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Whole-home renovation · Manhattan

Full-apartment and townhouse renovation in Manhattan

We renovate whole Manhattan apartments and townhouse interiors as one project: kitchen, bathrooms, floors, walls, lighting and paint under a single schedule. Most of the timeline is set before the first wall opens, by the board's review, any DOB filing and, on a landmark block, LPC approval, so that is where our planning starts.

  • One schedule from board package to final walkthrough
  • Townhouse interiors planned around historic-district review
  • Garden-level and ground-floor units checked on both flood maps
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Living room with tall windows, a black marble fireplace, mouldings and white sofas

Scope

What a Manhattan whole-home renovation covers

Interior work across several rooms or a full apartment, inside the existing structure and the building's approval. Facade, roof and structural work are not part of our scope.

  • Pre-purchase or pre-design walk-through with the building's alteration rules
  • Coordination with your architect or engineer on drawings the board and DOB require
  • Kitchen and bathroom rebuilds planned together around the building's risers
  • New walls, ceilings, doors and trim within the existing structure
  • Flooring throughout with the sound underlayment the building specifies
  • Lighting and electrical upgrades
  • Interior painting and a final walkthrough before the building's sign-off

Process

How MMA Construction & Remodeling runs a whole-home renovation project

Written scope, written proposal, permits identified up front, and one project lead from start to finish.

  1. Conversation

    You describe the home and what you want to change. We ask about budget range and timing so expectations are clear early.

  2. Site visit and scope

    We look at the space, the structure of the house and any HOA, co-op or condo rules that apply, then write a scope of work.

  3. Design and selections

    Layout, materials and fixtures are agreed in writing before work is priced in full.

  4. Written proposal

    A written price and schedule for the agreed scope. Permits and any approvals are identified at this stage. In a co-op or condo the board package comes first: drawings by a licensed professional, the signed alteration agreement and contractor documents.

  5. Build

    One project lead coordinates the trades and keeps you updated. Some regulated work may require appropriately licensed specialty contractors. Work hours follow the building’s rules, and construction before 7 a.m., after 6 p.m. or on weekends needs a DOB After Hours Variance.

  6. Walkthrough

    We review the finished work with you and resolve anything outstanding.

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Manhattan

What shapes a whole-home renovation in Manhattan

  1. Approvals come before the calendar

    A gut renovation in a co-op or condo usually starts with a package: drawings by a licensed professional, the signed alteration agreement, contractor documents and often a deposit. The board's architect may comment and ask for revisions. Where the scope needs a DOB permit, the filing runs alongside. We treat that period as part of the project, using it to finalize selections and order long-lead items, so the work can run without pauses once the board and DOB say yes.

  2. Renovation windows and occupied buildings

    Buildings commonly limit the hours crews may work, and some also cap how long an alteration may run or restrict noisy tasks to certain months. Neighbors share the corridor, the elevator and sometimes the walls. Our project lead builds the sequence to fit those limits: noisy tear-out and rough-in first, inspections where required, then quieter finishes. Outside 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays, the city must first have issued an After Hours Variance, and most buildings set a narrower window still.

  3. Townhouses and historic districts

    One- and two-family lots number about 4,200 in Manhattan's tax-lot file, a small share of homes but a distinct kind of project. A townhouse escapes board review, but landmark review is common: in PLUTO, 32.3% of the borough's residential lots fall inside a named historic district. LPC's permit is required whenever interior work needs a DOB permit or alters the exterior, new vents being one example. We search the address on LPC's map before layouts are drawn and keep exterior work out of our scope.

  4. Old buildings, children at home and hidden materials

    About 57% of Manhattan homes are in structures from before 1960. HPD's summary of Local Law 1 of 2004 has owners of pre-1960 multiple dwellings presume paint is lead-based, with certified firms and safe work practices for repairs that disturb it where a child under six lives. Paid work in homes built before 1978 falls under EPA's lead rules, and the asbestos survey DEP requires is the building owner's responsibility. A full renovation disturbs nearly every surface, so these steps lead the schedule.

Budget

What drives the cost of a Manhattan gut renovation

We don't publish a Manhattan price per square foot, because the published figures vary widely and none we have found states a method we can stand behind. What we can show is where the money goes, so two proposals can be compared on the same terms.

  • The building: the alteration agreement, the board's review period, permitted work hours and insurance requirements, which can stretch the schedule and the cost.
  • Filings: whether the plan needs a DOB application, and who prepares it.
  • Systems: how much plumbing, wiring and ventilation is replaced while walls are open, rather than finishes alone.
  • What is behind the walls: older paint, plaster and pipes found during demolition.
  • Living elsewhere: a full gut usually leaves no working kitchen or bath for a time, so the cost of staying elsewhere belongs in the budget.
  • Long-lead items: windows where the building allows them, cabinets and some fixtures, ordered before demolition so the job does not stall.

Ask each bidder to price these lines separately. The gut renovation cost guide sets out the same drivers in more detail.

Starting a full renovation after a purchase?

Send the floor plan, the building's alteration agreement and your list of rooms. Our project lead will map the approval steps and the sequence before any pricing.

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Local evidence

Manhattan ownership, landmarks and flood maps for a whole-home project

Manhattan figures that shape a multi-room renovation (ACS 2024 1-year; PLUTO 26v2, accessed 2026-11-09)
MeasureFigure
Owner-occupied homes (ACS)206,186 of 807,083 occupied (25.5%)
Residential units on co-op-class lots (PLUTO)196,596 of 958,956 (20.5%)
Residential units on condominium-class lots (PLUTO)185,748 of 958,956 (19.4%)
One- and two-family lots (PLUTO)4,203 of 32,472 lots with homes
Lots with homes carrying a historic-district name (PLUTO)10,478 (32.3%)

Only about a quarter of occupied Manhattan homes are owner-occupied, and roughly two in five residential units sit on co-op- or condominium-class lots, so a whole-home renovation here is usually an owner's project inside a building with its own approval process. Rental apartments need the owner's consent, and their buildings may face Local Law 1 duties on lead paint.

Flood maps matter most for ground-floor, garden and cellar-level space. In PLUTO, lots with homes touched by FEMA's 2015 preliminary map make up 24.5% of the Financial District-Tribeca community district and 28.0% of East Harlem, against 4.9% for Manhattan as a whole. Because a flagged lot is not proof that the building itself sits in the floodplain, look the address up on FEMA's Flood Map Service Center before choosing finishes for street-level rooms.

Planning a whole-home renovation in Manhattan? Call or email us to talk it through and arrange a consultation.

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Questions

Whole-home renovation in Manhattan: questions

In what order does a Manhattan apartment gut renovation happen?
Roughly: building rules and a site visit, design and drawings, the board package, any DOB filing, then construction. On site the order is protection of halls and elevator, tear-out, rough plumbing and electrical, inspections where required, walls and ceilings, kitchen and bath installation, floors, paint and a final walkthrough with you and, if the building requires it, its architect. See whole-home renovation: what first.
My building limits how long a renovation can last. How do you plan around that?
We work backward from the deadline. Selections are finalized and long-lead items such as cabinets, tile and plumbing fixtures are ordered while the board reviews the package, so nothing is waiting on delivery once work starts. The schedule groups trades to overlap where it is safe. If the scope cannot fit the building's window, we say so before you sign and suggest phasing or a smaller first stage.
Does a townhouse renovation need LPC approval if the facade stays untouched?
It can. LPC's permit page covers interior work that requires a DOB permit, even with no exterior change, and interior work that alters the outside, such as new vents or louvers. Because so many townhouses here are on designated blocks, the first step is an address lookup on LPC's Discover NYC Landmarks map. If the property is designated, the LPC permit comes before DOB can act on the DOB application, and we build that step into the timeline.
We are renovating a garden-level apartment near the water. What changes?
Look up the address on FEMA's 2007 effective and 2015 preliminary maps, because the city's insurance rates still follow the 2007 maps while the newer map shows more lots flagged in some districts. Where the lot is flagged, we favor finishes and details that tolerate water at the lowest level and keep electrical devices and storage higher where practical. Questions on flood insurance or flood-related filings go to your insurer and design professional.

Keep exploring

Read before you plan

Sources

  1. B25003 Tenure, New York County (Manhattan), ACS 2024 1-year estimates, U.S. Census Bureau via Census Reporter (2025 (ACS 2024 1-year release, acs2024_1yr)). Accessed 2026-11-09.
  2. B25034 Year Structure Built, New York County (Manhattan), ACS 2024 1-year estimates, U.S. Census Bureau via Census Reporter (2025 (ACS 2024 1-year release, acs2024_1yr)). Accessed 2026-11-09.
  3. Primary Land Use Tax Lot Output (PLUTO), version 26v2 (dataset 64uk-42ks, SODA API), NYC Department of City Planning via NYC Open Data (26v2). Accessed 2026-11-09.
  4. Building Classifications, NYC Department of Finance. Accessed 2026-11-09.
  5. PLUTO Data Dictionary (23v1.1), NYC Department of City Planning (2023-05). Accessed 2026-11-08.
  6. 2020 Census Tracts to 2020 NTAs and CDTAs Equivalency (dataset hm78-6dwm, SODA API), NYC Department of City Planning via NYC Open Data (2021-09-20). Accessed 2026-11-09.
  7. Check After Hour Variances, NYC Department of Buildings. Accessed 2026-11-09.
  8. Permit Types, NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission. Accessed 2026-11-09.
  9. Landmark Status Letter, NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission. Accessed 2026-11-09.
  10. Lead-Based Paint, NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Accessed 2026-11-09.
  11. Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Program Rules, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Accessed 2026-11-09.
  12. Asbestos Abatement, NYC Department of Environmental Protection. Accessed 2026-11-09.
  13. FEMA Flood Map Service Center, Federal Emergency Management Agency. Accessed 2026-11-09.
  14. NYC Flood Maps, City of New York. Accessed 2026-11-09.

Talk to us about your renovation project in Manhattan

Call or email us to talk it through and arrange a consultation.

Call MMA Construction (516) 212-9311Email us