Custom Homes and Renovations in Westchester County, NY

Halston Builders is an owner-led design-build firm working across Westchester County, from Rye and Larchmont on Long Island Sound to Bedford and Pound Ridge in the north. The same team leads each project from the first meeting through the final walkthrough, and our design center is in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

What we build across Westchester County

We build custom homes, take on whole-home and gut renovations, and plan and build additions. We renovate kitchens and bathrooms, including tadelakt lime-plaster bathrooms and steam showers, finish lower levels, and build pool houses and accessory structures. Our outdoor living work covers terraces, outdoor kitchens and pool surrounds, and on the Sound we take on waterfront and coastal construction.

On a larger property, the driveway, the septic system, the well and any outbuildings can be part of the scope alongside the house, so we look at them from the start. Our projects page shows finished kitchens, baths, terraces and a lower level.

How approvals work in Westchester

Westchester has a county government, but the building permit and the land use reviews for a house come from the city, town or village where it sits. The first question on any project is which municipality the property is in, because the boards and their rules differ from one to the next. Items to confirm early:

• Cities, towns and villages. Under New York law, a village lies within a town and its residents remain town residents, but the village can zone its land separately and has its own boards. The Village of Larchmont, for example, lies in the Town of Mamaroneck and has its own building department, planning board, zoning board of appeals and architectural review board. The City of Rye is separate from the Town of Rye, and Scarsdale is a town and village with the same boundaries.
• Hamlets. A hamlet is not a municipality. Chappaqua is a hamlet of the Town of New Castle, Armonk a hamlet of the Town of North Castle, and Bedford Village, Bedford Hills and Katonah are hamlets of the Town of Bedford, so the town's building department and boards review the work.
• Westchester County Department of Health. County engineers review and permit new septic systems, and private wells fall under the county sanitary code.
• The New York City watershed. Parts of Bedford, New Castle, North Castle, Pound Ridge and other towns drain to New York City reservoirs, among them Kensico, New Croton, Cross River and Muscoot. In the watershed, the city's Department of Environmental Protection must approve new septic systems and alterations to existing ones, and adding a bedroom counts as an alteration. The county Health Department reviews these applications on the city's behalf, and some projects also need a stormwater plan under the city's watershed regulations.
• Wetlands. The state Department of Environmental Conservation regulates activities in freshwater wetlands and in a protected adjacent area around them, and some municipalities add their own rules: Bedford has a Wetlands Control Commission, and the City of Rye's Planning Commission decides wetland permits. Along the Sound, the state requires a permit for almost any work that alters tidal wetlands or their adjacent areas, including building or expanding a house, decks, pools and bulkheads.
• Shoreline and flood zones. Rye, and the Town of Mamaroneck together with the Village of Larchmont, have state-approved local waterfront revitalization programs. In a FEMA flood zone, a large renovation or addition can count as a substantial improvement, which can bring the whole house under current flood requirements.
• Architectural and historic review. Larchmont's Architectural Review Board reviews all proposed exterior improvements and alterations, Rye has a Board of Architectural Review, and in Scarsdale the Committee for Historic Preservation reviews every application to demolish a building.

Boards meet on their own calendars, so their reviews belong in the schedule from the start. Our permit guides for Rye and Bedford, and our articles on permits and approvals, cover the process in more detail.

Towns we build in

Each place below has its own page on its houses, approvals and site conditions.

On the Sound and in southern Westchester

• Rye: a city since 1942, when it separated from the Town of Rye, with a waterfront that runs around Milton Harbor to Milton Point. The Boston Post Road Historic District, which includes the Jay Estate, is a National Historic Landmark, and the county's hazard plan names Blind Brook as the city's greatest flood risk.
• Larchmont: a village of about one square mile on Long Island Sound, within the Town of Mamaroneck, that was a 19th-century summer resort before it incorporated. The county's hazard plan notes frequent flooding, mainly within the mapped flood hazard area.
• Scarsdale: a town and village settled in the late 1600s and known for its Tudor-style downtown. Its Committee for Historic Preservation can deny a demolition permit for a building it finds historically important, and the village has many watercourses and areas prone to flooding.

Farther north

• Chappaqua: a hamlet of the Town of New Castle, settled by Quaker farmers from about 1730 and reached by the railroad in 1846, with the town's fastest growth in the 1950s. Parts of New Castle lie in the New Croton Reservoir watershed.
• Armonk: the mixed-use hamlet at the center of the Town of North Castle, where residential development grew after Interstate 684 was built in the 1960s. Parts of the town drain to the Kensico Reservoir, and the town's low-density Eastern District has no public water or sewer.
• Bedford: a town founded in 1680 and made up of three hamlets, Bedford Village, Bedford Hills and Katonah. Bedford Village and Katonah each have a historic district, and parts of the town drain to the Cross River and Muscoot reservoirs.
• Pound Ridge: a town on the Connecticut line, bordering New Canaan and Stamford, where the town's Conservation Board notes that most homes have a conventional septic system and residents draw water from wells on their own property. Parts of the town lie in the Cross River and Muscoot reservoir watersheds.

How a project runs with us

Our design-build process keeps design, approvals, budget and construction with one team, so the municipal, county and watershed reviews are planned from the start. During pre-construction budgeting, we price the design as it develops, which lets you adjust the scope before construction. If you already have an architect, we build to your architect's drawings and join the existing team. The same people stay with the project from the first meeting to the final walkthrough.

Questions Westchester County homeowners ask

Which municipality reviews our project?

The one the property is in, which is not always the place named in the mailing address. A house in Chappaqua is reviewed by the Town of New Castle and one in Armonk by the Town of North Castle, while a house in Larchmont goes to the village. In Rye, confirm whether the house is in the City of Rye or in one of the villages of the Town of Rye, such as Rye Brook or Port Chester.

Is our house in the New York City watershed?

Possibly, if it is in one of the towns that drain to the city's reservoirs, such as Bedford, New Castle, North Castle or Pound Ridge. The watershed rules cover residential septic systems, paving near streams and, for some projects, a stormwater plan, so we confirm whether they apply before the design is set.

Our house is on septic. Can we add a bedroom?

Possibly, but plan for a septic review. The county Health Department reviews and permits septic systems, and in the New York City watershed adding a bedroom counts as an alteration that needs approval under the city's rules. We gather the septic records early so the design reflects what the site can support.

Do state wetlands rules apply to our property?

They may, and local rules can apply as well. The state regulates qualifying freshwater wetlands and an adjacent area around them, and tidal wetlands along the Sound, while municipalities such as Bedford and the City of Rye have their own wetland permits. Mapping any wetland before the design is fixed shows where a pool, a driveway or an addition can go.

Will our design go to an architectural review board?

Ask the municipality early, because it affects the schedule. In Larchmont, the Architectural Review Board reviews all proposed exterior improvements, and Rye has a Board of Architectural Review. If the project includes demolition in Scarsdale, the Committee for Historic Preservation reviews the application first.

You are based in Connecticut. Do you work in New York?

Yes. We build in both states, and what changes at the state line is mainly the approvals. Pound Ridge, for example, borders New Canaan and Stamford, but a project there follows New York's municipal, county and watershed rules. The same team runs the work on either side.

Can you build from our architect's drawings?

Yes. We review the drawings with your architect before pricing and agree at the outset who is responsible for drawings, approvals, selections and site decisions. Our guide to hiring a builder when you already have drawings covers what to bring.

Can we live in the house during the work?

It depends on the scope and whether living areas can be safely separated from construction. We discuss phasing, a temporary kitchen, dust control and access early. Our guide to living in your house during a renovation covers the trade-offs.

How do you approach budget and schedule?

We price the design as it develops, so scope decisions are made with cost in view. Site work such as a driveway, a septic system or a well is priced with the house, and the schedule allows for board, county and watershed reviews. Our guide to how long a whole-house renovation takes explains the stages.

Start with a free consultation

We can meet at the house or at our design center at 46 Beatrice St, Unit 2, in Bridgeport, by appointment. Bring any drawings, surveys or septic and well records you have. Request a free consultation.