Colonial Stone

We are so glad we hired Colonial Stone! Tim and his crew did a wonderful job. He replied to my many questions promptly. They were patient with some delays and issues we had due to work with a prior adjacent project. The bluestone patio look fabulous, with great attention to detail.

We couldn't have been happier with the whole process and with the company and individuals we chose to work with. Colonial Stone is an awesome company.

Everything was great! Before the process began, Tim sat down with my husband and I to discuss our needs and the look we were hoping for in the finished product. Tim's expertise and knowledge led us to our final decision to use buckskin stone for our project. It is a beautiful stone, and able to withstand the weight we need it to support, considering that the tall wall has our patio / deck situated above it. Tim arrived early (but not too early) each morning and worked long days in order to maximize his time and accomplish as much as he could each day. He was respectful, and kept the work area safe, especially when he left each evening. We have three small children, so that was very important to us. The demo was quick, and Tim disposed of the old timbers and other "junk" that was once part of our retaining walls and got to work leveling out the dirt and prepping for placement of the new blocks. Watching the walls come together was fun for us. It went much faster than we anticipated, and the project was ultimately completed in a couple of weeks. We went with a variation of stone sizes on our smaller (shorter), terraced walls in order to add some dimension and pizzazz to an otherwise boring wall. Tim took extra caution to ensure his safety and the safety of our family during the project. Especially when he left each day, and needed to leave large blocks or fill (gravel) in our street for use the following day. We had to remove a panel of our fence in order for the bobcat to fit through, but it was easy to re-attach when the project was completed. (Added bonus: our kids loved watching the tractor work). We are thrilled with the completed product! We have received compliments from family, friends, and complete strangers as they walk past our home. Ultimately those compliments are directed back to Colonial Stone. Their work is fantastic and well worth the investment. I cannot say enough great things about this business! I would trust them to take on any future project I may have, as well as refer them to my friends and family.

They were great to work with. They understood and brought to life our "napkin drawing". They were extremely professional, hard working, and timely.

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Step is fixed.  Left a mess and did not respond when I emailed them about it after the work was completed.

unknown

Not great, not bad.  They had to be strongly encouraged to be respectful of the neighbors property and street access, but did follow-up when pressed.

The stoop looks good.  The sidewalk is fine.  I regret not shopping around more as I've seen some great work in the Highland Park neighborhood in St. Paul.

They were (reportedly) undergoing an ownership transition at the time - that may have contributed to some of the issues.

The 2 man crew did an excellent job with the composition of the stones on the stairs, patio and retaining wall. The were kind, courteous and professional, throughout the entirety of the project. Our house looks fantastic!
Spendy, but worth the quality of the stone and work

.Grout between stones was not properly installed; needed to be redone within a few months.  It did not hold up well during the winter and needed to be redone gain.  Stones are too thin and are cracking.  The company has made repairs with some reluctance

When consulting with me before giving us an estimate, Steve had a good feel for what needed to be done and had samples of the colors of stones he recommended. They were able to fit us in between larger jobs as ours was a relatively small wall and his crew completed the entire job in less than a day, consulting with me every so often throughout the project to see if I liked how it was coming and if I had any questions. They cleaned up afterwards and the wall is beautiful. I would use them again without hesitation.

This was a great experience. Before finding Colonial, we were of the mind that it wasn't possible to replace this wall without switching from natural stone to the manufactured interlocking concrete blocks. After talking in detail with Steve and learning how Colonial constructs their walls, and looking at 6 references to work they had done, we went with them. The work was done by Tim and his team over the course of 3 days. It included removal and sorting the stone from my existing wall, excavation and a proper re-build with particular care taken for drainage behind my wall due to water runoff from my neighbor's property.
The appearance of the new wall exceeded my expectations and they did a great job of consulting me on design and technical issues throughout the project. When consulting with Tim on the first day, we changed the original plan, which simplified the build and improved the look, AND resulted in a $400 drop in the cost I paid compared to their original quote. When the job was complete, everything was cleaned up, and the site was left in great shape. I will be using them in the future to replace my cracked concrete driveway with pavers - I'm very enthusiastic in recommending Colonial Stone.

Steve spent a great deal of time with me initially measuring, etc.  He seemed to have much more experience and knowledge than other contractors.  He did get a bit out of sorts when I suggested that I wanted my designer to come check on the job and make sure it was being installed properly.  We got over that.  The crew was extremely professional and worked very hard in tremendous heat.  They were responsive, answered all my questions and were professional in every respect.  The final job looks fabulous with the top layer being blue stone.  I would definitely use Steve again.  He may have been a few dollars more than the other bids, but we felt he was worth it.
Judie O'Brien

Overall, we had a good experience.  I probably could have found someone to do the work for less, but Colonial had a good reputation and we decided to move forward with them.  Steve came out and took a look and told us the repairs were pretty minor and gave us an estimate based on time and material.  The repairs were made and Colonial added another hour to what they billed, which disappointed me somewhat.  There was one area that we thought the mason just missed afterwards and at first Colonial showed some reluctance to come out and address our concerns.  I had a call with Steve and explained to him our thoughts and he ended up coming out the address the area, which I appreciated.

They did an excellent job.  Very professional, from the estimate and proposal process, through scheduling, through execution and clean up.  True craftsmanship, completed with a passion and professionalism that is all too rare with contractors today.  You can shop around, but if you are seriously looking for top-quality stone work, delivered professionally, you'll wind up hiring these guys!

They did a great job.  I would recommend them without reservation. They were not the cheapest estimate I got, but they do high quality work. The workers were professional and courteous.  They cleaned up thouroghly after the job. There were a couple surprises during the work, but they worked with me honestly and straightforwardly, and I ended up very satisfied.  At the end of the work, there were a couple small issues, but after only a slight delay, they came out and took care of it. 

They did a fantastic job.  They really listened to what we wanted and did what we asked for while also offering valuable insight and suggestions.

I had an excellent experience with Colonial Stone. I scheduled an appointment for an estimate, and the owner himself came over and talked about the various options. There was no pressure at all, and he seemed genuinely interested in giving us options that fit our modest 90-year old home. We asked for an estimate on one particular option, which their office sent to us via email a few days later. Not having had any experience with this sort of project, I had many questions which were patiently answered by their office manager. We decided to go with Colonial Stone even though their cost was somewhat higher than a few other contractors (though their cost was in-line with others). We were very pleased with our decision. They scheduled us at our preferred dates, about 5 weeks after we accepted their bid. The steps were installed by one person, who worked very carefully and with attention to detail even though the project took longer than anticipated (largely due to weather). He did great work, and the steps look beautiful. A couple days after the steps were completed, we asked if they had any extra stone since we wanted to extend the pad in front of the steps a little beyond what their bid called for. The owner brought a nice stone at no cost, which I installed myself.

Splendid job!

The job went very well overall and the final product is excellent. 

I contacted Steve at Colonial Stone for a quote on replacing our concrete steps with stone steps.  Steve was prompt, polite, responsive, professional, and very informative.  He had several recommendations and useful guidance to offer us to ensure we made a choice we would be happy with.  He offered options about the design and types of stone and was able to articulate the pros and cons of different options. He provided a written quote with the options we discussed.  He explained that due to our site conditions (a retaining wall that prevented accessing the steps with equipment), the cost would be higher than if the site were more accessible because signficant manual labor would be required. 

Steve worked with us to schedule the work at a time that would not conflict with other projects and kept us informed of the schedule. 

Nick was the mason in charge of the stone work and he was very polite and professional.  He worked until 9 pm on the first day of work, to get the steps removed and ready for installation of the stone the next day.

When I arrived home on the first day of work the concrete rubble had been piled in front of my neighbor's house.  I called Steve and asked if he would ensure that staging (including rubble piles) occurred in front of our home as much as possible so as not to bother the neighbors.  Steve was very understanding of my concern and explained that the dumpster had not arrived as planned that day but it would be delivered the next day and it would be placed in front of my house and rubble removed from street and placed in dumpster.  The next day the dumpster was delivered but it was placed in front of my neighbor's house.  Thankfully, my neighbors are very easy to work with and they did not mind at all, but I felt bad that the dumpster for work at our house sat in front of their house.  I did not follow up with Steve and ask that the dumpster be moved because the work was only going to take a couple of days. 

I contacted Colonial Stone and requested the repair of a stone that was on the house and falling off.  They gladly re-attached this stone wtihout any additional charge.  Upon Nick's discovery of a rotten threshold board, he replaced it with stone, told us about it, and did not charge anything additional, which was a very nice solution. 

The crew did a nice job in minimizing impact to the yard.  We had recently completed signficant landscaping (which would have been smarter to complete AFTER the stone steps, but we didn't plan ahead), and there was very minimal impact to the new sod and no damage to the landscape stone work.

The stone steps turned out beautiful!  We are very pleased with the design, the advice we received in choosing the stone and design, and the workmanship. 

Clean-up of the area around the steps could have been better.  We found quite a few concrete chunks (from the demolition) scattered around the wood chips, and several piles of cement dust in the woodchips and grass.  It was a minor issue for us to clean this up but it was a bit disappointing. 

Throughout the project I spoke with Sherry in the office several times and Sherry was always very hepful, professional, and very interested in meeting our needs.  After the job was complete we received phone calls from both Nick and Steve checking in to ensure everything was completed to our satisfaction.  The final bill came in at the quoted price.

We are very pleased with the steps and would recommend Colonial Stone as a contractor. 

They were incredibly professional and efficient. They did change their ownership. They had a certain code for their workers which included that they wouldn?t swear and smoke while working. They built all our retaining walls within one day. We never had any issues with them and their work. All the work was top notch in quality. They were great and wonderful contractors to work with. I would use their services in the future too and have to check out since they did change ownership. I have also recommended them to others based on our experience.

He came out and was competent and gave great information. I like him a lot, but went with someone else due to a lower price. I felt they were trustworthy as well. I would call them again for another estimate if needed.

Colonial stone was wonderful to work with, the owner worked with me to find just the right stone to blend with the brick on the front of my house. The workers were "artists". They were always on time, they cleaned the area daily, were very professional and made my vision a reality. This company gets my highest recommendation. I would use them again absolutely!!!

The whole experience was great. Steve gave me lots of ideas about what type of stone would look good, and we ended up following his suggestion, which was a combination of blue stone and another type of stone for contrast. He also saved me money by letting me know that I really didn't need concrete poured on the pad of the step; instead, they laid crushed rock underneath the blue stone, which will keep it from cracking. Our front step looks wonderful. I also had Colonial Stone repair one stone that was damaged by a errant dumpster. They came out immediately and fixed it immediately. Very nice. I also loved the fact that Colonial Stone's price was considerably less than the estimates I received from two other contractors, and Steve's solution was much more creative and attractive.

It was spectacularly good. They were on time and they did exactly what they said they were going to do. There was excellent quality in what they did.