DJ'S HARDWOOD FLOORS

Prompt communication thru four full day work, very knowledgeable, and reasonable price. Work quality is good, but some areas look slightly uneven in the refinished area. The color seems noticeably lighter than the rest of kitchen cupboard and the mismatch is obvious. A couple things to note: 1) Some stain drops were splattered over the edge of every stair steps to the garage, when I tried to clean, it's got worse and left big stained areas. 2) For one day when we came back, one downstair toilet was plugged with poop and another one on second floor was with urine around. It was disgusting to clean up the toilets. On the second day, the master bedroom toilet was used despite the master room door was CLOSED and the toilet was left UNFLUSHED with poop. 3) On the final day he asked around $200 more than the estimate he had provided due to hardwood floor price change. He presented the invoice of the hardwood floor material purchased but I feel that he should have checked the price

The floors look fabulous. They did a really good job. He is very responsible and responsive and got everything done on time at the price we had agreed on. These were hardwood floors that haven't been refinished in 70 years. He really brought them back to life.

Don't trust the bid paperwork will cover you, nor the word of the contractor, put it in writing and have a follow up "Punch List"
Don't give more than a 10% down, only for materials - DJ's requests half the cost of the job, in advance. I have checked and that is not fair.
Don't just go by Internet reviews.  Contractors can make their own reviews or family/friends/employees
Don't ignore those bad reviews on Angies List -
Do put in the agreement that the contractor will pay for your hotel and any boarding of pets for the extra days needed to make corrections or do the job over.
Do put in the agreement that the contractor will pay for cleaning service if they do not leave your house in broom clean condition.
Do require referrals from recent customers - get 4-5 and full information on the job, the cost, their phone numbers and even go to their houses to see the work. 
Do make sure they provide insurance and bond papers.  Also, ask, have you had any complaints or disputes.

Price was competitive. I am pleased with the end result. Work was completed on time. Junction between older hardwood and new hardwood area is not visible.

We should have used DJ from the get go vs the other company we started with. We won't make that mistake again.

DJ was prompt in getting out to do a bid when other companies did not. Very flexible on scheduling. Showed up on time and got the job done quickly. The only complaint was the smell but that is part of the process. Should have done more research on Swedish Finish. Quality of the work was outstanding. Floor looks great.

Excellent service and fantastic results.  DJ gave us an estimate on hardwood floor installation.  This encompassed almost the entire flooring in our home.  The estimate included taking up the carpet on the areas we needed floored and removing all old materials.  Sanding, filling and 3 coats of Swedish finish.  He gave us an excellent installer, Mike.  Cannot say enough good things about Mike.  He knew exactly what to do.  Since we knew nothing about what installing hardwood entails, Mike was wonderful in explaining the process and answering all our questions.  They went above and beyond our expectations.  They even refinished an existing large area that was in need of this process. The kitchen and dining area had been distressed and when they refinished it the area looked completely different.  It looked like it was brand new. The final result is beautiful!  Our home looks 100% right.  I would highly recommend having Dj's Hardwood Floors.  They took the time and patience to produce a perfect finished product.  If we plan on having any more flooring done, we would only have Dj's Hardwood Floors install.

When we were looking for someone to refinish our hardwood floors after a remodel we went to Angie's list to get the best possible selection of hardwood floor refinishers.  This is a hard review to write because of the 3-4 people we got estimates, we really liked DJ and we wanted him to do our floors even though his estimate was not the lowest estimate. His estimate started out much higher but we had him come back and remeasure.  His first measurements were incorrect and when he remeasured his estimate was lower but still higher than some of the other estimates.  We still liked him and wanted him to do our floors.  We were working with a general contractor so we scheduled the floors towards the end of the remodel.  DJ started on a Monday and was supposed to have the sanding, staining and 2 coates of Swedish finish by the following Monday so the contractor could have his subs come in to do the finishing work. We moved out of our house from Wed. to Sun., spending 2 night is a hotel,  so he could do his work.  When we returned on Monday morning our contractor and painter were already hard at work, but we noticed right away that the work was poorly done.  The stain was uneven and you could see sanding marks through the stain.  Also, on closer look the repair work he did was poorly done, floorboards were not cut straight and filled in with wood filler, the steps were cut wrong, and the flush floor vent was poorly installed.  Because the contractor had all his subs scheduled for the following two weeks, we decided to deal with the floor after they were done. When we contacted DJ about the unacceptable work, he admitted that the floor didn't come out right and he would take care of it.  Against the advice of friends, we scheduled DJ to come back after most of the finishing work had been completed but DJ said he would work around that and the floor would be done to our satisfaction.  When DJ came back for the 2nd time he needed to resand everything.  We decided to remain in the house until we saw the 2nd stain job to make sure it was going to be acceptable.  It was worse than the 1st time and the repairs that were not done right the first time had not been corrected, so we stopped DJ from further work.
We got some names of floor refinishers from our contractor and got our floor done satisfactorly by another company at even a lower price that DJ was going to charge.  They had to correct some of the repairs DJ had done and  had to replace a section of the floor that had been over sanded.  They did a great job with what they had left to work with.  Because of the delays we had already experienced we went with a water based finish instead of the Swedish finish we originally wanted.
DJ cost us atleast a month delay in getting our remodel completed, plus the expense of 2 nights in a hotel and having the floor base mouldings repainted.  We ended up with a good job with our 2nd refinishing company at a price that was less than DJ was going to charge us.  We gave DJ a 2nd chance to do the job correctly but after seeing what the job should look like, we felt we had to write this honest report about the job DJ did for us.
We asked DJ for our money back that we had paid him for the 1st half deposit.  DJ sent us what we had paid him, minus the difference of his estimate and the amount we paid the 2nd floor refinsihing company plus he reimbursed us $250 for the time we spent in a hotel the first time.  He explained this was for his labor that the 2nd refinisher benefitted from. We didn't understand his reasoning but accepted his refund in order to have the matter finished. 
We are still very disappointed with his workmanship and very, very disappointed that someone on Angie's List could do such poor work.  Our experience did not at all match the reviews from other people, except for one person. 

I called DJ's Hardwood Floors for an estimate and Dennis was prompt, professional, transparent and demonstrated a strong sense of urgency without being rushed. He provided a bid on the spot and within the course of our discussion, made several calls to spec lumber as I asked questions. DJ was thorough in outlining the work to be done, provided regular updates and careful follow up along the way. He ensured that the job started on time and was completed as promised. His team was equally terrific and reflected DJ's commitment to quality work. The craftsmanship is top notch and the finished flooring is stunning. With several sets of stairs I had a specific request for a very modern squared off look and DJ delivered beyond what I had imagined. I couldn't be happier with the quality of work or the customer service. I highly recommend DJ's Hardwood Floors and look forward to working with them in the future.

I had used DJ four or five years ago and was pleased with the result, so I invited him to bid on this small job. He came shortly after I contacted him, gave me a reasonable estimate. About a week after the flooring I bought had been delivered, he came to install it. He still does a clean and professional job, and I am happy to recommend him to others looking for an installer for a hardwood floor.

Dennis ( DJ ) was very personable, knowledgeable. and professional.He changed his schedule to fit our's when we all came down with the FLU.When the day arrived he showed up on time and finished a day earlier than we thought.His work was excellent and it showed a pride in workmanship we don't see too often these days.He was showing his Grand son the ropes so it looks like the business will be around for a while.I will definitely call DJ's when the need arises in our new home and recommend him to my friends.

His work was actually really good. It was a really hard job and he cleaned up the original floor. He brought his own equipment. He did it quickly and efficiently. He personally made me uncomfortable. I was a little uneasy with him but the price, quality, and punctuality was great. I would use him again in the future.

It was a better price than others I had called, and the quality was excellent. They assisted with refinishing the floors when I moved out.

DJ responded quickly to our request for an estimate and also accommodated our preferred work dates even though we called only a week in advance. He was punctual for every encounter, pleasant to speak with and accommodating of our wishes in every regard. Very little dust escaped the work area and the cleanup was thorough. The floor looks excellent where previously it had been embarrassing! This was a nice, professional job.

A couple of comments for those who, like us, weren't quite sure what to expect:

1. You really will have to sleep elsewhere (pets, too!) once the sealer coats begin to be applied. Not only is the odor unpleasant, but I'm quite sure it would be dangerous to breathe for any kind of extended period. I don't usually react to cleaning substances or paint, but could feel a "chemical headache" developing despite fairly brief exposure, and my eyes felt sore when I returned to the house the day after the last coat. Fortunately, the effects dissipated fairly quickly once we were able to air it out.

2. Don't schedule the job just before a holiday gathering or other event for which you really want everything back in its place. Although you can walk on the floor the day after it's completed, you'll want to wait a week or so before replacing rugs, chests or anything else that closely covers the surface. Otherwise the full-drying period will be impacted and you may end up with some areas of slightly different tone.

All in all, a good experience.

a

DJ is very nice and worked very hard. I hate to write a bad report, but I can't recommend him.

Pros:
The only person who would agree to do the whole job, including pulling carpet and linoleum.
It turned out to be very difficult to pull up the linoleum in one of the rooms, but they persevered.
Willing to apply a water-based finish.
Good price.

Cons:
Sanding is uneven.   He did redo the worst part in the hallway, but it wasn't feasible for us for him to redo the whole thing, which is what was needed.  It may be so deeply gouged that a future refinish is not an option.

Stain is uneven.  There are unstained parts on the edges of some boards.  Polyurethane is also uneven in places.

The place was a mess when we got home.  It took us hours to clean up the sawdust and the bathrooms.  There were random things like half-eaten lollypops left lying around.  The basement door was unlocked.  There was polyurethane on the walls and windows.

Quick response to estimate request as he had another scheduled in my area that day. DJ arrived, measured the room, and gave me a written estimate on the spot. The estimate did not include the wood trim on room perimeter (I did not ask for this specifically; knotty pine walls need new varnish at the bottom, so I'll DIY this) so ask for this if you want it. The price was fair, and he could do the job on my fixed schedule. I asked many questions; DJ was knowledgeable and answered each one. He also sometimes responded "that is the customer's decision", so I knew what information he needed from me. The person who did the work fixed a raised piece of wood that I discovered after moving the furniture out. I was afraid this would be a problem, but this partial piece was carefully removed and filled and is now smooth. The floor is beautiful! I've lived here for 22 years and the upstairs floor was already worn, then worn some more by our family. Natural finish was the way to go on this floor because, as DJ had imagined, the short pieces are primarily red oak, with color and grain patterns that are gorgeously varied. I'm delighted! This was an excellent investment.

On April 8, 2011 I had DJ Hardwood Floors come to my home to give me an estimate for the installation of pre-finished oak hardwood ?ooring in my newly remodeled living/dining room. I had gotten DJ’s information off Angie’s List. He had been highly rated by other members and felt that I could trust him and move forward with tl1e project. There was also a coupon offering of $75.00 good until April 30, 2011. “Then he was writing up the estimate I had to mention the coupon offer three different times to him and his comment was “That old thing”. His statement gave me the impression that he was reluctant to give me the discount. The project was for an 11.5’ X 25’ room. I had requested that ?ush mount heat registers were to be installed also. DJ couldn‘t come up with a price at that time but did include their cost in the $2,000.00 check I gave him as a deposit. The ?ooring cost $1, 850.00. I quote from the estimate: “Note: Wood and Vents pd for with ck# 1416 $2,000.00, vents may or may not be complete.” DJ told me that the vents may or may not come stained. His bid was competitive with the bid I had gotten from a Major Flooring Company. On May 27, 2011 DJ delivered the hardwood ?ooring. My home has a steep driveway so my roommate volunteered to bring the boxed ?ooring to the front door step and DJ and myself carried the boxes into the house. DJ expressed his appreciation for having my roommate carry the boxes. DJ told me at that time he had scheduled June 6, 2011 for the installation date. On the evening of June 5, 2011 I telephoned DJ to see if wo11ldn’t mind doing some ?oor preparation as my contractor was running late. The contractor had leveled the sub floor and sanded all but a two-inch section around the perimeter of the room. DJ was not ve1'y receptive to my request and said that I had told him I would have the contractor do it. I agreed with him and explained that the contractor was running late and he had asked me if DJ would do it. DJ was reluctant but agreed to take a look at the floor when he arrived on June 6, 2011 to do the installation. I went back to the contractor and told him that DJ didn’t really want to do the prep work. So the contractor told me he would take care of it. I telephoned DJ back to let him know that the contractor would take care of the rest of the sanding so DJ didn't have to deal with it. When I had hung up the phone I realized that I had forgotten to ask DJ about the missing second heat register for the job. The estimate was for two ?ush mount heat registers. DJ had only ordered one heat register and brought it out on May 2011 with the ?ooring. I had contacted him about the second heat register on May 31, 2011 to let him know that only one heat register was in the package he had left with me and that I needed one more. He told me he would take care of it. So I decided to call him one more time to check on the status of the second heat register and also ?nd out what time he was going to show up on June 6, 2011 since this had not been mentioned in our two previous conversations. DJ told me that the register hadn’t arrived yet but he was going to proceed with the installation and install the heat register later. The evening of June 5, 2011 I went over some details that I wanted my roommate to talk over With DJ in regard to the ?ooring installation on June 6, 2011, as I had to be at Work. I wanted an older oak threshold replaced with the new wood and also wanted to hold off on the last part of the hardwood installation until the second heat register arrived. The registers are made to ?t into the tongue and grooves of the ?ooring. On the morning of June 6, 2011 I received a telephone call my roommate stating that DJ had arrived and was complaining about me. He stated that he knew there were going to be problems because “I had called him three times within ?ve minutes the day before” and that he was almost ready to pack up and leave. He expressed his irritation with me to my roommate because I had gone around the living/dining room walls and marked the areas with blue tape where the contractor had marred the Walls. The walls had been hand plastered with a sand ?nish and painted with custom ordered Ralph Lauren paint. A lot of money went into the Walls and I just wanted to make sure that I held the right party responsible for any possible damage to the walls. When I came home that afternoon DJ and his assistant had completed about two-thirds of the room. My roommate brought to my attention that DJ and his assistant had installed the hardwood ?ooring box by box. The manufacturer’s instructions state to open a couple of boxes lay out the hardwood ?ooring to get an idea of a balanced pattern and then start the installation. Upon inspection of the installed hardwood ?ooring I noticed that the pattern was uneven and there was a ratio of two thirds short boards on one side of the room versus the direct opposite side of the room. Also, my roommate told me, that the other ?ush mount heat register had-not been ordered and that DJ was on his cell phone that day having one sent by overnight mail. On June 7, 2011 DJ showed up and installed the flooring up to the heat vent and told my roommate that he would be back the next day to ?nish the job. Because DJ did not take care of the ordering of the heat register in a timely manner it added an additional day to the job. Since my roommate would be gone on June 8, 2011 I took a couple hours of s unpaid leave from be at home for the final stage of the installation of the hardwood ?ooring. DJ and his assistant came to the house and ?nished the installation of the ?ooring and register. I handed DJ the ?nal payment from his estimate and he told me that it wasn’t enough and that we had discussed the question of the pricing of the registers. He told me that the registers plus installation were $115.00 per register and shipping was $20.00, a total of $250.00. I told him that I didn’t feel it was fair that I should have to pay for overnight fees for the heat register he had forgotten to order to begin with but he insisted that I had to pay for shipping. I handed him his check and escorted him to the front door. After DJ and his assistant left I inspected the second heat register installation and noticed that this flush mount heat register was installed poorly and wasn’t even level with the ?oor. I also noticed that he had used wood putty to ?ll in some spaces in the ?ooring where the board ends didn’t meet snug. The ?rst flush mount heat register was installed okay, not great, “but okay. I noticed there were quite a few of longer ?oorboards left over from the installation. They should have been used. I could have done a much better job myself if I had the proper tools. I am surprised by D.T’s rating on Angie’s List. Maybe he can re?nish ?oors but I have evidence to the contrary about his ability to professionally install pre-?nished hardwood ?ooring. Also, I have yet to receive a receipt for the additional $250.00 charge or any Warranty information on DJ’s Work and the ?ooring. I did some research on ?ush mount heat registers and found that $40.00 was the most expensive one I could ?nd. I guess DJ wanted to make up for that $75.00 discount coupon he was hesitant give me at the beginning of this project. August 1, 2011 Update: I was on my hands and knees cleaning the newly installed hardwood floor in preparation for the rugs and furniture to be put in place and noticed in several places on the floor there were these bumps at the joints were the floorboards meet. They varied between 1/4" up to 2 /2". I spoke with a couple of flooring specialists and was told that when tongue and groove floorboards are installed a nail/staple gun is used to secure the floorboards to the sub-floor. If too much pressure is applied during installation, i.e. hitting the nail gun too hard, that it causes a dimple or split in the tongue part of the wood flooring at the joint. The only way to repair these splits is to have the boards taken out and replaced. Unfort

We were thrilled with the results.  DJ was very responsive to my initial call for information and was flexible with our scheduling needs.  He gave us an accurate estimate.  He was careful with his prep work, was very knowledgeable about hardwood floors, was professional in all aspects of the job, and finished on time.  

It is nice and smooth and we are happy with it. I would use them again.

We are very pleased with the result. The new floor and the old are an excellent match, and look lovely. DJ and his crew came right on time and worked without damaging other parts of the house. They worked quickly and finished ahead of schedule. The bid was competitive, and we felt, reasonable. We would certainly use them again.

Excellent work. Courteous and Professional.

DJ came across as a soft-spoken, thoughtful businessman. He laid out options and costs very clearly, but then left it to us to respond -- no hard sell whatsoever. We got a second opinion from a first-rate carpenter whom we trust; the carpenter told us that integrating new and old flooring and making it come out looking "seamless" is not easy to do, and that DJ's estimate, although not cheap, seemed fair -- considering the challenge. All the furnishings in both rooms had to come out before the work could start. When asked, DJ told us that his lawyer won't let him assume that responsibility, so we did it ourselves. On the appointed start day (and on all subsequent work days), DJ arrived exactly on time, with a crew of two and all the right tools and equipment for the job packed into a tidy-looking trailer and truck. The workers were pleasant and trustworthy people to have in the house (and they did help me lift the last, heavy, piece of furniture!). The floor was damaged at a deeper level than had been obvious at the time of the estimate, and DJ was again very clear about costs and results to expect from fixing (or not fixing) the under-layment. In spite of added tasks, the job was completed in three days (a slightly shorter time than DJ had originally estimated). DJ selected and installed the new boards himself, with a "craftsman" level of skill. The crew did the ripping out of old boards, and the sanding and refinishing. The result is indeed "seamless." The whole floor looks new and flawless. My only complaint (and this is not a "biggie) is that the crew could have used a little bit tighter supervision in regard to tracking sawdust, leaving minor messes, etc. But I would emphasize that this was a quality job, with no real problems. We'd recommend DJ's Hardwood Floors without hesitation.

We had some water damage in a half-bath that required a section of flooring to be pulled up. I called DJ for an estimate to replace the missing flooring and refinish all other flooring. He was very responsive and explained what work was necessary with a very reasonable estimate. Eight months later we were finally ready to get the project going. He was able to get started on on floors within two weeks. Our floors are absolutely beautiful now. We had no idea they could possibly look like this as the previous stain/finish was aweful. We could not be happier with the result.

Dennis (the owner of DJ's Hardwoods) came out and provided a free estimate himself and told me what to expect if we chose his company. He told me to think it over and if we decided to go through with it to give him a call. I appreciated his honesty and him letting me make the decision on my own time without being pushy. We scheduled a time that was convenient and he and his men were promptly on time. The work was completed in the time and cost that Dennis had estimated which were very reasonable considering the work. Dennis warned me that the newly replaced flooring might not exactly match the rest of the hardwoods until it had a chance to wear and blend in with the rest. I was pleasantly surprised as they did a really nice job of repairing the damaged areas and blending the refinishing with the existing hardwoods. You can barely tell the difference between the new and old hardwoods. They also helped buff a few water spots that were left from the planter's feet even though they were not in the same area as the mainly damaged spot. I would highly recommend DJ's Hardwoods to anyone with wood flooring.