Bushwick starts where Ridgewood ends, which makes it one of the closest Brooklyn neighborhoods to our Queens base. The housing is frame and brick two- and three-families on the blocks off Knickerbocker Avenue and Myrtle Avenue, converted industrial lofts around Jefferson Street and the Morgan Avenue stop, and new condos filling in along Broadway and Bushwick Avenue. Many owners are renovating a whole building floor by floor, and that is the kind of sequenced job we do well.

The housing

Wood-frame and brick three-family row houses with aluminum or vinyl siding on the streets between Knickerbocker Avenue, Myrtle Avenue and Broadway, typically with railroad layouts, one small bathroom per floor and kitchens at the rear. Converted factory and warehouse lofts around Jefferson Street, Troutman Street and Morgan Avenue with open plans and exposed systems. New-construction condos along Bushwick Avenue and near the Jefferson and DeKalb stops with concrete slabs. Deferred maintenance is common in the older frames, so electrical and plumbing upgrades usually come with any renovation.

What we are asked to do here

  • Bathroom Remodeling: Rebuilding the single bathroom on each floor of a three-family off Knickerbocker Avenue, done floor by floor around tenants.
  • Kitchen Remodeling: Rental and owner kitchens in frame row houses, made durable and code-correct with new circuits and exterior venting.
  • Interior Renovations: Whole-building renovations sequenced one floor at a time, with leveling, new mechanical runs and plaster or drywall repair throughout.

Permits and building rules

Bushwick's private houses are DOB-only, with permits for plumbing, gas and electrical changes filed by the licensed trades we coordinate. Occupied multi-families need a tenant protection plan filed with the DOB before work starts, and we include it in the schedule. Condos and lofts under a condo or co-op structure require alteration agreements and management approval. Converting cellars or adding units touches the certificate of occupancy and the city's basement rules, which we check first.