Everlast Masonry & Construction

Everlast Masonry & Construction is a Boston outfit whose reviews split sharply into two clusters: a long run of polished, sometimes generic five-star praise, and a pair of detailed, credible complaints about how the company handles cost and permits on bigger jobs. On the strength side, several accounts describe real, specific work: a crew that installed additional support beams under two porches, replaced deteriorated exterior wood, and rebuilt a porch floor with tongue-and-groove boards and new wainscoting; a full crew that worked 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. for three straight days on one job and cleaned up completely afterward; a back deck with several boards replaced alongside an outdoor shower repair; and a driveway resurfacing with new brick pavers and a rebuilt front rock wall. Chimney repointing, stone wall restoration, and new-roof installs also turn up repeatedly in the reviews. The two accounts worth reading closely both describe the same underlying pattern. One customer hired Everlast to resurface a concrete terrace and repoint two sets of brick stairs; the company raised the price roughly 65% early in the job, took three attempts to get simple repointing level and crack-free, and — per the review — kept redefining structural repairs as "nonstructural" to avoid pulling a permit. A second customer describes a similar shape: the scope shifted between the signed contract and a follow-up letter, a permit wasn't pulled until the city required it (and then under the homeowner's name, not the company's), and the business walked off the job after new footing was poured on top of old footings and the city flagged the rebuilt stairs as unsafe. BBB also lists one complaint on file for the business. Its Massachusetts home improvement contractor registration is active, and it holds a BBB A- grade — but that grade sits in tension with the specifics in those two written accounts. Everlast looks capable on straightforward masonry, carpentry, and roofing repairs, where the record is strong. For anything structural, involving a permit, or likely to grow in scope — a terrace, a stair rebuild, a deck — get the contract terms and permit responsibility in writing before work starts, and don't accept a mid-project reclassification of the work without asking why.