What does a remodeling project cost in Greater Boston?
Typical Greater Boston range for this kind of work, from regional averages — not a quote from McEachern Insulation, Inc.. Use it to sanity-check bids, then get the real number in writing.
Careful crews — reviewers singled out floor protection, masks and booties
Office communication — a 2021 reviewer described being shouted at by phone
Whole-house access — that 2021 job stopped over which rooms were clear
Dated written reviews — the two on file are from 2016 and 2021
Two things stand out in what people have written about McEachern Insulation. On a 2023 r/massachusetts thread asking for an insulation company around Boston, two different people named this Braintree outfit unprompted — one describing blown-in attic insulation done through Mass Save, plus a bath fan vented through the roof and a storage platform built while the crew was up there; the other saying they had used them seven years earlier with "zero issues."
The second is harder. A March 2021 BuildZoom review gave five stars to the installation team and to Patrick McEachern, and none at all to the office: that customer wrote that the job was halted and the crew pulled off site mid-installation after a phone argument about how much of the house had to be cleared.
The company is family-owned, works out of 44 Helen Road in Braintree, and does essentially one thing — weatherization. Blown-in cellulose made from recycled newspaper, fiberglass, and air sealing, run largely through the Mass Save program. It says it brings more than 30 years in the trade; its BBB file dates the corporation itself to 2002.
For a one-employee corporation, the work volume is the surprise: BuildZoom counts 308 permitted projects. Its Massachusetts home improvement contractor registration, #134227, is active and listed to McEachern Insulation, Inc. BuildZoom and the company's own site also show a construction supervisor specialty number, CSSL-099688 — a listing, not a confirmation. The BBB grades it A+ and notes it has not sought accreditation.
The thing to settle before booking is access. That 2021 complaint turned entirely on which rooms, attics and basements had to be clear on the day, and by the customer's account the disagreement ended the job. Get it in writing: which spaces the crew needs, what happens if one isn't ready, and whether a large house is expected to take two days.
The written accounts are genuine but dated — 2016 and 2021 — while the warmest word-of-mouth is from 2023. For a straightforward Mass Save attic-and-air-sealing job, this is a heavily permitted specialist with a verified registration and crews people speak well of; agree the access plan up front.
Heard around town
On Reddit
PositiveRecs for insulation co in Boston?Sep 9, 2023
“Seconding McEachern. Did my house 7 years ago. Awesome crew, easy to deal with and zero issues!”
PositiveRecs for insulation co in Boston?Sep 9, 2023
“I had McEachern do my attic through MassSave. I thought they did a really good job.
McEachern Insulation
44 Helen Rd, Braintree, MA, 02184
Edit: they did blown in insulation and vented a bath through the roof. Also built a platform for storage.”
5 stars for the team doing the work, 5 stars for the owner Patrick, 0 STARS FOR THE OWNER, CHRISTINE, PERTAINING TO HOW TERRIBLY SHE TREATS HER CUSTOMERS (our experience with CHRISTINE is similar to Gene Y.'s Yelp Review from 2018). We were connected with McEachern Insulation through MassSave. Patrick came in fall 2020 to do an initial walk through. That experience was great. Patrick came again in January 2021 to check on whether or not the insulation in the attic was enough and again our interaction was great. The work was scheduled for March 12. The team arrived on time. They were polite, very professional and thoughtful. We had another contractor come over recently and he accidentally damaged the original hardwood floors in our 100 year old house. Since then, we have made a point to ask anyone coming over to do work to be extra careful with our floors. Again, the team was great, making sure to put down blankets and padding. They also wore masks and booties inside our home. There was some confusion on my part on house access. When the team lead on the job told me they needed access to the whole house I told them that a room upstairs might be tough to get through because we were using it for storage. Still, they had access to 90% of the house. He responded by saying that this due to the size of our house, this could be a two day job and they will do the downstairs and the rooms upstairs that they can get too, but might have to come back to finish anyway. I thought we were all set, but then Christine called, SCREAMING at me. I was completely caught off guard because I thought we had things all figured out with her team lead. She said "Patrick has been to your house twice now and was very clear that we needed access to your whole house, but you won't let us upstairs or in the basement." The part about the basement wasn't true. We gave them full access to our basement as soon as they arrived so I'm not sure what she was referring to (we did have a mason come the day before to repoint the foundation and the walls were still drying, so all I said was I'm sorry it's so dusty down here and just a heads up the walls are wet, but we were inside without a problem). I apologized for my confusion on full house access and told her what her team lead told me - that it might take them two days to do the work anyways. This made her flip out even more. She was yelling at me so much that I actually had to ask her multiple times to stop yelling. It was also confusing because I was just repeating what her team member told me. I said I will start moving the stuff, but it would take some time and asked if they did that part of the house last, how long would it be until they need it. Christine said they would not wait, that it had to be ready right now (even though they just started and still had to work on the entire downstairs and could get to other rooms upstairs later). Christine said she was going to stop the work immediately and pull her team from the job. I asked if we could figure this out so they could finish the job today and get paid for this project. Christine responded with "I don't want to figure this out with you and I don't want your business. I'm having my guys pack up and leave and they are taking pictures so you can't come back and say we broke something." Ummm, what? So after doing one part of our house, the team packed up and left. I'm a new home owner. I hadn't spoken with McEachern Installation in over a month. It was my mistake on the confusion on house access. In the past six months we have had roofers, tilers, multiple masons, plumbers and other general contractors come over to do work. No one has treated us as terribly or unprofessionally as Christine did.
Patrick McEachem was a pleasure to work with. They were responsible for installing the insulation for our home. To this date I have not encountered anything worth complaining about regarding the work done. I am actually quite satisfied with the insulation.