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Typical Greater Boston range for this kind of work, from regional averages — not a quote from Scott Harris Custom Carpentry & General Contractor. Use it to sanity-check bids, then get the real number in writing.
A typical single-level deck is 12×16 — about 200 sq ft.
Estimated range
$7,750 – $14,500
Typical carpentry project around $11,100
Two directory profiles, one shared history, and a hard stop in 2015 — that is the shape of Scott Harris Custom Carpentry & General Contractor. Angi and HomeAdvisor both carry the Needham, Massachusetts listing at 4.2 stars from 31 ratings, and the two are mirrors of the same file: 24 written accounts, the newest dated November 2015. What those accounts describe well is carpentry you can point at. A 2013 homeowner wrote about a rotted section of deck taken down and rebuilt in mahogany; another that year described stairs rebuilt to a lower rise and wider tread on request, with the old lumber hauled to the dump unasked. A realtor writing in 2013 hired the crew to raise porch heights on a three-family under an insurance deadline and said the added trim matched the existing siding. Customers from that stretch repeatedly mention daily cleanup and being told when the crew was coming and going. The other half of the file is why the 4.2 matters less than usual here. A 2012 customer wrote that the crew stopped returning after partial payment and that a Chapter 93A demand letter from her attorney went unanswered. A separate 2012 account says a roof deposit was taken in 2009, the work slipped a year, and the finished roof leaked because the vents went in wrong. In 2014 a homeowner halted a job on a home inspector's advice — Gorilla Glue used in place of a bonding agent, downspout holes cut too small and off-centre — and put the cost of having the work redone above $15,000. Another 2014 review describes a project abandoned mid-build, unpermitted, and out of code on the framing, stairs and roof connection. The first thing to settle before hiring is the paperwork: two of the sharpest complaints turn on permits and inspections rather than craftsmanship. Get the permit in writing, tie payments to completed and inspected stages, and ask for references from work finished in the last year. For a small, tightly defined carpentry job — a deck rebuild, a staircase, trim replacement — the 2011-2013 accounts read well. For anything larger, there is a decade with nothing written at all, and the abandonment complaints deserve a direct conversation before any money changes hands.
home repair work
Another contractor noticed problems with the work, which prompted me to call an inspector. I stopped the job when the home inspector advised the work being done was defective and would need to be removed. For example, Gorilla Glue was used instead of a proper bonding agent. This oozed out and dammed up the gutters. Through-holes in the downspouts were too small and off center so they couldn't be placed properly, and the gutters were non-functional. It cost over $15,000 to have the work redone, plus the initial $6,000 I paid to Scott Harris for the work.
This is a contractor horror story on all levels. The job was never completed by the contractor. The contractor engaged in deceptive practices and deceived me about securing a permit. Not only did he abandon the job, he refused to refund the money. Thinking perhaps I could get another contractor to pick up on the work he did I discovered that not only did he not secure a permit he failed to build the project to code. The work was done so poorly and out of compliance that more than three contractors refused to deal with it. Through a professional aquaintance I found some in kind enough and professional enough to take it on. What we learned, the work was wildly out of code. Due to the lack of proper permitting the permitting cost me more to do that normal and required additional documentation. The code issues involved the framing, the stairs, the roof, the connection to the house. I won't go on but I strongly recommend if you think about using this contractor to check references including myself. I have great documentation on how poorly and unprofessionally this was done. I will be pursuing this contractor legally to reclaim all of my costs and additional damages created by his work which included interior flooding, squirrel infestation, and frozen pipes. The contractor may indicate that I fired him. I did when I learned he had deceived me. I also did offer under certain conditions to bring him back on the job if he secured permits, he chose not to do that.
Scott and his crew demolished a rotted portion of our old deck and built a beautiful new mahogany deck. Our deck plan was somewhat unique but Scott's carpenters handled it with aplomb and professionalism.
The work was messy.
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