Masonry Restoration and Preservation

Not All Stone Restoration Contractors Are Equal
Only a genuine concern and love would propel one to develop a Blog to educate and "Sound the Alarm" to potential hazards when dealing with unqualified "Restoration Contractors" in the field of Historical Masonry Restoration. This is not a venue for ‘sour grapes’ but it is a little ‘grapes of wrath’and gives those who really care about our architectural heritage an opportunity to vent and tell it like it is.

TO EXPOSE UNQUALIFIED MASONRY RESTORATION CONTRACTORS PLAGUING THE HISTORICAL MASONRY FIELD AND EDUCATE THOSE LOOKING FOR DIRECTION

What "qualifies" and "motivates" Liszt Historical Restoration to start a blog?

Liszt Historical Restoration Inc. is an "owner operated" preservationist Masonry Restoration Company working in the North East (USA) for the past 20 years who has witnessed too much permanent damage to our architectural heritage at the hands of ignorance and greed. We have been put in a marketplace that seems blinded by the lure of the ‘low bidder’, and completely oblivious to the consequences of hiring an unqualified restoration company.

The best thing we can do is to educate those in this industry who are in need of these services, that all restoration companies are not the same, and that merely having everyone look at the same restoration specifications or ‘apples to apples’ as everyone likes to say, is not a means of assuring that the results are a predetermined given. The best specifications in the world are of no value whatsoever if the contractor who is to perform the work is incompetent.

Let’s face it, anyone can stick a sign on the door of his truck and get into this trade. And they do. If they survive for a few years they develop name or ‘brand’ recognition. We have a tendency to see all brands as a generic proof of validity. After all, if they have been around for a few years they must be as credible and qualified as anyone. Nothing could be further from the truth in the restoration field, as this profession suffers from a sever lack of awareness so provides the unqualified contractor both the climate and ecosystem that allows him to hide and grow in the shadows of confusion and ignorance.

Well, the main purpose of this blog is to shed some long overdue light into the corners of this trade and show things for what they really are. Those who are qualified and take pride in their work can rejoice, but those who do not should be very afraid, because this blog intends to show you for what you really are: an incompetent liability to our beloved profession and our valued architectural heritage.
Let those who love this trade and honor the results of their labor as a representation of their own personal integrity come forward into the exposing light of day. And let those who have been hiding in the shadows, damaging buildings and fleecing property owners who don’t know any better jump ship and find a new line of work, because your butchery is going to be exposed.

The result for the masonry industry will be win-win. The owner will benefit from a more reputable and qualified industry in general, and the caring Restoration Professionals in this field will no longer be plagued by the low bid butcher who makes it very difficult for us to make a living and deliver a first rate product, due to the fact that he is put in the same barrel with the unqualified hack who has no intention of following the proper methods and means spelled out in the bid documents and knows all too well that the job will have little or no oversight by anyone who really knows what to look for so is counting on cheating everywhere possible; being low bidder and still coming away with a shameful profit.

The result of the low bid hack is that the building was far from being restored! It’s been injured often beyond repair! The owner has spent large sums of hard earned funds and historical tax grants to actually ruin their beloved building, and they don’t even know it! While the hack moves on to another unsuspecting ‘mark’, another sucker to fleece. Yet the qualified masonry contractor has to compete in a bidding environment with this same remorseless criminal, and if he complains or raises an issue he is branded a troublemaker, only bitching because he didn’t get the work!

Enough is Enough! This troublemaker isn’t going to stand for it any more! I have worked too hard and invested too much of myself in this trade to sit by and allow this to continue unabated. And I do hope that a few of you other respectable contractors in this trade will stand up with me and demand a serious change in the mentality that governs our industry and as a consequence our ability to make a respectable living doing respectable work. We have employees and their families to consider, and all too often they are cheated out of their just desserts by the low bid hack hiring temporary labor without a speck of experience or concern for the future of our profession or our architectural heritage.

When the unqualified butcher gets the job, he is the only one who profits, and it’s at the expense of everyone else. I had a conversation with an engineer a few years back regarding a project at the local State University here in Vermont. He told me that a successful project was one where the customer got a quality result and the contractor made a respectable profit. He stated that he strongly believed that even if the project came out great but the contractor didn’t make a decent profit the job was a failure. Why? Because the contractor has to make a decent living or they will not be around to do respectable work in the future. I was impressed, deeply impressed by a person at that high level of management of a large engineering firm who works with thousands of institutions and property owners around the world had such a clear appreciation for that small area where the rubber meets the road: The Contractor!

I believe strongly that the most important element in the series of entities that forms the overall restoration process is the contractor. We are the rubber on the road, all the engine power and fancy transmission will be wasted if the tires can’t perform and handle the various and unpredictable road conditions. A good contractor is also part of the transmission and as such is bolted directly to the engine. From this perspective he is an intricate part of the entire drive train and suspension, in constant communication with the driver (usually the owner and the architect and various members of management) through the steering wheel. The goal is to deliver a first rate ride with comfort and all the speed and agility possible. Let’s face it, the owner and the architect aren’t going to get their hands dirty; that’s our job and we love it.

So we better be able to reach much further into their realm than they can into our realm. This is the mark of an excellent contractor: The ability to reach very far into the realm of ‘theory’ while remaining rooted deeply in the practical. The owner and the architectural team rarely have deep pockets where practical field experience is concerned so it’s the contractor who needs to move toward them. They usually know what they want, they do not always know how to get it done. A good contractor understands this and enjoys filling that gap that usually represents a barrier to achieving excellent results. After all, the management team isn’t going to roll up his/her sleeves and show us how to solve difficult and at times even dangerous conditions that pop up every day in the field.
Many aspects of our trade are unique, and as such have no relevance to modern construction. Too often modern ‘masons’ are hired to perform delicate and demanding restorations, because the general awareness regarding masonry construction is extremely limited. Most assume that because it’s a masonry structure, one need only hire a mason to restore or fix it. This is similar to owning a 1927 Ford Model T and bringing it down to your local Ford dealership to have the engine repaired. I said similar, because it’s actually more like bringing your horse and carriage to the local auto parts store and asking them for advise on how to manage the reins!

Most masons are not remotely familiar with our work, as most of them don’t understand the vast differences between construction methods before and after the Industrial Revolution, so they think Portland cement has been around forever and don’t give it a second thought. Not that I have anything against masons, and some of us are masons too. But those who are also masons in the modern sense must understand the great differences in Portland construction and lime construction, and that using modern materials in antique structures is harmful to the structure. Or that modifying or repairing structures of lime construction are not the same as repairing or modifying portland construction. This represents another challenge to our field when we are constantly being put in the same barrel with modern masonry, and it belongs to this blog to describe and defend a clear delineation between these two vastly differing realms. The term ‘continuous’ describes an undefined area or magnitude, while the term particular describes a well-defined and acute area or magnitude. Our industry suffers from our inability to properly describe and defend our particular realm of expertise, and we need to do a much better job at it in the very near future. Our livelihood demands that we be well educated in our particular profession and that of the continuous trade of masonry in general, so to be most ready willing and able to defend of position as a necessity, an indepensible resource and an asset to the longevity of antique architectural heritage that is currently being mauled by butchers and is in danger of being totally defaced and lost as a result of ignorance and general apathy.