About
Why this site exists
A directory built by someone who grew up on the South Shore and watched his parents spend years trying to find the right help for an old house.
The short version
I grew up by the harbor, in an old colonial with my two parents. The house was the kind that always needed something. A soft spot in the floor. A window that wouldn't close. A roof that had leaked once and might again. The work was never the hard part. Finding the right person to do the work, that was the hard part.
Word of mouth was the best thing going, and even that was unreliable. Our neighbors knew a plumber. The family down the street had a carpenter. The woman at the end of the block swore by a painter she had used for twenty years. It worked if you had lived in town long enough to ask the right neighbor. It fell apart if you hadn't. Not everyone had good people. And nobody had good people for every trade.
So I built this. A directory and an advice library for the South Shore and Plymouth County, written by someone who grew up here and knows what it was like when there wasn't one.
What this site is
A directory and an advice library for the South Shore of Boston and Plymouth County, covering 25 towns and 13 home-services categories. It works the way I wish the internet had worked for my parents:
- Directory listings are sorted alphabetically or by public review score. I don't sell position. The code literally doesn't support it.
- Every rating I cite comes from a public source, with the month and year the data was captured.
- When Featured Partners show up, they sit in a separately labeled sponsored section. They never move the organic list.
- The writing names what things cost, what questions to ask, and what the permit office actually does. No fluff.
And what it isn't
This site isn't a replacement for doing your own homework. I link you to the Massachusetts eLicensing portal, the HIC registration database, and the town permit office. You should use them. If a contractor can't produce a license number in writing, that is information about how the rest of the job is going to be run.
How we make money
The site sells clearly-labeled Featured Partner placements to licensed contractors. Every placement is visibly badged, sits in a separate sponsored section, and never affects the organic directory sort. The full business model is spelled out on the disclosure page.
Featured Partner placements are the only revenue line, and every one is disclosed in the same sentence as the listing. The full policy — retention, data handling, what partners see and don't see — lives on the privacy page.
The promises
Four rules, baked into the code and into every editorial decision:
- Listings are sorted by public data. Alphabetical by default, or by aggregate public review score. Never by paid placement.
- Every review citation is dated.You see the month and year the data was captured. No “recent Google reviews” sleight of hand.
- Paid placements are labeled and separated. FTC-compliant, every page, every time.
- Corrections happen in 5 business days. If we get your info wrong, tell us and we fix it.
Who runs this
One person. Me. The writing is not ghost-written and the directory is not outsourced to a content farm. I am not a contractor. I am not a tradesman. I am a homeowner and a writer who grew up here.
Every factual claim on this site is sourced from a public record you can click to verify. When I get something wrong, the corrections page is how I fix it, within 5 business days.
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