Glastonbury Hardwood Floors

John Bishop / Glastonbury Hardwood floors was recommended to us by our real estate agent. Our overall experience was poor. I would strongly recommend against using Glastonbury Hardwood Floors. Some specifics: - Contrary to initial discussions, John was generally not personally on the job. His employees seemed to be mix of skilled and unskilled labor. - We were trying to match old and new floors. The old floor was a mix of red and white oak, of various widths that came from the property, so an exact match wasn't feasible. We asked John for his opinion about stain color to get a good match. The colors came out ok, but in hindsight he should have recommended going with white oak for the new floor to get a better match. - Refinishing the stairs were quoted as part of the job, but John informed us near the end that the stair railing wasn't included, as it "wasn't part of the stair system". Be warned. - Quality was generally sloppy. There were several gaps, missing trim pieces, and subfloor sqeaks that i had to repeatedly mention and request to be resolved. They did resolve the issues, but only after a lot of argument. - Customer service / professionalism was generally awful. John doesn't seem to have learned about the importance of being nice to the customer. "The customer is always right" isn't infinite, some effort in this direction would be big improvement. I was particularly annoyed by John's comment that "this is a regular house, not the Taj Mahal, so you shouldn't expect that level of quality". I didn't expect perfection, but I also didn't expect to be insulted by the contractor. - Attention to safety was highly suspect. I was present during some of the sanding, and I never saw any of the workers using dust masks or hearing protection. While I was not present, John or one his employees went into my basement, and without my permission, used my table saw. They left the saw plugged in, despite knowing that I have a small child. When questioned, John said that "my guy didn't have a table saw with him that day. He should have asked before using yours." This makes me highly question the level of supervision and training that John provides to his employees.

He visited a second time and quoted us $18/square foot for a floor restoration project for 600+ sq feet. He cited needing about 3 weeks to complete the job. His final written estimate was $32/square foot and he wanted 50% to start the job. This was a disconnect between his first and second quote and nothing had changed in the condition of the floor or the specs for the job. When questioned, he was rude and combative rather than taking the time to explain his final quote completely. We asked him to add some detail to his quote and he refused. Since our insurer was going to be paying for the job, we wanted to be sure his quote would pass their screening, since they would be reimbursing us. We decided not to use him since we didn't trust that things would improve as the job progressed and his combative rudeness was part of that lack of trust.