Plaster first. It is the whole idea.
A small Somerville crew that works almost entirely on Cambridge and Somerville houses built before the First World War.
Repair, primer, then two coats. The third step is the only one anybody ever sees.
How this started
Ray Doucette spent ten years on other people’s crews before starting this one in 2009. The reason was simple and slightly petty: he was tired of being told to roll two coats over a wall that needed a day of repair first, then watching the crack come back through it by March and hearing the customer blamed for it.
So the company was built the other way around. Plaster repair is not the thing we do reluctantly before the real work. It is the reason people call us, and it is the line on the quote we will argue about if you want it removed.
Why these houses are different
A Camberville two-family is not a drywall box. Lath-and-plaster walls move with the seasons and crack in the same places every year. Trim is old-growth and worth saving. Porches are structural, exposed on three sides, and quietly rotting behind their last coat of paint. Almost all of it predates 1978, so lead-safe containment is not an upsell — it is the only lawful way to sand any of it.
Crews who mostly work on newer housing price this work by square footage and get the repair badly wrong. We price the repair first and the paint second, because on a house like this that is the order the money actually goes in.
What it is like having us there
Most of our customers are living in the house while we work in it, often with kids and pets and jobs. So: work areas sealed off with plastic and zip doors, HEPA vacuums running, floors papered and taped, and everything back in usable shape at the end of each day rather than at the end of the week.
You get the same two or three faces every morning. We do not subcontract the painting, we do not put an unfamiliar crew on your house in August because we overbooked, and we would rather turn a job down than do that.
- Since 2009in Cambridge & Somerville houses
- Plaster firstwe repair the wall before we paint it
- Lead-safecontainment on every pre-1978 home
- Fixed pricein writing, before anything is opened
What we commit to in writing
Four things you should be able to get a straight answer on from any contractor before you sign anything, including us.
- Licensed and insured
- Registered as a home improvement contractor in Massachusetts, with general liability and workers’ compensation for everyone who sets foot on your property.
- Lead-safe practices
- Almost every house we work on predates 1978. Contained work areas, HEPA vacuums and proper disposal are how we work on all of them, not an upgrade you ask for.
- Proof of insurance with the estimate
- Certificates go out with every written quote, whether or not you think to ask. If a contractor hesitates at that question, that is the answer.
- Workmanship warranty in writing
- Three years on our labor, stated on the quote you sign. If a seam opens or a patch flashes, we come back.
What you can expect
- A person answers the phone, most of the time it is Ray.
- A walkthrough that looks at the surfaces, not at your furniture.
- A written fixed price within two business days, repair itemized separately from paint.
- A start date we keep, or a phone call the day it changes.
- A final walk-through with the lights on before the last invoice.
Where we work
We stay close on purpose. A short drive is what makes it possible to come back the same week when something needs a second look, which is the entire point of hiring a local crew.
Most of our work
- Cambridge
- Somerville
Also regularly
- Medford
- Arlington
- Belmont
- Watertown
- Everett
- Charlestown
Just outside this list? Call anyway. If it is a short drive and the house is the kind we are set up for, we will usually come and look.
Come and have a look at it.
A walkthrough costs nothing and takes about half an hour. You will get a written fixed price within two business days, whether or not you use us.