Gilman Guidelli & Bellow

Gilman Guidelli & Bellow is the builder architects call when the drawings get ambitious — whole-house renovations, additions, historic restorations and new custom homes for homeowners working with a designer, run out of Newton. The company's own history starts in 1990, when Rick Guidelli and Gary Gilman took on small custom carpentry and renovation jobs from a millwork shop in Rick's basement. Doug Bellow joined as a carpenter in 1991, became a partner in 2004, and now handles company operations. The firm's name turns up mostly in the design press. New England Home credited it as the builder on a May 2023 project with Estes Twombly + Titrington Architects and Sarah Scales Design Studio; Boston Magazine listed it among contractors in 2019; a 2019 New England Home piece described a designer turning to Rick Guidelli when she wanted a builder whose work she admired; a 2020 Residential Design credit named the team down to the project manager and the carpenter. A 2021 local news piece reported Newton builders from the firm donating time and skills to build a shed for the freedge. A July 2025 Google reviewer left one star and a single word: "Avoid." On Reddit in 2021, someone pointed a homeowner to the firm and suggested mentioning a former employee's name. Its own site names a site-safety supervisor, David Cardinal, carrying lead-safety, OSHA, hot-work and CPR certifications, which matters on an older house. This is a fit for an architect-led renovation or a custom build where the budget matches the ambition, less so for a small one-off job. Ask to walk a recent project and speak with those homeowners, and get the scope, the schedule and the change-order process in writing before anyone signs.