How Much Does a Home Renovation Cost in New York in 2026

The Remodeling 2025 Cost vs. Value Report (www.costvsvalue.com) puts a midrange minor kitchen at $31,212 and a midrange bath at $30,158 in ten Middle Atlantic markets, five in New York. Carpenters here averaged $36.52 hourly (May 2025). Pre-completion payments go to escrow or a bond, except, where the contract provides for them, hourly pay for finished work and charges for materials already supplied.

Albany, Buffalo, New York City, Rochester, Syracuse: the sample behind the figures

Zonda Media’s Middle Atlantic division samples those five New York cities plus Erie, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and York. The figures below are ten-city division averages, not New York State prices.

The report’s defined midrange minor kitchen remodel cost $31,212 in the division, with an estimated resale value of $33,456, so 107.2% of the cost came back. The defined midrange bath remodel ran $30,158 against $24,097 at resale, or 79.9%. Across all 119 markets in the report, the same projects averaged $28,458 and $26,138.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS, May 2025) counted 40,630 carpenters on New York payrolls at a mean $36.52 an hour ($75,970 a year) and a median $34.77, against a U.S. mean of $31.55 and median of $29.12; New York’s mean is about 16% higher. Self-employed carpenters are excluded; a wage is one input of a bid, not a quote. Other tiers: our kitchen budget guide and bathroom remodel guide.

A license from your county or city, not from Albany

In a May 20, 2026 consumer alert, the Department of State says the State does not license home improvement contractors and names Buffalo, New York City, and Nassau, Putnam, Rockland, Suffolk and Westchester counties among the localities that do. The list opens with “including,” so ask your town or county, which is also where the alert sends permit questions. In the five boroughs, the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection issues the Home Improvement Contractor license, which its checklist says is needed for “construction, repair, remodeling, or other home improvement work to any residential land or building in New York City.” DCWP calls that “only a general explanation”; its consumer tips put the line at work “that costs more than $200” and say it “does not include new home construction, plumbing, or purely electrical work.”

Where a New York deposit has to sit

Lien Law § 71-a(4) governs money paid up front. Money a home improvement contractor receives “prior to the substantial completion of work” goes into an escrow account at a bank, trust company, savings bank or savings and loan association located in New York “within five business days.” If the contract does not name the depositary, the contractor must tell you in writing within ten business days of the deposit.

• Alternative: a bond, contract of indemnity or irrevocable letter of credit guaranteeing return or proper application of the money, handed to you within ten business days of payment. The contractor may also switch to one after depositing.
• Escrowed money remains yours until it is properly applied under the contract’s payment schedule or the contract is substantially performed. If your own default or breach excuses the contractor’s performance, the contractor may take only a reasonable liquidated-damages amount set in the contract, and only after seven days’ prior written notice.
• Withdrawals may not exceed the total in the payment schedule.
• Carve-out, § 71-a(4)(f): if the contract provides that the contractor will be paid on a specified hourly or time basis for work already performed, or for charges for materials already supplied, before payment is due, those payments are outside this rule.

General Business Law § 771: what the written contract must hold

Article 36-A reaches contracts priced above $500 with a contractor whose home improvement contracts exceed $1,500 in any twelve consecutive months (§ 770(5), (6)). Whoever owns the property in whole or in part, whether a person, firm, corporation, landlord, cooperative corporation, condominium board of managers, joint tenant or co-tenant, is not a “home improvement contractor.” Five things are not “home improvement”: a new home other than a custom home; goods from a seller who neither performs nor arranges installation; appliances designed to be removable without material alteration, such as stoves, refrigerators and dishwashers; decorative goods such as draperies and carpets; and warranty or maintenance-agreement work (§ 770(3)).

A covered kitchen or bath contract must be signed and state:

• name, address, phone and, if applicable, license number;
• approximate start and substantial-completion dates, contingencies that could move them, and whether a definite completion date is of the essence;
• the work, the materials with make and model, and the price;
• a bold mechanic’s-lien notice and the escrow-or-bond notice;
• any progress payments as a dollars-and-cents schedule tied to stages, bearing “a reasonable relationship” to work, materials or expenses;
• your cancellation right, and the property or casualty insurance covering the work, with the insurer’s phone and address.

Before work starts, you get a copy the contractor signed (§ 771(2)).

Three business days to change your mind

You “may cancel the home improvement contract until midnight of the third business day after the day on which the owner has signed” (§ 771(1)(h)), by written notice. The one exception: you initiated the contact, the work meets “a bona fide emergency” of yours, and you give the contractor a separate dated and signed statement in your own handwriting that describes the situation and expressly waives the right. Roofing brings extra rules: see our New York roof cost page.

© 2025 Zonda Media, a Delaware Corporation. Complete data from the Remodeling 2025 Cost vs. Value Report can be downloaded free at www.costvsvalue.com.

New York renovation questions

Who owns my deposit while the job is underway?

You do while it sits in escrow, until it is applied under your payment schedule or the contract is substantially performed; if your own default or breach excuses the contractor’s performance, the contractor may take only a reasonable liquidated-damages amount set in the contract, and only after seven days’ prior written notice. A contractor posting a bond, indemnity contract or letter of credit need not escrow; hourly pay for finished work and supplied-materials charges fall outside the rule when the contract provides for them.

Does a Long Island or Westchester contractor need a license?

Not from the State, which issues none. Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester are among the licensing counties the Department of State lists; each county’s law sets its scope.

Is buying cabinets from a store a home improvement contract?

Not if the seller neither performs nor arranges installation (§ 770(3)(b)). A seller that installs or arranges it, charges over $500 and exceeds $1,500 of such contracts in twelve months is inside Article 36-A.