What a masonry contractor has to get right
Brick is a system, not a surface. The mortar is meant to be softer than the brick so it takes the stress and fails first. The steel lintels over your windows are meant to stay dry. The parapet is meant to shed water away from the wall. When a masonry company treats any of those as cosmetic, the repair looks correct for two winters and then opens up in the same place.
That is why we scope exterior masonry repair from the cause backward. A spalled brick face usually means mortar that was too hard, or water sitting where it should have drained. A cracked jack arch usually means a rusting lintel expanding behind it. Structural masonry repair that skips the diagnosis is an expensive way to schedule the same job twice.
What we handle
Repointing & Brick Replacement
Joints cut to proper depth, mortar matched to the brick rather than to a bag, and spalled or cracked units swapped. Brick facade repair on full elevations or on the targeted areas a FISP report flagged.
Structural Masonry Repair
Steel lintel replacement, shelf-angle and relieving-angle work, crack stitching, and rebuilding of displaced or bulging wall sections — the cases where the wall has moved rather than simply weathered.
Parapets, Copings & Chimneys
The top of the wall takes the most water and is the most common source of leaks that seem to come from nowhere. We rebuild parapets, reset or replace coping stones, and install through-wall flashing.
Brownstone & Stoop Work
Brownstone facade patching with compatible mixes matched for color and aggregate, stoop and step rebuilding, and sill, lintel and cornice repair on pre-war and landmark-adjacent buildings.
Technical Masonry: Mortar, Flashing & Historic Work
Spalling brick repair and parge coat repair on exposed block, foundation and bulkhead walls, and historic masonry restoration on pre-war facades, where the original lime mortar is matched rather than replaced with a harder modern mix. Most above-grade brick takes Type N mortar; Type S mortar is for walls that carry load, sit below grade or take the weather at a parapet. Where water is getting behind the wall, we repair or install through-wall flashing at lintels, sills and the base of parapets so what gets in has a way back out.
Recent NYC projects
How we scope and bid masonry work
We price masonry from a hands-on look, not from photos. Where the building is tall enough to require it, the assessment happens from a swing stage or lift so we can sound the wall and inspect joints at height instead of guessing from the sidewalk and pricing in a cushion for what we could not see.
The estimate comes back as line items — linear feet of repointing, a count of brick replacements, each lintel, the access method, permits and shed costs. That structure exists so a board can approve the required work now and calendar the rest, and so nothing important disappears inside a lump sum.
If your scope originates in a Local Law 11 / FISP report, we work directly from the QEWI's conditions list and write our proposal against it item by item, so what we bid is what your engineer will sign off on at close-out.
What NYC building owners say
Crumbling mortar, cracked lintel, bulging wall?
Free on-site assessment from masonry contractors in Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Manhattan.
Working with your board, manager and engineer
A masonry project in NYC has more stakeholders than a homeowner job. We plan around that instead of reacting to it.
Properly executed repointing lasts decades. Our workmanship warranty is issued in writing at close-out, with the scope and materials documented for the building's records and for the next engineer who inspects the wall.
Frequently Asked Questions
One masonry contractor, start to sign-off.
Repointing, brick facade repair, lintels, parapets and brownstone work under one license — so there is one number to call when a question comes up mid-project.
Related: Brick Repointing Contractor in NYC