Kevin in Toronto

I contacted Dilullo to provide an estimate to re-build our brick chimney after reading reviews on Homestars, specifically, contractors which specialize in brick masonry. John responded quickly and did a good job with providing a detailed scope of work and cost estimate. It was a difficult job due to the steeply pitched roof on a three storey house with a 10 foot+ high chimney, limited side yard and 100-year old maple tree to contend with. His quote was reasonable given the difficulty of the work. We are pleased with the overall quality of workmanship, especially the brick work. His crew are hard working, showed up ready for work in the morning, and completed a bulk of the project within 3 days. John did a satisfactory job with communicating, giving us updates and kept us informed before, during and after the project. We close by to a school and John made sure the scaffold was protected from kids wanting to climb up. Our neighbours commented on how close the new chimney bricks matched the rest of the house and general appearance looks good. Some very minor negative comments: (1) The gas liner was found to be rotted out at the roofline (which explains why the bricks were cracking and spalling off) and needs to be replaced. To replace the gas liner you need to have a gas fitters licence. Some masonry companies have this in-house capability, however, Dilillo does not provide gas liner replacement services. This will require another contractor to mobilize, re-set-up a scaffold and/or ladders and install a new gas liner kit. Initial estimates are $750 for a new gas liner - the overall cost to the homeowner would likely have been less (since I would save on the mob/de-mob time and economies of scale) had I went with another chimney rebuild company but hindsight is 20/20 and I had no way of knowing the gas liner needed to be replaced. Because of the gas liner situation, the furnace stack is now left open with no protection from rain and birds. (2) There was a misunderstanding with one of the workers. The worker thought my wife gave him verbal instructions to install a new rain cap and bird shield whereas she was simply asking him a question. We were charged an extra $50 with no written sign-off for the extra and billed after it was installed. It was only $50 on a $3900 bill so it's minor in the gand scheme of things and we got a new rain cap. (3) After the crew had left, I found a few coffee cups and about a dozen 5-inch long screws in our yard. Pretty minor stuff but we do have a young infant and lots of dog walkers milling around.