Rockland's mixed housing, rebuilt one unit at a time

Nearly half the housing is not a standalone house

Census figures count about 7,300 homes in Rockland, and roughly 45 percent of them are something other than a detached single-family house. Yet close to four in five are owner-occupied. Put those numbers together and you get a town where many owners live in one side of a duplex, one floor of a two-family, or a condo, and want that unit rebuilt properly. With about ten square miles of land and very little water, it is also a compact inland town, so most homes sit within sight of the next.

That changes how a job runs. Shared walls carry sound and can carry fire separation requirements, so demolition and new wall assemblies are planned with the other side in mind. In a two-family where the second unit is rented, we schedule loud work and any water or power shutoffs around the tenant's day, and we tell you what the tenant will notice before it happens.

For condos and attached units, the association usually has its own approval process for anything touching structure, plumbing stacks or the exterior. We work from your documents and hand the board a written scope, so a pending approval is not the reason a kitchen sits half finished.

You get a written scope before work starts, and changes are written and priced before they are built.

Prewar framing next to postwar ranches

More than a quarter of Rockland's housing predates 1940, and the median year built is around 1964. The work splits between two kinds of house. The older ones bring plaster walls, balloon framing that lets air and fire travel between floors, and the occasional run of knob-and-tube wiring found when a ceiling comes down. The postwar ones bring small kitchens closed off from the rest of the house and a single bath for the whole family.

With the median house built in the mid sixties, most homes in town predate 1978, so lead-safe work practices under EPA RRP are part of the plan on most jobs rather than an exception. We contain the work area, keep dust out of the rest of the house, and clean at the end of each day as if the room will be used that night, because in an occupied two-family it often is.

When we open a wall in an older house, we stop and show you what is there before deciding what to do about it. If a wall carries a load, you hear that before anyone swings a hammer, and the header, posts and inspection are handled in the open.

Close enough for daily attention

Rockland is about 15 miles northeast of Raynham, close enough that Steve can be on site when decisions are being made instead of reachable only by voicemail. That was the point of starting Modern Remodeling. After years working for builders who lacked communication, his standard became better communication and making sure the job is done right.

You get a written scope before work starts, and changes are written and priced before they are built. Permits run through the town building department under 780 CMR, with framing, insulation and final inspections, while the licensed electrician and plumber handle their own. On a tight street we keep the curb side clean, park with the neighbors in mind and keep the dumpster where it was agreed.

Kitchens and baths in Rockland units tend to be tight, so layout decisions carry weight. We measure the room, look at where the drain and vent lines can realistically run in a shared building, and give you a plan that fits the space you have rather than one that only works on paper. If a stack cannot move, you will know that before the cabinets are ordered.