Free NYC Renovation Starter Kit

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Build Without Regrets: A 17-page guide with worksheets, checklists, and questions to help you plan your renovation.

Know what to consider before you renovate—and what to do next.

Planning a renovation means making decisions about your home, your budget, and the people you hire. This free 17-page starter kit helps you organize your priorities, understand the choices that affect comfort, and prepare for more useful conversations with your project team.

Created for homeowners planning apartment, co-op, condo, and townhouse renovations in New York City.

Get the Free Starter Kit

17-page PDF · Practical guidance, worksheets, and checklists

Understand What Matters. Organize What Comes Next.

Define Your Project

Use the project brief and priorities worksheet to describe what needs to change, what should stay, and what matters most to your family. Record your budget considerations, timing, and questions that still need answers.

Plan for a More Comfortable Home

Explore how ventilation, moisture, windows, light, acoustics, and materials work together. Understand which decisions deserve attention early, before they become difficult to change.

Prepare Your Next Steps

Learn how different professionals contribute to a renovation. Use the conversation prompts, building-management request email, and co-op or condo submission tracker to organize information and clarify responsibilities.

What’s Inside

A project brief worksheet to organize your proposed scope.
Prompts to identify your family’s priorities and everyday needs.
Early planning guidance for NYC apartments and townhouses.
Healthy-home considerations to discuss with your design team.
Questions about feasibility, budget, timing, and construction preparation.
A building-requirements request email and submission tracker for co-op and condo owners.

Read it from beginning to end, or start with the worksheets and return to the guidance as your project develops.

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Created by an Architect, With Daily Life in Mind

I’m Queenie Tong, RA, NCARB, founder of Tong Dong Architects.

With more than 18 years of architectural experience, I help homeowners connect thoughtful residential design with healthy-home priorities and the practical needs of family life.

I created this starter kit to help you begin with clearer priorities and better questions—so your renovation can respond to how you want to live.

Start With a Clearer Plan

You do not need a finished design or every answer to begin.

Download Build Without Regrets and take the first step toward a more thoughtful renovation.

Get the Free Starter Kit

This resource provides general planning information. Project-specific recommendations and requirements depend on your building, scope, and existing conditions.

Bring Better Questions to the Conversation

Before major decisions become fixed, ask your project team:

What do we need to understand before developing this option further?
Which decisions need my attention now?
How does this choice affect the rest of the design?
What alternatives should we compare?
What is included in the current scope and pricing?
What would be difficult to change once construction starts?

You do not need to arrive with every answer. These questions help establish a clearer conversation.