Historical Slate Roofing Co

Historical Slate Roofing is a Somerville, Massachusetts crew built around a narrow, hard-to-find skill: keeping century-old slate roofs alive. The company describes its own focus as slate roof installation, repair and restoration for historic homes, plus chimney repair and custom copper roofing, with a self-reported service area covering Boston, Brookline, Newton, Belmont, Wellesley and Weston. Kevin — named directly in 12 of the 17 reviews, once as Kevin Williams Jr. — is the person credited with doing the actual work. The full run of 17 Google reviews on file, from August 2022 through May 2026, is uniformly strong: 16 five-star and one four-star, averaging 4.8 stars across 24 ratings. The recurring story is a homeowner with an old or slate roof who'd struck out elsewhere. In a 2023 review, a customer who had owned their house 50 years and tried many slate roofers said Kevin was the one who finally diagnosed a recurring leak correctly. In a September 2022 review, a homeowner who'd gotten four competing quotes said Kevin was the only one who climbed up to inspect the problem in person, and the other estimates ran as high as four times what he quoted. In a December 2022 review, another customer wrote that after a few slate companies told them they needed a full roof replacement, Kevin called it "a waste and totally unnecessary" and quoted targeted slate repairs and valley work instead. In an April 2023 review, one customer described Kevin first working on their slate roof 30 years earlier alongside his father — replacing broken slate, installing an ice dam, and building a copper roof over the front door — work they called "superb" at a "very reasonable" price. The one four-star review, from December 2022, praised a copper gutter replacement that "retained the original character" of a 95-year-old Tudor. The most recent review, posted in May 2026, calls the job Kevin did at their house "phenomenal" and says they'd hire him again. BuildZoom lists a Massachusetts Home Improvement Contractor license (#180226) for the company and shows 17 permitted roofing and copper-gutter projects across Brookline, Milton and other Massachusetts towns. Its Better Business Bureau profile carries an A+ accredited rating. BuildZoom's listing names Douglas Parker as the company's owner, but 12 of the 17 reviews name Kevin directly and none names Douglas Parker — worth asking directly who's assigned to your project. This is a strong call for a slate, copper, or historic roof that other contractors have turned away or wanted to replace outright rather than repair. Before booking, confirm the license directly with the state and ask whether Kevin will be the one on your roof. In a May 2025 r/somerville thread, a former Somerville homeowner said Kevin worked on their house and did an extensive repair when they first moved in.