Tucker's Masonry

Excellent, we own a 55 year old house that brick had been neglected. He is prompt, courteous and a very hard worker. I highly recommend him.

We had a unique project as someone hit our steel mailbox causing it to tilt and it broke the concrete slab that surrounded it. Finding someone to do such an odd job was a project in itself! Mr. Tucker graciously agreed to help us. He was very upfront about his timeframe but communicated with us every step of the way. He is very particular about his work and I'm very picky so he was the perfect person to do this job. It turned out great and I am so happy to have my mailbox upright again! Would definitely hire again!!

Great! Mr Tucker is an honest, dependable and very pleasant person. He worked hard and gave us two fine brick walls, works of art really, on our 110 year old house!

Mr. Tucker did a high quality job and went above and beyond by cleaning front brick steps in addition to other affected areas when the project was completed.

Mr. Tucker is one of a kind. He is very professional, fair, and honest. He delivers on his word. The quality of his work is outstanding. Good work is worth waiting for.

I have had many jobs done by providers obtained through Angie's List. And this was my first unhappy experience. The brick foundation in my 1922 home needed some simple re-pointing. After getting a $300 bid from a reliable contractor I wanted to get a couple more bids. Which I did. Tucker's Masonry's reviews were top-notch, indicating he was willing to do more than usual and that his bid less than usual so I called him, and had him come out. ( Looking back at the reviews of Tucker's Masonry I note now that two were just for bidding.) He also bid $300, said he would do as much as possible for $300, and if it appeared the foundation needed more we'd go from there. I believed I could trust him, was positively impressed with him, and  gave him the job.

I did not mind waiting until he could get to me on his schedule. When he came to work we discussed the job. He said me that while some of the joints were good and hard, it was impossible to tell what was hard and what was not and that he wanted to do the very best job possible for me. That sounded good. When he returned,  he said, "The Lord is telling me to do the very best job possible for you. That means I need to grind out all the joints and re-grout them all. I told him there was no way I could pay for what he was describing. "Well," he said, "You pray about it, and I'll pray about it, and I'm sure it'll all come out right." "Mr. Tucker," I said, "I'm a praying woman. But unless the Lord sends me a pot of cash, there's no way I can pay for that."

First mistake: I did not get a written blow-by-blow description of just what he planned to do and what it would cost, even at that point. I assumed we were still in the neighborhood of $300. First surprise was when he presented me with a bill for materials including the cost of his grinding mask and grinding blades. I was incredulous, said I thought the bid  included materials. "Oh no," he said. "Materials are always extra, because you never know how much you'll need. I don't even know how many grinding blades I'll need." We bargained to half the cost of the mask and I wrote a check for $200 for materials; he later returned $17 plus change for what he didn't spend.  He said he would present me with all the invoices (a promise he kept). Then after completing a short section of the foundation he asked, "Now do you want me to clean the bricks after the job, or do you want to do that?" Now I'm nearly 80  and there's no way I could clean them. I so wish I had asked him to stop right then and there. But I already had money in the job.

He worked his way around to the front of the house and neighbors across the street called me and asked, "What on earth are you doing to your bricks?! they look awful!" And no kidding, they do. I was sick. And am. Grout covers the bricks. Mr. Tucker said,  "Well, they are very old bricks." (They are.) "So I fill in the crevices to make them solid and then scrape them off." But the bricks are now covered with gray mortar. Instead of the beautiful original color of he bricks, I have mortar-colored bricks."

My home is a historical Craftsman style house in an East Knoxville neighborhood; it's really a beautiful house. I can't help wondering if Mr. Tucker believed because of it's beauty that I'm better off than I am. I'm elderly, on a limited income and I seriously fear running out of money.

So while I haven't been able to afford real rehab, I've tried to be a good steward and do my best to take care of the house:  re-roofed, repainted, tried to keep things up. I called Knox Heritage and also a trusted full-service Knoxville contractor. He assured me that Mr. Tucker's joints are nice and hard and clean (Yay!) but that his work was messy. "Bricks made before about 1940 are softer bricks," he said. "They're not meant to be perfectly smooth. And you don't fill in those crevices." (To give Mr. Tucker the benefit of the doubt, I assume he did not know that.)

"You can have them cleaned," my consultant continued. "But they will never look the way they did-- or should.look. He should have cleaned as he went. You can try to have them cleaned now--pressure washed, maybe acid washed. But they will never look the way they did. If they look too bad you can consider a stain over them." Cleaning will cost at least another $300. Staining, if that's necessary at least $600 or $700 -- and those are rock-bottom prices.

Mr. Tucker says for an extra $300 he will try to clean them. I'm not sure I trust his ability to do that. And I already spent way more than the $300 I expected. I'm not happy.

Mr. Tucker performed quality work. He held his budget even the job was a little harder than we first thought.

Our brick front entrance steps had separated from the house when the concrete support slab settled.  We had Master Dry polyfoam the slab to raise it back to its former height, then hired Mr. Tucker to repair and repoint the brick steps.  Given that this is the main entrance to our house it was important that the new mortar match the old and everything be done in a highly professional manner.  We contacted Mr Tucker, who is a semi-retired master mason with over 30 years of experience, based on the excellent reviews others had provided on Angie's List.  He responded to the telephone call immediately, explained that he's semi-retired and that he could come out and give us an estimate but it would be 6 weeks before he could start the job - which was ok for us.  From that point on  everything he did was as promised and highly professional.  He scheduled a visit to review the job the following day, showed up at the appointment on time, provided references and pictures from previous jobs, then called the following day with an estimate which we accepted.  As promised, approximately 6 weeks later he started the job.  Mr. Tucker is a perfectionist.  He never got in a hurry, matched the mortar perfectly, and repaired, repointed and cleaned all the bricks on the front entrance so everything matches.  This man is a gem. If you're looking for an honest, hardworking, professional master mason and you're willing to wait to get on his schedule - then by all means, hire Mr. Tucker.  We did and we found the short wait well worth it.

Very happy with the results. Mr. Tucker is very professional and takes his time to do it right the first time.

I had a brick front porch/patio that needed repointing;
i.e., the mortar was eroding through. I got several bids but Thomas?s bid was by
far the lowest. He has good references and a portfolio of pictures of completed
projects. I was appropriately impressed. It took a while but the completed work
was very good. I would highly recommend him. In fact,  I am planning to ask him to do some concrete
driveway repair work for me soon.