When Josh Alti and his wife, Samantha, bought what Josh called an "overpriced fixer-upper" in Massapequa for about $445,000 in 2020, he said he felt comfortable knowing he'd have to do many of the renovations himself.

Those planned renovations included removing non-load-bearing walls to open up the space, redoing the floors, painting and replacing a leaky window. The actual fixes turned out to be more extensive. Along with that work, Alti said they also ended up replacing the water tank, rusted-out pipes, outdoor lighting that was never sealed properly and a rotting header in the basement and others throughout the house; hooked up the oil burner; and stopped water leaking into the circuit breaker and basement.

"What was supposed to take a few months ended up taking three years, but it is mostly finished," he said.

Now, and in light of President Donald Trump's tariffs on goods including construction materials such as lumber, steel and aluminum, Alti is having second thoughts. During the summer, he said his goal is to renovate a room on the second floor, making fixes to the ceiling, vent and a hole in the wall, insulating, framing, sheetrocking, spackling and redoing the floor. Fixing the "ancient" windows could also be in the plan. He had ballparked material costs to be between $5,000 and $10,000.

It's definitely stressful trying to consider the most cost-effective options and feeling like everything keeps getting further out of reach.

— Josh Alti , of Massapequa

"I'm used to higher-priced materials from COVID, but I honestly never considered another hike due to tariffs," he said. "It's definitely stressful trying to consider the most cost-effective options and feeling like everything keeps getting further out of reach."

The exact impact of the president's tariffs on Long Island's residential renovation and construction industry is so far unclear. However, they've already had an effect on the overall economy, roiling the stock market and worrying investors and business leaders. Experts on finance and the economy predicted pain for consumers as a result of the tariffs, not only because they may increase the price of goods, but make it harder to access credit. Long Island homeowners, already frazzled from price increases stemming from the pandemic, said they're dispirited by the potential of further cost spikes.

What are the tariffs, and what do they mean for homeowners?

On March 12, the president imposed sweeping 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imported into the United States. These latest levies are in addition to 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico that do not satisfy the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement rules of origin, as well as a 20% across-the-board tariff on Chinese imports.

The president has said the aim of these tariffs is multifold: to correct perceived trade imbalances, boost domestic production and, in the case of Mexico and Canada, stop the flow of illegal drugs and reduce illegal border crossings. Multiple countries have since announced retaliatory tariffs.

Some Long Island-based contractors said it's too early to tell whether the cost of their materials will increase, while others have already been notified by their suppliers to expect hikes (lumber futures have ticked up over the past few months). Companies may add surcharges, similar to what happened during the pandemic, that are paid directly by consumers.

Whether the price of construction goods does increase, the tariffs have already affected the overall economy — the stock market took a dive upon their implementation — adding further uncertainty for Long Island homeowners in an already uncertain economic period and potentially dampening their ability to access credit.

"The economic hardships from the pandemic, we were just starting to emerge from them, and now we're dealing with a self-inflicted woe," said Richard Murdocco, adjunct professor at Stony Brook University's public policy graduate program who also studies economic development. "[The tariffs] will throttle growth and investment because [they add] economic friction. These tariffs are amplifying pre-existing weaknesses in our regional economy."

LI's cost of living crisis

Those weaknesses include a "cost of living crisis," which is directly responsible for a net loss of nearly 84,000 residents between 2017 and 2021, according to the Long Island Association, a non-profit and non-partisan business organization that works with the construction industry (both Nassau and Suffolk counties have seen modest population gains from 2023 to 2024). A state comptroller report from last year found that more than one-third of Long Island's renters and homeowners are "cost-burdened," meaning they pay more than 30% of their income toward housing.

"The proposed tariffs on building materials could be a gut punch to the local housing market," said Long Island Association President and CEO Matt Cohen, referencing Long Island’s home prices. In February, median single-family home prices were $795,000 in Nassau County and $680,000 in Suffolk, according to OneKey MLS. "It's hard to imagine them any higher, but since nearly one-third of U.S. lumber and other construction materials are imported, the increased tariffs could be disastrous, causing building costs to soar and vital new projects to wither on the vine."

Given the economic precarity many Long Islanders face, a potential increase in the cost of goods caused by the tariffs will force individuals to make tough decisions, experts said.

"It could just spur people to say, 'I want to get ahead of this. Let me do these projects now,' " said Andrew Spieler, a professor of business and finance at Hofstra University. "Maybe some people just say, it's time to leave New York and I'll deal with this somewhere else."

Getting ahead of it is not an option for Chelsey Green, who planned to wait until the summer, when her three kids are away for the season, to renovate her four-bedroom, three-bathroom high ranch in Oceanside.

"We are planning on redoing the kitchen and molding around the entire upstairs of our house. Unfortunately, wood will definitely be a factor," said Green, who added she and her husband haven't gotten any estimates yet, and therefore don't know what to expect. "It's bad enough that labor and prices have gone up so much from years ago — and now this on top of it." She added that she hopes the tariffs will be gone or that prices will stabilize by the time they start the project in the summer. If costs prove too great, Green said they'd cut back on vaulting the ceilings, "but everything else we really need to do either way."

Waiting comes with risks, however.

Too early to tell if costs will go up

We're recommending all homeowners to sign a contract and get their projects started sooner than later just in case these tariffs do affect the materials.

— Steven DiMare, CEO of Unified Home Remodeling in Baldwin

"We're recommending all homeowners to sign a contract and get their projects started sooner than later just in case these tariffs do affect the materials," Steven DiMare, CEO of Baldwin-based Unified Home Remodeling, said. "The tariffs were put in one day then they were put on pause, so you never know what could happen. It was like during COVID, when we were deemed essential then not. It could cause confusion and price manipulation. It's uncharted waters."

He recommended homeowners seek out at least three quotes from contractors to more easily determine if companies are manipulating their prices.

"If there's no access to money and/or the interest rate is so high that it doesn't make any sense, it really hurts."

— Evan Lewitas, vice president of Center Island Contracting in Farmingdale

Credit: Rick Kopstein

Evan Lewitas, vice president of Center Island Contracting in Farmingdale, agreed that homeowners should lock in rates now if they're worried about future price increases, but said he isn't overly concerned about the effect of the tariffs just yet. While he said that his suppliers seem to be preparing in the event they need to raise prices, they aren't sure it will come to that at this time. What he is worried about, however, is the potential impact of the tariffs on the economy at large and the ability for people to borrow money against the value of their homes.

"If unemployment is at a reasonable rate, there's access to money and it doesn't affect people's month to month so greatly — that is the best economy for me," he said. "If there's no access to money and/or the interest rate is so high that it doesn't make any sense, it really hurts."

Wait and see

Clearly, Spieler said, we're in a wait-and-see period, where consumers not only have to watch for price increases but also monitor their ability to finance large projects. He said he believes the president should accommodate consumers by allowing them to make emergency withdrawals from retirement accounts without penalty, like during the pandemic. Without those options, people will have to weigh their "enjoyment versus the cost and [their] needs" when it comes to home renovations.

"Are they going to buy eggs for their family, or spend money on a nice marble sink?"

 — Richard Murdocco

Credit: John Paraskevas

Murdocco echoed these remarks, asking, "Are they going to buy eggs for their family, or spend money on a nice marble sink?" He expressed concern about how these tariffs may stymie development on Long Island amid a housing shortage.

"Our region is at an interesting point in its economic history. It's looking to transition from a 20th century suburb to a 21st century [one]," he said. "We need stability, certainty and to realistically contain costs, so the private sector can invest in us. If this cycle of yes tariffs, no tariffs continues, it's going to be a challenging landscape to invest in our region."

For homeowners such as Alti, the potential of increased costs puts up another economic hurdle during an already challenging time.

"Looking at future projects, I cannot imagine doing large-scale renovations with materials soon to be on the rise again," he said. "There's definitely an imbalance and it feels like it will only get worse at this rate."