Interior Images

Timing was pushed out a bit but overall experience was great, got exactly what we were looking for.

Everything went perfectly. Al Cleaver came out, with a good knowledge of what color our existing floor is, and provided us several alternatives/choices that would match. We had seen three previous flooring stores, and somehow nothing seemed to work out. We put down our deposit, and arranged for the wood to be delivered and acclimated in our home prior to installation. Every appointment was kept, on time, and communication was excellent. They did a superior job installing and within the timeframe we were told. Any mess was kept to a minimum, and cleaned up. Highly recommend this company. I have recommended this company to my neighbor and realtor.

We settled on Interior Images after getting recommendations from our contractor, who remodeled our master bath two years ago. At Interior Images, we dealt with owner Al Cleaver.  We found him to be quite knowledgeable and helpful.  He asked us what we wanted, then he showed us what he offered in his showroom that fit our requirements.  We were trying to decide between engineered hardwoods and real hardwoods.  After further discussion, my wife and I picked out several options from Shaw Floors.  We took home samples to see how the floor would look in our home.  Throughout the whole process, Al was prompt with answering any questions we had.  We settled on Shaw's Westwood Russet hardwood floors.  Al highly recommended that we go with a wider plank, so the Shaw we selected is 4" wide.  We were in no rush to get the work done, so we gave Al plenty of time to schedule us.  Everything went smoothly with the scheduling and his floor installer, Mike Miller, arrived on time on the day we selected to start the project.  Mike Miller had two apprentices with him.  When they arrived, they surveyed the rooms where the hardwoods would be installed. Once they decided in which order they would do the work, they started with pulling up the carpeting and removing the existing hardwood in the foyer.  Prior to the start of the project, we emptied out the bookcases, office desk, china cabinet/breakfront, buffet, entertainment cabinet, and moved all the small breakables and small tables.  Mike Miller and his team moved the rest of the furniture around, as they removed the carpeting and installing the hardwood.  Mike does excellent work.  He was meticulous and careful in how he installed the hardwoods.  Mike and his team were very respectful and did their very best to keep things clean and not damage anything.  In our family room around the marble floor in front of the fireplace, Mike created a simple, but very nice border with the hardwoods.  Mike and his team completed the project in 3 days.  On the 4th day, he came for a little touch-up and to install one tread on the staircase that Al had to order because it was overlooked. Al had the piece overnight delivered, so Mike was able to install it.  Since Mike was finished on the 3rd day, he put in a temporary tread in two pieces until he received the one long piece.  When Mike installed the hardwoods in the powder room, Mike removed the toilet and the sink, but Al brought in his plumber, Greg Fryfogle, to re-install the toilet and sink.  When removing the sink, the old caulking removed some of the new paint and drywall, but Greg took care of it, except for the paint, which I handled easily.  Greg offered, but I preferred to take care of it myself.  In the hallway upstairs, the carpet in each bedroom needed to be tucked in, so Al had his carpet guy, Ken, handle the job.  We found the whole process to be terrific.  It was really good to work with Al and Mike.  We found our bath remodeler on Angie's List, but it was his recommendation that led us to Interior Images, which had some entries on Angie's List already.

We worked with Ken Dorsey at Interior Images and he was very prompt and responsive with helping us pick out the flooring, coming to the house and taking measurements, and providing a quote. Interior Images subs out all their work and his subcontractors did very good work. We had Alterna tile installed in the kitchen and prefinished hardwood through out the rest of the main level. Ultimately we were happy with the work and the final product, but a couple things occurred that will have me at least consider alternative places to take my business in the future:

1. Ken came to our house on a Saturday to take measurements. He told me that he was leaving the next day for a 1 week cruise, but he would get me a quote the very next day before he left. I told him not to worry about it and just get me the quote when he came back from vacation, but he insisted he would get me the quote, which he did. We agreed on the price and all of the details were included in the quote, as we discussed. A few weeks later when we were scheduling the work to be done, Ken mentioned that he had messed up and although we agreed the foyer would be included in the work, he forgot to include the quantity in his quote. He then went on to make a big deal about how it was a $1,600 mistake, but he would honor the price, etc. The whole conversation bothered me a bit and struck me as unprofessional as I felt he was expecting me to offer to compensate him for his mistake.

2. His hardwood contractor did the work over a 2 day period. After they installed the portion on the first day me and my wife noted that at least two of the new boards had gouges (not scratched, but gouges) in them. When he showed up at the house the next day I pointed them out and he apologized and was actually upset at himself for not seeing them himself. He replaced those boards without a problem and apparently then looked over the rest of the work as well. Later in the day I got a text from Ken which basically told me that we had to be careful and that his guy had to swap out 14 boards. I immediately called Ken to talk to him and again he told me that they had found 14 boards that were muffed and accused us of causing the damage. I informed him we had in fact moved no furniture and had not even spent time in the rooms where the work was done that night. When it came time to make the final payment he made a big deal to me about how his guy charged him an extra $350 because of having to swap the boards out and how I needed to help him absorb that cost because between that, and the estimating mistake, he was not going to make any money on this job. I again told him that I was not prepared to give him any additional compensation as the work was not done to our satisfaction initially and had to be made right. He grumbled some more about it and then that was the end of it. Again, this whole exchange really bothered me.

At the end of the day, as I said, the work was done well, and on time, and the price was good (apparently part of that is because he had misquoted me, in my favor.) The somewhat unprofessional exchanges noted above though leave me very hesitant to use Interior Images for any future flooring work.

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The installers arrived at expected time, did the work quickly and professionally and were cleaned up and finished faster than I expected. The carpet looks great and I was extremely happy with the entire transaction.

I AM QUITE PLEASED WITH THE NEW FLOOR IN MY BASEMENT. IT IS SO MUCH MORE FAMILY FRIENDLY NOW. MY FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS HAVE MADE SOME NICE COMMENTS ABOUT THE WAY THINGS LOOK.

I WAS PLEASANTLY SURPRISED THAT THEY CAME EARLY AND COMPLETED THE JOB AHEAD OF SCHEDULE. I HAD COMPARED PRICES FOR THE CERAMIC TILE AND FOUND THE PRICE TO BE OVER $1000 LOWER THAN THE COMPETITOR. THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS AND I HAVE HIRED THEM FOR A LOT.