Frequently Asked Questions

RAMP is a licensed, insured, and registered New York general contractor offering the capacity of a larger firm, leaner pricing, and a level of design, craft, and strategic guidance most contractors do not provide. Consider us your in-house construction team, shaping each project to your vision and budget with senior leadership and a deep bench of experienced trades.

If you value transparency, careful planning, and a construction team that treats your design and your budget with equal rigor on projects from $250K to $5M, we are a great fit.

For small jobs a fixed price is best to ensure efficiency, but we generally favor a cost-plus approach because it keeps pricing clear, fair, and grounded in real costs. We thoughtfully itemize hard costs, overhead, insurance, and our fee so clients can see exactly how the budget is built and can track costs against a milestone schedule with confidence.

Most of our projects are in New York City, though we have also built for clients in New Jersey, the Hudson Valley, and the Catskills. We are well versed in the site conditions, permitting processes, and code requirements unique to each region, and bring the same level of thoughtful planning, craftsmanship, and accountability to every project.

We bring a deep bench of talented and collaborative specialists to every project, backed by dedicated supervision and labor to keep the jobsite safe, clean, and closely managed.

As early as possible. Finished drawings are not required. Early involvement helps us reduce risk, identify savings, and accelerate your timeline.

Value engineering is the disciplined process of reducing cost while preserving function, operations, and brand intent so the space still performs beautifully for owners and guests.

Design must be complete before permits can be filed, and that takes time. Depending on scope and complexity, planning often needs to begin as early as three months before construction for straightforward infill or renovation projects and up to six or eight months in advance for high-concept restaurants and luxury residential projects.

Often more than first-time clients expect. The professional services needed to design, approve, coordinate, and close out a project, including architecture, engineering, expediting, filing, and related compliance work adds up. 20% can be a reasonable planning rule of thumb for design driven projects but varies greatly.

We don't like them! They are never the goal. Although every sound project plan should include contingency, we work hard to minimize change orders through thoughtful pricing, early involvement, and careful pre-construction planning that reduces avoidable costs down the line.

We structure every project so clients see the full picture without carrying the daily weight. Weekly check-ins keep decisions, approvals, costs, and timing clear while our team manages the field coordination, trade oversight, and problem-solving that high-end work demands.