Lee Kimball

Lee Kimball is a design-build remodeling firm at 606 Main Street in Reading, Massachusetts, run by brothers Bruce and Gregg Johnson with fifteen employees. The Better Business Bureau records it as started in 1940 and incorporated in 1989 — 86 years in business — accredited since 1985 and graded A+. BuildZoom lists a Massachusetts Home Improvement Contractor registration, number 100837, which it says it verified as active in June 2026. Work spans custom kitchens, baths, additions, basements, porches, interiors and whole-home renovations across Boston and the North Shore, with 83 projects posted on Houzz and 30 permitted jobs on record, several of them six-figure kitchen and bathroom renovations in Brookline, Auburndale, Lowell and Newbury. The review record is unusually consistent: 5.0 across 54 ratings, with work quality and communication both at 5.0. Writing in July 2026, a homeowner whose kitchen and laundry-pantry the firm designed and built said the construction team kept to their schedule, communicated well and delivered top quality work. A February 2025 client said the renovation finished well within the projected timeframe. What sets the accounts apart is how they describe the process. A January 2024 customer described the owners listening before designing, staying inside a financial ceiling that was never breached, a day never passing without someone on site, everything ordered in advance so scheduling never stalled, and no change orders originating from the contractor's side. An October 2022 client had daily photos, weekly live meetings and ongoing updates. A December 2023 homeowner converting a large front porch into a smaller porch with a mudroom said the team handled zoning requests and permits alongside the design. Durability shows up too. In December 2024, a customer marking twenty years with their Lee Kimball kitchen wrote that the mahogany cabinets were as stunning as the day they were installed, that swapping appliances remained effortless, and that no corners had been cut. Another reviewer in May 2023 had been a client for over 25 years and came back for updates. The work is broad: a September 2024 basement conversion added a bedroom, family room and a home theatre; an October 2022 project was a full bathroom in a Victorian house where the design team worked to strip costly items and hold a budget. The only measurable softness anywhere is Houzz's value sub-score at 4.9 against 5.0 for quality and communication — a design-build firm at this end of the market is not the cheap option. Worth confirming the Home Improvement Contractor registration directly with the state, and asking how the fixed schedule and change-order policy are written into the contract.