Brick & stone masonry in Collin County and the North Dallas suburbs

Most of Collin County sits on dark, heavy clay that swells when it's wet and shrinks when it dries out. That movement is what puts stair-step cracks in brick and pulls mortar away from window frames. On new work we size footings for flower beds and garden walls with that in mind, and long runs of wall get control joints so the movement goes where we planned it instead of through the middle of a panel.

Frisco, Prosper and Celina are still building out, so much of our work up here is new construction: full brick and stone exteriors, stone wainscots, cast stone around entries and windows, and the custom details builders and homeowners pick out. In Plano, Allen and Richardson, where the houses are a few decades older, it's more often repairs that match, cleaning and sealing.

Brick screening walls run along nearly every major road in the northern suburbs, and they take a beating from settling soil, storms and the occasional car. We repair and rebuild sections to match the existing brick and caps, and we work with HOA boards and management companies on scheduling, access and keeping the sidewalk open.

Most cities in the area require a permit, and often an engineered design, for a retaining wall over about four feet tall or one that holds up a driveway, a pool or a slope behind a house. The exact rule varies from city to city, so we check with the building department before we quote a tall wall, and we tell you up front when an engineer needs to be involved.