NYS and NYC M/WBE Certified Contractor
When a nor’easter rolls through or the Great South Bay surges toward the mainland, the damage you can see is rarely the whole story. Water finds its way into wall cavities, under subfloors, and behind finishes and if it sits there for 24 to 48 hours, mold follows. Getting the right team in fast means the difference between a contained repair and a months-long remediation project.
For homeowners along the Islip bayfront and the mid-century neighborhoods north of Montauk Highway, that urgency is real. Saltwater intrusion from bay flooding the kind Islip saw during Sandy corrodes faster, destroys drywall faster, and creates mold conditions faster than freshwater. A crew that understands that specific dynamic, not just generic water damage protocol, is going to catch things that others miss.
What you’re left with after we handle your restoration is a home that’s structurally sound, fully documented for your insurance claim, and if the work includes storm hardening more resilient than it was before the storm hit. That matters in a community where the next nor’easter is never far off.
We’re headquartered in Bohemia inside the Town of Islip which means this isn’t a company routing your call through a regional dispatch center two counties away. Our CEO Jessica Dussan and VP Leo Torres are named, reachable, and personally invested in every job that goes out under our name. That kind of accountability is hard to fake and harder to find after a storm, when unlicensed contractors flood the area with low bids and disappear after the check clears.
We hold a Suffolk County General Contractor license, NYS DOL Mold and Asbestos licenses, USEPA Lead and RRP certifications, IICRC certification, and NYS and NYC M/WBE government certification. Every one of those credentials is publicly verifiable. For homeowners in Islip’s older neighborhoods where pre-1978 homes with lead paint and asbestos materials are common that licensing stack isn’t a formality. It’s the legal requirement for doing the work safely and correctly.
With 12-plus years on the South Shore and more than 5,000 completed projects, we’ve seen what Long Island storms actually do to homes in Islip not in a textbook, but on the ground.
The first call triggers an immediate response. We operate 24/7, and given our Bohemia location, reaching Islip whether that’s a bayfront property near Heckscher State Park or a ranch home off Sunrise Highway takes under an hour in most cases. The first thing on-site is containment: emergency tarping, board-up, and securing the structure against further exposure. This step alone can prevent thousands of dollars in additional damage.
From there, our team uses thermal imaging cameras to map moisture throughout the structure not just the areas that look wet, but the ones that are wet. This matters especially in Islip’s older housing stock, where wall assemblies and insulation systems don’t always behave predictably when water gets in. If mold is present or conditions are right for it, licensed mold remediation begins before the structural repair phase. If the home was built before 1978 and the damage has disturbed suspect materials, asbestos or lead protocols are activated under the appropriate state and federal certifications.
Once the structure is stable and clear, repair and restoration work begins framing, drywall, roofing, siding, and finish work all under the same contractor, the same license, and the same roof. The Town of Islip Building Department requires permits for structural repairs, and we handle that process directly. You don’t chase paperwork. You get your home back.
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Our storm damage restoration covers the entire scope from the emergency response through the final coat of paint. That means emergency securing, water extraction, structural drying, mold remediation, asbestos and lead abatement when required, structural repairs, roofing, siding, and interior finishing. One contractor. One point of contact. No coordinating between a water company, a mold company, and a general contractor while your home sits open.
For Islip properties in FEMA-designated Special Flood Hazard Areas which includes a meaningful portion of the bayfront restoration work has to account for elevation requirements and substantial improvement thresholds. We navigate those requirements in coordination with the Town of Islip Building Department at 401 Main Street, so the project stays compliant and the permit process doesn’t stall your timeline.
We also install impact-resistant shingles and hurricane straps for homeowners who want their restoration to include storm hardening. Given what nor’easters and bay surge events have done to South Shore homes over the past decade, that’s a reasonable conclusion to a restoration project. Most of this work is covered by homeowner’s insurance, and we actively assist with documentation, adjuster communication, and in many cases bill insurance directly.
This is one of the most important questions South Shore homeowners can ask and one of the most painful lessons from Hurricane Sandy. Standard homeowner’s insurance typically covers wind damage and wind-driven rain, but it does not cover flooding caused by storm surge or rising water. That type of damage falls under the National Flood Insurance Program, which is a separate policy. In Islip, where the Great South Bay surge mechanism can push water into homes from the south during major storms, the line between wind damage and surge damage becomes a real insurance dispute.
What this means practically is that if you only have a homeowner’s policy and bay water entered your home, you may be looking at a coverage gap. We document damage in detail photographically, thermally, and structurally in ways that clearly establish the cause and scope of loss. That documentation matters when you’re working with an adjuster who’s trying to categorize what happened. Having a contractor who understands that distinction and can communicate it effectively to your insurance company directly affects how much of your claim gets paid.
Mold can begin colonizing on damp materials within 24 to 48 hours under the right conditions and storm-damaged homes in Islip frequently meet those conditions. Warm indoor temperatures, humidity from saturated building materials, and the organic content in drywall and wood framing create an environment where mold moves fast. Saltwater flooding, which Islip bayfront properties are specifically vulnerable to, can accelerate that timeline because the salt draws moisture deeper into porous materials.
The practical implication is that waiting to call even by a day or two can turn a water damage job into a mold remediation job. And mold remediation in a finished living space, particularly in a pre-1978 home where disturbing walls may trigger asbestos or lead protocols, is significantly more complex and expensive than catching it early. Our thermal imaging process identifies hidden moisture before it becomes visible mold, which is the most effective point of intervention. The faster you move after a storm event, the more contained the damage stays.
The Town of Islip requires building permits for structural repairs, full roof replacements, and significant interior work resulting from storm damage. The Building Department is located at 401 Main Street in Islip and while that’s convenient geographically, the permit process still takes time and requires documentation of the scope of work. Contractors performing this work in the Town of Islip must hold a Suffolk County General Contractor license, which is a jurisdiction-specific requirement that not every restoration company operating on Long Island actually meets.
For properties in FEMA-designated flood zones which includes bayfront sections of Islip there are additional compliance requirements around substantial improvements. If the cost of restoration exceeds a certain percentage of the home’s pre-damage value, elevation requirements may apply. We handle the permit process directly, coordinate with the Town’s Building Department, and ensure the work meets the New York State Building Code’s requirements for coastal exposure zones. You shouldn’t have to manage that process on top of everything else a storm event puts on your plate.
Yes, and it’s worth understanding before any work begins. Homes built before 1978 may contain lead-based paint, and homes built before the mid-1970s may contain asbestos in insulation, floor tiles, pipe wrap, roof materials, and joint compound. When storm damage cracks walls, disturbs insulation, or damages old siding, those materials can be exposed. New York State law requires a NYS DOL Asbestos Contractor license for any abatement work, and federal EPA law requires Lead RRP certification for renovation work in pre-1978 homes.
A significant portion of the housing stock in Islip falls into this category the post-WWII Cape Cods and ranch homes built through the 1960s and 1970s are exactly the homes most likely to contain these materials. A general restoration contractor who doesn’t hold the proper state and federal certifications cannot legally or safely perform this work. We hold both the NYS DOL Asbestos license and the USEPA Lead and RRP certifications, which means the full scope of your restoration including any hazardous material abatement is handled by one licensed team without stopping the project to bring in a separate subcontractor.
The first thing is to make sure the structure is safe to enter if there’s any concern about structural integrity, gas leaks, or downed electrical lines, stay out and call your utility provider before anything else. Once it’s safe, document everything with photos and video before touching or moving anything. Your insurance company will want a clear record of the pre-remediation condition, and that documentation is much harder to reconstruct after cleanup has started.
Then call a licensed restoration contractor immediately not tomorrow, not after the weekend. In Islip, particularly after a bay surge event or a nor’easter with significant water intrusion, the 24 to 48-hour window before mold conditions develop is the most critical period. We operate around the clock and can typically reach Islip in under an hour from our Bohemia location. We’ll handle emergency containment, begin moisture mapping, and start the insurance documentation process from the first visit. The sooner that process starts, the more contained and less expensive the overall restoration tends to be.
Storm hardening refers to upgrades made during the restoration process that improve a home’s resistance to future storm damage. The most common options are impact-resistant roofing shingles, hurricane straps that tie roof framing to wall framing, and reinforced siding systems designed for high-wind coastal environments. These aren’t cosmetic upgrades they address the specific failure points that nor’easters and bay surge events exploit in South Shore housing stock.
For a home in Islip, particularly one within a half-mile of the Great South Bay where salt air accelerates material degradation, these upgrades make practical sense. Impact-resistant shingles are rated for high-wind performance and tend to outlast standard shingles in coastal exposure conditions, which means fewer storm claims over time. Hurricane straps are now required by code in many new coastal construction contexts and significantly improve structural resilience during high-wind events. If your home is already being opened up for restoration work, adding these upgrades at that stage costs considerably less than retrofitting them later and in many cases, impact-resistant roofing qualifies for a discount on your homeowner’s insurance premium. We can walk you through what makes sense for your specific property and what your insurer may partially offset.
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