Straight Up Masonry

Tony came to give me the quote within three days of my call. He was able to answer my questions politely and willingly, and was helpful in making suggestions about what would work best. I was given the quote in August, but Tony was booked up until mid November.I am very pleased that I took my chances with the weather and waited. Tony and Dominic were on time, did the job efficiently and left the area neat and tidy. As happens so often with renovations, there were things about the original plan that had to be rethought. The problems were explained clearly, resolved quickly and efficiently and the price was extremely fair. I would not hesitate to call on Tony again, and I would definitely recommend his company to others. I also had three quotes originally, but as with the other reviewer,the thing that swayed me in favour of Stright Up Masonry was the fact that the owner did the work. Thank you Tony and Dominic for an excellent job.

I contracted Tony Devlin of Straight Up Masonry to replace a deteriorating brick chimney awkwardly situated on a steep pitch roof near the front of my 3 storey house. Compounding the problem was the hydro mast situated directly under the chimney at the side of the house. Despite the obvious challenge, I had every confidence in his ability to complete the job to my satisfaction.

While explaining how he was going to do the job, Tony informed me that in order to erect the 4 storeys of scaffold required to reach the chimney, I would have to have my power line and my neighbours insulated due to safety code regulations pertaining to the proximity of the scaffold to the hydro lines. He provided me with the name of a company and within a week, the lines were sleeved and work could commence.

Tony and Dom returned on the arranged date and proceeded to construct the scaffold and began removing the old brick chimney. They took steps to protect my property and keep anyone passing by safe from falling brick. It was obviously a difficult and dangerous task but they managed to have it down safely by afternoon. Tony closely inspected the condition of the brick below the roofline and noted that the brick was degraded so he removed some additional courses so that the new chimney would rest on a good solid foundation. He pointed out some of my neighbours new chimneys that looked okay from the roofline upwards but were clearly built on courses of spalled and deteriorated brick. Obviously a shortcut that some other masonry contractors take and a good thing to watch out for to make sure that you're getting a proper rebuild. The additional brick work was not included in the original terms of the contract but he did not charge me extra, so it turned out to be value added to the job and much appreciated.

They protected the area at the end of the day in the event of inclement weather, returned promptly the next morning and continued rebuilding the chimney which was proceeding as smoothly as can be expected for such a difficult job but, alas, another situation reared its ugly head. Tony was running out of brick and for good reason; my original chimney was not built to code and was too short for the current roofline clearance requirement and also due to all of the additional bricks that were removed to obtain a solid foundation. Tony presented me with a couple of options. 1) to buy more bricks and build it to meet the current code or 2) to leave it at the height of the old chimney and exchange the one foot clay flue liner for a two foot. The easiest solution would be to extend the clay flue liner and be finished the same day. However, aesthetically, we agreed that the best option was to build the chimney up with additional bricks but would extend the job by another day. We agreed on a new price and he went off and purchased more bricks. Keep in mind that Tony could not have seen that the original chimney was not constructed to code due to the sightlines to the chimney and therefore was not included in the original contract estimate. I was not available to meet with him on the day he was on-site to estimate so he wasn't able to see the chimney from the third floor deck. When I mentioned to Tony that the other estimates I had were cheaper than his to start with, combined with the cost of the additional labour and materials, he generously offered to reduce our previously agreed on price increase and offered to split the difference; I would cover the material cost and he would cover the labour. We shook hands on it and ended the job on a high note. Again, just another example of Tony sacrificing his business' bottom line to please a client. He did not rush the job, as a result, but paid the same care and attention to detail to maintain his high standard of quality workmanship. He even integrated brick ties into the construction which adds structural integrity, something I had not seen before. The finished product is simply outstanding. It blends right in with the colour and character of the house. Combine that with their thorough site cleaning and you'd never know that Straight Up Masonry had undertaken such a comprehensive project. I look forward to dealing with Tony next season on another project.

Anthony and his worker were very professional, explained about the work in advance and made sure to show me the work after they have finished.
They did the work quickly, while keeping a professional manner.

I am very impressed with Tony's attention to detail and the fabulous work he does. He has proven himself to be very reliable. Not only does he do a great job, he often finishes ahead of schedule. I would definitely recommend Straight up Masonry.

Tony Devlin came to replace the pathway around the house after we had had waterproofing work done.

He arrived when he said he would, did an excellent job, cleaned up any debris afterwards and was pleasant to work with.

This is the fourth time Tony has done work at our house and I cannot recommend him highly enough

Working with Tony and his team was seamless from start to finish. Tony was responsive and provided us with his honest and professional option about the areas of our brick home that we thought needed attention. In Many cases Tony reassured us that a fix wasn't necessary. Tony even went beyond our expectations by cocking areas around windows where he saw issues and provided us with photos of the completed job (as our chimney is high up it wasn't accessible for us to see). We highly recommend Tony and Straight Up Masonry.

Straight Up bricked over a basement window and a messy hole in the foundation left by previous owners. The job was quick, clean and looks amazing. I will definitely call them again for future masonry work.

The results of an insurance inspection of my home in 2011 noted that a deteriorating brick porch column and numerous water damaged bricks and tuck pointing issues would have to be addressed in order to maintain my coverage.

I immediately contacted Anthony Devlin (Tony) through Homestars and he promptly provided a very fair estimate compared to the two others I obtained. It was comprehensive, organized and professionally presented; all good signs. The contract was signed and a small deposit sent just prior to the start of the job.

An estimated commencement date was given but due to inclement weather, had to be changed which is understandable as Tony, as excellent as he is, cannot control the weather. He did keep me informed of any delay, throughout, so there were no surprises. In fact, I believe it to be a good sign when a contractor has to schedule your job as it means that they've got a number of jobs already lined up i.e. a good contractor is a busy contractor.

Tony was able to show up a couple of days before the rescheduled date and we reviewed the scope of work in detail and to weigh the various options. He took the time to carefully explain the process and order in which the work would be carried out. Brick samples were provided and matched as closely as possible for a century home. The brick match turned out to be very close and the brick selected is far more durable than the original.

Tony arrived early the next morning with his assistant Dom ready to work. The deteriorated porch column was removed after shoring up the porch roof and by mid afternoon a perfect new brick column stood in its place. The existing porch and handrail were built to accommodate the out of plumb existing brick column so Tony had to spend some extra time cutting the rail and decking to ensure that the new column was level and plumb. He even went the extra step and raised the sagging porch to bring it back to level. I was truly impressed and knew that I had selected the right contractor.

Pass through scaffolding was then erected between my house and my neighbours so our ground floor tenants wouldn't be inconvenienced. Spalled bricks and powdered mortar were removed in sections over the next few days and replaced with new bricks and mortar. I didn't realize how bad the condition of the affected bricks and mortar were until I saw it up close. What an incredible difference once it was fixed.

Tony noticed some additional bricks and tuck pointing that needed to be replaced that were not covered under the original contract and we agreed on an incremental price increase even though the amount of work was significantly more than what would've been covered by the price difference. Basically he only charged for the materials, and not the labour.

Even so, there was no compromise in the quality of work. They worked quickly and efficiently for long hours, rarely stopping for breaks. Another reviewer made the comment that Tony completed a tuck pointing job in a day even though it could've been a two day job so he thought price for the job was a "little high." That's like complaining that someone is working too hard or too efficiently. In my experience it's obvious that Tony prices the job based on the scope of work and not the time it should take. Not a good business model, for sure, but one that benefits the client as he takes however long it takes to make sure the job is perfect. He does not sacrifice on quality for the sake of quantity or speed.

Upon completion of the job, Tony and Dom spent the better part of a day removing the debris, dismantling the three storey’s of scaffold, and giving the whole property a thorough clean up. I was most impressed as many contractors that I've used in the past tend to skip this important step. Even my tenants mentioned how nice the house looks now.

I am so impressed that my next project for them will be a chimney rebuild as another fly-by-night contractor that I hired to tuck-point didn't know the difference between tuck pointing and parging. They skim-coated the chimney with mortar which now looks absolutely terrible.

To summarize, my experience with Straight Up Masonry was exceptional. Tony and Dom were knowledgeable, friendly, reliable, professional, ethical, honest and a complete pleasure to deal with. Tony honoured the quoted price (despite performing some extra work that I noticed but he didn’t mention) and his workmanship is excellent. Without hesitation, I give Straight Up Masonry my highest recommendation.

Fixed the crumbling bricks and put a new cap on my chimney. Tony was great, he responded to all of my calls quickly. The job was done when he said and for the price we agreed. I would have no hesitation in recommend him

Tony did a great job at making sure I was only charged for what I needed done. He was very honest, I could trust what he said needed to be fixed. they cam exactly on time and finsihed early with amazing work. very clean i am seeing them again in spring for more work that needs to be done.
Thanks Straight Up Masonry for a easy and stress free exp!