Museum-Quality Construction Work in the Edgartown Historic District I postponed replacing my 30-year-old windows because I could not find a contractor familiar with local historic district building requirements that would consider taking on a small job like mine (15 windows). Our house is not historic, but we still need contractors to adhere to local historic and building department rules. A friend recommended David Parent at Shoreline Management. The first thing I did was to check out the online reviews for Shoreline and David Parent. The reviews made it clear that David was familiar with local regulations and is trusted by local historic and building officials. I also called both of the Andersen Window dealers on MV (they know -every- contractor). Both dealers were very familiar with David and Shoreline Management and were eager to mention that they enjoyed working with him on projects both big and small. Even though I was 500 miles away, David and I found the right kind of windows, working through dozens of choices and hundreds of options. We discovered that adding an inexpensive Andersen SmartSun coating made my windows eligible for an "Energy Star Rating" (and a small tax credit). David documented everything in a way that I could understand and he made sure that the ordered windows were exactly what we selected. This attention to detail is important when juggling multiple revisions and finally ordering custom windows that can't be returned. Also, note that construction material logistics is a VERY big challenge on Marthas Vineyard--everything arrives by ferry. Good contractors, like David Parent have close relationships with local suppliers to track arrival dates so that work crews can be organized upon arrival. Shoreline contacted me about the installation date, which was a couple of days after the windows arrived in MV. Weeks before, David planned our window install around my Tile contractor's schedule to make sure they both could work inside the house, right before the July 4 holiday. On the very first day of the job, David showed up with 7 carpenters. During every day he was here, 7-9 people were working for at least 8 hours per day. (Several neighbors called to ask how I was able to get so many carpenters working in Edgartown at the same time, especially in July!) Not only is this full staffing more efficient, it gave David Parent more time for quality control. I have seen other contractors struggling to juggle multiple concurrent client jobs that result in understaffed crews that need 3-6 weeks to complete their work. Speaking of quality, Shoreline noticed that one of the new wooden frames was cracked when they opened the undamaged window packaging. Now, this crack -could- have possibly been repaired (glued, repainted) but David immediately rejected the window and had a replacement "rush ordered" to our home. The next month, David's crew showed up with the new window and spent 20 minutes unloading a van of full of specialty tools and saws. They used two different lasers to align the window perfectly. Shoreline's carpenters Gustavo and Lucas are master craftsmen with an eye for detail. You really should be home when you decide to replace all the windows in your house. However, David made sure to us send photos and videos of the work-in-progress (some contractors hate doing this). I could see that David's window carpenters were very experienced--you don't want new trainees installing $1,000 windows. At the end of the project, David sent very long videos showing both the inside and outside of each window install to demonstrate that the job site was cleaned up. Anyone planning construction projects in Edgartown should talk to David Parent. I am glad I did. read more