’t a franchise with a local phone number routing to a call center. We’ve been operating in this county for over 12 years, with more than 5,000 completed projects across Long Island. Our leadership CEO Jessica Dussan and VP Leo Torres are personally involved in every job we take on.
We hold a Suffolk County General Contractor license, a NYS DOL Mold License, a NYS DOL Asbestos License, USEPA Lead and RRP certifications, and IICRC certification for water damage and restoration. That full stack matters in a community like Centereach, where the housing stock is older and storm damage can quickly uncover materials that require specific state licensing to legally handle. Most restoration companies operating in the Town of Brookhaven area hold one or two of those credentials. We hold all of them under one roof, one crew, one call.
When you call, our first priority is stopping the damage from spreading. That means emergency tarping, board-up, and water extraction happen before anything else. In Centereach, where the August 2024 flooding showed how quickly water can accumulate in basements and ground-floor spaces, getting extraction equipment on-site fast is what keeps a manageable situation from becoming a gut-renovation.
Once the emergency response is stabilized, we conduct a full damage assessment including thermal imaging to locate moisture that’s already migrated behind walls and under flooring. This step is critical in older homes, where standard visual inspection misses the water that’s already inside the structure. If the assessment turns up any signs of asbestos-containing materials or lead paint disturbed by the damage which is a real possibility in a home built before 1978 we handle that in-house under the appropriate state licenses, not referred out to a third party.
From there, structural drying, mold prevention, and repairs follow a documented process. Because storm damage repairs in the Town of Brookhaven require permits for structural work and roof replacement, we handle the permit process with the Brookhaven Building Division directly. Every step is documented for your insurance claim, and we work with your insurer throughout including direct billing where applicable so you’re not left managing paperwork while your home is still mid-restoration.
Ready to get started?
Storm damage restoration in Centereach isn’t a single-trade job. Depending on what the storm exposed, you might be dealing with water intrusion, structural damage, mold risk, and hazardous building materials all at once, all in the same house. We’re built to handle that full scope without sending you to three different contractors.
Our services include emergency tarping and board-up, water extraction and structural drying, thermal imaging for hidden moisture, mold remediation under NYS DOL Mold License standards, asbestos assessment and abatement for pre-1978 homes, lead paint containment under USEPA RRP protocols, structural and drywall repair, roof repair and replacement, and final cosmetic restoration. For Centereach homeowners whose homes sit on cesspool systems, we assess water category on arrival distinguishing between clean water intrusion and contaminated water events that require full protective remediation protocols.
Everything is handled under one Suffolk County General Contractor license, with permits pulled from the Town of Brookhaven Building Division as required. The Town of Brookhaven also offers grant assistance of up to $50,000 for eligible homeowners facing storm-related repairs not fully covered by insurance and having a licensed, documented restoration on record is part of qualifying for that assistance. Our team can walk you through what that process looks like.
It depends on the type of flooding. Standard homeowner’s insurance typically covers sudden and accidental water damage like rain that enters through a storm-damaged roof or wind-driven water through a broken window. What it usually does not cover is ground-level flooding from rising water, which requires a separate flood insurance policy through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) or a private carrier.
Here’s where it gets specific to Centereach: the August 2024 flooding was largely driven by extreme rainfall overwhelming drainage systems, not coastal surge. Many homeowners in north-central Suffolk County discovered they had damage that fell into a gray area between standard and flood coverage. The documentation we create in the first 24 to 48 hours photos, moisture readings, scope of damage is what determines whether your claim is approved and for how much. We handle that documentation process as part of every job and can bill your insurer directly in most cases.
Mold can begin growing within 24 to 48 hours of a water intrusion event under the right conditions and the conditions inside an older Centereach home after a storm are often exactly right. Older wood framing, fiberglass batt insulation, and plaster or early drywall absorb moisture quickly and hold it. Once mold establishes inside a wall cavity, remediation becomes significantly more involved than if it had been caught during the drying phase.
The most important thing you can do is get professional extraction and drying equipment in the home as fast as possible. Every hour that water sits in the structure is an hour closer to a mold problem. We use commercial-grade drying equipment and thermal imaging to identify moisture pockets that aren’t visible on the surface, so the drying process addresses the full extent of the intrusion not just what you can see. If mold is already present, we hold the NYS DOL Mold License required to legally remediate it in New York State.
Potentially, yes and it’s worth taking seriously. Homes built before 1978 commonly contain asbestos in floor tiles, pipe insulation, roofing shingles, exterior siding, and certain types of drywall joint compound. When a storm cracks walls, disturbs insulation, or damages roofing, those materials can become friable meaning they break apart and release fibers into the air. In Centereach, where roughly 70% of the housing stock predates 1978, this is a realistic concern after any significant storm event.
New York State requires a specific NYS DOL Asbestos License to legally assess and remediate asbestos-containing materials. Most general contractors and many restoration companies are not licensed for this work. We hold that license and perform asbestos assessment as part of our storm damage process in older homes so if the damage has disturbed something that needs to be handled carefully, it gets identified and addressed before the rest of the restoration moves forward, not discovered after the fact.
For most structural repairs including roof replacement, wall repairs, and anything that involves altering the structure of the home yes, a permit is required from the Town of Brookhaven Building Division. This applies even when the work is being done as part of an insurance claim. Unpermitted work can complicate future insurance claims, create problems when you sell the home, and in some cases require the work to be redone to pass inspection.
The permit process through Brookhaven isn’t something you need to navigate alone. We hold a Suffolk County General Contractor license and are familiar with the Town of Brookhaven’s requirements. We pull the permits, coordinate the inspections, and make sure all restoration work is documented and code-compliant. Having that paper trail also matters if you’re applying for the Town of Brookhaven’s storm damage grant program, which offers up to $50,000 for eligible homeowners facing repair costs not covered by insurance.
A restoration company specializes in the emergency response and remediation side water extraction, drying, mold prevention, damage documentation for insurance. A general contractor handles the structural repair and rebuild side framing, roofing, drywall, siding. Most of the time, storm damage requires both, which means homeowners end up coordinating between two separate companies, two separate timelines, and two separate invoices.
The reason that matters in practice is that things get missed in the handoff. A restoration crew that dries the walls and leaves before a general contractor assesses the structure may not flag hidden damage that only becomes apparent during the rebuild phase. We operate as both holding the IICRC certifications for restoration work and the Suffolk County General Contractor license for structural repair. One company handles the full scope from the first emergency call through the final coat of paint, which means nothing falls through the cracks between phases and your insurance claim reflects the complete picture.
It changes the contamination assessment significantly. Centereach has no municipal sewer system, so every home relies on a cesspool or septic tank for waste management. When storm water floods a basement or infiltrates a foundation in a home on a cesspool system, there’s a real possibility that the water has come into contact with or disturbed that system which elevates it from category 1 (clean water) to category 3 contamination, sometimes called black water. That classification requires full protective remediation protocols, not just standard water extraction.
Most restoration companies don’t assess water category on arrival they treat every water event the same way. Our IICRC-certified technicians are trained to make that determination as part of the initial assessment, which protects your family from health risks that can come from inadequate cleanup of contaminated water. If the assessment confirms contamination, the remediation process includes proper containment, disposal, and disinfection protocols that go well beyond what a standard water damage crew would perform. In a community like Centereach where cesspool systems are universal, this isn’t an edge case it’s a routine part of how storm damage needs to be handled.
Local Resources
Useful Links
