Hampden Design & Construction

David Cohen has been renovating Newton-area houses since 2003, and most of the proof sits in permits rather than reviews: BuildZoom counts 42 permitted projects for Hampden Design + Construction and scores the company 95, while noting it has collected no reviews on that site. What customers have written is sparse and dated, but concrete. In 2019 the architects on a Boston Commercial Wharf condominium wrote about a complete renovation with Cohen's team, calling them easy to work with from start to finish and crediting them with laying out pricing and pricing options. Two Houzz reviewers in May 2014 go further: one hired the company to remodel and add an addition and praised the crew's planning, craftsmanship and on-time work; the other described a transparent bidding process, a price competitive with the other contractors he compared, and a finished job on budget. The company's Massachusetts home improvement contractor registration, #152981, is active on the state registry under Hampden Design and Construction Corporation. On its own site the firm calls itself a Newton general contractor doing custom homes, renovations and additions, and says Cohen is a licensed construction supervisor and building inspector - his own statements, not something a registry confirmed here. Boston Magazine's home coverage has mentioned the firm as well. Before calling, know that the newest written account is from November 2019. The six years since sit in permits and in nine project photo sets on Houzz rather than in anything a customer has written down, so ask for references from jobs finished recently. Ask too who runs the site day to day: all three reviews name Cohen himself. For a whole-house renovation or an addition around Newton, with one principal accountable from the bid onward, this is a reasonable call. Pin down the current crew, the schedule, and how change orders get priced before signing.