Ralph Woods Masonry LLC

I secured three quotes and Ralph's was the most competitive. All three suggested the same solution. Ralph did the work in the timeline requested, and his work was impeccable. I could not be more satisfied. The chimney had been rebuilt before, and the bricks did not match very well. Ralph was able to find bricks that matched much more closlely, and the flashing was installed in a much cleaner and professional manner. I would highly reccommend him.

Ralph provided estimate and informed us that he could do the work several weeks out due to his heavy workload. Very pleased with the way the job was handled and with work performed. Will be contacting him soon for additional work.

He was just fine. His price was less than more than half as much as what another company quoted us. The other company quoted us more than $4000 for the two chimneys. We will use him again in the future if we need to.

Mr. Woods called two-business days prior to inform us he was ready to begin the project. Upon demolition, he reviewed with us all of the possible causes that together lead to the failure of the concrete porch. He explained the need for building a more robust foundation and providing a more appropriate fill material to support the weight of the concrete once replaced. He described his proposal for the repair to us verbally, which we approved. Mr. Woods was assisted by a very polite gentleman named Rob, who was also very willing to explain what he was doing and educate us on the why. The repair was completed with quality in mind. An additional layer of cement block was added to support the new porch slab, with brick on the facade. Pea gravel was placed on top of brick and existing slurry fill with a metal grid on top to further support the slab during any settling. Lines (actual and visual) are straight, matching brick was used, grout and cement has clean lines to it, concrete was textured to match existing sidewalk. They did a nice job of preserving the surrounding landscaping with no damage to shrubs, edging, or sidewalk/driveway. When the cement truck arrived for delivery, a tarp was used on the driveway to protect it from concrete spills. Our porch columns supporting the roof no longer fit snugly between porch and roof once the repair was complete, so Mr. Woods and Rob built up the base of each column (four) and trimmed the finished product. Clean-up was great! He estimated four days for the project and met his timeline. Mr. Woods did a great job of explaining what he was doing and why, and was open to our questions and observations, which was greatly appreciated. He and Rob were very friendly and nice to work with. The payment amount was within the initial quote given. Our only complaint was documentation. After receiving the initial written quote, which was speculative based on the unknown cause of the porch failure prior to work, no other written documentation was offered. We would have preferred to have a rewritten estimate once the slab was removed and the damage was assessed to outline the proposed work going forward. At the end of the job, a written invoice was requested after the final payment amount was requested as a text e-mail message, instead of a proper invoice outlining the tasks of the job and how the final payment was determined. We feel the invoice provided upon our request was not sufficient for our records. While we felt we could trust Mr. Woods very much through working with him, the lack of documentation could force an uncomfortable situation should an issue with the porch occur in the near future and any sort of disagreement from memory occur. I hope this situation never happens.

While Ralph's estimate was the highest he was the only person to fully evaluate the problem and tell me how he would prevent it from happening again.Ralph initially tore out the entire porch except for the footings. Once this was done it was easy to see why the porch was sinking near the house. Ralph then noted the wooden structure of the house had not been damaged. He then poured a large footer or pad,then placed block on top, and finally poured concrete to complete the shelf for the brick surface. He carefully picked a new brick to match our house and came up with a design including limestone edging. The brick laying looks great! He then acid washed and sealed the brick. Ralph not only did a fabulous job, he was courteous,kept the job site clean,and was careful about existing landscaping. I am pleased that he took the time to evaluate the problem,do it right,and explain all the steps necessary to keep it from happening again. We are extremely pleased with the result and strongly reccomend Ralph to others.

Mr Woods came out promptly to inspect the area, gave me an estimate and then completed the work w/out any problem. He has given me a good start on securing and cleaning up my crawlspace. I would recommend him and will use him again for any masonry projects. He is professional, honest and easy to work w/!!

He will be coming back to seal everything when it gets warmer. He is very pleasant and conscientious. His associates are very quality workers. Reliable and a good person to work with.

If I could just get an estimate it would be great. I called and asked for him to evaluate the job and send me an estimate since November 7, 2011. I'm told next week, tomorrow, tonight and still no return contact.

My first contact for estimate went unanswered but when finally made I did have written estimate with a day. I did get other estimates with various methods of repair. After deciding to use mr. Woods I left to him as to when to start as long as done before winter. Once he started the project, he worked continuously for a week. Morning until 5-6pm. He and helper were Always clean, respectful, thoughtful. And both took pride in their work. It was a pleasure to see a craftsman work again. I certainly did not find the pride in a few other projects done this summer. I do have no negatives regarding the project and will certainly be my first choice to use again.

He worked on site himeself and had good work ethic. People comment on how nice our porch looks.

He said that he had gotten busy, but was still interested and would be by within one week. Again, he never did show up and he never gave me a courtesy call to explain why the delay or no show. So much for his A Rating. Not only was this discourteous, but he caused me to lose time in my scheduling of the work. In the interest of time, I had chosen not to get multiple bids for the job. Through my own work I knew what the cost of the job would likely be ($3,500 - 4,000), and if his estimate was in line, the job would have been his, but he cost me valuable time by indicating twice that he was interested in the work and would be here, but never showed up or called. Even though I can not comment on completed work due to these circumstances, I think this type of information is valuable for others to be aware of as well.

We were extremely pleased with the quality workmanship and the competitive price. We highly recommend Ralph and will definitely contract him for any future masonry work we may need.

Outstanding is the word that comes to mind regarding Ralph Woods. From the time we met for an appraisal to the finished job, Ralph was punctual, knowledgeable, professional, and had a great crew working with him. This job was in a 100+ yr. old home which is now a no kill cat sanctuary. The center inside chimney bricks had become so soft they were falling in the basement and the entire household was under threat of the chimney possibly falling down. Within the week after seeing the problem, Ralph scheduled his crew to start the task of removing 3 stories of bricks from inside the house having to be always mindful that there were special need cats and caretakers living in this home. There couldn't have been a better crew. They worked efficiently and professionally. They kept the debris, mess, dust to a minimum which was huge considering how soft 100 yr. old bricks are. The chimney was removed as was all debris. In addition, he repaired another chimney on the outside of the home. It now is intact, no longer leaning, and functional if wanted. Ralph really knows what he's doing with old homes, his knowledge and his love of these old homes shows with the high quality of work performance. I'd recommend him to anyone needing masonry/ chimney work especially on older homes.

I bought an older home that was having water issues. Ralph, who works onsight with his crew, rebuilt the top of my chimney on the outside of the house and then worked on the chimney inside the house in the basement. Water had been getting into the chimney, coming down and exiting through an old, rusty incinerator. They removed the incinerator, filled up the hole and patched a few other places. In a separate room they removed an iron coal chute door and replaced it with a glass block window. He also replaced two concrete blocks that had holes drilled in them for pipes that no longer were present. They tuck pointed the rest of the room in an effort to keep some of the water out. Ralph had done some work for me once before at my previous house and it was because of that experiance that I called him again. I appreciate that he is on-sight working with his crew.

Mr. Woods took initiative to find matching brick for our 95 year old porch. He then started and finished the job in the appropriate time. He and his employees were very nice and did a great job. i've already recommended him and his crew to several friends. We will be calling on him again to complete another job.

After having dealt with several other masons that I got off of Angie's list, it was becoming a nightmare trying to get the chimney on my rental house repaired. Most of the companies that I called proved to be less than professional in getting back to me with estimates. The few estimates that I did manage to get were not affordable. Mr. Woods proved to be just the opposite. The estimate that he gave me for the job was quite reasonable. The work was completed in a timely manner and it was well done. The clean up was thorough and I was quite please with the results.

We are happy with his work. He did very nice work. He does what he says he’s going to do. He did the job in the time he estimated. I’m assuming the amount he charged us was fair. His responsiveness was good. We would use his services again in the future.

I have dealt with many contractors over the years. I have very high standards relative to customer service and quality of workmanship. I expect a contractor to have good communication skills, responsiveness, expertise in their field, and have the ability to provide a quality product. Sad to say as a rule most contractors I have dealt with do not live up to my expectations. Ralph on the other hand is the exception to the rule. He exceeded my expectations in every catagory and I will utilize him on future projects and would highly recommend him.

Ralph was incredibly responsive, hard-working, and diligent to finish the job on the time line he promised. He and his crew worked steadily, including on weekends. The quality of the new wall is amazing. He recognized the need to install a drainage system to prevent damage to the new wall,and volunteered a number of aesthetic suggestions that proved valuable. After the job was completed he phoned me to see if I had any questions or concerns. He also has promised to return about 2 weeks after completion in order to perform additional grading once the soil has had a chance to settle.

He finished the work quickly. He did not take too long. He did a very good job. He was able to match the brick very well, so you can?t say where he did the work.

The project went very well and I am extremely pleased with all the work that was performed. When I called him he was quite responsive and arranged a to come over and look at the requirements of the job and said he would send me a proposal shortly, which he did. I accepted his proposal and and we set a date for him to begin. He started in the morning around 9 AM with himself and two empolyes and they l worked diligently all day and finished the concrete work around 4Pm. The following week he came back with one of his employees to paint the basement while Ralph built the lamp post base and did and outstanding job. I and my wife were very pleased with the job. All of the concrete was also done in a professional manner and we would call Ralph for any masonry work we would ever need to have done. Thanks Ralph for all your effort and a great job!!

I called Ralph on a Friday. He came to view the house on Saturday and started work on Tuesday. When he came to look at the problem, he explained what he could do and also what we could do to help improve the condition of our brick foundation. Being new home owners, he helped us learn more about our old house and how to maintain it. I felt his estimate was extremely reasonable. His employees were respectful, friendly, and efficient. Within three days, the work was finished. They stayed true to the historical aspects of the house. I would definitely use him again to potentially work on the inside wall of the foundation (in our cellar) or add brick around the bottom of our sun porch.

Frost heaves had broken several bricks, fracturing a wall and corner exterior wall of my home. Ralph gave me a reasonable quote, came when he said he would, did the job he said he would do, cleaned up after himself, and charged what he said he would. Can't do much better than that!

Mr. Woods was fanatastic to work with. He was prompt and professional. The actual price of the job was $500.00 less than the estimate because the flues in the chimney did not need replaced. He did a great job finding brick to match as the house was built 50 years ago. I would not hesitate to use him again. As a side note, Mr. Woods estimate was the lowest bid we received.

They were pretty prompt. They came out when I called for an estimate. He explained in detail what they would have to do and gave me a couple of options. The quality of the work stood out.