John Barnes Construction

One hundred and sixty-seven permits, and an unusual share of them are on one small peninsula: John Barnes Construction pulls electrical permits in Nahant more than anywhere else — kitchen and bathroom renovations, a bedroom enlargement, basement work, service upgrades — with the rest spread across Beverly, Lynn, Marblehead, Newburyport and Lowell. The shop is based at 51 Pond St in Swampscott, and every employee BuildZoom lists is John A Barnes, so this reads as a one-electrician operation working a tight North Shore radius. His Massachusetts electrician licence, number 13425, is active — confirmed against the state registry, and held in his own name. BuildZoom separately lists an active home improvement contractor registration and a construction supervisor licence, which suggests he handles more than wiring, though the permits themselves are almost entirely electrical. The written record is thin and old. A single review, posted in November 2012, gave five stars; that homeowner described using several companies over the previous eleven years to disappointment and said John was different — prompt, detail-minded, and trusted on an old house without expensive surprises. That is one person's account from fourteen years ago, so treat it as a data point about the past, not a picture of the business today. The permits carry the recent story instead: 14 in the last three years, the most recent in July 2024. One thing to ask about directly. BuildZoom lists seven licence records under this name — three active and four that the state boards and the City of Newton show as at one point cancelled, including an older electrician number, an older home improvement registration and an older construction supervisor licence. Overlapping old and new numbers is common when a tradesman renews under a new record, but it means the profile's licence section is not self-explanatory. Ask which numbers are current for the work you want done. A reasonable call for residential electrical work in Nahant, Swampscott, Marblehead and the surrounding towns — rewiring during a kitchen or bathroom renovation, service upgrades, lighting — where the permit history is far stronger evidence than the review count. Confirm the licence numbers he is working under, and ask for a couple of recent local references, since nobody has written publicly about the work since 2012.