American Masonry & General Contracting

Stay away from this company at all costs. This was one of the worst experiences I have ever had dealing with a company. American Masonry (Jamie Gerritsen) was hired to remove the existing brick and cement from the property, including a cinder block wall and the pool coping, install 2 new patios and pool coping with Pennsylvania Blue Multi-​Color slate, a stamped concrete driveway with slate ribbons, a concrete slab for pool equipment, and a concrete slab for a hot tub for a cost of $ 41,176. The job was estimated to be done in 4 weeks and, during the 7^th week, Jamie and his crew walked off the job with approx. 40% of the work still not completed, even though we had already paid him over $ 33,000. After he walked off the job, Jamie put a Mechanic’s Lien on our house for the outstanding balance even though he didn’t finish the work, and sent us a Cease and Desist Letter saying he would sue us for defamation of character and slander if we were to post any bad reviews. We filed a lawsuit against American Masonry for the amount we over paid and our lawyer had the Mechanic’s Lien removed; however, PRIOR TO GOING TO COURT, Jamie filed bankruptcy and listed us as a creditor. This is the type of character you will be dealing with if you hire American Masonry.
First, on the day the job was to begin, Jamie arrived with no crew. He said the crew he was going to use was too expensive and he wanted to go in a different direction. Two days later, 3 guys arrived with a rented Bobcat and stood in front of the property reading the instructions on how to use it. When they started the demo, they had to ask me what to do since Jamie didn’t go over the job with them.
During the demo, the disposal company refused to pick up the bins in the street because American Masonry (AM) didn’t pay them and Jamie’s crew didn’t keep track of how many bins were used. AM contacted me to try to figure it out and, from that point forward, I had to pay the disposal company out of my own pocket so they would pick up the bins.
When laying the slate, Jamie refused to buy all of the multi-​colored slate up front, as you should with anything multi-​color, so the colors don’t match in all of the areas. Later, he accused me of wanting all the slate up front because he thought I wanted to stiff him on the costs, even though we had already over paid him for the work done.
When Jamie’s «crew» were laying the first patio, it was evident they didn’t know what they were doing. I called Jamie to let him know his guys only laid 3 stones in 8 hrs and Jamie proceeded to scream at me on the phone and told me that I should just fire him. His girlfriend called me later to apologize for Jamie’s actions. The next morning, Jamie finally came to the location and when I approached him to talk with him, he started yelling again saying mornings were when he likes to relax and meditate and I need to leave him alone. After the 1^st patio was done (2 weeks later), Jamie decided to hire outside workers to do the remaining stone work.
Jamie also went behind my back and directly contacted my pool man to ask him if he could get somebody to do the pool coping since Jamie wasn’t comfortable doing it. Why would he take on the job if he couldn’t do it?
When they poured the driveway, Jamie’s Office Manager sent me an email asking me to pay all of the workers directly that day. She admitted that we had already paid more than we should at that point but we wouldn’t have to pay anything else until the job was complete. So, we did. Later, when they were getting more stone, his worker asked if I was supposed to pay for it. I told him we were told we weren’t supposed to pay for anything else until the job was completed. Then, Jamie called me screaming that we were trying to get out of paying and he walked off the job, even though we had over paid at this point for the work completed.
To top it off, before walking off of the job, Jamie had his crew seal the patio that they laid to show us what it would look like and to see if we wanted them to seal all of the stone when it was finished. A few days later, the stone looked splotchy. Apparently, they didn’t let the stone dry long enough before applying sealer and they used the wrong type of sealer for that stone. When I told Jamie about the problem, he responded with «Well, I didn’t charge you for it.» We had to hire somebody to remove the sealer but it required a deep cleaning and now, the stone is damaged. We need to replace that entire patio in the next year.
We had to hire new workers to complete the job and they discovered that Jamie’s crew did not remove all of the cement on the property. They removed a top layer in the back and covered the rest with dirt. So, we had to pay to have the excess removed. Also, we had other masons come assess the work and they told us to keep an eye on the driveway because it looks like Jamie didn’t float the rebar (it was sticking out of the sides where you could see).

I highly recommend Jamie and his crew. They built a block wall for us and added to an existing wall. Their workmanship is excellent and we couldn’t be happier with the results. Jamie was on top of every question and concern that we had. He really cares about his customers and his business. The crew was always professional and courteous. We would certainly call them again!

Prompt. Thorough. Informative. Making sure they get it right. The guys from American Masonry were all of these things. We had a pretty major job. 2,000 Sq Ft of stamped concrete. They pulled it off without a hitch and we couldn’t be more pleased with the result. The quality of their work has easily raised the property value by as much as the work cost and then some.