Holmlund Masonry Inc

The structural work went well.  The work team of 3 people cut out and replaced part or all of the block immediately around the I-beam.  The result looks clean, professional, and solid, exactly what I wanted.  The cost feels like a good value for the work.
My only complaint relates to clean-up.  The work team did a good job of cleaning up the major mess from the demolition.  However, every horizontal surface in my garage -- workbench, shelving, bikes, snowblower, garbage bins, etc. -- ended up covered with a thin layer of concrete dust.  My car (parked outside the garage) also has a coating, likely from the concrete blocks that they cut outside.  
In retrospect, I suppose this is an inevitable result of cutting concrete, but this is my first experience with concrete work.  If I had known what to expect, I would have moved more things out of the garage and I would have covered what remained with plastic.  I also would have moved my car off the driveway and onto the street.   I think the work crew probably should have suggested this before starting the messy work.

Charlie showed up first thing on day1 with 4 workers, and explained what was to be done . One worker spoke good english, another okay english, the other two I don't think spoke any english . Very good workers . neat/clean/tidy especially when day one was done . explained what they had done and what would be done the next day . On day2 they showed up before 8am (a good thing) and finished about 1pm . Forgot to put plastic on one section to keep rain out, but came back fairly quickly to attach that.  Said they'd be back day after job was done to take plastic off, then we could put garage back together ... they never showed up to get it. (We took it off that next afternoon so we could finish our portion of the project and get cars back into the garage).  We called them three days later to see if they were coming to get the plastic ... original answer was yes, they'd be right out ... an hour later, they called to say we could toss it.  Overall, the job looks great.

unknown

unknown

We were experiencing foundation blocks that were falling apart on our garage.  They gave us a bid and we agreed upon a date to complete the work.  They arrived on the day, however they were early.  We had an appointment that morning and told him that we wouldn't be home until 9:00 AM.  They arrived at 8:00 AM as I was leaving, so I had to rework my schedule for the morning so someone would be home.  

But the work that they preformed was excellent and they cleaned up after themselves.  They removed the blocks that were beyone repair and installed new ones.  They also tuckpointed all the joint on that side of the garage so it looks uniform and hopefully will prevent further issues.  They did break my hose, which I didn't notice for a couple of days later.  But, since they did a good job, I didn't bother to contact them about it.

Good and looks good.  I have used them before and thought they did a good job.

Talked with both Tim and Dan.  Had them out to give us a bid/estimate on the work to be done.  First time out we were busy with a number of things around the house with another contractor and talked briefly about the work to be done and found we had options for coloring the ThoroSeal coating.
We later talked with Dan to answer some questions that had come up since the visit for the estimate.  All were answered completely and we scheduled the work to be done.  At the time they were scheduling about 4 weeks out.
We were contacted about a week before the work was to be done and given a two-day window the following week, depending on weather.  Was great to be notified ahead of time and given a window.  Much better than walking out the door for work one morning and having the contractor pulling up at the curb.
There was a crew of three that were out and initially worked at grinding any cracks, then filling with mortar.  They dug about 6 to 10 inches below the surface all around the foundation.  After filling with mortar, they left for a time and returned to clean up any mortar work that needed some tweaking.  They then mixed up the ThoroSeal and the colorant we selected and applied the seal coat to all of the exposed concrete block - including that where they dug below the surface around the house.
Everything was completed in one day.  We have a typical 1000sqft rambler to give a size of the project.  The area was cleaned up very nicely, even with plants and shrubs around the house, nothing was disturbed and you wouldn't have known they were there.
The crew worked professionally and were not in the way at any time while at the house.  Things went very well.

Holmlund gave  excellent estimates based on the expectations of what they might encounter in repairing the tuck-pointing and the collar atop  the chimney, had employees to do the job, set up scaffolding without harming landscaping and had a roofer come and replace the flashing that no longer held up. We were very pleased.

All work was completed as scheduled promptly, neatly and well.  2 story scaffolds were installed and removed without any damage to the landscaping.   Crews were prompt and polite.   Metro Chimney also made good suggestions for improving the look of the old chimneys--adding another layer of stone which looks great and with which we are very pleased.   They gave a 5% discount for doing both chimneys at the same time and we are  happy that we took care of both, despite initial hesitation.

The job went very, very well.  The job estimation process reflected seasoned experience and good business practice.  The work was completed over 3-4 days using a three person crew.  The post job cleanup was a 9.5 on a 10 point scale.

A storm knocked down the neighbor's tree and it fell into the front of my house.  I got a quote from Holmlund for the masonry repair, but then I had a lengthy battle with my insurance company to get everything covered.  Holmlund was fantastic to work with.  Danny did a great job explaining what work had to be done and patiently working with me and my insurance company.  He and the others at Holmlund were pleasant to work with, very knowledgeable, and boy do they do nice work.  Our new front steps look phenomenal!  The chimney went up without a hitch.  Even though it made a big mess while they were here, they cleaned things perfectly.  My house has older bricks and mortar and Holmlund masonry did a wonderful job matching the color.  I couldn't be more pleased!

WARNING:  this was the worst experience of my life.  I didn't choose Holmlund because of their bid (they were all pretty close), but rather because they agreed to throw in a repair of the front steps.  Tim was pleasant enough when we met for an estimate.  He also said his company could start right away....that should have been my first clue.  I stopped by ( this is rental property) and good thing I did.  Tim was taking it upon himself to substitute the selected brick with a white one which he explained I could paint....who wants to paint a new chimney.  After some discussion he said he would look for the selected brick- and guess what?- he found it right away-very suspicious.  Now I thought I'd better keep an eye on these guys.  The next day I stopped by - they were starting to build the chimney.  I was promised that the old drip lines (which were rusted, clogged and no longer functioned) would be replaced.  I could see that that wasn't happening. I attempted to voice my concern with the workers.  The problem was that none of them could speak or understand english but they acted as if they did by smiling and saying yes.  Well guess what-no new drip lines.  Tim now had to go inside into the basement with a jack hammer to break apart the cement and attempt to retrofit the drip tubes.  What a mess.  I'm still not convinced that they work properly.  So the chimney finally gets done and now we move on to the front steps.  They put a thin coating of cement over the top - once again worker could not speak or understand english.  I was told it should last at least a year.  Try 2 weeks.  cracks appeared.  They redid it.  Cracks appeared once again.  Of course the big mistake was I didn't get the step repair in writing and trust me, Tim kept reminding me of that.  By this time I was very disappointed to say the least.  I paid half down with the second half due on completion.  Through multiple emails I thought we came to a mutual agreement that full payment was not in order.  Much to my surprise a few months ago I received a summons to appear in conciliation court for NON payment.  He stated I never paid anything.  Against my better judgement I paid the balance due plus the filing fee.  I work in the medical field and to take time away from my patients for something like this was out of the question.
I held off writing this review thinking that at least I was compensated for a less than satisfactory outcome.  Well, not anymore.  I also, after hiring Holmlund, read an Angies list review that pretty much echoed my experience.  BEWARE

I am very happy. It was very hard to find someone who was able to do the job and we wanted them to match the brick that was on the front of our house. Which is also complicated. They did a pretty good job with that. So, we are pretty happy with the job that they did. They were good about cleaning up afterwards.

I recognized Homlund as being near our neighborhood. Came out quickly to quote, arranged to be the last stop of the day, and work done as promised.   An odd occurence happened when they were here; we had to be evacuated due to a profound gas leak in the vacant home next door, they left their tools, etc. and when it was convenient for me they came back to finish.   I know this inconvenienced them but they handled it very well, not pushy at all about needing to come back.   Just a friendly company to work with.

The calling for an estimate and estimate process was easy and efficient. There work had to be rescheduled due to bad weather and there was a little mix up with this. The work done was good, I had a concern after it was done and someone came out and evaluated the issue and took care of it. My only issue was that after I was given the estimate, I was able to provide all the extra bricks needed (them supplying the bricks was part of the estimate), but no one woule agree to lower the price. I would still use them again

I received a quick response for coming out to do an estimate and providing a written quote.   Their timelines were about two weeks out, but they were great in getting out as soon as they could because I had other house projects starting.

The workers were on time to do the work and did a very thorough job.   All the cracks that were repaired looked very good and they did a good job on the clean up.

The main issue was that I asked specifically for something when the estimator came and I had missed that it wasn’t in the final contract, so it wasn’t done. They didn’t do anything to help with that issue.

.

They did a fabulous job. Tim, the estimator, took pictures. They gave me a detailed estimate, and the write up was perfect. They gave me a good explanation of what was going to be done, and they delivered on exactly what they were going to do and the cost that they had estimated. They matched the colors and the mortar. I was very happy with their customer service and everything. The work was completed, and it was done exceptionally well. I would rate them highly and would use them again in the future if necessary. They are a wonderful company to work with, and they deserve to get more business.

First he showed up several hours late and didn't bother to call. I had to call him to ask where he was at. When he came out and I had some basic instructions which they failed to follow and the result is exposed stones cuts that could have easily been avoided. The end result was large gaps in a prostack stone that's not supposed to have any gaps. All that was required was for them to knock off the lip created at the manufacturer. It's very frustrating because the lines are all wavy now and it's in my living room where I'm forced to look at it every day. The other problem is they made the stone flush to the wall and worked forward so there's big gaps towards the front of the fireplace between the face and corner pieces. That seems like an amateur mistake as well. They also covered the face of a cabinet I had which I really can't understand at all. It honestly looks like an amateur did it and I wish now I had just done it myself. I could have saved $1700 and I would have done a better job.

Firm was well organized, responded quickly to calls, came when scheduled. Work went very fast, with workers working well into the evening to finish in 3 mild days before another hard freeze. the job looks nice and, as far as I can tell, the job was well done. When I requested that they do a better job with cleanup (some of the debris had been buried under the snow), they came the next day and did it. Site is now, as per the contract, as clean as when they started.

Holmlund Masonry did not do what they were supposed to do regarding the chimney repair. They did not leave the job site clean, they spattered everywhere including on the siding. They also said that it would cost an extra $300 if they had to come back and do the work according to my satisfaction. The house is 50 years old so the concrete was chipped and they replaced it with concrete and molder. The job they did is coming off in big chunks.

They restored the wall and and also did some tuck pointing as well. They did a great job. They finished the work quickly. I would recommend them to others.

Workers rushed the job, they used plywood as the base instead of metal screen which is the standard. On two seperate occasions they have promised to come out and repair their work and they have never shown up.

See above