Verified record
Aurora Custom Builders is now presented as AURORA Architects + Builders, a Medford design-and-build firm for custom, sustainable homes in eastern Massachusetts and nearby New England. Its current contact page places it at 98 Winchester Street; Houzz and BBB show the same address and phone under the two names. The company describes a service area centered on Cambridge, Somerville, Belmont, Arlington, Newton, Lexington, Weston, Watertown, and Waltham. The written Houzz accounts describe substantial, multi-room work rather than isolated repairs. In September 2025, homeowners described a second-floor conversion adding a bathroom, laundry room, and closets, and a gut kitchen and bathroom renovation with a family-room extension; one said the process was well managed. Reviews from 2024 describe a full-floor renovation and a Queen Anne home taken back to the studs with a ground-floor extension. These are dated accounts, with the latest shown from September 2025. An NPR story from 2016 described Nathaniel May and his crew completing a $140,000 kitchen renovation outside Boston, while a 2014 Houzz review described a kitchen build paired with a master bedroom and updates across two floors. The older examples show a long-running focus on large residential projects, but they should be read as historical work, not a promise about current availability or scope. For a whole-home or major-room project, the firm’s design-build focus appears aligned with the work homeowners describe. Its contact page says it helps clarify priorities and a rough budget range; ask how that process and the proposed scope would apply to your own property. BBB lists an A+ grade and says the business is not accredited. Houzz lists license number 174668; confirm the license type and any requirements for your project before signing.
Typical Greater Boston range for this kind of work, from regional averages — not a quote from Aurora Custom Builders. Use it to sanity-check bids, then get the real number in writing.
Estimated range
$23,000 – $35,000
Typical remodeling project around $29,000
“2021 Regional CotY Winner! Residential Historical Renovation/”
“Nathaniel May (under sink) and his crew with Aurora Custom Builders goes through the final check list on a kitchen renovation outside Boston.”
“On a recent morning he stopped by a home where his company, Aurora Custom Builders, is finishing up a $140,000 kitchen renovation. The homeowner, Teri Larson, is beaming over her new stone backsplash and countertops. “I think it looks spectacular,” she says.”
“Nathaniel May (under sink) and his crew with Aurora Custom Builders goes through the final check list on a kitchen renovation outside Boston.”
“Nathaniel May (under sink) and his crew with Aurora Custom Builders goes through the final check list on a kitchen renovation outside Boston.”
Outstanding work. Completed a gut kitchen and bathroom reno, with an extension to our family room. Process was well managed throughout. Crew is highly skilled and professional, very detail oriented, and kept the job site tidy. We appreciated all of the thoughtful suggestions provided to us— some of those resulted in the nicest touches. Highly recommended.
Aurora did a big second floor project for us, turning a second spare bedroom into a bathroom for the primary suite, a laundry room, and his and hers closets for the primary suite. They also turned a 3-season porch off the primary suite into an all-season reading nook. We could not be more thrilled with the process and the result. Nat and his expert team delivered professionalism, excellent communication, exacting work, and a beautiful result. Our home is well over 100 years old so it had its quirks, requiring creative problem-solving and out of the box thinking. The team uncovered some problems with the house (like giant window banks with no headers!) and I feel like this project saved our house in some ways. Tons of thanks to Aurora, and we'll have them tackle our kitchen soon. ;)
Aurora worked with us on an extensive renovation of our Queen Anne home, and we found them to be incredibly thoughtful, helpful and supportive throughout the process. The home was taken back to the studs throughout. We added a small ground floor extension, reworked the floor plan on each floor, added a greenhouse with an exercise pool, and demolished and rebuilt the almost derelict barn as a two car garage. The electrics, plumbing and HVAC were all newly installed throughout, including solar panels and a geothermal system. Original features in the home were salvaged, restored and reused where possible, some that could not be savaged were carefully replicated, and all new elements were carefully designed to bring a more modern functionality and feel, but blend stylistically with the historic design. Energy efficiency was taken into account throughout the project, including new insulation added beneath the new siding, and an energy efficacy evaluation was performed towards the end of the project. At each stage from design to completion, and for all the many elements, Aurora communicated well with us and their subcontractors and coordinated a very complicated project in a very professional manner. The work was not quite completed when we had to go into lockdown in 2020 and when it was possible to resume work they continued to show the same professionalism and care as always, arranging scaffolding to access to a first floor bathroom through a bedroom window so as to carry out work in the bathroom whilst keeping the area completely sealed off from the rest of the house. Since completion they have continued to keep in touch and helped us with periodic queries on specifications or maintenance questions. We love our new home and it was a pleasure to work with all of the Aurora team members.
Aurora did a full gut renovation of the second floor of our victorian house. It was a complicated project that included opening up the entire floor plan, moving a bathroom, a full kitchen renovation and rebuilding and reversing the direction of a back staircase. The new design totally transformed our space with tons of natural light and many thoughtful touches that continue to delight us. Nat and company brought a ton of experience and expertise to bear on the project and we felt like we were always in good hands.
Excellent work. Nat is an experienced builder and designer who understands the complexity of sophisticated building projects and delivers quality projects.
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3 changes recorded — last scanned Sep 12, 2026.
Detailed craftsmanship5.0
Renovates century-old structures5.0