Elegant Floor Services

OUTCOME: The first day of what was to have been a 3-day project, I was dismayed that the crew arrived almost an hour after their scheduled start time, and finished for the day at lunch -- giving them not quite a half day. I presumed they knew what they were doing, and would still be able to complete the job within 3 days, so I didn't question it. Soon after work began on the 2nd day, I happened to walk by the work in progress while on the way to another room, and was completely stunned to see the crew screwing the steps onto the staircase FROM THE TOP -- leaving 4-5 holes in each step! What's worse, the holes were not even lined up. The holes were all over the place -- one step had holes near the ends of the step, while the step above it had holes 1 inch farther in, and the holes in the step above that were lined up still differently! It was bad enough that the holes showed at all. But they didn't even line up in a straight line from one step to the next! As if that wasn't enough, the drill had slipped while screwing one of the holes, and had carved a rather large notch in the wood extending well beyond the screw head -- leaving not a clean, round hole, but a larger, oblong notch where that screw was installed. As I was looking at the problem, one of the crew actually managed to drop his drill from the second story onto one of the wood treads below that they had just installed -- carving yet another small but noticeable notch in the wood about the size of a pea. But that was the least of my problems -- it was the bigger issue of screw holes in many of the treads that concerned me most. I asked why they had done this, and the crew said they had never been told I wanted those lower steps glued rather than screwed on from the top. (If this were true, then Steve had poorly communicated to his crew before they began their work -- because I know for certain that he knew my wishes on this.) I explained that after the staining, they would never be able to match the filler so that the holes do not show. Yet the crew insisted they could do so, and that they do it every day. In fact, the work crew seemed completely nonchalant about the problem, and promised that the holes wouldn't show at all after the staining was done. No problem, they said. Trust us. In retrospect, this was the point I should have instead insisted that they replace those treads and start over -- attaching them the way I had asked. But these guys are the professionals, I thought, so I'll just take their word for it. They must know what they are doing. If they say they can do it so the holes don't show, great -- they must be able to. WRONG. The holes DID show -- glaringly -- in about as obvious a way as you could imagine. At his request, I took photos of the steps to e-mail to Steve so he could see the problem. As I told him, I was certain there was no way he would accept such inferior work in his own home -- why should he expect me to accept it? After this job was done, they can walk away and never have to see those steps again. But I live with them every day, and it wasn't what I had asked for -- and what he had promised. Despite his company's name, I found the flooring his crew installed to be anything but "elegant", I told him. He agreed to replace the 1 step that had been damaged by the slipped drill, and asked that I allow them to apply an extra, additional coat of stain -- he felt certain the screw holes wouldn't show at all after that. I had my doubts, realizing the wood would be darker than I had wanted, but reluctantly agreed. When the work was done, the screw holes were not as obvious as before -- but they were still very, very visible and in fact had also sunken in the middle so that there was a "dimple" in the wood where each screw hole was -- making the holes even MORE noticeable! The screw holes were by far the main problem I had with their work. But there were easily a handful of other less serious problems that I also had to bring to their attention so that they could be corrected. (For example, there was a 4"-long groove cut into the back of one of the treads, about a 1/4-inch deep and 1/4-inch wide. I have no earthly idea how or why that was done, but only after I pointed it out was that filled and corrected.) Notably, each time I politely pointed out a problem, the work crew seemed to resent it. Deeply. It really was as if they expected me to simply accept and live with whatever imperfections in their work that they may do, and not say anything at all -- to them or to their boss. It wasn't my fault that they had poorly estimated the time it would take for the job -- and that they were running 2-3 days behind schedule -- mainly due to them having to redo some of their work, apply a second coat of stain, and correct flaws that kept surfacing throughout the project. What's more, the end product was much darker than I had wanted, due to the additional staining made necessary by their shoddy workmanship. Yes, I had wanted a dark stain -- but the final result was very near black -- not the rich espresso brown I had been shown in their office before work began -- when Steve applied the stain to show me what the result would look like. So here I was stuck with a stairway with glaringly shoddy workmanship, and stained darker than I had wanted. Believe it or not, my problems with this contractor were not yet over. On the day they finally completed the work, the crew leader came alone to complete a few minor details and apply a final coat of polyurethane. Apparently to retaliate for my telling their boss about all the various problems that occurred with their work, he did the following: 1) Scratched the dishwasher in my kitchen with his tools. (The kitchen is where they had done all the sawing required for the project -- directly in front of the dishwasher -- and where he cut a final strip of floor molding on that final day.) 2) Splashed polyurethane across a wide section of a painted wall adjoining the stairway -- which would have been completely impossible without deliberate intent. It is not even remotely possible to argue that this was an accident, so wide is the "splash" -- extending 34 inches above the steps and several inches in width. Growing up in a family that owned numerous real estate holdings, I have met literally hundreds of contractors over the years, and I personally have hired a couple dozen or so myself as a homeowner. Never have I ever encountered such outright arrogance, sheer unprofessionalism and shoddy workmanship -- all wrapped up with a shockingly vengeful work crew that decided to "get even" when I said anything negative about their work. I should have insisted on the entire work being redone. But the project was already 3 days behind schedule, I had house guests scheduled to arrive that week, and various travel plans for the next several weeks -- severely limiting my ability to have the work redone. So instead of starting over, I was so anxious to never have to see or deal with this contractor again that I just wanted them out. Period. I insisted on an additional 10% off the final price to compensate me for the grossly inferior work product and the cost of having to have my wall repainted. I thought that was much more than fair, and the contractor readily agreed -- as I'm sure he realized what a bargain that was from his perspective. I'm also sure that this contractor never expected me to say anything about my hellish experience with them. But they would be wrong. And God knows it isn't the first time they've been wrong, as borne out by the facts of my ordeal. IN REPLY TO COMPANY RESPONSE: This is just about what I would expect from this company -- denials, excuses, untruths, misrepresentations, and a personal attack. Thanks for the laugh. While I have ample reason to question this company's professionalism, I will not stoop to the level he has done by engaging in this sort of personal attack behavior. What he doesn't explain is that there were two of us present -- both on that initial day when we met with Steve to explain exactly what we wanted (and no, that did not change at any point), as well as on every single day while the work was under way. But apparently he believes we both have our facts wrong. Very odd, as he says. The wood we requested all along was Brazilian Cherry, and that is what was installed -- not walnut. The actual proposal both Steve and I signed before work began clearly specifies that they were to install "floating glue-down treads". Unfortunately, despite the various quality issues that arose during the project, Steve never once bothered to visit the work site to see the problems for himself -- even after I had encouraged him to do so. Instead, he requested that I send him photos depicting the problems, which I did. I have reviewed those photos again -- as well as the exchange of e-mails before, during and after the project, and they support each and every claim I made in my initial report. This includes notifying Steve about the polyurethane-splashed wall that occurred on the final day of work -- and yes, I have photos of that, as well. I will gladly make the photos or e-mails available to anyone who wishes to judge for himself or herself exactly who is being truthful here. Based on other reviews, we're inclined to believe that our experience with this contractor hopefully was not typical. Yet at this point I also see that there are 3 pending disputes. I'm sure they probably perform quality work 95 percent of the time. Unfortunately that just wasn't our experience with them at all -- whether due to the crew itself having a few "bad days", or due to poor communication between the crew and their office, or both. As Steve himself told us afterward, "I won't deny that there were some mistakes made, and if we had it to do over we would have done a few things differently."

THE STAFF WAS PROFESSIONAL AND KNOWLEDGEABLE ABOUT THE JOB. THEY ARRIVED ON TIME AND DID A GOOD JOB AND LEFT THE JOB CLEAN AND DID IT IN A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF TIME. THE ISSUE AROUSE WHEN THE WORKERS FORGOT TO PUT DOORWAY THRESHOLDS DOWN AFTER COMPLETING THE JOB AS PROMISED. I CALLED THE OFFICE BACK AND TOLD THEM AND THEY PROMISED TO HAVE SOMEONE OUT BY CHRISTMAS DAY. CHRISTMAS CAME AND WENT AND STILL NO THRESHOLDS. I SENT SEVERAL EMAILS AND SEVERAL PHONE CALLS. STILL NO RESPONSE. 7 MONTHS LATER I CALLED AGAIN 07/11/11, STEVE PROMISES TO GET IT DONE THAT WEEK, I TAKE OFF FROM WORK TO WAIT FOR THE WORKERS, THEY DO NOT ARRIVE I CALL THE OFFICE AND STEVE TELLS ME HE LEFT ME A VOICE MAIL MESSAGE AND SENT ME AN EMAIL, THE APPOINTMENT WAS FOR 9:00AM, THE EMAIL WAS SENT @ 8:54AM, POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE AND COMMUNICATION. STEVE PROMISED TO RESCHEDULE FOR THE NEXT DAY SATURDAY FOR 10:00AM. IT IS NOW 11:00AM SATURDAY AND THEY HAVE NOT ARRIVED AND NO PHONE CALL OR EMAIL. IT IS NICE IF THEY DO A GOOD JOB, BUT IT IS NOT A GREAT JOB UNTIL IT IS COMPLETED TO THE CUSTOMERS SATISFACTION AND I AM NOT SATISFIED. I WILL NOT USE THIS COMPANY AGAIN NOR WILL I RECOMMEND IT TO ANYONE. STEVE I AM STILL WAITING FOR MY THRESHOLDS ..................................................

My wife and I contacted the two local highly rated companies to come in for an estimate. Elegant Flooring sent Joe (who is mentioned in several other reports) out to give us an estimate. Joe was fantastic, a more charming and knowledgeable guy you could not ask for. We discussed our options and landed on a fairly standard sand, stain, refinish with the addition of a top coat called Street Shoe, chosen for it's ability to stand up to our 90lb dog. We received the estimate back early that same evening and it would up being ~300 lower than the other company. Scheduling was done with Steve, the owner who was very accommodating when we needed to reschedule. We were told to pick 3 or 4 different stain colors to test. We went to home depot to see the sample chips in person. We wound up with a custom blend of a darker walnut color mixed 1:3 with a natural color to take the wood just a few shades darker. The work was completed on time and in two days as promised. We're very happy with the end result.

The service was excellent from sales through the completed service. The crew who came out to the house was professional, prompt, courteous, and did a fantastic job. And they cleaned up the entire area including the garage where they did some cutting...it was cleaner than when they started! I would recommend them to anyone looking for a quality job performed by a professional organization!

Always on time, left the work site clean, delivered the service for a great price.

They did a great job on my family and sun rooms. Completed the work in one day with no mess. I had them move two sofas that were too heavy for me to move on my own. They charged me $50.00 to do that which seems excessive since it took all of 5 minutes. There was a lot of water damage on the floor. You wouldn't know that now! It looks brand new, perhaps better than when the floor was installed over 20 years ago because the finishes are better now. I paid extra for the dust containment system. It was worth the money. There was no dust when they were through. I was able to put my furniture back the morning after. Area rugs will have to wait a week for the finish to cure. Odor was minimal with the water based finish. I am thrilled with my beautiful floors.

We used Elegant Floor Services for a multiphase project in our house. Every step of the process was a positive experience beginning with the estimator. They demolished a slate foyer and installed a new hardwood floor in my foyer and kitchen. They did a perfect job matching the old wood (1964 house) when others didn?t think they could match it. They sanded and refinished my entire first floor and stairs. Their crew was very polite, neat and talented. They blended the new and the old floors perfectly. There are no thresholds. The floors look as if they have always been there. We lived in the house at the time. We were told when we could walk on the floors and they were very good about sealing the house and protecting art and wiring. I would use them again and highly recommend them. They deserve an A+.

My husband and I were thrilled with the results: our wood floors look brand-new, and our experience could not have been more pleasant. Steve, the office manager; Cliff, the estimator; and Benjamin and Oscar, the installers were all pleasant, responsive and informative. When Cliff came to my house to assess the job, not only was he prompt, but he took the time to explain all the options and advise on what he thought would be best for my floors. I paid extra to have the dust containment system used - this was well worth the $250, since there was very, very little dust and we were able to sleep in our house during the entire refinishing. Benjamin and Oscar were very careful moving my furniture in and out, even though I know that it was a challenge. They came every day when promised, and worked competently and quickly. I especially liked that they let me see samples of how 4 different stain colors would look on my floor once they had sanded it. When I waffled, Benjamin proposed a mix of two stains that was a good match for existing wood posts in my house. As for the price, I thought it was fair, and was less than another estimate I had received. I also liked that they used a water-based sealant that was more environmentally friendly. The job was supposed to take 2 days, but ended up taking just under 5. One reason was that the installers had a family emergency one day and were unable to come at the last minute. Even though I was inconvenienced, I felt that Elegant handled it very well: Steve called in advance to let me know, and had a back-up plan in place if the installers were unable to come the following day. I hope that the family emergency ended up well, and understand how these things happen. As for the extra days of work, I had no problem because I could see that the installers were being meticulous and making sure that the various coats of product were dry and ready before applying the next. I also liked that Elegant sent out maintenance instructions so I'll know how to keep my floors as beautiful as they look now. I've already recommended Elegant to two of my friends.

Elegant floors did an outstanding job. I left a key with them and they worked while I was at work. I didn't have to check on them. They did exactly what they said they would do and my floors look fantastic!

Very impressed with results. Additionally, the on-site staff were very nice and helpful.

My experience has not been very good.

This is the second time I have used Elegant Floor Services and the second time I had an extremely positive experience. In 2008, I used them to install hardwood throughout the bottom floor of my condo. I raved about them then and will again. I moved to an older house last year and used Elegant Floor Services again, this time to refinish the floors. The whole experience, from the initial visit and pricing through completion of the work, was extremely positive. Their sales staff was extensively knowledgeable, and both courteous and responsive to all my questions and concerns. The staff onsite to complete the work were amazingly efficient and professional. The work was completed ahead of schedule and I couldn’t be happier. I highly recommend this company!

Sales people very professional. Crew was here as promised and work completed as promised. They kept mess to minimum and everything was returned to its place before they left. Floors look wonderful. Very happy. Have referred to friends.

I was very pleased with both their service and the results. The salesman was very clear in explaining my options, and gave straight answers to my questions about stains from cat urine. The work crew arrived on time, was careful about keeping dust out of the finished basement, and did a beautiful job.

They responded to my initial inquiry promptly, the sales rep was knowledgeable and helpful and the crew was efficient and courteous.

Our experience was miserable. After arriving late, the estimator, although quite jovial and friendly, ended up stepping through an aluminum floor grate located in the corner of a room. Luckily, he didn't get injured or damage the duct work that he fell into, but he completely mangled the grate itself. Never apologized, never mentioned it again. After continuing to walk through the house and promise an estimate within a day or two, he repeatedly and consistently tried to up-sell me on other services, while explaining the width and breadth of the skills the company could bring to the table. After a few days, I received an estimate for the work involved, but it wasn't even my house! Finally, after receiving the correct work estimate, I see that it is the highest of any of the 5 bids I got. Again, no mention of the replacement of the floor grate. I inquired about the replacement of the grate a few different times, and after a couple weeks of no response to earlier inquiries, the owner finally did agree to pay for it, which I appreciated. Unfortunately, despite me spending several hours on the internet and calling various manufacturers, I discovered that the aluminum grate, due to its floor installation and large size, was going to be quite expensive, at about $250. I actually sent an apology for the price to the owner along with my invoice for the replacement purchase, and offered that he could pay me less than I actually spent as I had decided to upgrade the grate to cast iron (at a cost of $360) and didn't expect him to pay for that upgrade. After waiting 3 weeks for a response, I emailed once again, saying that I would post my negative experience on Angie's List, he finally responded - but with an accusation and insults, claiming I was trying to take advantage of him (as if I had unilaterally decided that 18x18 floor grates should be a certain price), and offering to only pay me $100. After reading through this impugning email, and swallowing my pride, I decided to bite my tongue, and just wait for the check,. Apparently the joke's on me, because it's now about another 3 weeks later and I still don't have the check. Obviously, I didn't use the company to perform services, so I cannot comment on the quality of work they provide. I would, however, suggest that perhaps the customer service aspect of the business might be approached with a bit more professionalism. This was a bad experience, all the way through. REBUTTAL TO SERVICE PROVIDER RESPONSE: In response to the company's response, it's important to correct several factual and logic errors: (1) there is no aluminum grate on the face of the planet that should be expected to hold a grown stepping into it. Any implication that the house or components is unsafe is absurd on its face. (2) until the owner of the company does a basic google search for a floor grate in an 18x18 size, any implication that I am trying to take advantage of him is totally out of bounds. After searching and calling several vendors, I found exactly 1 grill less than $250 - and it was a commercial-grade, industrial looking grate - not something that should be expected in a custom house. (3) Despite this fact, and despite the fact that I apologized when I sent the email pricing, I didn't expect him to fund the upgrade to cast iron - the $250 was for the aluminum version of what I purchased. (4) The employee didn't apologize, nor did the owner. Finally, given the length of time it took to get a response from him each of the times I reached out, as well as the accusatory language in his response, it's clear that he's angry - but so am I. I have spent a ton of time on this subject and feel that the vendor behaved in bad faith: he didn't return messages and continues to spread falsehoods. All I want is to be reimbursed for the out-of-pocket costs I incurred. I completely understand this was a mistake - of course, it was not intentional. However, his employee broke something while in my house - and not one of the 20+ other contractors through my house during the same time period even came close to it. After all, it's a floor vent. It's not meant to be walked on.

I had emailed numerous floor refinishers through Angies List to get quotes for refinishing (sanding, staining, and sealing) about 540 sq ft on our first floor. Elegant Floor Services was one of the first to promptly reply and communicated very quickly while we set up the details of the estimate. They were very accommodating about the fact that we did not own the home as of the original date we contacted them and would have issues providing access to the house prior to the service date. But they said that if we could provide measurements of the rooms, they could still provide a quote without on-site access, which was super convenient. This flexibility, plus their initial responsiveness was the reason we chose them to refinish our floors. There were a few issues with color choices. I had indicated to our first contact (Joe) that we were going to stain the floors a dark walnut color and provided a few images as samples. I asked that he provide a recommendation for what stain would get us the look in the photo. When he transferred us to another sales agent (Steve) to complete the appointment set up, he apparently didn't include the fact that we wanted stain, so the second agent only quoted us for a natural finish. No big deal, I corrected him and resent the photos and again asked the second agent what he thought, in his professional opinion, would be the best course of action to achieve the color. Rather than respond to the question about the photos, he kept repeating that we needed to provide 3-4 stain choices from the provided list and that the onsite team would put samples on the floor for us to chose. That's fine, but I really wanted his opinion on what stain HE felt best matched our "dream floors" photo. After pressing again for his recommendation but still receiving the "3-4 choices" line, I eventually picked three colors and asked that the fourth color be a 50-50 mix of two of them. This request is common and every other company I emailed told me this wouldn't be a problem. Having received no indication that this color mix would be an issue, the second agent set up the work order and I thought everything was set and good to go. The day of the work, the team was right on time and waiting for me when I arrived to let them in. The evening before we had discovered a missing plank and I was worried that this last minute repair job would be an issue, but the on site crew told me no problem and repaired it beautifully. You can't even tell it was repaired. Plus, they didn't charge an exorbitant fee for this last minute repair and this is one of the major reasons I might consider using this company again. But this is where some issues came up. I asked when I should come back to pick a stain and he looked at me quizzically, and told me that the work order only indicated a sand and natural refinish. So my stain choices never made it to the crew. I told him this was incorrect and provided my four stain choices again. He thought it over for a minute but said it wouldn't be an issue, that he had the stain in the truck. I left the property after making sure the crew had everything they needed from me and was told that he would call me in an hour or so to come back and pick a stain. This was at 9am. At noon, I still had not received a call and worried I would miss more work, I stopped by the house. I was told "Oh, you have time to look at samples?" Then, as he pulled out the three cans of my chosen paint samples I asked about the 50-50 combo I had twice mentioned to the sales agent. He told me this would be "too complicated" and refused to mix the combination. I balked for a minute, but I was so late for work that I didn't have time to argue. So I picked a color from the remaining three choices. As I was leaving, I asked whether this would be a one or two day job (the time frame that I was given by the sales agent). The crew leader shook his head and told me this would be a three day job. I panicked. How could 540 sq feet, one coat of stain, take three days? Especially since we had already removed all of the quarter round prior to their arrival, which should have saved them some time. I had set up other appointments for the third day under the assumption that the original time line of 1-2 days would hold true. So I called the company and was told not to worry, that I "must have misunderstood", that they would be done in the two days. Despite my initial panic, the crew was indeed done by the end of day two. However, it looks like they may have rushed towards the end. When I went to pick stain colors, the crew was patching the gaps in the boards with wood putty, a step that I was really looking forward to as many of the boards in all of the rooms had gaps. But while the dining room is immaculate gap-wise, there are some major gaps left in the living room and bedrooms. Oh well. But the color looks great despite not being able to have the 50-50 stain choice. Why would I consider using them again? Their initial responsiveness, their flexibility with the estimate, wonderful patch job, punctual, great color (very even), finished on time. Why might I shop around next time? Unable to provide "professional" opinion on stain choice based on photo, unwillingness of crew to mix stains, timeline "misunderstanding", left a bit of a mess on my lawn (soda bottles, rags, face masks, chip bags, etc...), left the lights on in my basement when they left the first day.

First the good. Elegant was on time, worked efficiently, and while the project ran about twice as long as they said it would, the work was done in a reasonable amount of time. The dust containment was also very good. Now the bad. Initially my floors looked amazing but after a few months my floors began to crack and splinter. Within 6 months many of the boards they had replaced as well as many of the boards adjacent to them were cracking and developing soft spots. It tuns out they cut all the tongues for the boards and did not fill the gaps with anything to support the grooves of the new boards. Furthermore, they only replaced the boards in the smallest sections possible. Leaving me with several floor boards that are only about 2 feet long, which gives a very unprofessional look. This is despite the fact that I paid for the full labor and materials to replace the full length of the board. They also used wood putty to fill a few gaps in damaged boards which is now cracking and coming up. When I talked to another flooring company about repairing the work I hired Elegant to do, they said that using wood putty on floors is a lazy fix and not the standard for the trade. When I contacted the company regarding these issues, I was told I would be called back to schedule an appointment. I waited and waited and was never called back. I also followed up with an email to the sales rep/project manager and was also ignored. Poor work and being blown off make me feel like I was taken advantage of.

The price seemed reasonable. The marble just looks brand new after they worked on it, though we were suggested to change it by someone.

I inquired with them on April 15 why they haven't been back. I have yet to hear back from them. When they finished the first phase of the job, I called and asked they establish a date and time to complete the second phase of the work. They have yet to get back to me on any of these issues.

Though we didn't hire them because their estimate for services was higher than we wanted, they were very prompt and professional in responding to our request for an estimate. Because the area to be refinished was small, only 100SF, they provided us with their minimum fee of $950. I'm quite sure they would have done an excellent job as they were very prompt and professional in providing the estimate, but we couldn't afford their estimate.

Elegant floors offered me a 15% discount to sign up to have my floors refinished the week of Thanksgiving. I was going away but I decided to go ahead with it. They moved my furniture, covered everything with plastic, sanded the floors, used a water-based varnish which dried quickly, and replaced my rugs and furniture. Two negative things happened. First, they broke a one of a kind chandelier that could not be replaced. They didn't call to let me know about this, just waited until I called to complain. While it was all covered by insurance, and the insurance company was easy to work with, it took a long time to resolve -- 4 months. Second, although we don't know why, there was a spot on the floor that was not properly finished. That also took 4 months and many, many phone calls and emails to resolved. But it was resolved to my satisfaction and the floors look lovely. Finally, an invoice was sent the week following the floor work back in November. It was for the full price and not the discount. When I called the company about all of my concerns, I also mentioned that the 15% discount offered to have the floors done the week before Thanksgiving was not considered on the invoice. Ultimately, that too was corrected -- 4 months later.

They were prompt and diligent in their service. They cleaned everything up. They were very pleasant and kind.

The estimate was way too high. He was honest and said there was no way he could come in at my budget.

It exceeded our expectations. They are fabulous. I highly recommend them.