NYS and NYC M/WBE Certified Contractor
Hollis has been flooding since before most of its homes were built. The photos from 183rd Street go back to 1928. The city completed a $20.5 million sewer upgrade in June 2021 and three months later, Hurricane Ida turned that same street into a river. That history matters because it tells you something important: the flooding risk in Hollis isn’t going away, and a surface-level cleanup isn’t enough.
When restoration is done right, you’re not just drying out walls. You’re stopping mold before it starts, catching the moisture that’s hiding behind drywall and under flooring, and making sure the structural elements of your home many of which were built in the 1930s and 1940s are actually sound. The difference between a real restoration and a quick patch job shows up six months later, when the smell comes back or the floor starts buckling.
What you actually get out of this process is a home that’s back to where it was before the storm, with documentation that supports your insurance claim and a clear record of what was done. No second-guessing. No wondering if something was missed. And when the next storm hits because in Hollis, there will be a next storm you’re not starting over from a compromised baseline.
We’re a New York City-licensed general contractor and IICRC-certified restoration company with over 5,000 completed projects across the five boroughs, including extensive work throughout Hollis and Queens Community District 12. We hold the NYS DOL Mold License required by New York State law, the USEPA Lead/RRP certification required for pre-1978 homes, and the NYS DOL Asbestos License all of which matter specifically in Hollis, where the majority of homes were built before 1950 and where storm damage work almost always involves older materials.
We’re also NYC and NYS M/WBE certified, which means our credentials have been independently verified by the state and city not self-reported. When you’re in Hollis dealing with storm damage and trying to figure out who to trust, that kind of verification isn’t a small thing.
We bill insurance companies directly, coordinate with adjusters on-site, and carry the full scope of licensing needed to take your home from emergency stabilization all the way to finished reconstruction under one contract.
When you call, the first thing that happens is we get someone moving toward your Hollis property. Our goal is to be on-site within an hour, because in a neighborhood where flash flooding can escalate fast, the time between the storm passing and professional mitigation starting directly affects how much of your home is salvageable.
Once we’re there, we assess the full scope of the damage not just what’s visible on the surface. Hollis homes, many built in the 1930s and 1940s, have original foundations, older drainage systems, and construction materials that absorb and hold moisture differently than newer builds. We use moisture meters and thermal imaging to find what’s hiding in wall cavities, under flooring, and inside structural assemblies. If there’s any indication of asbestos or lead paint in the affected areas which is a realistic concern given the age of the housing stock we handle that under our NYS DOL Asbestos and USEPA Lead/RRP certifications before any demolition begins.
From there, we move into structural drying, mold prevention, and reconstruction. Because we hold a New York City General Contractor license, we pull the required NYC DOB permits for structural and roofing work in-house you don’t need to manage a separate GC. When the job is done, we walk through the finished work with you before we close out the project.
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Storm damage restoration in Hollis involves more moving parts than most people expect especially in a neighborhood with pre-war housing stock and a chronic flooding history. Here’s what’s actually covered when you work with us.
Emergency response starts with water extraction and structural drying. From there, we conduct a full damage assessment that includes thermal imaging for hidden moisture, mold inspection under the NYS DOL Mold License, and evaluation of any materials that may contain asbestos or lead paint both of which are common in Hollis homes built before 1940. If mold remediation is needed, we handle it in compliance with New York State’s Article 32, which requires a licensed remediator for any mold project over 10 square feet. Most storm damage jobs in Hollis cross that threshold.
Reconstruction covers everything from structural framing and roofing to interior finishes drywall, flooring, painting, and final detailing. We coordinate directly with your insurance company throughout, documenting the damage in the format adjusters recognize and advocating for the full scope of your loss. We also hold the NYC BIC Trade Waste License for debris removal, so haul-out is handled legally and without subcontracting. One company, one contract, one point of accountability from the day we arrive to the day you’re back in your home.
This is one of the most important questions Hollis homeowners face, and the answer depends on what caused the water intrusion. Standard homeowners insurance typically covers sudden and accidental water damage like a roof failure during a storm or a pipe that bursts from wind damage. It does not cover flooding from rising groundwater or overflowing streets, which is what happens when Hollis’s stormwater system gets overwhelmed during heavy rain. That type of flooding requires a separate flood insurance policy, typically through FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program.
Where it gets complicated is when a single storm event causes both types of damage simultaneously which happens regularly in Hollis. A storm can damage your roof, allowing rain to enter from above, while the same storm overwhelms the drainage system and pushes water up from below. In those situations, the covered and non-covered portions of the loss need to be carefully documented and separated. That’s something we handle directly with your adjuster, making sure the covered portion of your claim is fully supported and not undersold on the initial estimate.
The IICRC standard is 24 to 48 hours. That’s the window between water intrusion and the point where mold can begin colonizing porous materials drywall, wood framing, insulation, flooring. In a Hollis basement, where many homes have original construction from the 1930s and 1940s and have likely experienced multiple flooding events over the years, the conditions for mold growth are often already present before a new storm hits. Existing moisture, older materials, and limited ventilation create an environment where mold can take hold faster than the standard window suggests.
This is why the speed of professional response matters so much. Extraction and structural drying need to start quickly not because it’s a sales pitch, but because the biology of mold growth doesn’t wait for a convenient time. Once mold is established in a wall cavity or under flooring, the remediation process is significantly more involved than prevention would have been. We begin mold prevention protocols as part of the standard restoration process, not as a separate line item that appears on your invoice after the fact.
Yes, and it matters more than most contractors will tell you upfront. Homes built before 1950 in Hollis were constructed before modern moisture barriers, before current insulation standards, and before the materials restrictions that came with the EPA’s lead and asbestos regulations. What that means practically is that storm damage work in an older Hollis home carries a higher likelihood of encountering asbestos-containing materials floor tiles, pipe insulation, roofing components and lead paint on any surface that gets disturbed during repairs.
Under federal and New York State law, any renovation or repair that disturbs painted surfaces in a pre-1978 home must be performed by an EPA Lead/RRP certified contractor. Asbestos abatement in New York requires a NYS DOL Asbestos License. These aren’t optional they’re legal requirements, and working with a contractor who doesn’t hold these certifications can void your insurance coverage and create liability for you as the homeowner. We hold both certifications, which is why we can legally and safely perform full restoration on the pre-war housing stock that makes up most of Hollis.
After major storms, unlicensed contractors move through neighborhoods like Hollis offering fast, cheap repairs. The FTC logged over 81,000 home repair fraud complaints nationally in 2024, and Queens is not immune to this. The most reliable way to verify a contractor is to check their actual licenses not their website claims, but the licenses themselves with the issuing agencies.
For storm damage restoration work in New York City, the minimum you should verify is a NYC General Contractor license (required to pull DOB permits for structural work), a NYS DOL Mold License (required by Article 32 for mold remediation over 10 square feet), and IICRC certification for water damage restoration. If the home was built before 1978, also confirm USEPA Lead/RRP certification. For older homes, NYS DOL Asbestos licensing matters too. Any contractor who can’t produce these credentials on request or who asks you to sign anything before showing them is a contractor worth walking away from. All of our licenses are verifiable through the issuing state and city agencies.
It’s more common than people expect, especially in a neighborhood like Hollis where intense storms can simultaneously overwhelm the stormwater system from below and cause wind or debris damage to the roof above. When both happen at once, you’re dealing with two separate water intrusion pathways and potentially two different insurance coverage scenarios depending on your policy.
The practical implication is that a contractor handling only one part of the damage isn’t solving the problem. If the roof is repaired but the basement isn’t properly dried and treated for mold, you have an ongoing issue. If the basement is cleaned up but the roof damage isn’t fully addressed, the next rain event starts the cycle over. We handle both under one contract roof stabilization and repair, water extraction, structural drying, mold prevention, and interior reconstruction which means the full scope of the damage gets addressed together, documented together, and submitted to your insurance company as a complete and cohesive claim.
The honest answer is that it depends on the scope, and the scope in Hollis is often larger than it first appears. A straightforward water extraction and drying job in a finished basement can take three to five days for the drying phase alone, with reconstruction following after moisture levels are confirmed stable. When you add mold remediation, structural repairs, roofing work, or the material testing and handling required for pre-1940s construction all of which are common in Hollis the timeline extends accordingly.
What affects the timeline most in this neighborhood is the age of the housing stock and the history of prior water events. A home that has flooded multiple times may have underlying moisture damage that wasn’t properly addressed before, which adds remediation steps that weren’t visible at the start of the job. We give you a realistic timeline after the initial assessment not a number designed to get you to sign, but an actual projection based on what we find. Insurance documentation runs parallel to the physical work, so the claim process doesn’t add time to your restoration.
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