A woman over in Westlake once handed a mason 90 percent of a $30,000 chimney job before he’d so much as pulled a brick loose, because he seemed like a nice guy. He was a nice guy right up until he stopped answering his phone, and she was left staring at a half-torn-out chimney and a very expensive lesson. My name’s Ray, and I’ve spent a long stretch of years doing masonry and chimney work across New England and around Westlake — tuckpointing old foundations, rebuilding chimneys, repointing brick on houses old enough that nobody left remembers who laid them. If there’s one thing that tells you almost as much about a contractor as the work itself, it’s how the money is supposed to move. A fair schedule protects both sides. A lopsided one is a red flag waving right in your face.
The deposit number that should make you start asking questions
A reasonable deposit on a residential masonry job runs 10 to 33 percent of the total contract price. That covers the contractor locking in your spot on the schedule and ordering the basics. When somebody asks for half the job or more before a single brick is touched, slow down. There’s rarely a good reason for it, and in some states a contractor is legally capped on how much they can collect up front. The nice-guy who wanted 90 percent in Westlake? No legitimate mason needs that kind of money before work starts.
| Detail | Typical value |
|---|---|
| Normal deposit range | 10–33% of total contract price |
| Example: $12,000 repointing job | $1,500–$4,000 deposit |
| Final payment held back until inspection | 10–20% of total |
| Deposit that should raise a flag | 50% or more before work begins |
Materials are the one honest exception to all of this. If your job calls for a big custom stone order or a specialty brick that has to be paid for the moment it’s placed on order, a contractor might reasonably ask you to cover that cost directly. Ask for the supplier invoice — a real one gets handed over without hesitation. When you’re trying to judge whether a material cost is fair, a masonry specialist in the Westlake area can usually look at the numbers with you before you commit to anything.
Paying for what’s actually built, not what’s promised
The healthiest schedule ties every payment to visible, finished work — never to a date on a calendar. A typical chimney rebuild might break down like this:
- Deposit at signing
- Payment when demolition and the new footing are done
- Another payment when the structure is up to the roofline
- Final payment when the cap, flashing, and cleanup are finished and you’ve walked it yourself
A lot of the older housing stock I work on — homes built anywhere from the early 1900s through the 1930s — doesn’t need a full rebuild at all. Sometimes it’s mortar repair on a foundation, or a straightforward repointing job on a chimney that’s still structurally sound. The milestones look different for a smaller tuckpointing job than they do for tearing a chimney down to the footing and building it back up, so don’t let anyone hand you a one-size-fits-all payment plan regardless of scope.
Hold the last check until you’ve walked the job
Hold back a meaningful final payment — 10 to 20 percent — until the whole job is genuinely done and you’ve inspected it yourself. That last payment is your leverage to get punch-list items actually fixed. Pay it too early, and the phone has a funny way of not getting answered anymore. I’m not being cynical about that, just honest about human nature. Understanding the original estimate helps you set fair milestones in the first place, and I walk through that in how to read a masonry estimate line by line.
Get the schedule in writing before anyone touches a brick
The payment schedule belongs in a written contract, laid out stage by stage, with dollar amounts and exactly what triggers each one. That same document should name the total price, the scope, the materials, the timeline, and how change orders get handled. A handshake and a Venmo request is how people in Westlake and everywhere else get burned. The Federal Trade Commission’s guidance on hiring a contractor is worth ten minutes before you sign anything — it covers deposits, contracts, and the paper trail in plain language.
Pay by check or card, never cash, so there’s a record. Keep every invoice and receipt. If a dispute ever ends up in small claims court, that paper is what wins it.
Change orders: the quiet way a masonry budget blows up
Masonry jobs turn up surprises. You open a wall and find rot, or the footing underneath is worse than anyone could see from outside. That’s legitimate — but it should produce a written change order, describing the added work and added cost, that you approve before anyone touches it. A contractor who just tacks surprises onto the final bill is either disorganized or working you. Either way, insist that any change to price or scope gets written down and signed first. That one habit heads off most of the payment fights I’ve watched play out over the years.
What historic brick actually needs, materials-wise
On anything old — a heritage-era brick home, a chimney that predates the 1940s — the mortar mix matters as much as the payment schedule. Original lime mortar is deliberately softer than the brick around it, so it wears out first and protects the brick itself. Repoint that with a hard modern Portland-cement mix instead, and you can crack good brick within a few freeze-thaw winters. Any mason bidding on brick restoration or chimney repointing for an older home should be talking to you about mortar mix before they’re talking about price.
Questions homeowners ask me about paying for this work
How much should I expect to pay upfront for masonry work around Westlake? Ten to 33 percent of the total is typical, plus the direct cost of any special-order materials. Be wary of anyone demanding half or more up front — there’s usually no legitimate reason, and some states legally cap the deposit amount a contractor can collect.
Do I need a full chimney rebuild, or will repointing and mortar repair fix it? It depends on whether the structure itself is sound. If the brick and footing are solid and it’s just the mortar joints failing, tuckpointing or repointing is usually enough. A rebuild is for when the structure itself — the footing, the stack — has failed, which is a different job with different milestones.
What materials should be used on older or historic brick homes? Soft lime-based mortar, matched to what’s already there, not a hard modern Portland-cement blend. The wrong mortar mix is one of the fastest ways to damage brick that’s otherwise fine.
Should progress payments be tied to dates or to finished work? To finished work, every time. Pay when a visible milestone is done — footing poured, structure to the roofline, final cap and cleanup — and hold back 10 to 20 percent until the whole job passes your own inspection.
