Flooring is one of the most visible — and most variable — line items in any NYC renovation. A galley kitchen might need 60 square feet of tile. A pre-war two-bedroom might need 900+ square feet of hardwood refinished, patched, and stained. The cost per square foot barely moves the needle on the low end and swings wildly on the high end, depending on material, subfloor condition, and building rules. Below is what flooring actually costs across the five boroughs in 2026, broken

If you've gotten painting quotes in New York City that range from $800 to $6,000 for what sounds like "the same job," you're not imagining things. Painting and drywall pricing swings more than almost any other renovation category — because so much of the cost is hidden in prep work you can't see on a walkthrough. This guide breaks down what actually drives price, what a realistic NYC budget looks like in 2026, and how to tell a contractor who preps a wall correctly from one w

If you own a co-op in New York City, you don't just need a contractor to renovate — you need your building's board to say yes first. Roughly 70% of co-op alteration requests in Manhattan involve work that requires explicit board approval, and the specific rules differ from building to building in ways that rarely show up in a listing description. Homeowners who treat this step as an afterthought are the ones who end up with a contractor scheduled and a project stalled for mon

A full gut renovation — stripping an apartment down to the studs and rebuilding everything from the electrical and plumbing out — is the biggest investment most NYC homeowners will make outside of the purchase itself. It's also where price quotes vary the most, because so much of the cost depends on what's hiding behind your walls, not just what finishes you pick. At Ora Contracting, we handle full gut renovations across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island, New Jersey, a

Bathroom renovation quotes in NYC can range from a few thousand dollars for a powder room refresh to well over $100,000 for a luxury master bath — and the reason for that spread is almost always the same three things: whether you're moving plumbing, what finishes you're choosing, and what your building requires before work can even start. At Ora Contracting, we renovate bathrooms across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, New Jersey, Long Island and this guide reflects what our clie

If you've started pricing out a kitchen renovation in New York City, you've probably noticed the numbers are all over the place — one website says $20,000, another says $200,000. Both can be true. NYC kitchen costs swing more than almost anywhere else in the country because of building type, board approvals, labor rates, and how much of the existing layout you're keeping versus tearing out. At Ora Contracting, we build kitchens across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, New Jersey a