Masonry Contractor in San Juan, TX - Brick, Block and Stone Done Right

Start with the city's Planning & Zoning page, which shows zoning and city limits and helps you tell whether a project needs a city permit before work starts. Building permits come from the city's Building Department, which approves construction or renovation inside city limits against the city's safety and zoning rules, and the forms are on the city's permits and forms page with submission instructions from Planning & Zoning at (956)223-2200. If your home sits outside city limits, that same page shows whether Hidalgo County Precinct 1 or 2 covers it, and when a job of ours needs a permit, we handle the paperwork and inspections.

You might, because the city has an Excavation Permit Application for anyone planning to excavate or do significant digging inside city limits. A footing for a block wall or a full dig-out for a paver driveway is the kind of digging to ask about, so we sort it out with the city before the first shovel goes in.

Your price comes down to the size of the job, how much old brick, mortar or base has to come out, how hard your brick is to match and the materials you pick, and I give you that number at the estimate visit. When a city permit is needed, the building permit fee is figured per square foot of the work, a re-inspection starts at $50.00, and the residential Working Clearance after 90% completion is $150.00.

Use the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation's online license search, which shows whether a person or business holds a current license the department issues, such as for electrical or air conditioning work. That matters on a job like an outdoor kitchen with wiring, because an electrical contractor in Texas has to employ a licensed master electrician and carry at least $300,000 per occurrence and $600,000 aggregate in liability coverage. In San Juan, subcontractors can also register with the city's Planning & Zoning office, and that registration is free.

Usually it's storm water that can't drain into the street system fast enough, and Hidalgo County's drainage district says that's how many homes in the county flood, often from sources the flood maps don't show. On our jobs that means sloping walks, patios and driveways away from your walls, and keeping weep holes, the small gaps at the bottom of a brick wall that let water out, open instead of mortared shut.

Yes, because Hidalgo County and the incorporated cities in it take part in the National Flood Insurance Program, so anyone living in a participating community can buy a policy. That's worth knowing on a flat lot, since the ponding above isn't limited to the mapped flood zones, and good grading on your masonry keeps everyday storm water off your walls but doesn't replace insurance.