Chicago Stucco

The crew did terrific work, cleaning the first day, patching one large and multiple small gaps the second, touching up color the third. Each day they worked quickly and left things tidy at the end of the day, letting us know where things stood and what the plan was for the following day. Great work and a great experience.

Weather is always a factor but the finished close to the promised date.

Great. Tom came by within a day and let me know that the cracks did not need repair at this time and that my stucco had a few years left before it would need recoating. I really appreciated his responsiveness and professionalism and will certainly call him with future stucco needs.

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It's a messy job repairing stucco and I was worried about the plants around the house being trampled and a general mess by the end of the job.  And while a couple of plants did  get stepped on, it was really amazing how  well they treated our place and the clean up was terrific.  Tops of all though is that they really know what they are doing and the house looks brand new.

The stucco started cracking, They claim it was out of warranty, I had made the attempt to contact them prior to it being out of warranty.They repaired the cracks in 2011 or 2012 the stucco started crackingagain in 2013 they came out and repaired the southside but would not repair the northside of the house. The Guy said he would not keep coming out to repair cracks.

My spouse and I contacted 4 different Stucco companies for quotes to restucco our 2 story home located in Evanston Illinois.
The work requested was the repair of existing cracks and buldges, matching the correct finish (stipple), recovering the stucco to make a uniform presentation, and color change.  
The property in question was built in 1914 (typical for the area) and was originaly built as a stucco home with a "stipple" finish on the first floor with wood shake siding on the 2nd floor.  We purchased the home in early 2008.
 
The over all condition of the Stucco at the time of the quotes was in fair to average with numerous areas showing previous signs of repair, some of which was fair to poor including a basement window filled that did not match the surrounding stucco.  One side of the home showed areas of significant buldging in the stucco which indicates water seepage needing repair. 
In addition, the original stucco on the home was a natural white color and in the last 15 years the previous owner had painted the stucco with regular paint of which some was lifting off.     Once you do research on true stucco homes,  you realize that while it is vary resilient and long lasting, but painting stucco is a bad idea. 
Of the four companies that were contacted for quotes, only 3 sent a representative to view the property, assessed the state of the stucco, and provided written quotes.   The fourth while being resposive stated that they would have to add a heafty up charge to their quote as their base of operations was over 100 miles away from our home.   The owner was polite and up front and did provide feed back on the other stucco companies that we had contacted.
While not the cheapest of the companies contacted, we ultimately decided to go with Chicago Stucco.  Our decision was based on six different reasons:
1.  They have been in business for over 10 years. 
2.  We were able to find various resources to view unbiased reviews from previous customers.
3.  We were able to view work performed on other homes in our imediate area. (one of the other companies contacted for a  quote were asked repeatedly for references or address of work recently completed with no response.)
4.  The company had an acceptable rateing with the BBB, Angies List along with the Ilinois State Department of Financial and Profesional Regulation. 
5.  The owner confirmed that they did not use subcontractors and provided proof of Liability Insurance and current Bond (these two things are not the same so do your research)
6.  The owner of the company understood and provided  A "Contractors Affidavit and Final Waiver of Lien"  this provides a moderate level of protection in the event of a mechanics lien being placed on your property even with proof of full payment for services and materials.
The Good-
Once the contract was signed and deposit was provided, everyone we delt with at Chicago Stucco was professional and curtious.  The main contact during the job, Dennis (the unofficial foreman) was always available to answer questions and made every effort to be sure we were satisfied as the work progressed. 
The workmen needed very little supervision on our part and they did search us out when they had questions on how we wanted certain areas handled.   During the entire process, only two occasions arose where we asked them to correct or change where they had applied the stucco recoating and Thorocoat. 
The workmen arrived on time, and cleaned up the property before they left each day.   On one day, due to rain, they did not come to the property but did notify us by phone in advance.
The managment at Chicago Stucco also worked well at schedualing with another contractor we had hired to replace the gutters/downspouts and siding at the top of the home with in the same month.
There were no suprises and they finished on time and on budget. 
The finished product was as promised and looks very good. 
Upon final payment/balance made by myself two days after completion, we recieved the final signed and notarized Contractor Affidavit and Final Lien Waiver about a week later with no followup required on my part. 
Three weeks after the project was completed, the city came by and replaced a water meter mounted on the exterior of the house. The new meter was smaller and exposed the old color of the existing stucco. We called Chicago Stucco and the owner sent out a crew to fix recoat the small 1/2 foot area at no charge.
The Bad (not really bad but could be improved on) -
The actual original contract / quote (2 pages) had only three brief sentences describing the work to be completed, the rest of the contract mosty listed  the limitations of their resposibility along with the requirements for payment ect.  While in this day and age I exspect to have a good amount of legal wording included to ultimately protecting the contractor, in kind I would have also exspected a more detailed account of what the work to be performed would include. 
After speaking to the owner regarding our exspectations and having the contract reflect the details, he sugjested I add the wording I wanted.  I did add the wording to reflect the specifics of our exspectations and after review the owner agreed to the revised contract.
In the end we were ultimately very satisfied with the job and finished product.  While other companies quoted a lower price, we feel we made the right decision and would have no reservations recomending them to others.

My house had not been restuccoed for probably 50 years (30 documented cause that's how long I've lived here)
and they made it look like new for a very reasonable price.  They also did
the house to the south, to the east and to the west of me.  I got other
bids, and some were twice as much.  I can't imagine hiring anyone else.  They only do stucco, and they know how to do it right.

I originally got a quote from Chicago Stucco for about $700 dollars to repair the stucco. The problem was that some concrete work needed to be done prior to the stucco and Chicago Stucco does not do that. They specialize in stucco, period. So I hired another guy to do the concrete work and while he was there this guy said he could also do the stucco. I made the mistake of hiring him. What a mistake! I ended up having to call Chicago Stucco to come and fix the mess the other guy did. The estimate was now a little higher due to the fact that they had to remove the mess the other guy did.
At the end of the day, Chicago Stucco came in and out in one day. I did not even see them because I was at work. They cleaned up everything like they were never there. The work was perfect. The texture matched exactly with the old texture, so as soon as we finished with the paint you could not even tell the wall had been repaired. They did a great job.
I read a review that the customer thought that Tom from Chicago Stucco was rude, and she gave him an "F". I agree that Tom tends to be a little too straight forward with his comments and some times people do not like to hear what he has to say. But the bottom line is that he knows what he does, he has decades of experience and what he sais is usually right on, even if you do not like it. Sure Tom could work on his customer communication skills, but I'll take Tom's work and put up with his attitude any time, compared to going with the smooth guy that messed up my wall... I will hire Chicago Stucco every time without even looking for other quotes. They know what they are doing.

Their pricing was reasonable. I was at work for most of the time when they were doing the work. They were very careful with our plants and shrubs around my house. They were very clean and cleaned up after themselves. They did a beautiful job.

They did a great job! I was amazed. The new stucco matched the existing stucco color so well you can barely tell which part is new and which part is old. They fixed all existing cracks that I identified. Saulou was professional and polite.

We were pleased from start to finish. We contacted the company and were promptly contacted back and soon had a person here to estimate the job. They sent the contract with a description of the work they would do, and color possibilities.We were then contacted again and brought large stucco color samples to help us decide on the finishing color. Although they couldn't at first give us an exact starting date, they expected to begin within two weeks. We were delighted that they started within a week. The crew of four was very attentive to details and I felt that they were extra careful to complete all repairs before beginning the color coat. Truly the whole crew went well beyond in their efforts to repair our 100 year old house. They finished in four days in spite of chilly and rainy weather. They also cleaned up completely as if they were never there! I am thrilled with the way our home looks. The house is set for the next 15 years due to their careful and thorough work. I wouldn't hesitate to give this company the highest rating possible.

They were very neat and careful. They did a great job. There is nothing I really disliked, except that I would've liked to have a little more help with color selection, though I realize that is something that they don't specialize in.

It went very well. They did the job quickly and well done. They were very clean and left everything in order.

They did a great job!

Chicago Stucco quickly responded to the request for a quote. Chicago Stucco was not the cheapest quote I obtained for the job, but they were the most forthcoming with references. When I asked for references in my area, I was provided with a list of all properties that Chicago Stucco had worked on in my town over the last 15 years - this was over a 100 total. I spot checked over a dozen, and all looked like the work had held up good. Once I selected Chicago Stucco, they matched the colors I wanted for the stucco. They kept matching until I was satisfied. The entire job took 5 days as they committed, though there was a slight miscommunication about what day they were to start. The workers were polite and cleaned up up well. Their workmanship is excellent as the stucco repairs were perfectly matched, and it all looks like new. There were minimal splatters onto the trim and landscaping. They used duct tape when covering windows and trim, which peeled some paint off the trim.

CHICAGO STUCCO WAS ON TIME, THE WORKERS WERE FRIENDLY, AND THEY LEFT THE PLACE VERY CLEAN EACH DAY THEY WERE HERE!!!

LEFT HOUSE A MESS, MANAGEMENT WAS RUDE AND UNRESPONSIVE WHEN CONCERNS WERE VOICED AND SOME REPAIRS DID NOT LAST MORE THAN ONE YEAR! WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND USING THEM TO ANYONE