ComplaintsforAll Masonry

• Initial Complaint

  07/14/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We have put down 50% of the total amount around 3,700 dollars. We made the deposit at the end of 2022 and knew that work could not be started for several months due to temperatures. Soon after the work was underway we started running into communication issues. We would wait for several weeks and then have to call to see when someone was planning to "come out and finish the work" only to have someone show up do a few hours of work and leave. We never knew when, if or what time they would arrive or what they'd be working on that day. I spoke to the owner in person and walked through the issues I had with the work. He took pictures of the problems and mentioned that he had told them to do this or that. His crew came back out but did not address all of the issues and the ones that were touched were not done properly. Currently there are still issues with the masonry work done on the house, cracks in the steps that should have been repaired. Cracks have also started for form in many of the areas that were repaired. Our last attempt at communication was July 6 2023. We sent an email to the owner ***** with pictures and a list of items that we still had issues with. I expressed that we needed to talk and I have not received a response. We are looking for at least a partial refund. We are displeased with the work that was complete and also left with a lot of work that wasn't touch or addressed even after several conversations.

  

  Business response

  09/28/2023

  Good morning, my apologies for the delay in replying to this complaint.  I have spoken with the Home Owner multiple times since the complaint was filed.  I offered to completely re-do the portions of the project they were not satisfied with while also providing an option to cancel the contract and refund the amount owed for work not completed.  After some deliberation they decided to unfortunately cancel the remaining portion of the contract.  I refunded them the remaining balance of their deposit and cancelled their contact per their request.  I terminated the employees working on their project as well due to the poor quality of workmanship.The concrete repairs that were made to their front steps were in need of another coat due to the material "shrinking" because of extreme temperatures at the time of installation.Please let me know if there are any further questions or concerns.  Our goal is to always provide a quality project before any final invoicing, but in situations such as this where the customer did not allow us to attempt to rectify some incorrect work, we did our best to appease their request to cancel.  Thank you for your time.  

  Customer response

  10/02/2023

  I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. We received a total of a little over $100.00 back on our deposit of $3500.  Non of the work done was properly cleaned or prepared before laying the concrete and will likely not hold up and will end up costing us more to replace down the road.  The brick work done on the house was messy with no attempt to clean up the extra mortar left behind.  Several areas were missed, one of which they even went as far as cutting down a brick so they wouldn't need to move a board that was in the way.  The final decision to fire All Masonry was when I came back from lunch the following day to his crew sitting on my porch asking me what else needed to be done so they could get paid.  I had just spoken to the owner about not having anyone start anymore work until we knew how much more it was going to cost us.  He said he would send us that information and that he would be available to be onsite to supervise the remainder of the work.   To find out that he fired the crew that did the work for poor quality and then still keep the majority of the deposit to me is not a better business practice and therefore I cannot accept this response as resolved. I feel the only honorable resolution at this point would be to refund us the remainder of the deposit. Regards, **** *******

  

  Business response

  11/06/2023

  Good afternoon,My apologies for the delay in reply to this complaint.  Let me go through the last message and try to itemize my responses per each sentence.  Mr. ******* states that none of the work was done properly, I would agree it wasn't done to satisfaction, but structurally and figuratively speaking, the work was completed, but not to his or my satisfaction.  I implored Mr. ******* to allow us to correct the repairs to satisfaction, as it would be much easier for us to complete as opposed to another contractor, but after nearly two weeks of my offer I was informed they would prefer us not to return.  The concrete steps were in much worse shape than anticipated after the initial demo and would require further coats of the concrete repair overlay.  I had instructed my concrete crew not to go to the customer's job-site until I heard whether or not he wanted us to proceed, but they went on their own accord hoping to rectify the situation as the portion of their project that was not completed to satisfaction was not going to be paid in full due to the cancellation of the project.  When I found out they went to the job-site regardless I was beyond livid.  I spoke with Mr. ******* on the phone illustrating that we were close to his deposit in expenses to date during one of our last conversations, I provided an invoice breaking down the totals for him as well.I feel that we have provided this customer with the actions they asked and feel we have fulfilled our obligation based on the avenues allowed.  Thanks so much for your time.  

  Customer response

  11/13/2023

  I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. Following our first meeting with the owner regarding poor workmanship, a crew appeared and put more concrete layers in some but not all areas of concern. This also cracked. The remaining brick hole was filled mostly but not with a full brick and there is a hole remaining. We emailed to find out what the next step was and got no response until we called several days later. Email response came 8 days after our questions with the excuse that other projects had kept him away from his computer. During our second in person meeting the owner once again acknowledged the issues including questions of structural integrity. We requested an outline of what moving forward would look like. The email we received after a crew showed up claiming they were not paid had no such outline. It simply stated cost thus far and mentioned a stucco crew. No information on anything other than stuccoing over flaws to mask them. For obvious reasons we did not feel we could trust that future work would address our concerns and it appeared we would still be expected to pay full price quoted for the original contract although short cuts had been taken and were not going to be corrected. We are now left with a project that is unfinished and will be more difficult to correct than the original project.  Regards, **** ******* 

• Initial Complaint

  03/21/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Identified water in basement, the source being the chimney. December 9th: Signed contract with All Masonry for chimney repairs. Two chimneys, the front first chimney being the source of the leak. Paid 50% deposit of contract, which equaled $1,364.74. Was told work would commence in approximately 3 weeks, weather pending. January 10th: Moved to start date the week of January 16th due to weather. January 18th: Work began on 1st chimney- but workers did not show up until after 1, then left before 4pm. Then they showed up the following week for another ~3 hours of work, but still did not finish the work on the 1st chimney. Week of January 23rd: First chimney still not complete, workers left scaffolding in driveway in order to begin work on the second chimney, but scaffolding was not sufficient to reach back chimney. Scaffolding and tools were left in driveway and yard for over a week while no work was being completed. January 27th: Notified of change request for increase of $1300 to work on the back chimney, due to needing a lift. Denied change request due to work on first chimney being still incomplete. Vice President admitted that he was not at all satisfied with how the project had gone. February 8th: Scaffolding and tools finally removed from driveway and yard. February 9: Work completed on first chimney. Both Vice President and I agreed that work would not commence on the 2nd chimney and to consider the contract complete as I had paid 50% of a contract for two chimney repairs. February 13, 15, called All Masonry. At some point between this date and February 28th, the lead estimator, came out to inspect the work on the chimney due to my report that water was still draining into the basement from the chimney. She stated that she didn’t know where water was coming in, but suggested waterproof coating. Also suggested that perhaps the flashing could be the issue. When I asked her if the holes in the bricks at the top- that are on their side- were plugged, she stated that the masons had put caulking inside those holes. February 28th: Called to inquire about waterproof coating over brick. VP stated they needed two dry days for the brick to dry before applying but would put my work on the schedule, weather pending. March 20th : Waterproof coating has not been completed at this time. Roofer came out to inspect flashing, per lead estimator’s suggestion. Roofer stated that flashing was installed correctly and is not the source of the leak. However, he supplied up close photos of masonry that showed holes where water is able to intrude. Holes in side of brick are not sealed. Please see attached photos. Called Vice President, left voicemail, and sent email at 2:45pm on March 20th. As of the time of writing this, no response. I would like either the work to be finished to my satisfaction within 30 days or a refund so that I may hire another mason to repair All Masonry's work.

  

  Business response

  04/03/2023

  Good morning.  We have been in contact with Mrs. ***** regarding her project.  We have plans of applying a Sealant to her Chimney in another attempt to figure out her water issue.  We have been restricted by Mother Nature due to the amount of rain, wind and temperatures.  We have plans of getting out this week, weather permitting, to apply the sealant and see if there are any changes in her ongoing water issue.  We have kept in touch with Mrs. ***** and will continue to do so until we have hopefully rectified her water issue.  I will update this complaint further once we have a hopeful positive resolution.  Thank you so much for your time. Kindest Regards,***** ** ********Managing Member

  Customer response

  04/03/2023

  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved. Regards, ****** *****

  Customer response

  08/25/2023

  I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.  Good morning, I believe this complaint is still open as I have not heard otherwise. The waterproofing and repair of the masonry gaps was completed on May 5th. On May 31st, I received the attached invoice from All Masonry. I was confused as to what the bill was for, as it involved the original quote $2649.98, of which I paid a deposit of 50%. To my mind, 50% of the work was complete, as the original quote was for two chimneys. In an email communication with the VP of the company after the first chimney was done, we agreed to conclude the work. This was before the water leakage continued and we agreed to waterproofing. The invoice attached does not state that it is for the waterproofing. I emailed the VP twice to ask for clarification with no response. I am more than happy to pay for the waterproofing but not for any further work off the original quote. I hope that this company will swiftly clarify what charges are due. Thank you,****** *****

  

  Business response

  09/28/2023

  Good morning, my apologies for the delay in replying to the complaint.  I plan on contacting Mrs. ***** before the end of the week to rectify her questions regarding a final payment due to us.  The project unfortunately did not go as planned due to the pitch of her roof making up close inspection of the chimneys impossible without setting up scaffolding.  Once we were able to do so, we noticed much more deterioration than anticipated.  We adjusted the Scope of Work by her request and the outstanding invoice total that is due is what is left over from that adjustment.  I did locate an e-mail from her that I was unaware of with questions regarding her final invoice.  This is a small balance owed and I will personally reach out to her this week to clarify.  Thanks so much.

  Customer response

  09/30/2023

  I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. It is currently 5pm on Saturday, September 30th, and I did not receive communication by the end of the week as the business promised. Secondly, the scaffolding was set up for the second chimney, which they did not do any work on after realizing that scaffolding would not work. They only completed the first chimney. The invoice sent was for the original quote, which included the second chimney. The only thing that I should owe this business for is waterproofing the first chimney, which was not on the original invoice. Additionally, I was quoted a much lower figure on the phone, of around $500 or less for the waterproofing. The invoice sent was for over $600 as a remainder on the original quote, which again, reflected two chimneys, of which they did work on one chimney. After I paid 50% of the first invoice/quote as a deposit, when we determined work on the second chimney would not commence, that the first invoice/quote would be closed out. I will only pay this business for an itemized bill for the waterproofing on the first chimney.  Regards, ****** ***** 

  

  Business response

  11/06/2023

  I deducted $690.57 from the invoice, the $600 balance owed is for the addtional work done on the one chimney we did any work on in attempts to mitigate any ongoing water issue.   See attached invoice.

  Customer response

  11/06/2023

  I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.As stated in my earlier comment, the invoice provided does not reflect the additional work done to mitigate the water issue. The invoice provided reflects the original quote for two chimneys. I paid a 50% deposit for the work done, and after the 1st chimney was completed, we both agreed to not proceed with the second chimney, and the invoice was essentially closed out. Please see attached email from February.Additionally, I was quoted via phone for approximately $500 or less for a waterproof coating to address the water issue. The invoice provided by the business does not mention waterproofing, water mitigation, or additional work done to the 1st chimney. Please provide an accurate invoice for waterproofing work that was completed in May.  Regards, ****** ***** 

• Initial Complaint

  12/15/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Hired to do chimney repair (loose bricks at top and repair crown, Oct28 drop down payment at office..Nov 22 emailed owner to ask when repair would start , nov23 received email work would start nov24th. Crew arrived , at 10:05 left 12:05/12:15 called me as they were leaving, when arriving home it was dark so next day in daylight work was horrific, waited a few days after the holiday weekend for everyone to get settled back in case anyone was out of town or traveling for Thanksgiving weekend before the first contact.. pictures can be provided before and after , emailed owner on resolution Dec 1st no reply, then again dec 6th with pictures, no reply.. called office left voice-mail with owner ,and recapped problem and left all contact information 3rd time dec7th ..no response yet as of the 13th of Dec . this is not a miscommunication , not an accidental missed call , not a misunderstanding..it's a deliberate obvious side step to shirk responsibility for less than professional work and take responsibility for the mess that was made of my chimney , it's hideous and I want it either repaired correctly, before we talk about final payment or the company can refund me my deposit and let me engage in a more professional company who will remove the mess and start over. I met the men there at arrival and gave them the chimney cap to be put on after repair. Then left to return to work ..It was three men,,two who watched one work,, two ladders and a bucket of tools , no canvass laid out on new roof or scaffolding or any of the elaborate details the contract or the bill reflects video can be provided as well, as neighbor testimony who watched the whole repair ..a 1200 dollar repair for 2 hours labor if that .. was led to believe this repair would take most of the day. It looks like 2nd graders scaled my chimney and smeared mortar everywhere to the tune of roughly 600.00 per hour . Pictures speak for themselves without having to say more. 3pics AFTER 3 pics BEFORE

  

  Business response

  01/07/2022

  Good morning.  My apologies for the delay in replying to this Complaint.  Due to year end responsibilities, the Holidays and illness, my time has been extremely sparse to handle items such as these until this week.I will agree with Mr. ****** that it took less time than I thought to complete this project.  I factored 2 men in the original estimate but ended up sending 3 men in hopes of getting it done quicker and safer.Mr. ****** is also correct that due to the pitch of his roof and unsure footing, the tarps were unable to be used as hoped.  Mr. ****** did send me e-mails, but due to illness was unable to answer them before he filed this complaint.I personally drove by the project to observe his concerns and sent the crew back out for a final cleaning and "rubbing down" of the repairs.  In my crew's defense they were aware that they would need to run back by the project as the mortar was not setting up as fast as they hoped and a "sponge down" at the time of the repair would cause more of a mess.  We usually try to give the mortar a week of cure time before returning to clean, but in colder weather as we have been experiencing that time may stretch to two weeks.  As you can see from the photos we did complete the contracted Scope of Work.Due to the circumstances illustrated above I was unable to give Mr. ******** concerns the dedicated time that I usually am able too, my apologies for that.  I have reviewed the GPS reports thoroughly and revised Mr. ******** invoice to reflect the time my crew was actually on the project even though he did NOT accept the Cost-Plus 20% option that was available on his contract.  Mr. ****** does not seem to understand that he is not only responsible for the time the crew is on the project, but he is being charged Port-to-Port for our services.  This includes loading of equipment and picking up of material.  I have reduced Mr. ******** invoice and hopefully will satisfy his concerns.  Thank you for your time.  Kindest Regards,***** ** ********Managing Member, All Masonry 

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