Our Mission: how we judge a home contractor before we point anyone to one

We are an independent consumer advocate for Massachusetts residents. This page says who we are, what our judgement rests on, and the rules we hold to.

The judgement behind these pages

We are an independent guide. We do not do home work, write quotes or take bookings, and nothing on these pages is for sale. What we bring is a habit: we check what a contractor says against what is written down, we compare quotes line by line, and we keep a running list of the questions a first-time hirer should put to a quote. That list is the spine of this site.

Our credibility is not a licence or an award. It is the method, and you can judge the method from the pages themselves. Each checklist names its source or says plainly that it is our own reasoning. Where a rule is a matter of state law, we point you to the state's consumer affairs office rather than asking you to take our word for it.

We write for people hiring for the first time, because that is where the expensive mistakes happen.

A recommendation is only worth something when we can say what we checked to earn it.

Scope comes before price

The lowest written quote is a poor place to start a comparison. A low total is easy to read as a careful buyer's win, but a figure that leaves out the excavation, the base, the removal of old material or the permit is not a cheaper job. It is an unpriced one, and the missing lines are the part of the job the reader is still paying for.

So this site compares scope first. Before any number is set beside another, each quote should describe the same work at the same depth, including the materials, the base, the cleanup and the permit. Only when the scopes match does the price tell a reader anything useful.

The figures behind this page

8

pages on this site

Counted from the site's own page list
4

rules set out on this page

Counted from this page
$1,000

the value at which a written contract is required

City of Boston Consumer Affairs, home improvement and contracting tips
1/3

the most a deposit should be, as a share of the price

City of Boston Consumer Affairs, home improvement and contracting tips

Four rules we hold ourselves to

We do not compare a price until the scope is in writing.

A number on its own cannot be checked against another number. If a quote does not name the materials, the base, the cleanup and the permit, we set it aside as incomplete and ask for the missing lines, rather than scoring it against a fuller quote.

A deposit is read against the state's ceiling.

The City of Boston's home improvement guidance says a deposit should not exceed one-third of the price, and that a written contract is required for work at $1,000 or more. Massachusetts registration generally applies to work over $1,000 on a one-to-four family home where the owner lives. Confirm these points with the state's consumer affairs office before you rely on them.

We ask for a registration the reader can look up.

A contractor who says they are registered should give you the number, and you should check it with the state rather than accept a card. A number that does not check out is a reason to get another quote.

A promise made only out loud does not count.

If the contractor says the stain is included, the patio will drain properly or the start is in March, that is not part of the job until it is written into the contract. We ask the reader to add it to the written scope, and if the contractor will not, we treat the promise as absent.

Why this site was started

The costly questions are usually the ones nobody thought to ask. We started this site to put them in one place, so a reader can take them to a quote before signing it.

A worker in a green rain suit laying grey paving stones on a wet patio — Paving is work where the base, the sand and the edging decide how long it lasts, so those are the lines to see in writing.

A wooden desk by a window with printed checklists, a closed laptop and a coffee cup — An AI-generated image of a desk, not a photograph of our office. The printed checklist on it is the working tool these pages draw on.

A kitchen hire, walked through before you sign

This video from a third party covers what to check before hiring a kitchen contractor. We point to it because it asks the same kind of question we do. We do not vouch for every point it makes, so weigh it against the written-scope and deposit checks above.

If you want to know what to ask about a quote in front of you, the contact page explains what to have ready.

See what to have ready