Branden C Scimone

Twenty-eight permits, nearly all of them in Marblehead, and 22 of those pulled in the last three years — Branden C Scimone is about as local as a builder gets. The typical job runs around $86,700, but the range is wide: from a $5,500 demolition up to a single-family renovation permitted at $991,173. The pattern in that permit history is whole-house work rather than one-room jobs. Kitchen remodels and multi-room renovations dominate, with additions, garage rebuilds, primary suites and screen porches alongside them. Several permits reference architects' plans, which is the shape of a builder working on designed projects rather than quick fits. Nothing has been written by a customer. BuildZoom carries no reviews, and its score of 98 is calculated from licence and permit records by its own explanation, not from anyone who hired him. On credentials, one gap is worth raising directly. BuildZoom lists an active Massachusetts construction supervisor licence for one- and two-family homes and nothing else, and its own guidance notes that non-structural residential home improvement work in Massachusetts also requires registration as a home improvement contractor. Ask for both numbers, and check them with the Department of Public Safety and the Office of Consumer Affairs before signing. For a substantial Marblehead renovation or addition, the local track record is real and easy to verify by address. Ask for two or three recent client references, since the permits show the work but not how it went.