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Environment East
Builds Reputation
On the North Fork
All over the east end of Long Island, and wherever people spend as much time and money as they do here, homeowners are turning to construction companies which stress quality work and careful attention to detail. In particular, the rehabilitation and reconstruction of old houses, which has become a near-mania on the South Fork, is creating a demand for this kind of work. While the need in the Hamptons is being filled by a number of construction operations, on the North Fork, one company stands out. More and more often, one sees the bright yellow Environment East sign propped up against homes of all varieties and description.
Only five years old, Environment East, which is based in Peconic, now employees 12 full-time workers as well as part-time and office employees, making it the largest construction employer on the North Fork, claims owner Peter Stoutenburgh. He attributes the success of his operation not only to quality work, but to the diversity of services it offers. He also maintains that guaranteed reliability and personalized work have contributed to the company’s success as well as Environment East’s emphasis on long-term relationships with clients.
Stoutenburgh says his first objectives in starting the company was to offer quality services to homeowners. At the inception, he thought that Environment East offered the most exceptional materials and workmanship and therefore should cost more. “I came to realize,” he says, “that, though that was the case, it doesn’t have to be expensive.” Now, says Stoutenburgh, “ we work for the biggest estates on the North Fork and we deal with my neighbors and relatives. For the product we give, we’re more than reasonably priced.”
While Stoutenburgh has apparently managed to avoid the prima donna pitfall, he has retained a sense of selectivity, occasionally turning down a project which involves low-quality materials or a client who wants him to rush the job faster than quality work would allow. At the same time, the extent of the Environment East operation permits four or five major projects, as well as a dozen or so minor ones, to be underway at once, says Stoutenburgh. “Quite often, there will be two or three Environmental East trucks on the same road,” he adds.
Of all the work handled by the company, 75 percent is concentrated between Mattituck and Greenport, an the main concentration is between Riverhead and Orient. Stoutenburgh says that the need for what Environment East offers is so great on the North Fork that he hasn’t had time to extend the operation to the South Fork.
“I do most of my own design,” says Stoutenburgh, who adds that he also works with architects, supplying on-site supervision and design construction. His familiarity with all phases of construction is enhanced by his artistic background, he suggests, claiming that he considers himself more of a photographer than a builder. As the offspring of journalist Paul Stoutenburgh, whom his son calls “the consciousness of the North Fork,” Peter Stoutenburgh looks back on his upbringing as a creative one. Raised in Cutchogue, Stoutenburgh traveled extensively and later attended colleges in Colorado and Utah. His working relationships with clients on the North Fork began in high school when he did landscaping in the area, leading to other, occasional odd jobs over the years. After the formation of Environment East, Soutenburgh claims he “lost his hammer,” and now he concentrates mainly on supervising projects.
Environment East has become as diversified, he says, as have the people on the North Fork. “People are now being attracted here from all sorts of backgrounds,” says Stoutenburgh, who tries to cater to everyone’s needs. The company now serves local churches, farmers and business, as well as private residences. In addition to rehabilitation work, for which the company is best known, Environment East is doing more and more new construction and working on contemporary reconstruction.
An example of contemporary reconstruction is going on in Southold where a house which is only around 35 years old is being redone “from the inside to the out.” The single-story shingle house has been gutted inside and the rooms turned into open, clear spaces, creating a lighter, more airy look. Detail work is now being added, such as the installation of antique fan lights which the owners salvaged from a wrecking company. The floors, French doors, other windows and ceiling have already been completed, and now the construction crew is adding built-in conveniences. About the only thing Environment East does not do is major masonry, plumbing and electrical work, although Stoutenburgh will oversee those facets.
Rehabilitation projects can vary from full-scale restoration of decrepit older houses to the simple addition of traditional features. Stoutenburgh bought a house dating from the 17th Century last year and is now working on remodeling it. The two-story shingle cottage features original beams in the ceilings, as well as the old-fashioned, central brick fireplace and steep, narrow staircase. Work is now underway to provide a foundation.
Environment East recently redid the chimneys on a large house in Southold, a project of which most of today’s construction companies are apparently incapable of.
Stoutenburgh says he is careful about the people he hires to work on the crews. Of prime importance are qualities of responsibility and trustworthiness, as well as amiability. Stoutenburgh sees the company’s personalized service and friendly atmosphere as one of its greatest assets. In return for their constancy, he says, employees can count on loyalty from their employer: “I’ve never laid a guy off for a day, much less an hour.”
“We try to take care of things so that [clients] don’t have to be here,” Stoutenburgh says, adding that many of his customers are non-permanent residents who rely on him to do the job without supervision. “The majority of people we work for become friends,” he says, adding, “Through this, I meet the most interesting group of people.”
The company’s relationship with clients does not usually stop after completion of the job. Not only are the crews often called back for additional work, but Environment East makes itself available for long-term care. If a problem with some of the company’s contruction work crops up, “we’re there the next morning to take care of it. Most everybody we work for, we always work for,” he adds.
“What we have tried to do is create a company known for its abilities, and that every member felt a part of,” says Stoutenburgh. “When they sell a house and somebody says ‘Environment East did this’” he concludes, “that should mean something.”