Academy Masonry & Construction

Update: I have updated my review from 3 to 5 stars based on how John handled my complaints. He responded immediately via email, apologizing for the issues and asking for the opportunity to make it right. He came out and inspected the cement area and the sump pump. Today he and his crew came back to the house and went above and beyond, far surpassing my expectations. He offered to cap the steps in granite for no charge. I'll include before and after photos so you can see how sharp they look. He also offered to have his crew completely dig up the cement sump pump liner they had built and replace it with a new basin. They did a really neat job and the basin is properly collecting water. Through all of this John has emailed and called multiple times to make sure everything was to our satisfaction. I could not be more impressed with his response. --------- Based on all the 5 star reviews, we hiring Academy Masonry for 3 small projects which they completed during a warm spell in February. We had mixed results and I debated on giving them 2 or 3 stars. First, we have a corner of our basement that tends to get wet. John recommended a dry well connected to the downspout in that corner. We are keeping our eye on it, but so far so good. Second, we wanted the hole that our existing sump pump is in to be lined. They lined it with cement and poked holes in the cement. As the ground got wet this spring, the sump pump hole was oddly bone dry. My husband checked it more closely and discovered that the holes in the cement didn't go all the way through so there was no way for water to make it to the sump pump. When I called John, he sent someone to fix it right away but that should never have happened. Third, we have a cement area outside our basement door. The cement was was crumbling. We had them clean up the broken cement and put new cement over it. There are cracks in that new cement already (2 months later) so we will see how long it holds up. The thing that really bothers me is the workers scattered a bunch of the broken cement into our nice gravel area and onto the lawn. They should have tossed it into a bucket and taken it with them. They also poured a big blob of leftover wet cement in a corner apparently hoping I wouldn't notice so I had to clean that up too. The owner John seems very nice but he needs to better supervise the quality of the work that his crew does.

Really Happy with the chimney rebuild at our house in Somerville. It was done correctly and safely. They removed the damage bricks, rebuilt the stack and re-pointed. the mortar with Proper sealing The structure is solid. The flashings was checked and everything was Finished cleanly. I feel much safe for now and will definitely recommend them for any chimney repairs.

I needed to repair a chimney, replace a window lintel, and tuckpointing at various places. John gave me honest guidance throughout. He got his crew quickly and finished the project on time. I really enjoyed working with john and his team on this project. I am very happy with the quality of their work and their professionalism. I highly recommend them, and of course, I will use them again in the future.

I had an excellent experience working with John and Academy Masonry on a pretty big project doing my driveway and backyard. His quote was competitive but above all I greatly appreciate his professionalism from the start to the end of the project. Communication with John was excellent, his team did a great job throughout and cleaned thoroughly afterwards. I had some trepidation about finding a good contractor because sometimes they don’t follow up on what they promised. But I would highly recommend John and his team. Superb work and experience, thank you John.