SERVING NORTHBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS
Home additions, ADUs, kitchens, baths, and custom stonework for Northborough homeowners. A town with a real historic district commission and a river running through it, both of which change how a project gets planned.
Northborough split off from Westborough in 1775, which is why the two towns share a name and a boundary. For most of its history it was an agricultural town. After 1800 cottage industries grew into factory production, mainly shoes and combs, with a handful of small woolen mills along the Assabet River. The railroad arrived in 1856, the town center developed as the institutional and commercial focus, and relatively dense residential neighborhoods filled in around it through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The mills are gone. What is left is the housing they built, an old town center along the Boston Post Road, several working farms, and a town of roughly 15,700 that functions mostly as a residential community for people commuting to Boston and Worcester.
Andrew Mercurio is a fourth-generation builder who came up in masonry and grew ARM Construction into a full general contracting company. He holds Massachusetts Construction Supervisor License #CS-093044, issued in 2011, and the company holds Home Improvement Contractor Registration #153199. Both are active and verifiable through the Commonwealth.
Kitchen and bathroom remodels are the largest share of the work here, ranging from straightforward updates in the newer subdivisions to full gut renovations in the older homes near the center. Home additions and ADUs and in-law suites work well on the larger lots away from the town center.
We also build sunrooms and four season rooms, garage and basement conversions, home remodels, custom masonry and stonework, decks and patios, siding, and flooring. One company, one point of contact, from the first walkthrough to the final inspection.
Across most of the towns we work in, the historic designation question has a reassuring answer: National Register listing on its own generally does not restrict what a private owner does to their own building. It is an honor, not a permit requirement.
Northborough is different. The town maintains a Historic District Commission and an inventory of historic properties, structures, and objects across the town, from the Assabet River dam at Main Street to the Brigham Street burial ground to the Boston Post Road marker. A local historic district commission has authority that a National Register listing does not. Depending on where your property sits, exterior changes can require review, and that can include siding, window replacement, roofing materials, and in some cases colors.
What this means practically. If your house is in or near the town center, or in one of the older residential neighborhoods that grew up around it, find out your status before design work rather than after. Commission review adds a step and a schedule, and it also constrains material choices in ways that affect the budget. A re-side or a window replacement is a very different conversation inside a local historic district than outside one.
This is not a reason to avoid an older Northborough house. It is a reason to plan around a known requirement instead of discovering one. We check it early.
The Assabet River rises in the swampy headwaters of Westborough and runs northeast through Northborough on its way to Concord, where it joins the Sudbury to form the Concord River. It carries a federal Wild and Scenic River designation granted in 1999.
For a homeowner, the practical consequence is the same one that applies across Massachusetts. Under the Wetlands Protection Act, work within 100 feet of a wetland resource area, or within 200 feet of a perennial stream, requires filing with the Conservation Commission. Northborough has the Assabet plus a network of tributaries and other streams that once powered its mills, which means that buffer catches a fair number of properties in this town.
Additions, decks, patios, and pools get approved near wetlands all the time. What costs people is not the requirement, it is finding out about it after the drawings are done. We look at where the water is before we look at where the addition goes.
Northborough is a mixed picture. The more developed parts of town are served by municipal infrastructure, while properties on the outskirts and on larger lots run on private wells and septic systems.
That distinction drives anything that adds a bedroom. On a sewered lot, an addition or an ADU is a straightforward construction project. On septic, Massachusetts sizes systems by bedroom count under Title 5, so the existing system has to be measured against the added load before design is finalized. If it will not carry it, the project becomes a septic upgrade plus an addition, which is a different budget entirely.
It is the first thing we check on any Northborough project, alongside where the wetland lines fall and whether historic review applies.
Boylston borders Northborough to the northwest. Westborough sits to the south and was the parent town until 1775. We are based in Princeton, and we also work in Worcester, Shrewsbury, Grafton, Southborough, Holden, Sterling, West Boylston, and Leominster.
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 Northborough homeowners ask us most. If your question is not here, call us at (774) 249-0221.
Yes, and that is worth knowing before you plan exterior work. Northborough maintains a Historic District Commission along with an inventory of historic properties in town. That is a different thing from a National Register listing, which on its own generally does not restrict what a private owner does to their own building. A local historic district commission can review exterior changes, including materials, window replacement, siding, and sometimes colors. If your property is in or near the town center, confirm your status with the town before design work rather than after.
It can. The Assabet rises in neighboring Westborough and runs through Northborough, and it carries a federal Wild and Scenic River designation granted in 1999. Beyond that, the ordinary Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act rules apply: work within 100 feet of a wetland resource area or within 200 feet of a perennial stream requires Conservation Commission review. With the Assabet and its tributaries running through town, that buffer catches a fair number of Northborough properties. It is a timeline item rather than a barrier, and it should be identified at the site visit.
In most cases yes. Since February 2, 2025, Massachusetts allows one accessory dwelling unit by right on lots in single-family zoning districts statewide, up to 900 square feet or half the gross floor area of the main house, whichever is smaller, with no special permit and no zoning hearing. In Northborough the practical questions are whether your property is on town sewer or private septic, whether the lot sits near a wetland resource area, and whether it falls under historic district review. On a larger lot away from those constraints, an ADU here is straightforward.
Yes for most projects. Any addition, structural change, or conversion of unfinished space into living space requires a building permit from the Town of Northborough, along with electrical, plumbing, and mechanical permits depending on scope. Work near the Assabet, its tributaries, or other wetlands requires Conservation Commission review. Properties in a local historic district may need Historic District Commission review of exterior changes, and properties on septic involve Board of Health review of wastewater capacity. ARM Construction handles the permitting and the inspection schedule as part of the project.
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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