ALL ABOUT MASONRY INC

A terrible experience. While the bid came in low and we were impressed with our initial meeting things went South from there. We agreed on a start date on what was promised to be a 2-day job. We took off work to be here only to have it postponed shortly before they were to start and too late to change our work schedule. Then, once they did start they set up the scaffolding and left! We had to go back to work and later found out they worked another half day and then left again. We emailed and called over a 3-4 day period but our emails went unanswered. We would only here from neighbors as to whether they were even on site. We were SO frustrated at the lack of communication. They finally called with some excuse about being on other jobs. What was promised as a 2 day job took 8 days. We might have been o.k. with this if they had been up front about fitting us in while on other jobs, if that is even what they were doing. But to not communicated with us for several days was totally unprofessional. We were almost ready to tear down their scaffolding ourselves because we assumed they were not coming back. And, we later found out that they did nothing to protect our gas fire logs. We opened the doors to our fire place to find a mess. We had to have our fire place inspected because the gas starter and logs were covered with debris that fell from the inside as they worked. They said that they assumed we had shut the vent. That is something THEY should have checked and even if it was shut, they still would have needed to collect the debris because it would have just landed on top of the vent and fallen inside once it was opened again.. So we had to have the gas fire insert cleaned and inspected, We also had to have our furnace vent inspected to make sure it was not blocked. We went several days without being able to turn on the furnace or the gas fireplace. The furnace inspection cost us $71 and the cleaning and repair to the gas fireplace was about $180. To top it off, they also did not block our down spouts so their sand run-off plugged our drain. We thought we would also have to call a plumber but after a couple hours we got it unplugged. They said it was due to leafs, but we pulled up only sand! This business claims they have a WA State business license but when we looked it up, after the fact, we found it was suspended. We are hoping that the work they actually did was of good quality, but because they messed up so many other things AND because they are terrible communicators there is no way we would ever hire them or recommend them to anyone else.

We hired All About Masonry to tuck point 2 sides of our 1928 brick Tudor house and rebuild the chimney. We are very pleased with the quality of the work and the professionalism of the company. Larry (the owner) is a very good communicator, both in person and over email. His crew is friendly and respectful. They showed up and did the work when they said they would; they cleaned up well afterwards. We found the cost to be very fair, given the work. I have no hesitation recommending them, and we will hire All About Masonry again to tuck point the other 2 sides.

Larry is a methodical worker who pays attention to detail. His quote was not the lowest but close to the lowest. Very easy to deal with and a totally professional man.

Excellent! Larry and Jenaro showed up on time for 3 mornings in a row to re-tuck our chimney top and replace the two existing caps with stainless steel caps. The work was very well executed and the clean-up after completion was first rate. The estimate was more than reasonable and there were no surprises when we settled the bill.

<em><strong>REBUTTAL TO THE COMPANY'S RESPONSE: </strong></em> <br /> <br /> 1.  ALL photos provided Angie's List definitely show are work done by AAM and are NOT photos taken before any tuck point work was completed.  A visit to the site by anyone will show this to be totally accurate but AAM failed to even hear or listen to my concerns about the tuck pointing work - where it was not done at all and where it was done poorly. <br /> <br /> 2.  I DID NOT hire AAM to do this work based on "strong reviews" on Angie's List.  I informed AAM that he had received an F for failing to get back to a customer (knowledge he was not aware of at the time), that there was no feedback since 2013 but perhaps with his doing my work, we could perhaps get that feedback changed.  But obviously due to the poor workmanship of tuck pointing my home and failing to even work with me to resolve any issues, any positive feedback would not be forthcoming. <br /> <br /> 3.  I was NOT totally satisfied or "delighted" with the work AAM did on the west side of my home, particularly when, after AAM left, I found problems, some of which had already been pointed out to AAM before AAM left so those issues could have been resolved immediately.  Only one of those issues was actually taken care of but since AAM had already left the site, I did not have an opportunity to ask AAM why these concerns were not addressed.  It was at that time I decided perhaps I could figure out how to do the work myself but I soon found out I could not reach some of the tuck point work that needed to be done correctly.  I have asked AAM numerous times to provide me with the mortar it used so if I did repairs myself, it would not look patchwork but blend with the tuck point work done by AAM.  But other activities took priority so the inspection of all work got set aside.  A super thorough inspection of the tuck point work done on the west side of my home did not start to occur until AAM's pathetic tuck point work done on the south side of my home.  And sadly the more I looked, the more concerns I found on the tuck pointing done on the west side of my home.  AND, I did not recommend AAM to my neighbor.  My neighbor talked to him personally when he was working on my home and I had absolutely no idea or knowledge she had hired AAM to do her chimney until AAM started installing scaffolding and was damaging my fence between my neighbor and myself and I asked AAM to please be careful.  After AAM completed her work, I had to remove mortar that had "stuck" to my fence while that work was being done and which mortar AAM elected not to clean before it left the site. <br /> <br /> 4.  This is true except for the words "expressed satisfaction" since I had yet to discover all the problems created by AAM on the west side of my home.  I did ask AAM to come and review the project before it began to make sure we were on the same page about the work since I needed this work on the south side of my home (the front) to be done definitely better than AAM did on the west side of my home.  At that meeting, we discussed protecting my garage door, driveway and windows from the tuck point work since AAM failed to cover any of my windows on the west side of my home at all to protect them from getting damaged while the work was being done.  We also discussed AAM making a nice transition of the new mortar with the existing mortar but none of that work was done.  That request was totally ignored.  I covered my plants to protect them since AAM did not cover any plaints or provide any other protection to the home when the work was done on the west side of my home so I took the liberty of making sure everything was well protected as best I could. <br /> <br /> 5.  This is true.  I was not given the Senior Discount when AAM did the tuck point work on the west side of my home so I did ask for it for the tuck point work to be done on the south side of my house. <br /> <br /> 6.  AAM has an unfortunate tendency of just showing up without confirmation of a time and date.  Nor does AAM timely check its emails if at all and it never answers the phone.  I provided AAM just as much advance notice about rescheduling the project as I was given that AAM will be there the next day without checking with me as to whether that time and date was available and convenient for me.  As far as loosing "significant income that week" is an unknown since AAM told me, when I apologized for the scheduling confusion, that AAM had other projects it could do in the meantime.  The owner was not always around when the tuck point work was being done on either the west side or south side of my home.  He came and went all the time at his leisure with only AAM's one crew member staying on site to do the tuck point work.  <br /> <br /> 7.  This schedule date was postponed due to very poor weather conditions. <br /> <br /> 8.  Some time did elapse before I contacted AAM about my concerns of the poor tuck point work done on the south side of my home since when AAM left after completing the tuck point work, a muratic acid wash was done and the mortar had yet to "set."  I mentioned a couple concerns I briefly saw but was told by AAM to wait until the acid wash allowed the mortar to dry and everything would be OK.  Well, it was not OK.  And when I let AAM know with photos taken of the work AAM had just done, AAM showed up early one morning unannounced and without any scheduling and all AAM did at that time was do another muratic acid wash on only a part of the tuck point work AAM had done earlier on the south side of my home.  The owner of AAM was rather ticked and left without even discussing any other concerns with me.  He just disappeared.  So AAM has NOT done everything possible to accommodate me at all.  I have been totally ignored since June 3, 2014 when this quick acid wash was done

I was very impressed by Larry and All About Masonry.  Our 1923 home had a damaged chimney because our furnace had been installed to vent through the chimney without a liner.  Working with Larry was a smooth experience start to finish.  His bid was significantly lower than the other one we got, mostly because the other chimney company told us we needed to rebuild half the chimney because of the lean, whereas he felt tuckpointing would be sufficient.  He gave us a detailed bid, performed the work on time, and stuck to his price.  There was one day where I was supposed to let him into the house where he didn't show up because he got stuck on another job, but he apologized and it was the only time in a 1.5 week project that this happened.  I'm not an expert in masonry quality, but the finished product looks great and I feel that we received a quality service.  I would definitely use Larry again. <br />

Our entire Seattle brick house needed tuck pointing. In many spots I could brush out the old mortar with a light finger swipe, and our side deck needed to be swept regularly from the shedding. I had filled a few places on my own over the years. None of the bricks were falling out but it looked pretty bad. The neighbors were kind and everted their eyes but embarrassment finally overcame procrastination. We got a few estimates via Angie's List. Larry Buehler at All About Masonry provided an estimate that seemed reasonable and clear and I liked that it would just be Larry and his long-time associate Jenaro. After checking with a nearby local reference provided by Larry we decided to do the entire house, except for the chimney parts above the roof line (they had been repaired already) and for the north side (where we did just spot repairs to save money). Overall it ended up taking about a month, just about what we were told. There were some days when they couldn't work because of freezing temperatures (Larry had warned me about that) and there were some days when they were working on other small jobs and a few days off around Christmas. They were pretty good about keeping the worksite clean, although you gotta expect lots of buckets, ladders, hoses, plastic, and extra scaffolding to be part of your life for while. They hung a huge blue tarp over their scaffolding during the messy and loud grinding part and they also taped plastic over windows and doors (important... the dust will sneak in if you don't). The tarps help, but some dust still falls a few yards out into the yard. Only one or two little shrubs got pushed down. I'm glad we did this work in winter because the dormant veggie beds got a dusting of old sand and mortar. Each of the 3 sides of the house took about 1.5 days of grinding and 3-4 days of pointing.  I work out the house so was able to monitor things, but actually didn't need to do much... they ran their electric cord under the garage door and used outside water taps. They did a good final cleanup and put back all gutters, house numbers, etc. <br /> We are extremely pleased with the quality of the finished work. Larry and Jenaro worked with us to select the mortar color (I ended up liking the exact look of the bricks on their website cover page photo... the bricks looked like ours...and that's what they matched). I really can't imagine it looking any better, clean lines, smooth joints, nice texture, and a final acid wash of the bricks that helped too.  We had originally thought we could leave alone the small stoop section along side the front steps but after seeing how good everything else looked, we decided to add that too.  Well worth it. I am looking forward to standing out by the grill this Spring and not feeling guilty about my bricks.  Once the checkbook recovers, we may call them back out next year to complete the N side. <br /> Jenaro and Larry really know what they are doing and work hard at a job that is hard work. We are set for the next 80-100 years. I highly recommend All About Masonry. <br />

He did a really good job on it.  It took a bit longer to get here than when he said.  As far as I can tell it is all fine.  Price I do not have a whole lot to compare him to.  I will use him in the future.

excellent job. Took about 6 weeks.  Professional, experienced.  Cleaned up job well afterwards.

My chimney looks fantastic and is as safe as can be, and my fireplace is a functioning fireplace again. What more could I ask for? Larry and his assistant were great to work with. And I really appreciated that Larry (the owner and a skilled mason) was on the job site for at least 5 or 6 hours every day putting in his share of the work and making sure things were being done according to our agreement. With many companies I've received bids from, the owner performs the bid, but has less skilled workmen do the entire job. Not so with All About Masonry. Larry couldn't have been more involved with the job. I'll mention that interior fireplace work can cause a bit of a mess (think black soot), so I'd recommend covering furniture and carpet with plastic before work begins. Larry and his assistant did the best they could to keep the dust to a minimum, but some initial prep work on my part would've made cleanup a bit quicker. As for price, Larry provided the best bid among several estimates I received. Despite complications with the job (the chimney liner) that took significantly more time than expected, Larry didn't adjust the invoice. The initial bid was the final price. I highly recommend All About Masonry, and will definitely give Larry a call for any future masonry needs. In fact, I'm about to call him for a quote right now, which is what reminded me to write this overdue review.

The masons arrived promptly each morning and worked several hours each day, for 3 days. The work is beautiful. I can't say enough about the quality of the job. We're very happy with the result. Would recommend this company to anyone.

Larry came on time and did an excellent job. He explained the process and did exactly what he said he would do. The job took about 5 days. We had one hick-up; we do not have a crawl space so Larry can tie down the chimney. What I liked is that Larry said he was not an expert on drywall so he could not cut the hole. He suggested we get someone to do it or do it ourselves and then he would come back and finish the job. The best part I think is that he does all the work himself along with a crew. He is hands on and I appreciate that.

Larry came on time and did an excellent job. He explained the process and did exactly what he said he would do. The job took about 5 days. We had one hick-up; we do not have a crawl space so Larry can tie down the chimney. What I liked is that Larry said he was not an expert on drywall so he could not cut the hole. He suggested we get someone to do it or do it ourselves and then he would come back and finish the job. The best part I think is that he does all the work himself along with a crew. He is hands on and I appreciate that.

I highly recommend him. He is an extremely nice person. He is a high-quality mason. His bid was also better than three other bids. It was an all around great experience. I'm going to use him again.

They were on time to do the job. They were personable to my family. The quality of their work was good. Their responsiveness in returning my phone calls was good.

The job went much better than we expected. We had been putting the work off for four years due to the tuck pointing nightmares we had heard about and seen.

See above.

Larry and his worker arrived on the job site as scheduled. They were the first on the job site every day. They worked steadily and fast. They cleaned up their work area every day before they left. They completed the job on time.

Mr. Buehler showed up on time, he and his helper worked hard, he came back twice to finish the job. Because the brick on the house was not made anymore, he hand-picked the bricks from three different styles and patterns to get the closest match. He did an excellent job on all of these tasks. The match was as good as we could possibly imagine.