Jd Build

This was not an easy replacement but JD Build did an excellent job, I am very happy with the result.

We had JD Build install stone walkways going up both sides of our house, across the front, and down steps to the street. This work involved using 1' by 2' 1" stone on top of existing concrete walkways that may have been pretty old as the house was built in 1910. There were a lot of stone cuts and steps along the way.
JD Build did do a great job and had some good design ideas. The work was done roughly on time and on budget. When changes to the original idea were made, Joseph was able to accommodate the requests.
A year later, the walkways look good, get commented on, and feel extremely solid. Consequently, I have no problem recommending JD Build.

We had water come in our cold room walls and ceiling one winter. We hired Joe to recommend what needed to be done, waterproof our cold room from the outside, and resurface with flagstone. Also to resurface the flagstone on our porch and waterproof it. He assured us he had done a lot of waterproofing, as we had only used him for stone masonry before, with good results.

Joe provided a signed estimate which detailed procedures and materials, and a two-year warranty. One day we came home, and the site was backfilled. I could see neither the edge of a vinyl membrane nor any parging/tar, etc. When I asked Joe about that, he told me he decided not to use vinyl water membrane as agreed to, he used something he said was “even better”.

The work was completed in July. Just 4 months later, in October, water started leaking into our cold room again in the same locations as before, walls and ceiling. When Joe came over to see the problem, he became defensive, and told us that the leak could not be because of the work he did, or materials he did not use, such as the vinyl membrane listed on the signed estimate. It must be something else causing it. He gave us reason after reason of what it could be, each more unlikely than the last. Bottom line, he accepted no responsibility for the failing waterproofing. Not only was water still coming into our cold room in the same spots, but there were now net new problems too:

1. Water forms a sizeable pool on our porch. Instead of waterproofing and resurfacing our porch as promised, Joe only removed a few stones, painted something on and put the stones back -- unevenly. Now there is now a recess in the middle of our porch which causes a pond of water to accumulate in the summer and ice in winter.
2. Water now runs toward our driveway steps and ices. We asked that the flagstone surrounding our cold room be sloped away from our house and steps and towards a hedge. Instead, Joe sloped it toward our driveway steps which are now covered in ice and dangerously slippery in the winter.
3. Water leaks in a new area of the cold room. Joe had previously excavated the landing adjacent our cold room to rebuild a stone retaining wall. There had been a vinyl membrane against the cold room wall, which seems to have been discarded when his crew did the work. That wall now leaks into our cold room too, and never did before.

When Joe came back to investigate, after our cold room started leaking again in October, he promised not to “leave us high and dry”. He came back one day to do some caulking and cover the landing with a tarp. We never saw or heard from him again.

Joe was great -- until something went wrong. Then nothing was his fault, and our two-year warranty wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on. We are out of pocket $7,000, and have to pay someone else to redo the waterproofing and resurfacing properly.

This is my second time working with Joseph. We wanted to remove a load bearing brick wall on a downtown century home And install a steel beam. With the house being so old we we’re concerned that the bricks above the wall being removed would crack and collapse.

After getting several quotes Joseph’s price was competitive and his knowledge made me feel comfortable that everything would be correctly supported while the beam was being installed.

It was a big job and we are very happy with the results. Wouldn’t hesitate to use Joseph again.

Joseph's quote was in line with others I had but his knowledge and professionalism when he came to have a look at the work required convinced me to go with him. I was not disappointed as the work exceeded my expectations and dealing with Joseph was a pleasure. I was particularly impressed by the fact that he kept me posted as to progress and the times he would be there. The job site was left in the same condition he found it and the work was first rate.

I interviewed 8 masoners about rebuilding a 20-year old, low retaining wall around my front garden. I was very impressed with Joseph of JD Build and found him very pleasant to interact with. He was enthusiastic about re-building a dry stone wall. He described the scope of the job and kept to that description, including completing the entire job in just two days. He arrived when he said that he would and kept the work area tidy and safe. He responded promptly to emails. He fully respected the roots of the large maple around which he had to work. As we were finishing up, he noticed a problem with some other stone work on my property and described how he could improve it. I really enjoy working with an expert who lends his/her skill to other areas of my home and isn’t anxious to just get the cheque and leave. I would highly recommend Joseph of JD Build for other masonry projects.

We had a large stone garden retaining wall adjacent to our driveway, which had been poorly installed years ago. It was falling over and needed to be rebuilt which we wanted to do using the existing bricks. Also our flagstone staircase needed cement repairs. Joseph and his crew were excellent, respectful, polite, neat and tidy and the work they did was exceptional. It looks amazing now that it is finished and we could not be more pleased. When I needed to speak with Joseph he made himself available and so the communication was great -- I find not all contractors make themselves available by phone when you need them, Joseph did. The original quote was what we paid plus some extra work we requested in addition, at a most reasonable price. We quoted the job out to 3 different contractors and this price we determined to be very fair -- plus Joseph didn't try to tell us we couldn't re-use existing materials which one other contractor tried to do to drive up the price. JD's writeup when I had researched the company specified masonry repairs and that is what we were most interested in. The crew of JD Build Masonry were honest, hardworking and did a super job. Other than a couple of days of rain which only slightly delayed their progress, they finished right when they said they would. I would highly recommend Joseph and his team.

JD was a pleasure to deal with and his team did a good job of removing old mortar and replacing it with new mortar that matched the existing. Although, he was difficult to schedule since he is so high in demand, once we set a date, the job was done as expected and price paid was as quoted. His team went the extra mile to find and replace cracks that was not originally part of the quote. Also, they did a reasonable job of cleaning up.

hired jd build they came work was messy not complete however demanded and received his money in cash no less and two this day a year later never came back to correct the issues or concerns very sorry i used this firm never will again

We contracted with JD Build to clad our concrete front porch with granite stone. Joseph was very responsive to our concerns regarding a mature oak that was encroaching on the porch. He came up with a solution that was aesthetically pleasing and did not adversely impact the tree. Joseph has a very good design sense and is very skilled at stone placement and associated masonry work. We are very pleased with the final work which was completed on schedule at a reasonable cost.