How we learned to be more like a lead contractor and less like a trusting consumer.
One of the first things we wanted to do after buying our house (built 1956, Portland, Oregon) was to refinish the oak floors. They appeared to be in good condition structurally, but the surface was orange, dark, and dull.
We ended up hiring a company called
All About Wood Floors which I found on
Service Magic. Dan (the owner) gave me a price that was about average (per square foot). I wasn't looking for a bargain, but a solid job that would leave us satisfied with no work to do ourselves.
All About Wood Floors did a good job getting rid of the old finish and the bumps left by the last people who tried to sand the floors. Overall the floors looked great, but for $1850.00 (almost $3/sq ft.), I expected a little more.
The All About Wood Floors crew left like they were in a hurry without saying goodbye. They left a number of things, in order of my discovery: There was a sanding disc and a dust mask in a heater duct (how'd that happen?) and couple of the other ducts had sawdust piles in them. There was wood dust all over the bathroom, walls, and hallway. There was a large trash bag, a 220V extension cord, and a pile of spent sandpaper left in the kitchen. The area by the door had debris stuck to the finish, probably kicked up by the front door when they left after the final coat. All of the doors to the bedrooms, etc. were not rehung.. we'll have to hang them ourselves.
Dan had my check; we had done our part. But All About Wood Floors left us with a bad feeling.
I left the following review on
ServiceMagic (which I don't recommend):
Pros: Dan's price was reasonable. They were on time and did a great job removing old finish and bumps. Floors look awesome. 2 workers came back afterwards to correct some complaints.
Cons: They left a bit of a mess. Bathroom had sawdust, I found face mask and debris in heating duct. They left behind some stuff. After applying final coat, closing the front door kicked up some dirt which stuck to the finish, and they came back and fixed it. We have to re-hang doors. I recommend more communication with customer.
I am feeling like this review is a little generous. The final disappointment for us was finding the pile of cigarette butts, trash, and sawdust in our front yard. All About Wood Floors? How about All About Leaving A Mess.
To give these guys credit, we were in the midst of some renovation when they arrived. The kitchen was sealed off with plastic, and we weren't living on the main floor, so maybe they figured we wouldn't be picky about a mess? When I called Dan with some complaints, he said he'd come out the next day and address them. (Two of his workers came out, fixed the problem finish by the front door and vacuumed the vents, and again left without saying goodbye, leaving some items unaddressed).
Overall, the floors do look pretty good, but these guys need to polish their business if they want to succeed. Leaving a mess and trash at your customer's house is not a way to win referrals. Failing to see that your customer is satisfied is bad business.
The moral of the story is that, as a homeowner, you are the head contractor of work performed on your home. It is up to you to make sure you start with a contract that explains what exactly will be done. You should have a final walkthrough after the job is completed, and only pay when the items in the contract have been completed. To my fault, I paid Dan before the job was finished, and didn't prepare a proper contract. I should have insisted up front that the place would be cleaned up, doors re-hung, and then withheld payment until it was done. In the future we'll act more project managers, and less like trusting consumers.
