Verified record
Nine five-star reviews landed on Boston Custom Remodeling's Angi page in January and February 2017. The five Angi accounts that follow, running September 2017 to September 2018, are all complaints — and they are not small ones. The company is a Boston general contractor, listed at 11 years in business, doing kitchens, bathrooms, additions and full renovations; reviewers name John McGinn as the man on the job. Take the complaints in order. A September 2017 customer described a very large window that was warped and would not fit back into the frame the crew had built. A December 2017 customer said the work started in early June and that by September the company had stopped returning calls, with a long list of finishing errors still to be fixed. A February 2018 customer was told six to eight weeks, and six months later had no returned phone calls, final inspections and finishing work never completed, and phone calls from lawyers threatening to sue them. In May 2018, a customer wrote that they had paid for work on 9 February that still had not been done, and that they had a bathroom that could not be used. That September, a homeowner came back from vacation to find the crew had cleared out their tools and left abruptly, six weeks into building a roof deck. What comes after is mixed. On BuildZoom, a December 2020 reviewer had contracted John twice in a year, for a bathroom and an addition, and said both went well; a March 2021 reviewer picked them as the middle of three bids and said a $36,000 bathroom was handled from start to finish including all trades; a May 2022 reviewer put a $52,000 kitchen renovation on budget and on time. Back in a January 2017 review, a homeowner listed marble tile, custom cabinets, marble countertops, built-in shelving, under-cabinet lighting, a frameless glass shower door and radiant floor heat. Then, in January 2023, a BuildZoom reviewer who bought a renovated house from the company wrote that he owes people money, does not finish jobs and disappears. A review on the BBB page alleges the same shape of trouble: clients' work abandoned unfinished, subcontractors unpaid. Two things belong on the table before any money moves. BuildZoom lists a Massachusetts home improvement contractor licence number for the company, #186274, and shows three Massachusetts or Newton licence records on the page — that registration is the one a Massachusetts remodeling contractor works under, so get the number from them and check it against the state's own register yourself. The Angi and HomeAdvisor pages, which carry the same 4.1 rating from the same 19 ratings, both say the pro is under review. If you are weighing them for a kitchen or bathroom, settle that registration question before you sign, hold back a meaningful final payment against a written punch list, and get lien waivers from the subcontractors as they are paid.
We bought a renovated house from him John/Sean Mcginn and Boston custom remodeling is the worst contractor. Don’t not hire him. He is a scam and does absolutely terrible work. He owes people money, doesn’t finish jobs and disappears. He is Not a good person and the worst contractor. Everything he does needs to be fixed by someone else. Roofs, bathrooms, kitchens , absolutely terrible , shoddy finish work. Run.
Kitchen renovation $52,000 Very pleased with Boston Custom and will work with them again. They were able to complete our kitchen on budget and on time. All I hear from friends is how their contractors added costs to the job during the project and we didn’t have one issue. The price we paid was the price quoted. Good guys too.
Bathroom remodeling $36,000 Boston Custom Remodeling completed our bathroom renovation about a week ago and we are very happy with it. We obtained three quotes before choosing them as the middle bid. They handled the project from start to finish including all trades. The only negatives were minor (the project ran long by a week and it took 2 weeks to get the initial estimate). The quality of the work was great and we love our new walk-in shower. We plan to use them in the future on a kitchen renovation.
Kitchen addition and bathroom $145,000 We have contracted John twice over the last year for projects. The first was a bathroom renovation and the second was an addition on the side of our home. Both projects went well and we were happy with the results. What we like best about John's team is that they are not sub-contractors but full time employees. They are respectful and overall good guys. We would recommend John and his team to friends or family anytime.
Bathroom remodel, plaster hallway $30,000 Long review ahead. We hired John at Boston Custom Remodeling to complete a small (7x7) bathroom renovation and expand a closet and replaster the upstairs hallway, and ground the upstairs outlets. We didn't expect it to be perfect, but the finish work is incredibly poor for $30k. Nothing was sanded before it was primed, not everything was primed, sloppy paint job, tile edges are exposed, vanity light fixture is not centered, laughable floor repair after poor installation, drywall compound left on the mouldings, and drywall/tile dust everywhere. We hired someone to paint/replaster the other rooms and they even commented that the plastering job by John's team was sloppy. He also pointed out that they used the wrong type of paint for the trim and the wrong wood for the bathroom trim. The exposed shower pipe fixture was installed incorrectly with missing parts so water gets behind into the brand new drywall. Had they come back and corrected this basic thing (proper waterproofing in a bathroom remodel), I may not have written this review. However he has not responded to our texts or phone calls in over a month despite us giving him multiple opportunities to either fix it or explain what the delay was. We were told several times we were the smallest of his projects which is why I think we were put on the backburner. The bulk of the renovation was hastily slapped together in the last 3 days (when there was 6 weeks between start and finish) which contributed to the poor finish work. The total lack of communication and willingness to fix an obvious mistake on their end unfortunately leads me to never recommend this contractor. As an aside: several of his positive reviews on google appear to be fake (they all seem to use the same locksmith in Tucson, tax preparer in Australia, and same realtor in San Diego).
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2 changes recorded — last scanned Sep 11, 2026.
Typical Greater Boston range for this kind of work, from regional averages — not a quote from Boston Customer Remodeling. 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
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Decks and porches5.0
Clients returning for 10 and 20 years5.0
Detailed craftsmanship5.0
Renovates century-old structures5.0