We are very pleased with how the house turned out. The new foot of brick coursing matches the original brick; the window arches look original; and we were able to amend the contract once the formstone was removed and we discovered the foot of coursing badly needed replacement. The workers were on time each morning, and Danny (owner) was very good at answering our questions/explaining the work. My only complaint is we had some last minute touch up items that took about a week to resolve. Overall, very positive experience. Description of work: We have a 110yr old brick rowhouse that required 2 projects. The first project was simple: re-pointing the brick along the side of the house. This took about 1 week and went very smoothly. The scaffolding was set up on the neighbor's property (dog leg of rowhouse) and the workers did a good job cleaning up the debris/leaving the neighbor's yard in good shape. The second project was very complex because the front of the house had formstone/Baltimore stone covering the bottom half/first floor. They removed the formstone, stripped off paint from the brick underneath, removed one foot coursing of brick (near the house's base the original brick was chipped away when the formstone was originally attached), rebuilt the window arches (original arches were also chipped away from formstone), did stone patching on the brownstone underneath the windows, and re-pointed the front of the house. They used a hepa vacuum, and the site remained clean.

Chrystina Z.

I chose Pointing Plus as the lowest of three estimates to repoint my entire house, which is one unit of a two-story duplex with a partially submerged basement. The walls are roughly 30' tall, and the work also included rebuilding the chimney and re-pointing the area under the front porch. The workers also repaired damaged stone window sills and sealed up the gap between concrete pads along the side of the house where they met the bricks. Finally, they power washed and scrubbed the wall before they started to remove about a century of old grime. When I purchased my house a few years ago, the inspectors told me that I would need this job to be done sometime in the near future. Water had been leaking inside the house in the front and causing damage to the floor, which was sealed by the previous owner with silicone caulk. In addition, there were a few areas in the basement where I could see daylight through the bricks. Danny was extremely approachable and helpful. He provided me with a lot of information about his service by e-mail, and in addition he patiently answered my questions and concerns in person. Although he didn't usually show up to do the work, he had a crew of three workers who were very friendly and professional. They cleaned up the jobsite every day and were respectful of the neighbors. At the end of the day, what really mattered to me was the finished product, and I was suitably impressed: the quality of the work was top notch. I was worried before I started that the job would need to be done but would add nothing to the value of my house. I can see now that I was wrong. Quite literally, the exterior of my house looks brand new. Overall, I would not hesitate to work with these contractors again. Description of work: Repoint exterior of one unit of a two-story duplex. This included the front and side wall, but not the back (which was an addition with siding). They also pointed under the front porch. The overall price of $21,800 included the cost of the building permit.

Jeffery E. 

On January 9th, we suffered a ruptured water line that had frozen during this brutal winter. The line caused lots of damage to the front bay area of our basement rental unit. I called Mr. Palousek to ask for his assistance. He had done exceptional work for us a while back with some earthquake damage and was pretty frantic to get some help.

His crew showed up the next day to open the walls allowing the plumber to access the damaged water line. They spent the day removing all the wet sheet rock, insulation and associated debris. During the demo, the crews noted damaged joists in the basement ceiling. Although unrelated to the water damage, the severely damaged joists (stress splits along finger joints in the joists and fractures at heavy weight points) brought all thoughts of a quick repair to a rude stop. Mr. Palousek quickly recognized the severity of the structural damage and called in an engineer to determine a solution. In the interim, his crews repaired the masonry damage from the water line rupture which included rebuilding some brick work that had collapsed causing a cavity that extended up to the first floor wall. The structural threat from that cavity alone, placed the entire turret at risk.

His crews worked long hours and made the most of some challenges posed by an inhabited rental unit. He and his crews made every reasonable effort to enclose the work area, putting up thick plastic sheeting to create a barrier between the affected area and the rest of the unit.

Once the engineer finished his drawings, Mr. Palousek expedited the permit process to get the much needed emergency repairs started. His crews worked tirelessly to address the needed support walls and to reinforce the weakened joists with LDL joists. Once the emergency repairs were completed, work was put on hold to allow the basement tenants to arrange to move out. Once the tenants were gone, the work picked up with vigor to help get the income space back on the market. Mr. Palousek realized that the new support features were going to challenge the open space which was a key feature of the basement unit design. To minimize the affect of the walls, he created openings with arches that were accentuated by some lighting. The final effect was so impressive that the structural walls and supports were now viewed as character features. Needless to say, his personal concern with the situation allowed us to make the most of the unexpected repairs and to find the silver lining to a nightmare.

Although, Pointing Plus has always done quality work for me, what impressed me most was the attention to detail Mr. Palousek provided as he personally came in to help his crew finish the space. This is a man that prides himself on the quality of his work, and this is his company's strongest selling point. I realize that many folks have commented on the company's trouble with getting quotes out to them, but since Pointing Plus is made up of such a small, specialized group of tradesmen, I suspect they can only get to so many new clients. I can fully appreciate that Mr. Palousek focuses on a quality crew vice a quantity/large crew. If you're lucky enough to get them on your site for a quote on your project, hold on to them. Mr. Palousek is worth the patience and expense, and he places a higher priority on former clients. Needless to say, I consider myself luck to have made that list ;) Description of work: Emergency repairs caused by frozen water line in a basement rental unit. 

Gustavo V.