Dream Builderz

Forty-seven building permits, 240 project photos, and one name running through nearly every review: Tony. Dream Builderz is Anthony "Tony" LaPuma's Braintree operation. The company says he founded it in 1975 and is still at the helm, and that shows up in how customers write about it — they name him, not a salesperson. The work people hired him for, in accounts written between 2018 and 2023, covers the full general-contracting spread: a large addition, kitchens, a bathroom redesigned to a new layout, cedar shingles, vinyl siding and windows on a 40-year-old house, decks and front porches. A homeowner writing in March 2023 had significant structural damage and said the company handled the insurance side alongside the build. The most telling story is a 2022 one, and it is about a job he talked a customer out of. Two other contractors had quoted a full siding replacement; the reviewer wrote that Tony walked the house with him, showed him most of the cedar was sound, replaced only the failed areas, and finished on time and on budget for tens of thousands less. The same theme turns up in March 2023, in a pre-cast front porch sized to suit a Cape rather than upsold. Ratings are high and consistent across platforms: 5.0 from 18 reviews on Houzz, 4.6 across 56 on Porch, and an A+ at the BBB, though the business is not BBB accredited. BuildZoom's permit file is the harder number — 47 permitted projects at a typical value near $23,550, nine of them in the last three years. Two things to sort out before calling. The reviews have gone quiet: the newest customer account is from March 2023, so you would be hiring on a three-year-old written reputation plus current permit activity. And the credentials need a phone call. The site claims a Massachusetts unlimited building supervisor licence, a remodelling registration and a Title V inspector licence, but gives no numbers for any of them; BuildZoom lists a home improvement contractor registration for the company and, separately, an older registration it shows as inactive and at one point cancelled. Those are directory and self-reported claims, not state confirmation. There is also a wrinkle in the history worth asking about: the company dates itself to 1975, while its BBB file lists the business as started and incorporated in March 1988. This is the right call for a South Shore homeowner planning a whole-room or whole-house remodel who wants one owner accountable start to finish, particularly on an older Braintree-area house needing siding, porch or structural repair. Ask for the current home improvement registration number and check it against the state's Consumer Affairs registry before you sign.