Fine Floors

I had Thomas come do the measurements and he emailed me an estimate within a couple of days. It sounded reasonable and I asked him if he could start on the 29th of June and be done by the 3rd. He said yes. He did not use a written contract but my husband insisted he have one. He and his college-age son showed up on Thursday, June 25 to see how difficult the tile was going to be to remove. They removed 6 tiles in the center of the guest bathroom and then left. That should have been my first clue to halt everything but he seemed so nice. They removed the tiles with a chisel and hammer. I lived with that mess until Monday when he showed up with his son and high school daughter. He did have a contract with him but the finish date was 7 days later (he said just in case). I had guests coming on the 6th which was why I wanted him to be finished by the 3rd. He actually took the 3rd off (long Holiday) and didn't finish until the 10th of July. We stayed on the patio with guests. He let the kids start in the kitchen and they started with taping up plastic to help contain the dust. The plastic had a hole in it about 8" in diameter just over where the piano sat in the living room. They used masking tape and the plastic kept falling down then I asked that they use a stronger tape and they switched to duct tape which left black residue on my walls. The plastic still kept coming loose. They started on the tiles with hammers and chisels and after about 5 hours and 3-4 tiles, Thomas decided they would have to go rent a power tile remover. Then the dust really flew because there was no outside exhaust provided. He asked me if I wanted the baseboards removed and we discussed the process of pour more concrete to bring the floor up (floating) to the bottom of the baseboards so he left them in place. Big mistake. He used too much concrete and it curved up over the edge of the baseboard. The son scratched the front of my dishwasher, denied it and then admitted it. I ended up buying the touch-up paint to mask the marks - dents still there. I didn't have more concrete poured in the laundry room and bathrooms so there was a good sized gap between the floor and the bottom of the baseboards. Thomas put globs of caulking around it and it was horrible. The actual process of doing the floor turned out great. I love the look of the decorated concrete but the detail work just ruined it. He paid no attention to detail or he just didn't know how to do it. I ended up hiring a contractor to come in and remove all the baseboards. My husband and I went to Home Depot to buy new ones and painted them and we had them installed. That was another $800 over the price of the floor. A huge headache, too, I might add. I sent him an email to please come back and put the floor bracket back on the floor for my sliding pantry doors and I haven't heard from him. It's been almost a year. Of course, it's too late now. I wouldn't let him back in my house.