Cipala Decorative Concrete Inc

What a mess. Brian Cipala should be ashamed of himself for awful work he did on our driveway. The tear out crew came unannounced on the weekend before the scheduled date while we were away in one of our car but when we got home we had to get our other car out of the garage over the rubble and a twelve inch drop. They also damaged our flower beds and smashed the adjoining lawn. That was just the beginning. The order was written incorrectly and we had to work hard to get him to even remember the things he'd agreed to. The worst was yet to come. They botched the pouring and the finish was mottled and some obvious mistake happened where they ran out of concrete and made an awful looking patch work. The finish was obviously wrong and Brian argued that it just needed to cure. He eventually conceded to the problem and made several ill fated efforts to remedy his mess. He did work hard to undo the mess but in the end he declared it done and demanded full payment. The driveway looked bad from the start and has only gotten worse. I recently saw he did a neighbor driveway and it has some of the same problems/

This company does not stand behind their work. In early 2018 they built a concrete platform in my basement for my new front-loading washer and dryer. It looked very nice; however, in extending the platform to the wall, they had encased a water meter gauge that was about 6-7" off the floor in concrete on three sides. At the time I worried that this might cause me a problem, and sure enough, several months later I got a notice from the city of Mpls that they needed to replace the water meter. A technician who came out told me that the concrete needed to be removed so they could access all of the parts. Since it was Cipala's fault for putting concrete so close to the meter, I reached out 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 at first but finally said he would fix it for free. He told me he needed to know 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 that the price was now $400. I emailed back and asked if he would please meet me halfway, that I was willing to pay some amount but felt that $400 was too high. That was four weeks ago and as of this review, I have gotten no reply. None. He just blew me off. I got fed up with Cipala and found someone else, and he's charging me far less than $400. At this point I am so annoyed by the way Cipala treated me that I'd rather pay someone than have him do it for free.

They made a great impression in terms of doing quality work, offered great suggestions, and called back quickly and arrived on time for appointment (unlike several other contractors we spoke with). I ultimately ended up going with another company mainly due to the availably for scheduling. The other company was able to get us on the schedule quickly while Cipala was scheduling much further out (totally understandable as we were getting patio quotes in June). With the short summers in Minnesota, we wanted to use the patio for as much as possible. I would recommend Cipala concrete. Plan ahead to allow time to get on the schedule.

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We were referred to Cipala Concrete from our landscaper. I was lamenting that I couldn't find someone I liked to re-do our front steps and walkway. She immediately told me all about Bryan and how they have been working together for years. I gave him a call and I am so glad I did. He and his team are professional, hard working, and honest. The price was also more affordable than other local companies I tried. After completing our front steps and walkway, Bryan had a great solution for our back steps which are pretty new, but were stained by previous homeowners. He suggested an overlay which is decorative and affordable. Throughout the entire process he made sure we were happy with everything and gladly made tweaks when we asked for them. We couldn't be happier with his work and plan to use him when we redo our driveway.