Soares Masonry

Great Job!

We had hired a paving company to resurface our driveway and rebuild the retaining wall alongside it. They subcontracted the work on the wall to Andre from Soares Masonry. We were very happy that he was able to work with the concrete blocks we already had, and did a beautiful job, even making recommendations on how to improve our original plan. We did not have enough blocks to complete the wall, and he promised to return to finish when we had more blocks. Unfortunately, he didn't show up on the day promised, and it took some coordination with E-Paving to ensure the wall was finished. But Andre did just complete the wall and we are delighted with how it looks.

In November 2017, I hired Soares Masonry to built two (2) brick pillars in front of my driveway for outdoor lighting. The work included the concrete foundations, Brick Pillars, Bluestone Caps, trenching, and burial of the PVC conduits for future wiring. Soares Masonry did built the pillars and buried the conduits. However, according to the electrician the buried conduits violated the RI Building Code for not been deep enough and cannot be used, plus the ends of the conduits under the cap stones were embedded into the mortar and cannot be accessed without demolishing and rebuilding the pillars. I contacted Mr. Andre Soare's on many occasions via emails, texts, phone calls, etc., but he did not respond. When he finally did, after four (4) months, he promised me verbally and in writing, that he will come and fix the problems but as of today 7/18/2018 he did not.

He arrived at 11:30 a.m. saying he thought he would let me sleep. He never called to say he would be late. I told him I could not use his services because he was so late.

The job started wrong and ended wrong. I believe and have been told by others in the masonry field, that the footing was not poured right. This is the backbone of the chimney. It is the weight bearing structure that holds the rest of the chimney up. it should have beed poured into frames as a solid piece to the foundation. The footing should have been inspected by the building inspector at this level. This never occured. Next, the job progressed and the chimney was just above ground level when the workers left for the day leaving open flues exposed to the elements. rain was expected and no covers were place over this structure when work was done for the day. Rain came in and flooded my basements which was carpeted in that area and up untill this day had been a very dry area. I had to go outside in the middle of the night to cover the structure to protect the house from further damage.As the job progresses to the 8-10 foot level again it was left open to the elements and the basement flooded again causing more water damage to the carpet. NOW MOLD HAS BEGUN TO GROW ON THE CARPET. Despite all my efforts and wet vaccuming the carpet is a total loss and a biological hazard from mold.My basement has since flooded on three more occasions due to the work performed by Soares masonry and his neglect and lack of respect for my property. As the work progressed to the throat of the chimney{the part that has the highest heat contact} The chimney should have been inspected. Again, this failed to happen because soares masonry did not notify the inspector of his work. Along this time, and damage to my property I started to wonder a number of things 1) Where is the permit that Andre Soares said he had taken out for my address. 2) I hope Andre was telling the truth when he stated he was fully licenced and insured. and 3) If He didn't take out a permit for this job what do I do next? To shorten this story and skip gory details about frustration and suffuring let me conclude by stating the facts. The chimney is up and has several flaws in dementions and structure. Andre Soares who built it worked with out taking out a permit for the work. Andre Soares from Soares masonry did not have a licence in the state of Mass to do this work.The ash trap created by Soares Masonry continues to Pour water (six buckets full in the last storm, thats equal to 12 gallons.) into my basement. Andre Soares attempted to fix this hole and gave me a letter stating that my basement would not leak through this for twenty years. It still pours water. I cant have the chimney inspected because Andre did not take out a permit for my residence. I have thousands of dollars in damage to my basement. there is a health risk involved due to mold spores. I will have to pay thousands of dollars to tear down the chimney to fix the hole in the basement. Soares Masonry can't repair the damage because they are unlicenced to work in mass. I am out four thousand in cash and will have to restart this project and repair all the damage they did for thousands more. Thanks Andre!