Long Island Builders Institute and PRO-NY merge to advance pro-building policies

Two associations representing Long Island builders and remodelers have joined forces to boost their advocacy efforts in local town halls and in Albany.

The Long Island Builders Institute, the state’s largest homebuilder association, and Professional Remodeling Organization New York said this week they have merged into one group with nearly 800 member companies. The addition of PRO-NY members adds about 50 new companies to LIBI’s ranks. Some PRO-NY members had already belonged to both organizations.

"When we started to look at trying to expand our footprint across Long Island and making sure the homebuilding industry has the biggest voice, we saw that LIBI still had a void with the remodeler sector," said Vince Calvosa, LIBI's president and owner of The Calvosa Organization, a Holbrook-based custom homebuilder.

LIBI, based in Islandia, represents single-family and multifamily builders and developers on Long Island, while Bohemia-based PRO-NY had focused on contractors involved in home remodeling. LIBI's board includes some of Long Island's most prolific developers, including Tritec Real Estate, RXR and The Beechwood Organization. 

PRO-NY includes contractors working on projects, such as home extensions or roofing, but not builders of large-scale developments.

“LIBI is a big tent. We speak for both the large home builders doing 200-unit multifamily apartment buildings and for the small single-family builders that are doing a couple houses a year or small subdivisions,” said Mike Florio, LIBI’s CEO. “We want to continue to be the leading voice for the building and remodeling industry, and having all of us under one roof accentuates the reach we have.”

Some of the top issues the organization wants to address are lengthy wait times for building permits in Long Island’s towns and villages and the unchecked operation of contractors who lack proper licenses and insurance.

Builders are facing a combination of challenges, including rising labor and materials costs as well as lingering supply-chain issues that started during the pandemic, Florio said. Those costs translate into higher prices for home improvement projects for homeowners, who are also dealing with higher interest rates to borrow money.

“When it takes longer to get a permit from a town or a project gets held up, time is money and that hurts the bottom line for all of our builders. That cost has to come out somewhere, and that’s why consumers are paying higher prices,” Florio said.

A member from PRO-NY will be represented on LIBI’s board, and leadership from PRO-NY will lead the builder group’s remodeling council.

The merger will give the remodelers access to political advocacy for the first time, said Pat Bentivegna, chairman of PRO-NY and owner of Benco Construction in Bohemia. “We really didn’t have that as a strength where LIBI is a stronghold on that," he said.

Beyond lobbying, PRO-NY members will also get additional access to education and networking services. Connecting with other builders will make it easier to help clients with referrals, said Joe Persico, president of PRO-NY and owner of Hy-Grade Contractors Corp. in Bohemia. 

"The biggest thing I get out of this is the security I can give my homeowner — my customer or client — when they call up looking for a contractor," he said.

By Jonathan LaMantia

jonathan.lamantia@newsday.com@jonlamantia

Jonathan LaMantia covers residential real estate and other business news on Long Island. He previously covered the business of health care for Crain's New York Business.