Ivanov Drywall Service

He did very good job.

Finished day early

They did a great job. They were one of the only sheet rock contractors to return my call. They had very competitive pricing and accurate estimating of price and quantity of materials. Ivan was also always responsive to my calls when scheduling to do the work.

He was really busy, so it took about a week before he was able to come out. However, did a great job!

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I had a chunk of plaster ceiling fall down in my NE Minneapolis duplex right before the Thanksgiving holiday.  I called several drywall companies listed on Angie's list but there was resistance to provide an estimate due to the small size of the job.  Ivan arrived the same day, was very polite and made arrangements to work around holidays and time frame for my tenants.  He sheet rocked the entire kitchen The finished job looks awesome - flat and smooth!  He covered the room with drop cloths and there was no mess when they left.  Ivan had a previous poor review but after reading it several times, I know the type of person who wrote it and understand how messy a full plaster and paint job can be.  There will always be some plaster dust and indirect over spray (from droplets atomized) on molding.  Duct work will need to be cleaned from plaster dust.  I am very happy with Ivan's work and will definitely call him again for big jobs or small ones.

It went awesome. He is a very good guy

They did a great job hanging the new drywall and taping the seems to make a smooth finish on the walls.  Ivan scraped not only the visibly damaged portions of the ceiling but also parts that he noticed were coming loose.  Took care when covering recessed lights and walls when spraying the knock down ceiling.  Cleaned up the work area.   Bid was lower then two other contractors.  I will use them for future jobs and refer them to family and friends.

Ivan showed up when he said and did a great job.  The job ran one day longer than we had originally planned but this was due to my adding an additional room to the service.  He was by far the least expensive bid for my project as well.  I will be having him come back to do more work when I move on to my next remodeling project.  I would highly recommend using him.

We contracted Ivanov Drywall
Service to remove old popcorn ceiling in our newly purchased 5500 sqft house. Quoted cost of removal and new knock down ceiling (painted) was at $10K with option that we may choose smooth ceiling (at additional cost) if ceiling under popcorn
is relatively smooth.  Expected finish time was 7 business days. Troubles with this company started immediately during
first day.
 Problems:
-         After we came to inspect if the company started with ceiling removal, we found our house open with all lights on but nobody was in the house. We called Ivan (owner) who informed us that his workers triggered smoke alarm and left the house in panic?
-         Carpet (3000sqft) in the basement may be totally damaged. Amount of drywall  dust (some places there was  1/4 ? of debris on the carpet)
-         Workers did not remove windows screens. Screens are literally plugged with drywall dust.
-         Workers did not cover woodwork and/or framing properly. Majority of the woodwork has fine paint overspray on it and large droplets of paint. And not just some, almost all of it
-          As agreed before they started, after 5 day we inspected job again and agreed with Ivan that condition of the ceiling are good and they are able to go with smooth ceiling. Additional cost was $4000 and job will take 3 more days. However, Ivan
demanded upfront payment to pay his workers
-         We inspected job two days before promised finish date (July 3rd). Nobody was there entire day. After inspecting house we found dust and debris on the carpet, chunks of joint compound on the windows frames, cabinets, hardwood floors). We
confronted Ivan on the phone and voiced huge disappointment. Ivan only said ?you know, it is July 4th week, we are all vacationing with the family?., do not bother me!?. From this point conversation got very heated. We demanded to have job finished within next 5 days (allowed 3 more days to his original time estimate) and bring the house to original condition. Ivan agreed to our terms.
-         5 days later (Tuesday) Ivan called and left the message that job is finished. Since we were out of the country, we inspected job on Sunday. We found complete disaster. Ceiling was blotchy, wall to ceiling joints were not caulked and there chunks of the mud all over the joints. We called Ivan, voiced our huge disappointment  and demanded explanation. He said job is finished and only minor touches are needed. He refused to say when he can finish it. His explanation was that he is too busy. We called three construction experts to give us opinion on the job. They all said it is not even close to being finished. Complete joint caulking and ceiling paint needed to be done.
-         After Ivan refused to fix it within our time limit (4 days), we turned this case to our attorney. He called Ivan and demanded explanation. Ivan agreed to fix deficiencies and finish the job by end of the week. Of course he did not.
-         During weekend of July 20th, Ivan started caulking joints on upper floor. He left job unfinished and did not show up again.
-         July 30th. No response from IDS. We decided to hire another company to finish the job and file the claim with Conciliation Court (small claim court).
-         To add to the injury, workers of Ivanov Drywall Service dumped all garbage next to our garage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Only portion of it was in construction plastic bags. Rest of it was just dumped on the ground. We had to order 10 yard roll off dumpsterr to remove all debris.
-         We documented all of it with photos and third party opinions
-         Overall cost of this job was very similar to other quotes we received so nobody can say we got what we paid for. We have chosen Ivanov DS mainly because they were able to start within week of initial contact.
-         Third party additional cost to fix mess they left in our house: $4000. Potential damage to our property - $15000 (carpet replacement, woodwork and windows  re-staining due to paint overspray ?.)
 
To be fair, here are some positives.
-         Ivan is generally nice guy
-         Ceiling is in fact smooth.

went well, on budget and on time

The price was reasonable and the work was completed quickly.  The previous wall work had been amateurish and Ivanov Drywall fixed it up very well.  The skimcoat was especially attractive.

Ivan did a terrific job. I emailed him requesting a quote, he returned my call the same day (Monday) and gave me a quote over the phone.  I agreed to it and we scheduled it for Friday of the same week.
 He was running a few minutes behind and had the courtesy to call and let me know he would be 15 minutes late.   Originally it was planned that he would return on Monday and Tuesday to finish the job, but on Friday he asked if it would be possible to return the next day  (saturday) to finish it up.  I was more than happy to get it done so quickly.
The finished job looks great.  I will certainly use him for any future jobs.  A pleasure to deal with! 

He did a great job. He came when he said he was going to come. The only complaint I have was that there was a lot of dust left over, but the work he did was fine.

I found Ivan via Angie's List. We chatted briefly over the phone. He scheduled a time to stop in to give me the estimate (and was 90 min late for the appointment) but he clearly knew what he was doing and apologized that a previous project ran late. He gave me the estimate on the spot and wrote it up. I agreed to the price and he started within a week. Ivan dropped off the drywall one early evening which I stored in my garage. His installers showed up the next day and went right to work. I had agreed to remove the crown molding and lights and clear out the room before they showed up. Installation of the drywall was fast. The installers made a reasonable attempt to clean up and did well cutting out the light boxes from the original lights. Ivan showed up for a few hours over a few afternoons to do his work. From start to finish the kitchen was down for about a week. Not bad. The ceiling looks great. I primed and painted the ceilig myself after I paid Ivan. His fee was $850 plus the cost of the drywall.

Ivan had done work for family members who highly recommended him.  I contacted him for an estimate.  He came fairly promptly (within 2 days).  I purchased the drywall and had it delivered.  His crew was at the house to start hanging drywall within an hour after it was delivered.  The finished hanging the drywall in one afternoon.  The next day Ivan and a helper arrived to mud the drywall.  Both coats were finished and sanded within 3 days total.  They cleaned up the area.

IVAN'S ESTIMATE CAME IN LOWER THAN SOME OTHERS AND SEEMED VERY FAIR.  HE ARRIVED PUNCTUALLY AND SET RIGHT TO WORK WITH ONE ASSISTANT.  THE WALLS AND REMAINING FURNITURE WERE CAREFULLY COVERED IN PLASTIC SHEETING AND THE FLOORS WERE COVERED WITH CLOTH TARPS.  THE SPOTS THAT WERE FLAKING WERE THEN PATCHED AND THE CEILINGS WERE FULLY SCRAPED AND PREPARED FOR THE NEW POPCORN MIXTURE TO BE SPRAYED ON. THE WORK TURNED OUT TO BE SOMEWHAT MORE PROBLEMATIC THAN ANTICIPATED--IT WAS MORE DIFFICULT TO MAKE THE MUD/PAINT MIXTURE STICK AND IVAN PROMPTLY WENT TO  BUY A NEW MIXTURE WITH BETTER ADHESIVE PROPERTIES (AND WHICH ADDED A MERE $25 TO THE COST).  THIS DID THE TRICK AND THEY FINISHED THE WORK IN LESS THAN A FULL DAY, DESPITE THE HIGH HEAT AND HUMIDITY, ESPECIALLY HORRIBLE  WITHIN ALL THAT PLASTIC SHEETING.  THE STILTS THEY MANEUVERED ON WERE AMAZINGLY EFFICIENT (EXCEPT IN ONE CORNER SPOT BLOCKED BY AN ENTERTAINMENT CENTER, FOR WHICH THEY BORROWED A LADDER).  THIS IS MESSY WORK, AS SHOWN IN MANY REVIEWS OF SIMILAR JOBS, BUT THEY DID A FAIR CLEANUP.  A SMALL PROBLEM AROSE AFTER THEY LEFT: THE CEILING BUCKLED IN A COUPLE OF SPOTS (SMALL BUCKLES, TO BE SURE) AND I HAD TO CALL IVAN BACK--HE SKILFULLY (AND CHEERFULLY) FIXED THEM THE NEXT DAY BY HAND AND THE CEILINGS LOOK WONDERFUL.I HAVE A COUPLE OF SUGGESTION FOR IVAN AND OTHERS IN THE BUSINESS: GET SOMETHING LIKE A SHOP-VAC TO CLEAN UP BOTH INSIDE AND OUTDOORS--MOST HOMEOWNERS DO NOT HAVE THE PROPER CLEANING EQUIPMENT FOR THIS SORT OF CONSTRUCTION DEBRIS AND PROBABLY DON'T APPRECIATE THE SHAKING OF DROP CLOTHS IN THEIR BACKYARD.  BUT THESE WERE VERY MINOR ISSUES AND I WILL HIRE IVAN AGAIN ANY TIME I NEED DRYWALL WORK.  HE WAS VERY PLEASANT TO WORK WITH!

Pros ? very reasonably priced (only charged for labor and the materials were at cost); came out quickly to give quote; was able to start the next day and fit the work into his schedule at the last minute; very accommodating to the rushed schedule of 3 weeks for bid walkthrough to finish (drywall repair and paint/staining entire house). About 80% of the job was done fairly well. They (as well as most people including homeowners) are good at painting large flat walls and ceilings.
Cons (Initial Job)? one person on site did not speak English so communication was difficult, did not do all the drywall patching that we were anticipating prior to painting so drywall had to be patched over paint and then paint touched up (and in some cases the paint wasn?t touched up so we just have drywall compound patches still on the walls); paint job was sloppy; they did very minimal clean up; the staining work (on our BRAND NEW window and door trim) was very sloppy and uneven (uneven tone in some parts, streaking in others, stain drips dried onto wood, uneven sheen and in most cases there isn?t even a sheen at all which leads us to believe that the clear coat did not get applied, stain bleeding onto the windows and doors in many areas); they did not use drop cloths in some areas and as a result we had paint EVERYWHERE (we spent at least 15 ? 20 hours scraping paint off of our brand new kitchen flooring, as well as hardwood floors, toilets, tub, sinks, faucets, vanities, smoke detectors, brand new dishwasher, and we didn?t even come close to getting all the paint off); one of the doors that we had contracted for them to paint they did not paint because they said it wouldn?t look right painted that color in that room (did we contract you to paint or to give us design suggestions?  They later said that we told them not to paint it, which we never did.) They also didn?t use wood filler to fill in any of the nail holes, which we pointed out half way through the project.  They then filled some of the holes in but not most of them and the holes that they did fill in only some of them got stained over so some match and some are an off white. They never sanded the wood trim prior to staining so most of the new wood trim (windows, base, doors) have wood fibers sticking up making the wood rough and causing splinters. We expect a painter to do these sort of prep items (using wood filler and sanding) that don?t take a long time or cost but if they had told us they were not going to do it we could have done it. It is very difficult to fix these after they are ?completed? with the staining without sanding it all down and redoing it the right way.
Cons (Touch-ups) ? Ivan came out probably 8-10 times over the past 6-7 months to finish up the touch ups but they did not do that satisfactorily.  Many times when scheduling them to come out he didn?t show up when he said he would. Ivan said he would be able to stay all morning and then was only able to stay maybe 1 hour tops (most of which was setting up). He said it was hard for him to give an advanced warning of when he could come even though we have a toddler and a newborn baby whose schedules we were trying to plan around to be home. We waited several weeks for the guy who did our trim (one of his employees) who was out of the country to come back to the US so that he could touch up the trim.  Then after waiting for over a month Ivan finally said that he would just come out and do it because he didn?t know when the guy was coming back.  The touch ups were very poorly done, with LOTS of complaining and every excuse in the book along the way.  He was complaining that we were using bad paint and stain. The paint and stain are top of the line water-based paint and stain (to comply with the environmental certification that we are pursuing on the house) and to limit the VOCs for our newborn child and 2 year old.  He said that they were very poor products and that we should use oil-based if we wanted a good outcome (and lots of VOCs in our house).  We gave him the specs on the paint and stain prior to him bidding on the project so he should have known what he was getting himself into if he doesn?t like water-based environmentally friendly products.  Prior to them coming out to do the touch-ups we marked the areas of the house that needed to be touched up with small pieces of blue painter?s tape so that he could easily see what needed to be touched up.  He complained about the tape being everywhere and that it was in his way and so he took a lot of it off the walls but then never touched up the paint or stain that the piece of tape was marking.  Ivan touched up the paint in some areas with a different sheen than was originally used so we have shiny spots on some walls in our kitchen (higher gloss level used for touching up than was originally on the walls); some of the stained trim he said was just uneven and splotchy and it wasn?t their fault because the brand new wood was just like that and wouldn?t take the stain evenly (they did not prep the wood or sand it prior to applying the stain).  The last time that Ivan came out he sanded off the stain on some of the trim where there were stain drips (how do you get dried drips of stain all over the wood if you are applying the stain correctly?) but then the wood, after being sanded, would not take the stain.  He then said on the phone that he didn?t know what to do because the wood wouldn?t take the stain (which he had mixed with the clear wood finish to create a concoction when doing the touch ups ? against the manufacturers instructions).  Because the wood wouldn?t take his concoction he assumed that the stain had gone bad and we would need to get new stain.  He said that water-based products go bad when they sit too long (and why was the stain sitting ?too long??  Because it has taken him 6-7 months to even start touching up the trim!).  The manufacturer of the products specifically said that mixing the stain and the clear coat compromises both of the products and that that should never be done.  We have only lived in the house for 6-7 months now and already the stain on one of the window sills is starting to scratch and chip off from wear and tear (something that should not happen if the clear finish coat was applied correctly as a protective layer).  We currently have large off-white spots on the trim which are sanded down and he doesn?t know what to do next.  We still have paint drips all over our kitchen floor, bathroom floor, bathroom sinks, and smoke detectors that he has not cleaned off.  He said that the paint would come off easily with soap and water so we could clean it up. Only after Ivan tried unsuccessfully scrubbing the floor with soap and water did he change his story and apologize for not using drop cloths properly.  We also recently had the contractor out who put in our brand new windows and window trim and that contractor (who looks at windows all day) said that it didn?t look like there was a clear finish on any of the trim. The manufacturer of the stain and clear wood finish said that we shouldn?t have the color chipping on the window sill (which we do) if the clear wood finish was applied according to their instructions so we will probably have to sand all of the trim and apply clear coat finish throughout the house because Ivan Ivanov did not put the clear coat finish on. When we brought up the fact that the paint and stain job did not look professional, his response was, ?Well, it?s not going to be perfect.  You know, I?m not a professional painter, but I know professional painters and they wouldn?t do any better than this?. If you want an unprofessional paint and stain job, do it yourself and you will probably get a better quality than by hiring Ivan Ivanov.
Overall ? I would NOT use this company to paint or stain but would instead hire a different company that is probably a little more expensive.  The work was sloppy and they did not follow the contract.  They complained about us asking for them to do the work c

It was a normal service. They were on time. I had no bad experiences whatsoever. I was not present when they did the work.

All in all it was fine experience and went quite quickly. However, he did cancel on me one day the morning of, but was promptly there the next morning so that was ok.

Ivan does incredible work.  He and one other worker were able to come on a week's notice.  I didn't get some of the furniture moved and he helped move things and covered other furniture.  He had one area that needed scaffolding as it was 2 stories high.  He worked on stilts, and did the job perfectly.  I also had an electrician install some recessed lighting, which caused us to make some new holes in the ceiling which Ivan had already finished.  He fixed the new holes willingly, and with no additional charge.  He also fixed some drywall issues that weren't on the ceiling which I requested the last day of the job.  He then primed and painted the ceiling for a very reasonable charge.  I was extremely pleased with Ivan's work!  It's perfectly smooth...and he takes great pride in making sure that you are happy!

They provided an estimate, showed up when they said they would, were courteous, considerate, and professional. The job turned out very well, at the cost that they had quoted.