Gary was amazing to work with and and their installers was remarkably fast! They did an entire 450sq foot room in a single day. I will look forward to working with them when we eventually have to replace the original hardwood in the rest of the house. read more

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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. read more

Gary is a class act. We had a tough, but small in scale, job to be done in the hardwood in our 1911 house. We had to have our fireplace hearth demo'ed and rebuilt because of damage. So we sourced reclaimed antique tile to lay on the new hearth, and in doing so, because of the size of the tiles, slightly decreased the size of the hearth. And not evenly on all sides. Gary and I spoke at length about how to deal with some of the issues that arose out of that. Walter and his brother came and did an outstanding job. I mean it's all that we hoped for and then some, and we are very particular about doing things right and having things in our house look like they were always there. Marrying in new wood to existing is tough and they exceeded our expectations. Highly highly recommended. read more

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I found Novotny's via Yelp 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 Yelp) 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. read more

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. read more

Gary and his crew refinished our living room oak hardwood floor about 20 years ago and they did such an outstanding job that I remembered his company name. When it was time for us to have the floors refinished in the dining room and hallway, I didn't call anyone else but Gary. Our home was built in 1930 and the hardwood floors are original. They were more worn than damaged. I called Gary and he was able to look at our project and give us an estimate in a couple of days. He prepared an estimate detailing exactly what they would do and the cost involved. The billing matched the estimate exactly. I can't say enough good things about Gary and his crew. He (they) was professional, dependable, reliable, and very fast. We consider ourselves very fortunate to have their help. I wish I could give 10 stars - they are just that good! read more

Hired Gary's team to refinish our original 90 year old Mahagony floors. Gary was very knowledgeable and the floors now look amazing! Gary and his team had the keys to our house for 5 days and we had no problem trusting them while they worked on the floors. We are hiring them again to finish more floors as we're we so impressed with them and their work. read more

These guys were the greatest! Gary is a wonderful problem solver! We had some problems that required innovative solutions and Gary had great ideas for those, which Walter and Douglas then executed to a "T". Our floors looked so beautiful afterward! Their bid was very reasonable as well. These are great people to meet and work with. read more

We spoke with about 6 different Flooring companies before choosing Gary Novotny to do our floor. Ours was a very complex job. We have a 1927 home and the subfloor in the kitchen needed to be raised more than 3 inches on one side just to be made level. Gary was patient and easy to work with. He helped us in a big way and his tradesman were always respectful and professional. I won't say that the project didn't have some hiccups but Gary Novotny was upstanding and fair in all his dealings with us and that is what counts. We now have a beautiful floor and we paid a fair price for it. We even negotiated to have his tradesman do our base moldings and window trim and he did an excellent job that put our General Contractor to shame. We recommend Gary Novotny while heartedly. read more

I hired Gary Novotny a few weeks ago to match an existing floor in a condo in Silver Lake that my husband and I purchased. Since I live and work in Orange County, I did not have a lot of time to drive back and forth to Los Angeles and we had a very short window to get everything done. Gary helped me find the right cork underlay to satisfy the HOA and bought the right wood to match the existing floor in the living room. He did all that with just a picture of the floor and some measurements. He did all the wood buying while we were in escrow, and got to work the week after we closed, which helped me tremendously since my daughter wanted to move in 3 weeks later. All of this happened through emails and phone calls. Gary was extremely easy to work with and my floors look fabulous. I cannot see any difference between the old and the new. read more

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 Yelp 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. read more

There is simply no one better than Gary Novotny in anything to do with quality flooring today. The beauty of the floor he and his crew installed in my 1926 Tudor are simply stunning and match the floors that were existing. He also restored the rest of my flooring again with super results. I personally think that hardwood floors in a period house (or frankly any house) are super duper important - in fact they can be an artwork unto themselves if done right and truly tie into the architecture. Thanks to Gary, Walter and the guys, the floors in my house offset the beauty of the style and the grace that is an English Tudor home. These guys are also super professional, INCREDIBLY trustworthy and they were speedy and completed the job as promised in time - how often does THAT happen in contracting of any kind? Gary and the guys went above and beyond to get this job completed in the short time frame which I presented; it is super quality work, but most of all the beauty of the floors show the artistry and passion that is behind Gary's work. No one else will EVER touch my hardwood floors! Thanks Gary! :) read more

Remodeling older home with original hardwood floors throughout the house. The original wooden floors were in horrific shape and even smelled badly. I had never seen floors before in worse shape. I thought we should rip them out and install cheaper floors which would have been a shame getting rid of costly, hard to find hardwood floors. Gary came out and assured us that they could be repaired and saved. Thank goodness he did, the floors are GORGEOUS and look like new after repairs, sanding, refinishing, tinting and coating. Gary is such a wonderful, patient, and understanding person. Thank you. read more

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 1st 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. read more

Some landscapers were hosing down an area near my door, they didn't check inside and a bunch of dirt and water got into the floor and sat there for a few hours. It damaged the floors, but only a small area, around 2 boards. I called around to a bunch of hardwood places but all had minimums over $1000! Thankfully I found Gary, who was able to get a guy out quickly. He did a fantastic, efficient job and the floors look good as new. Cannot recommend enough. read more

My name is Roxy & I am the office manager at Novotnys Refinishing. I am a little upset with the Yelp 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! read more

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. read more

My dishwasher had to be replaced. Who knew that the floor and sub flooring had been cut out and then replaced in front of the dishwasher? The floor had to be ripped up and new sub flooring installed. That's when we discovered a leak under the sink had soaked the sub flooring. (Did I mention this was two days before Christmas?) Gary got his crew out with a commercial dryer. He also evened the floor so the dishwasher could be installed. He worked around other scheduled visits from plumbers and installers. He was attentive and helpful. The final finish on my hardwood floors is absolutely beautiful. I could not have asked for a better job. read more

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! read more