M&K South Bend Concrete & Masonry is a masonry contractor based in South Bend, IN, and we repair and build brick, block and stone on houses in Nappanee. We're best known for careful work on older brick, the kind that's worth saving instead of covering up.
(574) 213-0235
Nappanee sits in Elkhart County, and a lot of the calls we get here look like the work I grew up doing on the farm. An old block foundation is weeping at a corner, a brick chimney has lost its mortar near the top, or a front step or walkway has settled. The homes that call us are usually older ones, and the owner wants the brick fixed right rather than patched over and forgotten.
Elkhart County's website carries a notice headed "American Red Cross Assistance, June 11, 2026 Tornado," and storm damage is the kind of call we take too, like a chimney knocked loose, a cap that's gone or a wall with fresh cracks. I'd rather look at it before anyone patches it, because the crack you can see isn't always where the trouble started.
We reply to every call and message from Nappanee within one business day. I come out myself, walk the job with you and write the estimate up in plain words, free and with no obligation. Then you decide what you want to do, with no pressure from us.
(574) 213-0235In Nappanee we do the same work we do across the cities around South Bend. That means tuckpointing to replace worn mortar joints on older brick, chimney repair, brick repair and foundation repair, and new foundation block wall installation when an old foundation is past saving. We also build walkways, retaining walls and paver driveways when a yard needs them.
Permits here go through the city's Planning and Zoning office, which reviews them, handles the inspections and lists a residential application for siding and masonry work among its forms. They're the ones who decide whether your job needs a permit, so before we start I check with them for your address, and when a permit is called for we pull it as part of the job and plan the schedule around their review. Whoever you hire, ask whether they're licensed and insured. We're fully licensed and insured, and I'm glad to go over it when I come out.
What moves the price is mostly what's behind the brick, like how much old mortar has to come out, whether we can match the brick and mortar you already have, how high and hard to reach the work is, and whether a foundation needs repair or rebuilding. The schedule turns on the permit review when there is one, the size of the job, and what we find once a wall is opened, which nobody can know for sure ahead of time. I walk the job with you and write it up in plain words, so you see your own figure before anything starts. We drive out from South Bend for this work the same way we do for cities across the line in Michigan like Dowagiac.
I come out to look at your job and write the estimate myself, and then I work on the crew alongside our masons and laborers. So the person who walked your foundation or chimney with you is there when the work gets done, and nothing gets lost in between.
On a farm you learn that a patch done wrong costs more than doing it right once. On older brick that means raking out failing mortar until we reach joints that are still solid, and using a mortar that suits the old brick instead of smearing fresh over old.
I learned the trade under an experienced mason around South Bend and started this business in 2023. We're fully licensed and insured. Your satisfaction, guaranteed. Call (574) 213-0235 or send the form on this page, and we'll set up a time to look at your job.
You file it with the city's Planning and Zoning office, either by email or on a paper copy you pick up at City Hall, and the office posts every application form and its filing fee schedule on its page. Staff let you know once all the required documents are in, and you can reach the office Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., at 574-773-2112. When your job calls for a permit, we pull it as part of the job, so you don't have to.
The Indiana Residential Code applies, and the state says it's in effect in every city and location in Indiana, so Nappanee follows the same code as South Bend. It's the International Residential Code for one- and two-family houses with Indiana's own changes worked in. We build to it, and when a permit is involved, the city's inspections are where the work gets checked.
There's no set price, because each job turns on what's behind the brick, so I write you a free price on site after I've looked at it. The things that move it most are the ones covered in the section on working here, and I'll point out exactly what I'm pricing while we walk it together.
It depends on the size of the job, whether a permit review comes first and what turns up once we start, so I give you the schedule with the estimate instead of guessing over the phone. Older chimneys and walls sometimes show more damage once the bad mortar's out, and if that happens I'll show you what we found and talk it through before we go further.
Most of the time it's age and water working on the joints together. Mortar is meant to wear out before the brick does, and a leaking gutter, a missing chimney cap or a downspout emptying against the wall speeds that up, while old patches done with mortar harder than the brick push the wear into the brick itself. We sort out where the water's coming from along with the joints, so you're not paying for the same repair twice.
