WORCESTER | HOLDEN | SHREWSBURY | LEOMINSTER
Structure, systems, kitchens, baths, and finishes, handled by one company from demolition to the final inspection. ARM Construction takes on home remodeling projects across Worcester County.
A full home remodel is not a collection of room remodels. It is one long sequence where every stage waits on the one before it, and where a delay in week three moves everything behind it by three weeks. Demolition, then structural work, then rough plumbing and electrical, then inspection, then insulation, then drywall, then finishes, then the trades come back to set fixtures. Six or seven disciplines have to arrive in the right order, on the right day, and none of them can start early.
That is why these projects run so differently depending on who is managing them. When each trade is a separate company answering to a homeowner who is not a builder, the gaps between them are where the months disappear. ARM Construction runs the entire sequence. We self-perform demolition, framing, masonry, tile, flooring, and finish carpentry, and we bring in licensed electricians and plumbers as Massachusetts requires and schedule them around our own work. Andrew Mercurio is on site. One number, one person accountable.
Every project is different, but most full home remodels in this area combine several of the same elements. A new kitchen, almost always. One or more bathrooms, usually gutted rather than updated. Layout changes, which means removing walls, which means beams and posts and load paths. Systems: electrical service, wiring, plumbing supply and waste, heating. Insulation and air sealing to current Massachusetts energy code. New flooring throughout. Often siding, windows, and exterior work at the same time, since the scaffolding is already up and the disruption is already happening.
Some homeowners add square footage at the same time with an addition or by converting a garage, basement, or attic. Doing that as part of one project rather than separately is almost always cheaper and less disruptive than coming back to it in three years.
Most of the housing stock in this county predates 1960, and a full home remodel is the moment when everything a house has been quietly living with comes out at once. Knob and tube wiring. An electrical service sized for a 1955 household rather than an induction range, a heat pump, and two home offices. Cast iron waste lines corroded from the inside. Galvanized supply pipes narrowed to a fraction of their diameter. Plaster over lath that does not come off cleanly. Framing on irregular spacing. Sills with rot where water has been getting in behind the siding for two decades. Little to no insulation in the walls.
None of that is a reason not to remodel. It is a reason to open a house with someone who has seen it before, and to build contingency into the budget rather than pretending it will not happen. Our practice is simple. When we find something, you hear about it the same day, with what it means for the schedule and the price, and Massachusetts requires that any change to the contract be put in writing and signed by both parties before we proceed. What we will not do is bury a problem behind new drywall so the number stays where the estimate said it would.
This is the part most homeowners do not know about until it is in the way, and in a county where the majority of houses predate 1978, it comes up constantly.
Massachusetts law requires that a home built before 1978 which is occupied by a child under six be deleaded or brought under interim control. It applies to owner-occupied homes, not just rentals. And there is a deadline that catches buyers in particular: a new owner of a pre-1978 home where a child under six will live has 90 days from taking title to have the property deleaded or under interim control. If you are buying a fixer-upper with young children, that clock starts at closing.
Separately, the federal Renovation, Repair and Painting rule governs the work itself. It applies to renovation that disturbs more than six square feet of painted surface indoors or twenty square feet outdoors in pre-1978 housing, and it requires certified renovators and certified firms using lead-safe work practices. Massachusetts is not an authorized RRP state, which means the EPA administers that program directly here rather than the state.
The practical takeaway is that lead should be part of the plan on day one of a major remodel in an older house, not a discovery in week four. There is also a Massachusetts tax credit for deleading, up to $1,500 per unit for full compliance and up to $500 per unit for interim control, with unused credit carrying forward for up to seven years. Ask about it, because a lot of homeowners never do.
A full gut renovation in Central Massachusetts generally lands in the same range as new addition construction, roughly $150 to $350 per square foot, because a gut renovation is substantially rebuilding a house inside its existing shell. On a 2,000 square foot home that is a wide span, and the span is honest rather than evasive. Where a project falls inside it depends on how much structure changes, whether the electrical, plumbing, and heating are being replaced or kept, and what condition the house is actually in.
Less extensive projects cost considerably less. If the structure and the systems are sound and the work is finishes, a new kitchen, and updated baths, you are effectively buying a kitchen remodel plus bathroom remodels plus flooring and paint, and those pages have real ranges on them. Doing it all at once is usually cheaper per room than doing it in stages over five years, because mobilization, containment, and permitting happen once instead of repeatedly.
We get asked this and we answer it honestly, including when the answer costs us the job.
Remodeling usually wins when the house is wrong but everything around it is right. The lot, the neighborhood, the commute, the schools. Those are the things you cannot buy back, and in most of Worcester County the cost of moving, including the transaction costs on both ends, buys a substantial amount of construction. Remodeling also wins when you are attached to the house itself, which is a real reason and not a sentimental one.
Moving is the better answer when the house has problems a remodel will not fix. A site that floods. A foundation that is failing rather than aging. A footprint that simply cannot hold the layout you need, even with an addition. In those cases we will tell you. We would rather lose the project than take on one that should not have been built, because a homeowner who spends $300,000 fixing the wrong house is not going to be a reference.
We take on home remodeling projects in Worcester, Holden, Princeton, Sterling, West Boylston, and Boylston, along with Shrewsbury, Leominster, Westborough, Northborough, Southborough, and Grafton.
Andrew Mercurio is a fourth-generation builder who started in masonry and grew ARM Construction into a full general contracting company. He holds Massachusetts Construction Supervisor License #CS-093044, issued in 2011, and ARM Construction & Management Inc holds Home Improvement Contractor Registration #153199. Both are active and verifiable through the Commonwealth. On a project that touches the structure of your house, the Construction Supervisor License is the credential that legally covers that work.
What Our Customers Say
I can't say enough good things! I needed a small finish job done at the last minute, and Andrew made it happen quickly and without any stress. The craftsmanship was perfect and everything looks amazing. I'm extremely happy and would recommend him to anyone!
Andrew and his team are detail-oriented. They are skilled and helped me understand the process of renovating my kitchen. Fantastic communication & high quality service! I am so lucky to have them and recommend them to anyone! When they built my deck, it was so fast & efficient! Call Andrew, you won't regret it
Andrew replaced a garden window in my kitchen, and a sliding door. He did a meticulous job, and went above and beyond to accommodate some special requests that I had. His attention to detail and willingness to do whatever it took to make me happy didn't go unnoticed. Will definitely use him each and every time!
Here is what Worcester County homeowners ask us most about home remodeling. If your question is not here, call us at (774) 249-0221.
For a true gut renovation, usually yes. When the kitchen, the bathrooms, the heating system, and the electrical service are all out of commission at some point, living in the house is not realistic and it slows the work down considerably. Phased remodels where you keep half the house habitable are possible and we do them, but they take longer and cost more, because the crew works around occupied space and sets up containment repeatedly. We will tell you honestly which approach fits your project and what each one costs before you decide.
A full gut renovation in Central Massachusetts generally lands in the same range as new addition construction, roughly $150 to $350 per square foot, because a gut renovation is substantially rebuilding the house inside its existing shell. Less extensive projects, where the structure and systems stay and the work is finishes, kitchen, and baths, cost considerably less. The range is wide because the deciding factors are how much of the structure changes, whether the electrical, plumbing, and heating need replacing, and what condition the house is actually in behind the walls.
It can, and it catches people out. Under Massachusetts law, a home built before 1978 that is occupied by a child under six must be deleaded or brought under interim control, and a new owner of such a home has 90 days from taking title to comply. Separately, the federal EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting rule applies to renovation work disturbing more than six square feet of painted surface indoors or twenty square feet outdoors in pre-1978 housing, and requires certified renovators and certified firms. Massachusetts is not an authorized RRP state, so the EPA administers that program directly here. Most Worcester County housing predates 1978, so this comes up regularly on larger remodeling projects and should be part of the plan from the start rather than a surprise.
A full gut renovation typically runs four to nine months of construction, with design and permitting adding one to three months before that. The schedule is driven by sequencing rather than by any single trade. Demolition, structural work, rough plumbing and electrical, insulation, drywall, then finishes, each waiting on the inspection of the one before. Long-lead items like cabinets and windows have to be ordered early enough that they do not stall the sequence. On older homes, some schedule contingency for what turns up behind the walls is realistic rather than pessimistic.
It depends on why you are considering it. If the house is wrong for you but the lot, the neighborhood, and the schools are right, remodeling usually wins, because you cannot buy those things back. If the house has fundamental problems that a remodel will not solve, a bad site, a failing foundation, or a layout that cannot be fixed within the footprint, moving may be the better answer. We will tell you which situation you are in. We would rather lose a project than take one that should not have been built.
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ARM Construction & Management Inc
131 Houghton Road
Princeton, MA 01541
(774) 249-0221
Licensed and insured in Massachusetts. MA CSL #CS-093044 | MA HIC Reg. #153199
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