What does a remodeling project cost in Greater Boston?
Typical Greater Boston range for this kind of work, from regional averages — not a quote from F.H. Perry Builder. Use it to sanity-check bids, then get the real number in writing.
Peer reviews — four of five Houzz reviews come from trade partners
F.H. Perry Builder is a Hopkinton firm that builds and renovates at the high end of the Boston market — whole-house remodels, historic renovation and restoration, kitchens and bathrooms. Finley H. Perry Jr. founded it; the Better Business Bureau records the business as started in 1975 and incorporated in 1989 with six employees, and his daughter Allison Iantosca is now its president and owner. Its Massachusetts home improvement contractor registration, #105589, is verified active against the state register under the company's own name.
The firm's public standing rests heavily on industry recognition. Boston Magazine named it Best of Boston Home for high-end remodeling in 2023, describing it as specializing in whole house remodeling, historic renovation, kitchens and bathrooms; New England Home Magazine welcomed it into the New England Design Hall of Fame in 2021; the MetroWest Daily News reported in 2010 that founder Finley H. Perry Jr. had been named Legend of the Industry by the Home Builders Association of Massachusetts. Qualified Remodeler wrote in December 2024 that the company pursues a high level of integrity and craft. Its own president told Pro Remodeler in January 2025 that 2024 was the best year in the firm's 40-plus year history.
What is thin is homeowner testimony. Houzz publishes 4.4 from five reviews, but four of those five were written by businesses the firm works alongside — two architecture practices, an interior design studio, and the company that installed a dumbwaiter on one of its sites. Those are endorsements from the trade, not from clients.
The one review on file from an actual client is a two-star account posted in February 2025, and it is detailed. That homeowner credited the finished kitchen and the subcontractors' workmanship, then described a flooring subcontractor who underestimated material, leaving a floor that cannot be replaced without also ripping out the cabinets; radiant heat installed only under the visible floor, which he says cannot keep up below 20 degrees; a site supervisor pulled onto a bigger project near the end, after which a ten-week job ran another six to eight weeks; and a backyard drain job billed at five times a verbal estimate, which the firm substantially discounted after being challenged.
A 2022 Qualified Remodeler piece quotes the firm's finance director saying clients now ask to meet project managers up to six months before a project starts. That is worth taking literally here: ask who your site supervisor will be, what happens if they are reassigned, and get every add-on scope — especially site work — priced in writing.
Heard around town
On Reddit
Seeking contractor recommendations for renovation and repair work on historic estateNov 7, 2021
“Might try Gilmore home builders. They’re thing is kind off older American style homes. Pretty sure they do renovations. I know Woodside development has done some renos on earlier period homes.
I don’t know what you budget is, but if it’s deeper, FH Perry would be good”
Allison Iantosca, Partner, President, F.H. Perry Builder | Pro RemodelerJan 22, 2025
“2024 was the best year in our 40+ year history, and it was partly due to the continuation of the COVID bubble and partly because some clients committed to larger projects.”
Partner in Craft Spotlight: F.H. Perry Builder - North Bennet Street SchoolDec 5, 2023
“We spoke with Allison Iantosca, President and Owner of F.H. Perry Builder, about their synergy in working with NBSS, advice for our graduates, insights from the building field, and more.”
The pros: our new kitchen looks great, in a large part due to the incredible design done by my wife, an excellent architect, and by generally good workmanship from the sub-contractors. The cons: I would never work with F.H. Perry on any future renovation. Here are a few of the highlights: - Flooring mistake - The sub-contractor who put our flooring in underestimated the amount of material required. This left us with two choices: 1) take a big delay in the project (possibly 3-4 weeks) while we waited for more material to come in, while also rescheduling all subsequent sub-contractors, or 2) tile the visible parts and whatever non-visible parts of the floor we could with the available material. Unfortunately we felt we had no choice but to go with #2 and so now have tile in the visible and some of the non-visible parts of the kitchen, allowing us to neither change out the cabinets or floor without ripping up both. - HVAC issue - Our site supervisor said it didn’t make sense to heat under the cabinets and recommended putting floor heat underneath only the visible parts of the kitchen floor. Our previous kitchen had heated floors that spanned the visible and non-visible parts of the kitchen, which worked well. But based on F.H. Perry's feedback, this seemed unnecessary. Unfortunately the loss of the additional piping does not allow the floor heat to keep up when the temperature goes below 20 degrees. - Site supervisor pulled / project overrun - Toward the end of our project, F.H. Perry pulled our site supervisor to work on a bigger project, assigning two people part-time to play this role. We had expected to have a handoff meeting to make sure we had a clean transition, but instead we had two very distracted new people who had very little knowledge of our renovation were rarely here. What was estimated to have been a 10 week project dragged on for another 6-8 weeks with no effective project supervision. - Cost overrun on drain project - As part of kitchen renovation, we had F.H. Perry take on a drain project in the backyard. We received a verbal only estimate for the work that we thought was high but moved forward. We constantly asked for more details during the project and were told only that “the digging took longer than expected.” When we received the bill it was 5X the estimate, the majority of which was for three diggers / unskilled workers to manually dig a hole. The sub-contractor’s bill was completely indecipherable, and it was clear they were charging for work that could not possibly have been done. In the end, I give F.H. Perry some credit for admitting the absurdity of the invoice and being willing to substantially discount the bill - but only after my wife provided all the details on the workers and hours worked by the contractor. Overall we had a very poor experience with F.H. Perry and would never consider or recommend them for a residential project.
"Design Associates has had the great fortune to collaborate with FH Perry Builder on several residential renovation and historic restoration projects in Boston and Cambridge.Their commitment to the finest possible craft along with sound fiscal management and project scheduling is outstanding, as is their admirable sensitivity to the importance and value of architectural preservation in New England. To the benefit of our clients, FH Perry's decades of experience respectfully renovating traditional buildings places them on common ground with us and our clients, advocating for the finest possible project worthy of future preservation. We highly endorse the team of FH Perry and look forward to future collaborations with them."
Bill Moretti and his team were great to work with. The site was ready when they said it would be and the installation of the dumbwaiter went very smoothly. FH Perry’s work is top notch and they went above and beyond for this customer. I highly recommend them.
SLC Interiors has had the pleasure of working with Allison and her team at F.H. Perry on several projects over the years. Their quality of work, attention to detail and professionalism is top notch! They manage each project with honesty and integrity, a common thread among everyone at F.H Perry!
Our office has worked with F. H. Perry on a few projects. Led by Allison Iantosca, a second generation builder, FHP has a commitment to build well imprinted on its DNA. All at FHP place an unusually high value on meticulous project management with concern for the client's best interest their motivation. Jim Foscaldo, a project manager, wears his desire to please on his sleeve. His projects run well - in the quality of construction, the push to get competitive pricing from subs, and the commitment to keeping the project on schedule.