I was very fortunate to realize a life-long dream a few years ago, and bought my childhood home…read morewhen my mom moved to another area of Pittsburgh. For the past 20 years at least, I've watched the brick staircase on the home's exterior fade into a dark, hideous mess, always wondering if there was an elegant way to fix it. Thanks to the pandemic, my husband and I didn't spend any money on vacations or dinners, etc. for a year and finally had the means to explore options. I've always loved the stone look, and thought that the most we could afford was the type of faux stone siding one could buy at Lowes. I got a few quotes and a sample of the material, and wasn't impressed. I stumbled upon Art's Stone Masonry while on the hunt for another solution, and couldn't be more thankful that I did. Art and his teammate transformed what was an eyesore into a showpiece with 3 days of extremely detail-oriented work. What he does is literally ART. The stone itself was reasonable and the labor was worth every penny paid. I can't thank Art enough for his hard work. If you need ANY stone work, don't even bother looking elsewhere. I'm here to tell you, you've found perfection in Art's Stone Masonry.

Art was amazing with customer service and workmanship. Communication was fantastic and he created…read morea beautiful fireplace for us. Highly recommend for any kind of masonry work needed.

To sum things up, my elderly mother, who is in failing health, ordered a headstone for herself and…read moremy deceased father from Design Monuments back in January 2021 and it took until January of 2022 to get it installed.  I understand delays, especially in this post-pandemic day and age, but what really bothered me about this company was the lack of communication, failure to live up to their promises and absolute refusal to admit their mistakes and/or offer any apologies.  Once they get your money you are basically on your own; it even states in the contract that delays are not their problem. We started out working with George, who initially presented as a warm and helpful guy that made continued promises of communication and status updates which never came, and our monument didn't even get started until after I contacted them in June because they neglected to contact us to collect the second half of our payment - also no apologies, just excuses. Had I not contacted them, our order would still be floating in limbo and half paid. I continued to email and call for updates each month but it got to the point by mid-September that I reached out to the supervisor and owner, Debbie. In our brief conversation I found her to be absolutely the opposite of what I would expect from someone who owns funeral homes and monument companies; she couldn't have been any less sympathetic nor did she show any empathy to the multiple problems that occurred under her watch. I honestly found her to be rude and condescending, which I called her on, and not only did she refuse to try to get any more details from her suppliers regarding our order, she also refused to apologize for all the mistakes and miscommunication from her employees, even when I stated that simple apologies can go a long way.  She also informed me that she never gives any customers an expected date of when their monument will be ready, even though her employees continue to tell people 60 days. It seems you only get the real truth after they have your money (which of course is non-refundable). In closing, I do not recommend this company and I hope this review helps others steer clear of all the angst we went through.  My rating was originally one star but I gave an extra star because the monument looks exactly as we ordered and my mother is happy with it.

From the owner: Everyone Wants To Be Remembered…read more Design Monuments Company is family owned and operated. We preform many services including, installing, engraving, etching, designing, and cleaning of monuments.