Essex Builders Corp

Essex Builders Corp. works out of 45 Dan Road in Canton and describes itself as a full-service general contracting and construction management firm covering residential, mixed-use, healthcare, institutional, industrial/office and retail construction. Its own site puts the founding at 1984 under David O'neil, who is named as Founder/CEO with Stephen Foley as President; the Better Business Bureau file instead records the business as started in 1982 and incorporated in Massachusetts in 1994 with 14 employees. The work it is actually hired for is commercial and multifamily, not homeowner projects. Trade coverage places it as construction manager on a new addition and interior renovation for The First Church in Salem, Unitarian, as the contractor that secured a $3.6 million contract from Just-A-Start Corporation to build Elm Place, a 25,000-square-foot mixed-use development in Cambridge, and as general contractor on Bow Market in Somerville alongside architect Boyes-Watson Architects. More recently it broke ground with DJSA Architecture and LAR Properties on a 124-unit luxury apartment development at 64 Grove Street in Salem. The closest thing to a client account comes from developer Szecon Development, which wrote in 2025 that from their first interactions the people at Essex Builders stretched out a hand in true collaboration. Boston Real Estate Times also named the firm in its 2021 Construction Firm of the Year listing. Beyond that, there is essentially no homeowner-facing feedback: the BBB profile carries no customer reviews, BuildZoom shows 20 projects and no reviews or star rating, and Google holds a single rating. Two things are worth confirming directly. The company's site claims an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, while the BBB's own profile says it is not accredited and is explicitly Not Rated because BBB lacks sufficient information — those are different statements about the same organization. The firm also lists safety recognition from the Associated Builders & Contractors and the Associated General Contractors of America, and says all supervisors carry OSHA 30 and field staff are certified in CPR and first aid; those are the company's own statements rather than verified credentials. A homeowner looking for a kitchen, bath or addition contractor is not this firm's customer. Essex Builders is set up for owners and developers running ground-up apartment, institutional and commercial projects, and anyone evaluating it for that kind of work should ask directly about current references and confirm the BBB standing themselves.