For the conservation of your home, please make sure your contractor is using lime mortar, or at least "N" mortar, which is the next harder pre-made mortar mixes. Most contractors do not and they use a mortar mix with a high Portland cement content.

Before the 20th century most masonry mortar was a "quick lime" & sand mix. It never gets extremely hard or brittle. 19th century Baltimore bricks are not hard as they were not fired in a high temp kiln. This is esp true for days when they used wood or charcoal for the fire. The result is when the bricks and mortar wet, with weather, then freeze, the Portland cement mortar does not move nor does it absorb moisture, so the water in the brick freezes and the brick crumbles.

Item 2 is the use of machines to cut out the old mortar. For the side and back of a row house they can be used with care, but the 1/8" thick facade mortar joint will be cut out and a wider gap will be seen, as well as all the mistakes in cutting with a hand held grinder. Your facade is a weak place on the house. To get that very uniform look, the original facade has no bricks turned front -back showing the narrow end to the street. This means the front row of bricks is not tied to the row behind them. When the mortar joint fails water gets in and with freezing part of the facade can fall off.

I am re-pointing the mortar joints in my basement, and have spent time looking at youtube clips about the proper manner to repoint old lime mortar. It is slow and I do about a 3' square before I tire of it. But the effort is well worth the learning curve.

Never repointed, but have been a contractor. Anything that involves a scaffold outdoors will need a permit. So if the back of your house needs a mortar refill and touch up on the second story, then yes, you'll need a permit.

A reputable contractor will pull permits for you. You shouldn't have to deal with any bureaucracy if the contractor has an mhic.

MHIC Contractor here. Not interested in your job.

Yes, you need a permit. If you read the regulations, you'll find they are super vague, and seem to say that almost any work requires a permit, which is basically the case. But of course, we live in a failed-state City, so in reality it doesn't work like that at all.

I routinely conduct business that involves plumbing, electrical, structural, HVAC,etc. without a permit, as does every other contractor in the City. The risk that by pulling permits, the City will completely fuck the project is so great that many clients prefer the risk that an inspector will somehow notice that work is under way, and put a stop work on us. I can't tell you how many interior-only jobs get permitted, but it's a tiny f'n fraction of what goes on. Basically the only time you get the City's attention on an interior job is the same way almost all other regulations get enforced in the City: solely by complaint. It's ludicrous how much power a shitfuck neighbor has in this town. My contracts for clients who don't want to pull permits state that the homeowner will pull permits according to local regulations etc, and that if a project is stopped due to failure to permit, I will cease work, remove all tools, and be paid for work to date, returning to the site only once permits have been worked out. This has never happened.

Exterior work however is a different ball game. Inspectors can see that work is under way as they drive around, and certainly do apply stop work orders to sites that don't have permits. So, for anything outside, I always pull a permit. A simple fence that could be a one day job? Permit, with the delays and costs that two inspections will introduce to the project. Window replacement--the inspectors literally don't enter the property to even look at the window, and there's nothing to actually inspect, City just gets their permit money and inspector hands you the final sticker--permit. I'm not interested in getting stop work orders so when it's exterior work, I get the permit.

In order to re-point, and remove formstone (then repoint what you uncover), you'll have to set up scaffolding. This isn't ladder work. And it's super messy...you'll be sending a plume of mortar dust into the air. It's all far too obvious to attempt without a permit.

Who should I call to repoint my rowhome. I want licensed and insured, not Uncle Donny.