MacKenzie Design Build

We were fortunate to have Monica take on our renovation project at the beginning of the year. Our house is set in a beautiful location, but it is small by today's standards, and had a boxy cramped layout. Monica was able to create a new open plan which provided more storage as well as space saving solutions. It feels like a new house! As a contractor, Monica has built solid relationships with a team of very talented tradesmen. The subcontractors that she chooses to work with are easy to communicate with from a homeowner perspective. They came to work each day with a positive attitude and also came up with some creative work arounds for issues along the way. As a designer, Monica is outstanding! She welcomed our input, and then provided us with a clear picture of how the final outcome would look. Monica communicated with us often, and provided updates and "next steps" frequently. Our house turned out to be more beautiful than we ever dreamed possible. Our kitchen is amazing! If we could give Monica 10 stars we would.

Monica is an amazing design build contractor who has built an exceptional team of professionals. We just completed a large renovation to our 1910 house and were so fortunate to have worked with Monica and her team. As we expected with a house built in 1910 (read: no insultation, crooked walls, defunct heating system, corroded pipes, etc), there were a few round bumps along the way but Monica is wonderful at coming up with creative solutions to any problem that we faced in the process – and the end result was often better than we had originally expected it to be! The team was able to anticipate all the needs for us and our two young children and built a beautiful home for our family. Monica is quite talented in the design process as well and has a unique eye for the entire composition. Her subcontractors are best in class and true professionals – they have great attention to detail and take great care in the house as if it were their own. Thank you Monica and team for making our renovation process FUN and creating a beautiful home for our family for many years to come! It was a pleasure working with you. We highly recommend Monica and the team for any renovations/building projects!

My wife and I hired Monica MacKenzie and her team originally in 2021. Expansion of an existing mudroom was necessary for our active and growing family; the project would be challenging in design and construction. This was a classic infill project on a historically significant home in Crow Point dating to 1875. The exterior space would involve filling in a three-story triangular area between two parts of our Hingham Harbor coastal home. Imagine putting a slice of cake back into the cake! I was excited with the design Monica produced and the work began. They have a solid talented team, the scheduling was impressive, and the communication was frequent during the construction. The project expanded to include a bathroom and a third floor expansion that with the tone of the existing house. The dormers that were added to the attic gave me an improved and expanded view of Hingham Bay and a rare roof deck designed, permitted, and completed on the back half of the house. We are very pleased with the project. Designing and working with Monica and her team was easy and enjoyable. Our relationship has continued. We continue to do more projects with Monica and her team. I am glad to have her design skill, and positive attitude. The results are architecturally in line with the home while streamlined for an active family. I have and will continue to hire Monica in the future.

Monica is a rare find of designer and contractor. She is a wonderful person who really cares about the project and her clients and has an amazing group of subcontractors who follow her direction to get the job done as promised. She has great ideas and also listened to our ideas and combined them to create a beautiful end result.

We have worked with Monica MacKenzie for 15+, fabricating and installing all her stonework. It's such a pleasure to work with a well-organized contractor that pulls her whole team together to organize her complex jobs so that everyone is in step with each other. Monica takes pride in her work and builds relationships with customers. Monica's loyalty to her contractors is the reason we all know and work well together. It has truly become a family. From all of us at: Frangioso Granite, Inc., Braintree, Ma.

We recently completed an addition and a total home renovation with Monica as our GC. Monica was wonderful to work with throughout the entire process. Monica has great relationships with all her subcontractors which helped keep things moving smoothly during the renovation. Our renovations were during a time when getting materials was difficult but Monica had the foresight to order things in a timely manner and also make suggestions for substitutions when needed. Beyond the overall management of the project, Monica took over the design aspect of the home which was incredibly helpful. She was able to make small tweaks in the plans during construction to help the flow of our home and keep everything consistent. Monica has a great eye for color and design ideas from helping us pick out our tile, floors, kitchen and bathroom finishes, and even helped us find our new furniture. She pays attention to the small details while keeping in mind the overall big picture. We highly recommend Monica!

We are so fortunate to be able to work with Monica and her wonderful team. They just completed phase 1 of our project - in the short timeframe we had before a new baby joins us, Monica and the team were able to get everything we wanted done and much much more. Monica’s vision and design is second to none, she stays on budget and keeps everything moving along swiftly. We are planning a bigger phase 2 renovation and have complete confidence in Monica and the team. I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Monica over these last 5 weeks - she is a pleasure to work with. Thank you Monica and team for making our new house a home - we are so grateful!

While in hindsight the pandemic wasn't the best time to redo our house, Monica was ever diligent in working with the sub-contractors and suppliers to get what we needed done in a timely manner. The pandemic also supplied many twists and turns from permits to designs to building materials as it became apparent that business as usual no longer existed. However, despite the challenges we are very happy with how our house turned out and continue to get compliments from neighbors and passersby that they love our house as much as we do.

My husband and I were fortunate to have worked with Monica Mackenzie on a major renovation of our newly purchased home. Her intelligence, decades of experience and savvy understanding of our design aesthetic proved to be heads above the other top designers we had considered. She seamlessly manages and works with her team of contractors to deliver a luxury finished project. We never had the stress of bids, doubts of transparency, or suspicion of sub-par options. She nailed every detail as only a luxury professional does.

Monica MacKenzie, whom I did not meet in person until after our home renovation was completed, did an amazing job of transforming our 1950’s ranch house into a lovely contemporary 2021 ranch home. Monica was able to translate what I wanted in the house through phone calls, text and photos. Because of COVID and distance we never met in person until I moved into the house. Monica was easy to work with as she removed walls, raised ceilings, redid bathrooms and finished the basement. She painted the house inside and out, added front and back porches and many special features to make it pretty and perfect for us. I do love our new home !

Mónica is wonderful to work with ! She is ver generous with her time and talent. She takes the time to understand the Client’s needs, style and budget. Because she has many years of experience she is able to come up with solutions for the space. There is a wait list, but is absolutely worth waiting for. Monica helped us plan over and over and are delighted with the results.

It has been fun, easy and rewarding working with Monica on our home renovations. We bought a house that hadn't been touched in 40 years. I think people thought we were crazy to purchase it, but with Monica's help and crew we’ve turned it into a beautiful, updated home that we are so happy to live in. Monica is excellent at sharing her visions and ideas while also honoring your personal style. She always shared beautiful options with us for light fixtures, finishes, counters etc but was also able to find exactly what we wanted if we had a certain image in our head. She is a great problem solver, both with utilizing awkward spaces and with fixing problems that arise during the project. She is organized, creative, productive and professional and determined to make sure her clients are happy. We will miss her and her upbeat, positive personality now that our project is coming to an end.

We bought our beach cottage on Crow Point some 50 years ago. Monica's initial assignment: renovate and add a garage, don't turn the cottage into a MacMansion and try to maintain the personality of the original architecture. The project started simple enough. The roof was replaced, the window in the guest room re-enforced for a better view of the harbor, the adjoining bathroom re-modelled, AC installed throughout. We immediately recognized the importance of her permanent, highly-qualified trades crew. That gave us the confidence to tackle the more challenging phase of the project: building a two-car garage connecting to a new entrance and squeeze a laundry facility and a powder room into the original entrance. When we started excavating, we ran into zoning problems. Monica was the driving force in restarting the project, relying on her vast network of connections in Town Hall. In the meantime, she re-did our modest galley kitchen, adding two sliding pantries ---a genius way to give us more storage space. The new front of the house now looks terrific. Our neighbors love it!. We couldn't have done it without Monica's creativity and practical skills. The only problem? In the process of working so closely together for such a long time, we've become the best of friends.

We chose Monica MacKenzie and her team a second time for a renovation project on our home. We were told many times our basement was not worth finishing because it wasn’t useable space. Nothing is impossible for Monica. She had a vision - transforming our space into three rooms - a mudroom, a living room with a wet bar under our staircase with wine storage and a bedroom and full bathroom. Working with her is so seamless and fun. From the initial floor plan to the clean up and move in, she was very hands on choosing every finish and every detail throughout. She has great ideas and a talent for pulling together a space. Our family now has a clean, bright and modern space to work, entertain and enjoy together. We could not be happier with how it turned out!

We love Monica and we love the house she and her team built for us. My husband and I both have time intensive jobs and knew that we could not do a project of this scale without somebody we trusted keeping on top of it. Monica really came through for us, managing every aspect of the project from plans to permitting to construction to final design. She has a great team of approachable and skilled tradesmen who show up on time and do beautiful work. The final product is something that is both beautiful and meets our practical needs. We couldn't recommend her more.

Monica is fantastic. She has great ideas and taste and, more importantly, gets things done. She knows her way around our town's historic commission and helped shepherd our large project through with minimal pain. Once started, she is very attentive and easy to get a hold of. Her people always show up and work hard for her. We couldn't be happier with the finished project!

We hired Monica based on word of mouth from a friend who’d worked with her, as well as the good reviews on house. We are thrilled with the results. From our introductory meeting, Monica demonstrated a coherent vision for our project and was full of ideas that helped us to realize what we wanted. She has a great eye and and a designer’s touch, both qualities that are not common in the world of general contractors. The fact that she is a design/build company really streamlined and simplified the process. We live in a historic district, and with her experience, Monica made the whole approval and permitting process as painless as it could be. As for her team, her subcontractors were extremely skilled craftsmen who were professional and courteous throughout, and they did an amazing job in bringing our very old kitchen into the 21st century. So so happy with the results!

Monica and her team were outstanding ! From the vision of a new kitchen expanded project to the final days of finish carpentry and painting, we were thrilled. Monica kept us updated and revised any last minute details with a no problem attitude . Her talent is not only in picking her team but also interior design expertise . We highly recommend Monica MacKenzie design and her team of professionals.

We recently had the pleasure of working with Monica Mackenzie as GC of our kitchen remodel. From the layout design to the finished product, Monica produce an amazing kitchen that's beyond our expectation! Also the project was completed well within the anticipated time frame and budget. We highly recommend her services!

Monica was a pleasure to work with. She was easily accessible and involved in every step of the process. She had ideas that aligned with our style and requests. Work was done on time and met all of our goals. Her staff was professional and most surprisingly VERY clean. We would highly recommend Monica!

I’m working with Monica MacKenzie Design to do a major renovation on my home (two floor addition including mudroom, kitchen, master bedroom , three bathrooms and laundry room) and I’ve been very happy with her vision, her flexibility and she has taken so much off our plate during a time that our family is juggling many other priorities. Our new home has surpassed our expectations!

We hired Monica for an extensive kitchen and first floor renovation and could not be happier with the results. Monica had the unique ability to transform our 1980's colonial home into a modern open concept floor plan. We now have a beautiful kitchen, pantry, powder room and mud room. Choosing cabinets, hardware, granite, light fixtures etc. can be overwhelming but Monica made the process so much easier. Her keen sense of design and attention to detail has given us a fully functional top quality kitchen and renovated first floor. Monica has a great team of subcontractors. Since completion of the project, we have received numerous compliments on the great design and the quality of the workmanship. We feel we truly have a first class kitchen. We were impressed with how well coordinated everything was. As a result, everything moved along smoothly and the project was completed on time. We highly recommend Monica and her team!

We heard about this firms work from friends. Our house is an 1814 historical antique and we needed some careful, professional and sensitve upgrades to our Study. Monica came and suggested upgrades that enhanced the functionality of the room. We added built in library shelves, built in cabinets, and historically correct crown moulding. She helped with the selection of furniture that makes the room a comfortable place to work and study. Next project is a kitchen upgrade.

We are so pleased with our renovation project - Monica and her entire team were wonderful to work with. She provided helpful advice on how to best preserve the history of the house, and great design suggestions including layout, fixtures, hardware, paint color, etc. We really loved working with her and would do so again.

My husband and I had the pleasure of working with Monica and her crew to build a carriage house, and the experience was incredibly positive. We were appreciative that Monica’s genuine enthusiasm for our project never waned. From the start she operated with a real can-do attitude, she remained attentive to our needs and kept an open line of communication. We were grateful for Monica's keen sense of style and fabulous attention to detail, which became especially apparent during the finishing phase. But throughout the project Monica’s extensive knowledge, level of professionalism and experience as a general contractor & designer continually proved to be second to none. She leads a team of highly skilled & experienced professionals who are also courteous, considerate, and flexible. On the whole, this project could not have gone better, and we are thrilled with the finished product. Thanks MM!

We have worked for Monica on two substantial renovation projects at our house (Summer 2010; Winter 2015) and have been very pleased with the results each time. Monica has been a perfect fit for us (working couple with limited interior design skills) in that she has both creative interior design ideas as well as great project management skills. She was able to get a sense for our style preferences and then work independently to offer ideas for us to consider, which were consistently spot on. She marshals all of the required contractors and was able to work under tight deadlines and keep on schedule. We very much appreciated that she was cost conscious and was able to use her resourcefulness and discounts to obtain quality items at reasonable prices. We also respected her working style in that she is direct, she stands behind her work, and has a fun personality, which makes the project more enjoyable. We would certainly use her for any additional projects we would consider for our home.

Monica and her team completely transformed the interior of our home into a beautiful coastal cottage. She has outstanding vision of what is possible and of how to make a home beautiful, comfortable, and livable. All of the design, construction, and finishes were of high quality and the project was completed within budget. We were thrilled with the team and the results of the project and we would very highly recommend Monica MacKenzie Design to others seeking to renovate their homes.

We hired Monica to design and build an expanded new kitchen, add a mud-room/office area, move laundry from 1st floor to a new 2nd floor laundry room, relocate bathroom and other minor reconfiguration. Monica knows her business well, and has a good group of professionals working for her. She has an excellent "can-do" attitude and does not stop until the client is satisfied. She definitely listened to what was important to us and worked hard to make our lives easier as we lived through the project. We would go out of our way to recommend Monica's services. We love our new Kitchen!!!!!!!

I have had the pleasure of working with Monica for the past four years. Monica has turned my 50 year old home into a 2014 designed coastal home. Monica's eye for detail, color, and design has been invaluable. Monica is able to 'see' things that I would never 'see' and when implemented, are always right on. Projects have included family room, new bathrooms, and new kitchen, cosmetic updates including painting, window treatments, etc. as well enhancements to exterior to create more curb appeal. I would highly recommend Monica and her team.

We are now over one year in our Monica MacKenzie renovated home. We previously had written a partial review prior to the punch list being completed - at the 6-month mark - which is detailed below. I am very happy to say all final small-work items were checked off well before the 1-year mark.... This updated to that review is long overdue, which I regret, as Monica & team worked very hard with us to tie up all loose ends! With Monica we were able to add nearly 40% of livable space to our home, add built-ins & finish upgrades & still come in around expense levels that our highest bidders had estimated for our original scope! This, to us, was a phenomenal outcome. Friends and visitors have complimented our home, specifically admiring items selected by Monica for each room, her built-ins and design touches etc. It's surprising to many and - as I write below - very rare that a GC will also advise on decor, light fixtures, built-ins, and generally take so much proactive interest in the finished move-in look and feel of the home they are coordinating renovation of... with Monica, creating gorgeous living spaces is her passion, & her portfolio of beautiful work and scores of genuinely happy customers speaks for itself. PREVIOUS REVIEW Monica and team have been a pleasure to work with and have executed with confidence to convert what was historically a duplex to a single family home, including extensive structural work with removal of center wall, update of all systems, conversion of garage into a four-season porch, finishing the basement, building out four new bathrooms, a new kitchen & restoring the exterior. Throughout the process she married both the practical / functional as well as aesthetic aspects, aiding us greatly in finish selection which is a rare & highly valued skill set & service offering to find in a GC. Monica has an incredible design capability and is a truly wonderful partner in the renovation process. She helped us figure out the best use and layout for our spaces and helped with the difficult task of sourcing lighting, hardware, drapes, furniture & linens for our new home as well. We love how we now live in our new space & would recommend Monica to prospective renovators. She has a clear passion for design and works very hard to achieve the optimal outcome for her clients at the best price.

After 25 years and 4 kids our home was badly in need of a renovation. We also wanted to add an office space over the existing garage. Monica MacKenzie listened to our plans and needs and converted our wish list into a beautiful, working home. She upgraded our kitchen, making better use of the space and opening up walls to give us a more open floor plan and a much more functional kitchen. She added windows to the family room which not only brought in more light but also gave architectural interest as she added moldings to complement the built-in bookcases and fireplace, which were also her design. Monica's ability to incorporate our style and her incredible designs into a cohesive, beautiful result is amazing. We could not be more pleased with her work. She is tireless, attentive, detail oriented (in the best way) and a pleasure to work with. She stayed on schedule and on budget throughout the project. All of her crews were extremely professional and courteous. We wholeheartedly give Monica MacKenzie our highest recommendation. She gave us our dream home.

You always hear "never do business with your friends", but what if you start a relationship by hiring and over the course of the project develop such admiration that you end as friends? Can you do business again? now as friends? Absolutely, I would. Words cannot express the admiration and respect that evolved for Monica MacKenzie and team as they worked through a complete gut / re-build of our home in Hingham, Massachusetts. From our initial meeting, Monica was excited, and her excitement and positive energy was contagious from start to finish. Living through a re-hab project can weigh on a displaced family, Monica's positive energy and focus on the end was a large injection of needed optimism. Building upon the great energy from her and her team; I think Monica separates herself from her peers with incredible effort, vision and second to none execution. With most construction projects, the 2 pain points typically revolve around budget and timeline. On budget, Monica executed flawlessly. She handled negotiations for materials, services and labor as if she was paying with her own money. I don't think you can ask for more than that. On timeline, she projected a "move in" date and we're within a week of that projection. The reason she can deliver on time can be attributed to the fact her workers adore her. She has a talented team of great people - retains them by keeping them busy with work, treats them with respect, and they are all incredibly loyal. They bend over backwards to ensure Monica's clients are happy. From initial meeting to move in, Monica was fantastic. Although we began the project as acquaintances and ended as friends - I would break the cardinal rule for our next project and do business with our friend, Monica MacKenzie.

We are currently working with Monica and could not be happier with her amazing work. We had a house fire earlier this year. What we saw as a "broken" home, she saw a vision. She never swayed from her vision and in a few weeks, we will be living in our beautiful home again. Her eye for design is like no other. The contractors that she uses are also top-notch. She is FULL service - she handles every aspect of the project from design to finish. There is absolutely no question that we would use her for any future project that we may have. She is AMAZING!

We just completed an extensive renovation of a 40 year old home. Project included kitchen, 3 bathrooms and mechanicals. Monica worked closely with us every step of the way. Great ideas and options at every turn. We would highly recommend Monica Mackenzie Design.

I hired Monica to do a complete renovation of this property which included adding a new kitchen, bathroom, outdoor deck, and decorating the entire home. She has demonstrated her ability to "deliver" by: initially giving an overview of what the job would entail, providing options on what materials were available, gaving updates as the project progressed, and was also cost conscious. I would highly recommend using her services!

Monica had the vision and expertise to take our home from a dated, structurally unsound money pit, through a COMPLETE GUT renovation, into a wonderful, like-new home that captures our tastes and preferences perfectly. Monica's took care of permitting, historic and conservation commission approvals, demolition to the studs and down to the dirt under the house, foundation and site work (grading and a new driveway), re-supporting the old house, building an addition, reconfiguring the layout, new kitchen...on and on all the way to picking out the towel hooks in the kids bathroom, sheets for our beds and helping to rehang our old pictures in a way that we had never thought of before. Monica's communication skills are superb and she really does listen to, remember and pass on to her crew EVERY detail. She’s also not afraid to tell you if something is a bad idea. Monica is tireless in her pursuit of fair pricing from every subcontractor and on every item she buys. She has an eye for detail and is mindful of how the home will function once the dust settles. And, she is a pleasure to work with.

Monica coordinated changes to the interior of my house such as painting, carpentry and floors. She had a vision of what would work in certain spaces and helped to direct in a way while still respecting my desires. She is a talented interior designer as well. She is very skilled in managing projects and is a joy to work with!

Working with Monica was a pleasure from start to finish. She has both the knowledge of a general contractor and the vision of an interior designer, so the finished product was kept in mind from the very beginning. Monica’s attention to detail never wavered throughout the arduous process of re-configuring an antique cape, and she was able to help us turn many would-be issues into bonus features of the finished product. She was extremely attentive to our thoughts and ideas and accommodating of our needs throughout the renovation. We couldn’t have done it without her!