Zelek Design, LLC

Rafal Zelek is both the architect and the general contractor on his own jobs, and that is exactly what the two people who reviewed Zelek Design latched onto. Writing in December 2017, one client said that combination kept the project on schedule and within budget; the other described design work spanning brand new homes, smaller renovations and historic sites. Those two reviews are also the whole of the written record, and they date from 2017. What is current is the paperwork: the company's Massachusetts home improvement contractor registration, number 191049, is active, confirmed against the state registry. BuildZoom separately lists a construction supervisor licence, CS-111727, which it says it verified as active in July 2026, though a second entry for that same number carries a September 2025 expiry. The firm works design-build across whole houses, kitchens, baths, attics, basements and sunrooms, and its permit trail runs mostly through East Boston — a $125,400 three-family renovation filed in 2024, a two-storey addition in 2020, fire-damage demolition in 2019 — with other jobs in Boston, Belmont and Great Barrington. Seven permits in all, which reads as a small, selective practice rather than a volume shop. Angi also lists a LEED affiliation. One thing to raise directly: the BuildZoom profile carries an "Alert - Unpaid Debt" badge. The site gives no detail beyond the flag itself, so ask about it, and about lien waivers and a payment schedule tied to milestones, before signing. The right call if you want the drawings and the build from one hand. Ask for two clients from the past year you can phone, since the written praise here is from 2017.