Floor Coverings International

This is a very important review for me to write, as it is for you to read. My family has been dealing with Floor Coverings International for decades. They did our den flooring. They carpeted our basement and recently, took up tiling on our main floor and replaced it with beautiful wood-like laminate. In all of these cases, the work was beautifully done with the utmost amount of professionalism. We keep coming back to this company because we know they do exceptional work. Now, here is the part of the review I would like you to pay close attention to... A few months ago, while our new laminate flooring was being installed, some unexpected damage occurred during the process. While it wasn’t severe and wasn’t due to incompetence, it’s one of those things that can happen when flooring is being pulled up and a cement underlay is being poured. Mike Killeen, the President and Owner of the company, took responsibility. Despite the cost to his company, he made certain that the damage was fixed. Now, to me, that speaks volumes about the integrity of a company and the person running it. I think Mike Killeen is a class act for the manner in which he handled the situation. The key point is that there are numerous flooring companies available. While you’re reading this review and deciding which one is the best fit for you, the most crucial factor in that decision should be how well the company will deliver high-quality flooring and installation services and how well they’ll be there to assist you if anything goes awry. I don't think you are going to find a better company in the area to meet your flooring needs.

The workmanship was fine and the installer was great. HOWEVER The owner who came and measured the room ordered too much flooring. When the job was done there was a full unopened box of flooring left and he refused to take it back and insisted I had to pay for it! Quote: that’s his policy.. not stated anywhere in the contract Ridiculous !!!

By appointment store visit, sale, measure, and install all went just fine. Very happy with Mike and the Installers.

Great very professional.

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They had came on time. Explain what will be done. If we had a question, after all the question they started the job!

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Mike Killeen came to our home to give us a quote for a wood floor to be laid in our living room. Mike was a pleasure to work with and is a good asset to the company. Very professional!

The guy who did the selling and was the representative is extremely nice. He helped me, picked about and his name is Mike. The carpeting installer was fine, the hardwood installer was a joke, he barely spoke English and he had a pencil sticking out of his rear pocket and he was on his knees and he marked up all my walls. When I pointed it out to him he was like very frightened and literally didn't finish the job and ran away and then I had to complain and they handled it fairly well but not very.

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They had a bad piece in, came back and corrected it. They were very good about it. They moved a piece of furniture, a piece of pottery fell out and broke. The pottery is not replaceable because of its age. I bought that for my wife back in the 50s. They settled up almost instantly. They just wanted to please in which way they could.  They are not cheap because I got quotes from other people that were less. They were very professional.

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It went okay.  It dragged because there were problems.  It one of the room it looked like the cut out a piece and put it back in.  They finally did come back and put in a new section for me.  The carpet was fine and they were nice to work with, it was just a little inconvenient.

First let me say that all people involved were courteous and the flooring did go in nicely.  However, it was a journey:

I got three estimates for the flooring.  Mike (the owner) came out and gave a very good presentation going over all the types of wood flooring that were available.  Being in the contracting business myself, what I particularly liked was that Mike brought up possible extra charges that could be incurred should the understructure of my flooring be defective in some way.  I had Mike factor these possible charges and I knew the estimate would be my true cost even with the worst conditions.  It turned out that there were no such difficulties anyway.

A brief visit to Flooring International's showroom closed the deal.  I gave Mike his deposit and the job was underway.  Mike estimated that it would be two weeks to get the job started and it would be a two day process for completion.  Mike also mentioned that the flooring itself would be brought in a few days prior so it could get acclimated to the humidity of my home to insure a better installation.  That sounded like a good idea to me.  At that time Mike also introduced me to his project manager, Jerry Angel.

Going into the third week after the deposit was paid, I hadn't heard form Mike so I gave him a call.  I certainly wasn't upset at all because contractors are rarely on time.  Mike called back right away explaining that there was a little delay in getting the material I had ordered and that installation would be started the following week which it was.

According to plan the flooring itself was delivered.  The issue I had was that the delivery man could not speak one word of American English.  My live in girlfriend speaks English as well as fluent Spanish, but there was no communication that could be accomplished as his language was completely different, possibly European but as I was not there at the time so I don't know. 

The point I'm trying to make here is that it is understandable in this current economy that foreigners are employed.  However, for any worker not to have any (I want to stress the word "any") ability to communicate there can be a dangerous situation created.  For example, one could tell this worker "Please don't go into the kitchen, the floor is very wet".  The worker doesn't understand what was said to him, walks into the kitchen, slips and is injured.  Guess who might be liable!  Me!

Finally, the day of the installation.  As I work only five minutes from my home I decided to stop to see how things were going.  Getting out of my car I saw the first thing that caused concern.  The logo on the installation van wasn't Flooring International but rather another company's name.  That spelled to me sub-contractor which is not always such a good thing. Subs get paid by the amount of work they do and do not get paid by the hour.  The installation can then suffer as the concern shifts from quality of the work to quantity of the work (in an effort to make the money quicker).

There were three workers at my site.  The foreman (a very courteous young man) and I spoke briefly.  It was difficult to understand him but we could eventually communicate.  My girlfriend's Spanish was still of little use here as the gentleman were from Brazil and spoke Portuguese.  After a brief conversation I returned to work.

I finally arrived home at days end.  As I walked in the foreman raised something in front of my face and asked "do you know what this is?  I did recognize it as a wood staining pen.  He then proceeded to show me how to use it on the flooring that had been marred by the installation.  After that brief demonstration I noticed that there were all these dull black marks on the floor literally spaced six to seven inches away from each other all over the installation area.  He told me that these marks were created by the nailing hammer used in the installation and that I could easily clean them up.  He proceeded to put water on a rag and started rubbing.  Unfortunately, the stain was not coming up.  Throughout all of this I'm saying to myself "why do I have to do this?  Isn't touch up part of the installation?  It was time to call Jerry Angel!

Jerry showed up promptly that evening.  We when over the problems just previously mentioned and some other small matters too.  Jerry noted all concerns down on a pad and left it on my kitchen table.  The molding installation was to be done the next day and the problems would be taken care of then.  The next day the actual owner of the sub-contracting company showed up assuring me every thing would be made perfect. There was only one small problem.  This owner nor any of his men could read the American writing that Jerry had written down so my girlfriend had to then struggle to convey what was written on the pad to the men that couldn't read it! 

Eventually, everything was finally completed.  I'm sure the sub owner was concerned about doing a good job but his actions could have expressed it better.  For nearly 20% of the day he was on his cell phone speaking to his wife about a birthday party he was in a hurry to get to.  In his rush he put a hole in the wall just above a piece of the molding in the corner of a room.  My girlfriend brought this to his attention.  His answer was "You can patch it" This attitude makes me tend to think that he was more concentrated on the party rather than being concerned about my flooring (which I may add that it was my money that was paying him).  Not very good customer relations.   

In short the job was completed, the final walkthrough was done and final payment made.  End of story.

On a side note I will mention while I was away at work (on day one) my girlfriend observed that the workers had the new flooring spread out in small piles all over the installation area.  They didn't seem to have any regard for the wood as they walked all over it with the material shifting and (and I would assume) scraping the boards underneath their feet.  My girlfriend questioned them twice on this point.  Their answer to her was "Don't worry about it"

Mike and Jerry need to get their act together.  They need to be more selective with their workers (or subs) and supervision needs to be greatly improved.  Flooring International seems to act like an army where the general points to his men the direction of the battlefield and then retires to his tent.

Mike was very professional, informative and stayed on top of the project.  The workers were very nice and did an excellent job.

It was an excellent experience and I would recommend them to anybody. They were on time, professional and neat. They are one of the best overall contractors that I have used. His price was very competitive and he was willing to work with me. He was comparable to every other company that I received estimates from. He also offered a warranty. The owner showed up for the estimate and provided samples and went through pricing. I can say enough good about the owner, installation and service manager.

They did a good job. I recommend them to anyone. Explained eveything well.

We live in a basement level condo with occasional plumbing issues so we needed a product that could be laid on cement floor and would tolerate exposure to water.  We went to FCI because of their good reviews from this website.  I emailed the company with some questions and Mike provided a great response and recommended we schedule an inhome consultation.  He brought sample boards of the products and recommended their line of luxury vinyl plank.  We selected 3 different colors we were interested in and he arranged to have Shaw (the manufacturer) send a full length board in each color to our home which arrived a few days later.  He was very patient as we took almost 2 weeks to decide.  He put together 2 flooring proposals and included information about the cost changes involved in different choices.  The proposal came the day after the initial consultation via email and was very throrough giving us greater confidence that there shouldn't be any crazy surprises or changes on their end.  Once we made the decision we had a second appointment to sign the contract and put down the deposit.  After that we heard from Gerry the project manager and he arranged the install date with us.  The installers were excellent.  Extremely hard working with excellent attention to detail.  They were very courteous and did the work in a way that allowed us to regain use of the living room at the end of the first day.  They made sure everything was well covered with plastic to lessen dust mess and when they left their work area was spotless.  I'm sure our living room will never be so clean again.  They never required anything from us at all and were very concerned that we were happy.  The job was 2 full days and at the end it looked perfect.  We've been living with it for 3 weeks now and its fantastic.  Feels great underfoot, looks sharp, and seems quite robust.  We were very happy with the customer service and product options offered.  We felt that we got a better product with better service at a comparable price to the estimate we received from a big box store.

They did great work. They came in, their prices were very competitive, and the quality was great. The workers came in on time, and did everything great. They were very clean, and they cleaned up really well after themselves.

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Date of Contract: December 28, 2013
   Removal of existing Vinyl Flooring down to subfloor in kitchen
   Disposal of all trash from job
   Installation of new Vinyl Flooring
   Total Cost: $2,036.85
Work Performed:
   Date: January 17, 2014
      Removal of existing Vinyl Flooring down to subfloor in kitchen
      Disposal of all trash from job
      Installation of new Vinyl Flooring
Additional Work Performed at no cost due to poor workmanship:
   Date: March 21, 2014
      Removal of Kitchen Cabinet Doors and Drawer Fronts by Griffin?s Refinishing
   Date: March 22, 2014
      Removal of Vinyl Flooring installed on January 17, 2014 down to subfloor in kitchen
      Disposal of all trash from job
      Installation of new Vinyl Flooring
   Date: April 25, 2014
      Installation of Kitchen Cabinet Doors and Drawer Fronts by Griffin?s Refinishing
   Date: May 9, 2014
      Final InspectionDuring the removal of my old sheet vinyl floor, Floor Coverings International damaged every cabinet in my kitchen to include some of which were only a couple of weeks old which ended up taking months to fix.  During installation of the new sheet vinyl flooring the did not use the correct adhesive resulting in squeaks everywhere.Floor Coverings International is the worst company that I have ever worked with.  It would takes weeks for them to return emails and voice mails and would always blame some kind of illness for not returning my calls.  The only time that they every communicated quickly (within 5 days) is when I threatened to take them to court.If you want a good experience in getting a new floor stay away from this company!

Their service has worked out good. I like them and I checked their ratings on Angie's List before I decided to go with them. I also used them in April and in October of last year so I used them three times for three different rooms. I like their selection and when the person from the company comes, he is very easy to work with and there is no high pressure. He gives you a written estimate quickly in detail and there are no surprises. The work is done with quality and you pay after the work is complete and you are satisfied. I have been really pleased with them. Their pricing is quite reasonable.

Very well done.  Seamless, there was some minor damage to walls, walk through,