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For the past 13 years, Merchantville, N.J.-based Masonry Preservation Group has provided masonry and concrete restoration and preservation services to the Northeast region. It is currently working on the Alden Park apartments in Philadelphia, the largest residential property listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The company is working with LeClere Associates Arch­itects PC on the final year of this four-year restoration project.  CEO Brent Schopfel shared details of the project and insight into his company with Construction Today.

Construction Today: What are some recent company developments?

Brent Schopfel: We’re having an ex­cellent year because many of our current projects are the result of returning satisfied clients. We maintain a strong marketing program that supplements our strong client base.

We don’t try to cater to the world – we seek out specific markets and clients. We approach each client as if they were a partner in solving a problem.  We expect our solutions to provide long-term solutions and serviceability for our clients.

For example, during the development of phase one at Al­den Park, our field and senior management people held meetings with the client. This combined effort produced a prioritized plan that met all the owner’s milestones and still provided a realistic construction timeline.

CT: How is Alden Park unique?

BS: While Alden Park is a significant project, it only represents a portion of what MPG accomplishes in Philadel­phia. What Alden Park does is represent a cross-section of the many services we provide to the region.

CT: What kind of work did you do for this project?

BS: We worked on a range of services, including:

• Cast stone header and sill replacement
• Brick wall patch/repair/rebuild
• Wall anchor repairs
• Brick masonry re-pointing
• Stair tower repair
• Crack repair
• Apply sealants
• Painting
• Glazing
• Lintel replacement
• Concrete column repair

CT: What distinguishes your company’s work from others? We satisfy our customers’ needs with cost-effective, high quality, safely executed plans that stress sensitivity to client operations.

We are a union firm. Most senior field technicians and craftsmen have been with us 20-plus years. There is a close hand-in-hand working relationship with the management – though it’s not a family business per se, it is a family business mentality.

CT: How is the market changing?
BS: We’re into a recession and the bottom line is many of my competitors are struggling. We are very fortunate not to be in that position. MPG has more work because a significant portion of our current projects is contracts from repeat, satisfied customers. We also take the time to project future requirements for custom­ers so they can develop short and long-term, realistic plans.

This year we haven’t been seeking work as much as work is seeking us. Mainly be­cause of satisfied customer referrals, cust­omers are contacting us.

Customer re­quests in January, Febr­uary and March set the schedule for the rest of the year. We were almost overwhelmed by re­quests this year. Once the leads are pro­cessed, we made sure experienced estimators reviewed the projects with the potential clients in person.   

CT: How would you describe your re­lationships with subcontractors?
BS: [It is] very good. We have a strong subcontractor base. One of the philosophies we hold is that our management is involved at all times and there is no disconnect between the office and field.
    
Award?Winner
Masonry Preservation Group projects have re­ceived a number of awards since its 1985 inception, including the following in the past five years:

• The 2007 Philadelphia Historic Com­m­ission Award for Fairmount Park Water Works South Garden and Cliffside Path Restoration;
• The 2007 Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia Preservation; Ach­ievement Award for the Union League
• The 2007 Victorian Society of America Preservation Award for Union League;
• The 2006 GBCA Construction Excellence Award for the Union League;The 2006 New Jersey Historic Pres­ervation Award for Smithville Houses 6 and 7;
• The 2006 Mason Contractors Assoc­iat­ion of America International Excell­ence in Masonry Award for Rehab/­Res­toration on the Princeton University Chapel;
• The 2004 Tucker Design Award for the Princeton University Chapel, sponsored by the Building Stone Institute;
• The 2004 Construction Excellence Aw­ard for The Best Historic Restoration for Holly Bush at Rowan;
• The 2004 Concrete Restoration/Rehab­ilitation Award for Uni­versity of Pennsyl­vania Museum Garage Lot No. 7; and
• The 2003 Historic Preservation Aw­ard for Packer Chapel at Lehigh Uni­versity.