Interior Renovation NYC: Costs, Building Rules, and Contractors

An interior renovation in NYC covers everything inside your existing walls, from kitchens and bathrooms to floors, partitions, doors, and the plumbing and wiring behind them. Costs start around $100 to $200 per square foot for cosmetic work. A full apartment interior renovation can reach $190,000, like the Manhattan project below. Your building gets a say before the city does, and that is where budgets go wrong. The sections below cover what the work costs, what co-op and condo boards control, and which contractors already work under those rules.

What counts as an interior renovation in NYC?

An interior renovation changes what's inside your home without adding to it. Kitchens, bathrooms, flooring, walls, doors, built-ins, and lighting are in scope. So are the plumbing and wiring behind them. The exterior, the roof, and the footprint stay put. In NYC the distinction decides who has to approve the work:

• Cosmetic interior work needs no DOB permit and usually clears on a decoration agreement. Paint, refinished floors, new cabinet fronts, and like-for-like fixture swaps fall here. A managing agent can often sign off in days.
• Interior renovation that opens walls or moves systems needs permits and a full alteration agreement. New kitchens and bathrooms, relocated plumbing, added circuits, and removed partitions all trigger DOB filings. A co-op or condo board will want to review them as well.
• Structural and footprint changes are a different project. Combining two apartments, adding a floor, or cutting a new window carries its own filings. Those sit outside the ranges below.

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How much does an interior renovation in NYC cost?

Price by scope rather than by square foot. You end up with a number you can defend to a board and to a contractor. Labor is roughly 60% of any NYC renovation budget, and kitchens and bathrooms carry the most trades, which is why they set the pace for the whole project.

Interior renovation cost in NYC by scope, 2026 planning ranges, labor and materials included

Townhouse owners, including anyone renovating a Brooklyn brownstone, can use the same per-room ranges with two adjustments. Access is easier without a freight elevator. The systems you open are yours alone, and that means no shared riser to tie into and no board to satisfy. Still, the Department of Buildings permits the same work. On a landmarked block, anything visible from the street, including window replacement, needs Landmarks Preservation Commission approval first.

Examples of interior renovation projects that will escalate the budget

• Moving a bathroom or a kitchen sink. New drain and supply runs are required. In an apartment, you also tie into a plumbing stack shared with every unit above and below.
• Adding an induction range or a second bathroom. Many prewar apartments still run on 60 to 80 amp service. Either project can mean a panel upgrade coordinated with the building.
• Opening plaster walls in a pre-1978 building. Plaster and lath is slower to open than drywall. Lead-safe practices apply, and buildings constructed before 1987 need an asbestos survey before demolition.
• Removing partitions or changing the layout. The construction itself is modest. The architect drawings, DOB filings, special inspections, and board insurance it triggers commonly add $5,000 to $30,000 in a co-op or condo.

Whatever the scope, hold back 10 to 20% as contingency. On a $100,000 interior renovation, that's $10,000 to $20,000 you don't touch unless something turns up behind the walls.

Real-world NYC interior renovations and what they cost

Two published projects from contractors in Block Renovation's network show where the money and the time go on an NYC interior renovation.

On the first project, the management company controlled the schedule. A Brooklyn apartment interior renovation by Art Deco Enterprises covered a kitchen, a bathroom, and a bedroom for $88,974, and construction took 10 weeks. The approval took months longer than the construction did. Because the contractor had already bought the bathroom materials and kept them in its own warehouse, the delay cost the homeowner time rather than a second round of purchasing. When you compare bids, ask each contractor what happens to your materials if the board stalls.

At the top of the range, and especially in luxury apartment remodels in NYC, the budget goes into the layout as much as the finishes. A full Manhattan apartment renovation by JC Construction NY Corp ran $190,000 over 15 weeks. For that price the apartment got a new floor plan, with partition walls removed to open the kitchen, plus skim-coated walls, a tub-to-shower conversion, new doors throughout, and custom cabinetry with heater covers. The schedule is the second takeaway. A full scope finished only 5 weeks after the three-room Brooklyn project. Wet rooms and approvals set the timeline on both jobs, and the extra finishes added less time than you'd expect.

Apartment interior renovation in NYC: what does your co-op or condo board control?

A board reviews what your renovation could do to the building. The questions you'll field are about water, electrical load, noise, and insurance, rather than tile. An apartment interior renovation in NYC therefore starts with the alteration package. The sooner it goes in, the less of your contractor's calendar sits idle.

Decoration agreement or alteration agreement

Cosmetic work usually clears on a decoration agreement, signed by the managing agent within days. Anything touching plumbing, electrical, or walls needs the full alteration agreement. That document sets the work hours, the insurance minimums, the deposit, and the drawings the building's architect wants to see. Submit it before you sign a construction contract. Board meeting schedules can add 4 to 8 weeks, and no contractor can shorten them.

The wet-over-dry rule

Most boards will refuse a kitchen, bathroom, or laundry placed over a neighbor's bedroom or living room. A leak there does the most damage. The same logic keeps wet rooms close to the existing plumbing stack. Plan your layout around the riser first, and put a cross-apartment bathroom move in front of the board before you put it in front of a plumber.

Insurance, deposits, and work hours

• Your contractor's certificate of insurance has to name the co-op and the managing agent as additional insured. Some buildings also require action-over coverage. A bid from a contractor without it can look 20% cheaper, right up until the building refuses them access.
• Expect a refundable deposit against damage to common areas. Buildings commonly hold $5,000 to $20,000. It comes back after a final walkthrough of the hallways and elevator.
• Work hours are tight. Weekdays from about 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. is typical, with no weekends. Some buildings bar heavy construction over the summer.
• The freight elevator has to be reserved. Every delivery and debris run goes through a booked window. The crew lays hallway protection each morning and clears it each night.

Give every bidder the same alteration agreement and insurance requirements before they price the job. Otherwise one proposal looks cheaper only because another already priced in rules the building will enforce either way.

What changes for townhouse owners

A townhouse has no board, and with it the decoration-versus-alteration question disappears. The Department of Buildings still permits the same work. Lead-safe and asbestos rules still apply in older houses. On a landmarked block, any street-facing change goes to the Landmarks Preservation Commission before a permit can issue.

How to choose an interior renovation contractor in NYC

The contractor you hire signs the alteration agreement, carries the insurance the board demands, books the elevator, and files with the DOB. They're also the person in your apartment when an old cast-iron riser turns up behind the plaster. For example, an interior renovation contractor in NYC who has never worked in a prewar co-op can build a beautiful kitchen. The same contractor can also cost you 6 weeks on a rejected alteration package. Check the following before you compare totals:

• Ask which of their last 5 projects were in buildings like yours. A prewar co-op, a new condo tower, and an occupied walk-up each create different problems. Recent work in your building type is the best predictor of fewer surprises.
• Hand every bidder the same building requirements before they price. Insurance limits, work hours, elevator rules, and the alteration agreement belong in the bid. Then no proposal is cheaper for reasons the building will later erase.
• Read the allowances against the products you're actually considering. A low tile, cabinet, or fixture allowance keeps a proposal attractive on paper. The real cost shows up in change orders once selections are final.
• Confirm who files and who pays. The proposal should state whether architect drawings, DOB filings, special inspections, and asbestos surveys are included or billed separately. "Full renovation" doesn't answer that.
• Ask what they inspected before pricing. In an apartment, that means the panel, the riser, and the building documents. In a townhouse, it means the basement, the service, and any wall you plan to open.
• Verify the paperwork. An NYC home improvement contractor license, lead-safe certification for pre-1978 work, and a current certificate of insurance are the minimum. Ask for all three before the site visit.

Block puts every matched contractor's bid on the same expert-reviewed scope. The line items you compare are the same line items. The proposal review before you sign is where a missing asbestos survey or an undersized electrical allowance gets caught.

Interior renovation contractors in NYC who work with Block

The 8 contractors below are part of Block's New York network. Each has a published portfolio of apartment and townhouse interiors, and they aren't interchangeable. One phases work around a family still in the apartment, another builds cabinetry for out-of-square prewar walls, and a third keeps a warehouse for materials stranded by a board delay.

I&N Builders

Nina and Ilya Suleymanov run I&N Builders as a husband-and-wife team. She handles design and client communication, and he runs construction. The bulk of their work is in Manhattan apartments, condos, and townhouses, including a $145,000 Upper West Side renovation of a kitchen, a bathroom, and the living spaces, and a Murray Hill project that joined two side-by-side units into one home. Homeowners who have worked with them consistently describe the process as collaborative.

Art Deco Enterprises

Ion Dodu and Sorina Panfil founded Art Deco Enterprises in 2012 and still run the construction and client sides themselves. The Brooklyn condo above shows the logistics side of their work, with materials bought and stored in their own warehouse through a long board approval. A Queens condo kitchen shows the design side. Opening the kitchen to the dining room left no spot for a conventional hood, and their answer was a downdraft unit that rises while you cook.

Metro Contractors

Metro Contractors deals with New York City apartment filings constantly. They can tell you early whether your scope stays simple or pulls in DOB or Landmarks review, the kind of approval that adds 4 to 12 weeks. Nearly everything they build is a city apartment or condo, from prewar kitchens with checkerboard floors to exposed-brick lofts, and they staff those jobs with their own craftspeople under a dedicated project manager.

Knockout Renovation

Knockout Renovation has combined a design studio, a retail showroom, and a construction crew under one roof since 1992. The people choosing finishes sit next to the people installing them. Their tradespeople work on co-ops and condos rather than rotating through unrelated construction. The firm backs its work with a 7-year labor and product warranty that transfers if you sell. A co-op expansion in their portfolio shows the scale they can handle inside an occupied building.

Supreme Renovation A2Z

Stock cabinetry assumes straight walls and square corners. A prewar apartment rarely offers either. Supreme Renovation A2Z runs its own woodworking shop, and an Upper West Side kitchen in its portfolio shows what that buys. The veneer cabinetry, lacquer uppers, waterfall quartz island, and hood enclosure built into the cabinet line all came out of that shop. Aslam and Mike carry homeowners from 3D visualizations through permitting, with filings handled in-house.

The Line Construction

You don't always get to move out while your apartment is renovated. The Line Construction, a family-run team, plans around that. Work is phased so you aren't giving up the whole apartment at once, and a larger scope can be split across two seasons. Their portfolio of smaller city spaces, such as a Brooklyn bathroom and a one-wall Sunnyside kitchen, feels custom without alienating a future buyer.

Designs by D & J

Designs by D & J takes on landmarked buildings, complicated prewar layouts, and multi-floor gut renovations, the projects that make other contractors hesitate. Owners Jay and Dominique stay on the job themselves. The firm publishes its license numbers, change-order policy, and weekly check-in schedule before you sign. Homeowners receive a written 1-year workmanship warranty, a close-out package, and final DOB sign-off where the scope requires it. A recent condo renovation shows the finish level.

Find your interior renovation contractor in NYC with Block Renovation

The contractor who is fantastic at combining apartments isn't automatically the one you want for a phased kitchen in an occupied one-bedroom. The 8 above are only part of the network. Tell Block about your building, your scope, and your timeline once. You're matched with vetted New York contractors whose recent work fits the interior renovation you're planning.

Matching is free for homeowners. You get up to 4 competing bids on the same scope, and a project planner reviews the proposal with you before you sign. 

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