Goshen sits about five miles west of Visalia, just past the city limits, so for a masonry contractor in Visalia, CA like us it's a short drive. The calls we get here are the same kinds we get in Visalia and Exeter, mostly cracked block walls, worn mortar and yard projects people have been putting off for a while.
Goshen has grown a lot in recent years, so newer houses with yards still taking shape sit near older homes whose walls and walks have been there a long time. That mix shapes the job. On a newer lot it's usually building something from the ground up, and on an older one it's usually repair, so the first thing I look at is what's already there and what it's sitting on.
Driveways and walks that meet the road
Plenty of the projects people put off here are driveways and front walks. For driveway pavers, we dig out the old surface, pack a firm base and set the pavers on it, because a paver driveway is only as flat as what's under it. If the work reaches into Tulare County's right-of-way, the public strip along the road, the county says it needs an encroachment permit. When that's the case, we take care of the paperwork before we start, so you're not left with a half-finished drive at the street.
Fixing what's failing, not what isn't
When you call about a cracked block wall or crumbling mortar between bricks, I'd rather fix the part that's actually failing than tear out good work. A thin crack in a wall that hasn't moved can often wait, and I'll tell you so. A crack that's widening, or a wall that's leaning, usually means something underneath has shifted, and patching the face usually won't hold. For worn mortar, we do repointing, raking out the old joints and packing in new mortar that suits the brick, so the new joints don't fight the old wall. I'll explain why we picked the materials we did before anything starts.
What sets the price and the schedule
Price on a Goshen job mostly comes down to how much wall or paving there is, how much old concrete or block has to come out first, the material you pick, and how easy it is to get a crew into your yard. The schedule turns on whether the county requires a permit, how much ground prep the site needs and when our crew is free. I come out to look at the job myself and write the estimate, so that's where your number comes from. A small crew and I do the work, I'm on site while it's done, and we work to leave your house and yard the way we found them, just without the problem.