Verified record
J.B. Kidney & Co. is a Salem, Massachusetts roofing and sheet metal contractor specializing in slate, copper, and historic restoration work, serving the North Shore into Portsmouth, NH. The company says it's been in the trade since 1919 and is now run by 4th-generation owner Scott Kidney, whose father Kevin ran it for more than 40 years before him. It holds an A+ grade with the Better Business Bureau, though it isn't a BBB-accredited business. Its written record is thin but consistent. In a 2022 review, a homeowner with a 150-year-old Victorian and a slate roof described the difficulty of finding a craftsman who could handle both routine repairs and more complex work like replacing metal gutter linings, and credited Kidney with delivering it. In a January 2026 review, a customer called Scott and his crew's work "top notch." A 2025 Reddit thread about Salem-area roofers named Kidney as generally flexible on scheduling, alongside two other locally recommended companies. There isn't enough here — just two written reviews on file — to say much more with confidence; anyone considering a historic slate or copper roofing project should ask Kidney directly for recent references given the shop's specialty.
“A&A is good. We’ve used M&M Roofing (very good, but overbooked usually) and JB Kidney for roof work over the years. Kidney is usually pretty flexible on scheduling.”
Highly recommend! Scott and crew do amazing work! Top notch!
Having a 150 year old Victorian house with a slate roof is both a blessing and a curse, no more so when trying to find adequate craftsman who can do repairs properly. Finding contractors who can also do more complex projects like replacing all the metal linings of your wooden gutters is even harder; in our case we looked for almost two years to find a crew that actually seemed to know what they were doing. JB Kidney was that company, and I have say they are probably one of THE best that I've ever had do work on the house (of any kind, not just roof-related). They were that extremely rare combination of being absolutely thorough down to every detail, AND efficient (so efficient that they finished a week sooner than expected). Many crews may have one guy who us the most highly skilled and rest are OK enough to follow his lead. Not the case with the crew we had; they had a "lead" but everyone was clearly very experienced and knowledgeable. Having been a professional craftsman in the past I can spot pretty quickly any shortcuts taken, or if the skillset of the workers is uneven; to a man these workers were absolute pros. Lastly, unlike most crews that start from scratch once they show up, they arrived with sections of the copper gutters that were going to be installed already formed and cut to rough lengths! Once all the old tin or lead lining was stripped out, they were able to very quickly lay in the new copper. Each section was given plenty of overlap to the next and the seams were all soldered together. As they said once they were done (which was plain to see from my windows): These gutters will outlast the life of any adult in the house, and maybe more. All the slate repairs were top-notch as well, with any flashing that needed fixing being replaced along the way. There was even an unexpected small section of regular asphalt shingles (over a porch) that needed replacing which they rolled into the project WITHOUT adding to the bill. Really, I can't see how you could ask for better service or results than we got.
Specializes in
Also offers
Service area
Languages
Ownership
1 change recorded — last scanned Jul 2, 2026.
Typical Greater Boston range for this kind of work, from regional averages — not a quote from J B Kidney Co Inc Roofing & Sheet Metal. Use it to sanity-check bids, then get the real number in writing.
A square is 100 sq ft of roof surface — bigger than the floor plan because of pitch and overhangs.
Estimated range
$9,000 – $18,600
Typical roofing project around $13,800
Certified attributes are verified against the public registry. Others are the business's own statement.
Certified attributes are verified against the public registry. Others are the business's own statement.
Handles roofing, painting, carpentry, decks, additions4.5
Whole-house rot repair4.3
Chimney and repointing3.6
80 years in businessNot yet rated
Dense-pack cellulose walls, R-60 attics2.6