Brick + Ember Outfitters

In March I purchased a Big Deal for three hours of masonry work for $99.00. It took several calls to get scheduled for the estimate and to finally get the work done, at times it was a bit frustrating. When Kourtney came to the house to give an estimate, I was told the Big Deal would cover the work but there would be an additional $75.00 for service fee/materials. I didn't know how much time or how much material would be needed to do the repairs so I agreed. But when I saw the small amount of supplies that were actually used I think the extra cost was a bit high and the job took less than two hours. I liked that Kourtney said there were some areas that didn't need to be fixed. His response made me feel as though he was honest about what really needed to be fixed and what didn't. The guys finally came and did the work, cleaned up, packed up and then asked me to review their work. There were several major areas they missed, gaps in the some of the areas where new mortar was applied, and some of the areas were pretty sloppy. A majority of the old caulking on the front porch wasn't removed even though that was something I specifically asked to be done. It looked really terrible. When I pointed out the problems, the guys were apologetic and very willing to repair them. After fixing the mistakes and areas they missed, there was quite a mess left on the back deck and front porch. They had to use the grinder again, mortar was put on and scraped off to even it out, and all of that ended up on the porch and back deck. They packed up and didn't make an effort to clean up after themselves. By that point I just decided that I would clean it up myself. Before they left, I was told the areas would look better after they dried. But a month has passed since they did the work and some of it still looks a bit rough and sloppy.

Based on advice from my real estate agent, I requested a more detailed quote containing a listing of all materials and labor. He advised me to do this on all quotes. I have not received a reply to my email and do not expect to. We have decided to get other quotes and will be requesting refund of the two Deals for labor that I purchased from Angie's List..

I was very satisfied with Masonry Outfitters. I hired them to do additional work.

I paid more than the coupon price for additional work. The crew was at my home for a few hours and they didn’t do everything I thought they were going to do. The owner came out to look at what they had done. I asked about what they should have done to complete the job and he told me it wasn’t within the agreed upon quote. I just felt that I didn’t get my money’s worth.

They came promptly, everything was done well, and they took pictures as they went so we could see. The repair was excellent, and no birds will get into that chimney again.

Completed on time. Met expectations for quality.

Great experience. Efficient service. Workmanship was great. Very responsive via email.

We bought the $100 groupon thinking we had about $1000 worth of brick work to do. But we were very naive! The jobs needing done are $2,000+ for the walkway or the chimney work for $5,000+. So now we just lost the $100 groupon. The policy on groupons is you can't return them after a week...it took more than a week to have the company come out. But they did seem very efficient and professional so nothing against them!

I did not use this contractor

They did a great job fixing out chimney, very professional and nice.

Everything was good. I was provided with a quote with different options, and I chose what best met my needs and budget. This company has also done additional brickwork on my house, and I'd recommend them without hesitation.

We had ongoing water seepage into our attic and master bedroom ceiling and wall coming from the chimney area. Over the past three years, we have paid two roofers and another mason over $3500 to analyze and address the problem with no success. Each time, we were told that the issue was fixed and each time, we continued to have the same problem, even after repeated visits to "make it right". We decided to try one more time and made calls to Masonry Outfitters and a few other companies for estimates. Kourtney Zhan came to our home and went into the attic and up on the roof to assess the source of the water penetration. He took several pictures which he shared with me while he explained exactly what conditions were responsible for our problem. A few days later, we had a comprehensive estimate of work for the chimney and another project. While I was initially reluctant to spend another $1452 on the chimney ($2352 total for both jobs), Kourtney was offering a 20 year transferable warranty on the work. More importantly, he truly seemed to understand why the previous attempts at repair had failed. We decided to hire Masonry Outfitters over the other companies and could not be more pleased. Once Kourtney and I agreed on the price and date, David Dickenson took over as the project manager. David showed up with a crew at the designated day and time. They worked diligently on both projects and David periodically checked in to review the work and keep me abreast of the progress. He also provided pictures of the finished job so I didn't have to climb on the roof to see it. While it looked great, I have been down that road before and have been severely disappointed in the results. The proof would be in the performance, or lack thereof. Within the first six weeks, we had several violent thunderstorms to test the quality of the work done by Masonry Outfitters. I'm happy to report that the attic and our bedroom ceiling and wall have been bone dry ever since they completed the job!

They came out and gave me a quote. The quote seemed way out of whack. My wife signed up for the special deal, so we're not going to have him do the work we talked about. So I have to call them back to see what $99 will buy me.

Purchased a Big deal for Masonry Outfitters they was great. They came out last fall and he wore his booties while in the house. He came in and inspected the Chimney and told me that it was good and didn't need cleaned at this time. He told me to call after the winter and he would come back and clean it for me. I forgot all about it and he called and said he would be out to clean my chimney. The gentleman was honest with me instead of just wasting time and my money. When he came back he cleaned the chimney and inspected and took pictures with his Ipad and showed me a few things that needed attention. This guy was awesome!

Purchased a Big deal for Masonry Outfitters. They replaced a chimney rain cap with a stainless steel cap. We had a few other issues when they was here that needed repaired. They gave us a couple different options for the repairs and fixed them.

Masonry Outfitters did a great job. They found a leak that had been ongoing for years. We have had several different people out to try to isolate the leak and repair the damage over the past 10 years. No one was able to find the source of the leak (although we knew there had to be one as we have water spots on our first floor ceiling that were getting worse with each driving rain). Masonry Outfitters was very thorough and not only found the leak, but fixed it. The job ended up costing us more than we expected, but they photographed our chimney, explained things well, and quoted us a new price before continuing the work. They were professional and efficient. While we hope to never need them again, we would certainly call them first if we had a need for masonry or chimney repair. They've also guaranteed their work.

They did an amazing job in all aspects. Their craftsmen ship, communication, professionalism. If we ever need any other masonry work we will def go with them! Thanks again!

We discussed options, he offered to send me a estimate of repairs and what it would cost to repair the chimney caps. Time went by, not estimate. When Angie's list asked me to provide a review, I sent an e-mail to the business asking how I should rank them based on the lack of follow-up. I received a call the next day apologizing, offering some credit on services and that an estimate was forthcoming. It has been over 2 months, no estimate, no follow-through. So what did I pay for?

The provider was easy to schedule, showed up on time, took care of his business promptly. Recommendations and photos of inspection along with a quote were delivered via email within a few days.

The work was very good. He cancelled a couple of appointments before finally showing up. He attempted to bill me more than the agreed upon price. Everything turned out fine.

There was bad weather expected so they actually came a day early because they knew I was on a time limit for a home inspection repair. They did great work and were very professional.

We first met Kourtney Zahn (owner) when we purchased a "big deal" for 3 hours of brick/mortar repair for $99 in 2011. We have a long brick walk to the street from a brick porch and steps which was over12 years old and needed a lot of repair. He gave me a quote to repair the entire walk, steps and porch area (which included the big deal), a separate quote to clean the bricks (which had that nasty green scum on them), and another separate quote to waterproof the entire area. As we talked, I mentioned an ongoing problem with a chimney leak that had ruined a wall in our home. Three separate providers had attempted to repair it, all thinking the flashing was the cause-each repair lasted 6 months to a year before the wall was damaged again with water. Overall, we spent close to $5000 and still had the same problem. Kourtney knew exactly what the problem was as he had done the same repair for a neighboring home by the same builder a few years back when he worked for another business. He climbed up on the roof and took pictures of the flashing job our latest contractor had performed, which was sloppy and poorly executed. He measured the chimney for a special cap that would not put holes in the brick facade. Our chimney is not a true masonry chimney-it is an insert and does not go all the way down to the basement. The chimney on the outside was a frame with a brick facade that is normally used inside. Kourtney waterproofed the brick, cleaned up the last poor flashing job and replaced the existing cap with a special stainless steel lifetime warranty lid for the top of the chimney. This was amost two years ago in August and we have not had any sign of leakage, in spite of some terrible rain storms over the last two years. Last spring, we had Masonry Outfitters repair, clean and waterproof the brick walk, steps and front porch to our home-they worked extremely hard repairing the mortar and replacing broken pavers. When we had a couple of questions, Kourtney responded immediately and came out to look at areas of concern and address them. Any issues we had were resolved immediately. His workers were polite, neat and professional. The entire repair/cleaning and waterproofing cost $1238. Just as a comparison, a few years before, our neighbor had the same work done by a masonry firm. The supervisor on the job saw me outside, came over and introduced herself and told me that we needed a lot of repair and replacement-I asked her for a ballpark figure and she quoted me $16,000!!!!! The repair/waterproofing that was done by Masonry Outfitters was beautiful and has lasted well throughout multiple downpours over the last year, as I expect it will for several years. Our neighbor's has not fared so well. I had Kourtney come out last October to clean the chimney with another "Big Deal". He is also a certified chimney sweep and he did a spectacular job. We use the fireplace often in the winter and it had not been cleaned in many years. I believe the deal was for $99, but it might have been slightly less-I can't find the paperwork on it. Overall, I can't say enought about what a great firm this is. We would highly recommend their services and we continue to use them for different problems.

I had them fix my front porch steps. They succeeded in fixing them but it was not the cleanest job. There are some gaps in the mortar and some spots I would have expected be fixed. It didn't appear as though they did any cleanup before they left. Prior to this job, I had them out to do a chimney sweep, but I had also requested a top be put on my chimney. The owner did the sweep well but did not come prepared to re-attach the old top or install a new one.

I had 10 cracks from windows and doors tuck pointed. Had one crack in the morter joint from the roof to the ground and this crack broke through 5 different bricks. They tuck pointed this crack as well as replaced the 5 broken bricks. And the major issue was a brick bay window section which had pulled away from the wall and had previously been repaired poorly. They tuck pointed the bay window section, reset several bricks and then calked the siding from the bay windows up to the roof. The morter on my house is an unusual color (pink to black), and actually changes color from roof to ground level just from exposure to the elements over many many years. They did an EXCELLENT job matching the morter colors! You cannot tell where the repair even was, its Amazing! Scott and his crew came out on the scheduled day and finished the job in one day. They did a wonderful job and I would highly recommend them!

My house was built in 1984 and the two should caps on my chimney had deteriorated over the years. Masonry Outfitters came out to inspect and recommended that they be replaces which was consistent with what I also believed was required. They did a nice, neat, and clean job. I'm very please with the results. I definitely would use them again if needed.