We take it down. You get the site back clean.
Demolition Masters NY is a specialist demolition contractor. Interior strip-outs, full structure take-downs, concrete, site clearance and the DOB filings that let any of it start.
- Interior strip-outs and full tear-downs
- DOB filings and ACP-5 handled
- Open 7 days, 7am to 11pm
- 24-hour emergency response
Tell us what is left standing at the end
That one answer decides your whole project. If the building stays and the inside comes out, you are looking at an interior filing and a job measured in weeks. If the building goes, you are looking at a DOB demolition permit, utility disconnect certifications, notice to your neighbours and a site safety submission, and the paperwork will take longer than the machinery.
Either way we will tell you which one you are in before you commit to anything. Most people call us not knowing, and working that out on the phone costs nothing.
What we do
Grouped the way the work actually divides. Pick the one closest to your job and the page will tell you what it covers, what it costs you time on, and what to have ready before you call.
Interior demolition
Strip-outs and gut work inside an occupied building, where access, protection and noise rules decide how the job runs.
- Residential interior demolitionGut-outs of apartments, co-ops, brownstone floors and whole house interiors
- Bathroom demolitionFixtures, tile, mud beds and waterproofing taken back to the substrate
- Flooring demolitionTile, timber, carpet, adhesive and subfloor removal
- Insulation removalOld batt, loose-fill and board insulation extracted and bagged
- Basement demolitionCellar strip-outs, slab breaking and below-grade clearance
- Selective demolitionPrecise removal where the building around it has to survive intact
Structure removal
Whole buildings and outbuildings taken down under a DOB demolition filing.
- House demolitionWhole dwellings taken down under permit, lot cleared to grade
- Garage and outbuilding demolitionGarages, barns and sheds down, slab out, ground made good
- Residential exterior demolitionExtensions, porches, stoops, chimneys and facade elements
- High-rise and multi-storey demolitionFloor-by-floor work above the fourth storey
Exterior and grounds
Everything outside the walls: concrete, hardscape, pools, decks and yard structures.
Commercial and industrial
Tenant spaces, retail, warehouse and multi-storey work, sequenced around a building that stays open.
Site work and clearance
Getting a lot from cleared to buildable, and getting the debris off it legally.
Filings and compliance
The paperwork that decides your start date, and the violations that block it.
Urgent response
Unsafe structures and situations that cannot wait for a scheduled slot.
How a job runs
The same order every time, whether it is one bathroom or a whole building. Knowing the sequence is most of what people are actually asking for when they call.
We walk the site
We look at what is coming out, what is staying, and how we get to it. Access decides most of the plan in this city: a fourth-floor walk-up and a loading dock are two different jobs even when the scope is identical.
We tell you which filing you need
Full structure, interior gut, or work small enough to sit outside a filing. You get a straight answer on which path applies and what it needs before we quote, not after you have committed.
Asbestos gets settled first
Anything built before April 1987 needs an asbestos assessment before a permit is issued. We arrange the investigator and the ACP-5 filing. This is the step that most often moves a start date, so we start it early.
We protect, then we start
Floors, stairs, lift lobbies and anything staying get covered before a tool comes out. Utilities are proved dead. Then the work runs in a set order, with the route material takes out of the building settled before any of it moves.
You get the site back clean
Loads leave covered, to a permitted transfer station, with documentation for each one. We sweep out and hand over a space the next trade can start in.
Anything built before April 1987 starts with asbestos
That covers most of the housing stock in this city. If your work needs a DOB permit, the assessment has to be filed before the permit will issue, which puts it on the critical path of nearly every job we quote. It is also the step most often started last, which is why so many projects slip.
The rules that set your start date
These are New York City requirements, not our terms. Knowing them up front is what turns a start date from a guess into a plan.
- Full demolition
- Needs a DOB demolition permit, filed in DOB NOW: Build. The application needs utility certifications proving gas, electric, water and steam are disconnected, proof of notice to adjoining owners, and certification that the building has been treated for rodents.
- Site safety
- Every full demolition job needs a site safety plan or an approved waiver submission. DOB may require a pre-demolition inspection before work permits are released.
- Notice and sign-off
- DOB must be notified two days before demolition work starts, and a post-demolition inspection has to be scheduled before the job can be signed off.
- Asbestos
- Buildings from before 1 April 1987 need an ACP-5 assessment filed with DEP and verified by DOB before a permit is issued. The report certifies the work will not disturb asbestos, or that what is present sits under the DEP threshold of 10 square feet or 25 linear feet of friable material.
- Interior work
- Interior gut renovation and commercial fit-out demolition normally runs under an Alt-2 filing, for work using several trades that does not change the building’s legal use, egress or occupancy.
- Debris
- C&D debris goes to a permitted transfer station in covered, documented loads. Material contaminated with asbestos or lead is not C&D debris and cannot travel in one.
Where we work
All five boroughs from our base on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, plus Long Island, Yonkers and New Rochelle. Work outside the city files with the local building department rather than DOB, which usually makes it simpler.
Questions we get every week
Do I need a permit for my demolition?
Taking a whole structure down always needs a DOB demolition permit, filed in DOB NOW: Build. Interior work usually sits under an Alt-2 filing when it involves several trades but does not change the building’s use, egress or occupancy. Genuinely small cosmetic removal can fall outside a filing, but that boundary is about scope, not about which room you are in. Tell us what is coming out and we will tell you which path applies.
What is an ACP-5 and will my job need one?
It is an asbestos assessment report signed by a DEP-certified asbestos investigator. If your building went up before 1 April 1987 and the work needs a DOB permit, DOB will not issue that permit until the ACP-5 is on file. Most New York City housing stock is pre-1987, so most jobs need one. If asbestos is found above the DEP threshold, the job goes to abatement first instead.
How long does the paperwork take before work can start?
For a full demolition, a typical front end runs about four to eight weeks once the asbestos assessment, adjoining-owner notice, utility disconnect certifications and site safety plan are being worked in parallel. That is a typical range from industry practice, not a promise from DOB. Interior filings are usually faster. The single biggest delay is starting the asbestos step late.
Where does the debris actually go?
Construction and demolition debris leaves covered, load by load, to a permitted C&D transfer station, with documentation for each load. Some material cannot travel in a C&D load at all: anything contaminated with asbestos or lead, plus fluorescent tubes and ballasts, appliances, tyres, drums and fuel tanks. Those are separated on site and handled on their own route.
How do you keep the dust and noise down for neighbours?
Openings get sealed, the work area is negatively separated from the rest of the building where that matters, surfaces are wetted, and debris goes into contained runs rather than being thrown. In an occupied building we agree working hours and the route in and out with building management before day one, and we keep to it.
What drives the price?
Access first, then volume, then what is in the material. A ground-floor job with a kerbside container costs differently from the same square footage four floors up with a single service lift and a two-hour loading window. After that: how much comes out, whether anything needs abatement, whether the structure needs shoring or bracing, and how much of the filing work you want us to carry.
What should I have ready before I call?
The address, roughly when the building went up, what is coming out and what has to stay, whether anyone is living or trading in the building during the work, and how a truck gets to the door. Photos help more than measurements. With that we can usually scope it on the phone and confirm on site.
Do you work outside the five boroughs?
Yes. Alongside Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island we cover Long Island, Yonkers and New Rochelle. Work outside the city runs under the local jurisdiction rather than DOB, which usually makes the filing simpler.
Tell us what is coming out
Address, roughly when the building went up, what is coming out and what stays, and how a truck gets to the door. Photos help more than measurements. We can usually scope it on the phone.
Seven days a week, 7am to 11pm. Emergency calls answered around the clock.
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