How a Penney project works.

Shannon picks up the phone and reads every inquiry from the project form. The first conversation is short: the town, the house, what you want it to do, when you'd like to start and the budget you're comfortable with. If it's work we do, we book a walkthrough.

If it isn't, we say so on that call rather than wasting your afternoon.

Ryan or someone from the team walks the house with you, measures, and looks at what's behind the walls where we can: the framing, the electrical service, the heating, the foundation, any sign of water.

For an addition or an ADU we also look at the lot before anything is drawn: the zoning district and setbacks, septic or sewer, wetlands nearby, a local historic district, the flood zone, and the town's energy-code tier. Those decide what can be built, not just what it costs.

We draw the plan, then model the house in 3D and render the rooms photoreal, so you can walk through the kitchen or stand in the new primary suite before a wall comes down. Moving a wall in a rendering is easy. Moving it after it's framed is not.

If the structure or the town calls for stamped drawings from an engineer or an architect, we tell you here, before you're committed. More on 3D design and renderings, or browse the concept renderings.

Jorge prices the job from the drawings: measured quantities, current material costs and quotes from the trades. The proposal comes back in sections, each line with its scope written out, so you can see what the framing includes, what the tile includes, and what isn't in the job.

Anything you haven't chosen yet is carried as an allowance and called out as one. Permit fees are carried as an allowance too, because the town sets them.

Home improvement contracts in Massachusetts are governed by M.G.L. c.142A, and ours is written to it. The scope uses the same wording as the proposal you approved. No work starts until the contract is signed and you have a copy.

We pull the building permit. In Massachusetts the registered contractor should pull it: a homeowner who pulls their own may lose eligibility for the state's Guaranty Fund. Ryan holds Construction Supervisor License CS-099765, and our HIC registration is #198443.

Most renovations go straight to the building department. Additions, ADUs and coastal or historic houses often need a board first.

Bill runs your project: the schedule, the trades, the job budget, and your questions. Howie leads the field day to day. Licensed electricians and plumbers do the licensed work, and the building inspector checks the work at each stage the permit calls for.

You get a private online portal with the schedule, daily job-site photos, financials and selections, and a today at your home card that says what's happening in the house that day. Decisions go by email so there's a written record. If something changes in scope or price, it's a written change order, priced and signed before the work is done.

Final inspections with the building department, and a certificate of occupancy where the work needs one. Then we walk the house with you, list anything that isn't right, and finish it. The final invoice reconciles every allowance and change order against the contract.

The contract warrants our workmanship for one year from substantial completion.