Maguire Masonry

He did not show on the day he was supposed to. A few days later, he called and apologized for missing his earlier appointed and wanted to reschedule for today. He did come up today on time. One of the things we need done was to rebuild the front steps of our home. The problem is that sometime before I owned the house, someone tired to spruce up the stair way and installed a new layer of brick on top the original brick steps and has caused the landing to be too high. I explained to him that I wanted it rebuilt, so that the rise of the landing in front of the opening was the correct height. Obviously, that meant the top layer had to be removed, for the entire stairway and landing. He then explained that if he removed that top layer of the brick for the landing, it would affect the rise of the stair. I tried to explain what I meant, by simply removing all the brick, such that it was back to the original construction of the steps. He kept saying I was wrong. I kept trying to explain that to remove all the top layers. He stated I am a busy person and have better things to do and grabbed his notepad and stormed off. It does not bother me that there was a misunderstanding, it bother me A) that he assumed I didn't know what I was talking about and B) that he didn't try to understand what I was trying to explain to him.

The wall bounds a low terrace in my yard, which has a tree in it. The existing wall is failing, so it needed to be replaced. When I asked for an estimate, Peter first estimated the cost for poured concrete, and then for concrete block, which he thought might be cheaper. However, he told me that block would be more expensive, so we contracted for a poured concrete wall. As it turned out, he discovered that the carpenter would not be able to make appropriate curving forms for poured concrete, so we went with block. The block looks very good, and Peter filled the holes with cement and rebar to make a stronger wall. However, he suggested putting stone treads (slabs like steps) on top of the wall because the holes in the block ran vertically. While he did not charge more for the work, I was asked to pay for the blue-stone treads themselves, which meant that I paid just under $8000 rather than the originally contracted $7400. The work itself looks terrific, and that wall is obviously going to hold. My only disappointment was with the unexpected change from poured concrete to block. I would have expected a mason to have known about the limitations of forms before he began. I should note that this is my first time using a contractor for this kind of work, so my expectations may have been unrealistically high. The only previous work in my house consisted of very well defined jobs, like replacing a boiler, painting, or roofing, which leave fewer choices of technique and may have fewer surprises.

It went quite well overall. Our home is a three-family condo association, which requires communication and agreement within the condo association to proceed with the work. Peter came out multiple times to answer questions and revise quotes based on the wishes/needs of the three members of the association. Though I know that this was an annoyingly involved process for both him and me as the representative of the association, I did appreciate the fact that he understood our needs and went above and beyond to make sure that all were happy with the final agreement. He and his crew showed up at 7 am the day that he said he would start the project and finished it within his estimate of time he gave us at the outset. He called each day with an update on progress and to let me know if there were any decisions that we needed to make, such as deciding on the color of the stucco or the arrangement of the bluestone on the stair landing. Overall the level of craftsmanship was very high, and I felt very aware of each phase of the process. The one snafu we ran into had to do with the railings for the stairs. In the contract, we had agreed that the existing railing would be removed and re-installed. When the railings were removed, Peter found that the base of the railing posts were more rotted than he or we expected. It didn't make sense to cut the brand new bluestone to install rotting wood, so Peter suggested we talk to a carpenter to see what our options might be. He had a carpenter friend who he recommended come out. I know that sometimes this is a sketchy proposition, but I felt as if Peter genuinely felt bad that the existing railing plan had not worked out. We probably should have planned to replace the railing in the first place as it was installed with brackets in the width of the stair treads rather than installed directly into the height of the tread, but I just wish that point had come up before we began the project. In the end though, we went with the carpenter Peter knew, and the railing work was done still within our project estimated length and done extremely well. I just could have done without the last minute unexpected extra cost. We were very happy with the final result. The crew was friendly and very sensitive to concerns we or our neighbors might have had along the way. The project was cleaned up very nicely.

Peter is extremely responsive and has an amazingly positive attitude even when the project became much larger than planned ( Peter ended up having to solve a very old and complex problem for us). He stayed with the project and his price was more than reasonable and the job was done very quickly.

Excellent responsiveness to an initial contact via email. He provided an estimate quickly. It was a quick job (2 days). Amazingly, he was ready to begin within a couple days of our approval of his estimate. It turned out beautifully; very clean work!

Peter was very responsive. Answered all my phone calls, followed up periodically to make sure that everything was being done according to my wishes. At one point, Peter said he mis-estimated how difficult it would be to remove a stairwell and put it back, and wanted me to just let him do the mortar around the stairs. I was hesitant, since I really wanted a solid wall throughout the basement, and Peter said no problem, he would do exactly as he'd promised. The walls and floor came out great. There's no more air and bugs coming in, and the walls feel solid. I got estimates elsewhere, and they didn't use the steel screen, which is one of the reasons I went with Peter. The patio job was beautiful--perfectly smooth, and all debris was cleaned up at the end. The patio wasn't done exactly to spec--I'd wanted the brick to go up to the boundary fence, but they did it about 4" away from the fence without telling me first. I actually like what Peter ended up doing better than my plan, but I would have appreciated having the choice ahead of time. I will always use Maguire Masonry for any masonry/patio-related work I need in the future. Peter's responsiveness and quality of work was impeccable.

We were very pleased. He did a great job.

Mr. Maguire was very prompt in contacting me after my initial call. He gave a prompt estimate with a variety of choices from repairing the old steps to replacing them with bluestone. We opted to use limestone. We were planning to wait 6 weeks for the work to be performed, but his schedule changed and he was able to do the job the next week. The stairs came out beautifully and seem much safer for my mother. He was great to work with and we would definitely call him again. The senior citizen discount was a big help for someone on a fixed income.

Excellent - Peter was extremely profession, showed up on time, was polite, did good work over 2 days and was less expensive than another local mason. He had one employee working with him and the other employee was also very professional. Will definitely call Peter again for future projects.

Peter responded quickly to my initial phone call and immediately set up an appointment to stop by and give me a quote. Several days later, he emailed me a very reasonable quote. Although I had a very difficult work schedule and Thanksgiving was coming, Peter was willing to work around my schedule, especially because I think he appreciated the importance of the work in terms of my ability to put my house on the market. I would recommend strongly that anyone in need of masonry services contact Peter Maguire.

Never returned my repeated phone calls.

Peter responded within a day of my call, came out and gave me an estimate, he also had some great suggestions that saved me money. Peter and his crew arrived on time every day and cleaned up every afternoon before leaving.Their work was flawless, I have received many compliments from my neighbors on what a great job they did, and how hard they worked. My wife and I could not be more pleased with this job. Peter is an honest man who does high quality work for a fair price. Peter will remain at the top of my list for future work. Thank you so much.

Peter was fantastic with his response to my calls, both initially and during the project. He also called me a few times to update on the project. Both Peter and his crew were very courteous, in person and on the phone. He gave suggestions about the work that should be done and explained clearly. A few other masons who gave me estimates wanted to tear down the whole set of steps and start new, which was far beyond our budget. Peter did a combination of repair and replace and also ensured the stairs were brought up to code. He suggested the acid wash which I had not thought of. What a difference! The stairs are not only safe and secure now, but also look great.

Peter responded very quickly to our call. Our basement had not previously leaked and now we had 2 inches of water in parts of our basement. He successfully patched the leaks, but when more freezing rain came, he had to return as the leaks moved higher up the wall. He came back very promptly. After the second patch, a geyser spouted farther up the wall, and this is when he really came through. He rapidly tore out a door frame in order to gain access to it, patched it and quickly determined that the root cause was a cracked drain for the downspouts. After repairing that and confirming the source of the leak had been fixed, he reframed the door. Peter really saved the day. He's prompt with returning phone calls, efficient and reasonably priced.

Peter showed up when he said he would to give me an estimate. He measured my foundation and promptly sent me a quote. Since he was about a $900 less than my other quote, I proceeded to have him do the work. A number of problems happened during the course of the work: he broke the window in my basement door and left the shards hanging in the frame and on the floor (didn't clean it up or put a piece of plywood over it like he said he would). Granted, the window already had a crack in it (I had taped over it), but even so, wouldn't you clean it up? Half way through the job, he claims to have measured incorrectly, and if I wanted to have the additional part of the foundation re-pointed, he would have to charge me more. (perhaps this explains why his quote was so much cheaper but still, not my problem he measured incorrectly). The new mortar has cracks in it. He said this is normal, the mortar settles. Is this correct? I'm no expert, but this doesn't seem right.

Very well. It took a little longer than anticipated (things got very busy), but the garage looks wonderful with all kinds of compliments from the neighbors. Also, this was a very tight fitting property with neighbors on the side and back of the garage. Peter was very nice dealing with and showed a great deal of concern for my neighbors property.

Peter found that the steps to the foyer as well as the supports for the foyer had not been built to code. This required much more work than he had anticipated. It took him much longer and, I am sure, cost him much more in supplies. The metal front door, which had been unable to close for 18 years is now aligned properly and the wooden staircase to the front door is now supported according to code.

I received a prompt reply initially and set up a time to meet with Peter after describing the work to be done. He seemed polite and professional. However, he did not show up for our meeting. Having taken time off work to meet with him, I was upset that he didn't show. Not recommended.

I called Peter because he had done a beautiful job repairing and restoring my garage a couple of years ago. Through a couple of voice-mail messages and a phone conversation, we scheduled a time for the work to be done. It was done promptly and handsomely, and I am again delighted with his work.

He was excellent. He was a very professional gentleman and a fine craftsman. I had to wait a few months to have the work done, but it was worth the wait. He was respectful of the home and the property.

The job was overall a very good experience. Peter and his men did far more work, than was spelled out in the original estimate and still honored the initial price. The patio was done with a lot of attention to detail. They hand cut every piece of flagstone, that was used and installed a drywell that was NOT in the original proposal at no cost. When the job was completed, there was still water pooling at the base of the building, which is exactly the issue, that we had hired Peter to rectify. We alerted Peter to the problem and he had his men fix the issue, within a few days. The work that was done inside, was not done with the same attention to detail. The paint used on the wall and the molding was not very close to matching and we do have to repaint one of the bedroom walls and the molding, to match the rest of the room, but we were more concerned with the outside job and Peter did offer to come back and paint the wall for us. Overall, we were very happy.

It was very good. Peter came when he said he would, finished the work on time and left the job site spotless during and after the job.

The owner called and made an appointment to give an estimate. He never showed up.

Peter Maguire was terrific to deal with. We found him refreshingly straightforward and reasonable in giving an estimate--even talking us out of spending money unnecessarily on work that others had recommended. (How often does that happen?) This was a big job -- five working days with about 4 or 5 men on the job. They started and ended on time. They were very courteous and respectful of the neighbors (e.g. not sanding or grinding early on weekend mornings so people could sleep in). Peter also explained to us every day what that day's work entailed. Peter was highly professional, friendly, took pride in his work, and delivered what he promised. We'll definitely call him again for other masonry work.

The work was performed on schedule, quality was excellent, clean-up also excellent. The owner Jerry made several trips over the course of two days to ensure the work was done properly by his workmen. Everyone was professional and pleasant to work with. Jerry said if the chimney repair proceeded well he would take 4 or 5 hundred off the price. After the 1st day he said the work was going well and offered to do some additional minor brick work and keep the price at $2900, which I accepted. I figure the whole job took 24 to 30 man hours, not including travel, materials, or overhead. The price seems high, but the chimney repair was dangerous work, and I paid a premium for that.