New Wave Design & Contracting’s rise within New York City’s brownstone market is rooted in a simple beginning. Founded in 2006 by Antoin O’Duibhir, the company started with just two laborers taking on bathroom and kitchen work, handling every aspect of each project themselves. From those early jobs, the business has grown into a recognized name in luxury brownstone restoration and renovation, working across some of the city’s most architecturally distinctive properties.
That growth has been shaped by a clear focus on a specific type of building. “New York City has 100-year-old, brownstone buildings,” Antoin explains. “We will come in and do gut renovations. We also do – and it’s a large part of what we do – the restoration. People love the old charm of these homes.” The work involves balancing complete modernization with preservation, upgrading mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems while maintaining original features such as plaster moldings, doors, floors, and the character of the building itself.
“The work involves balancing complete modernization with preservation, upgrading mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems.”
While brownstones remain the company’s core focus, its work extends into high-end luxury apartments across Manhattan, as well as select projects within the broader luxury market, including high-end bars. Even as the portfolio has expanded, the emphasis has remained on detailed, high-quality residential work.
The company’s direction was shaped early on by experience gained in the field. “We started out just the two of us, a couple of laborers, working on bathrooms and kitchens. Then we started to grow and got into a lot more commercial work a couple of years after we had started,” Antoin says. A defining moment came with his first independent brownstone project in Park Slope, Brooklyn. “I did my first brownstone by myself in Park Slope, Brooklyn – that was my education into the business of brownstones. I don’t think we made any money on that job, but fast forward 10 years, and that’s the brownstone that is now in the hit series Billions.”
That project marked a turning point, establishing a foundation for the company’s long-term focus on brownstone restoration. Over time, work on both interiors and exteriors helped position New Wave Design & Contracting as a specialist within this niche. As the business grew, however, the demands of scaling required a shift in how projects were managed. “We have been at that now for 20 years. About 14 years into it, I felt like the business had changed a lot. We’re still very good at what we do, and we’re craftsmen, but then we needed to bring in systems,” Antoin explains.
That shift came in 2020, when Kerry O’Duibhir joined the company, bringing with her a background in franchise-style hotel operations and a focus on structured systems. Her arrival introduced new processes designed to improve efficiency and support growth. “I came more from a franchise-type of hotel background. I was big into systems because once you have the proper equipment in place and the right people, it should be good. General contracting is hard to systemize, but we implemented that and we’re now working with a company that does AI in construction.
“We’re trying to make our team’s jobs more efficient, so that, along with AI, has really pushed us to a different level, and we can handle a lot more with fewer people – but nobody’s replacing a carpenter.”
Since its foundation, the company has reached a series of milestones that reflect both steady growth and a willingness to adapt. In its early years, New Wave Design & Contracting reached $1 million in gross revenue within the first five years. By year 15, that figure had grown to between $4 and $5 million. For Antoin, those milestones have come in cycles. “I feel like every five years we have a different milestone. We’re hitting 20 years in June, which is a milestone on its own. I’ve been in business for that long in this industry, so I think restructuring our business was huge – we were commercial and residential, and now we really specifically do luxury residential.”
Recent projects reflect both the technical complexity of the work and the evolving nature of brownstone development in New York City. In Carroll Gardens, the company completed a double townhome combination, a project type that is becoming more common. “Most of the properties we work on are landmarks – they’re preserved. What the new double town home combination means is when you’re looking at the outside of the house, you’ll see two separate town homes, but on the interior, it’s one combined home,” Antoin explains. The approach preserves the streetscape while reconfiguring the interior to meet modern expectations.
At Brooklyn Heights, the team is working on a brownstone on Remsen Street, a project distinguished by its carriage house at the rear. “What makes this different is, it’s just a beautiful brownstone with a carriage house at the back,” Antoin says. The work is being carried out in phases, with two floors taken at a time while the family continues to live in the property. The project is being delivered in collaboration with architect Elizabeth Roberts, a long-term partner on high-end residential work. As Kerry notes, “We don’t only do the general contracting end of things; the whole house is being designed by an architect and designer as well. From a design luxury perspective, it’s definitely different.”
In the West Village, the company is also undertaking work on West 11th Street, where structural constraints have shaped the design approach. “This one is a little bit more involved, a lot more structural in that area. It’s landmarked, but they frown upon increasing, which means you can’t really go up,” Antoin explains. Instead of adding height, the solution has been to extend the building below and to the rear, excavating the basement and creating additional space within the existing footprint. “That one’s a lot more structured work. It’s a full gut and brand new – not much restoration on that job, just complete gut new.”
Across these projects, the company’s approach remains grounded in experience and persistence. “I think the quality of the work is a big part of it, and our experience in this niche market of the brownstones. We’ve been doing this a long time, and we understand what it takes to get a job finished,” Antoin says. That understanding extends beyond the technical demands of construction to the realities of managing challenges as they arise. “We’ve had some ups and downs through the years, but I think something that stands to us is that we don’t run away from problems. We sit down, we figure it out, and we stand by our clients to the very end.”
Looking ahead, the company is entering a new phase of expansion. New Wave Design & Contracting has recently moved into Monmouth County, New Jersey, extending its geographic reach beyond New York City. At the same time, it is preparing to take on its first ground-up development project with a new Netflix studio. “We’re knocking it down at the end of the month, so that’s exciting because we’ve never done ground up.
“That’s going to be a new thing for us, and also getting brownstones to renovate and flip in Manhattan. Flipping our own brownstones and expanding into New Jersey is something we’re looking forward to,” Kerry explains.
Alongside these developments, the company is also building a new networking business aimed at contractors, designers, architects, and others within the build environment. Six months into its development, the initiative reflects a broader ambition to engage with the industry beyond individual projects, creating additional opportunities for collaboration and growth.
As it approaches its twentieth year in business, New Wave Design & Contracting continues to balance craft and structure, tradition and adaptation. What began with two laborers working on small residential jobs has developed into a company defined by its specialization, its systems, and its ability to evolve while remaining closely connected to the buildings it restores.
