Thirty-two Google ratings, and nearly all of them tell a version of the same story: a homeowner opens up a floor, an attic, or a basement, finds asbestos, and Banner takes it out without drama. The Franklin company is an environmental contractor first — asbestos abatement and testing, mold remediation, water-damage cleanup and demolition for houses, businesses and municipal buildings across New England, by its own description. It calls itself woman-owned and says it has been at this for 25 years; the Massachusetts Supplier Diversity Office registry does confirm its women-business-enterprise certification, active through April 2029.
The praise gets specific in a way generic five-star reviews don't. This spring a customer with a roughly 100-year-old home described carpet over asbestos tile and mastic over the original hardwood, and said most companies they called wouldn't attempt saving the floor. In a September 2025 review, a homeowner clearing asbestos vermiculite from a parent's attic before listing the house wrote that the process was easy and the price fair; a general contractor writing in May 2025 said Banner is the only firm they use for surveys and removal. The same names — Sarah, Craig, Darren, Kevin — recur across reviews from 2024 and 2025. BuildZoom shows 45 pulled permits, overwhelmingly asbestos removal and demolition in Boston, Cambridge and surrounding towns, and its BBB page is an A+, accredited since 2015.
Two things belong in the ask-first column. In 2021, patch.com and the Revere Journal both reported that Banner was fined $88,300 over asbestos work — five years back, but for an abatement contractor a penalty that size is worth raising directly. And a March 2025 one-star review is the sharpest complaint here: the customer wrote that the contract was explicit that the hardwood floors stay, and that the crew tore them out to the subfloor without stopping to consult, after driving over a neighbor's lawn.
On credentials, BuildZoom lists a Massachusetts home improvement contractor registration and a Massachusetts asbestos contractor license for the company, plus a Rhode Island registration it flags as unverified — those are the directory's entries, not confirmations against the state registry. Banner's own site claims licensing in six New England states and DCAMM certification.
For a residential asbestos or vermiculite job — the tile under the carpet, the siding, the attic — this is a firm with a long and mostly happy history of exactly that work. Put the scope in writing, spell out what must not be touched, and ask them directly about the 2021 penalty and what changed afterward.