RJW Stonemasons is truly a unique company, formed in 1987 by its equally unique Scots-born and trained President and General Manager, Master Mason Robert John Watt (who also happens to be a well-known traditional singer in his own right; visit www.bobbywatt.com if you're curious…). Apprenticed at age sixteen to John Thomson on the Isle of Arran, his birthplace off Scotland's beautiful west coast, Bobby arrived in Canada in 1975 with the youthful ambition of one who has twenty-one summers at his back and the tradition, history and training of six thousand years of masonry in his head, hands and heart. He has created a company to fill the gap left by almost eighty years of non-existant stonemasonry training in North America, a firm of committed and hand-picked journeymen who can tackle anything that is requested of them. Under Bobby's direction and instruction this crew has become one of the most respected teams of stonemasons and restoration masons in Canada. Bobby was instrumental in setting up the Canadian Guild of Stone and Restoration Masons as well as its training facility, the Guild Institute, in Whitby, Ontario. Over the last decade, RJW Stonemasons has been contracted to restore many important buildings in Canada, the continental United States and the Caribbean. Visit our project pages to learn more.

Bobby is now on the Board of Directors of the Stone Foundation, and is a regular contributor to Stonexus, the Stone Foundation's magazine. The Stone Foundation is an international organization based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, dedicated to the promotion of the use and mastery of stone in all its forms.

As well as his regular duties as company President, Bobby still finds time to deliver lectures to academic and trade conservation students including those at Columbia University in New York, architectural history buffs at the Ontario Science Center in Toronto, and at tradeshows, conventions, trade workshops and seminars across North America. He co-presented a six-week training program to the Heritage Masons at the Canadian government facility at Plouffe Park, Ottawa and two-day workshops at the International Preservation Trades Network held under the auspices of the APT in Maryland, as well as to the U.S. Parks Service personnel working in the Caribbean.

RJW Stonemasons is an old-fashioned company, led and nurtured by an old-fashioned stonemason who still loves working "on the tools," and does so whenever he can. The company can provide a client with services that include: building assessment, materials identification, stone sales, quarry investigation, planning, sourcing, conservation advice, onsite restoration masonry training and more to satisfy related needs. Among our crew are specialists in stonecutting and stonecarving, along with banker masons and restoration masons who are capable of performing any type of intervention that may be asked of them by an architect or conservator on any site. In 2000, our new stonecutting shop was opened in Ottawa’s west end. This shop is the center of operations for carving and stonecutting projects both in and outside of Canada.

Due to the unique nature of RJW Stonemasons' operating style and the respectful relationship that Bobby Watt has with each member of his team, they do it with a smile and a great deal of pride in who they are and what they do for a living.