The Curtice Group Inc

Typical job cost on their Houzz profile runs $150,000 to $750,000, which tells you most of what you need to know about who The Curtice Group is for. This is a North Reading design-build firm that takes whole-house-scale work: additions, gut kitchens, attic conversions, finished basements, sometimes the roof and the paint on the way out. Scott Curtice founded it in 2004 and still runs it as CEO, with cousin Eric Curtice as office manager and lead drafter, two project managers and a project assistant. Google shows 4.7 from 15 ratings, Houzz 4.9 from 27, and the write-ups are unusually long — the kind people produce when a project consumed their year. What repeats is schedule and budget control. A December 2025 Google reviewer wrote that their largest renovation came in under budget and finished early. In a 2023 review, a client who had done four major renovations with the firm said each landed on or under time and on or under budget. Another 2023 client described Scott tracking costs on a shared spreadsheet so they could see where the money was going. The same names recur across years — Scott, Eric, project managers Shawn and Vassili — which is what a small firm running its own jobs looks like from outside. The thing to press on sits at the front end, not the build. In an October 2022 Google review headed "WARNING - DO NOT PAY FOR CONSULT - IT IS A SCAM!", a homeowner matched through Angi said he paid a $250 consultation fee against a price quoted by email and in a written contract, and that on the day Scott arrived and doubled the quoted figure over add-ons, which he calls bait and switch. It is the lone negative on file and nearly four years old, but it is specific and it is about money: get the consult fee, the scope and the change-order terms in writing before paying anything. Two more things for the first call. The company's own site names a Newton-and-west service area — Brookline, Weston, Wellesley, Lexington, Cambridge — while Houzz states 19 Middlesex and Essex towns, so confirm they cover you. And the licence numbers circulating online come from the directories themselves: Houzz shows a Verified License badge with number 068409, BuildZoom lists a Massachusetts construction supervisor licence CSFA-068409 and a home improvement contractor registration #164029 issued August 2025. Ask for those numbers directly and check them at the state registry. If you are planning a six-figure addition or a full-house remodel and want one firm to design it and build it, this is that shop. For a single small job, it is not.