Huntington is one of the North Shore's old towns, and it shows. Colonial-era roots, Victorian streets, early twentieth-century houses near the village center, and waterfront properties along the harbor and bays give the area a character that new developments cannot imitate. The same age that gives these homes their value also gives them their risks. Plaster behind paint, wiring behind plaster, lead in the paint itself, and structure that has settled in ways drawings do not show.
This page is for Huntington owners planning a luxury interior renovation of a historic, older or waterfront property. We emphasize what to investigate before you commit, how to read a contract so that you spot trouble early, what costs look like in 2026, and how to line up approvals.
The most valuable money you will spend on an older house is the money before design. A thorough investigation changes the plan, the contract and the price.
Houses built before 1978 may contain lead paint. Anyone paid to disturb it must be EPA-certified or state-authorized and use lead-safe work practices, as explained on the EPA's lead program page. Older buildings may also contain asbestos in materials such as floor tile, mastic, pipe insulation and roofing. Disturbing suspect materials calls for a survey and, if present, certified abatement. We never promise that a building has none.
Huntington includes areas with historic character, and some properties carry designations or fall within districts where changes receive extra scrutiny. Waterfront parcels may have separate requirements tied to flood exposure, drainage, shoreline setbacks and environmental review.
Before you finalize drawings, ask the Town of Huntington:
Interior-only work usually faces fewer limits than exterior work, but do not assume. Suffolk County's county website offers links for licensing and consumer information, and the town can answer questions specific to your lot. Our wider guide to Long Island renovation services summarizes how municipalities differ across the island.
Because every house is different, "luxury renovation" has to be defined by scope rather than by adjectives. A typical Huntington interior program looks like this:
Preserving original details is often the smartest luxury move. Old-growth floorboards, heavy casings and plaster walls cannot be bought off the shelf. Our historic brownstone restorations in Huntington page applies the same preservation approach to period homes, even though the building types differ from city brownstones.
Older homes are where vague contracts do the most damage. If the scope is fuzzy, every surprise becomes an argument. If the deposit is large, you have little leverage when the schedule slips.
Here are warning signs worth taking seriously, and what a sound contract does instead.
| Red flag | What a sound contract does |
|---|---|
| "Complete renovation" with no room-by-room scope | Lists work by room and by trade |
| Very large deposit upfront | Ties payments to completed milestones |
| No license or insurance details | States license numbers and attaches a certificate of insurance |
| Allowances left blank | Gives numbers for tile, flooring, fixtures and cabinetry |
| No change-order process | Requires written, priced approval before extra work |
| Price far below other bids | Explains what is different, in writing |
Our deeper guide to renovation contract red flags walks through the clauses in more detail. The principle is straightforward: a contract should tell you what you are buying, how much it costs, how you will pay and what happens when something changes.
N.Y. Renovation Services is a licensed and insured, in-house design-and-build company. Our contracts are detailed and our estimates are itemized, with no hidden fees. We prepare drawings and permit paperwork, run demolition, tile, flooring, paint and millwork under one schedule, and we put allowances and exclusions in writing. If your house throws a surprise, we price the change before work continues.
We also donate 5% of total project cost to a nonprofit of your choice.
In New York City, residential remodeling requires a Home Improvement Contractor license from the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. Huntington is outside the city, so the NYC license does not govern your project, but the idea is the same: Long Island counties license home improvement contractors through their consumer affairs offices. Verify with Suffolk County which license applies to the work you plan and ask any contractor to show it.
Our explainer on the NYC Home Improvement Contractor license shows what a license typically covers and what it does not, and it is a useful template for the questions to ask. Three practical checks:
A contractor who becomes evasive about any of these three is telling you something.
All figures are typical 2026 planning ranges for the New York metro, not quotes. Historic features, hidden conditions, hazardous materials, finishes and scope move prices, and a written, itemized quote governs.
| Item | Typical 2026 planning range |
|---|---|
| Cosmetic refresh | $100-$250 per sq ft |
| Mid renovation | $200-$400 per sq ft |
| Full gut renovation | $250-$500+ per sq ft |
| High-end or structural | $500-$1,000 per sq ft |
| Bathroom renovation | $30,000-$60,000+ |
| Kitchen renovation | $25,000-$85,000+ |
| Hardwood refinishing | $4-$10 per sq ft |
| New hardwood installed | $12-$28 per sq ft |
| Interior demolition | $8-$30 per sq ft |
For historic or landmarked buildings in New York City, cost and time often rise by about 15-20%. Long Island properties with historic designation or review can see a similar effect, so budget a premium if the town requires additional approvals or specialty materials. Design, engineering and permit fees often add 15-25% to construction.
For a deeper look at how the numbers move by room, see our 2026 NYC renovation cost guide. It was written for New York City, but the room-by-room logic helps on Long Island as well.
If Huntington's older houses have a single great feature, it is often the floor beneath the carpet. Solid oak laid a century ago can be sanded and finished for a fraction of the cost of replacement, and the result is better than most new products. Our premium flooring in Huntington page explains how we judge whether original boards are worth saving, how we level and repair subfloors, and how we match stairs and thresholds.
Bathrooms in older homes were often built without any waterproofing beyond grout. Today's standard is a membrane system under the tile, adding roughly $3-$10 per square foot and protecting the structure below. Tile removal runs about $4-$12 per square foot, and old setting beds may need to be demolished. Cutting tile and stone generates silica dust, and crews must use wet cutting or dust collection, as described in OSHA's silica guidance.
Plaster walls with multiple layers of old paint need careful prep. Skim coating, at roughly $2-$5 per square foot, delivers the flat, deep finish owners want. Our interior painting services in Huntington page covers lead-safe prep and finish sequencing.
Older houses usually have smaller kitchens and fewer baths than owners now want, and the job is often to find space rather than add it.
Sequence matters more in these houses than in new construction. Because floors are rarely level and walls are rarely plumb, cabinetry and tile layouts should be set out from a laser line, not from the nearest wall, and trim should be scribed to the house as it actually is. A good crew spends the first days of finish work measuring and adjusting, and that discipline is what separates a kitchen that looks custom from one that looks installed. Ventilation deserves equal attention: a range hood ducted to the outside, and a bath fan sized to the room, protect the new finishes from the moisture and grease that old houses were never designed to handle. Where a basement or crawl space sits below the kitchen or bath, check it for moisture before sealing anything above it.
Our kitchen and bath remodels in Huntington page covers layouts, appliance planning and the order of work. If you are weighing a kitchen against a full gut, read it before you decide.
Preparation shortens the schedule. A Huntington renovation often involves homes with decades of belongings, and moving them early lets crews start on time. Our checklist for preparing your apartment for contractors covers what to clear, what to protect and who to notify.
A realistic timeline:
Altogether, four to nine months is typical for a full interior gut. Because Huntington is in our regular Long Island service range, we can schedule visits and crews efficiently, and we will tell you plainly when a part of the plan pushes beyond what we can staff.
One more piece of advice: do not let a low price rush the order of operations. In an older house, doing rough work, inspections and waterproofing properly is the cheapest insurance you can buy.
We serve Huntington and neighboring North Shore communities in Suffolk County.
The Town of Huntington blends a lively village center, historic streets and waterfront properties along the harbor. Housing stock runs from early houses with original plaster and timber framing to mid-century homes and newer builds. Historic review, flood exposure and hazardous materials are the recurring themes in planning. For comparison, Garden City offers a strict village permit process, Hempstead a mix of capes and multifamily homes and Long Beach a barrier-island flood setting. Always confirm zoning and permit requirements with the Town of Huntington before you begin.
A site visit is the best way to turn a general range into a real number, especially in an older house where conditions are hard to judge from photos.
Have these ready if you can:
We will visit, review conditions and send a written, itemized quote at no charge. If you are ready to begin, request your free renovation quote and we will respond with next steps.