Masonry Arts

We chose Bob Abel and Masonry Arts based on reviews from Angie's List. We had no first-hand knowledge of Bob or his company. We contacted Bob, and he came to our home to discuss our patio project. He brought along a book (albeit disorganized) of completed projects for us to view. I inquired if his company was bonded and insured. Due to the concerns that I raised, he contacted his insurance company the following day and requested that they fax me a copy of his coverage. Bob also provided a written proposal of the work to be completed and requested a down payment of $3,500 with the balance due upon completion of the project. Bob's masonry crew, supervised by "Louis", did an outstanding job from start to finish. They completed the project according to the agreed-upon specifications, working day after day in triple-digit heat. The patio was completed in one week, and the fountain overlay an additional one-half day. It should be noted that Bob and his crew went above and beyond what was agreed upon in the contract with regard to the edging around the patio. Bob had explained to us that the patio would be up to 10" off the ground in some places. As such, we could choose to leave the concrete exposed, or we could choose to cover it with stone. To cut down on expenses, we chose to leave the concrete exposed. Bob and his crew took it upon themselves to cover the concrete edge with stone (an approximate $600 value) because of professional pride in their workmanship. We couldn't be happier with our new patio and fountain. They are stunning in every detail. Oh, and remember the 90-day guarantee against cracks? Bob made good on that and then some. Due to the extreme heat and drought in San Antonio, a pretty significant crack developed in the mortar- not once but twice. Each time we called Bob, he sent his crew to repair the cracks. I'm fairly certain the second call was beyond the scope of the 90-day warranty, but Bob didn't hesitate to respond. We feel that we not only gained a beautiful backyard patio, we gained a friend in Bob Abel. I gave Masonry Arts a "B" in punctuality only because Bob tends to run a bit late for his appointments. This was not a big deal to us, as Bob always called to let of know of his estimated time of arrival. You may also note upon meeting Bob, that he seems a bit distracted. This is because he is a type "A" personality, and he never stops. You should also know that Bob works with little to no overhead. He has no office staff; answers his own phone; makes his own appointments; oversees all his jobs, etc. I have only one negative comment with regard to the entire project, and that has to do with the patio design. The patio design that was discussed and agreed upon was one of curved edges throughout. The crew inadvertently made one of the patio edges straight, but the remaining edges are true to design. In the overall big picture, it is not a big deal. It does not distract from the beauty of the finished project.

Great. Another company had quoted me $400.00. I was so pleased to find someone honest to do the job.

It was just an excellent experience. My wife and I live in an older home, and--like many homeowners--we've seen a number of minor mortar cracks develop between the bricks during the drought. Of course, you always worry about how well the workers will be able to match the mortar color and how noticeable the repairs will be. It appears that the previous homeowner had tried to do some of the repairs himself, and this just made matters worse. So, my expectations for this repair job were pretty low. Well, I was amazed at the good work that Masonry Arts did. Bob Abel, the owner, oversaw the work, and the craftsman matched the mortar color perfectly. In fact, unless I showed you where he did the repairs, you would not be able to see it. He was even able to "correct" the work done by the previous homeowner in such a way that it's barely noticeable. The price was fair, the work went quickly, and Masonry Arts went completely around my house, filling in little holes and irregularities. It was one of the most satisfying repair experiences I've had. I highly recommend that you consider Bob Abel and his company, Masonry Arts, for any similar work . This is one of those repair jobs that improved the value and appearance of my home far above the cost of the work.

We had some settlement issues in in the past year of our two story house, which caused a lot of mortar to crack between the stones of a rather large second story section of our house. Also, on the first floor the stone siding separated from where it butted up against the stucco siding and created some wicked looking cracks that were allowing water to get in behind the stone siding. I also had two very large stones under one window come completely loose and were in the garage. I picked Masonry Arts off of Angie's List because it was the highest rated masonry business on Angie's List with over 100 reviews and a solid A on all. I called Bob, the owner and, although he was pretty busy on several other jobs that day, he told me he could come over the next day to have a look. He's really one of the nicest guys I've ever met. He was very informative about all the various problems with stone and mortar and settlement issues. He also showed me some photos of some of the work he had done for other clients. He had a look at the problems and said he could fix all of it. He told me it was be about 5 1/2 hours worth of work and gave me a price of $285.00, which I thought was a pretty darn good bargain. So I told him to go ahead and schedule it. He called his stepson, who does a lot of the cracked mortar work, and scheduled him to come over to our house the next day to work on it. The next day Bob and his stepson showed up as scheduled, and Bob took his stepson around the house to show him all the various work that needed to be done. Also Bob showed me the additives he mixes in with his mortar to give it better adhesion on the stone work. He stayed about an hour after his stepson started working to make sure everything was going OK before he had to meet with another client. His stepson finished the work on time and did a pretty good job. I was extremely satisfied with the work they did and with the price they charged. It saved me a lot of headaches.

While Bob, the owner, came out to give us the bid and suggestion on how to build the retaining wall, his second hand man did much of the supervision over the 2 1/2 days. Both were really knowledgeable in their work, were courteous and friendly. They also made sure they cleaned up their mess once they were done. They told us it would take about four days but since it was forecasted to get rain by the end of the week, they brought in extra help and finished it early! Guys don't start early, more like 9:00ish but work later into the evening which was fine with my schedule and sleep habits!

I had previously contracted Masonry Arts to re-plaster my entire home foundation and repair cracked and chipped areas in my driveway and was so thoroughly impressed with their quality of work that I also asked Bob Abel, the owner, about installing two flagstone walkways in my backyard. As before, Bob made an appointment to come to my home to scope the work I need done and was very responsive in providing me a bid. I immediately accepted his very reasonable offer and the two day job was started and completed right on time. All three workers were very courteous and true professionals. Once the flagstone was installed, Bob went over every detail with amazing perfection to ensure my wife and I were 100% satisfied - and we definitely were!!! The workers also did an outstanding job of cleaning up everything after they completed their work. As with the previous job I had done by Masonry Arts, this job also exceeded all our demands and expectations. Bob Abel takes extreme pride in his work and goes the extra mile to ensure total customer satisfaction - throughout the entire job process. Masonry Arts comes with my highest recommendation.

Bob Abel, the owner of Masonry Arts, was very responsive to my inquiry about having my home's foundation resurfaced with a plaster coating and repairing the cracked and chipped spots in my driveway . His bid was extremely reasonable and the work was started and completed right on time. I chose Masonry Arts because of its very high rating on Angie's List and was extremely pleased with the quality of workmanship and attention to detail of all the work performed. Bob is also a perfectionist when it comes to conducting a job completion inspection. Nothing escapes his eyes and he did not leave the job site until he knew I was 100% satisfied with everything. He is very honest, trustworthy, and he totally stands behind his work. Maronry Arts has my highest recommendation.

Very, very good experience with everyone from Bob Abel, the owner, to Pablo and Nacho, the stucco painter/artisans. Pablo and Nacho showed up by 8 or earlier every morning, worked steadily until 5 or so and finished everything in 4 1/2 days. My Spanich stucco home looks beautiful and I could not be happier with the workmanship. They were EXTREMELY neat and there is no splatter or dripped paint anywhere; I have never experienced this quality of workmanship with painters before.

Very thorough and competant.

Overall, from start to finish it was a great experience

They did very good work. It was a painstaking job and I was very pleased with how it came out. He gave me a reasonable quote and they finished on time.

It was a great experience from beginning to end. We will definitely use Masonry Arts again and recommend them highly.

The job went very smooth, Pablo and his crew were there every day at 7AM, they were the first to come and the last to leave. From start to finish this company is an A++, they are professional and no nonsense.

Mr. Abel was very accommodating with the time when he came out to give me a quote. He was very friendly and measured around. His crew were professional and did an outstanding job. They are skillful and talented at masonry work and cleaned up after they were done.

We have an "old world" style stucco home and in connection with an inspection of our house, had several small cracks filled in by another stucco company, and the results were terrible - the patches were obvious and the house looked liked it had a disease. I called Masonry Arts based on Angie's List reviews, and they came out the next day to give me a quote and assess the work. Their work was outstanding, they took the time to match the stucco in terms of color, texture, etc. (not easy, since old world style has varying colors and textures - not like a painted stucco) their fees were VERY reasonable, their workers were pros, and the owner is an absolute pleasure to work with - worth my Angie's List membership for years to come.

Bob Abel's service was exceptional. We weren't sure exactly what we wanted to do with the front walkway and porch, and had already spoken with other contractors who hadn't offered very original suggestions. Bob, on the other hand, gave us several options and suggested some very different approaches. He gave us alternatives at every turn, and was sensitive to staying within our budget. Bob's attention to detail was also appreciated. For example, he took pains to match the new mortar color to the faded tan of the old, so that the repairs blend in perfectly. Responsiveness was excellent: Bob started the work crews out in the morning, then stopped by again in the afternoon. He also checked in by phone each day with us to make sure there were no questions or problems. He was diligent about phoning when schedules ran late (for instance, due to rain). The work was completed exactly as planned and the crews were very efficient and courteous. Clean-up was immaculate.

Bob (the owner) is great and so is Javier, who is the guy that actually performed the work. After a delay due to weather of a couple days, Bob came out with Javier and showed him what needed to be done and where and then Bob left him to get the job done. Javier spent all day working, not only on the bricks that were cracked at 2 of the 4 corners of the house, but also checked around all the outside doors and windows and he repaired any other cracked bricks I had not noticed (which there were several) and filled in any cracked or missing mortar. He also put a skim coat of mortar at the base of the foundation at each of the 4 corners of my house and the mortar and brick repair matched the original color perfectly. Bob came back at the end of the day to check over everything and showed Javier a couple of places he had missed. The attention to detail was excellent and the price was very reasonable. I highly recommend this company.

Bob communicated very well during every phase of the project. His crew was prompt and performed wonderfully. The original date was rained out but he made sure to give me a call and let me know what was going on and then re-scheduled for another date.

We were very pleased. It was excellent work.

I give Bob Able of Masonry Arts a very high rating. When he couldn’t keep the appointment at our scheduled time for an estimate, he was courteous to call and reschedule for later in the day. Bob Able’s assistant, Javier, did an excellent job filling in the mortar cracks in the rock wall in my front yard. He installed expansion joint silicon where the chimney touches the house siding. Javier filled in the loose mortar inside on the fireplace mantel front and side and also with silicone in the cracks in the floor tile in front of the mantel. Bob Able and Javier are both courteous and professional. I will recommend Masonry Arts to anyone and will use them again when needed.

Bob came out right away and was very professional, helpful, and knowledgable about what we should do to repair the issues. Bob scheduled the work for 3 days later and they did a very nice job. I thought that the price was very fair and would definitely use their services again!

The masonry assistant did a wonderful job on the two expansion joints, as well as all the cracks in all the mortar areas and also skimmed coating all the concrete areas. Abel went out of his way to find and purchase an expandible silicone with a color very close to the actual color of our brick adjacent to the two expansion joints. Upon final inspection, Abel found a small area, not in the original estimate, which needed work. He personally mixed the mortar and repaired the area himself for free. The Abel team was very personable, thorough, and very professional, using top of the line materials. We were very impressed and will not hesitate to use Masonry Arts again, if needed.

We are impressed with the MasonryArts website showing very attractive examples of their work ... and we are sorry our moving will deter us from taking advantage of those talents. Thanks Angie's List!

The owner is a very nice guy. He walked the property with us and identified all the work that was needed to be done. The guy that he assigned did a beautiful work and went above and beyond and did some stuff we did not ask for at no extra charge. I was very pleased with them.

Everything went better than planned. See above story.