Brookens Wood Floors Inc

BUYER BEWARE! This review may be long, but it's worth the read if you don't want to waste $$$Thousands of Dollars only to be left with a mediocre floor!!! Don't let the 5-Stars fool you. Although the workers were quite pleasant and did a good job, the manager and owner is unreliable, rude and definitely not trustworthy. He'll tell you one thing in person, and then wriggle his way out of any verbal commitment he made with you. And that's only if he bothers to call you back! The job they did on our floors was ok but we had to have our walls repainted because of the marks and scratched the crew made with their equipment. And there were several areas that I had to point out to them that were definitely NOT satisfactory...including an area in the upstairs hallway where the topcoat was applied quite poorly. So, why am I pointing out areas to the professionals? Can they not see them for themselves? We were not aware until after the job was started that one of the workers was being trained. Now maybe it's just me but if I'm paying for a professional job to be done in my home...I want professionals doing it. My home is not a training ground where "newbies" can learn from their mistakes. They had to return to "re-refinish" these areas...which are still only satisfactory...not professional. We asked for an estimate on having our stairs rebuilt during the floor refinishing job his crew was currently doing for us in April. He gave an estimate and said it would be around July that the stairs could be done. I agreed to give the downpayment when we paid him for the floor job since it had not yet been completed. I asked if we could be considered for an earlier time if his schedule allowed and he said he would see what he could do. We waited until the middle of July and heard nothing back. After several months of our emails and phone calls NOT being returned, I was finally able to reach him to ask about the timeline for the stairs. HE TOLD ME OCTOBER OR NOVEMBER!!! He said he never put it on the schedule because we had not yet paid for the floor job and had not given him a downpayment for the stairs which I told him would be paid when the floor was finished. We had not paid him for the floor yet because the floor had STILL not been completed...and this was now JULY!! The crew had sanded into one of our existing floor reducers which had to be replaced (at their expense) and the rest of the floor had areas that needed touching up which was not completed until JULY (the job was started in April)! SO...DON'T ACCEPT ANY VERBAL AGREEMENT FROM RALPH. GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING OR YOU'LL BE SORELY DISAPPOINTED AND PLAYED LIKE A FOOL...WE WERE!!!

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Brookens Wood Floors completely refinished our entire houseful of floors and we could not be happier. In the beginning we didn't even know if the floors could be saved. In the kitchen the floor did need to be pulled up and replaced with new oak because they were such a different (ugly) style. it now matches the rest of the floors which are original to the house. The stair treads were also completely refinished as well as three bedrooms upstairs.
When I first inquired about an estimate, the owner of the company promptly got back to me and set an appointment. I was given a written estimate that day which I felt was a very reasonable price for that much work. He is very knowledgeable about both new and old floors and we felt very comfortable in choosing him.
Once they started on the floors they showed up every weekday to work on them without fail. When everything was sanded they put a number of different stains on them for us to pick from.
Everyone on his crew are very professional. They always made sure we knew what the schedule was for the day and when we could walk on the different areas of the house.
They took our very, very old oak floors and restored them to looking so much nicer than I could have imagined. We will definitely be using them in the future, they do gorgeous work.

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Ralph said the floors, which were in really rough shape, would look brand new once he and his crew were done and that is exactly what we got! The floors look incredible. Ed and Leroy were very professional and very easy to work with. It is quite clear that these guys take a lot pride in their work. The estimate was right on the money with the only adjustment for some repairs of some damage under the refrigerator which no one knew about until the job was underway. We are completely satisfied with the job Brookens Wood Floors did for us and we would recommend them without hesitation. Don't try and find a shortcut. Hire the best right up front and you will be glad you did!

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Wow, what great people! They moved all of my furniture, took up the old flooring, removed old staples, put down new hardwood, replaced the trim and put everything back. They left the area very clean each day when they left. They were very tolerant of my various animals checking things out. They showed up each day when they said they would and put in a full day of work. I can't say enough about how great the experience was.

Fantastic!

They took out all the old carpet, disposed of it for me, and the baseboard. I did not ask them to replace the baseboard as I was installing new so they disposed of that too. This was a big help when one is doing a project so large.
They planned to be done in one week but it required they return the next Mon. a.m. for an hour or so to finish some fine detail work. The installers were great. They worked very hard and this was one of the hottest weeks of July 2011. It was hard to maintain a cool home with the doors open a lot carrying in and out. They endured.
I'm sure this is way easier to do with no one living in a home, and they had to work around me and I had to live with the process and the mess. But we survived and the end product is great. I am attaching only a photo of the dining area because the trim is still not up (it's being painted and we're not done here yet).
You may not be able to tell from this photo the quality of their work but I can asure you this was nicely done. I think it was a good investment in my home.

I used Brookens Flooring (Ralph Brookens). Kelch was not a part of the company any longer. Mr Brookens was polite and very helpful (insurance company was involved). The refinishers, Ed and Leroy were funny and a terrific help during the whole process. Took only 2 days and I had my furniture back on the floor on the third. Excellent work, personalities and PRICE! I will use them in the future.