Underwood&Beacon

A third floor turned into a full accessory dwelling unit. A damaged front door swapped for a salvaged antique one — jamb, threshold and lock set included. Those two jobs, both written up by homeowners in the spring of 2025, are the whole written history of Underwood&Beacon, and the distance between them says something: Joe, the principal named in both, takes the small job and the whole-floor conversion. The firm is a design-build outfit based in Swampscott, and it describes its focus as two things at once — high-performance new construction approaching Passive House standards, and preservation-minded renovation of old New England houses. Its Houzz page mentions 20-plus years, though that is put as the principal's own experience with old homes rather than the company's age. The March 2025 client, signed Tim H. of Swampscott, had the third floor converted to an ADU along with a kitchen and laundry update, and credited Joe with explaining what he recommended and handing over a clear step-by-step map of how long each stage would take. The April 2025 client had a much smaller job and made a point of writing that Joe and his carpenter Alex treated it the same way. Both reviews are five stars, both are on the same platform, and two is a thin history to judge from. The Houzz profile lists two preservation awards — the 2015 Gloucester Historical Committee Preservation Award and the 2018 Old Marblehead Improvement Association Preservation Award — and shows four projects in Melrose, Newton, Malden and Gloucester. Marblehead, Nahant, Salem and Beverly are among the twelve named service-area towns. For an old house on the North Shore, especially one where the point is keeping what's there rather than replacing it, this is a firm worth the call. Ask for references from the preservation projects those awards recognise, and get the Massachusetts home improvement contractor registration and construction supervisor licence numbers in writing so you can check them against the state registry yourself.