Cramer Hardwood Floors

If you're thinking about having this company do work on your hardwood floors or install vinyl flooring - STOP! The owner Mark may come out and give you a nice estimate and say all the right things at the beginning, but expect everything to go downhill from there. You also won't see him again, he will send his "guys" out to do the work and he may text you. I've never received a receipt yet for the shoddy work and damages done along with the daily messes left behind for you to clean up,. I had to pay 1/2 the CASH at the end of the first day...heck, on their last day 3/25/22, they said they were finished and basically forced me to get the cash balance ( cash again! - I wasn't given the option to pay by check, VISA, or Venmo like their website says) because they said they weren't coming back! They left behind a huge dark stain in the Dining room, torn up baseboards, holes in walls, dent in newly finished floor from moving refrigerator n stove back inside, ripped up molding in kitchen from tearing out old floor, broken molding piece at my door lock and molding hanging on wall, they didn't put the door latch back together after taking it off to take out fridge n stove to deck, did not caulk my toilet after taking it off to lay the new vinyl floor - even though I gave them a tube of caulk to use and they said they caulked it, they left my bathtub filled with pieces of old tile from old floor, sandpaper on window sills, and something sticky is on my counter too! However, I could only peak my head in the door and look since my entire upper level of my duplex was refinished and wet with polyurethane at the time they said they were done. They also blew the fuses in my house several times and tripped the switch in the master box quite a few times. They dangerously connected wires directly into the outlet to use their machine. They had to borrow fuses from me as they didn't have a supply of their own. The owner got upset that I asked for reimbursement for my fuses, the guys said I took money from them, when all I did was ask for reimbursement and a guy, whom I gave the balance to, said take a twenty. They demanded 1/2 of the cash the first day. A typical work day for "guys" is to arrive by 8:30-8:45 am, come in your home like they own it, work half an hour to 45 minutes, by 9:30 am it's break time, back to work for 1/2 hour to hour, then lunch for an hour or so, work a half hour to 45, then break again, back to work for about n hour or so, call it a day around 3:30pm. Will leave cigarette butts and your trash from tearing up old floor on ground, deck, etc.. I had to get them to bring down the trash for garbage day, garbage men were not happy it wasn't cut down to size or tied up. They tried charging me $25 to cut the bottom of the bathroom door, when it should be part of the install price when bidding on replacing the vinyl floor. Bottom line, don't use this company. I've texted and called to get them to give me a receipt and come back and make repairs to no avail. He doesn't answer my texts anymore and he did answer the phone, but once I told him who it was, he laid the phone down for a few moments and then hung up. I'm left with a mess to clean up, damages done, and I'm not satisfied with the work having the dark stain, dent, caulk job, baseboards needing repair, etc.. Look at my Yelp review too

They did a fabulous job upstairs but I was very disappointed in the work they did downstairs. We had existing pre-finished maple and Mark never explained that when he sanded it and stained it that it would look blotchy. It’s so busy and distracting. I even showed him pictures of what I wanted it to look like and he never communicated downstairs wouldn’t look like that. I’m extremely disappointed - was a $15k mistake. After googling, not sure if it was a result of them not using the right conditioner or a poor sand job, or if nothing could have been done and he just never communicated with me. I can’t wait to buy rugs to cover the floors.

• Cramer was a subcontractor to the primary remodeling contractor. .

DETAILS OF PROBLEMS

Boards were split when nailed in.  Split boards have splinters.  I found the defect when I walked on the floor in my bare feet. 

Over 40 board edges were damaged and require repair.

Boards were mismatched in color which means the installers never looked at the boards before nailing them in.  Three boards have been replaced.  Owner of Cramer said he would fix the problem personally, but sent out the same crew that caused the problems to replace the mismatched boards.  This means the new boards are cut out, new boards fitted and hot glued in place.  That's right, a brand new floor had to have three boards replaced within two work days because the installer simply did NOT look at the hardwood to make sure the boards were evenly stained.  .

Hand prints from the installers soiled freshly painted walls.  Painter had to touch up the walls.

Some boards are sitting proud to the next one in the row.  That means either the floor was not level or dirt was under the proud board.

Poor workmanship and lack of propriety.  For one, they wanted to use their 220 volt air compressor to power their nailer.  Without asking they went into my basement and removed the cover from the 200 amp service and hard wired a connection to an extension cord.  I do not believe the floor installers are licensed electricians.  I will have to pay an electrician to check the 200.  My general contractor was not aware of this but when I told him the hard wiring into the electrical service was removed and a 110 volt air compressor was used on Day 2.

Energy drink cans were sat on newly painted bay windows. 

Job site was not cleaned up at the end of the day.   

Still in the process of trying to get the shoddy workmanship resolved.  I am discussing with the general contractor on the feasibility of switching to another floor installer to correct the problems. 

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We thought we were hiring a reputable company.  The quality of the wood is not as expected or promised.  The finishing was at first terrible.  There were bubbles or debris in the top seal coat.  They did return to redo the top coat( at our begging for them to return before we moved in), but when they left the floor didn't have the shine we asked for and it seems they may have not applied a top coat at all.  The color is fading and actually comes off on our feet and a cloth when wiped to clean.
We are very unhappy and would not recommend this company to anyone.

Mark was quick to come out and give me a quote. Mark made the process of refinishing my old floors, which are the original floors going back to 1940, easy and as fast as possible. A three day project overall. My floors look great. I'm very happy with the service and results.

Mark Cramer and his team did an awesome job.
I used his website to request a quote and Mark responded within the day.  He came out, did the measurements and gave us a written quote right on the spot.  Because he had a lot of jobs, we had to schedule 4 weeks out.  That was fine because we were having our house painted (interior).
On the day of the work, Mark and his team arrived on time.  Mark explained the process and his team quickly got to work.  They were able to complete the sanding of all of the floors on day one.  Day 2 they put the 1st coat of polyurethane on.  Day 3 - The put the 2nd coat of  polyurethane on and then buffed down all of the floors.
The floors now look great.
I will definitely use Cramer Hardwood floors again.

Our carpet in the conservatory had to be replaced slice it was soiled and a substandard carpet. Eventually, we decided to do it and took a shot in the dark to get someone off the web but close to us. It was an excellent choice., with no regrets. We are now going to use them to refinish our kitchen floor, and lay new hardwood in our family room and other parts of the home.