About Omar Construction
35+ years of building homes for New Jersey families.
Omar Construction is a family-trusted, NJ-licensed custom home builder and general contractor serving Bergen, Passaic, Sussex, Morris, and Essex Counties. Since 1990, we've turned blueprints into the kind of homes that last generations.
Since 1990
4× Best of Houzz
3× Home Builder Digest
NJ #13VH09340700
Our Story · Since 1990
A New Jersey home builder built on handshakes and craftsmanship.
Omar Construction wasn't built in a boardroom. It was built on residential streets across Northern New Jersey, one home at a time, with the kind of working relationships that only get stronger over decades. Founded in 1990, we've spent 35+ years building custom homes, additions, and major renovations for families who plan to stay.
What started as a small operation in Clifton, NJ has grown into one of the most trusted residential builders in the state — with completed projects across Bergen, Passaic, Sussex, Morris, and Essex Counties. The thing that hasn't changed is the standard: every home we build, we build like it's our own.
Four straight Best of Houzz awards, three editorial features in Home Builder Digest, and hundreds of completed homes later, we're still doing the same thing we were doing in 1990 — sitting down with homeowners, listening to what they actually want, and building it right.
Why Hire Omar Construction
Six reasons New Jersey families choose us.
When you're investing hundreds of thousands of dollars into a home, you don't just hire a contractor. You hire a partner you'll be talking to every day for months. Here's what that partnership looks like with us.
01 / 06
35+ years of proven track record.
We've been building in New Jersey since 1990. That's not a marketing line — it's hundreds of completed homes, decades of relationships with inspectors and building departments, and the kind of operational knowledge you can only earn one project at a time.
02 / 06
Custom homes tailored to how you actually live.
Every home we build is a reflection of the family who'll live in it. We don't sell stock floor plans. We sit down with you, learn your lifestyle, and design a home around the way you actually use space — not the way a marketing brochure says you should.
03 / 06
Full-service general contracting.
From new ground-up construction to additions, second-floor add-a-levels, major renovations, and full home remodels — we handle the entire project in-house. Architectural drawings, permits, framing, mechanicals, finishes. One team, one accountability.
04 / 06
Commitment to uncompromised quality.
We use the highest quality materials our budget allows, even when nobody's watching. Hidden framing details, mechanical layouts, waterproofing — the parts of a build that determine whether your home holds up at year 30, not just year 3.
05 / 06
Deep local expertise.
We know New Jersey building codes, township-specific quirks, FEMA flood zone requirements, and the inspectors in every town we serve. That local knowledge isn't bonus — it's what keeps your project on schedule and gets your permits approved on the first review.
06 / 06
Schedules we actually meet.
In 35+ years of building, we've never had a project run over 10 months. Most additions finish in 2–4 months. Most custom homes finish in 6–9. We give every homeowner a realistic timeline before we start, and we hit it.
Before You Hire
What to look for in a contractor before signing anything.
If you're hiring a custom home builder or general contractor, these are the seven non-negotiables. Use them as a checklist when you're vetting anyone — including us.
A current, verifiable state license.
In New Jersey, every legitimate home improvement contractor must be registered with the Division of Consumer Affairs. Ask for the license number, then verify it on the state's website. Ours is NJ #13VH09340700 — it should always be on the contract.
Current liability insurance and workers' comp certificates.
Don't take "we're insured" as an answer. Ask for the actual certificate of insurance (COI) showing current coverage, and verify the policy is active. If a worker gets hurt on your property and the contractor isn't covered, you can be liable.
Real, contactable references.
Not testimonials on a website — actual past clients you can call. Ask to speak with three homeowners whose projects finished in the last two years. A contractor who hesitates here is hiding something.
A portfolio with real photos of completed projects.
Stock photos and rendering-only portfolios are red flags. You want to see actual finished homes, ideally walked through in person if the homeowner allows. The before/after of a real project tells you more than any sales pitch.
A detailed written contract — not a one-page estimate.
Your contract should specify materials, brands, model numbers, finish levels, timeline, payment schedule, and what happens if there's a delay. If a contractor wants to operate on a handshake, walk away.
A clear answer about who's actually on site.
Ask: "Are you using your own crew or subcontracting everything out?" There's no wrong answer — but there is a wrong evasion. A contractor should be able to tell you exactly who'll be in your home and how they're vetted.
Independent online reviews on platforms they don't control.
Google, Houzz, BBB, Yelp. Look at the volume, the recency, and how the contractor responds to negative reviews. A pattern of unresolved complaints is the loudest warning sign in the industry.
A Hard Truth
Why the cheapest price isn't always the best price.
A lesson learned from the projects we've come back to clean up — and what it actually costs when you choose price over craftsmanship.
This is the single most expensive lesson a homeowner can learn the hard way: the cheapest contractor is almost never the cheapest project. We say this not to sell you on us — we say it because we've spent more time than we'd like to admit fixing other contractors' work after the fact.
It usually starts the same way. A homeowner gets three or four estimates. One number is significantly lower than the others. The pitch sounds good. The handshake feels good. The contract gets signed.
Six months later, we get the call.
Sometimes the project is half-finished and the contractor has stopped returning calls. Sometimes the work is done but the inspector won't sign off on it. Sometimes the homeowner has moved in and the foundation is cracking, the addition is leaking, the roof is sagging where it shouldn't be — and the original "cheap" contractor is nowhere to be found, has gone out of business, or is operating under a new LLC name.
"The cheapest bid wins the job. The hidden costs win the project."
Here's what we've learned watching this play out for 35 years: the gap between a quality bid and a discount bid almost always shows up later, in places homeowners can't see at signing. Cheap framing means a house that flexes when it shouldn't. Cheap waterproofing means a basement that turns into a problem after the first heavy rain. Cheap materials on the parts of a home that should last 50 years means replacing things you shouldn't have to replace at year 8.
What "cheap" usually means in residential construction.
It's rarely that the contractor is just generously charging less. It's that something has been removed, substituted, or rushed:
It might be a thinner-grade subfloor, a builder-grade window where you specified low-E glass, untrained day labor instead of an experienced crew, or skipping the third structural inspection because there isn't time in the schedule. Sometimes it's not using the right size beam in a load-bearing wall. Sometimes it's skipping the moisture barrier behind a stone facade because nobody's going to see it for 20 years.
None of these decisions show up on the contract or in the estimate. They show up later — in the parts of your home you can't easily fix without tearing things back open.
What we charge for, and why.
When we give an estimate, we price the project to actually be built right. That means: a real crew, real engineering review where it's needed, the materials specified by the architect (not the cheapest substitute), the time required to do the work properly the first time, and the kind of warranty you can actually rely on if something goes wrong.
It also means we sometimes lose jobs to lower bidders. That's fine. We'd rather not be the right fit for a homeowner shopping primarily on price than be the right fit and cut the corners that have to be cut to get there.
If you're getting bids and one is dramatically lower than the others, ask the contractor to walk you through line-by-line where the savings are coming from. A real builder can answer that question. A "cheapest bid" contractor often can't — or won't.
Due Diligence
How to vet a contractor like a professional.
A condensed version of what every smart homeowner does before signing a contract — and what to avoid that gets people in trouble.
DO
Smart vetting — what protects you.
- Verify license number through the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs website
- Request a current Certificate of Insurance directly from the insurance carrier
- Call at least three past clients and ask how the project actually went
- Visit at least one finished project in person, ideally similar in scope
- Read every page of the contract — and have a real estate attorney review it if it's a major build
- Ask who exactly will be on site, and whether the work is subcontracted
- Confirm the payment schedule is tied to milestones, not arbitrary dates
- Search the contractor's name + the word "lawsuit" or "complaint" online
DON'T
Common mistakes — what gets people burned.
- Trust contractors who demand 50% upfront — that's usually shady, stay away
- Hire based on the lowest bid without understanding what's been left out
- Accept a one-page estimate as a contract
- Skip pulling permits "to save time" — this voids your insurance and resale
- Trust verbal change orders — every change should be documented in writing
- Hire someone who pressures you to sign immediately or "before prices go up"
- Pay in cash without a receipt or properly invoiced documentation
- Make the final payment until every punch-list item is genuinely completed
The Tough Questions
Questions a contractor should be able to answer without flinching.
If you ask any of these and get a vague answer, a deflection, or visible discomfort — you have your answer about whether to hire that contractor. We answer all of these directly, every time.
"What's the worst thing that's gone wrong on a project, and how did you handle it?"
Every honest builder has a story here. Foundation issues we discovered after demolition, a subcontractor who walked off, a material shortage that delayed a project. If a contractor says nothing's ever gone wrong, they're either lying or they haven't done enough projects to have stories. We can tell you exactly what's happened on our jobs and exactly what we did to make it right.
"Can I see your license, insurance, and bond — right now?"
A real contractor has these documents accessible within minutes — usually as PDFs on their phone or in a pinned email. If they need to "find them" or "send them later," that's a delay tactic. Our license number is NJ #13VH09340700, and we'll send any homeowner the current insurance certificate before the first site visit.
"Who exactly will be running my project day-to-day?"
That's Omar — every single day, on site, hands-on. You don't get handed off to a project manager you've never met. You communicate directly with Omar himself and his son Khaled from the day you sign through the day we hand you the keys. Every Omar Construction project runs on a private group chat with the homeowners — you can text us anytime, you'll see daily progress, and you'll never wonder what's happening on your job. Communication is never an issue with us, because we're literally the ones building your home.
"What happens if you find something unexpected behind a wall or under the foundation?"
Older NJ homes — especially in towns like Clifton, Passaic, and Little Falls — almost always have surprises behind the drywall: outdated wiring, water damage, structural compromises. A good contractor explains the discovery process up front, gives you a clear change-order procedure, and presents costs transparently before doing the work. We do all three.
"What's your warranty, and how do I actually use it?"
Many contractors offer a "1-year warranty" that you'll never be able to use because they've gone out of business or stopped returning calls by month 13. Ask how the warranty is administered, in writing, and whether the contractor will still be in business when you need it. We've been in business for 35+ years and our previous clients can tell you we still pick up the phone for projects we did 15 years ago.
"What's your payment schedule, and what triggers each payment?"
Payments should be tied to completed milestones, not arbitrary dates. A contractor who wants 30%–50% upfront before any work has started is a serious risk. Ours is structured around verifiable phases: post-permit, post-foundation, post-rough-mechanicals, post-finishes, post-final-inspection. You should never feel like you're paying for work that hasn't happened yet.
"Can you walk me through a project where you went over budget or behind schedule? Why?"
No 35-year contractor has a perfect track record. The question is whether they'll be honest about it and what they learned. A defensive answer here tells you everything. A real one — "yes, here's what happened, here's what we did about it, and here's how we've changed our process since" — is the answer you want.
Where We Build
Building across Northern New Jersey.
Five counties, dozens of towns, hundreds of completed homes. Click any town below to see specific projects, services, and pricing for your area.
Serving Bergen · Passaic · Sussex · Morris · Essex Counties — and surrounding areas across Northern New Jersey.
Start Your Project
Ready to build something worth keeping?
Reach out directly, or fill out the form below. Free estimates, honest timelines, no high-pressure sales — that's not how we've operated for 35 years and it's not going to start now.
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