NYS and NYC M/WBE Certified Contractor
Most Uniondale homes were built in the early 1950s — Cape Cods and ranch-style houses that have been standing since Mitchel Field was still active. They’re solid homes, but they weren’t built with today’s storm loads in mind. When wind strips the siding or rain breaches the roof, water doesn’t just sit where you can see it. It travels. It soaks into the framing, saturates the insulation, and gets behind drywall before you’ve even called anyone.
The part most homeowners in Uniondale don’t realize is that in a pre-1960 home, disturbed insulation or flooring materials can mean asbestos exposure. That’s a regulatory reality in New York State. A contractor without a NYS DOL Asbestos Handler license cannot legally handle that work. Most storm contractors don’t have one. We do, along with NYS DOL Mold Remediation licensing, USEPA Lead Certification, and a Nassau County General Contractor license — meaning we can take a job from emergency board-up to finished restoration without handing it off or leaving gaps.
When the work is done, your home is dry, documented, permitted through the Town of Hempstead, and structurally sound. Not just patched — actually restored. And because we bill your insurance directly, you’re not fronting thousands of dollars while waiting on a claim.
Green Island Group is a full-service disaster restoration company serving Nassau County, Suffolk County, Queens, and New York City. We hold an NYS Office of General Services Approved Emergency Response Contractor designation — a state-issued credential that requires verified licensing, insurance, and operational compliance. That’s not a badge we put on a website. It’s a government record you can look up.
We operate in Nassau County and know Uniondale and the surrounding communities well. We’re familiar with the Town of Hempstead permitting process and have worked extensively in the neighborhoods around Hempstead Turnpike and the Southern State corridor. We’re not a franchise dispatching crews from a regional call center, and we’re not a lead-generation site with an out-of-state phone number pretending to be local.
Our license stack — Nassau County GC, NYS DOL Mold, NYS DOL Asbestos, USEPA Lead, USEPA RRP — exists because the homes we work in require it. Especially here in Uniondale.
When you call, we respond 24/7 — not a voicemail, not a callback window. The first thing we do is secure the property. That means emergency board-up, tarping, or debris removal to stop additional damage from coming in while we assess what’s already there.
From there, we run a full diagnostic — thermal imaging cameras and commercial moisture meters to find water that’s already moved behind walls, under floors, or into your attic. In Uniondale’s post-war Cape Cods, that step matters more than most people expect. Low-pitch roofs and tight attic spaces hold moisture in ways that aren’t visible until mold has already started. We find it before it becomes a bigger problem.
Once we know the full scope, we handle everything in sequence: water extraction, structural drying, mold remediation if needed, asbestos abatement if the materials require it, structural repair, and full interior restoration. We also pull the necessary permits through the Town of Hempstead Building Department — because Uniondale is unincorporated, and unpermitted work can create real problems at resale. Throughout the entire process, we’re documenting everything for your insurance claim and billing the carrier directly so you’re not carrying the financial weight of this while the work is happening.
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Storm damage restoration in Uniondale isn’t a single-trade job. It starts with emergency response — securing the structure, stopping active water intrusion, and protecting your property from further exposure. That part is immediate. What comes after is where most contractors fall short.
We handle the complete chain: debris removal, emergency board-up, water extraction, industrial drying, mold remediation, asbestos abatement, structural repair, and interior rebuild. Every phase is covered under our own licenses — no subcontracting the hazardous materials work to someone else, no liability gaps between trades. For a home built in 1952 near the Meadowbrook Parkway corridor, that matters. The materials inside those walls weren’t built to current safety standards, and the contractor you hire needs to be equipped for what they’re actually going to find.
We also work directly with your insurance company. We document the damage, prepare the claim, and bill the carrier — so the restoration starts when you need it, not after weeks of back-and-forth with an adjuster. Whether you’re in a single-family home off Uniondale Avenue or managing a commercial property near Nassau Community College, the process is the same: one call, full scope, no handoffs.
In most cases, yes — and it’s something homeowners in Uniondale specifically need to understand before hiring anyone. The majority of homes in this community were built in the late 1940s and 1950s, which means they almost certainly contain asbestos in insulation, floor tiles, roofing materials, or siding — and lead-based paint on any painted surface. Federal and New York State law require specific licensing to disturb those materials legally and safely.
When storm damage creates a roof breach, strips siding, or causes structural movement, those materials can be disturbed. A general contractor without a NYS DOL Asbestos Handler license and USEPA Lead/RRP certification cannot legally complete the full scope of that restoration work. If you hire someone who isn’t licensed for this and they disturb asbestos-containing materials, the liability falls on the homeowner. We hold both credentials, which means we handle the entire job — including any hazardous materials — without subcontracting or creating gaps in accountability.
Mold can begin colonizing wet materials within 24 to 48 hours of water intrusion. That window is not flexible — it’s biological. In Uniondale’s post-war housing stock, the conditions accelerate the problem. Cape Cod homes built in the 1950s typically have low-pitch roofs and minimal attic ventilation. When water gets in through a storm breach, it saturates the insulation and reaches the framing quickly, and the confined space gives mold exactly the warm, humid environment it needs to spread fast.
The average homeowner waits three to five days before calling a restoration company. By then, what started as a roof repair can turn into a full mold remediation job — which is significantly more expensive and disruptive. Calling immediately after a storm, even if the damage looks minor, is the most cost-effective decision you can make. We respond 24/7 and can begin drying and treatment before the mold clock runs out.
Most standard homeowners insurance policies in New York cover sudden storm damage — wind damage, roof breaches from fallen trees, water intrusion from a storm event, and related structural damage. What they typically don’t cover is damage that resulted from deferred maintenance or gradual deterioration, which is why documentation at the time of the storm matters so much.
Nassau County’s climate means you’re dealing with Nor’easters in the winter, tropical storms in late summer and fall, and severe thunderstorms in spring — all of which generate legitimate insurance claims. The key is having a contractor who documents the damage thoroughly and communicates directly with your adjuster. We handle the insurance process from start to finish: we photograph and document the full scope of damage, prepare the claim, and bill the carrier directly. You’re not left navigating that process alone while water is still in your walls.
Yes, in most cases. Because Uniondale is an unincorporated hamlet within the Town of Hempstead, it doesn’t have its own building department. All permits for structural repairs, roofing work, and significant restoration are issued through the Town of Hempstead Building Department. This applies to storm damage repairs the same way it applies to planned renovations.
Work done without the proper permits can create real problems — it can complicate your homeowners insurance claim, create title issues when you go to sell, and in some cases require the unpermitted work to be redone. We pull permits through the Town of Hempstead as a standard part of every job. We’re familiar with the process, and we handle it so you don’t have to track down the right department while you’re also dealing with a damaged home. Your restoration will be fully documented, properly permitted, and legally compliant.
This is one of the most important questions you can ask — especially on Long Island after a major storm. After every significant weather event in Nassau County, out-of-state contractors and storm chasers move in quickly, offering fast work at low prices. Some take deposits and disappear. Others complete work without the proper NY licenses, leaving homeowners exposed to liability for undisclosed hazardous materials or unpermitted repairs.
The specific licenses that matter for storm restoration in Uniondale are: a Nassau County General Contractor license, NYS DOL Mold Remediation certification, NYS DOL Asbestos Handler license (critical for pre-1980 homes), USEPA Lead Certification, and full liability insurance with workers’ compensation coverage. You can verify contractor licenses through Nassau County and NYS DOL records. We also hold an NYS Office of General Services Approved Emergency Response Contractor designation — a state-government credential that requires documented vetting of all of the above. That’s verifiable, not just a claim on a website.
It depends on the scope, but here’s a realistic breakdown. Emergency stabilization — board-up, tarping, debris removal — happens within hours of your call. Water extraction and initial structural drying typically takes three to five days for a standard single-family home, though Uniondale’s older Cape Cod construction can extend that timeline if water has moved deep into original insulation or behind plaster walls.
If mold remediation or asbestos abatement is required — which is common in homes built before 1960 — that adds time to the process, but it’s time that has to be spent. Skipping it or rushing it creates health and liability risks that outlast the visible damage. Structural repairs and interior restoration follow once the structure is dry and cleared. For a typical Uniondale home with moderate storm damage, the full process from emergency response to completed restoration runs anywhere from one to three weeks. We give you a clear scope and timeline after the initial assessment so you’re not left guessing.
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