Local business · Needham, MALocal business · 97 Chapel St #3, Needham, MA 02492, USA
Verified record
Typical Greater Boston range for this kind of work, from regional averages — not a quote from Hawthorn Builders. Use it to sanity-check bids, then get the real number in writing.
Cabinets are roughly 30% of a kitchen budget.
Estimated range
$23,000 – $35,000
Typical kitchen remodel around $29,000
Twenty Google ratings, every one of them five stars, and what homeowners keep describing isn't the finish work — it's how the job gets run. Hawthorn Builders is a Needham outfit that Mathew Roth and Ryan McDonnell, then neighbours on Hawthorn Avenue, started in February 2005; in January 2007 they bought a Needham house, tore it down and built their first. The company says it has since constructed or renovated more than 250 properties around greater Boston, and its work runs from custom homes and additions to net-zero and passive houses, luxury ADUs, and a home-care service for finished projects. Permit records carry the scale: 38 permitted projects, thirteen of them in the last three years, a typical permit around $155,000, and jobs as large as a $1,230,000 full interior and exterior renovation and a $1,200,000 new build, clustered in Brookline, Needham, Chestnut Hill and Cohasset. Process is what recurs in the reviews. A homeowner writing in November 2025 about an unfinished basement turned into a rec room with a new bathroom named three people — Matt at the first meeting, Ryan on financial updates, Adam day to day — and said there were few surprises against the budget. In November 2024 a couple finishing a barn restoration and master bathroom wrote that the project stayed on budget, communication was constant and deadlines were met. In April 2024 another client credited the team with finding them an architect and matching them to designers through a long run of decisions. And in June 2023 a homeowner who had run five comparable renovations with other contractors over the previous decade put the difference down to Hawthorn's site supervisors and project management. The technical end shows up too. A client whose Wellesley zero-net-energy house broke ground in June 2020 wrote in August 2023 that the team absorbed the pandemic-era disruption and worked to their architect's and designer's plans. Two things to settle before calling. This is a high-end builder by its own listing — Houzz states a typical job cost of $250,000 to $5 million — so it is not the shop for one small room. And while BuildZoom says it verified an active Massachusetts construction supervisor licence and home improvement contractor registration in mid-2026, those are the directory's records rather than a state check, so ask for the numbers and confirm them yourself. The right call for a whole-house renovation, an addition, or a custom or high-performance build in the Needham, Brookline and Newton corridor, where coordinating architect and designer matters as much as the framing. Ask which project manager would run your job — by the reviews, that is much of what you are buying.
Hawthorn helped us with a complete basement renovation where they took our unfinished space and transformed it into a hangout space and rec room, including the addition of a bathroom, for our family. From our initial meeting with Matt, the financial updates with Ryan and our day to day interactions with Adam, the whole team was wonderful to work with. They were professional, skilled, punctual and transparent throughout the process. There were little to no surprises and they did a great job helping to manage to our budget. We absolutely love our new space, and appreciated the creative solutions and design that the team offered. We had an incredibly positive experience throughout the 5 month project and would highly recommend Hawthorn to anyone looking for an excellent contractor/builder.
Hawthorn is amazing to work with. We worked with them to build a new custom home, have used their home management services, and also are working with them on a renovation to a vacation home. The quality and durability of their work is unmatched and they are extremely responsive. We appreciate that everyone at Hawthorn is great to work with as well, they truly partner with the homeowner on all work and everything is very transparent. Cannot recommend highly enough.
We recently completed a master bath remodel, along with an extensive garage and barn project. From beginning to end everyone at Hawthorn was great to work with. After having a not so great experience with another contractor it was a breath of fresh air to work with Hawthorn. Highly recommend them!
We just completed a barn restoration and master bathroom renovation with Hawthorn Builders. From start to finish, we thoroughly enjoyed working with each member of the Hawthorn team. The project remained on budget, there was constant communication throughout, and deadlines were met. The work is truly top notch. We couldn't be happier with the final product and would absolutely recommend Hawthorn to any potential clients. We look forward to working with them again in the future.
We discovered Hawthorn as we were searching for a builder for our renovation. They had been working on another project in our town so we decided to reach out. From the first meeting onward, the level of service and honesty were outstanding. Every member of their team, whether the owners or others on the team, were all fantastic to work with. They helped us find a best-fit architect for our needs, matched us to designers, and exhibited a ton of patience as we worked through a multitude of decisions, both big and small. Our project manager, Sean, was amazing. Not only was he a strong project coordinator, he was a trusted advisor. His background in carpentry and his experience with builds showed throughout. All of the vendors they brought in were highly coordinated and excellent craftsmen. We were thrilled with the result; they transformed our old coastal colonial into a beautifully crafted traditional home, with attention to detail on historically accurate high-quality elements. We're super happy with our decision to work with Hawthorn and highly recommend them to others. They're small enough to provide the highly personalized service we were looking for, and big enough to tackle high-end large scale programs.
Specializes in
Also offers
Service area
Languages
Added 15 new comments, added 45 new photos, established rating 4.1
4.5136 reviews
4.5131 reviews
4.531 reviews
4.4133 reviews