Karatzas Contracting Co

Sixteen building permits and exactly one written review — that is the shape of Karatzas Contracting Co. The Merrimac company calls itself a design-build contractor doing residential and commercial work, managing a project from concept through occupancy, and its BBB profile puts the start at 2011, with four employees and Tim Karatzas as principal. The permits say more than the reviews do. BuildZoom's permit history lists 16 permitted projects, mostly residential remodels in Merrimac, Newburyport and nearby towns — a small crew doing renovation work close to home rather than a high-volume operation. The customer writing is thin and dated. The single written review, posted to BuildZoom in November 2017, is specific about the things homeowners worry about: that homeowner said the job finished on time, that the budget and timeline never moved, and that Tim sent photos of everything completed. Google and BuildZoom each show a 5-star average built on one rating apiece. In a July 2026 r/northshore thread, a commenter put forward "Tom Karatzas in Merrimac" as a general contractor worth calling — unsolicited, but a bare name-drop with nothing behind it. One thing to settle before signing anything: the Massachusetts home improvement contractor registration 153683, held in the registry under Karatzas Contracting Co., is expired. BuildZoom's profile separately lists a home improvement contractor registration 182073 and a construction supervisor license CS-069731 as active, but those are the directory's own listings, not confirmations from the state. Residential remodeling in Massachusetts is HIC-registered work, so ask for the current registration and supervisor numbers and check them against the state yourself. A reasonable call for a Merrimac-area homeowner who wants a small, permit-pulling remodeler and is willing to do the licensing check — but with one review on file, written nine years ago, ask for recent local references before you commit.