NYC Occupied-Building Renovation Contractor

We renovate buildings while the people who live in them stay home.

Who we are

A New York contractor built around occupied-building work.

Perennial Empire is a New York City general contractor specializing in large-scale, building-wide renovations across affordable housing and capital improvement portfolios. Founded in 2017, the company self-performs seven interior trades with more than 90 W-2 employees across all five boroughs.

Most of that work happens in buildings that are fully occupied. We plan around residents, boards, and property managers so apartments stay livable and buildings keep running while the renovation moves through them. NYCHA, developers, and owners bring us in because that coordination is the hard part, and it is what we are built to do.

  • Affordable housing and PACT renovations
  • Capital improvements for co-ops, condos, and commercial portfolios
  • Seven in-house trades on a single payroll
  • Section 3 certified, licensed, bonded, and insured
See our in-house trades
The Perennial Empire crew gathered outside a New York City jobsite.

By the numbers

$100M+

of renovation work completed

Self-performed across New York City since 2017, with buildings kept occupied throughout.

90+
W-2 tradespeople on staff Seven in-house trades, not a brokered subcontractor list.
3,000+
units renovated Occupied apartments across affordable housing and capital improvements.
5
boroughs served One Harlem-headquartered New York City operation.

Safety first

A safety program built to send every crew home.

The safety of our employees is paramount. Safety First is a standing program, not a binder, built on four principles that carry across every crew and every job.

  1. Education

    Continuous training that keeps every crew informed, current, and prepared before they set foot on a site.

  2. Proactivity

    Anticipating and mitigating risks before they become incidents, rather than documenting them after.

  3. Consistency

    The same high safety standard on every project, whether it is one apartment or a thousand-unit portfolio.

  4. Continual Improvement

    Reviewing what worked and what did not on each job, and folding it back into how the next one runs.

Building tomorrow, today

Technology and data on every job, not just the pitch deck.

Perennial Empire runs its field operations on its own tooling. Geo-fenced time tracking captures real productivity data, and mobile work orders put current plans in every crew lead's hands so downtime does not pile up between trades.

That data feeds Insight, our project analytics platform. It turns installation records across a portfolio into maintenance planning, cost analysis, and schedule visibility that owners and managers can actually act on.

  • Geo-fenced productivity tracking
  • Mobile work orders that cut downtime
  • Insight: portfolio-wide project analytics
  • Data owners can use for maintenance and budgeting
A Perennial Empire painter at work inside an occupied New York City building.

Meet the team

Leadership that came up through the trades.

Perennial Empire is run by two partners who built the company from the field up, backed by a full operations bench.

  • Aaron Strom, Principal and CEO of Perennial Empire.

    Aaron Strom

    Principal & CEO

    Aaron founded Perennial Empire in 2017. He started his career at Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town, learning the interior trades at scale, and built the company around self-performing the work rather than brokering it out.

  • Eugeen Bernan, Chief Operating Officer of Perennial Empire.

    Eugeen Bernan

    Chief Operating Officer

    Eugeen joined as a partner in 2018 and runs operations and systems. A psychology background and a systems mindset shape how the company plans occupied-building work, from crew scheduling to resident communication.

The operations bench behind every project

  • Director of Operations
  • Assistant Director of Operations
  • Construction & Invoice Manager
  • Payroll Manager
  • Recruiting Manager

About Perennial Empire

When was Perennial Empire founded, and where is it based?

Perennial Empire was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Harlem at 8 West 126th Street in Manhattan. The company works across all five boroughs of New York City.

What does Perennial Empire specialize in?

Large-scale, building-wide renovations in occupied buildings, across two lanes: affordable housing, including PACT and NYCHA work, and capital improvements for co-ops, condos, HOAs, and commercial portfolios.

Does Perennial Empire self-perform the work or subcontract it?

Both lanes are anchored by seven in-house trades on a single payroll: painting, carpentry, drywall, ceramic tile, doors, general construction, and glazing. That is more than 90 W-2 tradespeople, not a brokered subcontractor list.

Is Perennial Empire licensed, bonded, and insured?

Yes. Perennial Empire is a licensed general contractor, Section 3 certified, a NYCHA-approved vendor, prevailing-wage compliant, fully bonded, and fully insured.

Can you renovate a building while residents stay in place?

Yes. Occupied-building work is the core of what we do. We phase the work and coordinate with residents, boards, and property managers so apartments stay livable and the building keeps running throughout.

Work with Perennial Empire

Bring us in on your next occupied-building project.

Tell us about the building and the scope. We will walk the site, plan the phasing around your residents, and come back with a line-item estimate you can act on.

Request a Quote