Farrell Wills Wood Floors
About us
In 1979, I was in my late twenties, and I was working as a machine operator. I'd been there for 5 years, and I made union-scale wages. At the same time, I felt that I needed to have more freedom to pursue my musical career. So I gave up the job, moved into modest housing, and begin to do temp work in the industrial sector. I drove forklifts, worked in a steel mill, and sanded electronic circuit boards. It was great fun, for me, doing all these different kinds of work. In the meantime, I kept my eye open for something that I would want to do on my own. A friend decided that he wanted to expand his general carpentry skills, and he had heard that sanding floors was a useful trade to know. He needed a helper to get started, and I agreed to work with him on the project. With my friend's new flooring business, we ended up learning on the job. But I found that I loved the work, and I went on to buy my friend's business, and become a licensed contractor on my own. That was 34 years ago. My workers and I have turned out a lot of quality floor jobs since then, and I still enjoy playing music on the weekends. I try to make floor installation and refinishing into a manageable process for you. I use strict dust control, including zippered plastic to enter and exit rooms. We work consecutive days to get your job done, including Saturdays and Sundays, if that works with your schedule. I have procedure sheets that describe what we do, and how we go about our work. So if you’re an Angie’s list member, click on these to get an idea of the type of service I'm aiming for when I start your job.
Business highlights
Services we offer
Installation of hardwood, cleaning & waxing., pre-finished and engineered floors, recoating, repairs, sanding and refinishing, softwood, stain-matching, stair installation and refinishing
Amenities
Free Estimates
Yes
Accepted Payment Methods
- CreditCard
| Number of Stars | Image of Distribution | Number of Ratings |
|---|---|---|
| 71% | ||
| 0% | ||
| 29% | ||
| 0% | ||
| 0% |
"There is a misunderstanding here. Initially, I didn’t have to use any new wood in the patch I did for the customer. I was able to take out the existing pieces and flip them over, using the clean back side of the wood. If the stain does not go too deep, this is the best way to go. Since I’m re-using the original wood, there are no matching problems with the existing floor. The two pieces that did not look good to the customer were both pieces that were in the original 110-year old floor. They had more wavy grain than the other pieces, which was not apparent to either me or the customer when they were sanded. When I put the finish on, the grain re-appeared, and the customer did not like the look. I pointed out that while they might stand out somewhat, they had been acceptable pieces in the original, and the fact that the old wood matched exactly in color would be better than putting in new pieces. She decided that she did want them replaced. Neither new red or new white oak will exactly match the color of a century-old floor, so I had to paint the new wood to make it match better, and then coat over the paint. I felt I did a good job of this, and the customer did not mention dissatisfaction with the end result in her review."
"I'm glad the timing worked out for this customer. I checked with them about the "B" rating for quality, and made arrangements to do some touch-ups on the floor."
"It was nice to work in Oakland again. It's been five years since I moved away, and I no longer advertise in the area. The customers were very thorough about getting all the preparation work done, and that always puts me in good spirits when I show up for the work. There was a lot of detail with this job, and I was glad that I could send pictures to the customer. They were able to more easily approve work that might have taken a lot of explaining otherwise."
"In an ideal world, we might have postponed the job, but both the customer and myself were on a tight schedule on this one. I would not have been able to do the job if I didn’t do it in that time slot. My helper had been a full-time floor worker for two years when she was younger, but she was not as fast as an up-to-date worker would be. I did the final trimming and refinishing, and the procedures were the same ones I describe in my literature. So any mistakes in that area were mine; without seeing the floor, I can't say what might have gone wrong with the standard techniques. When we finished the job, I thought (Member name removed) had gotten the results that she wanted. This review says differently, and I left a message telling her that I was sorry that she experienced these difficulties. If I had known at the time, I would have been able to correct some of these problems by applying another coat."
"A lot of the houses in the customer's area are the older ones, and there can be difficulties with the older floors. The new wood on repairs doesn't match as well, and there can be a lot of nails that come up after repeated sandings over 100 years. Our business doesn't tend to have repeat customers , but this customer has been one of them, and I'm glad the jobs have gone well for them."
Licensing
State Contractor License Requirements
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