I waited a few months to write this, just to avoid doing it while I’m angry, and settle into my new place, but I still think people deserve a fair warning if hiring Sergey. He estimated to be done in 2-3 months, but took 6.5. I was paying rent and mortgage during this time. It quickly became obvious that we’re not on track, but Sergey told me repeatedly not to worry, he'll be done on time and with "highest quality". After 3 months we were barely half-way, and he told me it was *MY* fault, as I haven’t provided professional drawings for the remodel (it was very simple, so I made them myself). He hasn’t told me if anything was unclear or asked any questions until that 3 months mark. When questions started coming, I answered them within a day, sometimes within minutes, but still, he proceeded to use this excuse for literally everything that went wrong. For electrical work, he insisted that we have to move electrical panel in order to pass code. Then they started burning 300 amp fuses for the entire floor (10 units). They did it several times in one day to the point that the building ran out of fuses, and all residents were with no electricity till next day. My HOA charged me for the damages. When I asked Sergey to look into it, he **screamed profanities** at me, saying, roughly, that my HOA should go f**k themselves because he just passed electrical inspection, and it couldn’t have been him. My HOA sent their own electrician to figure out this mess, and it turned out, when they installed the panel, one of the screws was too long and perforated wiring inside, shorting the electrical lines onto the box itself. High quality work indeed! Then Sergey told me that there were $13K extra costs for “change orders”. I never requested any changes, and it was him who failed to realize what work was needed to pass code. He said that he’d take on half of that cost because he’s very “honest and nice guy”. I questioned if I should be responsible for the costs that he didn’t include in his quote, but he'd just stop work, so I was forced to pay, since I was losing money on rent as long as the project is stalled. Some would call this extortion. Some other examples: - Charged me extra for evening out the floors, look at the result: https://youtu.be/S3r0afki3o4 - Cracked my bathtub, refused to pay for it - Wrote memos on the walls with a red marker. After painting, I still see them through the paint! - Grout between tiles cracked already This isn’t even half of it! Feel free to contact me for a full list, if you're morbidly curios. When we got the condo to the point that I could move in and he had no more leverage to charge me extra, I wanted to renegotiate those "change orders" he forced me to pay. I already paid the total sum of our contract, but we still had $8K left in originally scheduled payments. When I brought it up, he stormed out, saying he’ll sue me, file for a mechanic’s lien, and I won’t be able to pay my utilities, and I’ll owe him $40K by year’s end. I tried to have a constructive discussion over email and come to a consensus regarding how to handle final payment. He would just repeat how great a job he’s done and reiterate that he’s going to sue. This is his explanation for the extra electrical work, I quote: "The truth is that we confirmed change order for $3,700 then it came back in a miracle way with the number of $13,300.” I didn’t want to waste time on court, so I agreed to pay him a portion of what he asked, which one might say is also extortion. You might wonder about other 5 star reviews, and here is my take: He worked for his brothers’ reputable company Zeus Remodeling for a few years, and recently decided to start his own (he actually used his brother’s license, as he did not have one himself). He probably made connections with some good teams, which he now employs, and generally they do a great job, as reviews indicate. In my case, he told me that he hired another subcontractor who he’s not worked a lot with. When things started going wrong, I understood that all he does is find work and pass it to a subcontractor. He’s a sales agent, and he really has no idea how to manage projects, and he will NOT put effort into keeping them on track, or control quality. Why haven't I fired him? It would cost me more to look and wait for another contractor. My main gripe isn’t even that the project took longer and cost more. It’s how he behaved when things don’t go according to plan, completely absolving himself of any responsibility, shifting the blame, making excuses, and repeatedly telling me that I don’t know what I’m talking about when I tried helping him with organizational issues, which is HIS job. His behavior was disrespectful, childish, and not an any point did he take ownership of any mistakes. He told me, and I quote again: “There are no mistakes of mine here. I don’t make mistakes. This is how I work.” You decide what to make of it. ****UPDATE**** Aside from calling me a liar, he claimed to Thumbtack that he hasn’t worked with me and tried to have this review taken down. Thumbtack reached out to me for proof, and, of course, I have plenty of it, which is why review shows as verified. Nice going Sergey... So who’s the liar?

I hired Sergey to do a full remodel of one floor (~1,500 sq. ft.) of a house in the Richmond in San Francisco. Full gut of kitchen, 2 bathrooms, and rebuilding of a small extension. The whole space was painted and floors were refinished. Nothing was left untouched. On communication: Sergey is very, very responsive. He will answer all texts, phone calls, emails etc. and if he happens to miss a call (which almost never happened), he returns it in minutes or sends a text to let you know when he can talk. On value: The quality of work is very good. Sergey works with a contractor named Artur who is a whiz at his job. Artur fixed every problem, made a few things I thought were not possible happen, and he was just really, really great. Between Sergey and Artur, they were able to realize the vision I had of my house. We were not significantly over budget. I do wish that Sergey had a better system for reimbursement of receipts. For example, Sergey bought things like trim, siding, and extra plumbing parts that I was to reimburse him for. Though I asked him for receipts multiple times, Sergey would show me pictures of receipts on his phone piecemeal and each receipt contained other purchases of rough materials that he was to be responsible for. Just confusing and difficult to do an accurate accounting. I just ended up paying him what he told me was the amount for all the reimburseable purchases without really seeing the receipts. Do I feel like Sergey fluffed the receipts? No, but I still would have liked a clear accounting of them. Overall, there are little details that were missed like small scratches in the refinished floors possibly made by ladders or tools, areas where paint wasn't retouched, socket plates that were installed sort of loose etc. BUT I am being picky and I can live with those little things. This next bit is the important part. Sergey has continuously made trips here and had workers come fix little things even after this project is technically done. This is a huge bonus and shows a sense of responsibility toward the project and pride in his quality of work that is certainly appreciated. On timeliness: This is where my biggest gripes lie. This was a 4-month project and we took 5 months to complete. Everyone expects delays in construction and I did too. But, it's the way in which the delays happened that frustrates and still irritates me. Work here was about 85% done by the end of month 4. We scheduled movers at the end of month 5 because Sergey promised that everything would be 100% finished in the extra month's worth of time. 10% of the remaining work was dragged out for the next three weeks. I let Sergey know again and again that movers were already scheduled for a certain Friday and that everything had to be finished before then. Sergey said ok and since the only work left to be done was installing all lights, light switches and socket plates, I felt relatively good about everything. The entire week before move-in day, no work happened. Sergey told me all of his workers were coming Friday to do the remaining work. I could not believe this. Friday was move-in day and I had told him I needed time for cleaners to come since everything was very dusty from the construction. There is no other way to summarize the end of the project other than to call it a complete and unmitigated disaster. Sergey had 4 people working while we had movers moving things in and since Sergey had told me cleaners could come that Friday, we had cleaners there at the same time. Things still were not finished and instead of being able to use that Friday night and Saturday to unpack, work was still ongoing so we had to cram all unpacking into that one Sunday. Also, since Sergey had said the house would be ready for cleaners, I hired people to do a move-in clean for $450 which ended up being a total waste because workers were still creating messes everywhere. There was no accountability on Sergey's part for this. The amount of stress created because of the blown timeline was huge. Overall: Basically, everything was going great for 95% of the project. There were small hiccups, a little bit of tension and miscommunication here and there, but honestly everything was going pretty well for such a large project. I am still sour about the end of the remodel which Sergey knows and understands. The project just did not have to end this way and it was his job to make sure of that. However, I do have to emphasize that Sergey is continuing to come back and take care of small issues such as installing toilet paper holders, a heating grate that had been lost but turned up, fixing our shower fixture handle so the water could get hotter, etc. It's been almost a month since we moved in and as time passes, I feel less angry about the end of the project mainly because I am really enjoying the space Sergey created for me and because he is still responsive and taking care of leftover project odds and ends. Will I hire him again? I'm not sure. We have a lot more large-scale work to be done so we will need contractors soon again, but it's hard to say right now. However, it's a strong possibility.

If we could give Wise Stage Remodeling more stars than 5, we would! We hired Wise Stage Remodeling to finish a very difficult and messy remodel in San Francisco (single family house). A previous contractor messed the remodel up beyond belief and left it in shambles, while we were out of town. None of the new contractors were even willing to consider taking this job and we were desperate. Sergey from Wise Stage Remodeling responded to our request via Thumbtack. He gave us a very reasonable estimate and timeframe to finish the project. Sergey and his team (especially Arthur, his carpenter, who's amazing with cabinets, doors, tiling) were extremely diligent and hardworking. They remodeled the kitchen from top to bottom, as well as finished remodeling the rest of messy unfinished projects of all levels of difficulty throughout the house. Sergey and Arthur pulled us out of a very messy situation and made the impossible possible. They were both incredibly responsive and accommodating throughout the entire construction process: hardworking, honest, and polite guys. Their attention to detail and ability to face our complex construction issues alleviated a lot of stress and pain on our part. We simply lucked out w/hiring Wise Stage Remodeling. We've been through a number of remodels with a few of our properties in San Francisco, and never had a more pleasant experience with the contractors. We would absolutely, without a doubt, recommend hiring Wise State in a heartbeat!

Sergey and the Wise Stage crew are the best contractor team I've ever worked with. Sergey was honest, responsive, and stayed on time and in budget. We had a complicated bathroom addition that included structural changes, plumbing, tiling, windows, electrical and more. They delivered a beautiful and high quality bathroom for us at a significantly lower price than other quotes we received. I give Sergey my highest recommendation. They are the best.

Overall, we recommend working with Sergey. Sergey helped us makeover our split San Francisco bathroom. This included a complete overhaul of the floors (new tiles), walls (slightly moving walls, insulation, drywall, painting), some plumbing, and fixtures (new tub, vanity, sink, window, fan, lights). I received quotes from 3 other contractors, and Sergey's quote was competitive, and in the end, he finished the project within the budget we discussed. Sergey is very customer focused; he's responds promptly to emails, texts, and phone calls and will talk through any question you have. Even after the bathroom was completed, he always got back to us on any questions/concerns and he addressed any follow-up touches or fixes as asked. His team also did a good job of cleaning up afterwards. The only feedback we shared with Sergey was regarding project management. He's not always on-site to oversee the project; and while his team or subcontractors were good, we felt the timing/progress and detail of some the work could have used more oversight. The project timeline went over the time we had discussed and planned for, and some work was done more hastily towards the end - which he and his team came back to address with no hassle. Overall, we still recommend working with Sergey. For both your sake, our suggestion is to be specific in your asks and expectations, and be sure to ask specific questions.