Masonry Contractor in Big Lake
10 Years
Workmanship warranty, in writing
This page starts with a caveat rather than a sales line. Big Lake is outside the radius we normally work in. Our rule across the whole site is that past about forty-five miles from St. Paul we ask for photographs before scheduling a visit, and this city is comfortably past it, measured to the middle of town or to the eastern edge on Highway 10.
That does not mean no. It means send photographs before anything else. From a couple of pictures and the build year, we can usually tell you on the phone whether the job is one we do and whether it is worth either of us committing the better part of a day. If it is, we come, and there is no travel charge.
What Big Lake Homeowners Call Us About
Front steps and entries that have sunk
Something set shallow on sand settles. Something on a footing taken below the frost line, with a base built to spread the load, does not. Sand is unforgiving about that and about very little else.
Patios and walkways that have gone uneven
Same cause over a larger area. On sand, the base does all the work, and if it's built thin, it goes first.
Chimney crowns on the 2000s housing
About 1,470 homes here went up in the 2000s and 1,062 in the 1990s. On stock that new a failed crown is unusual enough that we would want to know why before quoting a replacement.
Retaining walls that have moved
Walls on sand need a base built for sand and drainage behind them. This is where most of the wall failures out here come from.
Brick lifting over a garage door
Corroding steel over wide openings. Younger here than in the older suburbs, and it still happens.
What We Do In Big Lake
A short list, honestly. This is what a house built around 2000 on sand actually has in masonry.
Entryway, stoop and apron rebuilds
On sand, depth and the base under the footing are the entire difference between a repair and doing it again in a couple of winters. That is most of what goes wrong at ground level out here.
Patio and walkway repair in natural stone
Taken up, a proper load-spreading base built underneath, then relaid. Flagstone and natural stone, nothing else.
Retaining walls and garden walls in natural stone
Taken down, footing and drainage corrected, relaid from whatever stone is still sound. Interlocking block sits outside our trade, and we keep a number for somebody who handles it.
Chimney crowns and raincaps
Hairline crazing with no structural cracking seals for a fraction of a recast, and on housing this young that is usually what we find.
Chimney repair and rebuild
Where the stack has gone rather than only the top. On twenty-five-year-old housing, that is uncommon, and we will say so rather than sell a rebuild.
Lintel replacement
Rusted angle removed, opening propped, courses above taken down and reset over new steel.
Veneer and accent panel repair
Rebuilding only the failed patch of a face. Modern builder brick is straightforward to source a match for.
If your house is one of the older ones
There are only about forty homes in this city built before 1940 and roughly 324 between 1940 and 1969. If yours is one of them, say so early, because the mortar, the method, and the likely failures are all different from everything above.
Sand Plain, Shallow Water, And Almost Nothing Old
Big Lake has about 40 homes built before 1940 in a city of 4,162 housing units. The median house was built in 2000, and 91 percent of the city was built in 1970 or later. There is very little traditional masonry here, and it would be dishonest to write a page pretending otherwise.
The state's hydrogeology volume for Sherburne County reports that groundwater within 10 feet of the surface is common across the county and identifies the uplands that escape it. Big Lake is not among them.
Sand with water not far below it is a particular kind of ground to work in. It drains beautifully, which is genuinely an advantage. It also moves under load if whatever is spreading that load is not built for it, and it does not hold a cut while you are working in it. That is the practical reality of masonry in this city, and it applies to every job on the list above.
What It Costs
No travel charge, even at this distance, and no minimum job size. What we ask for first is photographs.
Where the numbers begin. Chimney repair on a single-story house, $3,500. A recast crown, $5,500, with sealing a sound one costing well under that. Minor brick replacement, $1,500. A full set of steps rebuilt, $7,500 to $11,500, though that one moves further than any of the others once we open it.
Aprons, patios and walls get no figure at all. In sand, the price turns on what the thing is bearing on and how far down it went, and a photograph shows neither. Those are quoted at the visit, and the visit is free once we have both agreed it is worth making.
Every one of those figures depends on square footage and on what we find when we look. They are rough guides to help you decide whether to call, not quotes. The exact number comes after the visit, and the visit is free.
What Customers Say
No review anybody has left us specifically names Big Lake. What appears below is the live Google feed rather than a testimonial we picked out, so it shows whatever is genuinely on it.
Google review, September 2025Tell us what is going on with your masonry
Tell us what you are seeing and attach photos if you have them. Sam comes out himself, and you get the options priced in writing. No charge either way, and no service call fee.
Common Questions In Big Lake
Yes, with one condition, and we would rather be straight about it than have you find out later. This city is past the forty-five-mile radius we normally work in. Send photographs and tell us the build year, and we will call you to let you know whether the job is ours and worth a visit. If it is, we come, and there is no travel charge and no fee for the estimate.
Because at this range, a wasted trip costs you most of a morning and us one. A photograph takes you two minutes, and it stops us turning up to tell you in person that the job is not one we do.
On sand, usually yes, until the thing underneath it changes. Rebuilding at the same depth on the same base buys you a couple of winters at full price. The fix is depth and a base built to spread the load, which is why this is a dig rather than a repair.
Nothing you would ever reach. Well records within a mile of City Hall show bedrock anywhere between 40 and 187 feet down, with a spread of nearly 5-fold within a small area. Whatever your footing is on, it is sand.
No. Footings here go to the same depth as they do down in the metro. It is the sort of thing people assume changes with latitude, and it does not.
The outside work, yes. Interior and fireplace work carries on. At this distance, winter also makes photographs more important, because neither of us wants to find out on site that the weather has decided against us.
Neither one. We build walls and patios in natural stone, and we rebuild steps in brick, stone or concrete. What we do not do is interlocking block or poured concrete flatwork, and saying so here beats saying it after a drive of that length. Call regardless, and we will pass you somebody's number.
Get A Free Estimate In Big Lake
Photographs first. Two or three of the problem, one from further back, and the year the house was built. That is genuinely all we need to give you a straight answer on the phone.
If you own one of the older properties out here, say so early. There are only about forty houses in this city that predate 1940, and they need a different conversation from the rest of the page.
(612) 509-0718 · Photographs first at this distance · No travel charge · In-person estimate at no charge