If you are a general contractor, a remodeler, or a roofer, and your job has reached the point where it needs a mason, you are on the right page. We take on the brick, block, and stone portion of residential projects run by other trades across the Twin Cities, and we are straightforward about where our work starts and stops.
Sam's own line on it is the clearest: we do not do roofing or interior remodeling, but we will help with a remodel where there is brick involved. We are the mason you bring in for the masonry, not a general contractor who will take the whole job off you.
Where a Job Reaches a Mason
What We Take On for Trade Partners
The masonry scope on a residential remodel or addition
The brick, block, and stone portion of a larger project run by your crew, coordinated around your schedule. We help with a remodel that involves brick, block, or stone; the rest of the remodel stays with you.
Chimney, crown, cap, and parapet work uncovered by roofing
Rebuilt or repaired so the roof can be returned to sound masonry.
Openings, lintels, and block replacement
Closing and cutting masonry openings, setting lintels, and replacing failed block as part of a remodel.
Tuckpointing and brick repair ahead of other trades
Mortar and brick put right before a repaint, a reclad, a window job, or a sale.
Stone and block foundation repair found mid-project
Stone-section rebuilds, parging, and block repair that a contractor turns up once a wall is opened or a basement is being prepared.
Light commercial, within our limits
Parapets, commercial chimney and cap work, and tuckpointing on smaller commercial and older industrial buildings. The line on commercial size is on our commercial masonry page, and it is a real line.
What this job does not include
Roofing. We do the masonry a roof sits on or around; we do not roof, and Sam says so directly.
Interior remodeling, carpentry, drywall, and general construction. We are the masonry sub, not a general contractor.
Stucco repair and brick-to-stucco transitions. These are not work we take on.
Large commercial and ground-up commercial construction. Our license is a residential building contractor license, BC807211, which is the right one for what we do and the reason our commercial scope is deliberately narrow.
Thin adhered veneer, segmental block systems, and concrete flatwork. Referred out.
How the Coordination Runs
Why Trades Keep Us on the List
We stay in our lane, on purpose
A sub that knows exactly what it does and says no cleanly to the rest is easier to schedule and easier to trust than one that takes on everything and later discovers that half of it was outside its trade.
The owner writes the estimate and is on the job
Sam prices it and is on-site during it, which shortens the decision-making chain from four people to one when a decision has to be made mid-job.
No management layer between you and the person pricing it
We are a six-person company, and Sam prices the masonry scope himself. On a job where you are working to an owner's budget, there is one person to call and a straight answer on what the work takes, with nobody in between to go through.
Ten years on the workmanship
On our scope, in writing. You and the owner know the masonry portion is covered on paper, which a verbal assurance from any sub never gives you.
Where the Line Is, and Why We Say It Out Loud
We are the masonry trade on your job, and nothing more than that, by choice. Saying so plainly on a page aimed at other contractors is unusual, and it is more useful to you than the alternative: a sub who agrees to everything at the walk-through and renegotiates at the invoice.
The practical line is the trade, not the size of your project. If the scope is brick, block, or stone, that is ours and we will do it properly. Roofing, framing, drywall, interior fit-out, stucco, and the management of the whole job are not, and you are better served keeping those with the crews built for them. When your job reaches brick, we are the call; when it leaves brick, it leaves us.
One thing worth stating because it decides which jobs we suit. Our Minnesota license, BC807211, is a residential building contractor license. That is the correct license for the masonry work we do, and it is part of why our commercial scope stays narrow. On a large commercial envelope with a schedule of trades and a submittal process, you want a firm built for that, and we will tell you so rather than take the work and hold up your program.
What you get from a crew this size is the owner on the estimate and on the job, and a masonry scope that is done right and covered in writing. What you do not get is a general contractor. On the work above, we think that is the right trade to be.
Common Questions
Do you work as a masonry subcontractor on our projects?+
Yes. We take on the brick, block, and stone scope of residential jobs run by general contractors, remodelers, and roofers, coordinated around your schedule. We work as the masonry sub on your job and leave the running of it to you.
Will you help with a remodel?+
Where there is brick, block, or stone involved, yes. That is Sam's own line on it. The masonry portion is ours; the rest of the remodel, the carpentry, drywall, and fit-out, stays with you.
Do you do roofing or interior remodeling?+
No. We do the masonry a roof sits on or around, such as a chimney, a crown, or a parapet, but we do not roof, and we do not take on interior remodeling or general construction.
Do you do stucco repair or brick-to-stucco transitions?+
No. Stucco repair and stucco transitions are not work we take on. If that is part of your scope, you will need a trade that does it.
Can you handle commercial work on our jobs?+
Light commercial, within a real limit: parapets, commercial chimney and cap work, and tuckpointing on smaller commercial and older industrial buildings. Large and ground-up commercial is outside what we take on, and our commercial masonry page sets out exactly where that line is.
Are you licensed and insured for sub work?+
We hold a Minnesota residential building contractor license, BC807211, which is the appropriate license for the masonry we perform, and a certificate of insurance is available upon request for your records.
Can we hand your estimate to the owner?+
Yes. The written estimate is prepared so it can go to an owner, a board, or a budget meeting, not only to whoever met Sam on site.
How do you sequence around our other trades?+
We fit the masonry into your schedule, before a roof goes back, after a wall is opened, ahead of a repaint. The one fixed constraint is curing: exterior mortar needs weather mild enough to set, and we will tell you up front which side of that your scope falls on.
What does the warranty cover on a job we run?+
Ten years in writing on our masonry scope. It covers the work we did, so you and the owner have the masonry portion documented on paper, separate from the rest of the job.
Where We Do This Work
We partner with trades across the same metro as the rest of our work: St. Paul, Minneapolis, Bloomington, St. Louis Park, Richfield, Minnetonka, Eden Prairie, Plymouth, Maple Grove, Wayzata, Blaine, Circle Pines, Little Canada, Woodbury, Lake Elmo, Cottage Grove, Stillwater, South St. Paul, West St. Paul, Inver Grove Heights, Mendota Heights, Eagan, Burnsville, Apple Valley, Rosemount, Lakeville, Victoria, North Branch and Big Lake. On a project past about forty-five miles from St. Paul, talk to us early and send photographs of the masonry scope first.
What Customers Say
What appears below is our live Google feed rather than testimonials we picked out, so it shows whatever is genuinely on it.
Get a Free Estimate
Tell us what the project is, where it reaches masonry, and roughly how big the brick, block, or stone scope is. Photographs of the masonry and of the specific work save a visit that turns out to be the wrong fit for both of us.
If the scope is outside what we take on, we will say so on the phone before anyone books a visit.
Talk to Sam: (612) 509-0718 · Written scope for your file · MN BC807211