North Shore Brickwork and Windows, Inc

Tuckpointing was performed at my home and the result was truly excellent, on time and on budget.

My experience with North Shore Brickwork gives them an A+! The entire project was extraordinarily successful. Everyone was both pleasant and highly skilled in every aspect of the job, from constructing the scaffolding to the last brick's completion - and the chimney looks perfect. An architect friend of mine was amazed at the craftmanship...which says a lot. Miguel, the Project Manager, was knowledgeable and helpful in every way. Luis and the other two craftsmen on site were thorough, friendly and clearly expert at their craft. At the central office, Jaye managed all connections and paperwork expeditiously and with such a reassuring manner that one couldn't help but feel that everything would be just fine; and it most certainly was! I would highly recommend North Shore for any job.

Very happy with the work performed

Really nice.

Clean, nice on time every time of work

Great! Austin did a wonderful job in covering all of the basics and the technical, he provided us with many options and communicated with us every step of the way.

They did a great job by replacing all of the caulk, repairing the weather damaged brick and sealing the building.  They were very clean, thorough and did everything and more that was agreed to.

Austin Kelley oversaw the project and he did a great job communicating with us. We were out of town and he sent links to the photos daily, which was really nice and eased any worries. The crew did a great job repairing our limestone and tuckpointing or home. On time, in budget.

Austin Kelley supervised on the jobsite to assure all work was completed & all debris was removed. Excellent workers done on time.

In 2006 we had a number of water issues at our 6 unit condo building. After talking to a few contractors we ended up going with North Shore to apply a waterproof seal to the building and rebuild a lintel above a window that was leaking. We dealt with Robert, who was responsive and attended one of our condo meetings to explain the work. They also provided a 15 yr guarantee on the waterproof seal. Unfortunately, its now 4 years later and the building has worse water issues than when they supposedly sealed the building. My guess is they used watered down sealant that quickly wore off. Although the lintel repair work is ok, I can't recommend using them. What I would have wanted was for someone like North Shore to give me an honest assessment of the situation and then helped us to develop a plan to deal with the situation. The condo was built with CMU block - why Chicago allows builders to use this crap is beyond me - so there are serious issues with the building. Rather than selling us, taking our 18,000 and leaving, I wish they would have been upfront with us about our problems and recommended ways to deal with them in the best possible way. Using a higher quality sealer would have been an obvious thing they could have done - but that probably would have meant explaining why it is needed and why it would cost more. I want a contractor that cares that the job they are doing is done right. We didn't get this from North Shore.

At first, the process started out well with an on-time meeting to discuss the potential work to be done and we received a fair-priced estimate for both our siding and roofing needs. Once the project started however, everything fell apart. Appointments to begin work were terribly late, calls were not returned promptly, and the work was done very irregularly. Furthermore, simple items such as covering windows, using drop clothes, and removing screens were not done which caused irritation to us owners and additional work for them when we insisted they return post-project to bring things back to the state of before the project began. Lastly, things that we assumed would be done as part of particular aspects in the estimate that were not spelled out 100% were not done be them and we haggled over the wording and expectation of the work that was to be performed. Lastly, we asked for photo documentation of the roof before and after for insurance purposes which we never received.

AT THE END OF THE JOB, THEY TRIED TO PASS ON TO ME A $500 EXTRA CONSULTING FEE FOR GETTING THE BUILDING PERMITS FROM THE CITY OF CHICAGO. THE BUILDING PERMITS WERE ONLY $122. WHILE I PAID THE BUILDING PERMITS, I REFUSED TO PAY THE $500 EXTRA CONSULTING FEE THAT WAS NOT IN THEIR CONTRACT OR ESTIMATE. IN ADDITION, THEY DID NOT PUT THE ADDRESS PLATE BACK ON THE WALL AS THEY PROMISED IN THEIR ESTIMATE. ALSO, IF I WAS NOT PRESENT WHEN THEY TOOK DOWN THE DAMAGED WALL, THEY WOULD HAVE THROWN OUT THE LIGHT FIXTURES AND ADDRESS PLATE THAT WERE ON THE WALL. I HAD TO RETRIEVE THESE ITEMS FROM THE JUNK PILE. THEIR WORKMEN WERE OBLIVIOUS TO THE VALUE OF THESE FIXTURES AND WERE GOING TO THROW THEM OUT.