NH Custom Builder

NH Custom Builder works out of 55 Ponemah Road in Amherst, New Hampshire, building custom homes and taking on whole-home renovations, additions, kitchen and bath remodels, and selective commercial construction. The company is run by owner Steven Desmarais and co-owner Dave Hanlon, who by the company's own account trained under Desmarais for more than a dozen years before the two became partners. How long they have been at it depends on which page you read. The company's own About page says it has served Amherst and the surrounding towns since 2018, its website's structured data says since 2011, and its Houzz profile claims over 30 years. Treat the tenure as unsettled and ask them directly. The people who hired them describe two things over and over: the crew shows up as a team that finishes, and Dave Hanlon runs the job. In a 2019 review a homeowner said Hanlon's team took on work left behind by another company's bad contracting, calling it a job few would touch and describing the crew as unobtrusive and respectful in the house. Another 2019 reviewer, who said he had never been fully happy with a contractor before, credited constant contact, prompt answers to questions, pressure kept on subcontractors, and a job site kept clean. Earlier 2017 accounts describe two bathrooms and a custom pergola finished to what one customer called impeccable workmanship, and a master bathroom finished two weeks early. The recent record is thinner but consistent. In July 2026 a Souhegan Valley reviewer who has worked with the crews on both residential and commercial projects, new construction and renovation, said the firm reads plans and communicates its understanding of a client's vision, and recommended it without question. In June 2026 an outbuilding customer said the team exceeded high expectations for attention to detail. A New Hampshire commenter recommended them in August 2026 for renovations in southern NH. Houzz lists nine project galleries, a typical job cost of $100,000 to $5 million, and two 2021 Greater Merrimack Souhegan Valley 'Voted Best' awards, one for builder/contractor and one for bathroom remodeling. Two things are worth raising before you sign. New Hampshire does not require a general contractor licence, so there is no state registration to check here — but BuildZoom lists an EPA Renovation licence for the company as inactive, and that is the lead-safe certification that matters on any home built before 1978, so ask about it if your project is an older house. The other is volume: eight written reviews across six sources over nine years is a short public record for a firm quoting six- and seven-figure projects, and five of those accounts date to 2017 through 2019. This is a reasonable call for an Amherst-area homeowner planning a custom build, an addition or a full renovation who wants a small, owner-run team. Ask for recent references on a project the size of yours, and confirm the lead-safe certification in writing.