Old Goat Masonry

In the Spring of 2012, we contracted with another mason to replace the chimney to our house. That mason tore down the original chimney which was in very poor condition and built the basic fireplace and basic structure. Everything was going along fine, but then he just stopped coming and despite numerous attempts to contact him, he never returned to complete the job. We were never able to get in touch with him and can only assume he is no longer in business. At the suggestion of an acquaintance, we then contacted the owner of Old Goat Masonry, Alfred Dedam, who, after inspecting the work that had been done agreed to complete the fireplace and the exterior stone work. Alfred did a great job on both the fireplace surrond and hearth. His work on the exterior was, in my opinion, superb. Not only did his skills as a mason really shine, but at his insistance, did the work in the dead of winter. Using a technique he learned while doing masonry work in the Rockies during a previous winter, he enclosed the scaffolding in tarpolins and had a large space heater providing heat. At times he actually worked in just a tee-shirt and Vermont in January isn't known to be tee-shirt weather! By early Spring, Alfred had completed the project except for sealing the exterior of the chimney which he said would have to wait until the weather got warmer. That was in March, 2013. Again, despite numerous telephone calls, we haven't seen or heard from Alfred since. I could understand both masons abandoning us if we were difficult customers to work for. If anything, we were extreme in the opposite. My wife went out of her way to provide both masons with water and lemonade in the summer and hot drinks and soup in the winter. She even made lunch for them many times and in Alfred's case, gave he and wife a baby blanket when their firstborn child arrived ! Although Alred's work was supurb, I cannot recommend him to potential customers. To leave us in lerch like he did was too unprofessional to allow me give him a rating of F in that area.