Nick has been called "Super Nick" on here, and I think that it is a bit short of the reality: He is…read morefreaking MAGICAL. Harry Potter was good, but Nick Kovscek doesn't need a wand and an owl to transform things.
If you're like me, you want a balanced review that has the good and the bad in there so that you know the pitfalls of what you're going to get into. I don't find review that just blows sunshine all the way through particularly helpful. I hate to let you down, but I don't have anything that I can say that is bad about Nick. I'm sorry. He's really just that good.
Here's our story:
We had an early 1970s condo with a galley kitchen with a wall between the living room and the kitchen dining area. We wanted to open up the wall to make a "pass through" but really wanted something more open. Unfortunately it was a load bearing wall. To accomplish this it was going to have to be a post and beam arrangement with a wrap to give it a clean modern Pacific Northwest feel. We wanted Pental quartz counters and large format tile back-splash. Our flooring was contracted through someone else, but we needed someone to come in and handle all the rest of it - cabinets, recessed lighting, cabinet hardware, tile work, wall removal, post+beam, faucet, appliance installation, etc. I had already purchased a decent chunk of the materials, but lacked any capacity to do the work. Knowing just enough to be dangerous, I was interviewing to find someone to open up this place and make it a showpiece modern kitchen that my new bride and I could enjoy and feel comfortable entertaining people. I had set a fairly high bar with expectations. Unfortunately that caviar taste with lumpfish budget thing...
Nick was one of six contractors that bid the job, and he came in solidly in the middle. Our quantitative factors were just like yours: money and time. Our qualitative factors were the same as yours: honesty, punctuality and thoughtfulness. My desire (need) to save money was an imperative, but this is also the main room in our living space, and it couldn't be half-arsed. All of the stars aligned for Nick to win the bid, and we were off and running. Boy was it a lucky match-up!
Our cabinets were delayed in delivery and Nick worked his schedule such that he could accommodate our remodel. He was incredibly flexible and as the project got underway, it came to pass that he was impeccably clean, mindful of our space and happy to accommodate changes. His billing is transparent and his pricing absolutely fair. His communication was good and he was always on top of ordering the items that I hadn't already purchased.
As our project unfolded, Nick proved himself to be incredibly trustworthy, a solid worker with an incredible ethic and a dedication to make sure that things aren't just done right, but done *perfectly*. There were a couple of places where there were mistakes that were made, or spots that weren't exacting. Instead of coming up with a goofy workaround and hiding the error, he came to me and showed me exactly what was wrong and told me how he would fix it. An example was that there was a tiny misalignment in one of the cabinets. If it had been left undone, I doubt anyone could have seen it after project completion. Instead, he showed me and fixed it. Another was that the refrigerator delivered had a slight bow in the sides and wouldn't fit into the cabinet that he built. If the refrigerator had been to the specs that were published, Nick's cabinet would have been a perfect glove. Instead of forcing the square peg/round hole, Nick reconfigured the cabinetry and re-trimmed it so that no one could possibly tell. The man is amazing.
While you read through this review, you may be thinking "This review is too over the top." Yeah, well, it isn't over the top enough. You want the truth? Email me. Call me. I've got an hour to tell you all the wonderful things that he's done and the money he has saved us. Hopefully he will put before and after pictures of our project on his website because they should tell you everything you need to know. There may be someone out there that doesn't think that he's the best damn thing hitting a nail, but you are going to be hard pressed to find them. Nick is the real deal that is going to make your project blow your mind. If he can't make your repair, renovation or remodel off the charts, he'll be the first to tell you.
He is going to be coming back to our home to be remodeling both of our bathrooms, and I have him set in the phone for any kind of repair, or fix that might come down the pike. As a matter of fact, he has a key to our home, and he's welcome to use it any time.
My recommendation is so strong that I would go so far as to say that you should schedule your projects around his availability. Finding someone with the integrity and know-how that Nick Kovscek has is tough. Hiring him to make your project shine is one of the easiest decisions you're going to make.
