We're a masonry contractor based in South Bend, IN, and we repair and build brick, block and stone for La Porte homeowners, with a lot of our work on older brick, chimneys and foundations. I come out to look at your job myself and work on the crew that does it.
(574) 213-0235
A lot of what we see in La Porte is older brick, the kind of house with a tall chimney, a block or brick foundation and front steps that have been through a lot of hard northern Indiana winters. The signs are usually mortar that rubs out sandy under your thumb, a cracked chimney crown or a step that's starting to lean. Each of those lets in a little more water every freeze, so it's worth fixing right before it turns into a rebuild. We work on newer houses here too, with stone veneer, paver driveways and retaining walls, and we treat that work with the same care.
Call (574) 213-0235 or send the form, and we'll reply within one business day. I'll set a time to come out to your La Porte house, walk the job with you and write the estimate up in plain words. The estimate is free and done on site, with no pressure and no obligation.
(574) 213-0235On La Porte's older houses, most of what we're called for is repair, so tuckpointing and brick pointing, chimney repair, brick repair and foundation repair make up a big share of our work here, done with mortar chosen to suit the brick you already have. We also build new, from block and brick walls, retaining walls and walkways to stone veneer, outdoor kitchens and fireplace installation when you want a hearth the house never had.
City of La Porte Engineering is the building permit contact here, at (219) 362-2327. Its posted list names work like roofing, HVAC, electrical upgrades and water heaters, and it doesn't say whether brick or chimney work needs a permit, so that's a question for Engineering, and when the answer is yes, the job waits until the permit is in hand. Before we start, we check with that office for your address, and when a permit is needed we pull it as part of the job. The price turns on how much brick or mortar has to come out, how high and how easy to reach the work is, how closely we have to match your old brick, and what we find once a wall or chimney is opened, which nobody can know for sure ahead of time.
We're based in South Bend and drive over for La Porte jobs, the same way our crew heads east to Goshen or south to Plymouth. On the older streets near downtown the houses tend to sit close with narrow side yards, so we work out where the scaffold, mixer and brick go before we show up, and we keep a clear path for you and your neighbors while the work is underway.
I come out to La Porte myself to look at the job, so the person pricing it is the one who can see what's actually wrong. Then I work on the crew next to our masons and laborers, so what we talked about in your driveway is what gets built.
We're best known for careful work on older brick, like repointing and chimney repair. I grew up fixing farm walls, where a bad patch cost more than doing it right once, so we match mortar and brick to your house instead of rushing it. Your satisfaction, guaranteed.
We're fully licensed and insured, and before work starts we check with the office that covers your address and pull any permit the job needs. If your house sits in a historic district, we help you reach the commission first. Call (574) 213-0235 or send the form to start.
Your price comes from an estimate on site, because masonry cost follows how much brick and mortar needs work, and I can't judge that from a photo. The things that move it are the ones above, like height, access, matching old brick and what turns up once the work is opened. I'll walk it with you and explain each line.
Building permit applications in La Porte go in online, through the city's Citizen Service Portal, where the application forms are kept. When your masonry job calls for a permit, we pull it as part of the job, so you don't have to work through the portal yourself.
The city figures them from the project's cost, rounded up to the nearest $1,000.00. Its posted fee schedule sets a $25.00 base fee for a cost of $0.01 to $2,000.00, and a fee for each $1,000.00 of cost that's $9.00 from $0.01 to $50,000.00, $5.00 from $50,000.01 to $100,000.00 and $3.00 from $100,000.01 up. If a dumpster has to sit in the street right-of-way, that's $15 for 1 to 15 days or $25 for 16 to 30 days.
For one- and two-family homes, the state lists the 2020 Indiana Residential Code as currently in effect, and it's based on the 2018 International Residential Code. Commercial buildings and buildings with three or more tenants fall under the Indiana Building Code instead. If you own a building like that, tell me when you call so we look at the right rules from the start.
Mostly water getting into the joints and freezing, winter after winter. Each freeze pushes a little more mortar out, and a hard patch smeared over soft old brick can make it worse by pushing the damage into the brick itself. That's why we rake out the bad mortar and repoint with a mix that suits your brick.
The time on site comes down mostly to how much has to be repointed or rebuilt and to the weather, because fresh mortar shouldn't go on when it's going to freeze. If your job needs a permit, the start also waits on that. I'll tell you what the timing hangs on when I walk the job with you.
