AJ BROTHERS HARDWOOD FLOORING & STAIRS

Alan Riddle who is the owner of the company, also known as Riddle Wide Plank Floors, was eager for us to sign a contract in early 2014 for our new home. We are relocating our family of 5 from NJ to Florida and he had 10 months to prepare. He missed every deadline leading up to the job and once the job started he would show up randomly, mostly in the late afternoon for a few hours and never made progress. He kept lying to us showing us pictures, videos and updates and asking for payments for materials and work that was not done. He received 90% of our money totaling over $65,000. He then added an additional fee to the wood floor job due to the floors not being prepped properly. We have in writing from Alan telling us not to have the floors prepped with plywood and yet he refused to work without the extra money to purchase plywood. He didn't even complete half of the installation of the floors and what he did complete is not a color match to our approved sample and needs to be redone. He continued to make up excuses and lying to us and has walked out of our job taking materials and all his tools to complete the job. We have delayed our move 3 times due to his lies. After threatening to call the police for stealing, he sends an email during our moving week stating he needs a week off due to a crazy few months. We now have to hire a new contractor to rip out his work and finish the job. He left us with unsafe stairs with movers and three little kids coming this week. He has no remorse and will not give us the materials we paid for to complete the job or any money back. Beware of this company. We have spoken to others in the business who know him and they have all had similar experiences.

Continual promises of completion of floor and installation were offered and excuses made for lack of performance.   We gave up & contracted another company to  install another layer of MBP, remove the plywood subfloor & install an engineered floor....all completed within 2 days.

The raw goods, which were to sit in our house and acclimate to the conditions in the house, were about 4 weeks late, due to supplier problems according to Alan. Upon receipt, they were stacked and remained for about three weeks, during which time they were tested for moisture content.
Two young men arrived for the commencement of the work, and were experienced, clean workers and reliable. They worked hard, and a third man assisted in the jackhammer process, which was a labor-intensive, difficult job. The two of them worked reasonably consistently for about four weekls to accomplish 95% of the work. The final color, selected by us after Alan brought samples, was what we had ordered and has stood the test of time one year later.
When it came time for the installation of the new baseboards, Alan decided that he wanted to give us a credit for this rather than do it himself. This is not what we had agreed to and cuased us to have to source a carpenter. The credit was not sufficient to cover the additional cost. Fortunately, our terrific painter Bill Lamson (see Decor Interiors Review in Painting/Painter Section) was able to provide an excellent carpenter. However, it was additional hassle as I had to chase down the board and pick it up in our car.
There were and still are several small "punch list" items that Alan just couldn't get completed. Promises were made and went unfulfilled and eventually Alan chose not to return our calls. The end result was a decent product with a good deal of frustration at the end.
It is a shame that Alan has yet to figure out how to "finish" a job properly, as he has the ability to perform excellent work. I suspect that he is much more of a hands-on guy and less of a businessman that doesn't complete a job thoroughly and then provide the post-completion PR that would hold in in good stead and provide good referrals.
If you choose to use him for his quality of work, which is understandable,insist in your contract with him that you have a 10% (minimum) hold-back amount so that you can be certain that the end-of-the-job small finishing items are completed.

The final outcome of the floor came out ok but the entire process was terrible.  It took over a month. When I had another contractor came out after the job, he noted stains on kitchen woodwork and bedroom baseboards. There were also stains on the bedroom walls and damage to our cabinetry. They missed multiple spots on the floor, as well. The floor was supposed to be done in 10 days and they finished about 4-5 weeks later. They were either late or didn't show up at all. Before we were to travel back to New York, he promised daily, for a week, that he would be there the following day to finish. On the last day before we were set to leave, he had his brother call for him to say they couldn't come until the following day, which does not work, as we would already be out of town. The floors have still not been finished. They do not keep their word and are not an honorable company.

UPDATE 7/30/12
We had this problem, but he came back and resolved the issue while I was in New York. He fixed the problem. I would consider using them in the future in certain circumstances.

This company was recommended by another contractor whom we trusted.  Company initially answered all phone calls and questions promptly.  We paid initial deposit and sub flooring was installed as per contract.  Then started repeated delays until we discovered the wood flooring material had not been ordered and the company did not have the money to order it and finish the job.  Cost us another several thousand dollars to have the job completed.  In the end, the quality of the installation is not acceptable and our calls have not been returned.

They are the worst people I have worked with in my life. They had no ability to reason, they promised the railings and specifications that weren't even close. I had to have someone come in and redo all of the work. I had to pay thirteen thousand for not even a seven thousand dollar job.