Cabral Carpentry & Painting is the West Roxbury shop people call for a porch that has rotted through, a deck that needs replacing, or a house that needs painting — 23 permits on file, most of them porch rebuilds, deck replacements and interior remodels in Roslindale, Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain and Mattapan, with a typical permit value around $14,000. Donna Cabral runs it; the company says it has served Greater Boston homeowners since 2016 with two crews, and it describes itself as a certified City of Boston women-owned business.
Its Massachusetts construction supervisor licence, CS-115617, is active in the state registry, held by Donna M Cabral. BuildZoom and the BBB both list a home improvement contractor registration, 186700, for the company as well, and its BBB profile carries an A+ grade without accreditation.
The written record splits hard, and a homeowner should look at both halves. On Google the company averages 3.9 across 14 ratings, with several long, warm accounts: a 2023 reviewer whose previous contractor had walked off described Cabral's crew picking the paint job up at a moment's notice and fixing deteriorating woodwork along the way; another in 2023 credited the team with a fast condo refresh before a sale; a 2022 review praised Jason Cabral on a bathroom renovation.
Against that sit two of the most detailed complaints on file, both on BuildZoom, where the average is 2.5 across three reviews. In April 2025 a customer alleged $27,000 taken, three bathrooms framed incorrectly and indoor wood installed on an exterior porch. A 2021 reviewer laid out a bathtub-and-ceiling job in painstaking detail, alleging a deposit above the one-third Massachusetts permits, repeated demands for more money mid-job, no written contract, no permit pulled, and an ungrounded jacuzzi connection with an exposed live wire. A 1-star Google reviewer in early 2024 described a detailed message that was never returned, followed by repeated calls from the owner's number that hung up when answered.
None of those allegations has been tested anywhere public, and the positive accounts are as specific as the negative ones. If you call them, get the contract in writing with the deposit capped at a third, confirm in writing that permits will be pulled and by whom, and insist that any electrical or plumbing tie-in be done by a licensed trade — the two complaints turn on exactly those points.