MasonWorks LLC

The time it took to relay the steps was a bit longer than I expected because some bricks had crumbled and they had to go out and get new ones but they finished the job in a morning and the steps are in good shape. We used the Angies List coupon for the first 4 man hours and then paid the overtime.

great job. only issue was with some minor damage to the siding, which might have been unavoidable.

The job went very well. They were willing to work with the Vosti Pavers I chose, they were open to minor changes. They were prompt and friendly, and kept the site clean. The finished product is great.

His quote was very thorough and did a great job on it.

Dealt with Jeff for sales, and then Bruno for the actual on site work. Jeff is an excellent salesman...has the schtick together. Then they send Bruno in, the business guy. Well, we are very happy with every aspect of the job. The work they did was top notch, didn't upsell us, were for co-operative. The guys were here as promised, and stayed until the job was absolutely complete. Bruno returned a week later to clean up the beautiful staircase they installed. If you want absolute professionalism with top notch work, these guys are in that league. We are extremely happy.

Overall, we were very happy. Jeff gave us advice about how to solve our drainage problems (there's no longer a huge puddle at the bottom of the driveway, which is great), helped us pick a paver color, and was timely with the estimate. Bruno and the workers worked long hours to get the job done quickly. When the workers had left, I noticed that they had forgotten to sweep in sand in the bluestone walkway, which Bruno fixed quickly. Overall, we are very happy with the work and the result. There were a couple of small things that could have been better: 1. they spilled something (maybe oil) on the newly poured concrete right in front of the garage, so there is now a pretty big purple stain. To be fair, I saw it when I was doing the walkthrough with Bruno and decided not to mention it because I couldn't see how they could fix it without bringing the concrete mixer back in, and it just didn't seem worth it; 2. the frontloader that dumped off the pavers completely destroyed the grass in the front yard. Bruno put loam down, but it was too late in the year to plant new seed, so despite the nice new driveway the house will look pretty awful until the spring. It may be that there was no alternative, but it would have been nice to know that that was going to happen 3. despite asking Bruno for a full paid receipt for tax purposes he never gave it to me; I recently followed up with Jeff (or rather he followed up with me to ask that I do an Angie's list review) and still haven't gotten a receipt. That said, in the larger scheme of things it was a good job done at a fair price, and I would hire them again.

Masonworks did excellent quality work, but I had issues with communication. At the end of the project, Jeff and I had heated emails--something I've never run into with other tradespeople. I decided to go with Masonworks due to the tremendous reviews on Angies list. In particularly, I was concerned about communication and management of the project, and was okay paying 30-40% more to have things done by the book with great communication. The project started quite well. Jeff was on time for the estimate (back in the Spring). He seemed to understand that we wanted things done by "the book" with a permit pulled. When we finally got the funds together for the project, he sent over a contract. I asked him for a copy of insurance, which he emailed over. Bruno (the site manager) came over with brick examples shortly afterwards and we chose the brick styles. We really liked the attention to detail. He explained that bluestone varieties differ, and they would choose the best look and match when they went to the quarry. Things started to go wonky when Bruno and the team showed up to excavate without a permit. He told me that Jeff was over picking up the permit, and I told him that I wanted it done by the book--no permit, no digging. It ended up that there was an issue with the town in getting the permit, so they were delayed starting. About 4 days later I emailed Jeff and asked him when they would start. He replied saying "asap"...Monday morning Bruno and the team showed up (after I had left) and started the project. I got a confused call from my wife, asking why I hadn't told her they were starting, and told her they hadn't told me. Bruno told my wife that they needed access to the driveway, so she moved the cars to the street for the day. When I got home, I found a huge pile of sand in the driveway, blocking access to the only entrance to the house (since the front steps were now gone)...I called Bruno and he said that was the only place to put the sand they excavated, and most customers have larger driveways. I dug out a path to get in. At this point I started to get nervous. I expected that I was paying more for both great work and great project management, and started to question the later. I tried contacting Bruno again, but wasn't able to get in touch, so I contacted Jeff with my concerns; he was very quick to reply to my email. One thing that was odd at this point is that they didn't want one of the payments, even though it was specified in the contract. (If that was the only oddity, I wouldn't even mention it, but it just added to my discomfort). They had a delay while waiting for the town inspector (one of the two passed away recently, so they were delayed), who required some additional foundation pouring. I asked Bruno how much more this would cost, he said "a few hundred dollars, not much" then they proceeded in pouring the foundation. After a delay for the foundation to dry, then a rain delay, I was out of town for much of the rest of the construction due to a death in the family. By this point I had figured out that texting Bruno was the quickest way to get daily updates. During this period, I got an update from Bruno saying the next step was to put our railings back in. I replied that I was confused, since the contract and quote specified new railings. While I had no problems with reusing the existing railings, I was a bit taken aback that Bruno didn't know what the project included. He told me he had to check with Jeff. They got back to me, said that they would try to use the railings, and if they fit, they would be a few hundred dollars to fix them up to be reused. I had also asked them to do some general repair work, not related to this project, and after the rest of the project was done, they started this work. Like the rest of the work, the quality was really excellent. I asked for this extra work to be billed separately. Bruno passed the request to Jeff, and Jeff reacted strongly saying he couldn't do it. That seemed odd to me, since it was just a matter of creating a new word document, since that is how the bill was delivered. When we got our bill, there were a few oddities. First, the two "changes" were listed as change orders, but the actual prices had never been communicated to us. Second, they added on a charge for pulling the permit--since they knew from day 1 that the permit was required, that felt like an upcharge. (I don't believe it was intended as such, but it had the appearance of such). Third, the extra work that was outside of the contracted work was included in the same invoice. At this point, Jeff and I had some heated emails.Among them was a request from me to get a copy of the final signed permit, which Jeff said he had never had requested before. My wife read the emails, told me that Jeff and I obviously did not work well together, and took control of getting them paid. The only other thing to note is that they used our garden hoses and brooms, which was not the level of professionalism I expected. And they took one of hoses, which they finally replaced, but without the watering nosel. My rating of a C is based on my expectation that communication during the project would be excellent. I had other quotes from highly rated or referred folks, but none of them looked like they would communicate well, and we were willing to pay more for a company that could do so. I do hope that we are the exception, given the high quality of work that Masonwork obviously does.

Jeff was very professional, as well as responsive. He came out to the property a few times to provide an estimate and to provide clarity around the work that would be done and the detail of that work. We had a rotting porch that needed total replacement and a challenging issue with repair due to a beloved Mulberry tree in our front yard and its roots that were upheaving the granite steps to the front porch. Jeff was willing to work with us to save the tree, as opposed to taking it down as other contractors had suggested, and listened to our ideas. He also made recommendations as to how this could be achieved. We decided that cutting the concrete and minimizing the width of the steps would allow for future tree growth without upsetting the granite steps and porch foundation. His skills as a mason were invaluable to this work, as other contractors simply did not have the tools, manpower or knowledge to provide expert support and service regarding the granite steps. In all, we were very happy with Jeff's work and the finsihed product. In fact, we look forward to using his services again in the Spring for additional masonry work. Thanks, Jeff! We look forward to seeing you in the Spring!

They did it in a timely manner and were very professional. The cost was reasonable as well.

Getting the quote: In July, I called Jeff at Masonworks to estimate Jeff was punctual with the estimate and open to my ideas. I got an estimate, but continued to shop around. A few weeks later I had some more questions and emailed Jeff. He was prompt in trying to answer my questions, but wanted to visit me again to go over them. He introduced me to his foreman Bruno and told me he would be on vacation during the actual job time. I had a good feeling about Masonworks because they wanted me to be comfortable before moving forward. The work: At the end of August Masonworks arrived to begin the project on schedule. The team worked very hard for five days and the results are impressive. The men were focused and there was a continuous stream of activity. The cleaned up well after the work was done and repaired my lawn areas that were damaged due to the heavy equipment. I am very happy with the work and my neighbors are glad the "eyesore" is gone! Adjustments to the work: We did do some change orders to the work. I decided to have Masonworks add a paver patio behind my garage because the work was going so well. Also, they had to connect the stairs to an existing brick walk, which needed to be raised to meet the new stairs. Bruno explained the changes and the costs to me and I decided to go forward. Overall: I will use Masonworks again for future projects. They are easy to work with and compete work with high quality.

When we called them for the quote they came right away. What I really liked was to get the quote in email format. It took us some time to contact them again and once we did they were very punctual in getting back to us with a date to start the job.They came on October 28, 2011 to start the chimney and the walkway. They came back and finished the job the next day by around noon. The guys who were working were hard workers. The day before, they had finished a job at midnight but they were still on time for our job on the October 28, 2011.They cleaned up very nicely after they were done. I was highly impressed with them and would definitely hire them again and recommend them to others!

Jeff's response to my initial call as timely and professional. He then asked me if he could slot me in as the opportunity arose, rather than do the work immediately. This was fine with me, as the work did not need to be done immediately. Sure enough, Jeff and workers returned several weeks later, alerting me in advance as to when they were going to do the work. Jeff and his workers were very professional, and when I asked if they could add on a bit of work to repair some surface deterioration on my back porch, they added this on at a reasonable additional cost. MasonWorks also alerted me to the need to do some repointing of bricks that line our patio. I was thankful that they performed this inspection while they were there, and this work was added on also, at a reasonable cost. I would have been disappointed if they had not pointed out this additional work, before winter arrived. MasonWorks initially provided a quote for a more extensive rebuilding of our back patio. When we decided that this was not in our budget, I feared that the lower scope of work would relegate us to second-class status with Jeff. To the contrary, Jeff gladly agreed to the lower cost "Plan B", and performed work that fully met (if not exceeded) my expectations on a timely basis. I am glad that we used MasonWorks, and I would use them again without hesitation.

I joined Angie's List specifically to find a masonry contractor, because I was having such a hard time getting other contractors to call me back. Jeff Souza phoned me within 24 hours of my initial message, and came by the next day to take a look at the wall; I had a quote in my hands (by email, no less, which made me happy) within a day or two afterwards. My only complaint is that communication after the contract was signed was not quite as on the ball as the initial communication. Well over a week after I'd returned the signed contract, I still hadn't heard when the job might start, and when I asked, I was told it would be "shortly." It was hard to pin down a specific date, which was a problem, since I needed to keep my neighbors informed of the construction so they could make sure to move their car during that time period. But communication issues aside, I was very pleased with the work. The crew was friendly and professional, they worked quickly, and the wall looks terrific; it's clearly much more solidly constructed than what was there before. The workmen left my neighbor's driveway, the construction staging area, as clean as it was when they arrived, and they even came by on a Saturday afternoon to apply asphalt to a small trench in the driveway -- a very pleasant surprise when my husband and I returned home that night.

Jeff was always very professional and prompt. They completed the work in 3 days. Because we were having other contractors on the property at the same time, they couldn't bring their truck into the driveway so it necessitated them removing much of the old slab in wheel barrels brought out to the street. We requested a 1 1/2" pitch to the new floor which they did. The workers were pleasant and we would highly recommend them.

Jeff was very responsive to my request to cost the job out a few different ways, including costs for a driveway of asphalt and pavers. (We did not end up installing the pavers). In fact, while I was making my decision on contractors and materials, Jeff came by once to take measurements for his estimate and another time with pavers so that I could see the colors and textures. The cost was higher than the original estimate because during excavation, he discovered that the water table was high. To stabilize the driveway, the excavation and crushed stone runner had to be increased from 4" to 12". The additional cost was unexpected, but Jeff worked with me to keep the increase to a minimum. Overall, the quality of the job is excellent.

Jeff and Bruno were extremely professional, and so were the workmen. Management and workmen both turned up on time, and the work was done a very timely basis. Everything was cleaned up afterwards. We will definitely hire them again and we highly recommend them! We were indecisive on what materials we wanted for our stairs. Jeff and Bruno were patient in working with us and help answered the many querries that we've had on materials.

We had to wait a few weeks due to rain, but once the crew arrived, they worked steadily for 3 days. They had to hand excavate the base since we had removed two large trees and the backyard was full of roots. It was backbreaking work in intense heat, but the crew was pleasant and very hard working. They used tarp and plywood to protect my side lawn from the sand and gravel that needed to be on hand for the construction and left my property with no damage. (they even raked up any loose material that spilled during transport). The quality of the work is evident. During rain storms the patio drains better than the rest of the backyard. I love the bluestone pavers and they are easy to maintain. The edges are reinforced with concrete and the walkway comes right up to our back porch. We are very pleased with the look and are getting so much more use of our backyard. We used to call it the "mud pit" but now we are even able to grow grass around the patio and havecut down on the muddy areas considerably. Jeff and his crew were a pleasure to work with and the quality of the work shows. Jeff even helped us with determining the location of the patio and areas we may want to avoid digging due to drainage concerns. The work started on a thursday but had to be put on hold on saturday d/t rain. The crew came and finished on the next day and cleaned up. Other than the new patio, you couldn' tell there had been major construction done in the yard. I will definately recommend Masonworks to anyone looking for quality masonary work in the future. We love our new patio. Thanks to Jeff and his entire crew.

Overall they were very responsive and knowledgeable. They did a great job. My only complaint was that they left some of their equipment on our lawn which ruined patches of grass.

This was the only company willing/capable of doing all the work I needed done at a better cost than having different contractors doing separate jobs. The amount of work was extensive and occurred over several weeks. These workers are skilled and extremely hard working---many of my neighbors remarked on this weekly. They started early and finished late every day. They redid one section until they were satisfied that it was perfect. Any concerns of mine were addressed promptly and thoroughly. Glitches with an old house and sloping ground were discussed and adjusted. I'm very satisfied with the results. I have a very classy street presentation and a wonderfully flat driveway---no more backing up blind into a busy street, no more parking the rear wheels on the sidewalk in order to get out of the driveway in winter, no more shoveling snow 5 feet to the street level then up over the large piles of snow--it is all street level now. They did a great job of matcing the foundation blocks with new ones--in a few years they won't be noticeable any more, they are barely noticeable as it is now. They put in a water barrier so my cellar doesn't flood through the blocked-in door during the rain or snow melt.

They did a fantastic job. They were very nice and courteous. They showed up when they said they would. They were great.

Getting permits was a long process, and the job I think was quite tough - repointing of a crumbling chimney high up in an awkward place. The work was done very well, and we plan to use Masonworks again.

I called MasonWorks for an estimate to perform the work. Jeff arrived on time, asked me what I wanted to accomplish with the project, took some measurements and said he would get me an estimate and a sketch. He did that within a day or two. After reviewing other proposals, I selected MasonWorks primarily because Jeff listened to what I said I wanted and incorporated that into the sketch he sent me. In addition, when he came back with the contract he brought samples of a large variety of pavers with him that I could choose from ... I didn't have to go to a local (or not so local) stone yard and be overwhelmed by choices. Jeff said he would be able to start the job within 3 - 4 weeks and he did just that. Bruno and the crew arrived very early each day, did a full day's work, and within 4 days transformed my backyard ! They were very friendly, professional, and left the area very tidy.

It all went well. Jeff and Bruno always returned our phone calls and e-mails. The workers were here on time and worked very hard!T Jeff was a pleasure to work with. We are happy and will hire them again to do more work in our yard.

Working with Jeff of MasonWorks and his site manager Leo was a great experience. We had a back yard in Cambridge that was mostly a steep ivy covered hill, with very little usable level space. The initial idea was to excavate the side and back yards creating a 320 sq. foot or so flat area for a patio with 5-1/2 foot tall curved retaining wall, stone steps to an upper garden area and a brick path way and stone wall running down the right side of our house to the sidewalk in front. Jeff came the day after I called him to go over the project and got back to me within two days with drawings and a detailed estimate. Using the same specifications that Jeff quoted I received another quote. Based on the costs per sq. foot of patio, wall and walkways, Jeff?s was slightly less, but since his quote included a one foot deep by 1-1/2 foot wide cement footing for the main wall, vs. a ¾ inch stone footing of similar dimensions from the other contractor, we chose MasonWorks. While we followed the general initial plan, we also added removing our pressure treated timber and brick front steps and retaining wall and replacing them with granite and brick steps and a stone retaining wall. Also once we started excavating, I chose to increase the area of the excavation, which in turn increased the size of all surfaces and in addition I chose to add granite cobble stones to define and deepen garden areas. But since Jeff had given me a cost per sq. foot of each element, there were no surprises in the final costs. Jeff and Leo were extremely accommodating and a pleasure to work with. During the construction we continued to tweak the design, a process that worked very smoothly. But what I?ll be forever grateful for was the lengths they went to ensure that the back yard was complete enough for me to throw a 35th wedding anniversary party for my wife who is in hospice care at our home. Working up to noon on the day of the party they completed all of the masonry in the back and then proceeded to power wash everything, including the street, to provide me with a beautiful and sparkling clean space to welcome our 84 guests. In the end, as the accompanying before and after pictures illustrate, we now have new very beautiful spaces made with impeccable craftsmanship. Bottom line?I would highly recommend Jeff and his crew for anyone seeking competitive pricing and excellent craftsmanship for hardscapping.

Our front steps were in terrible shape with bricks literally falling off them. The walkway from the street to the steps was almost as bad. I called three highly rated companies on Angie's List and eventually decided to go with Masonworks. All the companies recommended tearing down and replacing the steps which wasn't a big surprise given their condition. Jeff seemed a bit easier to work with for a variety of reasons, so I went with him. (The prices were all pretty similar.) He warned me before we signed the contract that it would be 4 or 5 weeks before they could get to us. Sure enough, just about 4 weeks later, he called to say they would come out the next day. Bruno was in charge of the job and he was as easy to deal with as Jeff was -- very polite, helpful without being pushy. He told me the job would take about 4 days or so, depending on how many guys they'd be able to bring to work on it each day. And, just as he predicted, it was done 4 days later. The workers were easy to deal with and the process went very smoothly. The steps and walkway look great, just as we'd hoped for (perhaps even better!). I would definitely use them again if we needed similar work in the future.