Lake County Flooring

I noticed that this company was in my neighborhood, so I called with the hopes that they would take my little job and squeeze me into their schedule. I spoke with the owner (Nebojsa) and he kindly agreed to come over and look at the job. I knew that it would be best to have the entire room refinished, but unfortunately I just could not afford it. Nebojsa agreed to do his best to try and remove the stain and try to blend it in with the existing floor. This was no easy task. I had already bleached it a lot and there were several different areas of discoloration. He scraped, sanded, bleached, re-bleached, sanded some more , stained, re-stained, and varnished the floor. He came beck several times each day to do each subsequent step. With all those trips he could have easily charged more, but he was an honest guy (a hard quality to find in tradespeople these days) and stuck to his price, which was very reasonable considering all of the trips he made. Yes, it certainly helped that we lived close by, but Nebojsa went above and beyond the norm in trying to fix my floor. What I liked most about him was that he carefully explained every step and was honest about what I could expect. Again, I just wanted it to look better until I could afford to do the entire floor. At that point in time I would hire Kovach Flooring without reservation. It was quite refreshing to meet and work with a person who is not only polite, but very honest and professional. I can't say enough positive things about Nebojsa. I look forward to working with him again in the future!

New flooring match perfectly with the existing red oak flooring. Very pleasant to work with.

I wish there was an A+ grade on here. Nebosja was awesome! Out of the other contractors I called for quotes, he was the only one to speak to me respectfully and honestly. The other companies either rushed me off the phone or didn't try to answer my questions. We initially set up a date for him to install the floor, but we gave him the wrong information and he was unable to complete the install on the date we had set up. Instead, he and one other gentleman came out to our house to install the floor on a Saturday. They arrived early, were very efficient, and charged us less than our original quote. We had an excellent experience with this company and would definitely use them again in the future.

Nebojsa was very nice, professional and punctual. He was knowledgeable about my different options for flooring and helpful in guiding my decision making process. As it turns out, my contractor has his own flooring people, but I would not have hesitated to have hired Kovach Flooring otherwise.

This project went very well, and we are extremely happy with the results. My wife and I started identifying contractors in late April/early May and obtained a number of proposals. Although Kovach was neither the most nor least expensive of the proposals we received, we were impressed with the thoroughness of the site review and proposal, which we accepted in mid-May. Kovach was very flexible with scheduling the job, which we started in mid-June. They were also extremely flexible with the execution. This required two phases to accommodate some additional painting work we performed ourselves and allowed us to store all of the furniture in one room while the floor work was performed in other rooms, and requiring Kovach to circle back to complete the "storage" room. It also required Kovach to accommodate some of our travel plans which could not be changed. Everything about the job was performed in a professional manner, and Nebojsa, the owner, bent over backward to ensure we were pleased. This even included a mid-project change order, when we decided to go from natural to stained floors, which added two days to the total project and which undoubtedly impacted Kovach's resources and scheduling. However, the change was implemented without any fuss by the professionals at Kovach. Extras, such as old carpet and padding disposal, furniture moving, and custom maple transition pieces, were included and treated as simply part of the quality process observed by the company. In addition, two portions of old flooring which had some water damage were saved by Kovach at no charge. This extra attention, although costing Kovach additional time and materials, saved us a significant amount of expense which might have been incurred, if the solution had been to replace the wood in the damaged areas. The work was performed by Nebojsa, his father, and three other employees, all of whom were professional and meticulous in their work. Nebojsa communicated clearly and in a timely manner to make sure we understood the work to be performed, what steps were next, and what to expect in the process. The steps performed as part of the floor finishing process clearly demonstrated Kovach's emphasis on quality over shortcuts. The sanding process was meticulous with multiple passes with different sandpaper grits, and wall edges sanded manually. The staining process was a combination of manual and machine application, and additional steps to ensure color uniformity, to the extent possible with a tight-grained wood like maple, required secondary applications in some limited areas. Again, Kovach treated this extra attention as just part of their quality process. The Synteco application was also very professional with attention to the quality of the end result. Since I am not sure if this application process is proprietary, I will not describe it, but the results were fantastic and significantly more uniform and smooth than the results of other flooring projects I have seen from other contractors. As we continue with our next set of home projects, we will definitely use Kovach for our hardwood floors.

I simply could not wait to post this rave review! Nebojsa and his entire team at Kovach have been absolutely incredible to work with! I got 3 estimates from different flooring vendors - and from the first moment - Kovach stood out. Nebojsa was prompt, friendly and very professional. He was also the most efficient at providing an estimate (and a thorough and polished one at that!). Kovach's price was competitive and I hire them quickly to ensure my dates were on their calendar. I had never redone floors this dark -- so I needed some help/input. Nebojsa supplied me with several examples of stain, gave me excellent guidance and responded to my feedback very quickly. The job itself went very smoothly and the entire Kovach team paid attention to the smallest detail to ensure the floors came out great! Everyone truly went above and beyond the call of duty to get the job done perfectly. Nebojsa was very honest and open with any timing issues or stain application or drying needs ... and worked with me to accommodate our movers, etc. He is just the BEST to work with!! I have recommended Kovach to friends -- and they just worked with him as well. They were VERY happy with his work and have also referred him to others. If you want top-notch work -- go with Kovach Flooring!

From start to finish, Nebojsa was the ultimate professional who along with his father and fellow workers are highly skilled craftsmen. Even when working through the initial estimate, they were highly detailed with incredible precision. The crew from Kovach arrived promptly every morning and sometimes stayed late into the night to make sure that every square inch was perfectly sanded, stained, and finished. He walked us through all of the different color options and even worked through the process of choosing what was right for our project. I cannot recommend Kovach enough.

We decided to replace our carpet with hardwood and went to Kovach to explore options. They were extremely helpful in walking us through different samples, explaining differences in wood qualities and finishes along with costs. They did not try to steer us to higher priced options - just laid them all out and helped us understand what types would best fit different rooms / traffic patterns. We knew going in that our subflooring might have patches of rot that had to be dealt with. Unfortunately there was more than we anticipated. The installer was not phased by this at all - he redid all the plywood that needed replacing. When the subfloor was done, the hardwood installation went quickly and proceeded very efficiently. The team was very careful - they cleaned up any dust/mess at the end of each day. They were really nice people. The only problem we had was one I caused myself - I managed to scratch part of the floor when putting the furniture back! Since we had purchased pre-finished hardwood, they were able to come back and replace the scratched boards with some of the extra material. They did this right away, and again, were great about the whole thing.

Absolutely incredible results! The floor is a work of art. The layout of the strips and finishing brought out the dramatic grain contrasts while also highlighting the subtle color variations inherent in the red oak. Everything was fit together with skill and the final result is unspeakably beautiful! Getting to this wonderful result entailed an eight-day epic effort from the Kovach team. Nebojsa handles the business end and also worked many days on the job. His bid was very competitive, his manner was relaxed and friendly. He was easy to contact by phone with our numerous questions. We scheduled the job for several weeks out due to his busy schedule. The job started with Marizio, Nebojsa's helper, pulling out nasty carpeting and thousands of staples from 3 upstairs bedrooms, long hallway, and stairs. After a day of this fun, we discovered a layer of hardboard underlayment, which Nebojsa strongly recommended removing. We heeded his advice and Marizio had another backbreaking day pulling out hardboard and thousands more staples. The installation started on the third day and Rod, Nebojsa's father, and master craftsman joined Marizio in laying out paper underlayment and chasing of a few dozen annoying squeaks from the existing plywood subfloor. They endlessly danced and hopped around on the old subfloor and attacked any squeaks with a heavy duty nail gun. We were glad we heeded Nebojsa's advice to remove the hardwood underlayment since it allowed the team to better re-secure the plywood subfloor by directly nailing into the floor joists. Rod proudly invited us to jump on the subfloor to demonstrate how well they had secured the subfloor even before the first strip of flooring was laid. With the subfloor squeeks silenced, Rod carefully laid out the critical starting strips right down the main hall into the master bedroom. Rod showed great pride in his work and took the time to carefully fit strips in to 7 smaller closets and custom cut the treads and risers for the main stairs. We nicknamed him the "wood whisperer" in deference to his patient craftsmanship and "old school" way of doing things right. Noise from the air compressor and power staple guns reverberated throughout the house, often chasing us to the relative quiet of the outdoors or the basement. By the end of the fifth day, most of the flooring was installed and the parts for the stairs and trim pre-finished in our garage. With the new flooring in place, the team spent the final 3 of 8 days staining and finishing. Nebojsa helped us pick out our finish by staining actual sections of the new floor. He carefully pointed out how different stains brought out various aspects of the red oak such as the grain contrast and more subtle color tints which varied from strip to strip. After the stain, the team applied 3 coats of Synteko acid-cure Swedish finish. We opted for the Swedish finish based on Nebojsa recommendation for it's durability and it's overal reputation for both strength and appearance. The fumes were extremely strong during the application. We are glad we did this when all the windows could remain open for several days. We would not recommend staying during the application due to the noxious fumes. Even after the initial several hours drying, we could not tolerant the remaining fumes unless the windows were open. Fortunately, the strongest fumes subsided after 2-3 days and there remained only a hint of odor even with the windows closed. Given the beautiful result, we are glad to have selected the Swedish finish, but remind others to plan for several days worth of fumes and odor. In the end, this has been a long, loud, and somewhat expensive journey, but we are delighted with the results. Nebojsa, Rod, and Marizio are extremely skillful, hard-working, and just plain decent people. Working with Kovach has been one of our best and most rewarding experiences with any contractor. Highly recommended!!

It went very badly. The original parquet which they sanded and refinished looks like a washboard and the finish is striped. One of the rooms they did three times; on the third attempt, they left drips of finish that I worked on for several hours because we didn't have any confidence that it would be better if they did that room a fourth time. The parquet is delaminating from the subfloor they installed. We informed them in March of the problem and told them that, if the parquet continued delaminating, we would need them to come back. The delamination continued. Phone calls to Nebojsa were unanswered. Finally, on May 24, Nebojsa sent his Dad to remove some of the pieces of parquet and to glue and screw the subfloor into the concrete underneath. He said that his son would call to let us know when they were coming back. On June 3, I called Nebojsa and he said that he would come the following day. He came, but he didn't do anything but look at the problem. Follow-up phone calls to him were not answered. We now have a parquet floor with chunks of parquet missing. Nebojsa has said he will do nothing more and has invited us to sue him. The day my review was posted, Nebojsa telephoned and threatened to place a lien on the house; he offered that he "might" not place the lien if the review were taken down. Update 1/20/2014: Our dispute with Kovach Flooring has been fairly settled.

We used Kovach Construction for the installation of Bamboo flooring that we purchased. Although it was rough going since the product was so hard, they found a way to install it. Throughout the process we were kept informed. Their price was the best. Their main installer Nick was a professional who knew his trade. The owner and son were absolutely wonderful to work with offering suggestions for improvement that we would not have thought. The end result was beautiful. The entire process went off without a hitch. I would not hesitate recommending or using them again. They are professional, courteous, talented and all in all one doesn't need to shop around, just call Kovach; you won't be disappointed.

AMAZING!!!!! I LOVE the job that Kovach flooring performed on my dingy, old, worn out floors. My living room hardwood floor was in such bad shape, I didn't think it could be helped. Nebojsa came out promptly and gave me a very reasonable estimate, 50% below the other 2 companies I had come out to my home. He was very honest telling me that my front door could not be refinished unlike what the other 2 said. Even though I live on the Southwest side of Chicago and he is located in Morton Grove there was no extra fee or travel fees. I will only use Kovach for future work & will tell all of my friends and family about what a great job they have done. USE KOVACH FLOORING YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!!!!

I was pleased throughout the process with the professionalism and workmanship of Nebojsa, his father, and their long-time colleague. The three all clearly know their craft and take pride in their work. I chose them because it was a small company, without overhires, and because their price was competitive. There was some problem-solving along the way, as with any old house, and both Nebojsa and his father offered good solutions. In the bedroom where the wall-to-wall carpet was pulled up, the flooring had previously been badly sanded--almost gouged out around its perimeter. Nebojsa pointed out the problem once it was discovered, and said they'd do their best to level off the wood in their sanding--which they did, flawlessly. There was a minimum of dust in adjacent areas--less than I anticipated, for sure. And the job took pretty much the amount of time that they estimated from the start. I would recommend their work without hesitation!

Outstanding - Kovach is an A+ company...no need to shop around as they are professional, knowledgable, punctual, honest, and their price is very fair. My wife and I couldn't be happier with the work that they did to our kitchen. Thank you!

Overall, an excellent experience. One person, Nebojsa, did both the estimate and supervised the work. He was on time and everything went as he said it would. The floor looks excellent and we haven't had any problems with it. He was willing to move around some furniture because we used a pre-finished floor product. The detail work at the basement stair nose is great and also the transitions to the other floors were well done. I highly recommend this company.

The whole experience went great! They were able to give me a quote right away and they started the job about a week or so later. They did an awesome job, The floors look awesome and because of the fact that they know what they are doing and they use high quality material the floor is very very durable/will not scratch very easily. They are super nice people and it is obvoius by their work that they know what they are doing/are the best in the business. Looking forward to using their services in the future as well as looking forward to providing them with a lot of referrals.

Very professional. They showed up everyday at 8am. The installation of flooring was perfectly matched to top of stairs and other rooms. They fashioned thresholds to match the flooring. Best thing I can say was that when there was a problem, we called and they immediately said "no problem, we'll take care of it". I think that shows the true quality of a contractor, how they respond when there's a problem. Can't say enough about how happy we were with the whole experience.

There was some significant water damage to the floors and Nebojsa came out and performed work to help determine which floor boards could be saved (saving me significant dollars). We wanted to do much of the removal ourselves to save even more money. So Nebojsa and his father (family run business) came out to help with the removal before we even had a signed contract. Overall, the experience was great and I learned a lot from the father/son team. I have since recommended them to numerous friends/coworkers who have already used him.

They did a great job with restoring my flooring.

Project involved highly used rooms - a kitchen with an 75 old pine floor, a den, and a hallway that provides access to all the other rooms in the house as well as the back door. I needed to find a color that would blend into old and new areas. Plus I needed it done quickly, as we were remaining on the premises and have pets. These guys were terrific. All unused rooms, and kitchen cabinets and appliances were well sealed and covered with plastic. They made suggestions and patiently worked with me to find the right color; refurbished some old thresholds; were willing to move the refrigerator around in the kitchen, which made their job harder but my life easier. Despite a delay that was due to my work schedule, they still delivered a top notch job in a timely fashion. My extremely worn out floors are now absolutely beautiful. They are true professionals who take pride in their craft and are a pleasure to work with. I would highly recommend them to anyone. My best experience with any type of contractor to date.

They told me what would be done everyday and they were on schedule.

He was very honest, knowledgable and sincere. He told us to give it time and that perhaps the wood would return back to normal. He charged us nothing for his time and expertise. We will definitely be calling him back for any work we may need in the future.

This has to have been one of my top contractor experiences. The younger Kovach, who does the sales, is timely, responsive and professional. He is also a very nice person to work with. He was on the job with his father, and so we didn't have the sales/installation disconnects that happen so often with contractors. The work started and ended on time. They were clean, courteous and conferred with me extensively on things that mattered to me. My house was left in good condition every night. And the work is fantastic! I can't say enough about this--I am very particular about craftsmanship. The senior Kovach is an excellent craftsman and was exceptional at problem-solving conditions like how to frame the fireplace hearth and how to deal with the slight height difference between the new flooring (which raised the floor height) and the built-in bookcase. I feel that Kovach went out of their way to make both the experience and the workmanship the best it could be. They offered to help me move heavy furniture back into the room so that I wouldn't scratch the floors. They were patient as I dithered about color, and custom-mixed one shade to see if I'd like it better. They rescheduled the third coat of varnish so that we would be out of the house and limit our exposure to the fumes. Kovach was the highest of my three bids, but I chose them because the companies that gave the lower bids did not give me the sense of involvement and commitment that I got from Kovach on day one. The senior Kovach is clearly an experienced craftsman, not a "floor guy." He's capable of more complex and intricate work than my job. But he still took my job seriously and put in those extra finishing touches that make my house look fantastic.

it may take awhile to get your work done, but it's well worth the wait. very satisfied with the professional quality of the work, and they always returned your calls and e-mails promptly. if you're looking for a good, reasonable and reliable floor installation stop right now and hire these guys. you won't be dissappointed.

We told them our budget and they figured out a way to make that work. We ripped the original flooring out ourselves to save a little money. They were professional, punctual, and did a really nice job with the floors.