Better Homes by Marc

The story homeowners tell about Better Homes by Marc is not really about paint. In a 2019 review, a customer described a truck smashing into their house — foundation, walls, windows, floor — and Marc's crew rebuilding all of it, on the timeline he gave, cleaning up when they finished. That is the arc the business itself describes: a one-man paint applicator in Westford who kept saying yes until he was running carpenters too. The company says on HomeAdvisor that it started as a paint application specialist working alone, added carpentry, then more trades, and that a large portion of the work is now prepping houses for sale. Both its BBB and HomeAdvisor profiles put the tenure at 34 years, with BBB dating the start to 1992 and naming Marc Sarantis as owner. BBB has not accredited the business but grades it A+. What customers wrote is consistent and it is old. HomeAdvisor publishes 4.8 across 54 ratings, and the 22 written accounts on file run from November 2013 to December 2020 — nothing since. Two themes repeat across those years: the quote holds, and the site gets left clean. A 2014 reviewer wrote that he "gave me a good quote and stuck to it, so there were no surprises"; another that same year called the estimate "right on, competitive with others." A 2015 customer with an 1835 house said the crew made "our old cracked ceilings new again" and cleaned up perfectly. A 2018 deck job — power wash, stain the new deck, repaint the old — was done the same week it was booked. The grumbles are small and also dated. One 2016 reviewer was happy with the results but found the price "a bit too expensive." A 2014 customer mentioned minor quality issues, judged acceptable for the cost. A 2013 reviewer described miscommunication during the project that sorted itself out by the end. There is a wrinkle worth raising: BBB lists this as a sole proprietorship with one employee, while the company's own HomeAdvisor text describes a crew of painters, a carpenter and staff across several trades — and reviewers name Dan, Matt and Ed. Ask who will actually be on your job. Good fit for interior and exterior painting with carpentry attached, or for getting a house ready to sell. Before booking, ask for two or three references from the last year, since the written record stops in 2020, and confirm current registration and insurance directly — no state licence turned up for the business under this name.