Marcellos Design & Builders

I wrote a lengthy review that was published in the Angie's List magazine. I also recommended Marcello's Renovations for the Page of Happiness, which he was accepted for.

We have a guest bedroom on the third story that was partially destroyed buy a roof leak (created by a roofer who subsequently went bankrupt and disappeared). Had to remove the ceiling myself. The parquet floor was also ruined by the water. I called on Marcello because we worked with him earlier in the year on a basement project. Edson and Sergio showed up to do the work. I'd worked with Edson before, so I felt good about the project. They started work toward the end of July and assured me that the work would be done in less than a week. They showed up daily by 8am and worked continuously through the late afternoon. They were very polite and neat. Every day they laid out paper over the stairs to catch dirt and every day they thoroughly swept up and vacuumed before leaving. When I asked about small details that I'd forgotten (like removing the electric baseboard heaters, or plugging an old cable hole), they were quick to address it without complaint. The work was completed on time and we are very pleased. We have lot of work yet to do on this old house, so we'll be calling on Marcello and his crew in the coming years.

Provider never responded to request for quote.

Marcello Laurindo is an excellent contractor. We could not be happier with his work. The crew he employs (we have worked with him for projects now for the past 2 years) are stand up guys, very honest and professional and extremely respectful. We had all this work done with our baby daughter in the house with me full time. Marcello and his crew are meticulous both with their work and with clean up at the end of each day. They did such a good job of cleaning up after themselves that even considering we had a baby in the house who was crawling around everywhere, there was rarely a time we had to clean up again after them. Marcello's Renovations prides itself on the customer service it provides. Having used this company for big and small projects since June 2011, I would unequivocally say that their customer service is fantastic. They are prompt in getting back to you and are truly wanting to make sure you are 100% happy with their product. Marcello's honesty and integrity make him a rarity in his profession. I experienced this when during one of the bathroom renovations his worker damaged an air conditioning condenser and Marcello was quick to replace the condenser with no questions asked!! I give Marcello's Renovations the highest possible recommendation and we will definitely be using them again when we do our big main floor remodeling.

Joe Bertola and his team were wonderful throughout the entire process. They exceeded our high expectations and transformed our basement into a great office and family room with real walls and ceilings. Joe responded quickly to my first email and scheduled a visit to provide an estimate. He listened to what we had in mind to transform our unfinished basement into an office/family room with a full bathroom. He came up with a very elegant and creative solution to transform our small basement into what feels like a spacious office and family room and made the most of the space. It was a great experience from beginning to completion of the project. We highly recommend Joe and his team of very skilled plumbers, electricians, carpenters and painters. They were very skilled and were great to work with. Joe had great suggestions when we asked for his advice. He is a very skilled designer.We have a beautifully tiled bathroom and frameless shower.

Marcello and his team were fantastic. We was the first contractor that we contacted for an estimate a year prior, after that we had 4 other estimates and visits and none seemed as knowledgeable, truthful or thorough as Marcello was so we called him back and employed him to remodel our downstairs bathroom. He was FANTASTIC, his team was very hardworking, and so meticulous it was unbelievable. They hunkered down and got the bathroom torn out and put together in about 2 1/2 weeks. It looked better than what I imagined. We have several other house projects we intend to do in the coming years and will absolutely go back to Marcello.

Overall, we were very happy with the work and the results and would recommend them. They responded quickly to our call and discussed the various options. They were very knowledgeable and made a number of good recommendations, and the pricing was reasonable, so we decided to hire them. Once engaged, they built the entire pool house and shed from scratch. All of the people that worked on the project were very professional, friendly, and good to deal with. One of the things we were impressed by was their flexibility. As the pool house and shed were being built there were things in our design that we realized we wanted to change and they were able to make changes to accommodate us. For example, we were originally going to use off the shelf doors for the shed, but for a number of reasons we later realized they wouldn?t work well, so they ended up building the doors themselves. Similarly, we were originally going to use store-bought columns for the front of the pool house, but later decided they wouldn?t really work, so they built columns from scratch. They checked with us a number of times during the building process to make sure we were happy with the way things were turning out. The project was more than 90% completed in the Fall, but once the bad weather came we mutually agreed that it made sense to wait until the spring to finish it off. They returned in late April and finished off the project. This actually gave us a chance to see how everything held up over the winter (no problems). We are very pleased with the final results. The construction was done very well and both the pool house and shed look great. They were very focused on ensuring we were happy with the end result. Also, there were no hidden costs. We would recommend them.

Would not recommend, they responded 27 days later.

Marcello came to do the estimate when our basement was completely bare concrete, with partially finished walls. They were prompt and incredibly nice, asking what we wanted and helping guide us. Subsequent to this we were provided a designer to work with to come up with exactly what we wanted. This part of the process took quite a while, primarily due to our own time constraints and indecisiveness, but this did not dissuade Marcello at all. When the design process was nearing completion Marcello began work on the french drain, with Marcello's Renovation workers moving everything we had stored in our basement out to the POD we rented for this purpose. Upon completion of the french drain and after the design was complete, work was begun on the basement itself with constant communication with us. We picked fixtures, hardware, flooring, colors, etc, and Marcello's Renovations and their subcontractors installed everything. We are incredibly pleased with the results and Marcello's Renovations attention to detail. The woodwork is beautiful and professional. Marcello and Joey were both fantastically helpful and always willing to do what it took to ensure that we were 100% pleased with the results -- and we are.

Never got a contact back.

Marcello came in to look at the living room and half bath we we planned to gut and redecorate. He was as pleasant man, very professional, and appeared very competent. We would have considered hiring him except his estimate was twice the amount of his competitors'.

Joe and Marcello were easy to work with, very responsive and listen to my concerns when I had them. Also Joe was very considerate to the fact that I was very pregnant and needed my bathroom back sooner rather than later. I was also liked how flexible they were, and didn't mind using a new material for the flooring that they didn't work with often, that my husband and I found. The only con I would have, but it would not stop me from using them again, is that they could pay a little closer attention to the small details. We did notice a few very small issues afterwards that I called Joe about. However, I will definitely say that he was quick to come over and address them.

We have an 1864 brick row house in East Boston - 3 stories and a garden level basement. We've been renovating the place incrementally, and this year we were focused on insulation, beginning from the basement up. Joe DaSilva came out to provide the estimate and oversee the work. We wanted to replace the front and rear doors to the basement to stop air leakage. This required not only new doors but work on the frames. Replacing the front basement door so that it was air tight required some creativity because there was a floor drain sitting inside the basement behind that door. I wanted the drain moved to be outside and in front of the door at the base of the steps leading to the basement. Sub-contracted masons had to rework the bottom step to move the drain, which meant pouring some new concrete. The masonry work was functional but not particularly pretty. We also wanted to replace the windows to the back basement wall, which is exposed to the back garden, and insulate the wall. Because there was very little space between the outer brick and the drywall (making it difficult to insulate), we decided to reframe the wall in order to be able to use batten insulation. As it turned out, this was a good decision because the window casings had to be completely demolished and rebuilt too. We also had them replace the rear basement door leading to the garden. The other major part of the project was renovating the front entryway to the house. The old entryway was a plain wood structure with a simple glass transom and a glass stormdoor. We wanted the entryway rebuilt with a decorative facade, a new stormdoor, and installation of a pair of antique, lead stained glass windows that we picked up at a New England Demolition and Salvage in New Bedford. We weren't sure how they were going to install the stained glass, since the windows were very old and the lead was pretty soft and brittle. They (Rogerio and Marcus) did an excellent job on installing the windows and creating the new entryway facade (no small feat because the building itself is a little crooked). There was quite a bit of other work to the entryway. The last genius who owned this place painted over the brick in the entryway and we wanted that removed. A lot of other contractors that we've talked to wouldn't touch this project, but Joe's guys brought in a high pressure water hose and got almost all of it off. The last big thing in the entryway was the front door itself. It is the original 8 foot tall, quarter sawn oak door (you can see the tiger stripes) with a glass look-through. A lot of damage had been done to the door from repeated changes of locksets, and the entire door needed refinishing because the shellac was peeling. Joe's guys completely refinished (sanding, staining, polyurethane) the entire door and repaired the old lockset holes so that they are invisible. They installed a really nice new lockset that we picked up and the door looks beautiful now - lots of compliments from neighbors. The whole project took considerably longer than we anticipated. They started the work in October 2012 and didn't finish until February 2013. Part of this was due to unforeseen problems on their end (events which were understandably out of their control), and, of course, winter weather. They were always responsive, but often unable to come to the house on the days originally promised, which required flexibility on our part. In any case, the length of time was the biggest shortcoming. However, Joe and Marcello were consistently responsive whether I called, emailed, or texted. Everyone was very polite and friendly and clean. Overall the work was well done. I wasn't terribly impressed by the sub-contracted masons, but anything done with woodwork was excellent. When I noticed small imperfections, Joe and his guys made no bones about fixing it to our satisfaction and repeatedly asked how we felt about the work. Joe also was thorough about fixing problems. After finishing the back basement wall, we had a big rainstorm (sideways rain) and I came down to the basement to find a puddle of water in the room leading from the new wall. Joe surmised that it was likely due to improper caulking on a first story window above the basement, allowing water to run down the inside of the wall. Nevertheless, he reopened the newly finished wall to inspect the insulation and the wall. In addition, he caulked that first story window (not in the contract), and also went out and bought and installed a downspout extension to ensure water wasn't soaking the outer wall. He left the wall in the basement open until I was satisfied that water wouldn't come through. Sure enough, we got hit by another big rainstorm shortly after and no water came in. I will rehire them for future work.

Beginning with Laurindo's visit to do the estimate, every step was performed in an efficient, professional manner. Communication was good and we always knew when workers were going to arrive. Laurindo's crew, especially Edson, were friendly, polite, considerate, efficient, professional, careful, and expert. Several of the projects had to be scheduled around the delivery of special order tile which we were responsible for and delivery took a long time. Laurindo was very understanding and flexible in scheduling the tile jobs around tile delivery. The exterior work was weather dependent, and they always managed to get here on the right days. The crew kept their work spaces clean and it was comfortable having them around. We plan on using Laurindo next Spring for some more projects. Marcello's is a little pricey. If you're looking to do something on the cheap, he probably isn't the way to go. But, you get what you pay for and if you want a quality job, I recommend him.

Joe DaSilva responded to my request for a quote and came out promptly at the expected time. But the estimate that came back was insufficient. It did not include the cost of any materials which made it impossible to compare to other estimates. Joe was slow responding to my followup emails and never provided requested references. This was the reply I finally got to the question about the cost of materials: "We do not supply finish material to our customers, as we think is more fair if they buy themselves whatever they want, or reimburse us when we buy what they choose. Besides, it would take us a lot of time to search for prices since we don?t charge for our estimate. If you decide that our price for labor is acceptable, and if we have a commitment, then we could do the search to give you a price for materials as well." For some folks getting a quote like this may be acceptable, but for us it was not. We went with a different carpenter to re-build our deck and stairs. Also note that based on the estimate from another company (which included materials), this price quote was definitely much higher than we thought reasonable.

It was more difficult to schedule an appointment with Joe, the project manager, compared to the other contractors I contacted. He didn't respond to my initial email for weeks and when we finally communicated he wasn't available to see the project for another two weeks. He assured me he was interested in our project and we finally agreed on a date and time. However, Joe didn't show up. He spontaneously emailed me the next day to apologize & explained that he had put me in his schedule for the following week. He then agreed to come over about five days later. I showed him the bathroom that needed a complete re-do and asked about his company and some techniques we had just heard about. Joe assured me that our project was something his company did routinely. However, he spent a total of seven minutes discussing our project before he left, which so surprised me I actually checked my watch. I was so surprised because the other contractors had stayed and discussed the project for 30 minutes or more. Before leaving Joe did say he would email me with a proposal and he repeated that promise in an email two days later. I was surprised that he would put together a proposal and cost estimate with so few details, but I didn't argue. It turns out it didn't matter: I never received any proposal. I can appreciate that this company may have been too busy for or located too far from our project, but I would've liked to have been told that at the beginning.

Our experience working with Marcello was terrific, start-to-finish. For the initial consultations, Marcello brought in his architect Dave, who worked with us to design a great space, and met with us online to share his renderings and make modifications. Marcello's estimate included three parts - the main rec room (which we went forward with), a laundry room / half bath, which we decided to postpone for now, and soundproofing a music room, which we also chose to postpone for now. The main rec room was our priority, but it was nice to see forethought into what we could do with the other space down the road. The work started when planned, with Marcello's team doing all the permitting and coordination with inspectors as well as the work itself. For the most part, the work ran on schedule, with one exception being our decision to special order carpeting, which delayed part of the work by about three weeks. Whenever we had questions or concerns, Marcello was very accessible and responsive, and clarified how they would be addressed, which they were. One issue we ran into was that we wanted to remove a support column, as was part of the plans. While at first this seemed feasible according to the structural engineer Marcello worked with, it turned out much more difficult to remove, and after a second review by the engineer, it was determined that there would likely be some foundation settling if the column was removed. We were at first very disappointed about needing to leave it, but Marcello worked with us to box the column in a way that blended with the rest of the decor, and it turned out nice. This type of responsiveness on the part of Marcello and his team was the norm for the duration of the project. The work has just been completed, and we love the results. I would offer Marcello two small recommendations to consider for future projects: 1. There were a couple of times where we agreed to something with Marcello, but when his project manager arrived the next morning, he had not been brought up to speed on our decisions. Ultimately all the issues were resolved, but I would recommend Marcello make sure to communicate with his team directly after decisions are made with the client to minimize conflicting information and be as efficient as possible 2. I would recommend that Marcello go over carpet samples earlier in the process in case his client wants to special order - we didn't see the samples until a couple of weeks in, and had we seen them earlier, we could have placed the order while framing and plastering work were still going on, possibly resulting in a shorter delay At the end of the day, our project turned out great and stayed within the agreed-upon budget. We will definitely put Marcello at the top of our list to work with again should we have other projects in the future, and we wholeheartedly recommend his services to others.

No work was performed. No conversations took place after we found out of ridiculous $100 quote policy.

We had Edson as our project manager and he was excellent to work with. He was there every day with the crew and knew what was going on with permits and the project every time I asked. The basement was just unfinished storage space, so they did all the framing, insulation and blue boarding. They had sub-contractors that did the plastering, who also sanded a "popcorn painted" wall which came out great. They also had some touch up work to do which Edson was quick to point out before I even noticed it and it was taken care of properly. They had a sub-contractor for the electrical as well, who took care of our recessed lights and new electric baseboard. Very nice guys, all extremely easy to work with. At the end of the project Marcello was in touch with us to do a final walk through after Edson came back and did his touch ups. They are totally committed to having 100% satisfied customers and they really stand behind their work. We were lucky to find them and we'll be using them again for any home improvements we do.

I contacted 4 firms, all with good reviews on Angies list, and this company was one of them. All of them came out to review the project and provided estimates. All the estimates were within a few hundred dollars of each other. However, Marcello's estimate was THREE times that of the others. I can't imagine that the quality difference alone would have accounted for the large difference. I decided not to go with them for that reason. I should note, though, that they were prompt and responsive from initial contact. I just couldn't justify paying 3 times for the same work. In the end, I was happy with my decision as I got exactly what I wanted for much less.

Very talented carpenters! This was the second major project we hired Marcello having had a great experience the first time. He again impressed us and we are very happy with the quality, look and price of our new stairs. It was late October 2011 and we contacted Marcello with just a photo mockup of what we wanted for new stairs. He was upfront that he liked our job but it was late in the year for what we wanted and we may need to wait for the spring. To our surprise, with the mild weather he contacted us in Nov and said he could perform the work before the winter. He patiently listened to our needs and provided good feedback and suggestions on our design ideas. To improve on the safety and aesthetics of our old stairs, for the new design we introduced two landings and an "L" turn where the old stairs had just been straight down 15 steps. We also requested additional framing to support heavier loads and decorative tread patterns and Marcello updated the drawings after each change we requested. He met with our town building department multiple times to ensure all measurements and footing requirements were signed-off. We also wanted to buy our own Ipe decking and he helped us calculate how much was needed and accommodate the arrival time. The work was top notch, solidly built and accurate to the drawing. The carpenter Nilson worked quickly, poured accurate footings and all framing cuts and trim edges were really accurate and stringers assembled seamlessly. As he worked, he gave us additional decorative choices on how the posts and balusters could be attached for different looks and emphasis. The decorative treads (we did a square box pattern) came out great, were all supported solidly and with nice mitered returns. The work was completed on schedule and looked amazing. Gone was our old hulking staircase and now we had a great decorative entrance. The design and quality construction definitely added curb appeal to our house and our neighbors keep coming by to admire. Another great experience for us with Marcello! I'm writing this review now late as I thought I had submitted it back in Dec and apparently forgot to save it! Stairs still look new and we're very happy with our design and decision to go with Marcello.

Overall, 90% pleased with the outcome of the kitchen renovation. Frankly, I don't want to go into detail regarding the serveral issues that we had to deal with durning the project.

This was one of the best experiences we have had with a contractor (and we have had many). All services and interactions were prompt and professional. Each aspect of the job was done exactly as we had discussed, in the time frame promised and at a very fair price. Joe DaSilva oversaw the whole project, and he was the consummate professional. We will definitely use Marcello's for our future projects, and we have already referred them to multiple friends.

Marcello and Edson could not be nice. Edson was patient and professional. He was hard working and eager to please. I look forward to doing more business with them in the future.

The work was absolutely superb! They took their time to do everything right, letting the foundation, cement and water proofer dry properly before proceeding to the next stage. The appropriate wood pieces in the framing were replaced. The site was kept clean all the time, and their work was extremely well-organized. The quality of their final plastering was excellent. I dealt with many contractors over the years, but Marcello really showed superior professionalism, ideas and skills and his crew had by far the best craftsmanship. I am now preparing other projects that I will ask them to do. If they are busy, I will wait until he can take my projects.