North Shore Home Repair & Maintenance

North Shore Home Repair & Maintenance is a three-person shop at 26 North Ave in Winthrop, run as a sole proprietorship by Jim Barone since February 2005 according to its BBB listing, taking on kitchens, bathrooms, additions, decks, siding, windows, landscaping and general handyman work. What a homeowner should know first is that everything written about this business is old, and the loudest account is bad. A 2014 BuildZoom reviewer wrote that they paid Barone almost $27,000 for a front porch and a bathroom, that less than half the porch was finished, and that an inspection of the interior work led to a cease-and-desist affecting an apartment they had planned to rent. Nothing written since answers it. The Angi record, all of it from 2008 and 2009, splits. Two customers gave four stars — one for window frames that "now work well" given their age, another who wrote that he keeps appointments and provides detailed estimates and receipts. Two others describe the same failure mode: a 2009 customer who had paid in advance was still waiting for an antique table and for returned calls, and a 2008 customer chasing a skylight part found the phone number no longer in service. On licensing, BuildZoom shows no active licence on file for the business and a licence record it was unable to verify — a directory's statement, not a registry finding, but a specific one worth resolving before any deposit changes hands. BBB has the business unaccredited and Not Rated, saying it lacks the information to grade it. If you are considering them for small carpentry or handyman work in Winthrop, ask for the current Massachusetts home improvement contractor registration number, check it against the state registry yourself, and get references from jobs finished in the last year — the written history here stops in 2014.