Woodcat LLC

Two Somerville redditors in the same October 2025 thread pointed at the same person. A local plumber who says he has done a lot of remodeling work in the city alongside "Ben and Shellie at Woodcat Construction" called their high-end remodeling work fantastic. Another commenter's entire recommendation was that Ben Dryer is very familiar with the permitting and ISD side of building in Somerville — which, in that city, is a pointed compliment. The permit trail backs the shape of that. BuildZoom samples three Somerville jobs: a $310,000 complete interior renovation in 2018 turning a historic-designated two-family at 11 Campbell Park into a single-family home, with new windows, skylights and sliding doors cleared by the historic commission; a $180,000 buildout of a 150-occupant theater space at 1 Bow Market Way the same year; and a $40,000 commercial repair on Broadway in 2017 replacing water-damaged exterior wall and reinforcing the footing. That is a design-forward outfit comfortable on both residential and commercial work. There is one hard problem, and it isn't a technicality. Woodcat LLC's Massachusetts home improvement contractor registration, #188963, is expired — that comes from the state registry itself, not from a directory. BuildZoom shows the same number as inactive with an expiration date of 2 November 2025 and adds that its status was at one point cancelled. It also labels that number a General Contractor licence in one place and a Home Improvement Contractor licence in another, so the paperwork picture is muddled as well as lapsed. And the customer record is empty where it counts: BuildZoom holds no reviews for them at all, which is why it scores them zero. Everything positive here comes from two anonymous recommendations and a permit history whose sampled jobs run 2017 to 2018. If a design-forward Somerville renovation is what you're after, the regard from a tradesperson who has worked beside them is worth something real, and so is knowing your way around ISD. But settle the registration question before anything is signed: ask whether #188963 has been renewed, ask for the current registration number in writing, and confirm what your contract says if it has not been.