You’re sitting on a great mortgage rate. Moving isn’t appealing when Franklin Square home prices hit $875K and you’d be starting over. But your kitchen feels cramped, your bathroom’s outdated, and your first floor doesn’t work for how you actually live.
A full house renovation lets you create the home you want without the upheaval of selling and moving. You get the open layout, the modern finishes, the functional spaces—without losing your neighborhood, your rate, or your sanity.
The difference between a good renovation and a nightmare comes down to who’s running the job. You need someone who answers the phone, shows up when they say they will, and doesn’t leave your house looking like a disaster zone every night. That’s where most contractors fail, and where we’ve built our reputation since 1972.
Ray Coleman Home Improvement has been serving Nassau County homeowners since 1972. We’re a father-and-son operation, licensed and insured, with over 60% of our work coming from referrals and repeat customers.
What keeps people calling us back isn’t just the quality of the work—it’s how we treat your home and your time. We answer every call. We respond to texts. If your pipe freezes at 3 a.m. in the middle of a Long Island winter, we’re there.
Franklin Square homeowners know the local contractor landscape is crowded and competitive. You’ve probably heard the horror stories: contractors who ghost you mid-project, leave messes, or disappear when problems come up. We’ve stayed in business for five decades because we don’t operate that way. You’ll see us on site. You’ll get daily cleanup. You’ll know what’s happening and when.
First, we walk through your home and talk about what’s not working. You tell us what you want to change, and we tell you what’s realistic—timeline, budget, scope. No surprises later.
Once we agree on the plan, we map out the schedule and start ordering materials. We coordinate our crews so the work flows in the right order: demo, framing, electrical, plumbing, finishes. You’re not waiting weeks between phases because someone forgot to schedule the electrician.
During construction, you’ll see us on site daily. We keep the workspace clean at the end of every day because we know you still live there. If something comes up—and it always does in older Long Island homes—we handle it and keep you informed.
When the work’s done, we walk through everything with you. You don’t pay the final invoice until you’re satisfied. Then we stay available if anything needs adjustment or if you have questions down the road.
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A whole house renovation typically covers your kitchen, bathrooms, and first-floor living spaces—the areas where you spend most of your time. In Franklin Square, where homes average 1,500 to 2,500 square feet, that means gutting and rebuilding the spaces that matter most.
Kitchens get opened up. Walls come down to create the flow everyone wants now. We install new cabinets, countertops, appliances, lighting, and flooring. If your electrical panel can’t handle modern appliances, we upgrade it.
Bathrooms get completely redone—new tile, vanities, fixtures, ventilation. We fix the underlying plumbing and framing issues that cause mold and leaks in older Nassau County homes.
First-floor renovations often include new flooring throughout, updated lighting, fresh paint, and sometimes adding space with an extension or dormer. The goal is making your home work for how you live now, not how someone lived in 1975. Long Island homeowners are investing in spa-like bathrooms, open kitchens with islands, and flexible spaces that can shift from home office to guest room.
The current market supports this investment. Renovation spending is projected to hit $524 billion in 2026, and Franklin Square homes are selling 13 days faster than last year when they’re updated and move-in ready.
For a full house renovation in the New York area, you’re typically looking at $100 to $200 per square foot. That means a 1,500-square-foot renovation runs between $150,000 and $300,000, depending on finishes and scope.
Franklin Square projects tend toward the higher end because of local labor costs and material pricing. Skilled trades are in high demand across Long Island, and wages for licensed electricians, plumbers, and carpenters have increased 5-8% over the past year.
Your actual cost depends on what you’re changing. A kitchen and two bathrooms with mid-range finishes costs less than gutting your entire first floor with custom millwork and high-end appliances. We give you a detailed estimate upfront so you know where your money’s going before we start.
Most full house renovations take three to six months from start to finish. Smaller projects—like a kitchen and one bathroom—might be done in eight to twelve weeks. Larger renovations that include extensions, dormers, or structural changes can push closer to nine months.
The timeline depends on scope, permitting, and material availability. Right now, custom cabinets and specialty tile can have lead times of six to eight weeks. We build that into the schedule so you’re not sitting in a half-finished kitchen waiting for backsplash.
Weather affects outdoor work during Long Island winters, but interior renovations keep moving. We coordinate our crews so there’s no downtime between phases. You’re not waiting two weeks for the plumber to show up after the electrician finishes.
It depends on how much of your house we’re renovating. If we’re only doing your kitchen and one bathroom, most people stay. We set up a temporary kitchen in another room and make sure you have a working bathroom.
If we’re gutting your entire first floor or doing major structural work, moving out for a few weeks makes life easier. Dust, noise, and crews coming and going from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. gets old fast.
We keep job sites as clean as possible and contain work areas with plastic barriers. At the end of each day, we sweep, remove debris, and leave your home safe to walk through. But if you have young kids or work from home, staying with family during the heavy demo phase might be worth considering.
Hiring based on price alone. The lowest bid usually means someone’s cutting corners—either on materials, labor, or how they run the job. You end up paying more to fix problems later.
The second biggest mistake is not vetting your contractor properly. Check their license with Nassau County. Make sure they’re insured. Ask for references and actually call them. Look at how long they’ve been in business and whether they have a track record of finishing jobs.
The third mistake is unclear communication about scope and budget. If you don’t nail down exactly what’s included in the contract, you’ll get hit with change orders and surprise costs. A good contractor walks you through every detail upfront and puts it in writing so there’s no confusion when the work starts.
Yes, we handle permits when they’re required. Electrical, plumbing, and structural work all need permits in Nassau County, and we pull those and coordinate inspections.
That said, we specialize in projects that don’t require extensive permitting—like kitchen and bathroom remodels that don’t involve moving walls or adding square footage. These projects move faster because you’re not waiting weeks for plan approval.
If your renovation does require permits, we manage that process so you don’t have to deal with the town building department. We know what Nassau County inspectors look for, and we make sure the work passes inspection the first time.
We deal with them. Older Long Island homes always have surprises once you open up walls—outdated wiring, plumbing that’s not up to code, framing that’s rotted from old leaks.
When we find an issue, we stop, show you what’s going on, and explain your options. Sometimes it’s a quick fix. Sometimes it means adjusting the budget or timeline. Either way, you know about it immediately, and we don’t move forward until you approve the plan.
This is why experience matters. We’ve been doing this for 50 years, so we know what to expect in Franklin Square homes. We build contingency into our estimates because we’d rather over-prepare than surprise you with a big bill halfway through the job.
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