Get matched with top attic or whole house fan pros in Boston, MA

"Shawn was top-notch. We have not done anything to our house unit since we bought our house over 12 years ago. Suddenly, the unit did not work. We were prepared to have to replace the whole system. Shawn found that we only needed a capacitor replacement and that the unit needed regular maintenance. He also checked a few other items and we are quite happy with everything being in working order now. We will be purchasing a maintenance contract with Cotti-Johnson. Thank you !!"

"This is my 3rd (or 4th?) experience with Northern Lights Electric, and it certainly won't be my last. They arrived on time (7am), worked quickly and efficiently, and were done much sooner than I expected. They also cleaned up when they were done. Steven was also very willing to answer questions and explain some things, as well as give me information on some potential future services I was considering. I just requested an appointment for a ceiling fan installation and recessed lighting. Definitely my go-to for any electrical issues."

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From the first meeting with Jane we knew we would want to hire her team for our bathroom remodel.

Jane arrived for the first appointment to take some measurements and get a feel for what our goals were for the bathroom. We described what features we wanted in the remodeled bathroom (bubble tub, heated floor, possible heated towel rack ...). She took lots of notes and talked about fixtures, tile, and countertops. Jane was very easy to work with. She created an estimate based on our first meeting that was within our budget with a clear breakdown and very easy to understand.

At the second meeting we were joined by Brandon and their team of contractors who would be doing the actual work. They took their time listening to what we wanted to accomplish and we all discussed the best approach to get the job done. We could move the toilet from the existing wall to an adjacent wall. The cost of moving the plumbing would be minimal and by turning the direction of the toilet it allowed us to purchase a wider tub. They also suggested repositioning the sink on our vanity. SInce our cabinates are two pieces, Brandon suggestion to move the sink from its current off-center position to a center position made the counter setup much more pleasing to the eye. With these added suggestions, Jane revised the estimate and gave us a new breakdown that was very clear and still worked within our budget.

Jane was extremely helpful picking out the material for the project. She met us at both the tile store and the counter distributer and guided us with great suggestions as to what would look great.

The highest complement I can give to Brandon, Jane and their entire team was they treated our house as if it were their own. They cleaned up every day so we could still walk comfortably around our room safely. It was a joy to work with this team and cannot wait to hire them again in the future.

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"It went great. The Markarian team showed up on time, worked very hard, and got the job done just as I asked. They took care of my stuff, covered surfaces, patched the holes they made, and didn't leave me out of the loop on any question or decision. My living room sounds great!"

"So Many Problems!! (though they tried hard to resolve them) Do NOT make the mistake we did and let them talk you out of pulling a permit. The work by this contractor should definitely be inspected. MA Design quoted a low price, used cheap (Home Depot grade) materials, and relied on workers with limited English skills. Plumbing and carpentry were problematic, seemingly due to inadequate training for some workers, spotty communication and quality control from supervisors, and some sloppy attention to detail. We should add that our foreman, John L, and the workmen were willing enough to fix problems after we discovered them, though we had to pay for time and materials when we found MA Design’s quality standards to be unacceptable. The end result of the bathroom remodeling seems OK and we hope that no more nasty surprises turn up in the future. The two supervisors are generally courteous and anxious to please, but poor communication with their workers and sometimes with us seemed to be typical for this contractor. Here are specific examples of our problems: PLUMBING 1. The plumber (apparently not licensed) installed the wrong shower controller in the wall, tiled over the wall, then tried to hide this mistake by sticking on the control handle taken from the shower controller we had specified. Of course, the controller did not work properly and we discovered what had happened by poking through the unused shower parts and calling the manufacturer. To correct this error, MA Design had to cut a hole in the plaster wall of our hallway. MA Design did repair the plaster but now we have an additional painting job because of their mistake. 2. We also discovered that their “plumber” tried to attach the tub spigot to flexible PEX tubing rather than to a solid copper pipe anchored to a stud in the wall. The spigot worked loose in just a few days. No qualified plumber would have made such a rookie mistake. Repairing this error also required the hole in our hallway wall. Clearly, no qualified supervisor inspected the plumbing before the tile went up in the shower enclosure. 3. Just 2 months after MA Design wrapped up the work, we found a serious water leak coming from the ceiling below the remodeled bathroom. This ruined the ceiling and of course ruined the paint job we had just completed in the room below the leak. To their credit, the supervisor quickly came out, cut a hole in the ceiling, and replaced a flawed PEX tubing fitting with a quick-apply fitting to stop the leak. MA Design then cut away large sections of water-damaged ceiling in two rooms, let things dry out for a few weeks, and applied mold-kill spray to address the mold that had formed. It seems that a fitting on the PEX tubing was not properly crimped. This reinforced our belief that the MA Design workers doing plumbing on our job were not well qualified and that MA Design did not choose to or did not know how to inspect work adequately. Several weeks later, MA Design eventually had the joint repaired by a licensed plumber and repaired the holes in the ceiling. 4. The shower enclosure tiling was done OK for the most part but we found holes in the grout around some tiles. We suspect that the grout job was substandard for another reason: the grout sealing the tub to the floor is cracking and flaking after only 2 months. CARPENTRY 5. We replaced the bathroom window with a safety glass window but MA Design replaced the prior window trim and window sill with lesser quality trim and no window sill whatsoever. This was a complete mismatch with the rest of the house. MA Design quoted use of “standard” trim. If MA Design’s estimate assumed replacing trim with something so obviously out of place with the rest of the house, this should have been clearly stated in the quote. We ended up paying to rip out their trim and replace with trim that matched the rest of the house. In fact, the lumberyard’s “standard” trim exactly matched the trim elsewhere in the house so we felt that MA Contracting’s use of “standard” to describe their materials was deceptive. 6. They also installed a new window in an adjacent room. They made the exterior windowsill out of a very knotty piece of pine, inviting future rot. Even worse, no drip edge was cut into the underside of the sill, which could lead to water wicking under the sill and getting into the exterior siding. No well qualified carpenter would have made a mistake like that. PAINTING 7. MA Design did very little painting for us, just some primer application after drywall installation. Still, the workman on our job made a rookie mistake. He applied primer to a repaired ceiling with a rough wall roller and then applied primer to the doorway trim with that same roller rather than with a brush or smooth roller. The result: the formerly smooth doorway trim now had a rough, thick layer of paint that looked and felt awful. It took us 2 hours of sanding to restore the doorway trim to a smooth surface. This experience reinforced our general impression that many, if not most, MA Design workmen are not properly skilled or trained for the work they are doing. COORDINATION & COMMUNICATION 8. We agreed at the outset which fixtures were to be bought by MA Design and which by us, but MA Design sometimes bought the wrong items, which resulted in confusion and delays. In many cases, we ended up buying the needed fixtures ourselves just to keep the project moving. 9. On at least 10 days, workers were expected but none showed up and MA Design did not call to inform us of this in advance."

"My electrical panel was damaged to be on repair due to a water leak. Jason and his crew promptly responded and replace the entire panel. Their timeliness was perfect and their customer service was outstanding."

"My electrical panel was damaged to be on repair due to a water leak. Jason and his crew promptly responded and replace the entire panel. Their timeliness was perfect and their customer service was outstanding."

"I called at 7 am and explained the issue. Glenn sent Norm that morning. Norm listened carefully to the history of my problems with the furnace. Checked the motor and explained why it needed replacement. Then he ordered one and left to pick it up. I was very impressed by his knowledge and work ethic. The motor cost $556. I paid an additional $92 for the visit."

"It was time for an update to our kitchen and a few other items around the house. Jesse and his team were clean, professional, and timely getting the job done. They rewired and added outlets in our kitchen, added a few ceiling fans, and replaced our thermostats, among other things in our remodel journey. I highly recommend Jesse and his team to tackle any new or existing electrical job or issue you might have."

"John: I've known John Calisi for over ten years and have hired him a few times over that period of time. He just finished patching and painting the ceilings, and painting the entire finished basement walls. He is a very meticulous yet efficient worker and painter. I was amazed a few years ago when he was able to hang 8 doors in the house in one day!!! Have you ever tried to hang a door from scratch? The thing I like the most about John is that he always asked if you need anything else done during his time on the job. Patch some weather stripping, no problem! Move some furniture, no problem! Fix a shower door, no problem! He's prompt, considerate and a real pro. If you look up "handyman" in the dictionary, he's there! (Do we still have dictionaries?) He's a good man, and a great worker."