Illinois Home Improvement Corp

This work needed to be done due to moisture coming through from the above outdoor stairs plus condensation from the ceiling that had not been insulated during remodeling 20 years before. This Contractor, Eric Wrobel, has done major projects for me in the past and those experiences were very satisfactory so I hired him again.He prepares a detailed contract ,is on site or readily available if needed.Very knowledgable,honest ,fair, reliable. I definitely get what I pay for, perhaps more because the work is performed by skilled workmen( the same ones who worked here before). They are thorough and really meticulous.They arrive as scheduled and work steadily all day, leave everything in order overnight. They respect my No Smoking policy. They were careful to tarp all the carpeted areas in and out of the closet and swept when the job was done. The finished closet looks perfect. The office staff is always pleasant and helpful. I've had consistently excellent work by Illinois Home Improvement and highly recommend them

This work needed to be done due to moisture going from below these stairs to a basement closet under the stairs causing damage to the ceiling. The workmanship appears excellent, done by skilled workmen. They arrive on scheduled time and work steadily.The only reason they did not return every day was to allow 2-3 days drying time( prior to sealing) They covered all the tuckpointed area with plastic sheets in case of rain. They do a thorough job of cleaning the site. They don't smoke on the property. This job had a special circumstance: Several years ago the stairway retaining walls were tuckpointed and the job was terrible. The wrong color of grout was used and it was smeared onto the bricks.While not disassembling the walls, Brickmasters was able to remove most of the old grout and effectively regrout with correct color and did some camouflage which completely changed the look of the house. The old damage is barely noticeable which means a great deal in this particular Old Bungalow. General contractor, Eric Wrobel, submitted detailed contract ,visits the site often, is readily available when not on site, has done major jobs for me in the past 5 years. Honest, fair, reliable. I would hire them again . The office staff is very accommodating.

The work was completed in a day and looks great. They steel mesh is fitted perfectly so that there are no exposed edges or rough spots to catch clothing, etc. The new steel mesh and security flanges were painted black to match the existing gate color. The new locksets were keyed to our existing common key so we didn't have to make or hand out new keys to the other tenants. We came home from work and all our gates were now secured and easy to use!

The west side of our building has a three level deck (one for each unit), so there was no need to assemble scaffolding or setup ladders as the decks provide fairly easy access to the entire wall. As such, this was a fairly easy job that many companies might have done hastily in a single day. Illinois Home Improvement spent two days on the job. One day to do all the tuck pointing which they gave time to dry before coming back the next day to apply the sealer. They made sure to match the grout and caulk colors and were very neat and clean in their application. They made sure to cover the windows and decks and everything was clean after the job was completed. Doing a hose test after the job was done, the water just sheaths off the wall now. We're extremely pleased with the results.

We needed to stop the water infiltration into our building and we hired the team to cap the roofing stones, repair the masonry and redo the sealants around the windows. They did all of that with a minimum of fuss and were always sure to clean up after themselves (which to me shows the professionalism of the worker). I know this isn't a very long report, but at the end of the day I'd have no hesitation in using them again, or recommending them to my friends.

See above. No one ever called to give an estimate or do the work.

Excellent work. Very professional. Kept the job very contained, and cleanup was flawless.

Best Brickmasters came and estimated job and provided a formal quote for the work. I had several estimates and theirs seemed to be the most thorough in terms of the work to be done. They arrived on schedule and completed the work, cleaned up and left. Returned the following week to seal the work as it was too wet on the day the completed the other work.

seems that it was just time wasted.

It was a hassle and the company unreliable and unprofessional.

Everything turned out to be real good. They were very good. I would say that they were very prompt and responsive. We were very happy with them.

I spoke to the secretary and she said one project manager was on vacation and the other is swamped. She implied that she didn't know when the company could even get out there to do an estimate. She didn't seem confident or even interested in the possibility of the work being performed. I went with them because they had such high ratings on Angie's List. If that's the problem now how will the work end up. They haven't called me back or made any attempt to get a hold of me.

I stayed home from work to be there for the estimate. After missing the appointment time by 2 hours, I called to check on status. A woman answered the phone, I mentioned my appointment and the fact that Eric never called and never showed up. She said she saw my name on the schedule, and asked me to hold. After a minute or so she came back (obviously after talking w/ Eric off line) and asked said "huh, something must have happened, would you like us to come back next week?". Eric wouldn't even come to the phone or call me back to apologize himself, and they evidently weren't going to come that day even though I explained I had stayed home from work to be there. Very unprofessional way to handle what may have just been an honest mistake, in my opinion.

Eric, the President, did a walk-through and provided a quote in October. He was very thorough in his review - he walked up on the roof and spent about 1/2 hour looking at the condition of the bricks/ walls/ etc. (When Fortune Restoration came by, they did not go on the roof or discuss with me as much on the potential/ needed scope.) He then went back to the office and a few days later I received a quote that was very thorough and gave me options on what I could do. After a couple of discussions/ emails regarding the necessary scope, we signed up for the job and told we would be scheduled in the spring. They came when they said they would (unless it was raining, of course), the crew was very professional, cleaned up their space, was courteous to neighbors/ etc. I don't think many of them spoke much English and Eric's accent is a little hard to understand sometimes, but he didn't mind repeating things when I had a hard time understanding. Their work was really well done. We couldn't be happier with the quality. When they got behind schedule because of all the rain days, they doubled their crew to get the job wrapped up, which was helpful as it is loud work and disturbed the kids' naps on occasion. Overall, I am so happy we went with IHI. We had also had Fortune Restoration quote us the job. FR provided a quote on the spot and did not go on the roof. They also had suggested we do a much larger scope even though what they were suggesting to be tuckpointed had been done just a few years earlier and so the cost was significantly higher. This made me wonder how much thought was really put into the quote, although they probably would have done a fine job as well.

Eric Wrobel is a very honest guy and is always willing to work with the customer to meet their financial needs and timeline for completing the work. Our project went very well and each day the workers were at our property they arrived on time and cleaned up after themselves as the work was ongoing. They do a great job. We have used Best Brickmasters several times and will continue to do so for all of our masonry needs.

We had used Eric Wrobel and his excellent team for a previous job that involved some tuck-pointing and masonry sealant application. We found him to be extremely knowledgeable about the issues affecting our new construction building. He was able to pinpoint with considerable accuracy the weaknesses in the building's construction and presented the condo association with bids for three separate jobs that would fix the problems. We've hired the company to complete two of the three jobs over the last two years and plan on using them again for the third. The crew was extremely responsive and thorough in completing the work. Eric kept in touch with me to provide updates about what his team had found and any further issues that needed to be addressed. In addition to adding the cap stone flashing, they also applied a masonry sealant and caulking around all of the affected areas. The job was somewhat complex in that two separate doghouse structures that sit on our roof to give access to two roof decks had to be accommodated to reach certain areas of the parapet walls. I live in one of those top floor units and have not experienced a single leak since the work was done. The condo association was also very pleased with the prices of these jobs. Other contractors bid up to twice as much for the same work. It made our decision on which company to hire very easy. It was also nice that Eric was able to break the job down into component parts. It allowed our association to avoid any special assessments, which likely would have been required if we'd done all of the work at the same time. I highly recommend Best Brickmasters and Illinois Home Improvement for their expertise, responsiveness, convenience, and prices. Given the state of the masonry in many of the city's newer construction condo buildings, I imagine Eric and his team will be in high demand. They will not disappoint.

The work was mediocre and the price was a little on the high side. Some of the brick work was good but some of it was not as good as the other.

The job went well. They were thorough and we definitely trusted what they were doing.

They gave me a thorough and detailed estimate, were reasonably priced, arrived on time and did very good work. The owner Eric is responsive and quick to return calls - which I definitely appreciated. This was a great experience with a very professional and competent group of guys. I would certainly recommend them and use them again in the future.

Ours was a small job, but they gave us a very fair estimate compared to other companies contacted, plus we were able to use our AngiesList coupon for a 10% discount! Did an excellent job of matching existing brick and repairing damage. We were very happy with their price and quality of work and would use again and would contact them for bids on other types of work.

The estimator, Marty, came out and was very punctual. In going over the house he seemed to be quite knowledgeable on brick and masonry repair. When I asked him about Chicago permits, he knew exactly which ones I needed and how long they took to obtain. As requested his quotation included their cost. The garage repair did not seem to be an issue for Marty although he suggested it might be more cost effective if we would tear it down and go with a new frame garage. The quote they generated was probably the most thorough one we received with much detail into which grade of mortar, lintel steel, etc they would be using. They were also willing to give references of some beautiful jobs that they have done in the past. I can appreciate all of this but along with this quote, came the highest price of 5 different contractors we consulted. I believe this contractor may be used to dealing with high end homeowners. This was the type of work that their references seemed to indicate. We decided to have the work performed by another contractor (also listed in Angie's).

Martin and the team at Best Brick Masters were exceptional. I've dealt with many contractors in the past and felt the attention to detail, professionalism and overall work performed are to be commended. They were efficient and thorough. Any changes that came up along the way were presented to us with a clear understanding of the pros and cons of moving forward. Pricing was fair and always explained well. Also appreciated advise on what was worth doing and what was not a good use of funds. Any questions we had were promptly answered and we were never made to feel we were bothering them. Also appreciated their quick repsonse to any corrections we wanted made. Would definitely recommend.

On a neighbor's recommendation, called them and asked to come out for an estimate. Estimator arrived as scheduled two days after call. Quotation delivered on the spot. Agreed to have service done. Workers arrived as scheduled and completed the job in half a day--approximately six workers took a hand in the project, although the project was small, but no time was wasted that I could see as a result. All was neatly cleaned up at the end of the job.

responsive, reasonable price, however, the permit required by the city of chicago was never obtained beforehand and i was never told it was needed, until i got a nasty letter from the city. This was very disturbing and marred an otherwise good experience.

I asked for an estimate for a leak over a window. They sent me an estimate to chisel out and either tuckpoint or vulkem defective mortar joints and to spray masonry sealer on it. The guy just did a "drive-by" inspection. We did not have an appointment and I wasn't even aware that he was outside looking at my house. He never came inside to see the location of the leak or the damage. When I called and asked how he could possibly know what the problem was without seeing the interior, he said he could tell just from looking at the outside. So, I did not use them.