Robert Reese and his company have been working on our condo building in Oak Park for a number of years now, their work is almost finished. Our building is the largest condo building in Oak Park, and it was built not quite 100 years ago. All brick and terra cotta, so one can imagine the restoration that needed to be done. Robert Reese may just be the most knowledgeable brick guy in the U.S., and no one takes brick and stone restoration more serious than he does. Add to this his experienced crew of workers, who are also experts in the field of brick and stone restoration, not to mention extremely courteous and down right friendly, and you have the best masonry company in all of Chicagoland. Thanks to Robert Reese and his crew, our building will stand the test of time for another hundred years to come and it looks beautiful! AAA 1 Masonry and Tuckpointing is the "BEST"! read more

Complete waste of time, literally. Robert had to reschedule his first visit, because he got "distracted talking to someone." He came out the following week, July 1st, walked around the entire building identifying everything he may have to do, he sounded like he know what he was talking about and said he'll get back to me within a few days with a quote, then nothing. Reached out twice by phone, twice by text, never heard back. read more

AAA-1 Masonry & Tuckpointing - Masonry/Concrete Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I would not recommend this company. They were fairly quick at coming out to my home on 9/12 to review the Tuckpointing needed but still have not sent a quote or called as of 9/20. I would understand if someone had contacted me about a delay for some reason. No contact after being told I would get a quote within 5 or 6 days is not good business. read more

Robert Reese and his company have excellent work at our 6-flat in West Rogers Park. AAA-1 rebuilt our parapets with beautiful masonry and stone. Our building looks better than it has in probably 80 years. We have had years of positive experience with the company. Throughout, Robert has been responsive, often coming to visit our property, explain its condition, and discuss how best to restore it to a state of pristine integrity. We are very appreciative of AAA-1's work and our relationship with it--it has been well worth the investment. read more

AAA-1 we're very responsive to my initial contact. Scheduling a visit was easy with Alex and the quote was provided quickly. While it took to them a few weeks to start the job (they are clearly busy), the speed and quality of the work was impressive and masons left the site clean. They are certainly not the cheapest, but you get what you pay for. I would hire them again. read more

We used AAA-1 to address moisture issues in exterior walls and were pleased with the work. Alex was responsive and provided a timely quote for the work needed, and was able to schedule the work quickly before winter. The crew worked quickly and cleaned up well after all work as well. read more

Having dealt with tens of masons for various jobs, I can safely compare the knowledge, skill and work ethic of the various 5 star rated masons. AAA is truly unparalleled. No wonder I've heard of them multiple times in investor, property manager and realtor circles. It was a pleasure working with you Dan. read more

From the initial estimate visit with Kevin through the whole tuck pointing process AAA1 tuckpointing was terrific to deal with. They were professional and respectful of my property as well as my neighbors. My building needed a fair amount of repair and brick replacement and the end result was just beautiful. I highly recommend them. read more

I've once again hired AAA-1 Masonry for another project on my building. As always, they deliver exceptional work! As I stated in my previous review from work that they did back in 2015, they are true masters of their craft and in my opinion, the gold standard of masonry. Consider hiring them for your masonry project. They will exceed your expectations! read more

One of the best Masonry companies around. I have used them many times over the years as a property manager at many of my buildings. They just recently completed a large project for me in the West Rogers Park area that lasted multiple weeks and the crew couldn't have been better. They were on time, friendly and cleaned up after themselves. I didn't receive a single complaint from the owners in the building about the crew. The work completed on the parapet walls was exceptional and the building looks fantastic. My representative Brent Moore is knowledgeable, responsive and knows the business. If you are looking for a great team to work with contact Brent and AAA-1 Masonry & Tuckpointing. I highly recommend them. read more

Reliable, efficient and professional. Also very responsive to my questions. Rebuilt my chimney in a few hours and left the job completely clean and neat. read more

Dan and his team made getting rebuilding the parapet on my property more painless than I could have ever imagined. When getting the quote Dan gladly answered any small question I had. Even on the day the project began I asked him what they could do for another part of the building and they exceeded expectations on that as well. After getting started the first day my input was no longer needed and they had it all under control. Dan even took care of having a roofer come out and reflash the roof when they were done. The work looks great. AAA-1 Masonry & Tuckpointing does great work and they were a pleasure to work with. read more

My son recommended Chris Teng and AAA1 Masonry to work on the three flat I live in in Chicago. The work not only required masonry crews, but a foundation person, a plumber and a roofer. Chris and the crew helped by making referrals and doing follow up. No question was too dumb and Chris returned calls and responded to texts very quickly. Everyone in our building was happy with Chris, his crew and the completed project. read more

These guys have been working at the building on the corner for several weeks now. They used to have a porta-potty set up but it's been removed and I caught one of the guys using my garbage cans as his toilet. Disgusting! Not sure about the quality of their work, but if this is how they treat the neighborhoods they work in then I can't believe it's very good. read more

Robert Reese and his company are amazing. They came highly recommended to us when we were looking for a company to help with our glass block window replacement. Rob kept us updated with the timing and the plan and they followed the plan to a tee. Our tenants are very happy with his work. I greatly appreciate Rob's quick response when things went wrong with the outside of the building, which was causing water leak in the basement bedroom. He was our savior. He managed to get the caulking done for the required area at the earliest possibility so that my contractor could continue his indoor work without much delay. Rob is professional and personable at the same time. We highly recommend Rob and his company to everyone. read more

Disappointed. I called to get a quote on repair to my fireplace (cracked flue and masonry morter issues in the basement hearth. The person that took my call said they'd have to pass because it's "too small of a job" and they have 6-8 person crew. read more

My Condo association met with several other Masonry contractors before choosing AAA-1 with our project last spring (2015). We were very impressed by the project Manager we met with (Dan Kruk) who was professional, quick to respond, knowledgeable and transparent about the condition of our 100+ year old 6 unit walk up and what work we needed done. We knew that after years of neglect the building needed quite a bit of work: tuck pointing on the entire building, rebuilding our parapet wall, etc., and the team walked us through everything along the way In addition to suggesting updates (like rebuilding the parapet with a cornice level soldier course/rowlock course bond pattern of brick) that make the building even more attractive than before. Though there were some bumps along the way, most of which were anticipated (weather delays, unforeseen issues behind the parapet and remission of payment [on the condo association's part]) Rob (owner) and the AAA-1 team were incredibly professional and considerate and we could not have been more grateful! We highly recommend working with these guys! read more

AAA-1 Masonry & Tuckpointing - Rebuilt Parapet wall with rowlock course bond pattern. - Masonry/Concrete Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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We worked with dan for our 7 unit walk up condo on north side. They diagnosed a water issue which called for lintel and flashing repairs on two windows and removing the window sill above the windows and tuckpointing inbetween. These guys are the real deal. The team lead, jarek, educated me on what they were finding. Crew was professional and watching them I could tell they took care with the work they were doing. I'm amazed they can pull out rows of brick and window sills and get it all back together again even better. Now at least two of our windows are in good shape, and I'm sure I'll be calling them again when others fail....you will be too if your brick building is less than twenty years old. :) read more

AAA1 repaired and resealed the exterior split-face block wall on my 4-story condo building. They repaired cracks to the mortar, a few holes in the wall, replaced the flashing to several leaking window/doors sills, and resealed the exterior brick. The whole team was excellent from the time I first made contact in Dec 2014. Alex C handled my project from start to finish. He was always patient as it took my building two years to raise money and decide on the details of the project. We got plenty of updates along the way, and we had time to make sure neighbors were informed and cars and such were moved. The foreman, Joe, led an excellent team. They fixed everything that we asked, plus several things that we didn't know about until work started. They found some glass block windows that were improperly installed by the original builder, and they took it upon themselves to fix that. They accommodated our neighbors requests for scheduling and working around their cars. I appreciate their quick response when things went wrong. In a freak wind storm, some of their equipment blew over and damaged some coping tiles at the top of our wall. They fixed the damage without question or delay. This was a very expensive project for my small building. But, we certainly got our money's worth. I'm also confident that they will stand behind their warrantee because of the quality and care they put into the project. Great Job, AAA1! read more

These guys are great - while working on the building next door to mine, they were kind enough to repair a gutter on my building that had blown off in a storm a few weeks before for free and without us having to ask! Even tried to buy them lunch to thank them but they weren't looking for any form of thanks. read more

AAA-1 performed tuckpointing, replaced lintels, replaced some exterior brick that was falling apart, and rebuilt a parapet wall on my building in Chicago. It wasn't cheap, but they were able to work with me. Dan K was the estimator and project lead. He did a very good job with communicating timelines, expectations, and patiently answered all my questions. I would work with them again. read more

I own a mid-sized property management company consisting of just over 100 buildings in Chicago. We have been working with Brent Moore at AAA-1 Masonry for over 10 years. They've done millions of dollars worth of masonry work at my properties - all to my complete satisfaction. The search for a more knowledgeable mason than Brent would be a long and fruitless one; I know because I've tried. In property management we always need to present our board of directors 3 quotes. Year after year the other 2 companies I solicit bids from changes, but AAA-1 Masonry is always our first call. They aren't always the cheapest, but they certainly are the best. I'm thrilled every time they are awarded a contract because then I know the work is going to be done right and done professionally. I have nothing but great things to say about Brent and AAA-1, I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND them without hesitation. read more

Weird window leak issue and I had a bunch of people come out and give quotes on what their guess was re the issue. So far so good with AAA-1...the leak is fixed and quote price was reasonable. Very professional read more

I received the following hand-written letter in the mail from Rob today (just two days after our missed appointment): "Mr. Frost - You will never get back the time I took from you, but at least it won't be a total loss. Please forgive me. Rob Reese." Included with the letter was a personal check for $100 from Mr. Reese with the memo line, "For wasting your time." I sincerely appreciate the sentiment, and the money back for "wasting my time" shows his sincerity. (Even if it feels a little awkward -- I don't feel ok with taking money from someone that didn't do any work, so I won't be depositing this check.) So I'm a bit conflicted. I changed my review from one star to three, because he seems genuine in his apology, and responded above and beyond what I've come to expect from a contractor. I've worked with many sub-contractors in my time, and this is definitely a first for me. However, he did miss two appointments; one of them blatantly. It makes it hard to build a trusting work relationship with someone when they can't keep their word to show up on time. Because of this, I won't be working with AAA-1 on this project. That being said, Rob seems like an honest and sincere guy, who cares about his work and his reputation. I would imagine that he is likely overly busy and could use some help with time management. If I ever need masonry work in the future I may consider giving him another shot at an estimate. read more

Feedback: Extremely satisfied with entire project. Owner, Rob R was a pleasure to work with & work crews were terrific - punctual, polite, tidy, great attention to detail & terrific work results. Diligent management of change orders & fair pricing. Would not hesitate to use again / recommend. Description of work: Multifaceted project * Grinding / tuckpointing face of building * Installed copper reglet above parapet-level water table on building face * Replaced bottom 4' of gangway wall (~13 courses) * Rebuilt end of parapet wall * Replaced bay window lintel * Spot grinding / tuckpointing as needed on side of building in problem areas read more

Can't say enough good things about our experience with AAA-1 Masonry. We had two holding walls with brick that was deteriorating. They power washed to identify which bricks needed to be removed and swapped out those bricks with new ones. In addition they replaced the capstones on the two walls with larger capstones to provide the walls more protection from the elements. Everything was sealed and completed flawlessly. The crew was experienced and professional. Since the work was done this summer, our walls don't even get wet from rain! We are so grateful for the expert repair but also the guidance that replacing the capstones would provide more of a long term solution. Highly recommend these guys for your masonry needs. read more

Rob Reese is simply the best in the business, a fair and honest business owner who possesses great technical expertise. I am the treasurer of our condo association and we used AAA-1 back in 2012 for concrete block sealing and tuckpointing work. Our experience is that the water proofing product that he uses is of excellent quality and we were good for over 10 years. Fast forward to 2022 and it was time to reseal our concrete block again. I received 4 competitive bids for the work. Rob's proposal was the most complete, included the quality Chem-trete PB100 product (now costly due to pandemic induced supply chain issues - some of the other bidders included an inferior product), included a few extras but was still the most competitive proposal after fully levelling all of the bids. He included the cost of scaffolding (others wanted to hang a platform off of our roof), uses a very experienced team (some have been with him for decades), is well organized and bent over backwards to squeeze us in this Fall despite a full schedule. He completed the work quickly and professionally in 2.5 days (with a large crew) and communicated daily on what to expect the next day. I could not recommend Rob highly enough. We had a stellar experience and I would give him 10 stars if I could. They do excellent work for a fair price and are true professionals. read more

All around a pretty bad experience. To be fair, they completed the work on time and only found a few "surprises" (things that were not included in the original estimate, but came up in the course of the repairs). We had windows replaced, and windows that had not leaked before replacement now are leaking. AAA-1 did come out and look at the situation, and assured us that it was not their fault. read more

Dan is literally the most professional contractor I've ever worked with. His team did a full parapet restoration (inside and outside brick) of our 9 unit condo. They were very thorough, careful in the work, and considerate with setup, clean up and follow up. They even checked in with each resident post-work to resolve any concerns or issues. I would fully recommend AAA1 as highly as possible. In an ecosystem filled with unreliable companies, a trusted resource like Dan is invaluable. read more

Very disappointing company. The owner came out and spent a lot of time with me. Compared to other contractors was analyzing it with way more problems and expense than the others I talked to. However, when I reached out to at least get a quote to consider, made many calls and texts, but never got back to me. read more

AAA-1 Masonry just completed a $160,000 parapet and firewall rebuild, and lintel replacement project for our buildings.I am the president of our homeowners association and we have 25 condos.I ABSOLUTELY could not be happier with Frank specifically, and his company. First, I interviewed and compared quotes and met with over 6 different mason companies for the project. I went back numerous times to each company to make sure I had apples to apples quotes.Frank and his team were helpful during this stage and they had the quote that made the most sense both financially and logically. What really sold me though was not only the good quote, but that Frank was willing to come out while I was passing the $175,000 special assessment to cover the entire cost of the project (that's masonry and a little roof flashing that goes with masonry). Frank came to our meeting and presented his findings about our building and the work he would do to over 30 homeowners. He answered everyone's questions and began to develop trust and build a relationship with our homeowners. He had clear explanations for why things were the way they were and for his proposed plan.We decided we would go with Frank and AAA-1 Masonry and we trusted them with a huge project, a VERY large sum of money, and we knew they would fix our problems, and give us an AMAZING warranty on their work.We just had a good feeling about it all.Onto the next phase, once all the paperwork was complete (thanks to the super sharp office staff), we moved on to the scheduling. I need to tell you that this company books out far in advance and that's because they are so very good at what they do. They are respected. But Frank knew how important this project was to these 25 condo owners, he knew units were leaking with water and that damage was being incurred. He knew that we had the roofer out at least 10 times in a two month time period because we had so much rain and our parapets were just in such bad shape. He knew we were working with a lender to secure a loan for people who didn't want to pay their portion in cash. And because of that he held a spot for us! He waited patiently while all of our special assessment paperwork and legalities went through. This took about two months on our end. It was no easy feat getting people to agree to spend this amount of money. Many people had their opinions with who we should go with and so Frank waited for us and held our spot and was able to get our work scheduled for the very beginning of fall which fell perfectly in line with our loan needs and everything else. **While all this was going on, our property manager sold his properties to another company. So the new property manager was late paying Frank his first downpayment. Frank was not able to order the bricks without some of the downpayment. He knew we worked so hard to secure the downpayment and that we had the money cash from homeowners. He was able to miraculously get us our bricks in time to start the project. It was truly a miracle. Now I want to talk about the work that went on during the project. This is the second miracle. We knew weather would sometimes be an issue. Of course there were days that poured rain or were so frigid the workers couldn't work that day. But somehow- I AM NOT KIDDING WHEN I SAY , the project actually finished ON TIME. They made up for lost time along the way. They just worked so very hard for us. I recommend giving them small treats like dunkin donuts coffee or donuts. The first time I gave them donuts from the Teachers strike and they were so thankful and sweet about it. I realized then what a great group of guys I had working on our building. I did not get even one complaint from homeowners about the crew. We shared parking spots with the crew. We arranged parking spots so we could put a dumpster for their work in one of them. Every single resident was happy to work with AAA-1 Masonry and the crew. People love to complain and nobody needed to because Frank just ran this job so well. The next thing I want to tell you is that of course, some things naturally went a little wrong like we noticed something wrong with our lintels on the second floor and we were only set quote wise to replace lintels on the third floor. Still, Frank was able to save us money elsewhere on our quote and you will not believe what I will tell you next.WE CAME IN ON BUDGET. As in all told about $160,000 was budgeted and spent!!!!!!!! I am telling you this is by far the best company. That's three miracles. The bricks match IDENTICALLY to our old bricks. The craftmanship is INCREDIBLE. They came in ON BUDGET, ON TIME. There was one resident who was kind of a jerk at the very end, and still Frank handled it like a REAL PRO. He was so easy to work with and such a pleasure. Since Frank was so easy to work with, I didn't need to use a costly capital project manager for this. I am grateful for Frank and his crew. I MOST HIGHLY RECOMMEND THEM! read more

Great experience with this company in waterproofing and maintaining my masonry house in Bucktown. Specifically Dan Kruk is always responsive, easy to work with, knowledgeable, and excellent with planning, execution, and results. Quotes were reasonable, work was done in a timely manner, and budget was respected. It can be intimidating preventing dealing with water intrusion issues, but having AAA-1's experience and expertise on my side gave me and my family peace of mind. Thank you!!! read more

AAA-1 replaced failing lintels & repaired step cracks for our 6-unit Andersonville condo building. From first meeting through final payment, AAA-1 was responsive & efficient. Our questions & concerns were answered quickly, thoroughly & respectfully. I was kept up-to-date in all phases of the project, including photo's. The work site was left so clean that neighbors asked, "Didn't you just have a big project here?" I took bids from 7 masons; AAA-1 was among the lowest bids. Alex was our rep, Joe was our foreman, but I bet the entire team is excellent. I'll work with AAA-1 again on any masonry project. read more

Rob is a nice guy and knows his stuff. Problem is follow thru. He will not return and make good on a problem he created. Brought him out for another job, pointed out the problem with the previous job. Said he would take care of it. Did not. Only as good as your word ..would not use again or encourage any one else to. Unreliable. read more

We recently had a pretty major amount of brick work done on our building. We looked for bids and Dan at AAA-1 was awesome to work with from start to finish. Their bid was competitive and also the most detailed - something our HOA greatly appreciated. Dan and the entire team were great about answering all of our many questions and helping to break down the how and why of all the work we needed to get done. Couldn't have asked for a more responsive and professional team to work with. The work itself came out better than we could have even hoped. The guys are super talented and attentive. We will definitely be using AAA-1 in the future for the upkeep of our brick work. read more

My condo association has worked with Rob and his crew for the last 3 years. We have a 100 year old brick and mortar 3 story courtyard building. The parapet walls were original and in need of replacement. We've found Rob to be very knowledgeable and passionate about his work. He meets with the board and explains in detail what the issues are and provides a solution. The proposals are very thorough and the scope of work is broken out in order of necessity with the cost isolated for each phase. So you can pick and choose what you want to do based upon your financial situation. Rob doesn't recommend band aid fixes unless that's what you want. He recommends doing the job right so you never have to worry about the need to do more work on the same area for your entire lifetime. Rob stays involved every step of the way and communicates so everyone knows what to expect before, during and after the project.His crew is very detail oriented and the pride they take in their work really shows. The common areas of the building is left cleaner than it was before the construction project which is not what you'd expect. If you're considering masonry project big or small I would highly recommend AAA-1 Masonry & Tuckpointing. Even if you have a masonry contractor you like and have worked with it would be worth getting a quote from AAA-1 just for comparison purposes. After speaking with Rob for 30 minutes you'll be in expert in masonry! read more

I've been impressed with AAA-1 Masonry from start to finish. They just completed a rebuild of the parapet wall on our 100-year-old condo building. As we were gearing up to this work, we talked to many different companies, but AAA-1 was the most professional, ethical, communicative, and comprehensive by far. I'm so glad we went with them. Frank is awesome. He won't try to up-sell you, but he won't low-ball you either to get the job--he'll show you exactly what your building needs to be maintained properly and why. He and his team also really know old buildings. They were able to reuse a lot of the original brick, choose the right mortar, and match the colors perfectly. I would strongly recommend this company to anyone who needs masonry or tuck-pointing work. read more

AAA1 came to our house to do a estimate. They spent several hours at our house writing up the quote. I waited several months to received the quote. Rob than met with my husband to go over his quote. The quote needed a few final touches. We waited and waited....I called and called....Always an excuse why they didn't have the final quote done. I started this process in April and by December still never received our final quote. I missed a whole season of tuckpointing work to be done. This job was going to cost around $15,000 plus....they seemed to not want our business. But never told us that...Just strung us along. We have had a lot of work done at our house in the past. I have never run into anyone that ran a business like this. I would have to give it 0 stars. The owner dropped the ball on this one. If the owner can't give you a final quote ...It is telling on how they may complete a job read more

Well, so much for giving them the benefit of the doubt. Called to make an appointment for a quote and was turned away because my "project is too small". what, do I have to spend 30K to have people come do work for me? I was looking to get my front steps fixed up ... but since they are too cool for school; they will not be coming to even check out the project. WOW, good luck with your back-logged projects from last year. we are already in June of the next year ... read more

AAA-1 came highly recommended to us when we were looking for a company to help with tuckpointing. We obtained bids from 3 vendors and AAA-1 offered a fair quote and was the most helpful and responsive team of all three vendors we talked to. Alex was very responsive to coming out to the property and helping us evaluate the scope of work. The quality of the work was great and Alex was on site regularly making sure the project was proceeding as planned and checking in with his team. They answered all of my questions with patience and even noticed a few other areas that needed sealing while they were on site and easily took care of it for me. If you are in need of tuckpointing, I would highly recommend talking to Alex to get an estimate. read more