Service Area · Harwich Port, MA
Sea captain homes, gray-shingled Capes and harbor-side condos all need different things. We handle complete home renovations across Harwich Port, from Bank Street Beach to the Route 28 village center.
Harwich Port is known as the village of three harbors: Saquatucket, Wychmere and Allen. Its housing is just as varied. Along Main Street and the side roads you’ll find sea captain homes with period details, classic gray-shingled Capes, homes from the 1960s and 1970s and condos near Route 28. Each one calls for a different kind of home renovation.
We treat a whole home remodeling project as a single plan rather than a list of rooms. That means looking at structure, systems and layout together, ordering materials early and running the work in a sequence that avoids redoing anything. Our in-house carpenters do the carpentry and custom cabinetry, and we coordinate the licensed trades.
Full renovations for Harwich Port captain’s homes, Capes and condos.
Kitchen remodels for harbor-side homes, from compact condos to large family kitchens.
Three decades on the Cape and a portfolio of more than 1,000 finished jobs give us a clear sense of what harbor-side homes need. Our carpentry is done by our own crew rather than passed between subcontractors, the company is fully licensed and insured, and the structural work runs under Pat Jacobs’ Massachusetts Construction Supervisor License.
For homes with real history, our carpenters can match trim and millwork and build custom cabinetry that fits the house. Our whole home remodeling page shows how we approach projects of this size.
Many Harwich Port homes sit close to Nantucket Sound and the harbors, so flood zone rules come up often. Under the substantial improvement rule, once the cost of the work hits half of what the building is worth on the market, land excluded, the entire house has to be brought up to flood-resistant construction standards.
Harwich adds a detail that matters for planning: the town counts all work permitted within a 12-month period toward that threshold. Splitting a renovation into smaller permits does not reset the count, so we plan the full scope with that rule in mind from the start.
You get one point of contact from the first visit to the final walkthrough. We define the scope in writing, line up permits and order long-lead items, then build in a set order: structure, exterior, systems, insulation and finishes. As an experienced remodeling contractor, we also schedule around the summer season, when many Harwich Port homes are in use.
Many owners here want the same things as clients in Chatham just up the coast: careful work, clear updates and a finished house ready for summer.
Harwich Port is a short drive from our home base. Head west on Route 28 and you reach Dennis Port, where our shop is located. East along the coast, Chatham brings larger seasonal homes and its own historic districts.
Inland, South Dennis rounds out the area with year-round neighborhoods near Route 134.
Near Saquatucket Harbor and Wychmere Harbor, we often update seasonal homes so they can be used for more of the year. Closer to the village center and Shaw’s on Sisson Road, condo owners ask for complete interior renovations within their unit’s existing footprint. In the older parts of the village, captain’s homes need structural care before their kitchens and baths can be brought up to date.
Owners around Bank Street Beach tend to want all of it at once, finished before the season starts.
The months before summer go quickly, and permits, approvals and material lead times all take time. Let’s walk the house together, talk through flood zone and septic questions and build a schedule that has you ready for the season. Reach out to get started.
begin
Every project begins with a conversation. Share a few details and we’ll be in touch within one business day to schedule your in-home consultation.
370 Upper County Rd Bay #1, Dennis Port, MA 02660, United States
For homes in a flood zone, Harwich adds up all work permitted within a 12-month period when it checks the 50 percent substantial improvement threshold. The point is to stop large projects from being split into smaller permits to avoid flood-resistant construction rules. If your home is near the harbors or the Sound, we map the full scope against that rule before applying for any permit.
These homes often have tight rooms, low second-floor ceilings and systems that were updated piece by piece over the years. A renovation usually opens up the first floor, reworks the upstairs under the roofline and replaces wiring, plumbing and insulation together. Owners in Dennis Port deal with the same house type, just closer to our shop.
Common findings include rotted sills, balloon framing, knob-and-tube wiring, little or no insulation and repairs made by previous owners decades ago. None of these are reasons to panic, but each one has to be handled correctly before new finishes go in. We inspect as much as we can upfront and explain anything new we find before the plan changes.
For seasonal homes, a fall or early winter start usually gives the best chance of finishing before summer. Permits and any Conservation Commission or Board of Health reviews take time, so starting the planning in late summer helps. Exterior work depends on the weather, while interior work can continue through the winter. Projects in Chatham follow a similar calendar.
The licensed construction supervisor on the job pulls the building permit and oversees the structural work, and on our projects that is Pat Jacobs. Plumbing and electrical permits are filed separately by the licensed tradespeople doing that work. Homeowners who pull their own permits can lose access to the state Guaranty Fund, so it is better left to the contractor.
In Massachusetts, if you sign a home improvement contract somewhere other than the contractor’s place of business, such as your own home, you can cancel it in writing by midnight of the third business day after signing. That right should be explained in the contract itself, and it is worth knowing before you sign with any contractor.
