Payne

Typical job cost on Payne | Bouchier's Houzz profile: $40,000 to $10 million. That range is the company in one line — a Boston builder that restores Back Bay and Beacon Hill houses and also builds new ones, and has been at it, by its own account, since 1981. Steve Payne, Tom Payne and Oliver Bouchier founded the firm out of millwork, design and British craft backgrounds, and the millwork is still the distinguishing piece. Its site describes matching historically accurate window sash muntin profiles and laying up exotic veneers, plus experience appearing before historic district commissions and building boards of trustees. A separate division handles seasonal maintenance, small projects and emergency repairs. Who vouches for them is the thing worth understanding. All three of its five-star Houzz reviews come from trade peers rather than clients — two architecture firms, and the metal fabricator who in a December 2014 review described supplying and installing a custom cable-railing staircase on one of the firm's projects. The newest of the three dates to March 2016. On Google the picture is more mixed: a 4.0 average across 10 ratings, with a single written account, from June 2024, crediting an accurate budget estimate and custom cabinetry and furniture builds and calling them a top choice for larger projects. Where they work depends on which page you read. The company's own site gives Boston and Cambridge and elsewhere describes its reach as "throughout New England"; the projects on Houzz include a North Shore home, a Wellesley house, Beacon Hill and Cape Cod. Pin that down on the first call. If you own a historic Boston house and the job involves millwork or a restoration that has to clear a district commission, this is the tier of builder that work goes to. Ask for their Massachusetts construction supervisor and home improvement contractor numbers and check them at the state registry, and ask for two or three recent homeowner references — most of the praise on file comes from people who worked alongside them rather than people who hired them.