Igor Bakan
Founder & Owner
A decorative finish specialist who founded SBK Group in Southern California and leads every project on-site.
Accountable for
the standard of the finished surface on every project.
About SBK Group
The people who explain the finish are the people who apply it
SBK Group is a founder-led decorative finishes specialist working across Orange County, San Diego and Los Angeles. The principle behind the company is simple: the people you trust with a finish should be the people who actually do the work - so every estimate, every sample and every finished surface stays in the hands of SBK's own in-house finish specialists.
The Principle
Why SBK Group was built this way
Decorative finishes are easy to undervalue when the process is fragmented - one person sells the vision, someone else samples the wall, and a different crew arrives to deliver the result. Each handoff is a place where the original intent can quietly slip: a color drifts, a texture is read differently, a detail is lost in translation.
SBK Group was built to remove those handoffs. The finish is not a product shipped in a box; it is created in your home, by hand, in your light. When our own in-house team carries a project from the first conversation to the final surface, the intent does not get lost along the way - because it never changes hands. That is the whole reason the company is structured around direct, founder-led, in-house application of the finishes we apply rather than subcontracted crews.
The Studio
The people behind SBK Group
SBK Group did not begin in California. Founder Igor Bakan built his craft in decorative finishing long before the company existed - and when Russia's invasion of Ukraine upended that life, he made his way to the United States to begin again. In 2024 he founded SBK Group in Southern California with a partner, and carried the work forward: the same materials, the same hand skills, the same standards - applied to a new coast.
That history shapes how the company behaves. When you rebuild something from nothing, you do not gamble with your name. Today every SBK project is carried personally by Igor and his partner - the same finish specialists who walk the room at the estimate, prepare the sample in your light and finish the final surface. And the company does not stand still: the in-house team is deliberately small and growing, with new specialists joining to specialize in individual finishes - such as fluted and stone-effect plaster - so depth of craft grows with the company, never instead of it.
You can see our work across recent projects.
How We Work
How we work
The same process runs through every SBK project, whichever finish is chosen:
- 01
Estimate.
We review the room, the substrate and how the space is used, and talk honestly about which finish genuinely fits - including when the honest answer is a different finish, or none at all.
- 02
Sample.
We prepare a sample in your actual lighting. Decisions about color, sheen and movement are made on your wall, not from a screen or a reference photo.
- 03
Application.
We prepare the surface properly and apply the finish by hand. The people at the estimate are the people doing the work.
- 04
Communication.
We keep communication direct throughout - you are talking to the people responsible for the result, not relaying messages through a crew.
- 05
Handoff.
We protect the home while we work, clean up properly, and close out the project with clear, finish-specific care guidance.
It is a deliberately calm, predictable process - designed to make the unknown feel knowable before any commitment is made.
Our Standards
What we believe - and where we say no
A clear set of standards guides how SBK works:
Honest fit over an easy yes.
If a finish is not right for a room, we say so before the work is booked - not after. An honest no protects the client and the result.
Clarity, not pressure.
The estimate is for clarity, not pressure. A client should feel more informed after talking to us, never cornered.
The room decides the finish.
The right finish depends on room use, substrate and maintenance tolerance - so the recommendation follows the room, not a sales target.
Respect for the home.
Protecting an occupied home, controlling dust and respecting the schedule are part of the craft, not an afterthought.
No overpromising.
We do not overstate what a finish can do. Durability, wet-area suitability and maintenance are described honestly, with their real limits.
In Your Home
Respecting your home while we work
Most of our work happens in homes people are living in. That shapes how we work as much as the finish itself.
- Protection and masking.
- We mask and protect floors, fixtures and adjacent surfaces before any finishing work begins, and contain dust as the work goes on.
- Cleanup.
- We clean up as we go and at the end of the project, so the space is returned to you properly - not left for you to deal with.
- Schedule respect.
- We agree a schedule and keep to it, and we tell you in advance if anything needs to change.
- Clear communication.
- You always know what is happening and what comes next, because you are speaking directly with the people doing the work.
Materials and Standards
Credentials and materials
SBK Group works with established decorative finishing materials - including systems from Meoded and San Marco - and applies them to a professional standard. Credentials are added to this section the moment they are formally issued and approved for public use.
For Trade Partners
Working with interior designers
SBK also works alongside interior designers. For trade partners, the value is the same discipline homeowners rely on: samples in the real space, written decisions, predictable communication and dependable on-site execution. A designer's specification is carried through by SBK's own in-house team, not handed to a separate crew.
Get Started
Talk through the right finish for your space
If the way SBK works sounds like the right fit, the next step is a conversation. We will review the room, talk through the finish direction, and explain the process - all before any commitment is made. You are speaking with the people who will do the work, from the very first message. We work across Orange County, San Diego County and Los Angeles (including Beverly Hills and Bel Air).
An estimate is a conversation, not a commitment - and it is directly with the SBK team who do the work.