NYS and NYC M/WBE Certified Contractor
After a storm hits Smithtown, the visible damage is usually just the beginning. Water that pushed through a compromised roof or flooded a basement during a heavy rain event doesn’t stop at the surface it moves into wall cavities, insulation, and subfloor assemblies where it sits undetected, often for weeks. By the time you smell something or see discoloration, mold has already taken hold.
What complete restoration looks like is a home where every affected layer has been addressed not just the parts you can see. That means the structural framing is dry, the insulation is intact or replaced, the air quality is clean, and the repairs are permitted and up to code with the Town of Smithtown Building Department. It means you’re not getting a callback six months later about a mold problem that started the night of the storm.
For homes along the Nissequogue River corridor or in older neighborhoods like Smithtown South and St. James where a significant portion of the housing stock was built before 1978 storm damage can also disturb asbestos-containing materials in insulation, siding, or flooring. That’s not a complication most restoration contractors are licensed to handle. We handle it as part of the same project, without requiring you to find a separate abatement contractor before repairs can begin.
We’re based in Bohemia, NY directly south of Smithtown in the Town of Islip, just across the town line. That’s not a minor detail. It means when a storm rolls through Kings Park or floods the area near Blydenburgh County Park, the crew responding to your call isn’t navigating from Nassau County or routing through a national dispatch center. We’re already nearby, familiar with North Shore construction in Smithtown and the surrounding area, and ready to move.
CEO Jessica Dussan and VP Leo Torres have been leading Green Island Group for over 12 years, with more than 5,000 completed projects across Long Island. The licensing is specific and verifiable: Suffolk County General Contractor, NYS DOL Mold, NYS DOL Asbestos, USEPA Lead, USEPA RRP, and IICRC-certified technicians. These aren’t generic credentials they’re the exact licenses required to do permitted, compliant restoration work within the Town of Smithtown.
This is a company where the leadership’s names are on the work. That matters in a community like Smithtown.
It starts with a 24/7 emergency call. Whether a nor’easter tore through your roof in Kings Park at 2 a.m. or a summer storm flooded your basement in Nesconset overnight, the first step is getting someone on-site fast to stop the damage from getting worse. That means emergency board-up, tarping, or water extraction whatever the situation calls for before anything else.
Once the immediate risk is contained, the real assessment begins. We use thermal imaging cameras to identify moisture that isn’t visible to the naked eye water trapped inside walls, beneath floors, or in ceiling assemblies. This step is what separates a complete restoration from a surface-level cleanup that leaves a mold problem behind. In Smithtown’s older housing stock, where homes built in the 1950s and 1960s often have insulation and materials that absorb and hold moisture, this matters more than most homeowners realize.
From there, structural drying, mold remediation, and repairs follow in sequence. For any structural work roof repairs, wall reconstruction, framing we pull the required permits through the Town of Smithtown Building Department. The job isn’t done until the work passes inspection and your home is genuinely restored, not just patched. If your home is pre-1978 and storm damage has disturbed asbestos or lead-containing materials, we handle that within the same project scope, not handed off to someone else.
Ready to get started?
Storm damage in Smithtown rarely fits into a single category. A nor’easter that drives water through your roof also soaks the attic insulation, seeps into wall cavities, and creates mold risk within 24 to 48 hours. A flooding event near the Nissequogue River doesn’t just fill a basement it can compromise your foundation, destroy finished living space, and leave behind contaminated water that requires proper extraction and treatment, not just a shop vac.
Our storm damage restoration scope covers the full chain: emergency securing and board-up, debris and tree removal, water extraction and structural drying, thermal imaging for hidden moisture, mold remediation, asbestos and lead abatement for pre-1978 homes, structural repair, and full interior and exterior restoration. Every phase is handled under one contract, one point of contact, and one accountability structure. There’s no scenario where one contractor blames another for something that went wrong between handoffs.
For Smithtown homeowners dealing with insurance claims, we document damage thoroughly and bill insurance companies directly in many cases. The difference between covered wind-driven rain damage and non-covered flood damage is a real source of confusion after major storm events and having a contractor who understands how that distinction plays out in Suffolk County claims can make a significant difference in what you actually recover.
The first thing to do is make sure the structure is safe to be in if there’s any doubt about roof integrity, electrical exposure, or structural stability, stay out and call for emergency help. Once it’s safe, document everything with photos before touching anything. That documentation becomes critical when you file your insurance claim.
After that, your priority is stopping additional damage from occurring. Water that’s already inside your home will continue spreading and absorbing into materials with every hour that passes. Calling a restoration contractor who offers 24/7 emergency response and who can get to Smithtown quickly gives you the best chance of limiting how far the damage spreads before the real work begins. We operate out of Bohemia, just south of Smithtown, which means response times are realistic, not a marketing claim.
Most standard homeowners insurance policies in New York cover wind damage, wind-driven rain, and damage caused by falling trees or limbs. What they typically do not cover is flooding from ground-level water that requires a separate flood insurance policy through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). This distinction becomes especially relevant in Smithtown, where flooding events can originate from both heavy rain overwhelming drainage systems and from the Nissequogue River watershed rising during severe storms.
The practical challenge is that a single storm event can produce both types of damage in the same home a compromised roof from wind and a flooded basement from rising groundwater. Sorting out which damage falls under which policy, and documenting it correctly, is where a lot of homeowners lose money they’re actually entitled to. We’ve handled enough Suffolk County insurance claims to know how to document damage in a way that supports your claim, and we can bill insurance companies directly in many cases.
Mold can begin developing within 24 to 48 hours of water intrusion under the right conditions and a storm-damaged home in Smithtown during late summer or early fall provides exactly those conditions. Warm temperatures, elevated humidity, and moisture trapped inside wall cavities or beneath flooring create an environment where mold establishes itself quickly, often in spaces you can’t see until it’s already a significant problem.
This is why the timeline between the storm and the start of professional drying matters so much. A basement that got pumped out but wasn’t properly dried with commercial-grade equipment can still develop mold in the framing, insulation, and drywall behind the walls. We use thermal imaging to locate moisture that isn’t visible on the surface which is the only reliable way to know whether drying is actually complete, rather than just assuming the visible water is all there was.
It depends on the scope of the work. Simple re-shingling after storm damage typically doesn’t require a permit. But structural repairs anything involving roof framing, wall reconstruction, changes to the roofline, or window header alterations do require a building permit from the Town of Smithtown Building Department, which enforces the New York State Building Code. Skipping that step doesn’t just create a legal issue; it can also void your insurance coverage for that portion of the repair.
Working with a contractor who holds a Suffolk County General Contractor license is a prerequisite for pulling those permits legally. That’s not a technicality it’s a requirement that protects you. If a contractor can’t pull a permit in Suffolk County, they can’t legally perform the structural repair work your home may need after a storm. We hold the Suffolk County GC license and handle the permitting process as part of the restoration project.
Yes, and it’s something a lot of homeowners don’t think about until a contractor opens up a wall. Homes built in the 1950s and 1960s a large portion of the housing stock in Smithtown South, St. James, Kings Park, and Commack were often constructed with asbestos-containing materials in insulation, floor tiles, roofing, and sometimes siding. Asbestos-cement siding was common in Long Island construction during that era. When storm damage cracks walls, tears off old siding, or exposes roof decking, it can disturb those materials and create a hazardous condition.
Under New York State law, remediation of asbestos-containing materials requires a specific NYS DOL Asbestos license separate from a general contractor license. The same applies to lead paint under USEPA Lead and RRP regulations. Most restoration contractors in the Smithtown area are not licensed for this work, which means they either skip it (creating a liability for you) or the project stalls while you find a separate abatement contractor. We hold all three certifications and handle abatement as part of the restoration scope.
The honest answer is that it varies significantly based on the extent of the damage, whether mold or hazardous materials are involved, and how quickly permits can be processed through the Town of Smithtown Building Department. A straightforward roof repair with no hidden moisture or structural compromise might be completed in a matter of days. A home that experienced significant water intrusion particularly one near the Nissequogue River corridor that took on flooding during a major storm event could require several weeks to dry completely, remediate properly, and restore to a livable condition.
What affects the timeline most is whether the initial assessment is thorough. A contractor who skips thermal imaging and declares the home dry after surface-level water removal is setting you up for a longer, more expensive process down the road when mold appears. Getting the assessment right at the start identifying all affected areas, understanding what materials are involved, and building a realistic scope of work is what keeps the overall timeline predictable. We walk through that assessment with you before any work begins so you understand what you’re looking at.
Local Resources
Useful Links
