Called, said to text my address and said would stop by later in the day, NEVER did and NEVER calledread more

I interviewed a few masonry companies for repairing spalling brick in my basement. Some wanted to…read moreparge the walls, which was not what I wanted. Some quoted me fairly high prices for the repair, but Martin Forde offered me the best, and most reasonable cost for the job. During our interview Martin struck me as a competent, and fair mason and he is responsive by email, which are valuable traits in a contractor. We scheduled the job, and he and his team showed up right on time. The first thing I learned is that Forde masonry may not have a full time staff. Martin definitely came out to my job periodically to deliver materials, but the masons who did the work were actually two latinos who seemed to be day laborers. They were competent, and very polite as I asked questions in my broken Spanish, but that makes accountability a little more difficult. That became a problem when I was in the basement with another contractor, and I saw one of the mason repairing a hole that was two withes thick. He was just repairing the outward face that I could see, but leaving a whole in the second layer. I asked him about it, so he dropped some mortar into the hole, a few bricks, and kept on with his repair. Yes, it visually looks fine and I would not have noticed if I were not watching as the hole was getting closed up, but that is not what I expect when I hire a professional mason to repair my walls. My job is done though, and I hopefully will not need masonry help for a while. Most of the issues I had are easily fixed with a little more attention to detail, and oversight, so I would encourage others to give Martin a chance if you need masonry help.

I am extremely grateful for John and his crew at Tough Build Masonry for the work they work they…read moreperformed on my home. I had noticed that a support column on my porch had been leaning and buckling outward. Upon further investigating the issue it turned out that the extent of the damage was greater than appeared on the surface as the post had completely rotted through, the wall had pulled away from the deck and the foundation underneath had crumbled. Despite the amount of work involved, John remained honest and fair as he provided me with several options and worked with me and my budget to get the best result possible to meet both my expectations as well as his high standard of quality. I am beyond pleased with the final outcome! They managed to get the entire side of the porch torn down, the foundation properly repaired and then have it all rebuilt and tied back into the existing stairs and porch within just a few days. If you are in need of any masonry, carpentry or decking work I can't recommend Tough Build Masonry enough. They were honest, hard working and kept me in the loop throughout the entire process. I absolutely intend to call them in the future for any projects. Thank you, John!

Tough Build Masonry just finished replacing all the old bricks around our house and redoing our…read morepatio. They were quick to get back to us and provided an estimate when they said they world. The began work when they said they would. John and his team were a pleasure to work with. John not only listened to our ideas, but he was able to provide feedback and suggestions. His instincts are good and his design ideas a welcome addition to the planning. His crew worked hard, were always good natured. They arrived on time, and were careful of my garden. Even though there were some unanticipated issues, John and his crew worked through them. The finished job is better than I could have hoped for. Our new walk is beautiful, but the patio is really stunning and has transformed the space into something special. We have high standards for the work we have done for us. John and his crew exceeded our exceptions and we would highly recommend them.

I hired James and his company to repair my retaining wall and Walkway…read more They were a pleasure to work with. Impeccable work. Professional and on budget. Highly recommend

Absolutely appalling experience. What started as a small quote turned into a $45,000 nightmare,…read morewith the price constantly increasing throughout the job. We feel completely misled and taken advantage of. I would strongly advise anyone considering this company to get everything in writing and think twice before hiring them.

We searched a long time for the right contractor for our front railings. Jeff and Riccardo were…read morefantastic. They provided detailed estimates and were able to answer all our questions. They also adjusted on the fly and we able to make a custom solution for us with beautiful wood railings with aluminum balusters. We've gotten multiple compliments from friends how sharp it looks. We have two small kids and were very concerned to be going into winter without railings (we are 33 steps from the street). Jeff was able to squeeze us in before the end of season. Riccardo and his team were out in the freezing temps finishing the railings. Everything came out great; communications were smooth throughout; and cleanup was perfect. I'd highly recommend this company - we plan to use them for home improvement projects in the future.

Working with Masonworks has been a roller coaster. They are very, very good at the masonry aspect,…read morebut we had a negative experience with everything outside of the excellent stone walls and patio they built for us. They have built beautiful flat stone walls for us in our front and back yards. We were very impressed with them after the first job they did for us in our front yard a few years ago, so we did not even look at other companies when we wanted to spruce up our backyard this year. The garden walls they built in the backyard were once again beautiful. However, as a gardener, I was disappointed and frustrated by the following things: - Our contract included 50/50 loam compost for the new garden beds. During the job, we caught them filling the beds with the grass they had pulled up from our old lawn and asked them to stop doing that. - When I went to start planting, I found that the garden beds had only a layer of new soil but that my shovel quickly hit a lot of big rocks and uncovered old soil, debris, and trash. - They completely trampled and destroyed my established perennial garden, which was located in a garden bed above where the new beds were built. They also broke several pavers in a little garden path I had and removed them without replacing them. - They recommended microclover for my lawn and seeded it for us as part of the contract, but it grew in quite spotty despite us maintaining it properly with daily waterings. I contacted them about the first issue and their initial response was to tell me that the stones I was finding were part of the wall construction - this was not the case. They had someone come out to take a look and concluded that the soil did need to be replaced, which they finally did. It is much better now, though I still have found some large stones in it. However, in the process of solving that issue, they caused the second one - many of the perennials that my mother and I had worked to plant over the past four years were totally destroyed. They offered me a credit to compensate for the loss, or the option to have them reinstall new flowers, but by that point I just didn't want them near my garden anymore so accepted the credit. I didn't bother contacting them about the spotty lawn - I threw down some grass seeds yesterday to try and fill in the gaps. While I appreciated that they did eventually take steps to resolve the issues, I found it quite frustrating to have to keep reaching out just to get them to do what they really should have done in the first place. They never did a final walkthrough as I've seen other contractors do. No apology for destroying my garden. They have a Benjamin Franklin quote, "The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten" - I definitely felt some of that bitterness throughout this process. My conclusion is that they are really excellent masons but do not understand or respect gardens. If you hire them, be prepared to have to deal with that.

Renaissance Masonry recently repaired loose and damaged bricks in my home's foundation. Kevin and…read morehis team were excellent; they were punctual, provided a clear estimate, and communicated their work effectively. They did a fantastic job with the repointing and sealing. I highly recommend them and would definitely work with them again!

Excellent quality work Good communications…read more Recommend and highly recommend .......... High quality work Excellent and good to work with ......

One of the best in the business! We hired Ben to repair our stone foundation and stone wall at our…read morerental property on Wallis St. He was prompt, professional and takes pride in his work. We then hired him to install a brick patio at our home in Beverly as well. He arrived on time with his two sons. The boys were as professional as their dad. We have a few other projects we will have him come back to do. This is a gentleman of his word, which is a rare thing these days with most contractors. We highly recommend Ben for any of your masonry work.

I selected Ben The Mason to repair / rebuild the fire brick inside a fireplace and chose him…read morebecause of his experience. Inside the fireplace, grout had all but disappeared on the back / angled wall and several fire bricks were loose. Timeline of events: Sent an email to Ben with pictures and a description of the problem on a Friday at 3:12 PM. He called me at 5:15 PM that evening asking if he could visit to see the job and offer me an estimate, he came by at 5:44 PM, and after reviewing and carefully describing the work needed to repair, he offered his proposal which I accepted. AND the VERY NEXT DAY, a SATURDAY mind you, he and his son arrived at 8:00 AM and the job was completed by 3:00 PM. So literally WITHIN 24 HOURS Ben The Mason had responded to my request, came by to see the job, offered a quote, and did the repairs. The entire experience exceeded my expectations, and I am very impressed with the service and craftsmanship provided by Ben The Mason. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

I wish I could give Armando and his crew more than 5 stars. They were exceptional from beginning…read moreto end. They are all very hard workers. They showed up early and stayed late. Even worked a full day on Saturday to get the job done before the rain started. Moreover, Armando gave us a very fair and reasonable cost, despite it being a complicated project involving two chimneys that needed to be replaced. The chimneys came out beautiful!

These guys were very professional, friendly and accommodating. Very hard workers who showed up on…read moretime and kept busy. Armando is very diligent and conscientious assuring a proper job and sought our input during the process as to how the wok was looking. Have already asked him for bids on other projects we are considering. Highly recommend this company.

Derek did a great job putting stone siding on my house and making new front steps. His price was…read morelower than competitors and his whole team worked diligently (often 12 hours a day!) to get the job done properly. I highly recommend him.