Renaissance Development LLC

Description of Work: Repointing brick at base of home

Description of Work: Renaissance Development is arguably the best historically accurate tuck-pointing restoration contractor in the Washington, D.C. region. They repointed parts of my historic brick house, built in 1810. They tuck-pointed (removed old, weak or missing mortar), and replaced it with fresh, historically accurate (lime) mortar, to make the walls strong and whole again, and without using an incorrect cement mortar that over time could do damage to the brickwork by causing bricks to crack from undue pressure and eventually popped off the facade. The alley side of this semidetached home in the Georgetown area was partially repointed up to approximately 12' from ground level, and my garden walls were repointed outside and inside the garden area, where they were suffering from both loose mortar and a lot of deformity due to my own magnolia tree and the growth & pressure of my neighbor's magnolia trees. They did a GREAT job overall, especially on making whole again those curvy and pushed out garden walls. The price was high, but I think worth it. I decided to go with the best, so I could ask them what to do on my end, knowing that they had to be responsive to me. They handled all the complicated permitting process, especially in historic area permits for historic areas such as Georgetown. They were concerned about cleanliness, and cleaned neighbors' exterior areas from this admittedly dusty & dirty process. The only thing they could have done better is have strong and big dust extraction machine with it's nozzle aimed right where the grinder was cutting out the old mortar, in an effort to stop the dust emissions right at the source. As the best pointing company in D.C., they should take the next step in this regard, and take their business to the next level up, stopping dust at it's source, not just cleaning up after the fact, when it has settled everywhere and covered the guilty & the innocent alike with fine white dust. :-)

Description of Work: It took two days to respond to my initial query and then a technition arrived saying that "his boss' would never approve of doing a smallish job. I asked for a referal but he had none.

Description of Work: I laid out the masonry repair jobs that I was considering and asked for estimates in plain English (all by email). They responded with an estimate after much prodding, but did not answer most of my questions. Their estimate included work I had not asked for. Their rep did not answer my follow-up questions. The company seems uninterested in small jobs and should say that up front.

Description of Work: Renaissance Development tuckpointed our front stoop and the stairs leading up to it. Their work was of high quality, and they used lime mortar consistent with the original construction. With their contract they provided clear documents telling me what to expect and the standards they work to. Communication with the office and scheduling the work were not great, and the work started several weeks later than anticipated, possibly do to weather delays. The crew did not clean up the work area very well, a job that fell to me after they left.

Description of Work: .

Description of Work: Door and windows

Description of Work: We've had the pleasure of working with Christina Wilson and her terrific team at Renaissance Development twice now and wouldn't consider hiring anyone else to work with us on hardscaping and tuck-pointing projects. The Renaissance team put together a terrific plan for our backyard, executed each part of it well and went above and beyond to ensure that we were happy with the finished product. We were thrilled to hire them again last year to tuck-point our historic rowhouse on Capitol Hill. Renaissance offered the best proposal for our property and worked hard to ensure that we were absolutely satisfied with the end result. And we are -- we're sure our house has never looked better and have complete confidence in the terrific and historically appropriate work they did. Every major project has unforeseen challenges, but Christina and the team at Renaissance really go above and beyond to do the job right. We give them our highest recommendation.

Description of Work: Multiple repairs of brickwork. | |Renaissance Development was great. Incredibly responsive, prompt, dedicated to quality, reasonably priced. I would use them again in a flash and have already highly recommended them.

Description of Work: Tuck pointing with historically appropriate mortar

Description of Work: No services were performed. The business rep came over and reviewed the situation and indicated no work was necessary at this time.

Description of Work: Excellent service, excellent result. Renaissance repointed the facade of my brick townhouse. Despite some initial scheduling complications that were no fault of the company (had to do instead with coordination with the utility company that had to shut down an above ground power line connected to the house in the area of the work), in the end the job went exactly as promised. The price was very competitive. I have recommended them to neighbors looking to do similar repairs.

Description of Work: Renaissance Development tuckpointed the front/west exterior façade of private residence in its entirety; work to include tuckpointing/stabilization of retaining walls adjacent to upper steps [at front entrance] and lower steps [leading to basement entrance] – 780 total square feet of surface area. They tuckpointed the rear facades of private residence in their entirety—including dog leg/light well area and walls adjacent to basement step – 970 total square feet of surface area. They tuckpointed the interior and exterior brick walls of garage in their entirety – 520 total square feet of surface area [note: every effort was made to tuckpoint/repair the south wall, but work was not completed on the entire wall since it’s only inches from the adjacent garage]. Scaffolding was erected directly in front of aforementioned walls per OSHA regulations; scaffolding was taken down and moved in sections as work progresses as needed. Windows were covered with heavy-duty plastic and taped in place to minimize dust penetrating the building’s interior; windows of adjacent houses were also covered with permission from neighbor[s] before the project began. Tuckpointing will be completed around and underneath gutters and downspouts, which will remain in place in case of rain; in the unlikely event that a gutter or downspout breaks or is in bad condition [e.g. it has a hole in it that becomes obvious as we start work], client should call a roofing specialist to address the problem at additional cost All removed mortar was placed in heavy-duty / contractor bags and removed from the job site on a regular basis. All bricks and mortar joints were cleaned by hand before installation of new mortar; wall was washed carefully with water [not power washed] to remove any dust or debris Work included careful examination of all mortar joints to determine degree of deterioration/failure; all mortar was then be removed to a depth between 3/4 and 1 1/2 inches to ensure proper bonding of new mortar to existing bricks Damaged bricks were repaired, reset, or replaced only as needed; bricks were only removed if the mortar around them has deteriorated to such an extreme degree that the brick can easily be extracted by hand. No bricks were removed using power equipment or any potentially harmful tools [e.g. hammers, picks, crowbars, etc.] Lime-based mortar mix to be prepared according to traditional production methods to ensure that mortar is appropriate consistency and texture for century-old structures [vendor: Virginia Lime Works, Monroe, Virginia – www.virginialimeworks.com]. New mortar was carefully installed by hand so all brick joints are completely filled and that new mortar bonds to original mortar inside joints. All mortar joints were cleaned / cut out before commencement of mortar installation; exact sequencing of mortar removal and installation was determined in the field by company production manager and crew foreman. All masonry work was washed with a diluted acid solution upon completion. The project concluded with site cleanup and removal of all construction related materials.

Description of Work: Asked for a quote. Got a line about computers down, really busy. Few weeks later, called to results. No answer. Called again, got a line about really busy, all sorts of problems. Finally, more than a month later, got an estimate that was among the highest. How do you trust someone to do the job right if they cannot get the estimate out the door?

Description of Work: Renaissance Development is a full service construction company that specializes in exterior masonry. They create patios, walkways, retaining walls, etc. as well as do tuckpointing. We hired Renaissance development to recreate our back patio on Capitol Hill. They completely removed and excavated the existing patio. They then put in a beautiful new flagstone patio to our specifications. Christina was wonderful to work with and really helped us with designing a patio that would work in our space. We did a comprehensive tour to look at different materials and layouts to help us with our design. Her crew is professional, polite and importantly very skilled. The work was done quickly with minimal disruption. We are very pleased.