Tom D'ercoles Masonry

unknown

The quality rating above is an average: the steps get a B and the walkway an F

I hired D’Ercole to replace my front steps and do a repair on a bluestone walk. He seemed personable, and his work on display at Ramsey Lumber was pretty good. The work began late in the year and the steps were just finished before it got too cold to work. D’Ercole promised to do the walkway repair when it got warmer, and I withheld only $150 from the payment.

The good:

D’Ercole didn’t do the work, his two-man crew worked alone. Their English was poor but they were careful workers and the steps were neatly done. The work was not trivial; the landing was bordered with limestone slabs and the center was fitted with rectangular pieces of Tennessee limestone. The steps were faced with rougher stone. It came out well and the pavers abutting the stairs were not disturbed by either the demolition or the construction. The masons were neat and polite. It’s all straight, plumb, and level. There is a "however", however.

The fair:

I had asked that the mortar color match that on the limestone facing of the house, a sand color. The mortar ended up dark grey. That stands out; it isn’t what I wanted. The bigger problem is staining of the limestone by the mortar, leaving an wide, ugly border around each rectangle. At the time, D’Ercole said it would get better; it looks worse now after more than a year.

The bad:

Holding back just $150 was a big mistake. Instead of diamond-cutting the walk as he told me he would do and replacing a section, D’Ercole came and slapped some mortar in the cracks. And that only after several unanswered phone calls. He said that that would do it; call me if there’s a problem. I wasn’t happy. Now even that poor repair is failing. D’Ercole failed to return any of my last five calls. In my last message I asked if he would be proud to show that work to a prospective customer, and of course there was no answer.

Would I hire him again? His crew is capable of good work, but No. If you do, get a detailed specification in writing, and hold back a significant amount of money if there is any delay in completion. I should have taken my own advice.

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When we bought the house we already knew the chimney was in
need of repair. The exterior of the chimney was in sad shape and chimney had
separated from house near the top and we were advised to have it inspected. One
company told us the chimney was about to fall down and would need to be torn
down and rebuilt. Another company told us the chimney needed a bracket and a
new liner.
Tom inspected the chimney. He was not impressed with the
separation, "less than an inch in 30 years is not something to be
concerned about" he explained. He also said that the chimney did not need
a new liner. However, the exterior of the chimney had deteriorated and was
allowing water to get into the chimney. He explained that he would fix the
chimney by wrapping it in wire and putting on two coats of cement to make the
exterior water tight. He would also repair the top of the chimney.
The work was performed as specified and the
chimney look great. Tom is a straight shooter. He will tell you what the
problem is and how it should be fixed, and then that is what he'll do. I felt
much better after he looked at the chimney, and I am completely satisfied with
the work that was performed.

Excellent job, very happy with the work. I'm actually flabbergasted at what a beautiful job he did. I never expected it to look as good as it does. He didn't simply replace the existing steps but extended them a bit to make it easier to get in the front door. The last owner of the house had installed somewhat shallow depth stairs. I'm very, very happy with the work, truly impressed.

I got estimates from several masons to replace our front steps that were unsafe and falling apart. When I called Tom he came out quickly to give an estamite. During his visit Tom noticed that the short concrete sidewalk from the driveway to the steps was cracked, very narrow and not level. He recommended that it be replaced with a full with sidewalk as my wife is disabled. The estimate Tom gave for the entire job, complete rebuild of the steps plus a new sidewalk, was only slightly to the estimates I got from other prviders for the steps alone.
Tom then gave me some options for the style of stone to use for the steps. While the old steps were being removed he asked me how I would like the sidewalk done. He could do it in concrete or pavers and pointed to several houses to the area with pavers. The pavers looked good so that is what I chose.
When finished the steps looked terrific as well as the new sidewalk. Tom and his crew came when promised, worked non-stop and were all very professional from estimate to completion.Quality work. I would definately use him again.

excellent service

did not hire.

see above

He did very good work. He very clean job.

Job was smooth, albeit a bit dusty. Stone cutting does that. Front steps were out of commission from Friday through Tuesday. All the rubble was removed. The job went smooth, old blue stone treads were replaced with limestone. Stoop looks great. Chimney completely refaced - looks beautiful.

This was a tough job - since it was almost impossible to match the brick's used 25 years ago - there were no spares. Tom, the owner, looked for weeks and found a very close match - then completed the work quickly and the cost matched his original quote exactly. He seems to be a very good craftsman and takes pride in his work. However, he's not really Internet savvy and doesn't seem to even know that his business is listed here! I would hire him again - no question about it.

Very timely, very professional. He only takes on one job at a time, so he's focused on completing yours before moving on to another. He's excellent in knowing what needs to be done and what will look nice. I fully plan on having him come back to do pavers and fix a wall for me soon. Very nice, and responsive.