Giertsen Company

Repairs were done to a damaged garaged door and frame, including replacing siding. Bob was very responsive and helpful. He outlined clearly the work to be done and the work schedule. We had numerous questions and concerns about selecting the right garage door and Bob answered all our questions quickly. The work was done over two days and the contractors were friendly, helpful and on time! Couldn't have asked for better service!

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They were professional contractors and they stand behind their work. We still have some extensions coming on downspouts that didn't make it in until the snow covered it all up and they insisted we withhold payment until the work was done. I would gladly use this company again and probably will very soon for some other work.

They move fast, maybe too fast to be detailed oriented.

There is soo much that happened that I will try to keep it down:
At first, they were very helpful and very friendly.  Then as soon as they got our contents (furniture, clothes and electronics), they were slow to follow through with requests  We asked several times for a project schedule, before we received one; I tried to sign up for their service online to track the project, I told the Estimator / design specialist - John Klimmek - that I needed some info from his company to be able to sign up.  I never received any information to sign up after my conversation with him.  I asked for some books that they had in storage and when I got them, they wreaked of smoke for a week.  I realized later that they never cleaned them properly, after I had removed my stuff from their company to another Restoration company (I had requested some books from the new company, and I did not smell smoke AT ALL once I received the items). 
The Contents Manager - Brenda Gonzales - was difficult to deal with.  After I requested to have some items pulled, she told me that it would cost me to do it.  I asked her what is the cost? (via email)  She never responded.  Because she did not respond, I went to the facility to find out how are things runned, that she is too busy to respond to my request.  I found out that they were not plannning on cleaning my contents until August 2013.  That is the month we were to move into our house.  The fire was in April 2013! 
That was unacceptable to me, so I found another company.  I called Brenda the day before the moving company said they could pick up my stuff from Giertsen, and asked her what time would be best, she gave me 7:30 AM.  She lied to John Klimmek - the Estimator guy and told him,  I called and told her I was coming at 7:30 AM to get my stuff.  That set him off and the Owner to the point they were very adversarial with me when I came in the next day to get my stuff (the Owner wasn't there, John kept referring to what the Owner said to him).  I felt like I may need to call the police or call the local news in order to get my stuff. 
Now in regards to Brenda lying...I gathered she lied to John, when John kept saying to me, "Do you want me to get Brenda!!!  Do you want me to get Brenda!!!" as if I was scared of her. Brenda and John quieted down when I explained to him in front of Brenda that I called her, and asked her what time was good for her to to do the pick up.  I didn't TELL her the time I was going to be there - I was courteous to consider their business day.  I told John the day before about the move and said I didn't want any delays, if you have anything for me to sign or any questions let me know in advance, because I am being charged by the hour for the movers.  He did no such thing.  We were charged an additional hour for his delay and yelling - so unprofessional.
When I left their building, John and I agreed that they could go back into our house and take down the nails ONLY, since that was included in the price for taking down the drywall, per John.  There was insulation still up and nails left in all the frames.  When we went into the house a couple of days later, they took down the insulation, as well as the nails AND the whisper paper.  I was HOT!  I had made arrangements for another contractor to finish the work they did not do.  PLUS!!!!  They took the lock off our house and left it unsecured!!  They then charged us for the lock they took!
John was being difficult with sending me the invoice until I told him we were not authorizing our Insurance to pay them until we went over the invoice.  We discovered that they were trying to steal approximately $8,000+ from us!!!!  Someone from Giertsen gave an abatement company the square footage for our basement, as the square footage for our kitchen.  The kitchen is not even 1/4 size of the basement.  Giertsen charged us $5,441 to abate the kitchen, that the insurance company authorized $1,200+ to abate in the basement (hope that makes sense).  Giertsen never intended to use that company, and they didn't remove the mastic in either spaces; that was part of the abatement process outlined in our estimate from the adjuster.  As the homeowner, we should have been informed of the decision to not take the mastic out, so we could use that money in other places. After seeing the charge on the invoice, it was clear they were never intending on telling us - they were planning on pocketing the money.
Also on the invoice, John charged us for 9 vaults for storage, when we only had 4 vaults.  They had our stuff only for a month it should have been $600 for storage, not $1,200.   I don't trust this company what so ever.  We would not allow our bank to pay them until we got the invoice down to where we were okay ( I am still not okay with it, but there is two of us and we have to agree).  It took a couple of months to finally get to that number. 
We were informed that they broke one of our items and the item was still in their possession, AFTER our stuff was removed from their facilities, and AFTER I started to inquire about items that were on the invoice.  No one told us the item was broke, and it seemed as if they were not planning on telling me either.
Several contractors commented that the job they did was shoddy and unacceptable as they walked through our house.  During my research on the items on the invoice, I discovered they had several violations for doing abatement when they were not licensed.  They are licensed to do it now, but I don't trust they do it correctly, because of how they did our house.
There is more, I think the details above says much about the trustworthiness of the company.  I do have documents and pictures to prove my statements above.  They are being provided to the appropriate authorities for further investigation.
The only good I can say is the man we dealt with on boarding up our house.  He was the reason we signed up with Giertsen, but after I met John Klimmek, I had a funny feeling about him...and I was right.  Listen to your instincts.

We were out of town during the issue and Giertsen went above and beyond to make us feel comfortable during the process. They kept us up to date, helped guide us through the process and handled subcontracting out replacing the drywall. They were so responsive to make sure that the damage was remedied in our home immediately. My only complaint was that coordinating the subcontractor got a little out of hand and delayed because it was such a busy winter in MN that year due to all of the ice dams. However, I would definitely recommend them and their work. I always felt completely comfortable with this vendor and during something so devastating is definitely a must.

Giertsen's were great! The estimator explained very thoroughly what to expect and how the job would be performed. They arrived when they said they would arrive. They addressed all my questions and offered suggestions of improvements I could make on my garage without too much out of pocket expense. All employees were polite and courteous. Because they needed to get power from the house, I needed to supply a key for access, they were in and out without disruption. I have 2 dogs and they even worked well with them. The actual construction stayed on schedule and they finished earlier than expected. I felt comfortable dealing with Giertsen and as a woman did not feel intimidated or pressured into additional costs.

Thank You Giertsen!!

Without a lot of repeating of the above, we had called several storm and water clean up specialists and Giertsen's was the quickest to respond, most helpful before even getting here, and good communication throughout the whole process of our clean-up. We feel they minimized the personal property damage and helped us quickly to get things drying out.  The people on-site were very friendly and respectful of our belongings and careful with what they handled.  They clearly knew what they were doing and got straight to work --knew what mattered and what would be relevant for our insurance claim. Dealing with all of this could have been overwhelming but it was actually pleasant working with the team and being able to sort thru stuff as they were hauling things away to the garage.  We could designate what to try to save and what to throw away.  They had recommendations of taking photos of about everything to save for the insurance claim/ adjustor when they come out to survey the damage/claim. It was great to know that after one day the basement was on its way towards being restored. Monitoring and drying was the next step and they knew that part of the business well. The billing worked out just as we expected and the charges were what was contracted for. The insurance adjustor came a week later and not within days of the storm as I thought --there would but no issues as he could work through an estimate for us and could look at Giertsen's work and contract and know it would all be covered.  Next step repair and refinishing and hope to be in contact with the team at Giertsen's soon.

We experienced a devastating fire during the spring of 2010
at The Observatory Apartments in Burnsville, MN and Giertsen was on the scene
within an hour. That team responded brilliantly to our need, going above and
beyond and even helping our individual residents recover personal items from
their homes.
We have called on Giertsen many times for routine projects
such as mold remediation and water intrusion, and you have consistently
provided us with sound advice and professional service. That kind of
consistency can be hard to find in today's market and that consistency is why
we have come back to you time and time again. Each of your staff members has
been a delight to work with, and we are very appreciative of their
attentiveness and professionalism. We have called your team in for countless
projects and whether those projects have been here in Minneapolis or in one of
our other markets (Iowa, Nebraska - you name it!), you have delivered
exceptional results.

Walls were cleaned and repainted in some areas. In the areas where reconstruction was done the drywall was all seamed very neatly and professionally painted.  The team were all friendly and were very responsive with questions throughout the process.
The work was done in a very timely manner. The finished product was better looking than before the fire. They communicated well through every step of the process.
I would recommend them!

The whole team of people that came out were wonderful, knowledgeable, and gave us honest answers. Their work on both floors of the house, 2 walls and the ceiling were impeccable! I would call Giertsen Company in a heart beat if I needed work done again. Thanks Giertsen!!

I hired Giertsen Company after my dishwasher broke and flooded a condo I rent out and the condo below that unit. 
Giertsen Company responded within an hour to dry the water damage. My renter was very happy with how prompt, professional, courteous and careful their employees were. 
Giertsen Company worked with my insurance company to make sure all repairs were covered. 
The flooring installer was also very kind and professional. 
The condo now looks better than it did before the damage. 
All work was completed quickly and was quality work.

The work and materials were top notch! Todd's team were a joy to work with - happy to answer questions and explain the process. It was clear that everyone cared about doing great work and making sure we were happy with the end product. We would recommend any of the fine craftsmen who repaired our home. State Farm posed some serious challenges in this process - months and months of low balling the estimate, multiple adjustors and just no response. Todd made sure the critical work kept moving while navigating the insurance obstacles. If any issues came up Todd was honest, owning up to any mistakes and accommodating. Finally the insurance process is done! I am so thankful for the great work, patience and professionalism of this group in a time of high stress. Thank you Giertsen for everything!!!!

The main problem with the company appears to be structural, although the quality of the workmanship was also very low. The company assigns a different person or team to do every aspect of the job, no matter how small. One person prepares the estimate. Another is assigned as your manager. One worker, selected by the manager, guts; another plasters; and other paints; another tiles, and someone else does the window. And there is no communication among the members of these teams, or between the manager and the workers. And it is impossible to talk to anyone who knows anything about what is happening. You call one person to ask about a question, and he tells you to call the other guy. It was a mess. The manager appeared for a few minutes to map out the job, and then he disappeared, until after the work was done, when it was too late.
 
The biggest problem we had concerned the removal of an old and installation of a new bathroom window. First, the wrong window was ordered, but this wasn’t discovered until the worker came to put the window in, after we had waited over 30 days for the window. The worker then had to call the window-guy to come out and order another window. The window-guy had to contact the manager to find out if there was a price difference, and so on. It was a mess. But it keeps going. Once the window was installed, workers came to put a tile frame around it. (The old window was framed with wood.) The tile work was AWFUL. And no one wanted to take responsibility for it. The tile-guys blamed the manager, who blamed the tile guys. The real problem was that the manager wrote out a work order without carefully examining the window or the wall. (He spent maybe 10 minutes at our house, writing all of the orders for the entire job.) And the tile guys just followed the order. They could not recognize or accommodate any unexpected complications that were not spelled out in the order. (The wall sloped, and so the tiles were crooked and out of line.) Not until the work was done (badly) did the manager mention (or notice) the slope in the wall! And he never acknowledged that the error was his and that it was his responsibility to study the wall and determine how to best complete the work. Nor did he ever apologize. Worse, no one ever talked with us during the job about this difficulty, or how we might address it before the work was done and it was too late.They refused to refund any part of the tile work, and they wanted to charge us more to correct their errors!
 
A much more minor issues concerns the lack of professionalism. The painter was always late, seemed to be on his phone all the time, and was very slow and sloppy. One worker was always blaming the other one for forgetting to do something, and these little mistakes delayed what should have been an easy job.

It went very well. They did excellent work.

Beginning started great. They showed up immediately and secured the house. The next day the cleaners showed up to pack everything up. They didn't help me retrieve any tools or set them aside so I could retrieve them. I saw them pocket several tools from the ashes. Our 9 mm smith and wesson went missing, the cleaner they used on my leather furniture and ends tables stripped the finish. The framers didn't know how to frame. They mis-matched the crowns and I now have wavey walls. They used a high gage sand paper on mudding instead of a mesh sheet. I have scratches in my walls from sandpaper. The tiling guy didn't take up the trim or put sealant on the grout. My grout is now coming out and cracking. They left a very noticeable seem in my bathroom where the door was extended. They took out the damaged concrete from the garage but left the footings which damaged the footings and the support of the garage. They broke a glass shade for a light fixture then replaced it with one that didn't fix. One of the gutters wasn't attached to the underground spout and ran along my garage instead of under the sidewalk like it was designed. They left a 3 inch gap from the brick masonry to the front of the garage leaving a perfect breeding habitant for bats. Some of the siding wasn't locked in place and a corner was torn. They used cheaper materials then the house originally had and put in cheap brass door knobs that didn't match anything else in the house. There were nail holes in the trim. It wasn't filled or stained after the cleaner stripped the finish. All the wood finish in the house was stripped and never re-stained. The fire door was never painted and the door knob was missing a piece inside the dead bolt cut out to make the deadbolt correct. The fire door wasn't installed correctly and detaching from the frame. They couldn't match the paint exactly so instead of repainting the walls, they tried to touch them up. This left a horrible look with unmatched brush strokes. They never sealed the concrete. When I meet with KC and pointed out the problems on April 21. He never fixed the problems or contacted me about them. Then I requested Kevin and Dan on May 17, I requested an outline for the repairs to be done. This was never provided. June 28, I met with KC again to discuss the progress of the work and repairs. This went on and on until January, 3, 2005 I received a notice demanding payment. I gathered other bids from contractors to repair the work they did. It was over $14K to repair what they didn't do correctly.

They did a wonderful job. They brought the cleaning crew and cleaned every corner of our house. They painted the whole first floor and took care of our carpets, drapes, clothing and bedding. They also had a technical resource group that took all the computers, telephones, TV s, microwave, phones, lamps and everything that was electrical outside to clean it. Overall it was a pretty good practice. The head guy and his assistant were very much available to address our problems and answer our queries. They were very upfront and gave us the name, addresses and telephone number of the subcontractors so we could ask them any questions. They did the best they could. They also made the insurance people go further and cover the cleaning as well as repainting of the entire first floor.

This job went well. The estimator was professional and helpful. The project was completed in one and a half days. The work crew was really impressive. They worked their butts off for several hours, none of them seemed to pause, then they took a half an hour break for lunch and worked their butts off again. They were polite and professional, and they cleaned up decently when the job was done.

It went ok. I think the quality of the work was fine, but it took forever to finish the job. The work began a week later than scheduled, which is forgivable. We were told it would take "about a week" to do the job. We were tight on time as we were waiting for the work to be finished to put our house on the market (to sell). The project dragged on for three weeks. Giertsen used a sub for the job. Most of the time there was only one guy working. The guy was really nice, but he must have been otherwise busy.... some days he showed up and worked, other times he worked part of the day. Still other times he just didn't show up. He returned our calls if we tried to contact him, and he was honest about the reasons he wasn't working that particular day, but we wished he would've had more ambition to finish the job in a more timely fashion. We also wished that Giertsen Company would've been a little more on top of and invested in the progress.

Over a period of several months we had work done after water damage from a leak in the ice maker line. The ceiling in the lower level room was patched and replastered and painted; the dining room baseboard was replaced, the carpet was restretched, the wood trim around the doorway between the kitchen and dining room was replaced, the floors were refinished by Duane's Floor Sanding, and the carpets were cleaned and the house was cleaned as well. Giertsen was the contractor for the job and provided all but the floor refinishing services. The quality and extent of the work was excellent and truly appreciated!

They did such a great job with our roof. They ended up putting on a whole new roof due to the extent of the damage. They hauled away the old roof as well. They cleaned up very well got the job done as promptly as possible. They couldn't fix it completely in one day, but they made sure to securely cover the roof and came back to complete it to our satisfaction.