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Local Living
A community podcast for Palm Beach to Parkland.
Local Living
Building Better Backyards With Mizner Pavers
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We trace how a botched home project led Ivan Vich to build Mizner Pavers, a customer-first outdoor living company that fixes problems at the root and delivers lasting value. From diagnostics and design to communication and craftsmanship, we show why doing it right beats doing it twice.
• origin story from failed renovation to business
• full-scope outdoor living design and installs
• educate clients to plan the whole project
• do-it-once strategy versus piecemeal work
• repair philosophy focused on root causes
• quality materials and proper sealing standards
• pricing that balances fairness and value
• hands-on owner involvement from start to finish
• direct phone access for fast, clear communication
Call Ivan directly at 728-500-9900.
www.miznerpaverseal.com
Local Living is a community podcast for Palm Beach to Parkland. Are You A Local Business, Resident, Leader or Non-Profit? If so, we would love to have you on the podcast!
Go to www.locallivingpodcast.com for all of the info.
Welcome, welcome everyone to Local Living. We are a community podcast for Palm Beach to Parkland. I'm David Conway, your host for today's episode. And with us, we have Ivan Vick. He is the founder and the owner of Meisner Pavers. Ivan, welcome to the podcast.
SPEAKER_00:Hey David, good morning. Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_01:My pleasure. I was looking forward to our conversation. I know you've got an interesting story. I know you're much more than just pavers. And why don't you start out by telling our listeners a little bit more about your business?
SPEAKER_00:Yep, thank you. So we are a paver business, but we do much more than that, as you alluded to. You know, whether it's driveways, new pool decks, and we even do uh pool resurfacing. So anything that you can think of, um, we do it. Uh we will also do turf installs, full landscape installs when we do driveways and our pool decks. So we're converting into a full-blown outdoor living space uh designer/slash installer.
SPEAKER_01:So why don't you tell us a little bit more about your journey? So how how did you get into the business in the first place?
SPEAKER_00:So about five years ago, six years ago during COVID, um, I went through a full remodel of my personal home. And that project was a bit of a disaster, especially when it came to the paver installation for the driveway and the pool deck that we did. Um, my contractor, you know, everything sounded great up front. Uh, but once the contract was signed and that initial deposit was given, um, everything went downhill. So basically I ended up taking over that aspect of the project because I was basically GCing my entire renovation. But I had to go and figure out the permitting process. I ended up working with the vendor or the distributor of the pavers and the installers that were there on site uh because the the contractor was nowhere to be found. And when he was, he wasn't really providing any good information. Um, so basically I turned a really bad situation into a learning opportunity and you know got to know all the ins and outs of of you know going through this process. And then uh, you know, just figured out and finished a house. And what ended up happening was, you know, my neighbors started seeing me that I was outside all the time for, you know, a good two to three weeks getting all this done. And they started asking for for guidance and some help. Um, and you know, I was doing it because why not? And then their friends started reaching out, and you know, this kind of became a side business. And, you know, I wasn't really charging people to do this uh until probably two years after it, uh, because it was just taking up a lot of my time. And, you know, one thing led to another, and before you know it, my side business was now taking over my my real job. Um, and last year, uh after, you know, a lot of conversations with my wife, we finally decided that it was time for me to move on from my, you know, from the corporate life and focus primarily on this business. So Meisner Pavers was was born and um it's been a great, a great journey the first year that we've been in business, um, although we've been doing this for you know about five years now.
SPEAKER_01:So I know you said Meisner Pavers does a lot more than pavers, and I'm confident that the reason for that is that you're doing great work with the pavers, you're establishing a relationship with the client, and then they're adding more services. Is that correct?
SPEAKER_00:They are. Um, and you know, I take a different approach uh than most in the industry when it comes to the consultations and that initial visit. Um, you know, I kind of start educating customers on what can be, right? What what what can this look like beyond just what they're calling for? And it's not that I'm trying to upsell them, it's more that I'm trying to complete the vision that they want to get to um without having to call five different people to do it. Um we have the crews, we have, you know, guys that have been with me for way beyond the five years that I've been doing this. Uh, for instance, my landscaper has been with me for 15 years. Um, you know, he was doing my house, and you know, I've helped him design landscapes for other customers of his. So, you know, all the collaboration that I've had over the years, I'm able to bring all of that industry knowledge to the consultations, to the initial estimates. And, you know, the other part is I don't treat my customers like like a customer, like a regular GC would would would treat them. I treat them like my neighbor or a friend of mine, you know, a family member or something like that. Um, you know, I'm upfront with them, I tell them, you know, any issues that I might see that we should probably address, or I help them, you know, get to that vision that they want to get to. And, you know, it's it's more of a relationship and getting to know the customer and understanding their their their needs, but also their wants. And, you know, just having that kind of an approach um I think is what separates me over, you know, some other folks. We we don't rush, we don't, you know, try to get in and out, we just we talk things out, we put a game plan together, and we execute on that plan.
SPEAKER_01:So it sounds like you're kind of getting ahead of the game. I know in my personal experience, whenever, and I mean whenever I have taken on a project here at the home or decided to upgrade one part of the home, whatever's right next to the part that I upgraded suddenly has a spotlight shining on it that reminds me I need to upgrade that too to complement my upgrades. I guess that's been part of your experience out there.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and you know, definitely. And and and and the the part that I kind of tell people um when we're doing this is hey, we're already, you know, tearing this up, we're already demoing this area. Hey, this is likely to get damaged. You want to upgrade it while we're here. You know, we we have the ability to do this. It's better to get it done while we're here than call me six months from now, and now we're we're having to you know dirty everything up or we're having to move things around or we're having to you know rework something that was worked previously to accommodate a change. So, you know, just being able to do it all at once instead of you know piecemealing it sometimes is the better way to go uh from a cost perspective, from uh, you know, mitigating damage to other areas, things like that. So I try to just you know put it in front of people, give them the option, uh, you know, and and by the time we're done, we have a plan, right? Whether the plan is to do it all at once or whether the plan is to, you know, to do it in steps. But the plan is to mitigate cost and and potential damage. Always, that's always the you know what's what's right in front.
SPEAKER_01:So with your experience, when someone's calling up Meisner pavers, and uh quite often, you know, they may have called someone else or or dealt with a similar business in the past, are there any misconceptions they might have about the process or anything that you feel um that you need to educate them on uh during that experience?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, definitely. One of the biggest opportunities that I see is when we're doing repairs. Um, you know, oftentimes our repair bills are a little bit higher than others, and that's because our approach is completely different. Um, you know, if you have a paver that's sunk or a paver that's lifted, our team isn't going over there and lifting one or two pavers and, you know, removing sand and putting the paver back down. Um our team goes out there, we start lifting pavers until we get to a good spot. And by a good spot is what I mean by that is where it's level, where they're still tight. And then we figure out what's going on, whether it's a tree root, whether it's a a faulty gutter, uh a downspout that's that's draining on top of the driveway, which they shouldn't be. Um, you know, whatever the issue is, we're pulling pavers up till we get to that point. We we pull up to where it gets good, and then we reset everything back down. And that's why, you know, when I say the repair is gonna cost you X, and the customer says, Well, wait a second, the last time I did this six months ago, it only cost me this much. Why is it, you know, that much more? And I'm like, Well, first of all, you're calling me, you know, a couple months later. Uh, but number two, I can tell you that they didn't address the problem. Uh, you know, just a quick example. I was at a customer's house on Friday afternoon, and they had a beautiful travertine driveway. And for whatever reason, the previous contractor that did repairs, rather than resetting the pavers, simply put grout in between the pavers, in between the travertine. And while that may have looked good, a band-aid, right? That's a band-aid, right? But it looked, you know, it looked horrible. It ended up cracking as it was going to. And, you know, six months later, he's calling some, you know, calling me to come and fix it. Um so you know, we don't we don't do patchwork. We we do things right. Um, we're very upfront uh in the communication of what's gonna happen and what to expect. Um, and we you know, we pride ourselves on doing things right. You know, is every repair gonna last forever? No. But is it gonna last more than the last time? Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:So I know you know you've got a business for yourself that's growing rapidly. I know you probably spend most of your days working on the business, thinking about the business, what's my next step with the business? How can I improve the business? But I gotta ask you, because I want to get get to know you a little bit, just share a little bit with the listeners when what when you're not focusing on Meisner pavers, what do you like to do for fun? Do you have family here locally? Or tell tell us a little bit uh more about you, Ivan.
SPEAKER_00:Sure. Um so I grew up in Miami, uh, moved to Boca in 2006 with my then girlfriend, now wife. Um, we've been together since 2000, so it's been 25 years.
SPEAKER_01:Very impressive. Congratulations.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you. And uh so we moved to Boca in 2006, and my son was born in 2012. So, you know, when I'm not doing pavers, um, you know, we're spending time together as a family. Uh, my son happens to be a really good baseball player. So, you know, he goes to a lot of tournaments throughout the state of Florida, sometimes in Georgia, uh, especially over the summer. So when I'm not doing pavers, you'll probably find me on a baseball field, uh, you know, tearing on my son and and his team uh doing that. So that's a big part of our lives. We're a big baseball family. Um, we enjoy it. We're out there every weekend, you know, doing either a practice or a tournament or something like that. Um, and when we're not doing baseball, um, you know, you'll probably find me behind the grill, uh, smoking a brisket or smoking a, you know, a pork butt or something like that. And and just enjoying time with the family. Um, you know, that's very important to me. Um, we we're a small family, we're just three of us, but we we we definitely enjoy spending time together. Um, you know, so that that's that's that's me and that's great.
SPEAKER_01:When you're out though, grilling, I hope when you look around, uh your pavers are looking pretty sweet out there. I hope because I from so let me ask you, you know you know, when you got into this um the business, I mean, obviously, um you're an extremely competent guy, and you I'm sure you had a lot of confidence in being successful, but there's there's a lot of competition out there in your industry. I mean, down here in South Florida, a lot of beautiful homes, a lot of people need upgrades. Um what would you like our listeners to know about what truly separates Meisner pavers from their other choices out there?
SPEAKER_00:Uh, yep, that's a great question. And there are a lot of people that do this. And, you know, like I said earlier, what separates, I think, Meisner pavers from you know, some other company is you're gonna get me. I'm the one that's coming out to do the estimate. I'm the one that's that's talking to you, I'm the one that's engaged from from inception to completion. Um, we're gonna be very competitive on pricing. We're not gonna be the cheapest one out there, but we're definitely not gonna be the most expensive. We're gonna be, you know, very fair in our pricing. Um, you're gonna get a lot of value for what you're investing into your home. Um and you're gonna get a neighbor, a friend. You're not gonna get a contractor. Um, I'm gonna advocate always, you know, for for the customer. I'm always gonna help out in any way that I can. Um, we're gonna do the job right, we're gonna do the job on the schedule that we told you, varying, you know, freezing Januaries that we're experiencing uh currently. But um, you know, you're gonna get on you're gonna get honesty, you're gonna get transparency, and you're gonna be treated fair, and you're gonna get a lot of value for your investment. Um, I think that's what separates us. We don't cut corners. Um, you know, when we get into pay for sealing, that's that's a big part of our business. We don't use uh inferior products, we use the best stuff that we can get that we can get. We do things the right way so that the results last and and you get value. Um and when you're calling me, you know, in the future, you're not calling me to tell me there's a problem, you're calling me because you're telling me that one of your friends is going to be calling me to do the same thing. And that's great, that's truly what I value the most, right? When when someone is doing something like that, it's because we did a great job.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I happen to know that most of your growth so far has come through word of mouth, and that's a testament to your company. So, Ivan, if someone does want to reach out to you, reach out to Meisner Pavers, how can they do that?
SPEAKER_00:Yep. Um, they can call me directly, 728-500-9900. Uh, that's my direct line to me. Um, call me whenever you like. We're always gonna answer the call. And if we're not, it's because we got our hands full, but you'll get a call back within a couple minutes. Um, I pride myself on you know taking every call when the call comes in. And if not, I'm calling right back.
SPEAKER_01:So, what's that number again, Ivan?
SPEAKER_00:728-500-9900.
SPEAKER_01:And remember, oh, go ahead.
SPEAKER_00:Sorry, I just wanted to add, for those of you that don't know, 728 is the new 561 in Palm Beach.
SPEAKER_01:There you go. I just learned something else new with this podcast. Thank you for sharing that, Ivan. And just remember, everyone, when you reach out to Meiser Pavers, you know, that they've got a big big experienced support team behind them. But Ivan is who you're gonna get, Ivan's who you're gonna work with, and Ivan's gonna see your project from inception to completion. Ivan, listen, um, it's been great having you today. Thanks for joining us on Local Living.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you for having me. Appreciate it, David.
SPEAKER_01:Everyone else, I thank you for joining us also. You've been listening to Local Living, we are a community podcast for Palm Beach to Parkland, and I look forward to seeing you next time.