Never use him or trust him. Hired him to build my friend's house in Concord. He borrowed project fund and then applied bankrupt. I never got the money back. read more

Review of Michael J. Kenny, Builder [WARNING: DEALING WITH MIKE KENNY IS AN EXTREME RISK. READ THIS CAREFULLY.] I hired Mike Kenny in June of 2024 to replace siding and trim on the front end of my house. The project was to be complete in 11 weeks and cost $95,500 (as adjusted for change orders). The project ended up COSTING $128,000 AND TOOK ALMOST SIX MONTHS (24 WEEKS) TO COMPLETE. Mike Kenny repeatedly insisted the project was on time and within budget but the accounting indicated it was not. Then I learned that he pocketed a $3,000 down payment I had given him earlier in the project for a supplier. When I confronted him with this information he threatened me and then walked off the job. Ultimately he misappropriated another $2,000 earmarked for the project. Outraged, I filed an arbitration action against Mike Kenny (Case # 01-25-0000-4328) with the American Arbitration Association in January of 2024. A Hearing was finally held and the Hearing was transcribed. By letter dated August 25, 2025, the Arbitrator held Mike Kenny liable to pay me $32,300 in damages which included delay damages along with all Arbitration costs and court fees. Mr. Kenny is evading this obligation. In the course of my pursuit of the Arbitration I did some research and found 4 other homeowners in the past 5 years who had disastrous results with Mike Kenny. The sad truth is that these appear to be ALL of the significant projects Mike Kenny had over the past 5 years. Most of the complaints are similar to mine: that Mike Kenny grossly underbid the project, that he lied repeatedly, the project was hopelessly late, costs ran wildly out of control, that he failed to pay some of his subcontractors, that he takes responsibility for nothing, and that he can become belligerent and even threatening when caught doing something unethical. Several alleged criminal behavior (e.g. forging of signatures, misappropriation of funds). Sadly, my damages (a little over $30,000) were mild compared to others whose damages exceeded $100,000 with their projects being more than a year late. On 4 of his 5 significant projects over the past 5 years, Mike Kenny vanished before completing the job. He is also the Defendant in a lawsuit by a homeowner seeking $300,000 plus treble damages, alleging breach of contract, misappropriation of funds, as well as unfair and deceptive business practices (under Chapter 93A). That lawsuit (Case # 2472CV00108) was filed on March 14, 2023 in the Superior Court of Barnstable County, Cape Code, Massachusetts. Needless to say, Mike Kenny never told me or anyone about this when I hired him to do the project on my home. Mike Kenny has had 4 addresses over the past 4 years. He does not have any construction licenses. He has no employees. He is a Construction Manager who does all of his work via subcontractors. Most of his traditional subcontractors and suppliers consider him a con man and won't work with him anyone. Neither should you. Mike Kenny indicated to me once that he was in the process of "shoring up" his online reviews. I believe that accounts for most of the obviously concocted positive reviews about him. The red flag is that the concocted reviews contain no verifiable positive information. Feel free to comment on this posting. If you wish to share further information privately about Mike Kenny, please send an email to this address: stopmjk@gmail.com. read more

I hired Michael at the recommendation of a designer he worked with for a laundry list of projects in my new home. The work started fine, with several projects actually being completed, but after about 3 months, Michael ghosted me (along with the designer and the clients she had brought to him), leaving unfinished business in my home. After paying for having (almost) my whole home repainted, my hardwood flooring (that I'd paid him for, too) was left with spots of paint that were never cleaned as promised. His painters did not remove the curtain rod brackets (??), painting around them; he did not make good on his promise to complete the painting (which is bubbling in several areas, not 2 years later). I had ordered new hardware for bathrooms and around the house, which were never installed because Michael vanished after texting me a plan to return on Monday. To Michael, you seek validation and respect by talking perpetually about the big, expensive homes you work on, but you do not respect your clients. A simple note letting clients know you wouldn't be continuing to work on homes would have been simple and avoided the hassle of reviews like this one, the result of feeling disrespected and somewhat scammed. read more

I'd like to update my review. Instead of just calling this person names I'd like to explain why you should never, ever hire Mr. Kenny. These are the facts: 1. Budgeting/estimating a job. He cannot, nor does he understand costs, etc. He just cuts and pastes from one job to another into an excel spreadsheet. Mind you, his spreadsheets are quite difficult to follow. It's pie in the sky math. 2. Framing/Framers. These guys were hard workers, no doubt. However, they were terrible. We had leaks for months. This in turn, caused delays, delays, delays. Awful to no window flashing and the same crew did the foundation, which also had a leak. Again, these issues caused major delays. Please see photos attached. 3. Construction site. Mr. Kenny and his crew kept an incredibly messy site, rarely cleaning. It was embarrassing. 4. Painting/Painters. His painting crew did zero prep on the outside of our home. They just painted the trim. Again, no sanding, filler, etc. It was comical. We asked for a reimbursement from Mr. Kenny and tried to contact the painters directly to no avail. Additional cost to repair along with the loss. 5. Front door. During construction, we asked Mr. Kenny to not install the front door until all work was completed. He ignored our request. He installed the front door and placed a "protective" coating named "Peel-Tek Liquid Masking Tape" on both the exterior and interior of the door. However, unbeknownst to us the directions on the Peel-Tek container state the product is not UV Stable and should be removed within 5 days if exposed to UV (outdoors). Needless to say the material baked onto the door and could not be removed. We had to purchase a new door since it was ruined. Please see photo of "Peel-Tek door"...awful. 6. Cabinets/Vanities. We worked for months on the cabinets and vanities. We were lied to about the first vendor we worked with. Mr. Kenny stated he never received any estimate and we should go with another vendor, etc. Unfortunately we agreed. The cabinets showed up in pieces and unassembled! He had to have one of the sub contractors/carpenters read directions (which were missing at times) and assemble the entire kitchen cabinets and vanities. Which took months and we were charged this labor! The labor ending up being more expensive than the cabinetry. This also caused delays. We also find out months and months later the first vendor had indeed sent an estimate which included assembly at a fraction of the labor costs we paid. The cabinets would have showed up assembled and ready to be placed into the kitchen. In addition, Mr. Kenny got most of the measurements wrong which lead to many issues. The vanities were unusable and we lost a lot of money since we had to order a new set, etc. We have a basement which contains a graveyard of cabinets and vanities. Photo attached. I could go on and on, I'm sure you get the point. He is extremely difficult to work with. You literally have to fight to get anything you want. Isn't the purpose of building a custom home to get exactly what you want? With Mr. Kenny you will not. He made our life miserable. This is an honest review and these are the facts. If you hire Mr. Kenny you'd be making one of the worst decisions of your life. That statement is not hyperbole. As my last review says, "You've been warned." Please heed the advice of all who have posted. read more

Michael J Kenny - Leaks - General Contractors Near Me

Speaking from my personal experience, dealing with Mike Kenny to build a home that I love and knowing several home owners who hired Mike as well, I'd say that the overwhelming response, is that Mike builds a high-quality home and uses high-quality materials. He designs the site, preserving trees and the natural environment around the structure and with this talent for design, he creates beautiful and unique homes and developments. Homes that are so unique and quality-oriented that when I passed by one while looking for his work through Concord, West Newbury, Falmouth, Marion, Rockport and Boxford, I know he designed and built it. Mike is very critical of his work and I witnessed him direct his construction crew to remove and rebuild a large dormer that he saw was not in the correct position, it was 8 inches to one side. I questioned his decision, but after looking at the rebuilt dormer I understood. I have to say that he is an exception to the build it fast, cheap and never look back. read more

Please know all the previous reviews for Michael J Kenny are accurate. Michael has left a trail of miserable clients throughout Concord, Carlisle and Cape Cod who had to endure working with him. He is unlicensed and unqualified to build a new home or renovate. He is a dishonorable man and cannot obtain a building permit by legal means. He will lie to gain your business and is unable to deliver quality work within an agreed budget or timeline. His idea of architectural rendering is scribbling on graph paper without the ability to render in 3D or ensure accuracy. He does not care about any of your wishes and will bully and lie to push his own. He turned our dream home into a nightmare--a leaking foundation, framing not plumb, windows not flashed properly, materials mis-ordered and mis-measured, painting not prepped, HVAC filter system missing-- all left unresolved. Please heed all warnings. We wish we had. It cost us dearly in time, money and emotions. read more

Michael Kenny started a project to redo the interior of my 2,000 sq. foot condo in Needham the day I closed on the purchase in 2015. Using a variety of sub-contractors the project moved along until coming to a stop just before the agreed upon completion date. In speaking with the sub-contractors, I learned Mr. Kenny paid them for work on prior jobs with the money I paid him. Mr. Kenny was always eager to collect checks from me, even before the agreed upon milestones were completed (my mistake). He ran into financial difficulty and could not pay the sub-contractors who complained to me. I finally paid them out of pocket and Mr. Kenny promised to repay me. The finish painting was the worst work I have even seen. After 2-3 touch up attempts, I hired my own painter who repainted the entire condo. Mr. Kenny promised to reimburse me for the cost. He did not. I waited nearly 3 months after the scheduled completion date for the installation of a sliding door to my deck. My condo looked like a construction site until the sliding door was finally installed by Mr. Kenny. All along Mr. Kenny promised he would repay the money he owed me, reassuring me about his integrity and honor. In fairness, he did make a couple of $7-800 payments towards the $10,000 he owed me. Then the payments stopped. He also stopped responding to my emails, texts, and calls. Some of the work Mr. Kenny did was excellent. There were changes in the project and Mr. Kenny was quick to charge for them. He works from a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) in a spreadsheet where numbers are added manually. It was really a Memorandum of MIS-Understanding, I constantly updated for my own records. in the end, I feel cheated by Mr. Kenny. He lied to me and is NOT someone I could recommend for any construction project. He was not licensed and used a sub-contractor to pull the required permits for my project. I bought the website http://www.michaelkennysucks.com and debated making a website to chronicle the project. read more

Michael Kenny is a scam artist. He actually doesn't have a builder's license, and he is incapable of finishing a project in a reasonable timeframe with the appropriate sequencing of trades. We had to fire him after we finally purchased our current home after months of delays and finish the project ourselves. We have also heard from other people who are in our shoes! Avoid this guy- he is bad news! read more

He talks a lot and will try hard to get your job. However he is no builder at all. All he cares is to get your money into his bank account. We have hired him to build our house but fired him after framing. He is not performing. He rarely come to site to oversee the project, he also has bad temper. After firing him, we found few hidden problems that will cost a lot to fix. Do not use him. read more