Remodeling on Long Island: Tough housing market leads homeowners to stay put and expand

Gina Farese, CEO of Marcor Construction was highlighted in Newsday to discuss today’s housing market.

“Long Island homeowners looking for more space are facing a dilemma.  The usual route — sell and trade up — is unattractive for many because prices are near record highs, the supply of homes on the market is severely limited, and they don’t want to give up a rock-bottom mortgage rate for a new, more expensive loan in today’s higher-rate climate.”

“The catch? Home improvement costs have jumped, too.”

For the full article in Newsday click here

Gina Farese Wins Associate of The Year Award

CEO and president of Marcor Construction, Gina Farese has been awarded Associate of the Year by Long Island Builders Institute. Gina is an active member LIBI and has worked hard throughout this year to advance the association, increase memberships and raise recognition to the construction industry.

Since 1941, Long Island Builders Institute (LIBI) has been the voice of the building industry on Long Island. They are a not-for-profit trade association representing all facets of the building industry, including builders, remodelers, developers, suppliers, tradespeople, and professionals.

They advocate for policies that will stimulate the economy while protecting communities. LIBI believes in smart growth and they work to ensure that all new development is compatible with existing communities and does not put undue strain on infrastructure. LIBI is Long Island’s advocate in responsible building.

Picture: Gary Marzano accepts Award on Behalf of Gina Farese

Long Island Extraordinary Women in Business

AS SEEN IN Forbes, Fortune & Entrepreneur

Community-Centered Construction

Driving development in both the Long Island construction and nonprofit sectors, Gina Farese never backs down when fighting for what’s right.

The roof is the most important part of the home; it protects everything inside” says Gina Farese, Public Insurance Adjuster, owner, and Operations Manager at Marcor Construction, a Long-Island based roofing and exterior home remodeling company. “When my team and I take on a project, we dot our i’s and cross our t’s to make sure that both employees and homeowners have the best possible experience.”

A mother of two and frontrunner in her field, she knows what it takes to excel in a male-dominated industry. Working alongside her competitors rather than against them, she often acts as a subject matter expert for her peers in complicated construction-related insurance procedures and embraces a flexible philosophy that allows her to pivot with the times. When her father, Gary Marzano, founded Marcor Construction in 2008 to assist homeowners, developers, and builders with roofing, siding, and window services, Farese left a career in finance and jumped headfirst into the industry, learning that she excelled in fostering growth opportunities. Today, she incorporates meaningful diversification with separate, yet beneficial, supportive services—such as a supply division with MGM Construction Services that fuels the stock, purchasing, and delivery of materials for third-party projects.

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LIBN: Top 50 Women in Business Awards

Gina Farese graduated high school at the age of 16 and received her Bachelor of Science in finance at the age of 19. She began her career on Wall Street in investment banking, where she quickly realized it was not for her. Instead, she decided to team up with her father to help him build his small, local construction company. Farese’s father instilled in her the old school Italian mindset by having her learn the business from the bottom up and earn her keep. While it was not easy, especially as a woman in a man’s world, Farese continued to grow and develop, and is now running the entire company. Blood, sweat and tears went into the beginning of what Farese didn’t realize would be her new career. She got up every day with the right mindset and built the business into a successful, multi-di-vision operation. 

Farese quickly developed an understanding of the overall construction operation and mastered the exterior remodeling side of the field, but she still wasn’t satisfied. In 2011, she received her public adjusters license to assist homeowners with insurance claims as there was a lot of synergy between the homeowner’s insurance world and construction. Today, many attorneys, other public adjusters and insurance brokers rely on her expertise in the roofing and insurance world to assist them in their own day-to-day claims. 


Around 2012, Farese noticed a gap in the roofing and solar industry. Solar was starting to be installed on roofs, but the roofs were not prepared for the longevity of solar. She immersed herself into the solar industry, aligning her company with solar companies to assist with their roofing needs. 

In July of 2020, Farese opened a solar service division of Marcor to support national companies that mistakenly installed solar on poor roofs and now have to address the issues they accidentally caused to the roof years later. In 2022, she launched Roofs for Solar, a national company supported by Owens Corning to set up and manage roofing divisions for regional solar companies.

Finally, she set up MGM as a NYS WBE certified estimating and supply division to support local Long Island builders requiring a NYS WBE certification. Farese is a two-time Top 50 Women in Business Recipient and a 2022 Herald Family Business Award recipient. She regularly donates her time to the betterment of the community, and is also co-chair of Long Island Builders Institute’s Women’s Committee.

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How Do Solar Panels Affect Your Roof?

Whether you are buying existing property or thinking about solar install on your current home, have you ever considered how solar panels affect your roof? At Marcor Construction we understand the benefits and downfalls of solar for your home. Solar panels can in fact help protect your roof. The solar panels protect the UV rays of the sun from breaking down the shingle and preventing them from drying out from not facing the direct sunlight. The air flow between the panels and the roof also allow for air flow between the system and your roof, cooling the roof down considerably.

The issue with roofing and solar panels really comes down to the installation. Be sure to hire a professional solar installations company and understand how their bracketing techniques affect your roofing installation and warranties.

Solar should never be installed on an older roof that doesn’t have much life left in it or if the roof was installed against your local code. The benefits of solar on a solid roof could be fantastic, however, not all installers of solar have a lot of roofing knowledge which is what leads to issues when installing solar on a roof. Be sure to ask a lot of questions about the installation methods. In most cases, solar will not negatively affect your roof.

Ice Daming in the Long Island Area

Summer has come and gone, the holidays have passed, and now we must brace ourselves for what winter might have in store for us this year.  The last few winters have hit Long Island stronger than ever and many property owners were not entirely prepared.  Shovels and Snowblowers were flying off the shelves at the stores; you couldn’t find ice melt almost anywhere!
 
Society today has become very “reactive” rather than remaining proactive when it comes to taking preventative measures to protect their homes.  Here are a few helpful ways to be proactive and avoid the risk of what a cold and snowy winter may bring to Long Island.
 
Ice Damming: Ice dam has become a recognized term over these last few years to Long Island homeowners, damaging homes both inside and outside.  Ice Damming is a common winter roofing problem caused by poor roof ventilation and warm attic space. Left untreated, ice dams can cause serious damage to your roof, gutters, paint, insulation, drywall, structure and even contribute to mold. 
 
Ice dams form when melting snow on a roof runs off and refreezes at the edge of a roof. This condition occurs when the snow is melted by a warm roof, creating water running between the snow and the warm roof surface, then freezing and turning to ice when it gets past the exterior wall and hits a cold unheated roof edge or gutter.
 
Ice damming can be avoided or prevented by increasing the amount of insulation you have in your attic so that the heat you are using to heat your home does not escape through inadequate insulation.  A combination of ice and water shield and drip edge, in conjunction with a proper roof installation, will aid in the prevention of ice dams as well.
 
Pipe Breaks: Pipe breaks are another common occurrence when temperatures plummet.  The water freezes in the pipe, commonly on an outside wall, and when it freezes, expands and eventually breaks the pipe.  This can potentially cause a massive amount of water damage in many cases. Although this is typically a covered loss through your homeowner’s insurance, it is a headache to deal with and can cause a lot of damage to your property and belongings.  Pipe breaks can be avoided by maintaining the heat in your dwelling, usually around 68 degrees, especially when you are going out of town.  Always make sure you have enough oil to heat your home.  Insulate outside walls, keep windows closed on the outside walls of your home, and be sure to disconnect gardening hoses and flush out your sprinklers if necessary.
 
Many of the headaches we face as homeowners can be avoided with proper prevention strategies and planning ahead.  On Long Island, we are going to always face drastic weather changes; therefore taking some of these ideas into consideration could carry you a long way.  If you take preventative measures, when the next snowstorm finds its way into your neighborhood, you could kick your feet up by the fireplace with some hot cocoa rather than worrying about keeping the storm out of your house!

What is Winter Damage?

Summer has come and gone, the holidays have passed, and now we must brace ourselves for what winter might have in store for us this year.  The last few winters have hit Long Island stronger than ever and many property owners were not entirely prepared.  Shovels and Snowblowers were flying off the shelves at the stores; you couldn’t find ice melt almost anywhere!
 
Society today has become very “reactive” rather than remaining proactive when it comes to taking preventative measures to protect their homes.  Here are a few helpful ways to be proactive and avoid the risk of what a cold and snowy winter may bring to Long Island.
 
Ice Damming: Ice dam has become a recognized term over these last few years to Long Island homeowners, damaging homes both inside and outside.  Ice Damming is a common winter roofing problem caused by poor roof ventilation and warm attic space. Left untreated, ice dams can cause serious damage to your roof, gutters, paint, insulation, drywall, structure and even contribute to mold. 
 
Ice dams form when melting snow on a roof runs off and refreezes at the edge of a roof. This condition occurs when the snow is melted by a warm roof, creating water running between the snow and the warm roof surface, then freezing and turning to ice when it gets past the exterior wall and hits a cold unheated roof edge or gutter.
 
Ice damming can be avoided or prevented by increasing the amount of insulation you have in your attic so that the heat you are using to heat your home does not escape through inadequate insulation.  A combination of ice and water shield and drip edge, in conjunction with a proper roof installation, will aid in the prevention of ice dams as well.
 
Pipe Breaks: Pipe breaks are another common occurrence when temperatures plummet.  The water freezes in the pipe, commonly on an outside wall, and when it freezes, expands and eventually breaks the pipe.  This can potentially cause a massive amount of water damage in many cases. Although this is typically a covered loss through your homeowner’s insurance, it is a headache to deal with and can cause a lot of damage to your property and belongings.  Pipe breaks can be avoided by maintaining the heat in your dwelling, usually around 68 degrees, especially when you are going out of town.  Always make sure you have enough oil to heat your home.  Insulate outside walls, keep windows closed on the outside walls of your home, and be sure to disconnect gardening hoses and flush out your sprinklers if necessary.
 
Many of the headaches we face as homeowners can be avoided with proper prevention strategies and planning ahead.  On Long Island, we are going to always face drastic weather changes; therefore taking some of these ideas into consideration could carry you a long way.  If you take preventative measures, when the next snowstorm finds its way into your neighborhood, you could kick your feet up by the fireplace with some hot cocoa rather than worrying about keeping the storm out of your house!

NYC Lic. #: 1328593 | Nassau Lic. # H18H3540000 | Suffolk Lic. #: 44604H | Long Beach Lic. #: 2795 | Floral Park Lic. #: 469 | Conn. Lic. #: Hic0632431 | Vil. Of Mastic Lic. #: 0506 | E. Hampton Lic. #: 8183 | Yonkers Lic. #: 5472 | Westchester Lic. #: WC-25646H13