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 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.

Quick personal service and professional installation done quickly, done right and for a fair price…read more Was delighted!

Very good customer service. They did exactly what we talked about. Aylton had to come out twice…read morebecause I thought we needed the perimeter larger. I would totally recommend this firm. The installers, listened and told me that they would have to take some ferns out for the fence to work. They were correct...

Nick is a master craftsman! I spent 40 years in building management and he is undoubtedly the most…read moreknowledgeable, professional, and detail oriented construction mechanic I've worked with. He installed 6 exterior handrails, along with some interior and exterior trim for us, with everything accomplished beyond our expectations. Communication, promptness, and a commitment to do an overall flawless job at a very reasonable cost distinguishes Nick from all others. Thanks Nick for taking care of us!

Nick is a dependable, great problem solver and does amazing work! Highly recommend them.read more

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 had a burst pipe in the baseboard heating system that created $150,000 worth of damage and lost…read moreproperty. After a Servpro demolition team throughout all the damaged furniture, carpets, wall boards and wall insulation and treated for mold, I started looking to hire a construction company to rebuild: insulation, wall boards, damaged sub flooring, plastering, painting, flooring, and the damaged baseboard heating. Using Yelp and Angie I requested a work proposal and cost estimate from 6 contractors, half of which never got back to me. LB Special Projects owner took time with me to explain the work to be done and answer all my questions. It was clear that he knew his business down to as much details as I wanted to know. His company went beyond the work I requested because they have a high standard of quality. They know you'll be living with the work they do. It's apparent from other reviews that this is a 5 star company. I would add that everyone that worked on restoring my house: carpenters, plumbers, electricians did their work to the same high standard, and were open and helpful to answering my questions I will continue to recommend this company and call upon them for any projects I want done in the future

LB Projects repaired & replaced two staircases for us. They did the work promptly & well & the…read morestaircases are beautiful. We'll hire them again. Thank you!

This review has nothing to do with their work but their level of respect. I live in a 60 unit…read moreresidential building right next to where these guys are based. Every morning directly on the dot and often before 7am, they start drilling and sawing metal, running loud vacuums, and leaving snow blowers running idle for 30 mins at a time. They treat E st., a public road, as a shop yard, scattering tools and holding morning meetings in the middle of the street. They also park their vehicles illegally on too of my building's sidewalk here. Additionally, the spanish-speaking gentlemen are exceptionally loud & often their voices are my entire building's alarm clock. The level of disrespect is egregious and it needs to stop or my review stands.

Fabulous experience!!! Their initial project estimate was absolutely spot on, the workers were…read morecourteous and prompt, the prep and clean-up were immaculate, and the finished product was first class....A++++!!!

Excellent experience from beginning to end of project. Dana was super professional and everything…read morewent as planned Install crew showed up on time as scheduled and did great job on challenging property. Cleaned up and left no trace of leftovers. BTW they replaced a fence that this same company installed over 20 years ago. Very satisfied customer

I'm having to replace about half of a cedar fence installed by Reliable after only 6 years. Posts…read morewere cut short and buried only 18", most with only 1 bag of concrete or less, only surrounding the post about halfway, so they came loose. Panels too close to the ground have rotted. Steel bars were hammered in next to some posts and bolted on, so that tells me these posts were too wobbly to support the fence right from the start. They should have dug them up and done it right. Even doing it right on 1/2 of the posts would have been enough to support the fence, but they cut corners on EVERY post.

The Prostone team did a great job with our walkway, front and back patio, installed really nice…read morestone columns for the front and back landing, as well as the front landing. We initially only contacted them for the walkway, but they did such a great job, we decided to have them help us with the rest of the projects we had on our list as well. It was easy to communicate with Tom, his dad John, from the beginning all the way to the end. Everyone is courteous and responsible. They worked really hard, did a really nice job, and took away all the waste when they were done. We've had lots of compliments on the new walkway, the landings, and the columns from the neighbors. They would be our go-to stone / paving contractor, and we would certainly recommend them to our friends!

We contacted several contractors for a lot of masonry work - retaining wall repair (lots), concrete…read morewalk replacement, sealing the foundation wall from leaking and patching a small and budding sinkhole in our asphalt pavement. The team, led by John, did the job with great efficiency and expertise, finishing in just two days. Everything was thoroughly cleaned up and the finished work looks great. John and his guys did a terrific job all around and he also fed our little chipmunk population with peanuts! Talk about good customer service!