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Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Harmony versus dissonance

I entered the masonry industry while I was still the owner of a roofing company. I couldn’t believe how ugly the majority of repointing projects getting done around Toronto at the time were.
At times, the work wasn’t too badly done, but the repair was still “visible”.
I made an effort from the onset to produce nicer-looking work than most of what I was observing being done.
I heard it being said one day that a percentage of customers wished that tuckpointing work could somehow be blended so well that it would in fact become “invisible”. That set off a light bulb to ignite in my head and I knew right then and there that I could be the one who would figure it out. That took some doing, obviously, but I got there and so Invisible Tuckpointing Ltd. became the one company that could and can be counted upon to deliver a real match every single time.
Promising that the replacement mortar would match the original to the point of customer elation was most always adding pressure to my life, but it kept me on my toes and forced me to continually challenge myself.
Came a point, though, when the endeavor crossed over into the field of the arts and the objective became to produce a result so harmonious that it could be considered a form of artistic expression, much like a musical composition, a play, a novel, etc. would.
This year so far has been particularly artful. I’ve just finished my third facade restoration of the season and I feel as though I’ve just completed three highly satisfactory (to me) paintings.
I love the creativity element of this line of work.