Celtic Masonry

James is great. Returns phone calls, emails and texts! I work 6 days a week so making a ton of calls was not an option, but he was on top of things texting back and forth through the project. My neighbor and I decided on a rebuild of the front steps because they were literally falling down. I got some estimates from people way higher, but James came back lower and his personality sealed the deal. He sent me pictures of the brick and stone options I had which was nice so I could discuss with my wife before going forward. Overall I was pleased enough with his work that I have now contacted him again to work on the front steps of our new house. What's the best review a guy can get but by hiring him again. Give him a call and you won't regret it, well you might because James is a guy you can just keeping talking with, that's just him. Thanks and I hope this helps out all future people with front step problems. Drive by and you'll see what he can do in a week.

I would recommend them. They were very professional. It looked very good. He managed to solve the issues within the budget which was very good. They guy knew what he was doing and provided a nice service.

We like them very much. We’re very impressed. A year ago, he had a lot of other work to do at that time and I said it was fine. I didn’t want it to done until the spring. I was burning wood at that time when I first got in touch with him so it would have been inconvenient to take the chimney out of the operation when I was using it. The owner is very pleasant. We had a nice talk. He’s easy to talk to. He had all the equipments he needed to put the scaffolding up so that everything was done in a very safe operation. When they were done, they did an excellent job of cleaning up and they’re done in a day. Their work was fine. I don’t expect any more trouble with it for the next ten years. I was very satisfied with their price. We had a little trouble communicating with them but it was minor.

I called Jim after our first mason completed half the work and went AWOL. In the first mason's defense I think he underestimated how difficult the job was. The chimney was quite large atop a very tall slate roof. I wanted the seams to be extra tight and the mortar dyed to match the construction of the other chimney. It also required re-finishing the liners. Jim came over the next day and inspected what had been done and what remained. Luckily he was able to build on the first mason's work. He gave me an estimate of $3500, which was more than I had hoped, but I believe it was a fair price considering the danger of working on top of a 40 foot high slate roof. It took two days just to erect the staging in front of the house and and around the chimney before he could even get started. Jim also said that he would need help from my roofer to ensure minimal damage to the slate roof. I asked him to work quickly because we had an outdoor party coming up. After he got the staging up Jim promised to return on Thursday to start the work. Jim and his two workers showed up early Thursday and got right to work. He had told me he hoped to finish Friday, which would have been great since the party was Saturday. However, when I got home from work on Thursday, Jim told me the weather forecast for Friday was bad, so he was going to keep working until he was finished. He and his workers stayed until 9 pm and finished. On Friday they cleaned up and left. You couldn't tell they had even been there because the property was back to original. And the chimney is beautiful. I was very pleased with the work and also with Jim's punctuality and professionalism. I highly recommend him, and anyone is welcome to come over and look at the chimney for yourself. My roofer was also impressed and told me that Jim had already spoken with him about helping him on other projects.

It did not go well. They left piles of loose cement that dried in my yard, leaving a big bald spot. The masonry job actually went well – they were repointing some bricks on our patio – but the overall experience wasn’t good. There was also quite a bit of a price difference compared to the Deal rate.

Celtic Masonry was not very good. He was a nice guy overall. He came but the end product doesn't look very nice. He didn't say that the big deal can only cover you up to here and it may take longer and he passed me a bill for $500. It looks ugly, like an eyesore. It's functional but it's an eye sore. I reached out to him and I said "look, it doesn't look very good." His response was "don't pay me, we're even." At least he would have tried to screw me for my money but he didn't. The price was probably fair.

Jim is extremely professional and a pleasure to work with. Last year he came to my house and provided me with a very reasonable quote for the work to be done. I was not able to have the work done then and he followed up with me in March 2014, where I informed him that due to being unemployed for so long, I was no longer able to afford to have the work done. Once I am employed, I plan to contact him to proceed with the work.

Jim came out to take a look at the foundation. He told me that it could not be waterproofed. I established I need to locate a different provider to complete the job. I have chosen to seek a refund from Angie’s List.

He was very nice and gave me a good price. He did not want to use the Angie's List coupons, saying you took half of whatever it was. Whether that was true or not I don't care. He gave me a good price to fix the bricks at the back of our fire place. When I came back in the house, he put down tarps to protect the wall to wall carpet. First of all the bricks he put down did not particularly match the ones he replaced in the fire place. When he pulled up the tarp back up, there was black all over the rug and there was black adhesive, and he denied that it was him. His co-worker said maybe it was something at the bottom of the tar and he said he would stand by his work. When I tried to remove the adhesive off with just soap and water, it turned the rug white in some places. We have to have the entire wall to wall carpeting replaced, with our insurance company which will go after his insurance company. He has not called me back since. This was about three weeks ago.

Jim was very professional. Sorry I couldn't hire him.

I can't say enough good about Jim. I concur with another review I read on Angie's list....he is a "breath of fresh air". He responded right away to our initial call. He came out on a freezing, sleety evening, climbed right up there on the ladder, examined the situation and took measurements. Even though our project is out of the ordinary ( metal chimney pots) Jim grasped the concept immediately and had immediate technical solutions. With a positive attitude he accepted our situation of having a slate roof (another unique situation) and researched the best way to deal with it.

very professional and responsive. I thought the work went very well and exceeded my expectations.

Celtic Masonry was contacted initially in response to a deal offered on Angie's List. Our goal was to have a block foundation wall repaired where it had been deteriorating for several years. I had been patching it myself periodically but it was getting beyond the scope of what I was prepared to tackle. I needed a pro. We met with Jim and liked him. The work that needed to be done was, as I suspected, beyond the terms of the deal offered on Angie's List. Jim gave me a very reasonable proposal for removing and replacing the cap. I was very pleased with the result and would recommend him.

Jim was very professional, prompt and courteous. Clearly knows his stuff. He agreed to honor his estimate price in the spring because I had to delay until after the winter. Looking forward to having him do the work.

Jim was very responsive and came out wihin a few days of my initial contact with him. He was very knowledgable and had a lot of experience working with older homes with stone foundations.. Jim took his time and went through the interior of the foundation in the basement and exterior of the foundation and explained to me everything that needed to be fixed. Jim was very personable and trustworthy. His quote was what we excpected and would have hired him but we ended up selling the house before the work was performed.

Jim was a total pleasure to work with from start to finish. He takes great pride in his work and wants to do the best for the customer. He did all the work himself (with a helper for setup and passing tools) and took care to make sure things were done right. The repaired chimneys and staircases look great. He treats his customer very well (even brought us home grown tomatoes and eggplants!) On a personal level, he is just a very honest and terrific guy. Together with his Irish humor, Jim has made the whole experience a pleasure. I would hire him again in a heartbeat.

After two other Angie's List service providers tried to rake me over the coals by trying to sell me something I did not need > namely a total chimney rebuild and refusing to consider anything less, meeting and talking to Jim Bresnahan was like a breath of fresh air > He actually came to my house to look at the job rather than to ask me to email pictures. After a walk around he told me it told me what he felt was needed.and said he would give me a proposal before the end of the day. He did and I accepted. A date was set to start. He showed up promptly and did the work. At the end of each day he asked me to inspect his work. Upon completetion the work site was left spotlessly clean. It was satisifying to watch a real craftsman at work. Even though more rows were removed than originally thought, the price stayed the same.. At the end of the first day I knew I had made the right choice and was able to relax and know it would be done right. He was courteous and encouraged me to ask any questions I had. There aren't enough good things to say about this man. Were he a general handyman, I'd have him on a permanent retainer.

He showed up on time and evaluated both the foundation and retaining wall. The garage foundation's grout was disintegrating with age and needed pointing with new grout/cement to prevent a possible structural issue. The fieldstone foundation is a retaining wall by the driveway that also needs repairs - part of it is falling over and it also needs pointing, due to missing grout. He appeared to understand all that... but 2 days later an estimate arrived by e-mail with only the following as a description of work: "Pressure wash wall to clean of oils, dust, and containments, Plasterer wall" Huh? He was going to charge $825 to re-plaster the garage's plaster walls? My fieldstone foundation's grout would be untouched. Sure the 1942 plaster walls in the garage have seen better days - but that is cosmetic and not the work I wanted done. He also said in the e-mail that he didn't provide an estimate for the retaining wall because he decided it would be better off failing completely and replacing the entire wall. The next time I need masonry work I won't be calling Celtic Masonry. UPDATE: I read Celtic Masonary's response and I'm even happier now that I never hired Celtic Masonary. The retaining wall described in his response isn't mine! The retaining wall I have is a dry fit granite/fieldstone wall with a concrete cap and grout on the exterior. It's the same that everyone on the street has. What he described is not what I have.

All work was beautiful, and cleanup excellent. They had good scaffolding to reach a difficult cathedral ceiling, and used only appropriate materials. This is a master mason, no half-way work, great pride in a job well done. As you can imagine, that much grinding and mortaring in a living room could leave a mess, but that wasn't so. I wouldn't hesitate to have Celtic Masonry on the next project, it was a great provider for a job I had been dreading.

Never before have I enjoyed spending this amount of money on anything that wasn't labeled 18kt. There were large gaps in our brick front steps from salt corrosion and age. Everything costs more in this area (I've priced similar work in nearby towns where house values aren't absurdly inflated) and estimates were astronomical. Most contractors suggested the whole stairway be replaced from the ground up. We couldn't afford it. Mr. Bresnahan was prompt, courteous, conscientious, and very pleasant. He explained everything he was going to do, why it needed to be done, how it would be done and what it would cost. And he went out of his way to keep from incurring additional cost to us. He also has an excellent sense of humor. We enjoyed working with him.

The service worked out well. The work he did was good. Jim Bresnahan is very professional. He has been in the field for so many years and he has relocated. So, that is a plus for us. I feel like he is using Angie’s List to build up a clientele which is what it should be used for. The work was great. He came on time. He kept me informed, and he was very professional with his work. He explained everything to me so I can understand it. He came in and told me that it would take longer than the big deal was so I ended up paying $525 total, but it was worth it because he was here all day, and two men were working on my house. So, I was satisfied.

Jim show's up when he says he will show up, performs the work he says he will perform, produces quality work and cleans up after himself. What else can you ask for? Needless to say I was very pleased with his work and highly recommend him.

On time, prepared, neat, cleaned up area. Work was painless and quick and well done.

From our first call to Celtic, we felt they would work best for us. We were told it would be 7 to 8 weeks before the job could be done. This job required digging out the old cement floor and replacing it with 6 inches depth of cement. They were very accommodating to all our request. The Job took 2 days from start to finish. We would highly recommend them for any of your masonary needs.

)Was a bit more than I expected but for the work which needed to be done - but it was worth the cost. Showed up when scheduled and worked until done (into early evening. Stairs look great (save for a bit of mortar on the bricks - which will be cleaned later this year). Stairs will be much more solid and safe. Would use again for stone work.