Engineering Solutions Group

First, the category correction: Engineering Solutions Group is a civil engineering consultancy, not a builder. Dan Dragani's firm draws the site plans, models the stormwater, runs the soil and topographic work and carries the permitting — then a contractor builds it. What that buys you shows up clearly in a February 2026 review from someone who bought a five-acre lot they knew was difficult. Two engineering firms had already been through it: the first refused the site outright as unworkable, the second would take it but wanted an excessive fee because of the wetlands. ESG took on both the site design and the house, at what the buyer called fair pricing. The hard problems are the pattern. A December 2025 client described a coastal renovation with complex constraints where the permitting went through smoothly while a similar neighbouring project was refused. A September 2025 client had a property in a flood plain on borderline wetlands and got plans drafted against local and state rules. A June 2026 homeowner brought Dan in after trouble with a previous engineer, and he took the project over, worked with their architect and the town, and got them through the conservation commission. An April 2026 client on a slope stabilisation job noted something rarer: he brought in outside specialists for the parts that called for them rather than stretching to cover everything himself. The company says it has been at this since 2018. Two things to read carefully. Google shows a flawless 5.0 across 28 ratings — but a sizeable share of those comments are from the trade rather than from homeowners: a wetland consultant describing years of collaboration, someone who refers Dan to their own clients, a firm calling ESG its go-to for client development projects, a builder whose business he has led through countless projects, and a developer who has used him across an entire career. Those are professional endorsements, and they count differently from a homeowner's account. One 4-star reviewer states outright that he was never a client at all — he was the neighbour to a year-long project next door. The second is timing: every one of the 26 written comments landed between April 2025 and June 2026, with nothing before that. The right call for a hard site — wetlands, coastal, flood plain, a conservation commission hearing — and for homeowners who need engineering and permitting rather than construction. Ask for homeowner references specifically, and expect to hire a contractor separately.