Thomas Russell

Eighty-seven permits and a two-person shop. Thomas Russell trades as Russell Remodeling and Restoration, LLC out of 6 Bow St in Woburn, and the permit trail is the most concrete thing about him: a $250,942 full gut in Newton Highlands, kitchen-and-bath rebuilds in Charlestown and Dorchester, porch and deck work in Belmont and Beverly, water-damage repair in a Beverly two-family, and small plumbing permits in Marblehead. Typical job value sits around $37,000, which puts him squarely in the whole-room-renovation range rather than the odd-job one. BBB has his file open since 2017 and rates him A+ as an accredited business, with the company started in 2011 and incorporated as an LLC in 2016. The service list he gives BBB reads like a carpenter's: complete home renovation and kitchen and bath work, but also decks, porches, stair construction, mantels, built-in bookshelves, faux beams and mudroom shelving. His Massachusetts construction supervisor licence, CS-109165, is active and held in his own name. His home improvement contractor registration, number 187167, is expired. That distinction matters here: the construction supervisor licence covers structural work, while HIC registration is the one tied to non-structural residential home improvement and to the state's Guaranty Fund a homeowner can claim against if a job goes wrong. Given how much of his permit history is exactly that kind of residential remodeling, ask him directly whether the registration has been renewed before signing a contract. BuildZoom's page muddies this further — it lists the HIC number as inactive and 'at one point cancelled' in one place while its own summary text claims both licences were active. What is missing is any customer voice. Neither BBB nor BuildZoom carries a single review, so nothing published describes how a job actually went — timelines, cleanup, budget, disputes. He is a reasonable call for a substantial renovation north and west of Boston, especially one leaning on carpentry: stairs, porches, built-ins. Ask for the current HIC status in writing and for two or three recent addresses you can call.