Yonkers and the Saw Mill and Hudson corridor towns around it
Mold Removal in Yonkers, Starting With the Building's Flood Record
Tell us the address and what you can see, and you get a straight answer on what the job actually is, who is allowed to do it, and what order New York makes it run in. In Yonkers that starts with a question almost nobody asks first: has this building taken water before? The city carries 239 properties that flooded, were paid out and flooded again, and since August 2022 a Westchester landlord has had to put a property's ten year flood history in front of a prospective tenant in writing.
Request a Quote
Tell us what you can see, where you think the water came from, and whether this building has done it before. That is usually enough for us to say which of the two licenses your job needs first, and roughly what it involves, before anyone comes out.
$100 off your first job
Credited by us on your first booked job.
- One credit per customer per property, on your first booked job.
- Valid through December 31, 2026.
Mention this offer when you book. Full terms.
Three jobs, and New York will not let one company sell you two of them
Which one you need turns on how much there is, whether anything is still wet, and whether the water has been here before. Above ten square feet, Labor Law section 936 bars a single company from both writing down what is there and taking it out, so the assessment and the removal are two engagements under two separate licenses. Drying sits outside that split: the EPA puts the line at 24 to 48 hours, and material brought back to dry inside that window will in most cases not go on to grow anything.
Mold Inspection and Assessment
Get a written finding on what the mold is, how far it runs and what water is feeding it, from a licensed assessor who is barred by New York law from selling you the removal.
Start here if you can see it or smell it, and nobody independent has written a scope for it yet.
About Mold Assessment →Mold Remediation and Removal
Have the mold removed properly, by a licensed remediation contractor working to an independent assessor's written plan and stopping at an independent clearance.
Start here if somebody independent has already written the scope, and you need the work done to it.
About Mold Remediation →Water Damage Drying and Dry Out
Get the building dry before mold becomes the problem, after a leak, a backed up drain or water in the basement.
Start here if water came in recently and nothing has begun to grow yet.
About Water Damage Drying →Has this building flooded before?
It matters more than how the wall looks today. A one time leak and a property that has taken water repeatedly are different jobs with different costs. Tell us what you know and we will tell you what to ask for.
How a Yonkers mold job runs
The history first, then the extent written down by somebody barred from bidding on the removal, then the work priced against that document.
Send the address and what you can see
The form takes about half a minute. Before anyone comes out we check what the city and county records say about water at that address, because a property on the repetitive loss list is a different job from a one off leak. If the patch is small enough to handle yourself, that is what we tell you at this point.
An independent assessment measures it and finds the water
Above ten square feet New York requires a licensed mold assessor, and Labor Law section 936 bars that assessor from also doing the removal or holding any interest in the firm that does. They map the wet material, measure the affected area and write the plan the removal has to follow. The state register returns only 8 assessment contractors at Yonkers addresses against 19 remediation contractors, which is why this is the appointment we book first.
Removal to that plan, then a written clearance
A separate licensed remediation contractor works to the assessor's plan. The assessor then returns for a post remediation assessment and issues a written passed clearance report, which is what Labor Law section 947 requires and what a landlord, a lender or an insurer will ask to see.
What makes this a local problem
FEMA figures dated July 2021, set out in the City of Yonkers annex to the Westchester County Hazard Mitigation Plan, put 239 city properties on the repetitive loss list and $12,387,587.61 in money paid out across 801 settled claims, while only 447 policies were in force.
Source: Westchester County Department of Planning, accessed 2026-09-21
Chapter 581 of the Laws of Westchester County requires that, before entering a written lease for residential or commercial occupancy, the owner notify the prospective tenant whether the property sits in a Special Flood Hazard Area on the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Maps, and of the premises' propensity for flooding where flooding known to the owner has occurred at least once in the ten-year period immediately preceding the lease and caused flood damage to any part of the leased premises.
Source: Westchester County Board of Legislators, accessed 2026-09-21
Query the state license register for active licensees based in Yonkers and it returns 19 remediation contractors but only 8 assessment contractors.
Source: New York State Department of Labor, via data.ny.gov, accessed 2026-09-21
Of the 85,006 housing units in Yonkers, 58,810, about 69 percent, were built in 1969 or earlier, and 68,903, about 81 percent, were built in 1979 or earlier.
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey, accessed 2026-09-21
Yonkers floods from the rivers it covered over
If your basement takes water in ordinary heavy rain and you are nowhere near the Hudson, you are not imagining it. Asked by the county planners which properties it lists as flood damaged, the City of Yonkers named the Nepperhan River Valley, the Hudson River, Clunie Avenue, Nepperhan Avenue, the Bronx River Valley, Tibbetts Brook and Harrison Avenue. Five of those seven are inland watercourses or the streets that run beside them.
Two of them were deliberately put underground. The Army Corps of Engineers covered sections of the Saw Mill River, the Nepperhan, through Yonkers in the early 1920s, and the last mile before the Hudson still runs almost entirely below ground. Tibbetts Brook was buried in 1912 and now enters the combined sewer at 4 to 5 million gallons a day even when it has not rained.
That changes what an assessor is looking for in your building. Water arriving along a covered watercourse, or backing up out of a combined sewer, does not present as one broken pipe, and drying the room out without finding the route buys you a season. It is also why the first thing worth establishing is what this address has already done, rather than how bad the wall looks today.
In New York this is not our policy, it is the law
The company that measures it cannot sell you the removal
Labor Law section 936 bars one licensee from doing both halves at a single property, and bars anyone from holding an ownership interest in both firms there. So the person telling you how far it runs has nothing to gain by finding more of it. If you are holding one quote that covers the inspection and the removal together, above ten square feet that is not a shape New York allows.
We look the address up before anyone visits
The City of Yonkers keeps its own record of flood damaged properties, and the county plan puts 239 city addresses on the repetitive loss list. Which side of that your building sits on changes the scope, the cost, and whether the real fix is drying or drainage.
We book the scarce half first
At Yonkers addresses the state register returns 8 active mold assessment contractors against 19 remediation contractors. The assessor has to go first and come back at the end, so the assessment is the appointment that sets your dates, and booking the removal first puts you at the back of a queue you have not joined yet.
No number for the removal before there is a plan
The New York State Department of Labor says a remediation cost estimate should not be provided in the absence of an assessment, because the remediator is working from the assessor's written plan. Any figure quoted before that point is an indication and nothing more.
Coverage across Yonkers and the Saw Mill and Hudson corridor towns around it
What people ask before they send anything
How much mold is too much to deal with myself?
Less than about ten square feet, roughly a three foot by three foot patch, and the EPA says a homeowner can in most cases handle it themselves. New York draws its licensing line in the same place: Labor Law section 930 counts a job as a project only above that area, and a residential owner working on their own property sits outside the licensing requirement whatever the size. If that describes your wall, clean the surface, trace the water, and keep your money in your pocket.
Should I get the air tested first?
Usually not. New York State Department of Health publication 7287 says mold testing is not recommended, is not required by any regulatory agency, and that there is no state or federal standard for mold in homes to measure a result against. It adds that sampling can cost more than cleaning up and repairing the water problem, and that knowing the species does not change the advice. If you can see it or smell it, the money is better spent finding where the water gets in.
Why can one company not inspect it and then take it out?
Because New York forbids it. Labor Law section 936 bars a single licensee from performing both the assessment and the remediation at the same property, and bars anybody from holding an ownership interest in both firms there. Section 947 then requires the assessor, not the remediator, to issue the written clearance report at the end. Above ten square feet, a single quote covering both halves is not the shape the law allows, whatever it is called on the paperwork.
How do I find out whether this building has flooded before?
In Westchester you may already be entitled to it in writing. Chapter 581 of the Laws of Westchester County, in force since 15 August 2022, requires an owner to tell a prospective tenant before a written lease whether the property sits in a Special Flood Hazard Area and whether flooding known to the owner has happened there in the previous ten years. Where that was not done and the tenant later suffers flood damage, section 581.31 lets them bring an action to recover. Ask for the completed disclosure form, and tell us what it says.
I rent. Is this even mine to deal with?
Usually not, and that is worth knowing before you spend anything. Only an owner can commission a mold project in New York, and Real Property Law section 235-b writes a warranty of habitability into every residential lease that a tenant cannot be made to waive. The state health department tells tenants to ask the landlord or the superintendent to inspect and repair, and to ask the local building department or code enforcement to inspect if the landlord will not act. Say in the message that you rent and we will tell you what to ask for.
We clean it off and it comes back. What are we doing wrong?
Almost certainly nothing, other than treating the growth instead of the water. Spores are in the air of every building, so the EPA sets the target as moisture rather than spore count, and it tells you plainly not to paint or caulk over a moldy surface because the paint is likely to peel. About 69 percent of Yonkers homes were built in 1969 or earlier, and in stock that age the moisture is more often a cold surface or a buried water route than a burst pipe.
Start with what you can actually see
No obligation, and no test sold to you before anyone has established you need one.