JW Construction

Thirty-three years, seventeen employees, jobs the company says run from $750,000 to $15 million — and four written reviews in all that time. Jon Wardwell founded JW Construction in 1993 and still runs it as president, from 12 Garfield Circle in Burlington with a second location at 66 School Street in Hyannis. What they do is specific: conscientious remodeling of older New England houses, replicated millwork, and custom homes, with project management, masonry, painting and master carpentry kept in house. The BBB has accredited them since 2011 and grades them A+. The few accounts there are agree about the kind of work. In December 2025 a condo buyer described JW's full gut renovation of a four-storey Charlestown townhouse into condos, and how Jon — hesitant at first, with other offers at asking price on the table — agreed to move the kitchen and rework the floor plan so they could add an office. A verified BuildZoom hire wrote in August 2017 that extensive work "went very very well" and called the quality unparalleled. A 2015 Houzz reviewer singled out the project management and the revitalising of historic homes. BuildZoom's permits match the scale: 66 of them, typically near $190,500, covering high-end kitchen renovations, window and door replacements and decks in Falmouth, Lee and West Newton between 2022 and 2024. Two things to handle yourself. First, the licence. Massachusetts records home improvement contractor registration 192537, in the company's own name, as expired. BuildZoom still shows that number as active but flags its own entry as unverified and notes a July 2026 expiration — so ask JW for a current registration number and check it at the state before signing anything. Two older registrations, one Massachusetts and one Rhode Island, are listed inactive and cancelled at one point. Second, Google. Its five ratings there average 3.4, the lowest score on file for the company, and one of the low ones, posted in November 2025, is not about construction at all — it complains about speeding drivers in Back Bay. With so few written accounts spread across so long a history, ask for a list of recent clients and call two of them. For a historic restoration or a large custom build in Greater Boston or on the Cape, this is a shop whose documented work sits at exactly that scale. Sort the registration out first.