[IROCZman15]

My Italian grandfather was a master stone mason his entire life; he got my cousin, my brother and I started with helping him when we were all about 9-10 years old. Us kids started out simply washing tools, sweeping up, pulling nails out from wood forms, fixing knee boards and washing wheelbarrows etc. Mostly every summer through middle school and high school, and then summers and breaks during college and whatnot. I still help my uncle (Grandfather's son) who is a retired structural bridge engineer but now in retirement just enjoys all GC work, especially masonry; its in my blood and I still help him out a few hundred hours per year. Some of the old tools we have/use are a testament to high quality work. He is a not in business to quickly rush though jobs and make money, they guy is a precision craftsman and every single brick/block/stone is perfectly square/level/plumb. Sometimes his precision drives me nuts when I want to just keep moving and he is tapping each brick into its perfect spot. The results are always incredible, so it sounds like the pure opposite of the situation you have going on over there.

Unfortunately, I can not pass along his contact info because he has various jobs lined up and is certainly not taking on any more work any time soon. He is a 1 man crew, and when I help him, it becomes just us 2. My Grandfather passed away 16 years ago, and my cousin and brother live out of state, so I am his only help and my availability to help him is sporadic.

It sounds like you did the right thing. If you can "eyeball" mis-measured joints, unlevel courses of brick, and probably future structural failure points already, it is inevitable the job will fall apart. Something I learned early on, is when there is a concrete pouring day or a cement/joint pointing day.... bring extra food and plan to stay late. You get that stuff done THAT DAY, you do not go home and come back to finish that stuff the next day. There are many reasons for this, both structural and cosmetic. If the joints are crumbling already, it is just going to trap water/moisture andthen get behind the brick and blow everything out from behind. Unless he got dumb-lucky he probably set the tread stones where they don't shed water off of them and away from the structure. Did he go below grade at all digging? is that part of the block/brick coated in waterproofing tar?

It is a shame to see what people pass off as "job complete" type work. So many people like to just smear mortar all over, hose the rest off, maybe brush finish it (sloppily) and walk away. It is very rare to find a true craftsman in the masonry world anymore. A few of my Grandfathers friends based in the Summit area were exactly that, but almost all are dead and the rest are retired.

I wish I could recommend someone to do a good job for you, but I do not know anyone in that area and I wouldn't want to just guess at random either.