Recently Completed

Case Study:

Full Gut Renovation of a Second-Home Shore Condo

Ocean City, NJ | Completed July 2025

A complete gut renovation of Al and Lauren Youssef's Ocean City summer home — managed from design through move-in while the family lived and worked in North Jersey and New York City. Delivered on a hard Fourth of July deadline, with a family holiday waiting on the other side of the finish line.

SCOPE OF WORK

Kitchen & Great Room. Full gut of kitchen. Custom natural oak island with half-round peninsula and waterfall 3CM stone edge. Plaster range hood, pot filler, farm sink, under-counter wine and ice. Nickel-gap shiplap across 11' vaulted great-room ceilings. New arched opening between entry and living room. Full-wall quad-panel Pella slider replacing original door and windows.

Four Bathrooms — three renovated, one added. Three existing baths gutted to the studs. Fourth bath added by reframing three bedrooms and borrowing hallway space. KBRS tile-base showers, GoBoard waterproofing, Mapei MapeGuard underlayment, custom vanities throughout.

Bedrooms & Built-Ins. Three bedrooms reframed. Custom bunk room with four built-in bunks, oversized drawers, shiplap walls, and 2x2 solid oak ladder. Wall-to-wall custom cabinet-and-closet built-ins.

Structural & Throughout. New steel flitch beam for reframed porch wall and 16-ft slider opening. Every light fixture and fan replaced. Full paint, new flooring, baseboard and casing to match existing trim.

THE CHALLENGE

Three constraints made this project unusually demanding: a hard July 2 deadline (family and friends arriving for the Fourth of July); clients living 2+ hours away in Westfield, NJ, with Al working in Manhattan; and a scope spanning four bathrooms, custom millwork, reframed bedrooms, and a 16-foot structural opening — while coordinating with the separately-owned unit below running summer rentals throughout the build.

HOW WE MANAGED IT

Communication on a schedule. Al and Lauren heard from us 2–3 times per week by phone, plus photo and video updates throughout. Sourcing handled locally. The Youssefs selected finishes online and at North Jersey showrooms; we sourced materials from our local suppliers and had everything shipped to site. Supplier errors solved in real time. When third-party vendors made mistakes, we presented options and alternatives immediately rather than handing the problem back to the clients. Permits owned end-to-end. Every Ocean City permit pulled, every inspection met on site. Face time with inspectors means corrections caught before they become delays. Neighbor coordinated throughout. Direct contact with the downstairs unit owner on work hours, access, and his active rental guests for the full 17-week build.

"My wife and I have never had a better experience working with any kind of contractor. Rob and Bill are incredibly positive and easy to work with. They put their client first in every possible way... Over the course of our project I feel that Rob and Bill have become friends of our family."

— AL YOUSSEF, 5-STAR GOOGLE REVIEW