With four generations of construction know-how, modern client communication, and a keen eye for design, Montvale’s Cleanscape Construction is building its business one trusted relationship at a time.
A renovation should leave you with more than a beautiful home. It should leave you feeling good about how you got there. That’s the philosophy at Cleanscape Construction, where Craig and Kristie Veri pair generations of building experience with a modern approach to service, design, and project management.
Based in Montvale, Cleanscape has four-generations of heritage in construction. Craig grew up in Hackensack, learned the trade young in his family’s company, and has nearly 40 years of experience. Kristie says: “He was born with a hammer. He’s been doing this since almost the day he was born.” Kristie herself was raised in Ridgefield Park, where the couple lived after they married, and where Cleanscape’s first office was founded in 2006. Today the company handles medium-to-high-end residential and commercial construction, luxury renovations, new builds, and post-construction and restoration cleaning, with projects underway across our area.
Cleanscape is woman-led and MWBE-certified, holds remodeling licenses in New Jersey and Rockland County and a New Jersey home-builder license, and is an Andersen Certified Contractor. The Metro Builders Association named it Builder of the Year in 2024 and Remodeler of the Year in 2021, and the company received recognition recently for restoring a historic home in Rutherford.
Craig leads construction, while Kristie, the company’s president, oversees operations, marketing, and community outreach. About nine out of ten projects come through referrals, which is pure gold in an industry built on trust. For Craig and Kristie, a successful project ends with a beautiful space and a client whose trust grew from day one to delivery.
Communication is part of the craftsmanship
Anyone who has lived through a renovation knows the uncertainty can be as stressful as the dust. When will the crew arrive? Is the inspection scheduled? What happens next?
Cleanscape uses a customer relationship management (CRM) system to keep clients posted on schedules, inspections, and milestones from start to finish. For the Veri family business, that’s part of doing the job right.
Why the cheaper estimate can be the most expensive
Craig has one piece of advice for anyone comparing contractors: don’t compare the bottom line until you compare what’s underneath it.
An $80,000 estimate can look better than a $100,000 one until you find out the cheaper bid leaves out materials, labor, or essential work. Craig recalls a client who took a lower bid and ran into serious problems. A project Cleanscape could have finished in three months was still a mess four to five months later.
His advice is to compare the scope, materials, and labor line by line. Ask what’s included, what isn’t, and what might become an extra charge. Surprises can get expensive.
From safe choices to spaces with personality
After years of minimalism, Kristie is seeing homeowners get more adventurous. “If I do one more gray kitchen, I’m going to scream” she tells us. We’re happy to break the news that the all-gray kitchen is on its way out! (And so, we hope, is the modern farmhouse look). In their place come more personal mixes of color, wallpaper, finishes, and layouts.
Technology is helping people take the leap. With AI tools such as ChatGPT, homeowners can explore colors and visualize ideas before committing. That makes it easier to try something bold, without an interior designer guiding each and every decision.
Kristie connects the shift to the housing market: A typical single-family home in Bergen County sold for $949,500 in July, up 8.5% from a year earlier, and buyers had only 2.6 months of inventory to choose from*.
Nationally, a Redfin survey found that 65% of recent renovators chose to upgrade their current home rather than move, and 71% of those planning a renovation in the next year say they’re remodeling instead of buying**. For many Bergen homeowners, investing in the house they already love makes more sense than chasing a new one. Kristie tells us: “People are really valuing where they live now. They’re willing to put a lot more love into it.”
Bergen County homeowners are staying put and dreaming bigger. Cleanscape is ready to help them build it, one trusted relationship at a time.
Working with Craig & Kristie was a game changer, and I’d even consider doing this all over again.
