The Wooden Floor Co Inc

To preface the work being done, my wife and I were expecting our first child throughout the entire renovation effort of our home. We had moved out of the house (and everything we owned was moved and stored) to allow the work to be done unhindered, and we had a very very tight schedule, we had a due date that wasn't going to change, and so adhering to the renovation schedule was of the utmost importance, and would help keep our rental costs to the minimum.

Tim was always on time in meeting with us, providing us with the right decisions to be made, offering his best opinion about what to do, and coordinated with out general contractor about scheduling and work to be done. They hit every milestone of work every time, and that was of absolute importance to us. The cost of the work I would estimate to be 'fair' on industry standards as we got gotten another bid and although The Wooden Floor Company was slightly higher than our other bid, we had trusted Angie's list reviews and a recommendation from a friend and opted to use them.

Upon the first few visits Tim had seen there was a slight height difference between the old hardwood floors and the area where we were proposing new floors and had recommended that we add a chamfer board to slope to the new area. After demolition of the existing tile, Tim then recommended we add scope/fee to remove the plywood sub-floor to make all the heights of the floors the same. It was the right decision to make, but it came with an additional cost of about $1500. Part of me had some expectations that this should have been estimated in the original cost. An additional cost was also added to replace older damaged areas with the newer oak flooring where it made more sense to replace with new than try to repair the old. Overall, the additional costs put us over budget, but in the end were the right decisions, and the replace was definitely a better look than the repair.

Our biggest surprise came the day before we were scheduled to move back into the house. Our general contractor had already finished repainting the entire house, we had new ceiling fans installed, and the house was beginning to look show room ready when the floors were being finished. Unfortunately on Sunday, after the floors were dry and I got a chance to go in the house to see the big result, I was very disheartened. There was an inordinate amount of sanding dust covering everything. I was expecting to have some sanding dust in many areas, but this was terrible. Our brand new ceiling fan was left on and there was dust on and inside it. The dust was so thick, I could actually write the word 'Dirty' on a window sill with my fingers. It was so dirty I vacuumed half of a closet shelf and left the other half un-vacuumed and took pictures. It was unbelievable how thick they layer of sanding was, there was a definitive yellow dust/white line where I had and had not vacuumed.

I frantically started vacuuming everything because there was no way my pregnant wife was going to be able to live in a house that dirty. I sent Tim a text message notifying him about the incredible mess and he didn't respond. I can understand it was Sunday and not his scheduled work day, but as I cleaned and found more and more sawdust/sandingdust I became more frustrated and send Tim another text message letting him know how disappointed I was. I could not believe the floors has been stained and sealed with that amount of dust in the air and on everything. How could the floors be done right with that mess?

Tim eventually called me back and we discussed the mess, he told me "it wasn't their jobs to clean houses". That made me very disappointed. I wasn't expecting him to clean our house, just clean up most of the mess THEY had made. Up until that point I had a very good working relationship with Tim. He said they had vacuumed some of the house, but I couldn't figure out where. So Tim came to the house to help clean, he came speeding up the street,  grudgingly put his vacuum on, tried for about 20-30 minutes then left. I spent the rest of that Sunday cleaning and still barely made a dent in the mess. I can't fault him for not wanting to be there on a Sunday, but that effort should have happened long before the floors were stained. Who knows how much dust is in that stain/seal now, especially with the ceiling fans left on. I took a lot of pictures and will use them as a reminder of what to include if I ever do a flooring job again.

Eventually I hired a cleaning team to come to our house on the day we were moving in. I talked with Tim about sharing the cost of cleaning to which he was opposed. Overall, I proposed his portion of the cleaning cost was $50 on a $15,000 job and he argued and fought with me about it but eventually conceded. I thought I was being more than fair, and I was just so disappointed to have the job end that way. I also contacted Tim to come back out and fix a small spot by our front door that was missing a trim piece, I'm not sure if they had forgotten it, or misunderstood our discussion that one day in the future we would replace the door threshold, but it looked terrible and thank goodness he came back to fix it.

After living in the house now for a few weeks we have noticed gaps opening up between the boards (lengthwise side). This is in both the existing wood flooring, and the new flooring that was installed. We have had a big fluctuation in weather, unusually hot then cold with rain, so I am going to attribute the opening of the gaps between boards to that, but I would normally would be calling the installer to come out and look at the boards to see what was happening. Unfortunately, I just don't have the energy or confidence that contacting Tim to see what is happening will yield a positive result, so we will just monitor the flooring and maybe one day have to hire another company if the gaps widen more.

Overall, the flooring looks good, and Tim's team met our schedule which was the most important factor. I would rate our experience as 'good', but with some disappointments. 

Pros:
Sticks to Schedule, shows up on time and does the work when needed.
Provides advice on what to do.
Overall the floors came out good, especially for refinishing older existing floors.

Cons:
Dirty, dusty, and more dusty. Expect a major cleaning bill after work is done. Their sanders have crummy vacuums, and they will not clean up after themselves, or as Tim told me "we don't clean houses".
Expect add on costs for older existing floors.
Difficult to communicate with if conflict arises.








 

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They were honest and nice. They had to take all the furniture out of the house and I could not be in the house during this time. I did not worry about not being in the house when they were there. Everything was put back right where it belonged when I got back home. They did a nice job. My floors are beautiful. They made it very easy for me to pay them because they did it in steps.

Tim Zastoupil, the president of The Wooden Floor Company was very responsive from start to finish. He came promptly after our initial call, sent us an estimate in a timely manner, and gave us a starting date as soon as we told him we were ready for him to start. On the first day, he came to our condo with Jimmy and Dave and helped them move furniture and set up for the job. He returned on several occasions to supervise and help. The work was completed in 6 work days, a day longer than initially projected. Jimmy and Dave were hard working, courteous, and a pleasure to have around, in spite of the noise and the dust the work generated. They did excellent work. We now have lovely maple floors, laid beautifully. They have changed the quality of the light in our condo. It is now much warmer and inviting. The final price was on target with Tim's initial estimate.
We would definitely recommend this company. Tim and his crew have integrity, are hard working and clearly take pride in their work. This shows in their attitude towards their customers, in the care with which they approach their work, and in the results they achieve. Thank you Tim, Jimmy, and Dave!

The process was painless and went very smoothly. Tim was always available and responsive. He always answered his cellphone and his email in a professional manner. He was up-front about his service and materials. His prices were competitive. He and his crew did a great job and did so in a very timely manner. My wife, who was going on vacation in a few days, was very relieved that Tim was able to get the job done in short order and with excellent results. We are very happy with our new hardwood floor and will not hesitate to call Tim when we are ready to re-floor our family room and living room.

The services were top notch. We were able to schedule at a convenient time for us and the work was completed right on schedule. All work was clean, professional and fairly priced. This company has been around a long time - we would use them again and highly recommend them to others.

Tim (the company President) is very responsive, a good communicator, sincere, direct, and fair. He came to the house twice before the install to see the space and the product, then installed over the course of two days. He and his employee, John, were very professional and brought everything they needed the first time. They returned two weeks after to sand and stain. We were able to pick exactly the color we wanted, then Tim laid it down on the floor. One of the things I really appreciated was that Tim boldly made suggestions to us on what he thought we might like based on his experience. We agreed on a color and sealant finish, and three coats later we have a great-looking floor.
Tim's strengths are that he is direct and speaks with integrity, his experience will be a great help, and the product he leaves behind is that of an artisan, not a laborer. I am very impressed, and I have high standards for whom I will let in my house.

They did a very professional job and the results were great. Stairs look terrific and it made a nice improvement to our home. Steve and Tim are great to work with and seem to think of everything. Their staff who installed the floor were professional and always left our home as clean as possible when they left.

We set up an appointment and were shown the options available to us with explanations for the pros and cons of each product along with information on installation, care and maintenance. After making our selection a written bid was submitted with instructions about what would and would not be done [i.e. no trim/base board]. As part of the signed contract, we scheduled a time for the work to be done and given an approximate completion time. The job was done accordingly both on time and on budget. Communication was excellent with phone calls and face to face, checking in with us throughout the process. They did an excellent job at a competitive price and we are very pleased with the result.

Project went exactly as described by contractor in advance. Some potential unforeseeable conditions were explained upfront but were not encountered. Tim was able to work with me to add underfloor speaker wiring during installation. Job was done on time and with no surprises.