Bennett Masonry

Bennett Masonry came from the Athens, Ohio, area to do brick pointing on my older home in Huntington, WV. The estimate was $1500;  specifically, John indicated that he got $750 a day and my needs would involve two days' work. He asked for half the total up front on the day of the estimate, which was about ten days before the beginning of the actual job, but I was unwilling to do that.  He did eventually agree that I could give him the front money at the end of his first day of work, and we set a start date. 

Although I realize that he was traveling a fairly large distance, he arrived considerably later than he had indicated on both days of work.  The first day he dug out all the joints and then left them uncovered.  It rained on the second planned day of work so he didn't come, though he did call.  Fortunately it was not a driving rainstorm and I didn't have any resulting leaks, but I spent the day worried about the possibility that a hard rainstorm pounding through those open seams would cause interior damage.  The third day he returned to mortar the seams, again arriving hours later than planned.  He didn't strike the joints, which I found odd since my original joints are lightly struck, but since this wasn't real obvious I didn't complain.

While here, he indicated that there were several more seams that needed work and that he would fix them for an additional $250.  I would have said yes had it not been for the phrasing of the estimate.  He had priced the job as "two days' work," and his actual work time for the job came in at about six hours.  I thought--and still think--that a customer has the right to expect more than three hours of work each day for $750.  We discussed this, but John did not agree.   

All that said, the work that was done was very neat and appeared to be extremely competently rendered.  I believe that this company definitely knows the art of brick work.  The Angie's List subscriber who termed John "respectful of the property" was absolutely correct: he and Angel left the yard tidier than they found it on both days of the job. 

This company was great. They were so respectful of the property and did an amazing job to restore the front of the house to its original condition. The clean-up was immaculate and the landscape protected perfectly.