Bown Floor Company

Description of Work: Refinish hardwood floors

Description of Work: Solid maple floor sanded and refinished

Description of Work: Refinished kitchen hardwood floor

Description of Work: Arrival time for initial quote was spot on. We received quotes from 3 different companies and decided on Bown Floors after Richard answered a few questions we had and were happy with his responses; it was also the mid-priced quote and they had been in business for almost 30 years. We agreed on price and dates for floor to be completed. We had just moved in and were going on vacation, so this was a perfect opportunity.....furniture still in storage PODS and unpacked, dogs already boarded, etc.....When we arrived home, initially, the floors looked great. We were really happy with the color we chose (Early American) and it was SO much better then what was there initially (natural oak). After we took off our shoes is when we realized we had some issues with the floor. Some of the floor was very rough and actually hurt when walking bare feet. We called and scheduled a time with Stella for Richard to come back out and see what needed to be done. They arrived over an hour late - with no phone call - apologetic, but started unloading the truck immediately. Not sure what was going on, I asked. He said they were there to fix the problem that day. UGH! We had our bedroom (mattresses on the floor, etc) set up and were walking out the door to go to work (again, they were late)...we had to move the bedroom into the dining/great room, vacuum up the dog hair (dog sheds Horribly), tape up for dust, etc...what happened was they were using a telescoping applicator for the larger rooms. unfortunately, they had sand in the poles, so once it was extended, without them noticing, the sand was distributed on top of the sealer, which is where the rough surface came into play. We noticed this in the hallway and in the master suite pretty heavily. Richard pointed out that the dining/great room needed to be redone as well - this we appreciated - which prompted us to look more closely and decided that the library would have to be redone, too. This was unfortunate for both of us, but REAL unfortunate for us. Although we were able to crate our Chihuahua, we had no where for our English Shepherd to go. They redid half of the floors that day and we insisted they had to come back for the other half, at our convenience. A few weeks later, once we completed working on the master bedroom and could move our things back into the bedroom and once we moved the "work room" from the library to one of the guest bedrooms, we called to schedule the second half of the house (library and great/dining room). They only arrived about 20 minutes behind schedule, which is not bad and when I asked Richard for a discount on services due to the HUGE inconvenience, dog boarding again, etc. he mentioned the price he quoted was a fair price. I agreed that it was fair initially, but not with all of the mishap. We agreed that I would call and speak with Stella and we could arrange to meet for payment, etc._x000D_|_x000D_|Initially, we were quoted for steps going down to the basement, too. We opted out of this due to the fact that we were not sure at the time what we would do with the stained and finished banister, etc. But when I called Stella, I suggested they do the steps at no charge and we could square up with payment upon completion of the stairs. After a few days, Richard called back and agreed to do the stairs for no cost due to the errors/inconvenience with the rest of the floor. _x000D_|_x000D_|We scheduled a time and this time he provided a one hour window of arrival time (which was great) and arrived on time. This was going to be a 2 - 3 day process. When we arrived home after the first day of them staining and applying the first coat of finish on the steps, we were HUGELY disappointed. They only did the part of the stairs that you actually step on, not the backs, which they call "risers". AND the edges against the wall were very poorly hand-sanded, which caused discoloration between the rest of each step and the edges. My husband called and questioned as to why the entire stairs were not done and Richard stated that they do not do "risers". My husband expressed his extreme disappointment and was told that they never do them, don't have the tools to. My husband told Richard that when quoting, there was no mention of only doing the top of the bottom part of each step....Richard told my husband that there were a lot of misunderstandings going on in our household. Misunderstandings? My husband told Richard that it was his workmanship was the only thing in question here. Although very angry and disappointed, at this point, the only thing we wanted was the last coat put on and for them to be done and out of the house. Being that we were paying in cash, we agreed to meet Richard the next day after church to make payment. We met in the parking lot of a Restaurant and wanting to clear up his misunderstanding, I confronted him on the statement he made to my husband regarding misunderstandings in our household going back to the very beginning of the day when he came over to quote the job through the very end.....to a consumer, stairs are stairs! We have no idea that a "riser" would be different and that they did not do them.....he said yes, usually Stella does the quotes and that he is not real familiar with explaining what they do and what they do not do...and that yes, the sand and grit in the finish was their error (said it would NEVER happen again), but used the excuse that we now received 3 coats instead of 2 of the finish. I expressed that in no way was compensation for their error, we agreed on 2 coats and were not looking for 3 coats - the only reason they did 3 coats was to repair the damage already done. I also mentioned the inconsistent color on the steps because of the poor hand-sanding of the edges. My husband did get the apology he deserved from Richard and we shook hands and paid him as agreed. The sand in the pole was an error and unfortunately, it cost Bown Floors money in time spent redoing the floors, but it also cost us! Agreeing on them doing the stairs on a comp was a fair trade, if they had been done with quality work and if they were quoted properly from the beginning. Fortunately, my husband is VERY handy! He is currently cutting out, staining and finishing oak veneer planks for the back of the stairs (or risers) and cutting, staining and finishing shoe moldings to hide both the inconsistency in the coloring on the edging and underneath each step (as you can see the difference when walking up the stairs). He just finished removing, replacing, sanding, staining and finishing the bannister, and before too long the steps will look as beautiful as the bannister does, NO THANKS to Bown Floors!

Description of Work: I had Bown Floor Company did a screen and refinishing on my hardwood floors last month.