Asher Nichols & Craftsmen LLC

Asher Nichols & Craftsmen has been working on homes around Chestnut Hill, Newton, Brookline, Wellesley, and Weston for more than 20 years, by its own account, with Asher M. Nichols listed as principal since the company incorporated in January 2007. Their focus isn't the standard gut renovation — it's putting an old house back together: restoring and preserving the character of historic New England homes alongside newer remodeling and renovation work. Outside recognition is thin but consistent in tone. The Better Business Bureau lists them at an A+, though they've never pursued BBB accreditation, and their Houzz profile carries a badge plus self-described awards from USGBC and ATAS International. Public reviews are scarce — Google shows only two ratings, both five stars — and the single written account on file describes a past client who hired them for repeat work and came away satisfied with the quality and communication. That's a good early sign, but it's a small sample to build confidence on. Worth asking about directly: recent references from a finished restoration or renovation job, since so few independent reviews exist to check the pattern against. If your project is sympathetic work on an older home rather than a straightforward new build, this is a shop built for that kind of job. Its Massachusetts home improvement contractor license is active, so the paperwork side checks out — just get a couple of current references before signing anything, given how little outside history there is to go on.