Ralph Opfer Floors

Great people to work with. Very professional. Large selection and willing to obtain other samples for viewing. We are curious and picky and they were very patient and helpful answering our many questions. The installers were clean, organized and didn't mind our questions either. They installed flooring in 5 rooms and we are very happy. We are going back to them for new carpet too. Try them we are sure you will like them. Happy wife, happy life. cheers

These folks were fantastic from beginning to end. First they were fabulous accommodating our difficult global travel schedules and met with us in the showroom after-hours. They were very helpful when it came to picking out our flooring, worked with our contractors with measurements and installation was smooth sailing. I've since referred them to several friends. Everybody who visits my house loves goes gaga over the flooring. Incredible savings.

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Second time I've used Ralph Opfer Floors and I highly recommend them. The selection is extensive without being overwhelming and the customer service saved me a lot of time by listening to what my job entailed and helping me narrow my options. The installation went without a hitch and I couldn't have been more pleased overall. I recommend them to my clients who are looking for a flooring contractor. Mary Nesel/Lyon Real Estate

We used Opfer ten years before.  Because of good results, we went back to them.  Pulled up carpet in dining room and step down living room.  They were prompt and completed the work in four days.  Hint:  They gave me the baseboard to paint - it was a time and backsaver to paint on the bench and not along the floor!  I had a nick in one of the alarm wires along the baseboard - I found it and spliced the cut wire.  They were working in a door opening and the door fell over and cracked in half.  He went out and fitted a new door in less than 3 hours.  I like the new floor and the selection at the showroom. 

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The job went very smooth from estimate to install. Needed job to be done asap and they did it a day earlier than expected. Lynn the owner was easy to work with.

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1. Ralph Opfer Floors was wonderful to work with.  They were able to come and give me an estimate within a few days of my initial call and start work right away.  They gave me lots of information and always had a quick response to any question I had.  I decided to use a new product they had, which is a Luxury Vinyl Tile.  We put a travertine look in the bathrooms, and a wood look throughout the rest of the house.  I never thought I would like a vinyl tile this much, but it looks great and is very durable (waterproof).  The job was finished promptly and ended up costing less than I anticipated.  They were a pleasure to work with!

Bottom Line: Grout is not deep enough, many tile lippages remain, several tiles are still too low/high relative to their neighbors. The overall floor is not 100% level, and this is noticeable form several vantage points.

General
I was not told that Ralph Opfer (Contractor) was using a subcontractor (Sub) to do the work.
I scheduled two vacation days in addition to one holiday, and the weekend, to be present while the floor was installed. The contract specified ?approximately? four business days for completion.
The Sub kept short days until the last two of eight full days of work. I took one additional day off and also left the Sub alone on the premises on the day of completion.
Sub responded to my concerns about excessive lippages and unevenness with bullying tactics (?anyone who saw this floor would be pleased?), and even asked a visiting contractor (on another matter) what his opinion of the floor was. He also tried to rush my acceptance of the floor by mentioning paying his rent.
The main contractor, Ralph Opfer floors, was no better. To whit:
·        ?We are not the main contractor on this job, you are. We are a subcontractor that has provided labor only for you.?
·        Stated in person that if I?d  wanted a ?flat? floor, he would not have recommended tile.
·        ?FusionPro grout must be applied to an area on the same day otherwise the color would be different.?
·        With regard to the rework, ?The extra tiles were replaced at your request, not because of improper installation.?
·        Contractors dropped by on the seventh day without advance notice and entered the premises without knocking.
Installation
Pro
·     Tile layout design:

       suggested 1/3 offset to randomize grout lines on the short side

       established straight borders where tile ran perpendicular at entryway, hallway turns, and great room
·      Good finish work to carpet edge with tile
·        Moulding cut well
Con
·    Did not inspect and select best tile to lay (from plentiful stock), resulting in some of the problems mentioned below.
·   Grout lines for square tile were laid at requested 1/8?, but grout lines for majority rectangular tile spread to 3/16? or wider in some places.
·    After hallway, entryway, and 1/8 of great room tile had been installed, I identified over 50 tiles as having noticeable
unevenness to the touch; 10 having lippages noticeable in footwear. Sub expressed annoyance and resistance to correcting the problems. Approximately 17 tiles were removed and replaced.
·        Eight days to install versus four estimated.
·        Exceeded material use for mortar (12 bags versus 7 estimated).
·        Hearth face was built out (?floated?) by the Sub to cover an uneven face, which left ugly exposed mortar on either side of the
hearth face. Contractor argued that this was ?customer design? because the Sub proposed the float to address bad framing.
·        Grout too low in most grooves, adding to the unevenness of the floor overall?objects moved across the floor get caught on the grout lines.
 

Customer Service

Pro
·        Responsive to changes in scope of work with respect to moulding choice, square tile and mosaic mix in entryway and hearth.
Con
·        Difficult to obtain signed contract before work commenced
·        Sub responded to requests to correct mistakes with bullying tactics and resistance
·        After I identified problems, Sub blamed rework for dismissing his helper (inefficient use of the helper?s time), which further
contributed to delay in completing job.

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They scrapped the tile floor in the kitchen. The previous installer used plywood under it - the grout broke out and some tiles had loosen.  The plywood was glued and nailed down so they raised up the rest of the surrounding floor.  Installation went smoothly with trim mitered.

The price quoted was less than cost of materials from Homedepot.  It still looks good!

Was referred here by Vince Parker the installer I hired, large selection at very competitive prices. Lynn was great to work with and very knowledgeable, allowed me to take multiple samples home to see how they looked with furnishings etc. I wouldn't hesitate to purchased from them again.

The contractor started on time however it was delayed a day due to not having enough employees

staffed to do the work.  The one contractor did an extraordinary job with the installation and we are very happy with our new floors and linoleum in the bathroom.

Lynn took my call and promptly ordered the piece I needed.  She stayed in touch and had the piece ready to pick up in just a few days.  A flooring store had told me it could take 2 weeks.  I picked up the item at a warehouse in West Sac, it matches, and the price is less than the flooring stores.  A very good experience.

Selection of flooring was the most challenging.  Opfer had a good choice, and viewing was a bit awkward - on their garage floor -- but worked OK.  The price was competitive.
We had Lift-Off remove about 1000 sq ft of tile and that was done quickly (4 hours).  The removal resulted in a clean concrete slab for the hardwood install.
The Opfer installer arrived on time and did the necessary prep work - patch some cracks, cleaning out doorways, etc.  Install took 4 days, including the baseboard.  Probably the only real issue we had was the baseboard install was a bit sloppy, with some mismatches in the corners (installer used pre-made corners).  Also, the caulk (used to fill in the baseboard seams and surround) was darker, requiring us to file down, re-caulk and paint most corners.  There was also considerable adhesive left on the floor that took quite a bit of time to get rid of.  Also, there are a few noisy spots where the gluing might be questionable.  Possibly, the installer wanted to complete the job on Thursday (day 4), and was pushing things at the end.
The sq. ft. estimate was a little excessive and we have 2 complete boxes of flooring left over - we had to find a place to put that. 
Overall, the floor and baseboard look very nice. 

I spent less than $10000 on their services.  They were very easy to deal with as far as ordering and they kept in contact.  Lynn helped me quite a bit by calling and letting me know the schedule, and what was going on.  So they are pretty good.  They were always on time and so that was really good.  They called and let me know about everything that was going on.  In terms of price, they were better than the others that I got a call from.  They’re pretty good and I have recommended them to the others.  I would use them again if I needed anything else done with the flooring.

Lynn and her husband were both great to work with.  They ordered new carpet for our home and made sure it arrived on time.  We were out of town for the install, and we trusted them enough to leave them with a key.  The installers did a wonderful job, I cannot find one flaw or seam. The home was freshly painted, and there was not one scratch on the walls or baseboards.   Lynn was always in touch, and made sure the carpet went in before our move date, as we requested.  We are very happy.

Installer was on time, worked quickly, reasonably priced, finished in timely manner, always available to answer questions / concerns.

Great. Here when they said they would be. Left them alone to do their work. Had a tile piece from shower loose - they repaired it while doing bathroom floor - went above & beyond. Good experience - beautiful outcome!

The Ralph Opfer people were all great to work with. One problem was we bough the bamboo from cali bamboo in San Diego. The color was a lot darker than the sample we had. They didn't care. The installation was done well and looks good.

See above.

Perfect from start to finish.  Lynn helped us to make decisions, let us take numerous samples then shopped for the best price/quality for us.