Get matched with top in Lynn, MA

"From consultation to finish, Jane and Brandon were very helpful and persistent on their job. Tite they installed are still looking new after 6 years."

"Van is the nicest guy, but clogged drains don't care, so he becomes an Alligator gobbling up the **** in your blocked pipes. He found and cleared my blockage almost 50 feet deep in the pipes! He quickly replaced the broken washer that caused the leaking in my garden faucet. He replaced a tough fixture that I realized afterwards I could never have done. He used to work for Roto-Rooter, so he's got mad skills, but imagine all the experience and the same equipment with a personal touch from a friend who genuinely cares about your sink backing up and grossing out your family. It all began when my regular plumber said he doesn't mess with clogs and referred me to a big-name franchised drainage cleaning company. They were too busy and I was too desperate. I had people coming over for the weekend and everything flushed was finding it's way into my basement bathtub. I tried the intriguingly named Alligators Rooter and Van came over early on Saturday morning. Not only did he root out the problem, but charged me the low end of his price range. You know when someone says it'll cost between this and that, he means THAT! But not Van. He's honest, amiable, and gets the job done! Root for Van, he's The MAN!"

"Jeff was on time; came in at the exact price that he quoted, and was efficient. - The repair was completed in less than an 1 hour and was done well. Would highly recommend him!"

"My first experience with Julio was an after-hours discovery that my water heater was going out. I urgently called a few people, then a Boston number for "emergency plumbing." The answering service was very kind and helpful in connecting me to Julio, and through a back and forth process of texts and iphone photos I was instructed how to turn off the water. It took a couple of hours for him to arrive with an assistant named Michael. They evaluated the situation, then offered to purchase a new Hot Water Heater at Home Depot, which they did, and then offered to continue the work and were all finished that evening--a bonus for me. Although I was a bit concerned about the process of having him do that purchase, I was given the receipt from home depot and the labor and installation cost was less than I paid the last time. I paid him the total with AmEx on a portable card reader. He apologized for the condition of the invoice he gave me, since he had to re-use one and it was a bit messy. Also, I wanted to have a TACO overflow valve installed, but our communication was a bit of a challenge, and I don't believe that was done. However, he did a reasonable job of cleaning up a tough basement situation. On the basis of this work, I hired the company again to install a new faucet in the kitchen, and to replace a garbage disposal. This time I shopped for both. Michael was sent at the agreed upon time, and did a fine job on the faucet. When it was time to replace the disposal, he consulted with Julio by phone and asked if I would like him first to try to repair the disposal, quoting me a labor cost that was lower than it would be for replacement. I agreed, and he was able to find the cause of the jam and I returned the new disposal. A happy result. This time I paid by check, I will call again as the need arises. I feel they do good work, with none of the high pressure or cost that I have had in the past with others doing similar work, and they are very nice people."

"Chris replaced my 75 gallon hot water heater. This is the 2nd time we have used him. Prompt, quality work. Easy to deal with. Will definitely use him again"

"Everything went great! Needed to find a local plumber in an emergency on a Saturday and Chris was able to be there within 30 minutes of talking to him. He observed the job and communicated what would need to be done and fixed/replaced everything that needed to be. He did tremendous work and I will definitely be calling on him again should I need something done in the future!!"

"It was so much easier than getting a dumpster. I paid less money than if I had gotten a dumpster because a dumpster charges by weight and since it snowed and rained, everything in the bag was wet - I would have paid a fortune!!! With the bullbag, I paid one set price and the cool part: I got the bag back to refill again and again. This company also recycles most of what is collected so less ends up in a landfill.
No better business bureau complaints.
One set price to empty.
I get to reuse the bag over and over."

"The drain assembly on my bathroom sink gave out after twenty years or so, and there was no way I was going to be able to get the darned thing off without a hacksaw. So I purchased a "Big Deal" from Cuddy Bros. to put on a new faucet and drain. They showed up on time, wrested the old drain assembly off, and put on the new faucet and drain without a hitch. It went quickly and smoothly. Six months later the installation is still fine; nothing leaks. I am completely satisfied."

"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."

"

This was about as seamless a kitchen renovation that one could ever hope for.  Dave listened carefully to the goals we wanted to achieve in our kitchen, and was patient with the design adjustments we wanted to incorporate as we considered each version of the design plans.  One cabinet in particular that was added toward the end of the design process was brilliantly conceived on his part--a cabinet to store large items that looked like a lovely piece of dining room furniture, with exterior shelving and drawers. It is a centerpiece in the kitchen.  Dave was careful to preserve important walk ways in our kitchen so as to not create bottlenecks--an important element in this centrally located kitchen.  His advice on style and color of cabinetry was also highly valued in our desire to achieve a cleaner and brighter look, yet one that was still consistent with our 1931 Colonial.

The Brookhaven cabinets are beautiful and well-made.  While they are pricey, Dave was able to steer us to take advantage of a manufacturer's discount.  The selection of hardware that was available without incurring additional cost was completely adequate, and we took advantage of this option.

Installation of the cabinetry was smooth and timely.  We decided to make a last minute change to the placement of our microwave, which necessitated the order of a new drawer.  This took longer than we had hoped, but understood that this was not a Kitchen Center issue, but rather one of the manufacturer, as each items is custom made.  When the drawer arrived, it was without a front--this added more time. 

Once the cabinetry was installed, irregularities were minimal.  Dave and a service that works with him tended to adjusting hinges, covering screw heads, and painting areas that needed to be smoothed. 

Overall, working with the Kitchen Center exceeded our expectations.  Communication and responsiveness were excellent.  They partnered well with our contractor so that there were no glitches or last minute surprises--almost unheard of for a kitchen renovation.  The quality of the design and workmanship has made for a space that we are loving, and our only regret was that we did no redo our kitchen sooner!

"