Business ProfileforAlto Cielo Masonry LLC

Avoid these people! In my 40 years of building and restoring homes I have never had a worse experience with a subcontractor. I was told by David that they do "all the masonry work for Kinderhook Historical society ". That was a lie. In May of '21 I had Cory, David's son, come over to estimate a repair/repoint section of my 1744 brick home. He replied promply with a steep estimate to which I agreed, based on Davids claim. I was expecting a top drawer, professional job, what I got was a nightmare. Cory appeared quickly with a contract and request for 50% deposit. I agreed to an early August start and returned to my home in North Carolina. August first I returned to Kinderhook, having contacted Cory in advance. Over the course of 6 weeks I texted again and again and was put off or nor responded to at all. Cory stalled, promised and postponed. Frustrated, I had to return home and I demanded that the work be done during my stay on October/Nov. Although I did not want the work to be done in my absence Cory pressed and sent down two of his "crew" to grind out the joints in preparation for tuck pointing. It turned out that the "crew" was two twenty somethings with 6 months total experience assisting in masonry. In their inexperience they had ground into the brick both horizontally and vertically. In one panel 4'x 9' I counted 50 notches in the bricks on their vertical cuts. They completly destroyed many bricks. It was later confirmed that they were there unsupervised. When I confronted Cory he dismissed my concerns, saying I would never notice once the new mortar was in. During my stay friends and other sub contractors commented, unprompted, on the damage they had done. It got worse! I waited ten days for work to begin. When it did it was one of the "grinders" and a new hire. Neither of these guys had EVER repointed a wall. They were earnest and wanted to please but lacked skills and had NO TRAINING. A week later David, Cory's father, showed up to replace brick. He stayed for 4 hours and the work was so bad that the next day, at my insistence, one of the kids chopped it out and redid it, and did a better job! Their method was to slice a brick to create a tile, chop out a portion of the damaged brick, and stick the tile into the wall with some mortar. I later learned this will not hold up over time and decreases strength. These tiles were installed at angles to, proud of, and back from the course lines. Horrible sloppy work on my 275 year old house. After four weeks David, the only "mason" had put in a total of six hours on the job. He would come, put in two hours and leave. This after repeated texts from me and promises from Cory, "we will be there tomorrow....." Cory never lifted a hand to work and when he did appear he was not critiquing the quality. In the end I fired them. Im now bidding masons to remove the shoddy work and repair the damage they have done.