I tried for two years to get a formal estimate. The owner even came to my house to review the project and take measurements. He even said they could start before road restrictions lift in the suburbs, and he would have an estimate for me within 3 days. Granted it's not a huge project and requires some work for a small retaining wall to level the area, but to just not even respond is very unprofessional. I could not recommend if that is the integrity of their business. EDIT (3/24/22): It turns out they were communicating with me via a typo in my email address. So in fairness they did provide proposals on 2/25 and 3/2. However when I called and asked for an update on estimates on 3/8, I did not get a return phone call which led me to believe there was no estimate. I bumped up the review rating from 1 to 3. read more

We met Bryan through a landscape designer we used and hired him to do our front walkway several years ago. We were very happy with the job--and actually still like the work. So when it came time to replace our driveway, we asked for a quote from Bryan. Of course it was not an inexpensive venture. So three years ago we hired him to tear up our concrete patio and driveway to replace with concrete and stamped concrete. His team worked very hard and we were initially very impressed with the work. However, after about two years we started to notice cracks appearing. I hired him to seal the driveway to hopefully slow or halt the cracks from getting worse. His team came and slathered on quite a thick coating of sealer which didn't stop the cracks from getting worse and in fact made the driveway incredibly slippery. Over time I became increasingly frustrated by the cracks and how more were appearing and getting larger. Two independent contractors said these cracks should not be occurring if it was poured correctly. In fact, his website states that his concrete won't crack because he installs it correctly. Well, I recently contacted him and he simply stated that we only had a one year contract. He didn't offer to stand behind his work or offer any kind of a solution. Just that our driveway was out of warranty. Of course we are very frustrated, but ultimately do not care to work with him again. read more

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I hired Cipalla last fall and am very happy to report that Bryan Cipala and every member of his crew are the absolute best at what they do AND the best price! We had removed our lower - at grade wooden deck that was attached to the rest of our multilevel deck and had Cipala put in a patio. They came when they said they would. Worked hard and efficiently - everyone knew what to do and they did it well. The guy who was laying the frame asked some good questions so we were able to shape it really nicely to fit into the existing space and landscaping. The color process was fascinating and we're so pleased with the charcoal mix of shades we used. The best part was that the price was far more competitive than those from companies in Edina/Wayzata area. Highly recommend!!! read more

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I cannot recommend cipala for ANY concrete work. When Bryan gave my wife and me a bid for a patio, he was so over confident in his abilities that I fell for his pitch. He reassured us his concrete would not crack , and if it did in one year, he would fix it. Well it did crack in the center section a few months later. He was notified, and eventually one of his semi-skilled minions came out to fix it. The said minion cut half the cracked section and left. We were apparently forgotten, because we called back after two weeks of having this hole in our patio and asked why they haven't come back to finish the job. I got some b.s. line about scheduling. Well another week goes by before someone comes out. This time he removes the other half of the damaged section. We were relieved because just patching the first half wouldn't match as well as replacing the whole bad section. So we wait about another week or so before they come back to finally pour the new concrete. The guy did stamp the fresh concrete, but never came back to color, seal and saw the relief lines. Oh correction, a guy came back later to squirt some black accents. His workers left some orange cones and never picked those up. My wife and I just got so frustrated asking him to finish that we were afraid his minions would make it even worse if they came back out. We ended up getting an outdoor rug to cover this ugly patch up. I think Bryan was more interested in wintering in Arizona than standing behind his namesake company, since he had long cashed our check and had no incentive to do anything. So be smart and take your chances with anyone but him. read more

This company does not stand behind their work. I had Cipala do two jobs, one a sidewalk in my backyard and the other a platform in my basement for my new front-loading washer and dryer. Both looked very nice and I was pleased with the results. However, when building the platform they had encased the water meter gauge that was about 7-8 inches off the floor in concrete on three sides. At the time I thought to myself, Yikes, I hope that doesn't cause me a problem. Of course, several months later, I get a notice that the City of Mpls needs to replace my water meter. The technician who came out told me that the concrete needed to be busted up so they could reach the meter. Since it was Cipala's fault for putting concrete so close to the meter, I reached out to him and asked if he would please fix it, and said that since it was his fault, I didn't feel like I should have to pay for it. He was argumentative on the phone but eventually said he would, and he told me he needed to know exactly how much concrete to remove. I had the city come out and tell me, and when I informed Cipala that they needed to remove up to 12 inches, he told me the price was now $400. I wrote back and asked if they would please meet me halfway, that I was willing to pay some amount but felt that $400 was too high. That was almost 3 weeks ago, and as of this review, I have gotten no reply. I got fed up with Cipala and called someone else, and he's charging me far less than $400. I'd rather pay someone else than have to deal with this guy again. read more

We contracted with Cipala to remove our existing back walkway and apron. While reviewing the project in Dec of 2017 Bryan suggested one of our downspouts be buried and channeled away from our new sidewalk. I agreed. The proposal was for $4100. After more thought we asked Bryan to bury another downspout that is a few feet away from his project. This downspout is the 2nd busiest on the house and has been causing us some erosion. The cost to add the burying of the downspout was $300.On December 14th I accepted the new proposal of $4400 and asked Bryan to come back and go over the project one more time because so much snow had been on the ground during our initial meeting. He did not respond to that request. We sent in the deposit and received notice in August that we were next in line. I reviewed the contract and while it was very specific about the type of concrete to be used and where it would go, there was no mention of the downspout burying. So we didn't know what type of pipe they were going to use or how far out they would trench etc. My husband was present the first day and asked about the downspout work. He was told it'd go out about 10 feet but that the two downspouts would be joined and there would only be one output in our yard. The downspout work would happen the next day.The next day I reiterated that it was a real busy downspout. I was told the two drains would be joined into one (which I thought was clever) and I asked what the end part would look like. I was told it would be a green grate. When the crew left on Friday I went out to take my first peak. Our downspouts had not been buried as we had requested. 2 lengths of corrugated drain pipe had been laid in the ground (not joined as promised) with their ends sticking out in our yard by several inches and green grates had been installed up by the house not in the yard as I had meant. One green grate was installed inside the new sidewalk with our downspout over it by 2" and the very high volume downspout in the adjacent mulched flower bed was buried with the downspout 14" above it. The water was expected to free fall for 14 inches and land in a 6" buried drain.All the sidewalk work looks fine but those drains weren't going to work for us. Fixing the drains was super easy. We wanted to have the grass ends flush with the ground so we could run our mower over them so we picked up pop up drains and then reburied the ends with the new drains and they are now flush to the ground. We put our old downspout back on bypassing the green grate in the sidewalk. That was a free fix but of course we are not using the drain he installed at all. And on the other downspout we found fittings so we could connect our downspout with the catch basin that he installed in the ground. We don't think any rock was put in under the basin so hopefully that isn't a problem down the road. But with our added fittings we now have a system which will keep water from splashing back onto our cedar sided house and also displacing the mulch in the bed. I'm really not sure how we would ever have kept an open drain free of debris buried in a mulched bed right under a tree that drops its leaves every year any way.We kept the receipts for all the items we bought to finish the job. It came to $50. We proposed paying the final invoice amount less the $50. This would have brought the overall cost of the project to $4,350. But that was unacceptable to Bryan. He maintains that installing the open drains satisfied our request to have our downspouts buried. He also thought the pop up drains were unnecessary because he would have come over and cut the pipes down for our mower. Further, payment was due in full or he would start adding penalties. I've never had a contractor refuse to address a situation that wasn't what we requested. I wondered if I was off base so I did run picture and the situation by my boss who worked in the landscaping industry for most of his life. He agreed that the open drain is one way to channel water away from the house and that it looked like the open drain was installed properly. However, he said it's a way he wouldn't use and could understand why a homeowner would not be happy. He confirmed there would be splash back onto our house with the distance the water would have to travel to such a small drain. Also, most clients do want ends that are flush with the ground so they can run mowers over the drainage. He also warned when a contractor refuses to address an issue it means, "he doesn't want your relationship, referrals, or reviews." His advice to us was to stop working with Cipala in the future. So, we are pleased with the concrete work but we regret requesting and paying for the $300 to have the downspouts buried. Additionally, I think all future customers should know that he will take feedback on an aspect of the job, dispute it and threaten penalties if you don't just accept that he failed to deliver. read more

Yelp apparently did not post my first review for this company. I'll try again. Cipala did not do the job according to what I asked. He did it at his convenience. It actually was snowing and melting as they were doing the job. It looks like an earthquake tipped the driveway slab, too severe of a pitch. I know he specializes in stamped decorative concrete. This job was beneath his normal expertise. He should have let me hire someone who cared enough to do a simple driveway slab. He told his crew right in front of me that they needed work and he got it for them. At least he should have done a decent job. The whole experience was regrettable. Not a week goes by when I don't think about it. read more