Renaissance Development LLC

Excellent from start to finish.  They know how to work with the older homes on Capitol Hill and with the historical society.  Avoiding that headache was quite nice!  
They may be a bit more expensive than their competitors and that may scare some away, but this is an area where you get what you pay for.  JJ arrived when scheduled to deliver an estimate, walked me through it, answered my questions, and was completely honest.  Work began promptly and was uninterrupted- they do not put your project on hold if a higher priced project comes in the queue.  
It turned out that a sizable number of bricks needed to be replaced.  Christina, a senior rep from the company, called me and emailed me pictures to demonstrate exactly which bricks needed to be replaced.  I was pleased to be contacted in such a thorough manner.
JJ did the walk-through and explained what was done.  There was no pressure to give them positive marks.  His primary concern was my happiness with the project.  In addition, he offered to come back free-of-charge if I noticed a problem or had a question.
In summary, this is a company to choose if you want the job done right, a company that stands behind its work, and a company that values its clients.

Quote was given within 2 days of first call.  Communication throughout the project was excellent.

Quality was our main criterion, but not at the price of an elaborate
cost.  Renaissance's estimate was fair.  They started the job as
promised.  I was delighted to meet Carlos, the job foreman, on the first
day.  He clearly understood all my concerns and I could tell he was a
professional who knew his craft.
The job was completed as promised, and we were delighted.  The work was
of fine quality.  They used all of our bricks, and in addition, others
from their warehouse that matched our bricks.
We would definitely recommend them.

This is my second great experience with them. My front crawl space vent cover had a gaping hole in it.  After attempting to chisel it out myself and replace, the bricks around it started to give, so I contacted RD. Despite the fact that this is a very small job, they were able to schedule me within the week.  Showed up right on time and got right to work.  They installed a vent cover that I had purchased and painted, and touched up the bricks around it that were not looking so good after my attempt with the chisel.   They did the job very quickly and the new vent looks beautiful.  Again, they were meticulous with every detail, including leaving my front patio spotless and neatly rolling up my hose.  

The Renaissance estimator, JJ, showed up on time, on June 2nd was very thorough and knowledgeable. He indicated I would receive my estimate later that week, however I did not actually receive the information until June 13th.  I received one call shortly thereafter asking if I had any questions about the proposal and I indicated I did not as I had not yet had a chance to read through it in detail, and that was the last I heard from Renaissance.
I ultimately selected another, comparably priced contractor (who also knows the importance of using lime-based mortar for the older DC homes) for a couple of reasons.  First, the other contractor was consistently following up with me to find out if I had questions, offering additional references and locations I could go to see examples of his work and generally just letting me know he wanted to win the work.  The one and done follow-up from Renaissance, plus the delay in getting the proposal to me, left me with the impression that Renaissance was busy and my job wasn't an important "win" for them.  Renaissance also has a clause in their contract that requires access to the interior of my home so their team can use the restroom, otherwise they'll install a port-a-john on my premises for an additional $250.  While the need is perfectly understandable, and I am certain everything would have been just fine, since everyone in my home works during the day I would have had to leave a key with the team so they could let themselves in the house - which would have then required I remove my pets from my home for the estimated 7-10 day duration of the project. Alternatively I would have had to pay the additional money to have the port-a-john in my backyard.  The contractor I chose did not have this requirement (or another way to see it, did not make it my problem). 
I have seen Renaissance's work in other locations first-hand and the quality I observed is what prompted me to call them for an estimate for the work on my home. In the end, though, I chose a contractor of comparable price and quality who seemed more "interested" in my project and gave me the impression of being more flexible and easier to work with given my circumstances.

The whole process was seamless and smooth, and I was informed the whole time of the progress. The job was finished much earlier than estimated, which caused some concern, but they seem to just give worst case scenarios. No corner cutting was evident. The backyard was meticulously cleaned and the exterior wall looks great.

Renaissance Development (RD) is a professional outfit that gets their work done quickly and well.  We requested an estimate and received one within 3 or 4 business days.  Initially, RD was a good bit more expensive than our other options, but they also were proposing a more thorough and high-quality restoration (our exterior masonry had been parged by previous owners and RD proposed to remove parge, restore brick, tuckpoint, etc..  They also use no-concrete mortar, which is reportedly much better for the old brick found in parts of DC and VA).  Regardless, they were willing to negotiate and we decided to work with them.Dr. Wilson takes pride in the work and her crew.  She's also very responsive to requests or questions.  More than happy to help answer questions. Her crew (Nelson was foreman on our project) are nice guys who work their butts off.  It was in the 90s during the two weeks they worked on our house and they were pulling 10 and 11 hour days.  They estimated it would take about 11 days to complete our project, including pulling permits, erecting scaffolding, tuckpointing and clean-up and they did it in 10 days.  So, everything on time.Very good work, good clean-up, on-time and on-price.  We're happy customers who would use them again.

Phenomenal.  Came out on a weekend and performed the most detailed and professional estimate of all four companies I was looking at.  Answered questions on site and then proposal sent via email a couple days later.  Quickly made time on their schedule to perform the work, which was done in four days.  The onsite crew was very well run.  
Scaffolding was erected and the area always looked very clean and presentable despite the fact there was a considerable amount of work being done.  
The work itself could not look any better.  They replaced bricks where needed and left bricks that were in good shape.  They also fixed a few other minor problems, like a hole that was patched with putty from a previous electrical upgrade.  They used lime based mortar, which I discovered through research is not only in keeping with the historical character of old DC rowhouses, but a necessity when it comes to structural and moisture considerations with the bricks used in these homes.  
I gave them access to the house during the day to use the bathroom, and the house and bathroom was always spotless when I returned.  Little things like this go a long way.
From the production manager, to the front office, to the workers, to the company owner, they were outstanding to work with and very up front.  Never felt like I was being sold anything, just an honest assessment of what was necessary.  The team was also very forthcoming with recommendations for painting and maintenance that probably exceeded the scope of what the job itself entailed.

The person came to evaluate the job that needed to be done on the outside wall of our house that is showing signs of humidity. He said they needed to do work on the bricks (it's an old house). We said the roof had just been fixed a few months ago and that before doing the brick job it might be a good idea to verify that the humidity coming down the wall was not due to the recently done roof work (maybe something that had not been done well). He categorically said it was not a problem with the roof without even going up to check!!

JJ arrived to do the estimate on time and sent us a very detailed and impressive proposal (with full contract outlining terms of service that give you a great idea of what to expect, a list of other projects they'd completed, references with contact information, and information on restoration of historic brick townhomes).  Their price was about $19,000 (with a 10% first time customer discount if the contract was ratified within 30 days) for repointing the entire house.  They were also willing to do the work in stages (i.e. 1-2 walls at a time) and offer a 10% returning customer discount for the second phase, which I thought was nice.

However for budget reasons we decided to go with a different contractor offering another option - partial repointing only where cracks/weak mortar exist for about $6,000.  If we had the means to do the full repointing, we would not have hesitated to go with Renaissance as a solid option.  The references we checked were stellar.

Excellent job. They were professional, clean, safe, and punctual. Christina does a good job running a professional organization, and JJ is simply a knowledgable, nice guy and good to work with.

I've been wanting to do this tuck point job for a long time, finally did, and very glad about it.  I had a very good experience with Renaissance from the initial visit with J.J. to the final walk through with the company owner Christina Wilson. The crew was great, very well coordinated and on scheduled.  The got off to a late start on the first day, but I was ok with that since I was home for the day.  They did everything agreed upon in the contract. They installed scaffolding, placed netting to contain dust, covered windows on exterior, cleaned up afterwards. I saw the progress of the work on a daily basis.  The crew was professional.  They were great about controlling the dust that comes from replacing mortar.  I covered my furniture in the house thinking mortar dust would seep through the walls, but not a speck of dust entered!  I was impressed.  It took them 3 days to do the work.  The clean up was thorough. They cleaned all of the windows. The front of my house looks great!  The owner came on a Sunday morning to do a walk through and we talked a lot about the process. She also spent time giving me advice about another project I'm considering having done on the rear of my house.

 JJ from Renaissance came and did review. Said that most (>90%)of the mortar was in good shape and not in need of repair. He pointed out some areas at the top of the SE exterior corner of our bay window where the mortar was a different color and texture and looked like a patch job done incorrectly with some sort of caulk or other material. He said they do not do patch jobs and recommended I find a handyman to fix that corner. He also noted that we do not have a gutter system anywhere on the front of the house. None of the houses on our block built by the same builder have gutters either. He said we may want to consider having them added to control water.  He also examined the front steps and said that they would be able to repair them and have repaired steps of this brownstone material before and that they have a source for them (quarry in potomac). He took pics and said he would have the company's owner Dr. C Wilson contact us with an estimate.

A few weeks later I received the following email:

Per your request, I have evaluated your front steps and front exterior façade for tuckpointing. I stopped by your house briefly earlier this week to get a better sense of the work in person. As JJ mentioned during your meeting, your most immediate problem on the front façade is the built in gutter and metal flashing around your turret. Although the damage on the brick walls is obvious, it doesn?t make sense to address it until you have a roofing company evaluate the roofing/metalwork. It will most certainly need to be repaired or replaced.   Although I believe that you expressed interest in obtaining an estimate just for tuckpointing this immediate area, we do not do what I call ?spot tuckpointing? on select or isolated portions of brick facades. The entire front façade is in need of tuckpointing in its entirety. If you?d like an estimate for this scope of work, please let me know. Your front steps are tricky because they were constructed of extremely soft stone that does not wear well after decades of foot traffic. Your best bet is to contact a company that specializes in restoring stone exclusively. I would start with Rugo Stone or Cathedral Stone and go from there.I hope this information is useful. Good luck and thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to help you with your wonderful historic rowhouse. Dr. Christina K. Wilson Renaissance Development LLC

My main disappointment was that I was initially told they could address the steps, but later found out they couldn't. At least they came out on a "small job," which I have not been able to get any other contractors to do. Here's a hint, contractors of DC: if you do a "small" job, worth a few thousand, I will know who to call when I need a "big" job done on the rest of my 110-year-old, 5,000 sq-ft. building. Just sayin'.

They wasted six weeks of our time without finalizing a simple estimate.  If this is how they behave trying to bid for the job, then I can only assume the worst about Renaissance once they have a deposit and a contract.

After an initially rocky start (I wrote the bad review on 10/28/2010 after internal confusion prevented a timely quote), Christina contacted me to make things right. I decided to go with Renaissance Masonry and am glad I did. It took the crew (typically four to eight friendly guys) just six work days to get everything done, and they had a good attitude about listening to how details should be handled. The house looks very sharp and my minor water leakage should be a thing of the past. Tip 1: If you have garden plants near the worksite you don't want crushed, remove them, because all the foot traffic, materials, and dust can be destructive -- it goes with the territory. Tip 2:  Ensure everyone knows what must be done:  the owner, production manager, and foreman don't always tell each other what's needed beyond bare-bones tuckpointing, e-mails may be overlooked, and you need to ensure the foreman understands the scope of work. Dr. Christina Wilson is serious about getting the job done right. She ensured that everything in the scope of work was properly completed. Renaissance Masonry understands the importance of a lasting polished result, and did a great job.

I left a message looking for driveway repair and got a quick call back. Turns out they no longer do driveway repair. Nonetheless the owner called up my house on google earth, looked at the driveway and the yard and gave me about 15 minutes worth of free advice about what I should do and what kind of contractor I needed. That kind of professionalism and passion for your work is so rare, I just had to report it. I wish I could have worked with her!

Dr. Wilson did the estimate and was clearly extremely knowledgeable and educated about this type of work. The workmen did a great job and were very responsive to us. My only caution is to be very clear about what you expect will be done (this was our first adventure into pointing and so we weren't totally clear on the process, this was really on us not them, but I wanted to make the point)--but I would definitely use them again and their work was outstanding.

Dr. Wilson did the initial inspection herself and we were so impressed that we decided to go with her. The team of Dr. Wilson came in on time and worked on exposing the brick wall in our dining room, they were efficient, skilled, knowledgeable and extremely careful not to dirty the house. The final product was amazing and the result well worth it. Great job well done and will definitely use them again. I recommend anyone who has a tough job of painting, masonery etc to use the services of Renaissance Development LLC.

Renaissance Development was very helpful over the phone. They were prompt in calling me back and checking on how the project went. I needed someone to come repair the wall on short notice and the were very helpful in meeting the immediate need. Everyone I talked to was extremely friendly and professional. Their rate ($150 per hour, 2hr minimum) was a bit high, but I think worth it in the end, as they did excellent work and were available on short notice. The crew was careful to minimize dust in the rest of the house by taping off the area to be fixed and they removed all the debris, even some construction debris that wasn't theirs! I will definitely call them if I ever have future tuckpointing or other masonry needs.

Christina pledged that her employee check out my wall's condition, and that Renaissance would provide a repointing quote the next week. I never received a quote, and a my status request weeks later was ignored -- not so much as an explanation or excuse. A more responsive masonry contractor personally visited the house, quickly followed up with a helpful quote, and communicated with me -- not that hard. This experience as a potential customer paints an unfavorable picture of Renaissance Development's reliability and service.

Very well!

They called the day of (when I was already at home waiting) and rescheduled with me twice - then simply tried to get me to email a digital photo of the request to them to get my estimate. The lady (Geneveve - AKA Jenna) was really polite and all (and I'm not at all complaining about her professionalism) but the bottom line is that I don't think my project had a high enough dollar value for them so they kept pushing me at the bottom of their to-do list. If you have a high dollar, high margin project they might treat you better but my experience has not been great...

not well

We consulted with several masonry firms to point up our 1925 Wardman-style rowhouse on Capitol Hill. Unless brick and mortar is kept in good repair, water can leak in and then freeze and thaw which accelerates deterioration. We knew we had some loose bricks and some rotting masonry joints in several areas. The market seems to divide into those whose bids come in cheap and fast and possibly not very good and those that come in probably very good and fast but not very cheap. Another divide in the market were those firms who take on patch or partial repairs and those who only do the full house. Renaissance Construction is in the latter camp. We chose the latter and were very happy with Renaissance Construction. They are experts in DC brick renovation and know their bricks and mortars and when and how they were used from the District's earliest days. Christina Wilson is the involved owner-manager who has assembled a crack management team and skilled and very hard working craftsmen. They started when they said they would and finished well before they said they would. They were very professional and courteous and solicitous of our neighbors who had to put up with noise and dust. As we discussed the contract, Christina was intent on making sure that our neighbors, would be minimally inconvenienced. They were as were we. The one major glitch was that the workers left piece of plywood on the outside air-conditioner unit (placed there to keep the dust out of the condenser) overnight. A thermal safety switch in the unit tripped to prevent overheating. On site manager JJ immediately took responsibility and said that Renaissance would pay for the HVAC service call. No checking with the boss; the on-site guy had authority. In the end, we liked the clean and exposed look so well that we decided not to spend several thousand more dollars painting.

I'm very pleased with their work. They did a careful job. It looks great.