Novotny’s Refinishing

We had Gary do some work on our 1945 Glendale home. When he came out for an estimate he was easy to communicate with and knowledgable. A few weeks later, his employee Mark came out and patched a hole in our hardwood and install new baseboards throughout our house. Both were done beautifully. The painter we had come in even commented on how great the carpentry on the baseboards was! We are very happy with the work done!

I can’t imagine finding any contractor more experienced, professional, and passionate than Gary about restoring/​refinishing hardwood floors. His over 40 years of experience really shined through on our job. We just closed escrow on a house and the old original floors needed a good bit of work cause they had pretty bad wear in certain areas. Turned out Gary knew our house’s floor history cause he had done them twice before for previous owners, which turned out to be our saving grace because he knew the floors were likely too thin to do a complete refinish cause they would maybe crack. So, instead he suggested a restore job because it would prolong the life of the floors.
When I talked to Gary on the phone the very first time I knew he was different… he was so passionate about providing great craftsmanship and he was very generous with his time on that 1^st call… even before we signed the contract.
Throughout our entire job, Gary ensured everything they did was to provide the best final result. We actually even had his team replace baseboards and add some new molding to our dining room, which was done with such craftsmanship. I’ve had baseboards replaced in my other house, and I can really tell the difference in the quality of the work with Gary’s guys. And the final results of our floors were amazing. They looked like new floors, which I didn’t think was possible considering they did a restore rather than a complete refinish, and all the wear on the floors.
Gary always made himself available for quick calls throughout the process, which was a relief. And I also felt confident that his guys were highly skilled and knew the standards Gary holds them to. All-​in-​all, our entire experience with Gary was very different than all the contractors we’ve dealt with over the years… so many who are rude or don’t return our calls, or don’t truly care about providing the best quality job or customer service. Gary was the complete opposite… he was very proactive in reaching out to me for issues along the way and was so professional. It was so nice (and different) to have complete confidence in a contractor for once. I could tell he loves his work and providing top craftsmanship is his main goal.

Gary did a screen and coat on my 1937 home’s floors, and used three coats of finish, and they came out looking like brand new. Another company wanted to heavily resand them and charge twice as much, but Gary showed me how the boards were thin, and how a heavy resand would probably ruin them. His estimate was less than the other company, and when his crew got going on the job, they encountered some unforeseen problems, but he didn’t charge any extra for the extra labor. Gary really knows his business and I’d recommend him to anyone.

My name is Roxy & I am the office manager at Novotnys Refinishing. I am a little upset with the Unilocal system because they filtered out 4 reviews from happy clients that posted how much they liked Novotnys work (which I know is great, because I just got my floors repaired & refinished myself & they look fabulous!) I don’t know why they would do this & personally I think it is unfair for us to be unable to contact them & show proof of these legit clients. Gary Novotny & Journey men, are so knowledgeable & try so hard to make clients happy, it is only fair that the public should be able to see all the reviews. Please look at the «filtered reviews» also when deciding which flooring company to use. I just want to say Thank You to ALL our loyal & wonderful customers!

For the record, I hate writing negative reviews. I usually write nothing at all. But whenever I tell people about our experience, they urge me to Unilocal it, so I am.
All I really need to mention is that I was dissatisfied with the work done on our floors and immediately explained this to Gary on the phone. Through the entire process that followed, Gary never once came back to our house to see the floors with us. After the estimate, we never saw him again. And yes, we had paid in full.
We hired a new floor company and they ground the floors back down to the raw wood and refinished everything beautifully for roughly half of the price Gary quoted us to redo his own crew’s work.
This new floor company was also licensed, insured, etc., but the owner was on site the whole time, ensuring everything was as ordered, so we don’t really understand the price difference.

I found Novotny’s via Unilocal and feel the need to give back with another positive review, so others can find this great resource.
My home in Glendale had original 1930s floors under 30 year-​old carpet. Gary gave me a rough estimate over the phone based on having done over 700 homes like this one in Glendale alone, and clearly broke down how the price might change based on what could be found under those carpets. He exuded confidence and a deep knowledge about wood and finishing, also offering a solution for some fading on wood paneling in the front of the house, that I had thought would need to be painted over.
The result transformed this place. The carpentry work to repair damage was invisible and done for a reasonable price — with other refinishers that alone could have been a point of compromise or a deal killer. Another highly rated (on Unilocal) company came by and told me that because there were squeaks in the floor it might not stand up to further refinishing, which is complete nonsense.
The 750 square feet of oak floor now looks as good as it did when the house was brand new in 1936, and for an overall price under $ 4000 that included replacing whole damaged sections so that they match invisibly.

We have used Gary Novotny twice for our 75 year old hard wood floors. First time, they needed minor repairs and a bit of love and a complete refinish. We thought the prices were right and clicked with Gary, who is a caring and conscientious contractor. His workers did a superb job. We couldn’t have been happier.
This year we had to use them for a much more extensive job when a remediation company stained our floors in two rooms. Gary’s team did a replacement of about 200 sq feet of floor. It was devastating to us and Gary’s care and concern that our floors look flawless and as close to original as possible really eased the pain.
I would recommend Novotny’s to anyone who needs repair or restoration on their hardwood floors. He is great at communication and his employees are great, very good at what they do.

My wife and I used Novotny’s Refinishing (May 2011) to restore our hardwood floors. We absolutely love how they came out!
Gary’s team is very experienced, knowledgeable and friendly — we had Walter do the actual work. In addition, their prices are very competitive with the competition… and based on what we needed to have done, his quote was well worth it..
We not only needed to restore our hardwood floors, but we also needed to patch a small portion of the floor where we had removed our floor-​furnace due to putting in central heating and airconditioning. It is extremely hard to tell which is the new flooring vs. the original. I was amazed.
In the future, when it’s time, I’m sure Gary will be the first person I call when we need to do this type of work again.