Avalon Masonry and Construction

Avalon Masonry & Construction Corp works out of 230 Somerville Ave in Somerville and is the outfit homeowners call for brickwork: tuckpointing, brick and stone flatwork, chimneys, and foundation repair or waterproofing. It incorporated in October 2023 with James Hearn as president and one employee on the books, and its Massachusetts home improvement contractor registration, number 209986, is active and verified against the state registry. James is the name in nearly every review, and the praise is consistent about how the job runs rather than about salesmanship. A homeowner who hired the company this July for work on and around a foundation said they were kept informed at every step and the job went quickly. A June customer said James came within hours to look at the job, quoted it, and did the work when he said he would, leaving things neat and clean. Another June review credits the crew's communication and cleanup, and a third sums up a $4,500 brick and stone flatwork repair as done right. Across the longer history, 26 reviews since 2024, that pattern of fast quoting, on-schedule crews and tidy sites is the throughline, and HomeAdvisor puts the average at 4.9 from 39 ratings. The countervailing signal is narrow but serious, and it lands in the same place twice. Two reviewers in spring 2026 describe a chimney water leak that was still leaking after the repair. One says the contract promised a five-year warranty against water leaks, that $2,200 was paid, and that neither the warranty nor a refund was honored nine months later; the other tells a similar story and says a refund request was refused. The company answered publicly, saying its own new chimney lead flashing was sound and that the leak traces to poor workmanship by whoever built the chimney the year before. Separately, the Better Business Bureau grades the company C, partly for failing to respond to a complaint on file, and Google's rating sits at 3 stars, though from only two ratings. For tuckpointing, flatwork, and foundation and waterproofing work, the hands-on feedback is both strong and current. If the job is a chimney leak, that is precisely where the complaints cluster: get the warranty language in writing, ask what happens if the leak returns, and ask directly how the two 2026 leak disputes were resolved. The company is also young, so there is less history behind the platform average than the number alone suggests.