J. Brick Paving & Landscaping (Literally) Saved My Home!

Javier Huerta, owner of J. Brick Paving & Landscaping, came from humble beginnings. His parents raised him and his siblings by teaching them that honesty, integrity and hard work are the essential foundations for success. Not only in business, but in life. Javier learned at an early age that how you live day-to-day will translate in all areas of your life.

Fast forward to today and Javier is now a proud father, husband and owner of Lake County’s premier brick paving and landscaping business in the region. The lessons imparted to him as a young boy carried over to all areas of his life. Customers like me have worked with Javier for the 22+years after J. Brick hung up their shingle and began attracting customers in Beach Park (where the company started), Libertyville, Lake Mudelein, Lake Forest, Lake Bluff, Lincolnshire, Vernon Hills, Highland Park, Winnetka, Glencoe, Northfield, Glenview and much more.

When I initially purchased my home in Libertyville 12 and a half year’s ago, it was anything but turn-key. My walkway, porch, back “deck” and driveway were all made of concrete that had seen better days – in a word, it was ugly, outdated and destroying any curb appeal. Furthermore, the previous owner had not been forthright in their disclosures and hadn’t revealed that due to the outdated concrete that was slanted in the wrong direction, whenever a major rain storm came, my home was a sitting duck for potential water challenges from all of my neighbor’s pathways behind me.
We’d just moved in and needless to say, we needed a smart, practical solution and we needed it quickly and efficiently.

Enter Javier and his team at J. Brick: Within hours, Javier brought his business partner Jesus over and they evaluated my home and communicated exactly what was needed to provide comprehensive solutions that would improve the existing structure, while dramatically amping up and improving its curb appeal ten-fold. Their approach was to cure my home's ills beginning from the outside in and take it from there.

First, they added drain tile to the front, back and sides of my one-third acre, something that the previous owners had neglected to do. The next goal (and most important) was to change/alter the trajectory of any storm or rainwater so that it wouldn’t pitch in the wrong direction towards the front or back of my exterior, thereby increasing the odds of receiving water or worse, flooding in the basement. Javier and his crew painstakingly removed the old concrete and after clearing any remaining debris, built a beautiful porch, walkway and back deck using multicolored brick pavers.

I’m not kidding when I tell you that within a matter of two or three work days, after adding the drain tiles, exterior drains (in the backyard), drain tiles accompanied by the proper piping and re-paving the front and back walkway areas with the colored paver bricks, the transformation was so stunning that it took my recent home purchase from a house with good bones to a contemporary living space that elicited complements from my close friends and family members. Suddenly, my house went from old and tired to a clean, contemporary appearance that visitors were complimenting me on.

Most importantly, Javier and J. Brick took ownership of my goals by both protecting and beautifying my house, while transforming it into a home within a few days – simply incredible. I was so impressed by Javier’s work that my next move was to completely overhaul the outdated basement that stylistically had seen better days. Javier expressed his appreciation by personally retiling the entire basement himself! To give you an idea of how big of a task I’m talking about, try imagining retiling a basement that’s so large that the square footage matches the entire square footage of the upstairs living area. Not only did Javier take it upon himself to retile both the huge recreation room, but he also retiled the laundry area and converted it into a utility room, while adding a gorgeous white peg board so my son could work on school and art projects in the newly transformed work space. Really impressive.

Finally, over time, the 3-season room had recently developed dangerous cracked tiles in the first section of the front entrance walkway when first entering the room. Needless to say, my outstanding realtor David Schwartz, from Baird & Warner and his lovely wife Meghan, who dabbles in brilliant interior design came up with a workable solution: What if Javier were to remove the cracked tiles and replace them with the beautiful black and white ceramic tile scheme in the entranceway with the intention of creating continuity (akin to a sneak preview of what’s to come in the basement)?
Once again, Javier, always open to exciting, think-outside-the-box creative solutions responded by saying “I’m always open to new ideas that will improve the functionality of your home, while simultaneously making it safer. We can have some fun with David and Meghan’s suggestion!”

I highly recommend Javier Huerta’s J. Brick Paver & Landscaping to customers throughout Lake County and The North Shore.

Javier’s work is meticulously overseen personally by the owner himself – he’s hands-on, “can-do” and gets right in there with his crew to ensure an outstanding transformative result that will not only get your house noticed through increased curb appeal but also increase the overall value of your property. Take it from me. I’m not just a journalist, I’m a customer, just like you. When it comes to Pride of Ownership, I take great pleasure in knowing that trusted contractors like Javier, Jesus and the rest of the team at J. Brick Paving & Landscaping care as much about getting me a great result as I do – perhaps even more, since they’re doing the work.

To contact J. Brick Paver & Landscaping, call or text 647-249-5338 directly or email Javier at: www.jbrick.net You’ll be really happy you did.