[coaster123]

Two contractors will point their fingers at each other if something goes wrong. But it will be you left with a costly problem. Find someone licensed and insured who can do the full job.

[plain talk]

What coaster123 said

[amihow]

Find someone licensed and insured who can do the full job.
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Only way to go. Licensed and bonded. They write a proposal which you can fine tune. You will be asking for trouble big time way you presented your alternatives.

[SteveH]

I can’t find one person to do it all.

first, I restricted myself to licensed contractors. that weeded out most of the respondents and their bids from my consideration.

second, apparently masonry is a lost trade in the san Francisco bay area. residential homes have been constructed without brick fireplaces (so I have been told) for this reason since the late 1970s. given this I consider myself fortunate to find any licensed contractor willing to do masonry at all.

so I feel that I am compelled to do a two contractor job or else be prepared to pay an order of magnitude more for the same job just to have a contractor whose sole job is to administrate the other two guys, and this seems cost prohibitive (if I can find anyone at all to perform such a thankless task).

thanks anyways for the input.