Chris Sherriff and his team performed beyond all expectations…read more The initial meeting showed that he understood what we wanted and made suggestions the were right on to what we had in mind. Once the project started all efforts were made to furnish superior workmanship and excellent professional results. Always paying attention to details and offering useful suggestions showing how much they all were invested in making the best results. Great people and we have found a solution for any future projects. We expressed how grateful we were for the end result. You would be advised to seek this contractor if for nothing else peace of mind and a project within your budget.

Chris Sherriff did our kitchen renovation recently. He did a great job, on budget, and finished…read moreearly. His work is excellent quality, and he also has first class subcontractors. He kept us informed throughout the project, was really tidy, and we couldn't be happier with the final result. Plus he is a super nice guy who we enjoyed seeing every day. For sure we will hire Chris again for any renovations.

I was introduced to Ian through a friend, during the peak of pandemic where it's such a struggle to…read morefind good contractors with availability. I cant say enough about IDR and his crew, they are extremely easy to work with, honest and hardworking, and delivered beautiful results. They helped to fit our project in their timeline, including moving and reinstalling cabinets, configuring layout, *absolutely beautiful piece of art* backsplash, and change of a back exterior door. His crew helped me realize my vision with many custom configurations and designs professionally! He's currently helping us with our second home with a larger project of bathroom addition and kitchen island addition, and I think we will hire him without a doubt for any future projects too!

My husband and I bought a new home in Cambridge in need of a kitchen renovation. We found IDR…read moreConstruction via Google and Yelp reviews and we were very impressed with the reviews and pictures of IDR's work. Ian took the time to talk on the phone when I first reached out about the project and the scope of work. He even reviewed some drawings I had done of the space and pointed out some things to think about for the layout (such as if we moved the fridge, we'd have to make sure we could access a water line for the ice maker). Ian met with us at the house to talk about the project, and we engaged Ian and IDR shortly thereafter. All told, the renovation took about 4 weeks, which was a great timeline and we are very pleased with how it came out. Ian was responsive, polite, and overall a pleasure to work with, and his subcontractors were polite, unobtrusive and cleaned up each day. We were fortunate in that we had a clear vision of what we wanted (which made the design process easy), but Ian truly helped bring that vision to life and thought of ways to make it better that we hadn't thought of, all while never being pushy or disrespectful. We highly recommend Ian and the IDR team and we look forward to the opportunity to work with him again.

Consummate professionals. Custom Contracting built a gorgeous kitchen for us. I've had other…read moreprofessionals comment on the high quality of the workmanship. We are very pleased. Good people all around !

This past summer, Custom Contracting did a huge amount of work on our house. They built a new deck,…read morerevamped our bedroom, remodelled two bathrooms and a kitchen, and did a lot of painting. We were very pleased with the outcome. I want to especially recognize the stellar work done by Bryan Lamoureux, head carpenter. For years, I had nightmares that the second floor of the house was going to collapse. When Bryan took the kitchen ceiling back to the bare joists, he found out that somebody had cut massive holes in those joists to run a pipe through them. This made the house structurally unsound. Bryan showed us the holes and proposed a solution to make the house sound. The "bounce" that we experienced while walking around on the second floor disappeared, and so did my nightmares. Bryan is a superb young carpenter with old-school knowledge and values. Thank you, Bryan! I also want to recognize kitchen designer Jane Scammon. We told her what we wanted, and she immediately drew up an inspired design proposal for us. We bought tiles and cabinets based on her design, and we love the new look. Thank you, Jane!

Walsh construction did a number of projects in my home - built a new pantry, a new back deck, and…read moreadded several custom built ins throughout the kitchen and bathrooms. I couldn't be happier with the results and process. Mike and his team are expert craftsmen and deliver stunning work products. They are one of the few construction firms I've encountered that still have that old school sense of work ethic, quality, and transparency. I highly recommend them for a project of any size.

The men from Walsh construction were amazing-- they truly bailed us out of a horrible situation. We…read morediscovered severe rot and they very carefully and quickly removed the rot and replaced a major support beam. They worked tirelessly and they were very reasonably priced, especially given the quick time frame and the extent of the work. We liked them so much that we later hired them to build custom bookshelves, which look gorgeous. That project was also completed quickly, with zero mess or stress on my part. I very highly recommend the company.

We renovated our home and added a substantial wrap around porch. We worked with an architect to…read moredesign the porch, and had a really hard time finding a contractor that was responsive and seemed to want the job. Leader was a little more expensive than some bids we got, but I honestly think when changing the face of your house, you get what you pay for. Leader dealt with the City, the permits, the architect, and managed every detail of the project. Lauren dealt with permits and the front end of the project (because I knew nothing when we started all this), and Kaitlyn (construction manager) managed all the contractors and worked with us to deal with contingencies as they arose. We replaced the windows and door on the front of the house. We excavated 14,000 pounds of concrete stairs (layered for over 100 years), we replaced the siding on the front. We had roofers and electricians to deal with. The carpenters that built the porch (Zenon!!!) were masterful and executed the architectural plans perfectly. The structure and roof were completed in 6 weeks start to finish. I appreciate how communicative Leader is, I appreciate how carefully and neatly their contractors worked, I appreciate that every single person who worked on our property was incredibly professional. We absolutely adore our porch. It looks like a totally different house. We couldn't be more pleased with the work of this excellent company.

We are doing our first remodel and called them to see if they are interested and can provide us an…read moreestimate. Apparently, before calling them, you need to know how much your construction project will cost. Since we didn't (gasp) and perhaps because our initial estimate was lower than their over the phone estimate, they didn't even bother offering to come out to give an estimate. I guess our money is not good enough for these people.

We bought our home last summer, and we've been living with the work done by D.S. Brody for a year…read morenow, and it's holding up beautifully. When our house was inspected, the inspector told us nearly everything looked fine-- except when he looked into the bathrooms. He peered his head into the downstairs bathroom, turned to us with a distressing grin, and just asked, "You're gutting these, right? To the studs?" The bathrooms had been basically destroyed by water damage and general neglect, so we hired D.S. Brody to gut the bathrooms to the studs, and rebuilt from scratch. Long story short, they did a superb job, came in at just about the price we were quoted despite some "surprises," and were flexible and professional. A year in, I still couldn't be happier with how the work turned out. Specifics: on top of being entirely gutted, the downstairs bathroom needed the toilet and the vanity switched, the upstairs bathroom needed to be extended into a hall closet, and both bathrooms required somewhat finicky tile work to be completed. Furthermore, we discovered that the pipes going from the basement into both bathrooms and the kitchen were not up to date and needed to be replaced in their entirety. We also had Dominique and her crew replace our back door and put in some small shelves in the kitchen. The icing on the cake was that we were out of state for more than three weeks of the work; due to some poor scheduling, first we were in Japan during demolition and early rebuilding, and then we were in Florida during much of the tiling process. Dominique kept in touch regularly and dealt beautifully with our absence, including through the discovery of the bad pipes, a (briefly horrifying) realization that the upstairs of our house was not actually built on a perfect 90 degree angle, and a multi-week delay of our tile shipment. The finished work looks and functions wonderfully, and we've had no problems whatsoever during this past year. I want to commend not only Dominique but also her crew, particularly foreman Obel, who continuously went above and beyond to get things looking and working just right for us. We would absolutely hire D.S. Brody for any further construction we might need, and strongly recommend them to anyone else in the area.

Although the representative of the first roofing service company was very professional and his…read moreproposal very detailed, the estimate from D S Brody & Associate was a little more than half the other price. (Two other companies never responded to my e-mail with needs.) Despite language about my responsibility for additional charges to resolve potential discovery of wood rot, the manager of D S Brody did not charge extra for carpentry in three damaged areas. The team did a great job. Based on a recommendation from a heating service that recently cleaned our heating chimney, I was prepared to have Brody install a metal chimney cap until: that team re-assessed, informed me with a picture of the crumbling top, then the manager recommended two flue pipes embedded with cement as the optimal long term solution. In response to my request, Brody gave a reasonable fixed-price and completed that task within two weeks of the first.

My husband and I were looking to take out a load bearing wall in our home and when the initial…read morecontractor felt it was beyond his scope, he recommended John. John and his assistant John came over to take a look at our house and to review the engineered plans. John provided us with a fair estimate and proof of insurance. We felt confident that John could do the job. On the very first day of John and John beginning the project, they discovered ducts in the walls which were not shown in the engineered plans. They immediately stopped working and told us to review our options and make a decision that we were comfortable with. They were extremely patient and never pressured us to continue the project. Several weeks later after we had the hvac ducts removed, the project resumed. They moved with great speed through the project. Our house was cleaned up when they left each day. They could not have been more pleasant, and the communication was outstanding. Factors outside of John's control (hvac issues from an hvac company we hired) complicated the project, but John never seemed frustrated when the project was delayed. John took what had become a very stressful situation and eased our worries. He advocated for us every step of the way and went above and beyond any of our expectations. The project was finished in a timely manner, and the work was beautifully done. I can honestly say John is the most honest contractor I have ever met. We are so appreciative to have found him, will be repeat customers, and would recommend him to anyone looking for an honest and fair contractor.

Since I've so rarely had a positive experience working with contractors, I wanted to write a few…read morelines about my exceptionally good experience working with John Conneely. We hired John to replace just about all of the windows (13) in our 1897 Victorian home. John came highly recommended, and we couldn't have been happier with his work. John was the kindest, most honest, and highly-skilled contractor I've ever worked with. He gave us a very reasonable quote for the window work, and did a great job setting expectations on how long the work would take and what it would entail. John and his team then installed the windows expertly, in the estimated time frame, and on budget. John and his team were also extremely courteous while working in our home during COVID, and went above and beyond cleaning up after themselves and taking away all the garbage. When they left, we simply got to enjoy having windows that kept our home warm . John will definitely be the first person I contact for any work associated with our home for many years to come.

What a gem! I own a couple of properties, so I deal with a lot of contractors. As a rule, I'm…read moreshort on time, so if I can get a job done without babysitting the workers, I'm happy. Niall and his crew are as good as it gets. Niall got me a quote for rebuilding my back porches within a couple of days. The quote was significantly less than the other guys. They said they would start on Monday morning and they did. They said they'd finish on Friday afternoon and they were done by noon on Friday. The new porch is beautiful, well build and sturdy (they actually went a little overboard on sturdy). And they went the extra mile -- extending a cement step when they saw that the new porch stairs were going to hit in an awkward way, completely cleaning up the back yard when they were done. The whole project took up less of my time than I spent getting my front door replaced. The crew are fantastic -- professional, polite, cheerful. Niall responds to phone calls and emails promptly. This was one of the easiest home-improvement experiences I've ever had. Yay!

Hanley Carpentry is a perfect example of a general contractor that puts getting paid and moving on…read moreto the next job ahead of his reputation and having pride in his work. Niall comes off as a nice guy and is undoubtedly a good salesman, but once the work begins things change fast, especially when issues and challenges come up, with which any decent size remodel, they usually do. Here is a top ten list of things that I had to deal with while working with Niall. 1. Niall sold himself as a "premier renovator of Boston Back Bay condos", but it turns out Niall was not even aware of the fact that many condo associations have by-laws that relate to qualifying or restricting renovations. It was his assumption that I could do whatever I wanted in my condo without getting permission from anyone. In fact, after work began and complaints began to roll in, he told me to tell the trustee of the condo association to f*** off and to mind their own business. He also threatened to pull his team out if things got difficult for him. To make matters worse, the trustee is an elderly women that lives right below me, who happens to be recovering from cancer, all of which Niall knew, and didn't care, about. 2. Niall has absolutely ZERO project management skills. The project lasted three months and Niall showed up on the job site at most 8 times, four of which were only to pick up checks. In fact, the first three weeks of the job, which I considered the most important, Niall was laying on a beach somewhere in the Caribbean. Niall conveniently forgot to tell me about this planned vacation before the job started. Niall also promised weekly status reports along with a weekly invoice. This promise was not kept. 3. During the course of the engagement, FOUR of his employees literally walked off the job, just got up and quit midday. Despite that, Niall expected me to pay their day rates as if they worked a full day. 4. Most of Niall's workers are capable and hard-working. However they are given virtually ZERO direction on what needs to be done. Not surprisingly this resulted in quite a few mistakes, which naturally require redoing the work twice and sometimes three times, all of which Niall expects you to pay for. 5. Niall refused to pay for significant damage that his crew caused to a neighbor's apartment, so those repairs ended up being my responsibility which I had to pay for. 6. Whenever something would go wrong, which was quite often, Niall was quick to blame the other contractors that were working on the project. Niall never once accepted responsibility for a mistake that he or his crew made. 7. Niall conveniently and consistently forgot agreed to scope of work. He then tries billing you extra for things that are already included in a project based fee. 8. Niall does not treat his workers well. This manifests itself with some workers moping around, kicking boards, and generally being inefficient. Regardless, Niall expects you to pay for these inefficiencies. 9. Shortly after receiving the last payment from me, which totaled over $70,000, I emailed Niall a punch list of things that I expected to be fixed. Not surprisingly, Niall never responded to that email, never called, never texted, in fact I never heard from him again. Essentially he took the money and ran without finishing the job. 10. I had to call in additional contractors to fix his shoddy work. Each of them commented on the poor craftsmanship and could not believe that another GC could act so irresponsibly. Fortunately I was able to find a few qualified contractors that were able to repair his sloppy work and loose ends. This is the first review I have written in my life. I am normally so busy with work that I wouldn't take the time to go through the trouble of writing something like this, but I think people need to know that there are some really bad, disingenuous contractors out there. I will be posting this review on Angie's list and Yelp. Hopefully it helps spare someone all the trouble that I went through.