Renaissance Masonry recently repaired loose and damaged bricks in my home's foundation. Kevin and…read morehis team were excellent; they were punctual, provided a clear estimate, and communicated their work effectively. They did a fantastic job with the repointing and sealing. I highly recommend them and would definitely work with them again!

Excellent quality work Good communications…read more Recommend and highly recommend .......... High quality work Excellent and good to work with ......

We searched a long time for the right contractor for our front railings. Jeff and Riccardo were…read morefantastic. They provided detailed estimates and were able to answer all our questions. They also adjusted on the fly and we able to make a custom solution for us with beautiful wood railings with aluminum balusters. We've gotten multiple compliments from friends how sharp it looks. We have two small kids and were very concerned to be going into winter without railings (we are 33 steps from the street). Jeff was able to squeeze us in before the end of season. Riccardo and his team were out in the freezing temps finishing the railings. Everything came out great; communications were smooth throughout; and cleanup was perfect. I'd highly recommend this company - we plan to use them for home improvement projects in the future.

Working with Masonworks has been a roller coaster. They are very, very good at the masonry aspect,…read morebut we had a negative experience with everything outside of the excellent stone walls and patio they built for us. They have built beautiful flat stone walls for us in our front and back yards. We were very impressed with them after the first job they did for us in our front yard a few years ago, so we did not even look at other companies when we wanted to spruce up our backyard this year. The garden walls they built in the backyard were once again beautiful. However, as a gardener, I was disappointed and frustrated by the following things: - Our contract included 50/50 loam compost for the new garden beds. During the job, we caught them filling the beds with the grass they had pulled up from our old lawn and asked them to stop doing that. - When I went to start planting, I found that the garden beds had only a layer of new soil but that my shovel quickly hit a lot of big rocks and uncovered old soil, debris, and trash. - They completely trampled and destroyed my established perennial garden, which was located in a garden bed above where the new beds were built. They also broke several pavers in a little garden path I had and removed them without replacing them. - They recommended microclover for my lawn and seeded it for us as part of the contract, but it grew in quite spotty despite us maintaining it properly with daily waterings. I contacted them about the first issue and their initial response was to tell me that the stones I was finding were part of the wall construction - this was not the case. They had someone come out to take a look and concluded that the soil did need to be replaced, which they finally did. It is much better now, though I still have found some large stones in it. However, in the process of solving that issue, they caused the second one - many of the perennials that my mother and I had worked to plant over the past four years were totally destroyed. They offered me a credit to compensate for the loss, or the option to have them reinstall new flowers, but by that point I just didn't want them near my garden anymore so accepted the credit. I didn't bother contacting them about the spotty lawn - I threw down some grass seeds yesterday to try and fill in the gaps. While I appreciated that they did eventually take steps to resolve the issues, I found it quite frustrating to have to keep reaching out just to get them to do what they really should have done in the first place. They never did a final walkthrough as I've seen other contractors do. No apology for destroying my garden. They have a Benjamin Franklin quote, "The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten" - I definitely felt some of that bitterness throughout this process. My conclusion is that they are really excellent masons but do not understand or respect gardens. If you hire them, be prepared to have to deal with that.

We had an excellent experience with Atlantic Masonry installing our new patio in October. The team…read morewas knowledgeable and responsive throughout the entire process. Zine is great and took the time to answer questions and clearly knew his craft. The final result came out even better than we expected! Despite the harsh winter we just had, the patio has held up beautifully and still looks great. We're looking forward to warmer weather so we can start using it regularly. I would absolutely recommend Atlantic Masonry to anyone considering a patio or masonry project.

It's now about 10 months since Zine came out to meet me. I reached out to him about 5-6 months ago…read moreabout when his company can do the job right. He said that he was dealing with a family tragedy. I understood that. Now it is months later and I haven't heard back. I'm cool if he took time but I have had to reach out to him every time to get his crew to come do the job right. I don't think I should be chasing him. I'd be OK if he gave me a date for work but he hasn't. I think I hired him Fall 2024. He started work in Spring 2025. I've posted some new photos of issues. I'm posting ones that are easy to see on camera. There are various places where tapping on the stucco returns a hollow knock. Frustrating.

We get more compliments on our rock wall that Larry and his team did. We absolutely love it and so…read moredoes everyone else!

Larry and his team took down old rotted wooden front steps and replaced them with brick and…read morebluestone. The work was perfect and to us, most importantly, the clean up was great. We would highly recommend them for all masonry work in the Melrose area.

I am extremely grateful for John and his crew at Tough Build Masonry for the work they work they…read moreperformed on my home. I had noticed that a support column on my porch had been leaning and buckling outward. Upon further investigating the issue it turned out that the extent of the damage was greater than appeared on the surface as the post had completely rotted through, the wall had pulled away from the deck and the foundation underneath had crumbled. Despite the amount of work involved, John remained honest and fair as he provided me with several options and worked with me and my budget to get the best result possible to meet both my expectations as well as his high standard of quality. I am beyond pleased with the final outcome! They managed to get the entire side of the porch torn down, the foundation properly repaired and then have it all rebuilt and tied back into the existing stairs and porch within just a few days. If you are in need of any masonry, carpentry or decking work I can't recommend Tough Build Masonry enough. They were honest, hard working and kept me in the loop throughout the entire process. I absolutely intend to call them in the future for any projects. Thank you, John!

Tough Build Masonry just finished replacing all the old bricks around our house and redoing our…read morepatio. They were quick to get back to us and provided an estimate when they said they world. The began work when they said they would. John and his team were a pleasure to work with. John not only listened to our ideas, but he was able to provide feedback and suggestions. His instincts are good and his design ideas a welcome addition to the planning. His crew worked hard, were always good natured. They arrived on time, and were careful of my garden. Even though there were some unanticipated issues, John and his crew worked through them. The finished job is better than I could have hoped for. Our new walk is beautiful, but the patio is really stunning and has transformed the space into something special. We have high standards for the work we have done for us. John and his crew exceeded our exceptions and we would highly recommend them.

Called, said to text my address and said would stop by later in the day, NEVER did and NEVER calledread more

I interviewed a few masonry companies for repairing spalling brick in my basement. Some wanted to…read moreparge the walls, which was not what I wanted. Some quoted me fairly high prices for the repair, but Martin Forde offered me the best, and most reasonable cost for the job. During our interview Martin struck me as a competent, and fair mason and he is responsive by email, which are valuable traits in a contractor. We scheduled the job, and he and his team showed up right on time. The first thing I learned is that Forde masonry may not have a full time staff. Martin definitely came out to my job periodically to deliver materials, but the masons who did the work were actually two latinos who seemed to be day laborers. They were competent, and very polite as I asked questions in my broken Spanish, but that makes accountability a little more difficult. That became a problem when I was in the basement with another contractor, and I saw one of the mason repairing a hole that was two withes thick. He was just repairing the outward face that I could see, but leaving a whole in the second layer. I asked him about it, so he dropped some mortar into the hole, a few bricks, and kept on with his repair. Yes, it visually looks fine and I would not have noticed if I were not watching as the hole was getting closed up, but that is not what I expect when I hire a professional mason to repair my walls. My job is done though, and I hopefully will not need masonry help for a while. Most of the issues I had are easily fixed with a little more attention to detail, and oversight, so I would encourage others to give Martin a chance if you need masonry help.

I recently hired complete paving and masonry for a 3rd job on my property…read more In 2022 they replaced my asphalt driveway and edging, they removed all the landscape timbers and replaced with stone and new asphalt. then in 2025 the front walkway they removed all bricks and landscape timbers and replaced with a paver walkway and matching stone edging. Yesterday the crew was here for the recent job of removing concrete landing step ( which started to fall apart during the winter) and replacing it with a granite step. We are very happy with all the jobs. Gerry and the crew were quick and efficient. Do not hesitate to ask for a quote and trust in this company.

Jerry and his team are amazing. The process to help us with some masonry work to expand the…read moredriveway was smooth, beginning to end. I reached out to him via Yelp and he responded promptly. He came to visit in no time to look at our need. He was very courteous and helpful. I did not know what I really wanted and he was helpful in suggesting ideas to help. He sent me a quote that was reasonable and after approval, he started with his crew on the work and finished ahead of time. His communication was great and his crew was really friendly. The finished project exceeded our expectations and fit our needs. Thank you very much Jerry and crew. If you have any paving or masonry work, do not hesitate to reach out to Jerry and you will glad you did.

Worked with Alex and his team on our property and they did such an excellent job. We can't thank…read morethem enough. They completed a new wall, walkway, and steps and we've received so many compliments from our family, friends and neighbors. I would highly recommend them, they do high quality work and are reliable and easy to work with. Thank you!

First time using Yelp to find someone to re-pave my front yard after the porch construction…read more Lorenzo responded quickly with an rough estimate, and came out and checked out the site and provided the practical proposal with reasonable price. Had to chase him to get the schedule but once he privided the date, his team came out on the scheduled day and completed the pavement as proposed. Very happy with the quality of the pavement, and they cleaned up the site and removed leftover too.

Lorenzo and his team arrived at 8am, they got to work pronto. They were here to prune a number of…read moretrees that were 100ft high, they worked hard all day. Lorenzo has all the big equipment to do a job like this. I was impressed with his big new bucket truck and his tree grinder. They put so many branches that were like trees themselves into that thing, it was kind of amazing to watch it. They were very neat in their work, did not tear up my yard. Put down some plywood, cleaned up after themselves, and also pruned and shaped some smaller trees in my front yard. They were very careful where the branches would come to rest after they were cut and very skilled in the exact place they lowered the branches onto the ground. They used chainsaws and pruners and roped all the larger pieces so they could control exactly where any limb landed. Overall, I couldn't be happier with their job and wouldn't hesitate to use them for anything else and they do quite a few different things.