Home About Restorations & Renovations New Construction Portfolio Kind Words Blog New construction Fixed-Price or Cost-Plus Fee: Which is better? Read More Filter By All Historic Preservation Materials And Techniques Renovations Exteriors New Construction Kitchens Barns Insulation Old House Repair Window Restoration Contracts Cost Plus Featured Fixed Price High Performance Construction Paint Colors Barns Ma Energy Saving Techniques Money Saving Ideas New Barn Ma Post And Beam Barn Timber Frame Barn Ma Mark becomes a Certified Passive House Builder I recently took a 2 day course given by the Passive House Institute US (PHIUS). The course covered the theory and practice behind the passive house certification. Following the course, I successfully took the exam and I am now a Certified Passive... Read More A Tale of Two Cambridge Renovations Two of our renovation projects, both in Cambridge, were recently featured in local magazines. The first, a renovation of a late 19th century home, was featured in New England Living Magazine. Read More Passive House: Construction Details Our previous post introduced a Passive House project that we designed and carried out in Maine. This post will describe the building materials and methods used. Read More A Passive House Project My wife and I, both avid skiers, took the plunge a few years ago and bought some land in Bethel, Maine just a few miles from the slopes at Sunday River. In the course of designing the home that we wanted to build, a few things were important to us.... Read More Fixed-Price or Cost-Plus Fee: Which is better? My dear friend David reached out recently on the eve of starting a construction project on his home. He said that he’d received two quotes from reputable builders and that one of them wanted to work Fixed-Price and the other offered a Cost-Plus Fee... Read More Make Your Historic Home Energy Efficient! A historic home has numerous perks for its owners; original hardwood floors, high ceilings, intricate detail, and the fact that you have, and are living in, your very own piece of history. However, with the good also comes the bad; poorly insulated... Read More Renovation of an Historic Carriage House As renovation contractors, we love it when we have the opportunity to take a neglected old building and - with the help of dedicated clients and a good designer- give it a new life. Read More Project focus: Our new barn project I posted a few months back about a new barn that we've been building in Weston, MA. Well, apart from the landscaping and a final coat of paint on the exterior, this project was wrapped up this week. Read More Project focus: A New Timber Frame Barn We're known primarily as Old House Renovation guys. Maybe that's why we have so much fun when we get an opportunity to do some new construction from the ground up. A year or so ago we teamed up with the timber frame company Bensonwood to build a new... Read More Historic houses: Beauty through imperfection Several times a year I am asked to look at old houses for potential buyers. I'll walk through the house and give them my opinion on the condition of the house, the feasibility of renovations and additions, ballpark costs, etc. Read More Renovating your home? Watch out for the hidden costs! From time to time I see projects tabled or postponed due to budgetary reasons. It's unfortunate at any point in the process but it's particularly heartbreaking when the clients have spent many months and many thousands of dollars on design fees, only... Read More Dealing with Lead Paint on Historic Houses Most people have probably heard by now about the new rules put into place by the EPA concerning lead paint and renovations. The goal of the rules is to increase awareness of the danger of lead paint and decrease the risk of harm to occupants of old... Read More Energy retrofitting and historic preservation. At odds? Yesterday Landmark Services co-sponsored a symposium called "The Greenest Building is Already Built". It was meant to explore the relationship- good or bad- between sustainability and historic preservation. Five panelists provided wonderful... Read More Case study: Planning a Kitchen Renovation We have worked with the owners of a ca. 1895 Shingle Style house just south of Boston for over five years. We started by renovating the exterior, stripping the house of its shingles and installing new ones, rebuilding the porches, and restoring the... Read More Protecting Historic Houses There are many methods to protect historic properties. Here's a quick primer. Read More Managing Renovation Projects Effectively I wanted to take an opportunity to explain our approach to managing renovation and addition projects. Residential construction is a challenging business but we've learned a lot in the twenty years since we started the company. That experience has led... Read More One approach to old house kitchen renovations Kitchen design is a very personal thing, especially when it comes to old houses. Some people want the kitchen to match the period look of their house while others don't mind having a more modern looking space. Read More Restoring the original look of your historic house Last time we did a survey of the Greek Revival houses in my town of Medway, Mass. There are some great examples of the style in town, ranging from humble to high style. Now let's take a look at the potential pitfalls of altering the original siding... Read More The Greek Revival in small town New England One of the things that I appreciate about historic houses is the thought that the builders put into the ornamentation. They seemed to have an almost innate understanding of the use of proportion and, of course, a deeper understanding of the... Read More Paint Color Do's and Dont's for Historic Houses The selection of exterior paint colors for historic houses is, admittedly, a very subjective topic. Color schemes that please some people might give their neighbors nightmares. As subjective and personal issue as this topic is, however, it is clear... Read More Project Update: A new timber frame home in MA While we're primarily known as historic renovation contractors, we've broken ground on a new timber frame house on a picturesque horse farm west of Boston. From time to time I'll be updating you on our progress. It should be a pretty interesting... Read More 5 Reasons Not to Buy New Windows for Your Historic House As an old house renovation contractor I am often approached by homeowners who want to replace their old windows. Sometimes this is the first item on their list when they buy an old house. They reason that the old, drafty windows are inefficient and... Read More Additions to Historic Houses, more design guidelines As a renovation and restoration contractor here in Massachusetts, I have built a lot of additions on to historic houses. Contrary to the philosophy of some preservationists, who feel that new additions should read as new additions and not pretend to... Read More Additions to Old Houses Part 2: Exterior trim Last time we discussed how important it is to place the roofline correctly when adding on to an old house. If the roofline is too high or set at the wrong pitch, the addition could look awkward or even overwhelm the original part of the house. Read More Load More Posts Let’s work together. Have a project on your mind? We would love to discuss it with you. Please reach out! 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