Steve's Hardwood

We had some time constraints regarding when we could have this work done given that we would basically have to vacate our house for a weekend when the final finishing work was being performed. We interviewed three different contractors from Angie's list. Our first choice, Homero's Hardwood, who we used before and really liked was not very responsive and didn't seem like he could do the job when we wanted. So, we chose Steve primarily based on his availability and pricing, even though he did not come across as professional as Homero. For instance Homero is always very neatly dressed when coming to quote on a job and is a perfectionist in his work. Steve on the other hand came dressed in rags and shoes that were barely holding together with a thread. Again, I wouldn't normally care about how he dressed as long as he did a good job, but it seems that how each contractor presented himself was an indication of how well his work was also done. In general Steve was punctual but delayed starting the job by a week saying that one of his main workers was not available. He also didn't show up on time a couple of times saying that he had to pick his mom up from the airport. He also had problems with his teeth. Some of these delays I felt caused the job to be rushed a bit in order for them to finish in time, which may have led to some of the problems we had. Despite the starting delays, Steve still promised to finish on time. We left town for the weekend while Steve and his crew finished up sanding, staining, and finishing the floors. When we got back after the job had been finished, we were sorely disappointed with the results. In our room where they had put the brand new flooring, one of the boards was badly cracked. The stain in both of the bedrooms they had stained did not match the other flooring. I know it is difficult to get an exact match, but this was pretty bad. Homero had done a perfect job of matching stains on a previous job. The staining was also uneven in many areas. There were swirl marks where they had used a tool to spread the stain over the floor. They had also gotten the stain all over the base boards but did not repaint it. They had gotten the walls dirty. They chipped our tile in our kitchen. They had left garbage in our yard. And the list goes on and on. Steve came the next morning expecting to collect the other half of the money for the job as if it were done. We gave him the list of problems and asked him to fix the problems. He did end up fixing some of it but seemed to give a lot more excuses than solutions. For instance the baseboards were repainted, but the cracked floor board was not. He said that was a natural feature of the floorboard. The stain was also not rematched. In the end we paid him the other half of the money for the job, but I would not recommend him to anyone unless you don't care much about the quality of the work being done. He's decently priced, gets the job done on time, but is very sloppy and has no attention to detail.

I paid 50% upfront for the job. He came in and did the majority of the work, which was looking great. We paid the final amount on 12/13/2011 when he came to finish the job. He arrived later than expected that day, so we paid him and went home while he completed the work into the morning hours. When we came back the next day, there was a room that wasn't completed and spots in another room that still needed to be painted. He promised to come out and finish the work, but every time we had an appointment scheduled, he would not show up and had an excuse the following day. It varied from his mother being in a car accident, to family visits, to dental surgery. If he had just completed the job he would have had an amazing review from us, since the work that was completed was immaculate. My advice to others thinking about hiring him, is to just make sure that you do not pay the final installment until the work is completely done, since we have now had to wait three months and the job isn't completed yet.

Steve and his small team refinished the hardwood flooring in one room, plus provided finishing for newly installed floors and patchwork in other areas. He was prompt, friendly, and straightforward. He answered all of my questions and provided both options and advice. Work was done in 4 days (rather than his preferred 3 days) to accommodate my family with no extra charge. The floors look amazing and we will be recommending Steve whenever possible, as well as calling him for future buff and re-coat work for our own home.

1. Steve did everything he had said he would do plus a number of extras (at no added cost) that he felt were required to make this a quality job, such as replacing moldings that were not up to his standards and painting the base trim at the edges of the stair treads and risers to make a clean line after restoring the stairs. 2. Steve completely masked off the considerable area involved with plastic, including cabinets and pictures on the walls and then used vacuum sanding equipment that resulted in virtually NO dust to be cleaned up before we reoccupied the space. 3. He and his assistants were clean cut, cleanly dressed, articulate, professional.and polite. 4. They were careful with the furniture and there were no mishaps. 5. Steve was precisely punctual. It was a pleasure to have him on the job. In fact, he was the best home contractor I have ever dealt with. 6. And the floor is gorgeous!

Recommended to me by Rousseau Floors, Steve's did a superb job -- above and beyond -- and had that wonderful perfectionism one wants in a contractor. He did it at a superb price, and did it on schedule. He has come back a couple of times to check on how the floor is looking, touching up bits here and there. I can't recommend him or his team highly enough!