VRN Masonry Inc

I had received 3 bids on this job--and his was the lowest, and it made the most sense, because we did not need a high tech, high labor-intensive solution. All we needed was to seal the gap between the lowest step of our front porch and the sidewalk. Our house is 50 years old, and due to sinking, the sidewalk became lower over the years. While we have maintained our house inside and out, this gap is a turn off to people approaching the house, especially prospective buyers. I called VRN, and at his request, I texted him a photo of our gap. He texted me back and quoted his price (which was half the amount quoted by another company, and 1/5 of the amount quoted by a company that contacted me after the job was completed. He arranged to come to my house in the afternoon. That morning he phoned me and said that his scheduling allowed him to come during the morning--which was better for us anyway. He did the work--exactly as he had described it, taking 2 hours--to mix the concrete, apply it, smooth it, and to let it partially dry before applying a second coat of concrete and smoothing it out. the end product looks extremely professional. He was courteous and and conscientious, and I would happily recommend him to others, and I am indeed recommending him to my Realtor.

The VRN Team was great to work with, from the design, through to the construction. We did experience some delays due to the late June storms. The crew doing the work were true craftsman and really paid attention to every detail of the project. We are very happy we selected VRN and we would be happy to work with them again.

I did not use this company.

They came to my house to discuss the project in the fall. Since this kind of weather can't be done in cold weather, they weren't able to actually do the job until the end of March. The job itself was done very professionally.

He canceled several appointments while I was home waiting for him to arrive; the first due to traffic and the second two because his vehicle broke down.

I did have a "no show" happen on the Saturday morning that they were supposed to come. No call or anything. Turns out the mason had a family emergency and ended up coming later that week. That was the only hiccup that we had.

I got a quote from VRN for some repair work. He quoted $400. I then bought the "Big Deal" which offered work up to $500. When I emailed to set up a time for him to come he said I would have to pay extra because he would end up losing money because of the deal, even though the amount was suppose to go up to $500 and he only quoted $400. End the end I was able to get a refund for the big deal and didn't use VRN for the work.

The work was somewhat delayed, mainly due to inclement weather, but the sales representative kept us informed. The work began on a Sunday morning, and the old walk was removed. On the following day, a new concrete slab was laid, and the bricks were laid on the third day. The two workers arrived promptly each day, and worked steadily all of each day.. The concrete slab was prepared very well, and the bricks laid in a nice basket weave design. Very careful attention was paid to sloping the walkway away from the porch, and the bricks were spaced very well. The mortar was exceptionally neat. All of the work was done very carefully, using a level on each row of bricks. We are very pleased with the appearance of the new walkway.

I was charged an additional $250 over the $150 I paid for a voucher for $500 worth of masonry services. I think the additional amount charged was excessive and I believe the value of the coupon was grossly overstated.

Based on the positive reviews and reports on Angie's List, I contacted this company to give me an estimate for repairing my front walk and extending my driveway. I called on a Friday and set up an appointment for the following Monday at 9:30 a.m. I stayed home from work so that I could meet the contractor. No one ever showed up, and no one called. Needless to say, I will not be contacting or using this company for anything, ever again. Update: At the end of the day on Monday, I received a text message with the explanation that "my phone reminder did not work" and asking whether we could meet the next day. If anything, this lowered my opinion of this company even further. First of all, a text message?! Not even the courtesy of a phone call? Second, no apology for wasting my time? And third, if this is how this company keeps tracks of its appointments, goodness knows how disorganized they must be in other respects. I was self-employed for 20 years, and believe me, I had redundant systems set up to keep track of my client appointments, and I certainly checked in at the start of each day to see what I had on the schedule. Needless to say, I informed the texter that I did not have the time for them and requested that they not contact me again. If I could give a lower rating than an F, I would.

Considering the fact that I never met the guy and handled it all on the phone, it was amazing. I sent him photographs of the damage and he emailed me a quote. I asked him when he might get to it and said it would take about two weeks. In 10 days I got a call from his mason who when to our home and did the work. The job was well done. They left me a bill and I paid it immediately.

Good communications from the beginning, job finished ahead of schedule and on budget. I would gladly call upon them again. Be prepared to wait a short period if your bricks are a common style/type.

He was excellent. His quality of workmanship was excellent. He was very careful to detail. Good communication through out the project.

Not the most timely, took a while to get an estimate, then the days kept getting changed, some due to weather, other I'm not sure. However, the work looks good. One stone still seems loose, they will be coming by to look at it.

Never received estimate. No follow up by service provider.

VRN is located in Gaithersburg, MD and we live in Falls Church, VA. While both are within the greater Washington, DC Metro area, they are about 15-20 miles apart. After multiple contacts back and forth, we believe we were just too far away for VRN to provide the service, so we mutually agreed VRN would not do the work.

Very poor color match between new and surrounding mortar.

From the time we first made contact to schedule the work it went well, as far responsiveness. The date was pushed back a couple of times but we were informed of the delays. Those were because of previous jobs having gone long. Then the work was postponed because of the extreme hot weather, then because of rain. Then we weren'T contacted. Once we called, it was scheduled and the work performed. The work was done efficiently and well, and the price was reduced (without our asking) because of the delay. that was very much appreciated. we would call on them again.

Average repair job at best especially since I cleaned and prepared surface myself. Contractor changed date for doing work several times.

We contacted VRN Masonry due to the excellent ratings on Angie's List. However, so far, we have been very disappointed. It took 3 weeks to get the estimate for work. We were first told that we would get the estimate in 1 week. Then we were scheduled for work to be performed another 3 weeks out. Then we have received an email saying it will be postponed. And then we received yet another email saying that they are cancelling the job and backing out. We just kept getting put off. I guess our job was too small to bother with. This is very poor "professionalism". A company should follow through on its commitments to customers. In particular, a customer chooses their company from Angie's List because of good ratings, and then they don't follow through. Additionally, just to clarify on the Provider's Response: "I waited for your response wich took a while" --- we responded to VRN Masonry the day after we finally received the estimate. "due to the hurricane we got delayed I then have you a new date" --- the reason that you gave me for the delay was because of the forecasted rain on Tuesday of this week (11/13), not the hurricane storm. "You told me you didn't feel comfortable with my company" --- what I said was that I was disappointed VRN Masonry so far (we kept getting pushed back) "I'm sorry we couldn't do business" --- well the bottom is VRN Masonry made a business committment and backed out, leaving a customer hanging, who had been waiting 5 weeks for the work to get done.

It went well, very honest professional men. .Hard workers, they are experts and can get the job done. I got 3 quotes, they were the best price and seemed very candid and trust-worthy. We encountered some delays due to the derecho storm and injuries, but they did do the work in a somewhat punctual manner considering outside difficulties.

Well, all was done very well. But they just spoke on the phone. I don't remember much in details. I don't know if I ever got the money back.

They were very responsive in analyzing the problems we were having, suggesting a solution and doing the work. They were very professional and friendly to deal with, and the work was outstanding.

Overall, the job was satisfactory. The finished product was very good, but there was definitely room for improvement in the process. Rui operates in a *very* informal manner. When I met him, he had no business cards which was a little weird but not a big deal. His official estimate came in the form of a one sentence email. I asked for something more official on actual letterhead. He had no problem with that though and was always very prompt with his email responses. The only challenge with the email at times was that he does not use ANY punctuation, so all the sentences run together. He doesn't even sign his name, so since I had forgotten it when we met, I needed to ask him specifically what it was. His price was reasonable and he agreed to extend the warranty for an extra fee. Originally he told me verbally the day that his team would be done. That day came and went and they had not finished. Next I was emailed a different day and he missed that deadline too. I decided not to ask again when he would be done and fortunately he finished a few days later. I recommend in the future to put specific deadlines in the contract. There were some other slight annoyances such as one day he was supposed to start at 8am, but my doorbell rang at 7:15am, so we were barely dressed. Another day, Rui hadnt given the key to his coworkers so they couldnt get in but fortunately my wife was home at that moment to let them in. When the job was done, my key was no where to be found. I asked Rui about it and he had to ask his dad what he had done with it. I got it back eventually after a couple emails. None of these things were a big deal but it could have been smoother. Despite these things, the finished product came out very well and the price was reasonable, so I would probably work with them again.

VRN responded promptly to our request for a quote. They came and spent time listening, offering suggestions on design and material and gave us quotes on 3 options. All questions were answered and they came back to show us some additional slides and answer final questions before the work began. The work started promptly ( a slight delay due to rain but that is more than understandable). The kept us posted on the schedule ...contacting us each day is the rain was preventing them working that day. The work is completed and is just perfect. It has transformed the entry to our home. I would recommend them very highly.