SERVING WEST BOYLSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
Home additions, ADUs, kitchens, baths, and custom stonework for West Boylston homeowners. ARM Construction self-performs foundation and masonry work, which matters more here than in most towns.
West Boylston is a small town, around 7,600 people, sitting a few miles north of Worcester and directly on the shore of the Wachusett Reservoir. It is also the town where the reservoir took the biggest bite. Between 1896 and 1905 the state flooded the valley to supply drinking water to Boston, and West Boylston gave up more than 2,200 acres, more land than any of the four affected towns. Over 1,700 residents were displaced. Three hundred homes, eight schools, six mills, four churches, and a hotel came out of the valley. The Old Stone Church, built in 1892, is the only building left standing from the original town center.
That history is not just local color. It shaped the housing stock in a way that still shows up on job sites.
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 the company holds Home Improvement Contractor Registration #153199, both active and verifiable through the Commonwealth.
West Boylston housing runs heavily to detached single-family homes, with a median build year around the mid-1960s, which means a lot of postwar colonials and ranches alongside a smaller set of much older houses in the surviving village areas. That mix drives the work. Postwar homes here tend to have closed-off kitchens and one small full bath, so kitchen remodeling and bathroom remodeling are steady. Lots are large enough in most of town that home additions and in-law suites make sense rather than moving.
We also build sunrooms and four season rooms, garage and basement conversions, whole home remodels, custom masonry and stonework, decks, siding, and flooring. One company, one point of contact, from the first walkthrough to the final inspection.
When the valley was flooded, not everything was demolished. Roughly 25 houses, along with a cemetery, were physically relocated to higher ground in the parts of West Boylston that still exist today. Those houses are still standing, still lived in, and still being remodeled.
Here is why that matters if you own one. A house that was moved sits on a foundation built at the time of the move, not at the time the house was framed. The structure above and the structure below can be separated by decades, built to different standards, by different hands, out of different materials. Sills and framing get modified during a move. Chimneys and masonry get rebuilt rather than relocated. None of that is a defect. It is simply a different situation than a house that has sat on its original foundation since the day it was built, and it changes what you find when you open things up for an addition.
This is the kind of house where the foundation connection determines whether an addition works, and it is exactly the reason we self-perform our foundation and masonry work rather than subcontracting it. When the crew that assesses the existing foundation is the same crew that ties the new one into it, problems get identified in week one instead of week six.
West Boylston sits directly on the Wachusett Reservoir, which supplies drinking water to roughly 2.7 million people in eastern Massachusetts, and the state protects it accordingly. The DCR Division of Water Supply Protection keeps its regional field headquarters right in town on Beaman Street. The Watershed Protection Act regulates land use within critical areas near tributaries, wetlands, and surface water throughout the watershed, and few towns sit closer to the resource than this one.
For most projects on most lots it never comes up. For properties near the shoreline, near a tributary, or near wetlands, it can affect where you are allowed to build and how much impervious surface you can add. It is not a reason not to build. It is a reason to know before drawings are done, because redesigning around a constraint discovered at permitting costs far more than designing around one you knew about at the start. We check it at the site visit.
The wastewater picture also matters. Most of West Boylston is sewered. The town's system covers roughly 85 percent of residential properties, and connection is mandatory for any property within the sewered district under a Board of Health regulation adopted in 2002. That simplifies an addition or an ADU considerably compared with neighboring towns, since Title 5 septic capacity is not the constraint it is in Sterling or Princeton. For the minority of West Boylston properties outside the sewered district, septic sizing under Title 5 still applies and is the first thing we check.
Any project that changes the footprint or the structure of a house in West Boylston needs a building permit, and depending on scope you may also need electrical, plumbing, and mechanical permits. Work near wetlands goes to the Conservation Commission. Properties near the reservoir or its tributaries can involve state watershed review beyond the town, and the town also contains several National Register historic districts, including Oakdale Village and Bigelow Tavern, where exterior work may draw additional review.
We handle all of it. We pull the permits, coordinate the inspections, and deal with the town and any state review the project requires, so you are not the one filling out applications or sitting through a meeting.
Holden borders West Boylston to the west and is the largest of the neighboring towns. Boylston sits directly east across the reservoir and shares the same watershed considerations. We also work in Princeton, where we are based, along with Sterling, Worcester, Shrewsbury, Leominster, Westborough, Northborough, Southborough, and Grafton.
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 West Boylston homeowners ask us most. If your question is not here, call us at (774) 249-0221.
Because a number of them were physically moved. When the Wachusett Reservoir was built between 1896 and 1905, West Boylston lost over 2,200 acres, more than any other town, and roughly 25 houses along with a cemetery were relocated to higher ground rather than demolished. A house that was moved sits on a foundation built at the time of the move, not at the time the house was framed. If you own one, the structure above and the structure below can be decades apart in age and construction method, which matters a great deal when you tie an addition into it.
It can, and West Boylston is one of the towns where it comes up most. The Wachusett Reservoir borders the town directly, and the DCR Division of Water Supply Protection keeps its regional field headquarters on Beaman Street in West Boylston. The state Watershed Protection Act regulates land use within critical areas near tributaries, wetlands, and surface water throughout the watershed. Whether it affects your project depends on where your lot sits relative to those resources, which is something we check at the site visit rather than at permitting.
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 West Boylston the practical questions are whether the property is on sewer or private septic, how close the lot sits to watershed-regulated resources, and what the existing foundation will support if the plan is an attached unit.
Yes for most projects. Any addition, structural change, or conversion of unfinished space into living space requires a building permit from the Town of West Boylston, along with electrical, plumbing, and mechanical permits depending on scope. Work near wetlands requires Conservation Commission review, and properties near the reservoir or its tributaries may involve state watershed review as well. 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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