Modern Yankee Builders

My husband and I purchased an old colonial home in Rhode Island the end of 2021. She was built in 1740, so we can actually call her old. Discovering she was a tavern during the American Revolution made it extremely important that we stay true to that time period and equally important, bring her back to her glory. She was in remarkably good shape, but the exterior shingles were worn out and needed to be replaced. The interior is still all original. The floors, doors, windows and blacksmith hardware are all original. Some wood has been painted over but that can be fixed. Previous owners did some DIY projects on the exterior that needed to be reversed. It was time to bring in the professionals! We hired Modern Yankee Builders to create a Master Plan for our property and to design and oversee our renovations. Joe Cracco is the owner and a true gentleman. He also has a house that was built in 1760 which made him absolutely perfect for the job! He has more knowledge in his pinky than I could ever hope to have in my entire body when it comes to old colonial homes. The man is a walking encyclopedia! First, Joe had us fill out a very in-depth questionnaire to gauge our wants and needs. Having several remodels under our belt, this was refreshing. Joe has been patient, kind and honest about what would work best for our home. Most of all, he listens. He explains in great detail why he is doing certain things or changing certain things. Since our house is 283 years old, you always get the inevitable "surprise". He comes up with a magical fix and never skips a beat. He has gone above and beyond on this project. He gets down into the minutiae of details to make sure everything is period appropriate and built correctly. He makes sure the router bit is correct for the windowsills to look like they were made in 1740. Somehow, he located a gal who is a blacksmith to recreate some strap hinges and thumb latches that look old and authentic! He even tracked down some bullseye glass to match the existing. Amazing! We planned to add on a section off the three-season porch as a grill patio. Since the three-season porch is original and was built post and beam, Joe showed up with some old posts out of his garage and is using some old beams from an outbuilding that had been removed to make our grill patio look 283 years old. Joe truly goes above and beyond. I could go on and on about what an absolute pleasure Joe is to work with and all the things this man has done for us. He’s a treasure! Wicked smart and a great sense of humor. I would hire him again and again and again! Thank you, Joe! We are in awe of you and your capabilities!

The best way I can describe Joe and the Modern Yankee company is thoughtful. A second immediate thought adjective is considerate. Working with Joe is what most only hope for when dealing with a designer/ contractor. Everything is clear, there is consistent two way communication and your job site is treated with care. Modern Yankee was hired to do a big "little" repair to our Juliette Porch. The job took a few unexpected turns and Joe and MY went out of their way to be clear and transparent. This is a business that treats your job like it is their job and the attention to detail is evident. We have dealt with other skilled trades for things like landscaping and painting and what we jokingly say to each other after dealing with these other companies is : " well they all aren't like Joe ....."

We hired Modern Yankee Builders to design the remodel of our traditional cape after admiring their portfolio of work online. This was an extensive model of the entire ground floor and exterior, including converting the garage to a family room and adding a breezeway to standalone garage. So glad we chose MYB because of Joe Cracco's thoroughness with every aspect of the project. He spent countless hours with us to understand our vision and style so that the final design exceeded all expectations. We relied on Joe throughout the process to come up with creative solutions to design elements we wanted to achieve. The actual building phase of the project went seamlessly thanks to Joe's construction plans because of his meticulous attention to detail and his own extensive construction experience. Joe was in constant communication with us throughout the construction answering any questions we had and working closely with the builder. Our decision to use MYB and Joe Cracco for the design and construction plans of our home remodel was the smartest investment we could have made!

We are remodeling the entire ground floor of our cape including converting the garage to a family room and adding a breezeway to standalone garage. In conducting research, we admired MYB's portfolio of work and engaged Joe Cracco to design the project for us. He spent countless hours with us to understand our vision and style so that the final design has exceeded all expectations. We relied on him throughout the process to come up with creative solutions to design elements we wanted to achieve. We retained Joe to produce the construction plans knowing that his meticulous attention to detail and extensive project experience will make the actual construction phase go smoothly. He is in constant communication so that we understand every step of the process. Our decision to use MYB and Joe Cracco for the design and construction plans of our home remodel has been the smartest investments we could have made!

I'm in the business so i have high standards and expectations, but Joe managed to exceed my expectations. He installed a 12' slider onto our deck and it came out amazing. We then wanted shiplap installed in our family room so we asked Joe to do it and, like the slider, that came out great as well. Every bit of his work was clean and meticulous. Joe was very communicative throughout the entire process, and he started and finished exactly when he said he would. Would hire again in a heartbeat.

My husband and I recently had the pleasure of working with Modern Yankee Builders and in reflecting on the experience, it exceeded our expectations in every way. Initially we reached out to Modern Yankee to discuss adding a garage to our house. Our first impression of owner Joe Cracco was only reinforced after each subsequent meeting— he is a consummate professional; an enthusiastic craftsman who intentionally fosters a partnership with his clients to ensure that his work in their homes will improve their lives on a daily basis. Modern Yankee’s design / build process really helped us get the most out of our remodeling experience. As we discussed the ideas we had for our garage addition at the initial consultation, we mentioned that we wanted to do a smaller scale kitchen and mudroom project that included cabinetry, a breakfast bar and coat closet. We ended up breaking out that smaller project and entered into the conceptual design phase on two projects instead of just one. While we evaluated different concepts and sets of plans for the garage addition, we were able to move into plan finalization and then construction for the kitchen and mudroom remodel. It was wonderful to see our ideas come to life, and one of the keys to the flawless execution was the partnership with Joe. When we told him what we wanted to see as an end result, he would listen and ask probing questions to determine what we were looking for out of that particular aspect of our home. Our answers helped to inform the conceptual design process and therefore improve the end result. While we continue to consider the plethora of intriguing options for the garage addition, we are now enjoying the fruits of our first successful project with Modern Yankee. Joe was able to match existing cabinetry, tile, and granite to seamlessly integrate his work into our kitchen (a feat that other contractors dismissed as impossible). While we had envisioned a simple coat closet and shoe rack in our mudroom, his custom design transformed the space and made the the most of every square inch in our entryway. We could not recommend Modern Yankee more highly. If you reach out to Modern Yankee you you will see right away that Joe’s attention to detail, craftsmanship, and pride in his work is second to none.

Joe Cracco of Modern Yankee Builders put his heart and soul into our outdoor deck replacement project. From our first meeting, he was extremely professional, organized, detail-oriented, and most personable. He has an approach unlike any contractor with whom we’ve dealt. Plans, timelines and payment schedule were clear, and given to us upfront in a presentation binder. Before crafting his designs, Joe carefully listened to how we use our deck, and then drew several design options at different price levels, all of which reflected both his creativity and his thorough understanding of our practical needs. His work habits are meticulous, and he reliably delivers what he promises on budget. Extraordinary efforts were taken to meet his deliverables on time in accordance with the proposed schedule. He was respectful of the fact that he was working on our home, and minimized disruptions, even to the point of asking if he would disturb us by working into the evening when it was necessary to meet his scheduled completion date, which was impacted by an especially rainy stretch of weather. The final result is not merely a deck, but artwork, which reflects his creative approach to the project and his highly skilled execution. When you work with Joe, prepare to be impressed and completely satisfied.

We engaged Joe to do a detailed assessment of our 1875 home, as a first step towards much-needed renovations. He was extremely responsive, knowledgeable and nice to deal with. His attention to detail and clear motivation to best serve his clients was evident throughout the process - and greatly appreciated. Now that we have our list, we will definitely work with Joe on providing further guidance and actual execution of our renovation plan! Thank you, Joe!

We love Joe and Modern Yankee Builders! My wife and I initially contacted Joe to discuss a possible kitchen renovation to the house we just moved in to. After spending a considerable amount of time discussing things with us both over the phone and through email (much more time than I would have expected given that we hadn't paid him anything yet and had never worked with him before), we came to the conclusion together that given our wishes and our budget, it wasn't the right time for us to do a serious kitchen renovation. Joe made quite an impression on us, and we decided to hire him to do a smaller project, moving our washer and dryer from the basement to a closet on the second floor. Joe's attention to detail, kindness, knowledge, and professionalism throughout the whole process go beyond words. And of course, he did a great job with the finished product. We would highly recommend Joe and Modern Yankee to friends and family, and when the time is right, we definitely plan on having Joe be the one to handle our kitchen renovation.

Bottom line: Extremely confusing communication and a huge budget jump after we had already put down our deposit. Horrible experience. We originally hired Joe to work on a bathroom remodel after interviewing a few contractors and being impressed by his seemingly high attention to detail and his willingness to work within our budget. However, while Joe’s communication skills initially seemed thorough, we quickly learned that they were, in fact, chaotic and confusing. It was frustrating to send simple questions to Joe and have to wade through pages of details and long asides, trying to make sense of what could easily have been a two sentence reply. His inability to communicate clearly and concisely became apparent when we didn’t even realize Joe sent us his initial budget because the numbers were buried within paragraphs and pages of text instead of being clearly laid out, as all other contractors we've dealt with do. Apparently we were the first to ask if he could send over a simple list of the budget so we could see the numbers easily. The other main reason we chose to work with Joe was because he seemed willing to work with us to meet our budget. The number we initially discussed in person was met with a response of "that will be tough, but it can be done." No commentary was given at that point on the finishings we had been up front about wanting to use and he made it sound like we'd have to make a sacrifice here and there, commenting on things like saving money on mirrors and using a stock vanity. We were pretty shocked when, after we had already signed with him and put down a hefty deposit, the budget he came up with was nearly 30% higher than the one we discussed in person, including hardly any of the finishings we had specifically discussed. We balked at the price and took the time to come up with several ideas to change up the remodel to hopefully bring the cost down. None of this seemed to make a significant impact to the budget and the price stayed nowhere near the number we first discussed. In the end, even with the most basic finishings, Joe told us that our original budget was impossible. When we expressed our frustration that this was not what we were told before, he got increasingly aggressive and hostile, a personality trait that kept coming up every time he was even gently questioned about something. When we finally laid it all out, he claimed the bathroom that we originally discussed would cost more than double our original budget. Had he ever remotely mentioned this from the start, we would never have chosen to work with him because we simply couldn't afford it. His attention to detail might have resulted in a great bathroom, but not one we could pay for. In the end, we took a big financial loss and spent hours of our time trying to work things out with someone who became downright mean in the end.

Working on an older house requires sensitivity to detail, an understanding of how to update ancient systems to current code in a practical and affordable way, and agility to deal with unexpected discoveries once the job is underway. Joe is a thoughtful and clever planner who understood what we were trying to accomplish, as well as a skilled builder and manager. The rather complex job was finished ahead of schedule. We expect to work with Joe again on future projects.

We hired Modern Yankee Builders for two separate projects, a sun -room/office two-story addition and a major insulation/re-shingling project. Joe is a consummate professional. He gives accurate "estimates", adheres to his schedule and leaves the job site clean and organized every day. His knowledge of construction and attention to detail are of the highest quality. Too bad we have no more projects in mind!