AAA Masonry

This guy is a crook, DO NOT TRUST HIM! My patio is cracking in multiple spots and I have one portion completely sinking due to him and his crew pouring concrete directly onto grass instead of spending a little more time to get a proper base added as he promised when he quoted us. In addition, Mark and his crew destroyed my driveway with the concrete truck in the process of pouring my patio. When we provided him with a cost of repairing the damaged driveway, he stated that our driveway must not have been in great shape to begin with as it should have been able to withstand his concrete truck and he refused to pay the full repair cost. STAY AWAY FROM THIS GUY AND HIS BUSINESS!

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He sent two guys in a pickup truck.  Within 6 months the added sidewalk crumbled.  Repeated calls went unanswered.  Finally went to BBB.  After 4 complaints to BBB,  on the last call, she said he had promised to do it last week.  Asked if I would be there for a few minutes.  She then called him again, apparently, she gave him one last chance before delisting him.  He arrived that afternoon, never came to the door but started ripping up the sidewalk.  He returned early next morning to put in a new sidewalk.  It's been 2 and 1/2 years and sidewalk is fine!
While watching him install the new sidewalk, he mentioned that my complaint had cost him a lot of business.
this guy does beautiful work, when he wants to.  However, if he messes up, be prepared for a drawn out confrontation

The patio was never level as it is severly pitched. After 6 months it had numerous large cracks throughout. The sidewalk was so slippery that no one could walk on it in the Winter.When the patio was put in we questioned why he never used any crusher run on top of the the dirt and he said it was not always needed. We dug in under the patio and never saw any crusher run at all although Mark Ogden the owner said he used it. We called Mark to come out and help fix  these issues and he came up with numerous reasons such as: it was a bad Winter, he performed the work as he was instructed by us, had we told him that we did not want a slippery side walk he could have added in a mixture that would have prevented the slipping. He said he thought it was a good job. 
We tried to negotiate with him asking him to either come back and re-do the patio or give us our money back and he said he would get back to us. We never heard a word back.
We are extremely dissatisfied with the work as well as the the lack of integrity that Mark Ogden showed. Mark is a wonderful orator and is very believable. He will tell you all you want to hear and give you a competitive bid. However, where you lose out is that he will risk the integrity of the work to make up for the good price he gave you. In our case he elected not to use crusher run and save that cost, as well as not using the component in the mixture to prevent the sidewalk from being slippery. Then to top it all off he won't stand by the work he did and even tells us it was a good job.
 We are stuck with a uneven patio which really the only solution is to have someone come out and take the entire patio out and completely re-do.

Had a stamped concrete patio installed on or about May 3, 2013.  Within a few weeks it had many cracks in it plus a main crack that went across the width of the patio. I contacted Mark Ogden, owner and told him of the problem. He did try to fix it but it was not a great job...still many cracks.  He said sealing it will take care of it but again not a great job.  

I also got a two year warranty on materials and workmanship. In one of my e-mails to him I told him my concerns and his answer to that was concrete cracks. I do know that but it never even went through  a winter.....It happen right after he put it in within a few weeks. He kept telling me we will watch it...I guess I did not know what we were watching it was already cracked and it was not going to fix itself. He said we will check it in the spring.  

May 13, 2014 I did see him and told him I was dissatisfied with the patio and I wanted my money back....He decided to up my warranty for another five years for cracking which it is already cracked. I let him do it for safety reasons.  

I did contact three other masons and was told by all three it was poor workmanship and it was because he went over an existing  concrete slab and it was poor workmanship.  

I did contact him by phone the end of May to ask him to finish off a awful looking edge that they never did. He said he would take care of that  and we would talk about the main crack to see if we could make it a little more appealing. End of story...no more contact with him.  

An attorney wrote him a letter to get in touch with either him or me...Plus I e-mailed him also. Plus I filed a complaint with the BCA (business consumer alliance).  Nothing yet.  

I just want this matter resolved so I can replace it.

They showed up on time and that's the end of the good news.  Prior to their pouring the foundation I noticed the trench that was dug was not parallel to the driveway so I asked them to make sure the foundation, when poured, was.  They did a good job lining it up but failed to make the foundation square.  When they laid the block they lined up the back wall with an existing temporary structure instead of lining it up with the wall that was parallel to the driveway.  I had to knock out the block they laid so they could come back the next day to redo the block.  I had to show them how to square up the wall.  There was an addition to one side of the garage that, when finished, was out of square to the main body of the garage by almost 8".  The back wall was so far off in height they had to come back with a concrete saw to shave it down along the center 10' so the back wall could sit somewhat level.  I was told that the floor would slope towards the overhead doors when finished.  It slopes in the opposite direction so, when it rains, all the water puddles up at the back of the garage.  I had the impression that this was their 1st foundation.

I wish I had Angie's list before I hired him. No one spoke English and since he never stayed I couldn't communicate with anybody. I told him that was unacceptable he said I was prejudiced. He didnt use rebar or wire or crushed stone and I told him I wanted him to - my ex-husband who just rebuilt the Eastman House organ and can do everything told me its all going to crack and have to be redone. The stamped part was awful they had to re-stamp by hand. It rained (if he started when he was supposed to he would have had weeks of no rain) so all the sealant bubbled up and footprints (theirs) wouldn't come off). I called and called and it took weeks for him to get back to me. I told him I needed an electrician for a rather complicated job and I told him I wanted it in PVC pipe which of course he didnt do til my ex called a building inspector. I asked if this so called electrician was bonded etc. and he tells me all these lies. Then they tripped the breaker and that took forever to fix. I had to get him - when I say him I mean his non English speaking crew who I felt bad for he dropped them off with no bottles of cold water so I supplied that. I could not get him to call me back so my sisters boyfriend called and told him to get over here and fix everything. Luckily I held the last payment til it was as done as much as it was going to be. I want to do my driveway next year to match but won't use him. Reading these other commentors made me see that gee he gets a lot of vacation! He was late all the time - I thought he was being this way because I am a woman. Guess he's just an all around jerk. DO NOT EVER USE HIM. His guys broke a lantern I had hanging and they never replaced. They broke my hoses and those he replaced. This is just a brief overall summary the project took 2 months probably should have only taken a week or two.

As they performed the work, there was 1-1/2 hours between concrete trucks and they continued to work the concrete the whole time. That worked all of the air out of the concrete. The industry term for that is "they creamed it". When winter came and there were freeze - thaw conditions, the air was not there to compensate. The top crumbled and is a mess. It now looks like a 25 year old drive way.
The owner was willing to work with me at first but then disappeared.
 
I went to BBB and he skirted around satisfying my claim.
I hired an attorney(the owner of AAA is an attorney also) and my attorney said if I want to proceed then I would have to stand in line as many people ahead of me are already looking for resolution legally.
The driveway is available for anyone to see if you contact me.
Address is 162 Selborne Chase in Fairport, NY.

Work completed 6/2011. Failed. Had to be replaced 6/2012. Failed.
We will ALWAYS refer to Angie's List from now on. Lesson learned.

They did a poor job, the chimney leaked, they would not return my calls

Mark Ogden came to my home to look at existing sidewalk and give me an estimate for tearing it out and replacing with a stamped concrete walkway as well as removing crumbling block from existing front porch and staining and sealing existing concrete platform.  I was provided with a written estimate of which half of the money was due upfront and the other when the work was complete.  I picked out a stain color and was told that he would match the existing front porch concrete platform to the new walkway that led up to it.  On the day the job was to begin, two or three worker showed up - none of who spoke English.  He showed up to for a short time that day and assisted them.  I was surprised that he used the existing broken up sidewalk inside the frame and then poured concrete over it.  The estimate never stated that was how he was going to do the job.  I have since been told by other contractors that that was the wrong way to do it.  The second day of the job, his workers showed up and their power washer did not work.  They had trouble communicating this to me as they did not speak hardly any English.  I called Mark and he came down and they ended up having to use my power washer.  At the end of the day, i saw Mark sprinkle some dry stain on the landing and coat it with a sealer.  I told him then that it didn't match as it looked like someone just brushed on some blue dust - my walkway is a brown/grey color.  He told me he would be back and i made the mistake of paying him the other half of the money.  I emailed him shortly after that and he said he was sick, i emailed him again, he was out of town, by now it was Winter so i waited to Spring and emailed him again.  This time he said he didn't know why the stain didn't take and he would rectify the situation.  Three emails later, i finally had him nailed down to a date to come and take care of it.  He never showed. I emailed him again and asked what his excuse was this time and never heard back from him.  I will never use this contractor again. 

3 weeks to the day a large crack developed in the sidewalk. i emailed him and he came out to see it. he told me it was covered under his warranty and he would repair it. but in 2 years after we see what develops with it. i was willing to wait and see if it did get worse. he did have 2 guys come out and fix 2 small holes with 3 cents worth of cement. they told me he had a lot of customers that needed repairs. they were very nice and polite guys. now the landing and steps are going. there is a large crack in the steps that go to the front door. there are more cracks developing on a weekly basis. after a few calls with no response and emails that are stating that he wants to work with me but i am being adversarial and demanding he just wont come to see it. he has missed 2 scheduled appointment with me. i waited all day to talk with him and it was a waist of time. i sent him an email stating that i saw him on the peoples court and he was doing the same thing to me as he did with that guy. this got a response. i then gave him a deadline and he did not like that either. 10 day later and 5 days of which the complaint from the BBB i filed reached him he still did not respond. i then sent him a email and he responded as it was my fault the BBB downgraded him from a A to a D-. it was clearly not my fault but someone else that had close to the same complaint i did.  now at this time he is in review again. i had a guy come out to look at it and he said that the whole thing would have to come out and done over. he did not use wire or re bar to give it strength. so in other words he used nothing to hold it together and it will continue to crack and heave to the point that it will have to be redone.  i am meeting with my lawyer. the complaint filed with the BBB from the other person stated that they spoke with an attorney but they would have to take a # because he has more law suites pending. i don't know if that is true but i will take a number and stand in line for this.from what i have heard on the peoples court and the complaint on the BBB and from my experience i will not use him again.

I wish we had been Angie's members before we hired for this job.  The day the work started (late), I came home to check on the status to find our front yard an absolute mess.  They had torn out one of our bushes and had just randomly thrown tools on the other cracking it in half- for no reason.  I didn't exactly love the bushes, but I would have never expected that a contractor would treat them with such disregard when they weren't even in the work space.  They drove their truck across the yard leaving very deep tire marks that we can still see yrs later.  Their lunch wrappers and empty soda cans were all over.  As for his work...it was horrific, he poured before the pre-work was complete.  The stamping was really amateur, it was plainly obvious to all who looked at it that they stamped the same section 3 or 4 times in some places trying to get it to stick.  The slope was awful - and toward the house instead of away.  Since he didn't feel anything he did was out of line, we eventually got to the point where we had to talk about a lawsuit and pursue action with the better business bureau if he didn't try to make amends.  After some dickering he agreed to refund us half of what we paid.  We had to pay to have all of the concrete torn out, and dig out the fill.

AAA Masonry started the job late and then never finished.  If you are looking for a contractor who shows up on time, lives up to the contract he signed and does a quality job then DO NOT hire Mark Ogden of AAA Masonry.  I have hired many contractors over the years and I have never had such a terrible experience.  

Here are some highlights:

-AAA Masonry was supposed to start the job while we were away on vacation for two weeks over the summer.  I had paid the deposit and we picked the start date.  Mark had my email and phone # for any questions.  Upon our return, the job was not even started.  I had to contact him to get another start date which he blew off again by another week.  Again, I had to track him down and he gave another excuse about how busy he was.  

-Stamped concrete has foot print in the middle of it.  I didn't notice it till after his crew had left.   At this point, no one had been near it except his crew.   

-Basement window was broken by Mark's crew while pouring the concrete.  I brought this to Mark's attention right after it happened.  Over the next month, he stopped by to pick up a check and  "measured" the window twice but NEVER replaced the window.  I ended up doing it at my own expense.  

-His repair to the roof was a piece of plywood covered with tar paper.  The rain pours down around it.  The roof actually leaks MORE then when he started.  

-Started to dodge my calls.  He no longer answered his cell, returned voicemails or emails.  He did finally pick up when I used a different phone to call him.  He promised to stop over and he never showed.   

My experience with Mark Ogden and AAA Masonry was one of frustration, shoddy workmanship and dishonesty.  Not sure if he is still using the name AAA Masonry, but if you hear the name Mark Ogden, my experience would suggest this is not a man you want to do  business with.

The first time we worked with them, it was great; they came in and got the work done. The patio is great and our hot tub sits on it. They sealed the concrete and that was great and seems to be okay. We had to call them back to redo the work on the front because they didn't really do what they were supposed to do the first time. They put a sealing coat over all the bricks and it rained immediately afterwards. Instead of our bricks looking red, they looked a gray color. They did try to come back a couple of times to put a reducer over it to take care of it, but it didn't work. We made a lot of phone calls that they didn't return or they would say they would come and they wouldn't come. There was a year guarantee on the work and it has been a year now. We kind of gave up. We paid them but we didn't feel that the job ever got completed. We are selling the house and someone bought it in the condition it is in. The price was good.

The project initially seemed to go okay with a couple of minor items that I dismissed such as two of Mark's vehicles leaked a small amount of oil on my driveway, their pickup truck had been driven over a a large portion of the yard... (I was surprised that they treated my yard like a field), and when cutting through the concrete wall to basement, there was suppose to be a curtain to contain dust that I'm quite certain was never used since the entire basement and everything in it was left with a heavy coating of dust along with everything in it.  Mark seemed to shrug this off when I brought it up later.  

The terms of the contract changed mid-way through the project since Mark explained he could not get the pile of dirt and rock out, so I agreed to have him leave the dirt and rock in exchange for installing a drainage pipe running outside the new basement wall to an existing drain line.   Just three weeks after the project was completed I discovered a huge sink hole at the top of the basement stairwell where the sump pump drain line and new drain pipe connected.   The connections were both broken and water was being dumped out at the top of the stairwell along the house and although the outside basement stairwell was to have been parged to prevent water from seeping through the wall, there was three holes where water was coming right through at the bottom of the basement stairwell.  I had to do the temporary fix myself enough to where I could go to work and have the sump running into the drain line.  I called Mark who was on vacation, but he had his guys come over that day.  When I came home from work, I see that my work was basically just sealed tighter, but still leaving as a temporary solution (They even took a new $5 rubber clamp I had purchased myself at Debbie's Supplies).  It was easy to see how poor the connections were at both ends of this area and how this set up would not hold up. The neck of the pvc pipe was even broken where they had a put a rubber tube with a clamp that couldn't possibly hold.  A week later Mark met me and promised to make some changed and also acknowledged the poor work his men did and stated he was not there to supervise all aspects of their work.   The drainage connections were admittetly very poor and the parged wall was either not done right or compromuised when they backfilled the wall.   
Mark made promises twice to email a new agreement to fix the mess that I was left with, but never did.  I had called and or emailed him a few times over a period of a couple weeks and he just made excuses about having a draft ready, but just "forgot" to send it.   In the end, I realized that Mark simply was not good on his word and after nearly 12 weeks, he has made no attempt to return and fix the work.   I paid a lot of money for what seemed like a small straight forward project and still have a mess I am left to fix myself.   I've since talked to a number of people who have explain how some of Mark's work SHOULD have been done, but wasn't relative to proper drainage and protecting the outside basement wall from water damage.  

Their work was not great. The guy uses day labor. He did not essentially build our steps and we had a lot of problems with them with chips and all sorts of things. He had some of the guys come out and fix it twice and it keeps chipping. A bunch of guys do a work for him. We had him out several times and he would promise that he would take care of it and he never has. He has stopped returning my calls. We had a brick porch and they removed all that and put stairs. They did do a walkway and the walkway is actually very nice. Their price is comparable. I would not use their service in the future.

Horror story, I took 106 pictures of the terrible work done by this company to back up my story. I called the town of Greece inspector to verify that the work was sub standard. They threw bags of concrete into the hole with out any forms to make the foundation, when I complained they tore it out and remade it with forms. Over the span of 6 feet the wall was not level by 3 inches. The blocks were not buttered on both ends, and were so wavy they mortared over the walls to make them look straight. No header was built over the entrance door. The door was so far out of square it would not open without yanking so h****** the door knob that it felt like it would break off. The town inspector confirmed that the work was terrible. I fired the contractor, and hired another company to tear out and fix the poor workmanship. It cost over $2,500 to have the job fixed as best they could, without tearing it completely out.

I contacted Mark far in advance of when I wanted the job done. Mark actually called me back (other contractors did not). He arrived within 15 minutes of our agreed time for the estimate, and he even called me to say he was running a bit late. Mark's estimate was not a formal written document, just prices he wrote on an advertising card. Mark seems a bit casual about how he does business, at least the paperwork. I contacted him a couple weeks later to arrange a date for the job. He said he was going to send me a contract ahead of time, but we didn't both sign a contract until he showed up that day to do the job. I think Mark focuses on his near-future jobs, so when the date of your job is near, you get his attention. Mark and his crew arrived on the agreed upon date. His crew worked very hard. They sledge-hammered out the old floor rather than jack-hammers. I did not want the extremely heavy cement truck to pull on my very old driveway and damage it, so the guys used wheelbarrows to transport the concrete into the garage when pouring the new floor. They finished the floor with multiple passes of a large rotary trowel machine. The next day they sawed the stress relieving notches, and sealed the surface. Mark's crew worked very hard. Mark was there at the beginning, and a few other times throughout the job, but mostly the crew foreman handled the job. They showed up when they said they would, and completed the job in less than 48 hours (started ~12:30pm on Wednesday, and finished the sealing before 10am on Friday). Also, I liked that Mark did not require any downpayment ahead of time. He requested 50% payment when he showed up to do the job, the rest when the job was finished.

AAA Masonry did a great job! They even tinted the mortar so it blends in with the old mortar! They were just wonderful!

Prompt response to request for quote; scheduled work within a couple weeks of original contact. Crew arrived as scheduled and finished promptly. Crew was pleasant and polite to us and to next door neighbor whose driveway they were working next to. Mark was easy to work with, explained things clearly. Afterwards a neighbor pointed out that the sidewalk wasn't exactly straight-has a little bulge in the middle, but it was acceptable to me. I would use again.

Well - he was the ONLY one to actually return our calls!!!! So that was a plus. He was friendly, professional (although a little laid back), and gave us options with different prices. Cleaned up after - although bricks a little dirty. Would hire him again - really felt I could trust him ...plus he showed up!!!!

Very satisfied with quality and response of AAA Masonry.

Mark is courteous and professional. His crew completed the job in a timely manner. We had another contractor rip up our asphalt driveway and re-pave it after Mark had completed the sidewalk. Unfortunately, the driveway contractor caused a crack in the new sidewalk where the new sidewalk meets the new driveway! This was not due to Mark's workmanship. The driveway contractor and Mark worked to repair the cracked section at no cost to me. Both of them performed in a very professional and fair manner to resolve an unfortunate turn of events which was entirely accidental.