Zaengle Masonry

Bottom line: He did a quality job, but he was not committed to timely work or accurate pricing. I contacted three masonry companies for bids during the last week of June. They were each told I needed the tops of two chimneys repaired. A bid appointment with Zaengle was set up for the next week. I was called an hour or more before the appointment saying that he wouldn't be able to make it. Since the work was outside I said it was fine for him to just drop by and submit a bid. Of the three bids submitted his was the middle price and seemed fair. A week later, I accepted the bid and was told they would start work the next month. A month passed and I hadn't heard from them. I asked again when they expected to start and was told the second week of August. Due to an injury it was delayed until the last week of September. The three month delay between the acceptance of the bid and him starting wasn't an issue for us. The work was outside and it was repair and maintenance not an urgent issue. After this contractor erected set up scaffolding, but before any work was performed the price was increased from $1950 to $2300. Unfortunately, we had now waited 3 months for the work to start and I now wanted the work completed. Before he started working I was contacted to make sure I realized the bid was for one chimney and not two. Like another reviewer said he would show up for a few hours then leave. Then he would show a few days or a week later and work for a few hours. It took three weeks from the time scaffolding was first placed until everything was removed. This wasn't a huge issue for us since the work was outside and not urgent. It was annoying having scaffolding on our deck during a party for 50 people.

We hired Zaengle because they gave us the cheapest of the estimates and also provided a written estimate that seemed well thought out. The work itself is beautiful, multiple of our neighbors have commented on how good it looks and those across the street asked for his name. The problem we had was the length of time it took to complete the job. He came and tore up the old walk and we didn't seem him for a week. He would often come and work for only a short time and then wouldn't be back for days. Occasionally we would get an e-mail says when he would be back, but often that didn't happen. They did respond quickly when I e-mailed inquiries into when work was going to start again. Reasons he gave for delays included working on another job, hurting his back and hurting his hand. He did give us a small discount at the end and apologized for the delays. He cleaned up the yard well and even added some extra dirt to a part of the yard that was uneven. I've very happy with the end result, but not that it took 6 weeks to finish.

I was in need of having some brick work done at a home that I was renovating for re-sale. Called Ken to make an appointment to discuss the project and receive a bid. He showed up on time the next day. I felt that his bid was fair and contracted him to do the work. His schedule allowed him to start the following week. All work was performed to my satisfaction in a timely manner. I plan to use Ken's services on another project at my current residence.

The work was excellent and the company was very considerate, polite, reasonable, and demonstrated a much better than average work ethic.