I used Floors Touch to buy my Wooden Flooring. Floors Touch is associated with Nadine Flooring for Material and Installation. Floors Touch gave me one quote at their store and then increased the quote at my home by 50 cents per sq ft and I thus ended paying up 500$ more (I had several quotes and so did not remember the exact one. Another friend went to Floors Touch a couple of days ago and they gave a quote of 6.49$/sq ft while I was charged 6.99$/sq ft for the exact same wood). I will write a separate review on that.Anyway, the installers did a great job Day 1 to Day 4. I had planned to even pay them 100 - 200$ extra as Tip on the last day as they had done a great job with least wastage of wood. But, on Day 5 which was the last day, they completely went into a tizzy and started wasting wood left and right. Places where they could use already cut wood, they would cut full planks. Until day 4 I had almost no wastage, while on Day 5 I had about 20 planks cut into half which cannot be used anymore. There was 1 full box remaining and there was no need to open the same, but they still opened it so that I won't be able to return the same. They also charged me 2 bags extra for leveling cement. I had counted each bag during the 5 days they were here and on last day they suddenly increased the count.So here are a few lessons learnt and I hope it helps at least a few people when they do their installation. This was my 1st wooden flooring installation project and I learnt a ton of things:1. The Salesman will always add 5% to 15% of Wastage, but this in addition to any other wastage that they add due to incorrect measurements. In my case, the wastage added was 50 sq ft and there was another 50 sq ft of wood left due to incorrect measurement. Overall I had 100 sq ft left. And remember that the store will not take it back. The installers also try to use as much as possible and waste wood as they charge the store based on how much sq ft was used.2. If you plan to put flooring for say 4 rooms, then tell the Salesman that you want only 3 rooms and you will add one more room at the end if wood is left. (THIS IS IMP). If the Salesman does not agree, then tell him bye bye and find another store. Due to the way they measure and amount of wastage they add, you will be left with a lot of wood and in the end what you can do is add another room as a supplement and just buy the extra needed. I was able to get a 200 sq ft of an additional room done with 120 sq ft of extra wood as there was 100 sq ft of wood left from the other rooms. There would have been more left if the Installers would not have gone on a wastage spree on the last day.3. On the Contract always write down all the details. Salesman try to skip the same. Most important pice is the numbe of boxes that they would bring. In my case, I had forgotten to write the number, but then I called the Salesman and he noted the number of boxes. And as feared, the Installers brought 1 box less then what the Salesman had agreed. But, as the number of boxes was noted on my contract, they had to get an extra box of wood (Each box is approx 20 sq ft)4. Price of wood: Make sure you take pictures and jot down the prices in the store. My salesman told me one price in the store and raised it when he came home with the sample. I told him that he had told a different price in the store, but he refused to accept that and later another friend of mine who went to the store (the salesman did not know he was my friend) was quoted a price 50 cents less per sq ft. Anyway, that is my mistake5. Never sign the Contract on the day the Salesman comes to take measurements: Tell him that you will think and let him know. This is the best way to get the best discounts. The Salesman know that if they don't close the deal on the same day, then most probably you will not close the deal at all and thus they will try to offer the best price. Whatever price they offer, always remember to take at least 24 hrs to sit back relax and then sign the contract.6. Take a commitment on when installation will happen. In my case it took them almost a month, but on the other hand, they encashed my check on the day we signed the contract and thus they were using over 5000$ of my money interest free.7. During Installation: Most people who will do installation will not know English. Be very careful with the Leveling Cement bags. In my case they added 2 bags to what they actually used. Thus, keep a count every step of the way.8. Leveling Cement is always extra. The bag costs 30$ at Home Depot but Nadine will charge you 50$. You can tell Nadine that you will bring your own Leveling Cement from Home Depot. This ensures that they use the least amount of Cement and it saves you a lot of money. The brand they use is easily available at Walmart and Lowes.9. Wastage of Wood: Make sure you monitor the installation and not let them waste a lot of wood. As said above, my installers were super duper good for the first 4 days of the installation and must have hardly wasted like 1 to 2 sq ft of wood (i am not kidding). They were really good due to which I had almost 100 sq ft left on day 5.10. T- Molding - This is the Transition step between Carpet and Wood or Tiles and Wood. It is very costly. Do not buy this from the Salesman. You can easily pay the Installer and have him install the same. Nadine will charge you 75$ per 7 ft of T-Mold. You can pay the installer like 25$ for the same 7 ft (but the ones they use are generic T Mold). You can also simply not use the same and put grout between tiles and wood and it looks superb (I did it for the extra room as I think 75$ is too much)11. Pay by Credit Card. I used a British Airways Visa Card which gives me a host of benefits when I spend a higher level of amount on the same. The 10000$ that I paid enabled me to get about 37500 miles (25000 miles bonus) which is good enough for 5 one way trips to Florida in Economy or 1 round trip ticket to Cancun in First Class on American Airlines (using BA Avios points). Make sure you pay off your balance immediately though, else the finance charges will eat aways anything you gain. Plus using Credit Card gives you an added layer of protection in case something goes wrong during purchase/installation.12. Compare prices at least at a few stores (Peeks, Nadine and there are a few others in the DFW area) I hope the above points will be useful to the readers and even if a few people can make use of the above points, my purpose is achieved. Feel free to email me at
[email protected] in case you have any questions and I will try my best to answer. This was a great learning experience for me and I wanted to write down somewhere all the lessons learnt and I think Angies List was the best place as it will definitely be valued by fellow customers.
Description of Work: 1200 sq ft Wooden Flooring + installationWood: Bella Cerra - Savio - Paid 6.99$/sq ft + a lot of other extras. See my tips in the next section on how to avoid them.Total: 5 days for installation - 3 people working 3 days and 2 people working for 2 days.Areas covered: Master Bedroom, Family, Living, Dining and 1 more Bedroom.Material purchased from Floors TouchInstallation performed by Nadine Floors