Andover Renovation Solutions

Do not hire Andover Renovations. We were introduced to AR at a home show in 2011. Their representative was charming and accommodating, and we were sold on their ability to tackle our large renovation project. We paid them to come up with a plan to turn our 1300sf Cape Cod style home into a showcase home by adding a garage, a new kitchen/​family room, and a master suite. After a false start in 2012 (our fault, could not obtain funding) we re-​contacted them in 2013. Shame on us, we never really considered another builder. We felt that if we didn’t go for AR, the thousands of dollars we spent on design services would be down the drain. In retrospect, we should have just let it go. The first sign of trouble was the fact that the design did not conform to our city’s building codes. AR states they were blindsided by this — they had been advised by a surveyor that they work with about local setback requirements, and never checked with the city itself. The surveyors’ data was several years out of date. AR told us that it would be our job to apply to the city for a variance. Our planned June start date was delayed by several months, and in the end we were not granted a variance. AR made some small changes to the design, and we were ready to go in September. This whole process was extremely frustrating and anxiety-​producing for us, to say the least.
So, the big day arrives, the day the foundation guys were coming to break ground. Hooray! I baked muffins, made a nice big pot of coffee to welcome the workers… and no one came. No phone call. No explanation. When I called Bill Penney, he gave me some story about why they weren’t there, and told me they would be there in the next day or two. Over a week went by before the crew showed up. The grading got done, the hole got dug… and then another wait of 2 weeks before the crew came to pour the foundation. This is the story of the project: Crew does not show, homeowner calls Bill, Bill ignores phone call (or actually answers in the tone of «why are you bothering me») and we get some story about how busy he is and we will just have to wait. The project that was quoted at 4 – 5 months took 13 months. THIRTEEN months! Some of the highlights include:
* Lies to our financing bank — AR told the bank that they needed a larger payment up front than agreed on so they could order kitchen cabinetry and bath items. These items weren’t actually ordered until the next spring («We can’t order the cabinets until we have the exact dimensions of the finished space»)
* Several occasions of frozen pipes in our only bathroom, due to open and exposed rear wall of our home in January.
* Living with no kitchen for 4 months.
* Roofing crew left tarps attached to our roof after they were «done». Call to complain to AR, Bill says it will be fine and they will come after the weekend to take them down. 4 in the morning awakened by wind blowing the tarp around, tarp has 4×4 still nailed to it and the boards are slamming into the wall of the house dangerously close to our son’s window. Picture me out in my pajamas using kitchen shears to cut the nail-​studded board off the edge of the tarp, as it blows around in high winds.
* Months spent waiting for tile work in the kitchen («the tile workers are so busy we can’t get them here»). Then when they finally get there, we are told that the tile work wasn’t actually paid for in the payment scheme, so it would be an extra cost. We could have hired our own tile contractor and had it done much earlier.
I could go on and on with tales of ineptitude by AR. We lived with high anxiety the entire project, knowing that things weren’t going well, but feeling powerless to fire Bill because of the amount of our money he already had. And, to be fair, the work that was done was generally good. This is due to quality work by the subcontractors, especially the electricians and the finish carpenters. So in the end, our home is very nice, beautiful in fact, but full of small inconsistencies that only my husband and I realize exist.
Andover offers a one year guarantee on their work. The project was completed in October 2014. We (as of October 3, 2105) have not achieved resolution on the problems with a cracking countertop, a bathroom fan that allows cold air to flow in during the winter, and a heating system that is so noisy it wakes us up at night. All of these problems were reported to Bill Penney in November 2014. We have given up — they do not return emails or phone calls. I finally decided that I wasn’t going to wait anymore to write this review. I thought if I wrote it before the year was up, Bill would punish us by not honoring his guarantee. Well, that has already happened. So I am letting my frustration and disappointment with Andover Renovations and Bill Penney be known to anyone who reads this review.
In short, if you want a contractor that is honest, reliable, and is actually present on your job site every day, stay well clear of Andover Renovations.

Andover Renovation is a design/​build home renovation company. The initial design with the owner, Bill Penny was informative. Bill is very knowledgeable and his design team came up with a beautiful design for our house. The problem wasn’t the design phase but the execution of the project.
Marc Bogosian was the project manager. He was inexperienced, has no project management skills and poor follow through skills. Andover Renovation’s subcontractors were below par, sloppy and inexperienced. Andover’s in-​house finishing carpenters were accommodating, skilled and talented.
The existing sun room needed a major update. Since the room was settling, it required new footings. Instead of replacing the footings, they poured cement onto the existing footings to have the appearance of new footings. 2 years later the porch settled over 2 inches and the footings needed to be replaced.
The master bath included a $ 3,000.00 air tub. The plumber cut a hole in the tub to insert the control panel. The panel was installed in the wrong location and upside down. After an argument with the design team, the original plumber walked off the job leaving me high me and dry. Andover Renovation scrambled to find a second plumber to complete the job. The second plumber installed a multi zone heat system. The system is undersized and the house and is always cold and drafty.
The entire electrical system in the house was updated. Half the plugs in the house cannot be used since they trip the circuit breakers with anything bigger than a table lamp. Recessed lighting in the kitchen and sun room flicker.
The vinyl siding was installed by 3 different sub-​contractor. The first sub-​contractor, who could not speak English, installed the siding on one side of the house in an angle. The siding needed to be completely removed and replaced. He was fired and a second sub-​contractor was hired to correct and finish the mess the first sub-​contractor left behind. The second contractor attempted to cover rotted wood on the sun porch with the new vinyl siding. He disappeared and a third contractor was hired to complete the job. IT LOOKS TERRIBLE! Some of the windows were not trim out to match the rest of the house. One of the 3 vinyl sub-​contractors didn’t flash the windows correctly. The windows leak and require re-​flashing.
This company does not take pride in its workmanship.
Additional problems included:
— bathroom vent that was not vented

— bathroom ceiling light was not connected

— chip bathroom wall tiles

— uneven bathroom floor tiles

— substitution of higher quality materials with poor quality materials

— door frames that are different heights

— Incomplete tile work

— drafty sun porch
— undersized radiators

— Leaking toilet, sink and tub
— Leaking picture window
— damaged replacement windows
…This is just the tip of the iceberg. The list goes on and on. CUSTOMERS BEWARE!!!

Wish I could say the same as the other review but Mark has NO-​SHOWED for our first meeting.
we’ve been sitting in our house waiting for him and have received no response to my inquiry of when he might show up.
How do people run a business with such disregard for their estimate meeting not to mention just simple courtesy to another person.

I hired Andover Renovation Solutions to remodel my bathroom in Charlestown and they did a great job. I worked with Mark and Gene and would definitely hire them again for future work.