Gilbert & Becker Co Inc

Gilbert & Becker has been building and fixing roofs out of a shop on Clapp Street in Dorchester since 1947, and the same family has run it the whole way through: Harris Gilbert and his partner Maurice Becker started it, and it passed to Gilbert's daughter Priscilla Alpert and her husband Howard, then to their son Alex, who runs it today. The end of the trade they lean on hardest is the old-school side of roofing — slate, copper, and historical restoration — backed by a Charter Membership in the National Slate Association and ties to the National Roofing Contractors Association, NERCA, and the roofers' and sheet-metal trade locals. The online trail is thin but consistent. Google puts them at 4.5 stars from 14 ratings, and the handful of independent write-ups that exist elsewhere — on Birdeye, roofers.com, and a roofing directory — land in the same 4.4-4.5 range and echo the same theme: custom copper and sheet-metal fabrication done quickly and at a fair price, with an easy office to deal with. It isn't a deep record — only a few written accounts have surfaced despite nearly eight decades in business — but nothing in it points the other way. There isn't much to flag before calling, mostly because there isn't much public detail to work from beyond the trade certifications and that small cluster of reviews. Given how sparse the written record is relative to the company's age, it's worth asking for recent references directly rather than leaning on the online reviews alone. This is the shop to call for slate, copper, or historical-roofing work, especially on an older home that needs custom-fabricated metal rather than an off-the-shelf replacement. Confirm current licensing and get a firm quote before booking, since neither shows up in what's publicly available.