I use Homestars to review and hire most, if not all of the companies to do work on my home. During the winter a large crack developed on the stone front of my house.
After searching on Homestars I found a company with many great reviews and sent them a picture of the crack, asking them if they would come out to give me a quote to fix it. They responded with an electronic quote by just looking at the picture.
I found the price very high to fix one crack, so I continued my search on Homestars and found Damski Masonry had quite a good number of reviews and all were very positive of his work.
Paul answered the phone right away and came over to my house the next day after I finished work to give me a quote. During the inspection Paul pointed out many other areas where the mortar was loose and falling off, including the backyard where 4 corners of the brick wall had cracks from the ground to the roof.
Paul's quote was HALF the price of the company that quoted to just fix the one crack I sent a picture of, AND he would be doing so much more repair work than just the one crack.
My home is 13 years old and the cement on the foundation has started to erode to the point I could see the re-bar in some areas. So when Paul finished his inspection and quote I asked him for a price to parge my cement foundation. He explained that he doesn't just parge over the existing cement, as it would fall off in a year or two and would need to be done again. Paul said that he uses a grinder to make cuts into the foundation to help the parging material bond better to the cement for a longer-lasting job. The quote was very fair so I agreed to have the parging done as well.
Paul called on the Sunday of the week he was going to do the job to confirm the date and he showed up on time with his employee to perform the work.
I cannot compliment the work that Paul and his employee did enough....it was excellent workmanship and the mortar matched the existing one exactly.
Regarding the "cut's" that they did on the foundation to help it bond, I thought they would make a few saw cuts every few feet or so....but what they did was make criss-cross cuts along the whole foundation wall. Imagine that it looked like a checker board or a chess board all along the wall. It took a lot of time, but that preparation is sure to make for a strong parging bond....I was EXTREMELY IMPRESSED with that extra step that they do.
Paul and his employee ensured that they cleaned up the work area after they were done.
We are extremely happy with the work that Paul did and would definitely hire him again to do any masonry work, as he is very professional and has fair prices.
Our neighbours commented right away on how nice the parging looks and they asked for Paul's contact information.
Do not hesitate to hire Paul, as his work is amazing and you won't get over-charged.