MJ Murphy Structural

I called Michael with some questions about beam work to open up a kitchen area by eliminating posts. He was kind enough to work through the whole situation back and forth over the phone. He had me gather measurements and send him pictures. He assessed and got back to me. Without having a sense of what is involved and some ballpark figures I didn't want to take up too much time having him come out or having an engineer draft plans. I am pricing out other aspects of a large renovation project so this was we what I needed at this stage of the project. This took a few phone calls so appreciated his diligence and follow through over the phone. He was prompt about calling me back and prompt in putting the facts together and presenting his information. He was also pleasant.

I was extremely happy with the work performed from the original estimate through the project completion. When Michael came out to provide the initial estimate, he provided cost estimates for several options so I could decide if I could afford to address both the front and side sections, depending on the extent of rot on the front. He included a long list of references with his proposal and answered any questions I had. Totally personable and professional from the start and very clear he knew/knows his stuff. I called half a dozen or so references all of who spoke very highly of MJM's work. I think one of the references I spoke to is the one who posted a comment here about having the work estimated at a few days but only taking 4 hrs. All I can say is that having someone with the level of experience these guys have is certainly a factor in the project completion time, and the age and condition of the house (e.g. are floors and walls even, is framing square?) is another factor. In my case, my house gave them a challenge and it took 6 4-hour days to complete. (Note after determining the entire front had rotten - 10' more than estimated - I decided to have the full 24' feet addressed, as well as the side section.) Given the challenges presented on the job, I found their overall price to be reasonable and well worth the amount of work they ended up doing. It was amazing to see the progress at the various stages, and throughout Michael and Steve were really terrific. I would highly recommend MJM Structural for sill and beam work.

They came out the first week in May and gave me an estimate. He came when expected. He called ahead of time. The estimate came promptly. He delivered. He appears on top of everything. We have not had the work done yet. I called his references and they spoke very highly of him. So far, everything is fine.

After having some old poured concrete steps removed from the front entry of the house, we discovered extensive rot. (not surprising). We got a few quotes from contractors to repair the damage. Since the floor joists in the house run parallel to the front of the house, the standard jacking technique of lifting the joists from the basement to support the outside wall of the house while replacing the sill and band joist isn't possible. Supporting the house while repairing the sill becomes more difficult and less straightforward. Because of these complexities, we went with MJ Murphy Structural, since they have been doing beam and sill replacements for 25 years. Their quote was the most expensive. They were able to get to the project in a little over a week. They removed the rotted wood and replaced it with a new PT sill and end joist. They re-sheathed the affected section with PT planks, installed tar paper, and copper flashing where the new steps are going to be placed. Since the foundation wasn't level, they also added some mortar under the new sill to fill the gap. The extent of the rot, and the ability of the house to be supported by it's wall sole plate, made their job much easier than I was expecting. I was given an estimate of 14 hours of work, but it took them 4 hours. I don't know if they gave me a worse case scenario for the effort, or if they just wanted to make their rate seem more reasonable by implying it was more work than it really was. To be fair, maybe it was less work for them than it would have been for someone less experienced in this type of work. I think their work was good, but feel they should have offered a price break since it took them 1/2 day to do the work they told me would take 2 days.