MATIA HISTORIC RESTORATION AND DESIGN

Artur, who is the owner, is a pleasant and well-meaning man. And his work is reasonably well done, but not exemplary. Moreoever, I thought his pricing was very expensive. The job started out with Artur saying he could repair the front stoop by pulling the field stone and resetting it. ten minutes into the job, he came a-knocking on the door to explain that no- this could not be done since there was no foundation under the stoop. It all had to be pulled up and disposed of- and needed to start all over with a new one. This one step added about $1,000 to the job- no small amount- and I feel that he should have known this from the beginning since an expert in masonry could have foreseen this problem. This is my biggest beef with Artur- and he simply would not acknowledge that or reduce the price, which I thought was high, to do the work. In the end, he did a fine job with the brick walk and step, as well as the repairs. Although, I did have to inspect the job and have him fix some sloppy work as well as pick up all the garbage and spent concrete he left on my roof. To me, professionalism is estimating it right- and explaining the pitfalls and potential costs; doing the work and checking it so it is well done for the customer; and, cleaning up all of your messings. This is why I give Artur a "fair" grade as opposed to an "excellent" one.

It went very well. Water can no longer get into the wall and the building is structurally solid again. Artur is on the expensive side as mason go, but you get what you pay for. He has extensive experience in preservation, and does brownstone repair. There was recently a picture of him in the paper, hanging in the air while fixing the plaster ceiling of the historic Proctor's Theater in Schenectady!