Assabet Home Improvement

Assabet Home Improvement, Inc. is a small Marlborough, Massachusetts general contractor and roofer — three employees, also trading as Assabet Roofing — with David J. Shepard as owner and Sean M Shepard as president. The Better Business Bureau records the business as started in 1970 and incorporated in 1993, and lists roofing, siding, gutters, windows, decks, finish work and small additions among its services. The single most important thing to check before hiring is its registration. The Massachusetts Home Improvement Contractor registry holds licence 108052 in the company's own name, and the registry shows it as expired. That is a question to put to them directly, since HIC registration is what gives a homeowner access to the state's Guaranty Fund. The BBB grades the business A+ but it is not BBB accredited. Customer feedback is almost non-existent: one five-star Google rating with no written account, and one undated complaint posted on a listing site about a roofing job, where the poster said the family felt badly treated and that nails were left around the property afterwards. Neither is enough to characterise the work, and there is no way to tell how old the complaint is. For a roof, siding or window job in the Marlborough and Hudson area this is a long-established local shop, but the public record is too thin to rate. Ask for the current HIC registration number and recent local references, and get the clean-up and warranty terms in writing.