Jasper presented himself as experienced and capable of tuck-pointing and sealing our 20 feet long brick sidewalk; his bid was $1250 and while that was higher than another bid, I was willing to pay that for what he said he would deliver: grinding out cracked mortar, putting in new, acid washing brick face for a nice clean surface and then sealing. It is a long (sad) story, but: over less than 6 hours he did grind, fill and seal. When he left, the brick was wet and looked ok. My big mistake: I did not check it carefully and paid him. The next day when the brick dried I saw that not only were many cracked places not patched, but joints were messy and mortar residue was all over the brick. I called him and to his credit, he came out and chiseled out a lot of the poorly done work. He did not use his grinder because he said, he did not want to create a big headache for himself (the first day he did not clean up the rock dust from my porch, flower bed edging, plants, stair rails, etc. until I asked him to hose everything off. Which he did. Sort of.) As he started his re-do I asked him if he would assure me that he would do the job to the best of his ability (the brick stair he did while I was watching him start the job was done beautifully). He assured me he would. He re-did some mortar and said he was ready to re-seal. Seeing residue on the brick face I asked if that needed to be cleaned off first; he said no, that it would dissolve and look great. As he was leaving, I asked him again to affirm that this was the best he could do. He told me it was his best effort and that he was done (that it cost him money to operate his truck, etc. and he would not be back). Okay. When the brick dried and I saw what it looked like I was sick, angry, and disappointed. I had paid a premium price for a substandard job. Damage was done to my driveway (from his first acid wash), and the plants and the walk look far worse than they did when he started. I called and left a voice message to say I was disappointed and that I was not asking him to come back, that he had already assured me this was his best. I told him I had photos and would be posting a review. (He had asked me several times during the job to leave him a review of 5 stars he suggested.) All told he was here less than 10 hours including the re-do and had very little material costs. The mortar he put in already looks crumbly and it will take considerable effort to clean the brick since it has sealer over the residue. I am hoping this site will allow me to post photos before and after Jasper. Aside from some cracked mortar, this walk was not in bad condition. To those wanting similar repairs, I cannot recommend this company. Perhaps this is not a strength, but he assured me that as a third-generation masonry person he knew his stuff and could deliver excellent results. I did not find that to be the case. I could add more about behavior, etc. but what matters most to me and I assume to most is the quality of the job. Having had brick walks for over 45 years (30 years at a former house, 16 at this one) I know what patching looks like and what reasonable expectations are. This was a poor job and I believe I gave Jasper every opportunity to do his best work. And IF this job represented his best, it certainly was subpar. I treated Jasper with respect, did not try to tell him how to do his job, and give him credit for good communication, for being on time, and for coming back even after he had been paid for the job. Some would not have. But, bottom line: be smarter than I was. I will be cleaning up this mess or paying someone else to for a while.