Home Annual Guide 2016

Thomas J. O’Neill, Inc

Cape Cod Home  /  Annual Home 2016 / ,

Writer: Susan Dewey

Thomas J. O’Neill, Inc

Home Annual Guide 2016

Cape Cod Home  /  Annual Home 2016 / ,

Writer: Susan Dewey

Cape & Islands Architects and Builders

Courtesy of Thomas J. O’Neill, Inc

Courtesy of Thomas J. O’Neill, Inc

An intuitive nature—coupled with strong communication skills—is what builder and designer Tom O’Neill says has made all the difference in his 20-plus years in the industry.

“I read people well; I’m a good listener, and I think that’s essential because customers—even if they say they don’t know what they want—do communicate their preferences, ” O’Neill explains. “I’m not afraid to be direct. It’s very important for me to be personally engaged with my customers.”

Since his customers always work directly with him, O’Neill ensures that communication is strong from each project’s start to finish. Since 1992, O’Neill has permitted, designed, built, furnished, landscaped, and maintained countless Cape Cod and Boston-area homes. Based in Mashpee Commons, O’Neill also provides custom cabinetry—made in his own facility— and he is a real estate broker.

secondImageProviding all these services, O’Neill says, means he is able to give clients a better, more comprehensive product. When designing homes, O’Neill does so from the inside out, basing his floor plans on the orientation of the house and its views.

“I think our houses stand out because the floor plans have a better design,” O’Neill says. “The homes are based on how furniture will be placed and how things will flow.” O’Neill’s projects tend to be “classic, coastal-style homes,” he says, but with updated features on the inside, such as higher ceilings and more open-floor plans throughout.

With clients’ second homes making up the bulk of his work—often located on waterfronts, or in view of golf courses—O’Neill says he particularly enjoys building vacation homes. The creative outlet these homes provide, he explains, gives him great satisfaction.

“The reason people come to the Cape is because they want to have a good time,” O’Neill says. “A lot of customers want their houses to reflect features that they wouldn’t have in their primary residence, such as year-round spas. The whole summer entertaining dynamic—combined with bringing in as much of each view as possible—is very enjoyable. You have all of these interesting features that can be added.”

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Susan Dewey

Susan Dewey, former associate publisher and editor at Cape Cod Life Publications, lives in Centerville where she grows vegetables and flowers for Cape farmers' markets, designs perennial gardens for her son’s company, Dewey Gardens, and enjoys living on beautiful Cape Cod year round.