MARCUS WISE

Marcus did an excellent job! He was attentive, professional, and efficient. He completed the job beyond our expectations. He was well priced - and priced the job and not the neighborhood. He was upfront and transparent. Would recommend him and definitely would hire again.

Marcus did a fabulous job repairing my foundation. Unexpectedly he had to put up with some ants that had nested in the cracks of the foundation. He did great work and gave me good advice how to deal with some other problems of my house.

Fantastic. Marcus has years of experience with chimneys and we could tell. Quality work - very reasonably priced. We were grateful that he agreed to fix our chimney - it looks great.

Marcus was an excellent craftsman from start to finish. We had three bids for the work and it was like Goldilocks and the Three Bears: we had the Papa Bear bid (rebuild the entire chimney from top to bottom $$$$), Mama Bear (rebuild from the shoulder of the chimney on up with brick that wouldn't match the current stucco $$$) and Marcus who had a practical and affordable solution that fit our budget and matched the design of our chimney/house. Marcus walked us through the entire project, step by step and offered advice for follow up work for the inside of our chimney to prevent further brick decay. He was reliable, on time, and left little evidence that he'd been here doing messy work. Highly recommended!

It went very well. You would never know that the buttresses weren't original as he did a great job in matching the stone. He communicated regularly on the schedule and price of the work and he stayed on track for both. He also provided helpful information on caring for the stone and other external repairs to our home. Very nice person too. Highly recommend.

Great! This is a one-man-show so be patient and you will receive great quality work at an even better price! He is a straight shooter, to the point and a real craftsman. Other quotes were thousands of dollars more! Will always use Marcus Wise for any masonry needs - looking forward to chimney tuck-pointing in the spring. We are lucky enough to be in his service area - hope you will be too.

Did a beautiful job at an excellent price. We were very lucky to have found him.

It went very well. There were some delays for complicated reasons, but Marcus worked with us on what we wanted and produced a final result that we are proud of. I can tell he is proud too, which is a nice thing to see. He's a real craftsman.

This is the second time we have had Marcus Wise repair a chimney for us (2 different houses). He repaired broken bricks on chimney. He did a great job and threw in a few extra small jobs while he was at it.

Great! He matched the brick colors and patterns so it looks better than the original. He put a limestone cap on the top of the chimney and cut it so it has a bit of overhang so it protects the bricks better. It looks awesome! He's an artist and craftsman. And really interesting to talk with. We'd definitely hire him again or recommend him for any stonework. His eye for color and patterns made the results look great. Thank you!

We called Marcus to do the tuck pointing on our foundation. He came over and gave a quote right away, and was very reasonable/ predictable with his quote. He did the work very promptly and was great at communicating the timeline and work required. He actually ended up finding many more gaps/ areas to repair than what he had quoted for, but he kept his price and did a fantastic job. He even talked to us on how to further seal the foundation later on.

He found matching bricks, made it good as new. he was great

Went great! Marcus worked alone for a week on our home. He consulted with both me and my wife ahead of the job on what he planned to do, price, and what the wall would look like afterwards. He did an excellent job and the wall looks great, and I had very little water issues in my basement this spring. He even came in under his quoted price and gave us a rough idea of what some other brickwork would cost. Highly recommend him. Also ask about his music, fascinating guy.

It went great. Marcus is very skilled and did a great job; the stucco he applied was expertly done. He's a great communicator and was at our place when he said he'd be. We were impressed. We'll hire him again for other jobs.

It went very well. Marcus explained all my options for repairing and rebuilding my steps and front entry area so that I was able to make an educated decision. The price was more than fair for the work done. When he demoed the steps, he found brick rather than concrete so he had more work to do in hauling away all the old brick. He did not charge extra for this. For the landing and step treads, he used a beautiful Indiana limestone and for the risers, he used New York blue stone. He also left a space between the bottom step and my concrete sidewalk so that when I need that replaced down the road, the work will not disrupt the steps. He also sanded and repaired my wood pillars with putty so they are ready to paint.

First I want to preface that we have used Marcus a couple of times in the past and have been very happy with him. We did not get a competitive bid since we were not interested in using someone other than Marcus. Hence I selected n/a for price. Our chimney was in urgent need of tuck pointing. He told us what was wrong, what he would do, how much it would be and by when it would be done. He kept the lines of communication open and there were no surprises. He did a quality job and was done when he promised, all very straight forward. The chimney looks great now and should be good for another 100 years.

I used Marcus last year for a chimney repair above the roofline up to a previous repair of the rows near the top. I was impressed with his clear explanations and then his professional work. His price was about the same as the other person I interviewed from Angie's List recommendations, but he was able to do the chimney work last year where the other person could not. This year he repaired the brickwork around my foundation. He was very clear about what he would do--which was repair all gaps and holes, replace bad brick at the corners and totally rebuild (using the old brick whenever possible) a corner section that had sagged away from the house. He set a maximum price and stuck with it even after the sagging section required some foundation fixes as well as the brickwork. He worked efficiently, always answered questions well, and cleaned up extremely well. The result looks great all around. He even filled in a gap between my front steps and the house, something I'd been unable to manage successfully on my own in the past when repairing the concrete steps. I don't have any complaints, but to be complete, I will note he tended to show up 20 to 30 minutes later each morning than he said he would. We both knew this was an approximate time and that I didn't need to be here when he did show up so it was no inconvenience for me. Maybe someone else would need him there exactly on time for some reason and then I'd suggest just letting him know. I'm sure he'd accommodate. Overall, I was very pleased.

After receiving the "mama and papa bears" of estimates (one way too high; one that seemed to be reasonable but proposed work that turned out to be unnecessary), Marcus provided an estimate that was just right. Marcus was thorough in his description of the work that was required and answered all of my questions prior to hiring him. He removed the damaged portions of the stucco covering our chimney as well as the damaged bricks. He then replaced and repaired bricks and applied new stucco. He did all of this over the span of two days with ease and professionalism. Lastly, he recommended that we have a double walled vent installed inside our chimney to prevent future brick rotting (work we had done by another provider this past fall). We were very happy to work with Marcus and will definitely hire him again if the need arises.

We called on a Sunday. The person who answered the phone said that Marcus was out of town for a week and that he primarily works in South Minneapolis. Marcus called back the following week and explained that he doesn't repair brick planters (the service we were looking for).

My experience with Marcus was fantastic. He was very professional and his work was top notch. The stone work he did around the foundation of my house matched great. I don't think anyone would be able to point out which stones were original and which ones were replaced (keep in mind how difficult of a task it is to match original stonework on a house built in 1928). He went above and beyond my expectations by filling holes/voids that we didn't discuss during the initial walk though. Marcus also brought a tall ladder to my house, free of charge, at my request in order for me to install chimney caps. He even held the ladder for me. I highly recommend Marcus, and I will definitely hire him in the future.

Mark was on time ,courteous,did wonderful work and was very reasonable compared to other bids I had received.

Marcus is very easy to work with. He started the job soon after we received a bid from him, and finished the work within two days. He offered to dye the mortar so as to make the new work blend in with the old. Great suggestion ... the chimney looks really good and you would not think that it has had recent repairs made on it. He is easy to talk to, helpful (he gave suggestions regarding other projects we are doing ourselves), and his work is clean and tidy. Would definitely recommend him to anyone and will be happy to work with him again in the future.

The foundation of my rental property (right next to my residence) needed some foundation work and the rental inspectors agreed enthusiastically... Mark cleaned-out the outer foundation joints in the 1888 cast-blocks of my property in Northeast Minneapolis. He painstakingly ground out the old mortar and found any rotten areas. He was able to re-seat and properly arrange several blocks that had shifted. After grinding out all the mortar and rotten areas, he filled them up with all the mortar that would fit into the holes and left gorgeous joints afterwards. After this he did a breathable mortar sealant coat which completely evens out the looks of the blocks and protects them. I will definitely be hiring him again.

I first had an estimate done six years ago. It was so high that I put off doing the work. The recession hit hard and we put the work off some more. South Minneapolis has tons of homes that have beautiful tan-colored flagstone around the front door and the front steps. The steps were disintegrating and there were large holes in the stair rise. I plugged it with concrete patch to keep animals out. I called Marcus Wise because he lives in South Minneapolis and works almost exclusively on home with hand cut stone like ours. Other bidders who don't normally work on homes built in 1931, just wanted to tear it all out and start over. That would have cost more than I could afford and would have given me front steps that wouldn't fit the house or the neighborhood. This is Marcus' specialty. He stopped by for a look and quickly ruled out the need for a complete tear out. He had a stockpile of flagstone in his garage that he uses for jobs like mine. The plan was to replace just the failed stones and re-grout where needed. Much of the replacement stone he had at his place. But he made a special trip to another and quot;bone yardand quot; to find stone that more closely matched the existing stones for patina. The final results were wonderful. I was worried we'd have a patchwork of new and old stones that wouldn't look right. They match and looks like it's always been that way. He took great care to explain what he was doing and why. He told us how to care for the steps going forward so that we avoid some of the problems of deterioration in the future. It was clear from the start that we were dealing with a craftsman and the final work was the proof. Because of his skill as a stone cutter, knowledge of the home in South Minneapolis, he was able to do a top notch job at a great price. Bottom line: Everyone else wanted to do a complete tear out. Marcus had the skills to save the classic steps at the home we love.

Marcus did a very nice job of repairing our brick front steps. Work was completed on time and at a reasonable cost.