After 30 years of full-time work and raising a family, my 30-year-old home was in major need of maintenance, and updating, and I was all but paralyzed with the daunting job of identifying a quality contractor to work within my available budget. While wandering around the Colorado Home Show last year, I nearly walked right past a booth with nice combinations of samples of cabinets, counters, and tiles. But, I approached the friendly gentleman behind the booth. Ivan Cody quietly listened as I pointed at my favorite mood boards at his booth, and he explained his process, including a design created by the ProKitchen specialized software design tool. Ivan explained to me that he works with A Lue Designs, who had prepared the mood boards. Subsequently, Ivan and April came to my home to see what I had in mind, and we decided to move forward with the design phase (enter ProKitchen, of which Ivan is an expert user). Ivan mocked up a beautiful kitchen design, and worked with me on updates to make the design perfect for our needs. He was patient with me on scheduling, as my son was getting married in a couple of months, and I also had a lot of work to do to prepare the space (sorting through and removing 30 years of accumulated “stuff” takes some time!). In the end, the kitchen was completed in 6 weeks! As things came together, I was so happy with the experience that I ended up adding on three bathrooms, the powder room, and the laundry room. In each case, Ivan produced a ProKitchen design and an estimate, and he completed the work (and then some) as expected. We are taking a break now on home renovations, but plan to re-engage to work on our basement. I will be happy to hire Ivan to complete that project, as well.
Highlights of working with Ivan Cody and Next Level Kitchens:
1. Ivan cares deeply about the work he and his team does; he demonstrates obvious pride in seeing the completion of his work.
2. Ivan has a great deal of experience and can do just about anything—he does electrical, plumbing, dry wall (including texture), framing, etc. He only outsources large jobs where it is economical to bring in a subcontractor. Otherwise, he himself, or a team that works for him, is doing the work.
3. Everything seems more expensive in Denver, CO than it should be, but after coming to terms with the budget that was actually required to accomplish the work to my high level of specifications, Ivan’s price seems competitive. He helped me obtain a high level of design and quality while doing his very best to satisfy my value-minded requests.
4. Ivan helped us stay in our home while he did the renovations.
5. Ivan was cognizant of minimizing dust on our belongings and in our living areas. It helped that we went on a couple of vacations; he planned the most intrusive of the demo and other work while we were gone.
6. He was cognizant and thoughtful of our neighbors regarding parking and where his contractors did outside work.
5. Ivan’s interior designer, April of A Lue Designs, is a talented interior designer with a fine eye for design and color. One of April’s great talents is getting to know her customers and their style so that she can help create a beautiful space that suits the customer. She has her own style, but is truly able to see spaces through her customer’s eyes—making suggestions and educating her customers as needed along the way.
I had a hard time finding reviews for Next Level Kitchens when I was researching Ivan and his company. I hope my review helps people to decide to hire him! He is a gem!