A Masonry Contractor Near You, Within 50 Miles of Cincinnati

A masonry contractor near you, anywhere within 50 miles of Cincinnati

If you are looking for a masonry contractor near you and your property is within about 50 miles of downtown Cincinnati, you are inside our service area. That circle crosses three states: southwest Ohio, Northern Kentucky and southeast Indiana. Swiss Masonry is a Cincinnati masonry contractor that also works as a general contractor. Swiss Masonry has done masonry in Cincinnati since 1993.

Masonry is the specialty: tuckpointing, brick and stone repair, chimneys, retaining walls, steps and historic restoration. We also work as a general contractor: we run the job and bring in licensed trade partners where the work needs them. Electrical, plumbing and HVAC always go to those licensed partners, and we schedule and coordinate them. Our general contracting page explains how that side of the business works.

Wherever you are in the circle, a job starts the same way. The owner comes out, looks at the wall, chimney or room himself, finds the cause, and prices the work after he has seen it. There is no office to visit and no storefront. We come to you.

The counties inside the circle

A 50-mile circle around the city takes in more ground than most people expect. The core counties sit closest to Cincinnati and hold most of the suburbs. The outer ring is more rural, with longer drives between towns, and it is still part of our area.

If your town does not have its own page below, find your county in the table. If it is listed, you are in our area. Call 513-202-3598 and we will set up a visit.

Area pages, grouped by region

Each area page covers the buildings, problems and approvals that come up in that part of the map. Start with the one closest to you.

City of Cincinnati neighborhoods

• Masonry and facade repair in downtown Cincinnati: parapets, storefronts, condo buildings and the sidewalks in front of them.
• Historic masonry in Over-the-Rhine: soft brick, lime mortar and district approvals.
• Retaining walls and steps in Mount Adams: hillside lots and narrow streets.
• Masonry repair in Hyde Park
• Masonry repair in Oakley
• Masonry repair in Clifton

East side and Clermont County

Suburban brick homes, chimneys, patios, stone walls and concrete steps: Anderson Township, Milford and Loveland.

North: Blue Ash, Butler County and Warren County

Brick veneer homes, retaining walls, outdoor living and general construction: Blue Ash, Mason, West Chester, Liberty Township, Fairfield, Hamilton and Lebanon.

Northern Kentucky

River-city brick, historic overlay districts and suburban homes: our Northern Kentucky masonry contractor page covers Covington, Newport and the cities around them, and there is a separate page for Florence, Kentucky.

Southeast Indiana

Older town brick, stone foundations and rural properties: start with Lawrenceburg, Indiana.

How the buildings change as you drive out from the city

The same 50 miles holds very different houses, and that changes what goes wrong and how we fix it.

The city’s older neighborhoods

Walls are often solid brick, two or more layers thick, laid in soft lime mortar. When that brick gets repointed with a hard, cement-rich mix, the faces start popping off in freeze-thaw winters. Our standard mortar is Type N portland cement-lime mortar to ASTM C270. On pre-1920 brick and soft stone we go lime-rich, Type N or Type O, chosen from a sample panel. Cincinnati is also a hilly city, so many older lots come with retaining walls and long runs of steps.

Northern Kentucky river cities

Covington and Newport both have local historic districts. In Newport, that review reaches details like porches, windows, doors and built-in box gutters. The masonry questions are much the same as in the older Cincinnati neighborhoods: soft brick, matched mortar, water getting in at the top of the wall. The approval process belongs to each city, and it is covered below.

The suburbs

Most suburban brick is a single layer of veneer tied to a wood frame or block backup. The common problems are cracked brick over settled footings, failed chimney crowns, blocked weep holes, heaved concrete steps and patios, and yard walls that were built without drainage.

The rural ring

In the outer counties we repoint and rebuild stone and brick foundations under older houses, repair fieldstone walls, and pour or fix concrete slabs and steps. A job out there can mix masonry with concrete and general repair work, and one visit can cover all of it.

Permits and approvals are different in every town

Nobody issues one permit for the whole circle. Building and zoning are handled city by city, township by township, and in some places by the county, and historic districts add a second layer. A few examples from inside our area:

• City of Cincinnati: building permits come from the Department of Buildings and Inspections. A local landmark, or a property in a local historic district, also needs a certificate of appropriateness from the Historic Conservation Office for exterior work, even when the work is exempt from a building permit. Work in or use of the street or sidewalk needs a right-of-way permit from the Department of Transportation and Engineering.
• Unincorporated Hamilton County: the county’s Buildings and Inspections division issues building permits for the townships, after the local zoning office issues a zoning certificate.
• Kenton County: some of its cities, Taylor Mill among them, send building permits through Planning and Development Services of Kenton County (PDS).
• Covington: the city has seven Historic Preservation Overlay zones. Work that changes a building’s exterior inside them needs a certificate of appropriateness first.
• Newport: the East Row, York Street, Monmouth Street and Buena Vista local historic districts need a certificate of appropriateness for many exterior alterations, including work on porches and box gutters, before the work starts.
• Indiana and the outer counties: rules vary by city and county, so we check with the local building department before we price the job.

We handle the permits and historic-board approvals where the work needs them, and we tell you at the first visit which ones your job is likely to need. If a city order is behind your call, see our page on code violation repairs.

How site visits and scheduling work, near and far

1. Call 513-202-3598 or send the free estimate request. Tell us your town, what you are seeing, and send photos if you have them.
2. The owner sets a time to come out. For towns near the edge of the circle, he books the visit on a day he is already working in that direction, so let us know roughly where you are.
3. He looks at the problem himself, explains the cause, and walks you through the options: often a repair that buys time, a bigger fix, and the full fix.
4. You get a written, line-item price. Every job is priced after the owner sees it. Common masonry ranges are on our pricing page.
5. Once you sign, the job goes on the schedule. Crews are small, usually two masons on a masonry job.

Insured. Certificate of insurance on request. Every job is covered by our one-year workmanship warranty and put in a written contract.