Elegant Floor Services

Very well.  Trusted crew in my house alone.  Everything straightened up before they left.  No mess to clean up.

Initial scheduling and estimation gave my pause but when those who performed the work showed up they communicated/updated expectations (steps, finish times, etc.) effectively, conducted work quietly & diligently, and when I had other contractors over, proved very flexible to my needs and schedule. Work was completed over two days (because of job size) and they left the area clean each day.

They did a magnificent job. They were very punctual. The first day they sent three people out who installed most of it. The next day two men came out and finished the project. They left both days with the work area spotless. We chose them because they had the best price out of three other estimates. I could not recommend them higher

I had a very good experience with Elegant Floor Services. Joe came out and gave me an estimate. After getting an estimate from another company, I spoke with Steve in the office and we settled on a competitive price for the work I wanted done. They sent a crew out of Juan Carlos and Alberto and they did a wonderful job. I opted to pay extra for the special dust containment system they had (they used a special machine) and it was very effective. I found practically no dust inside the house afterwords. Joe, Steve and the crew were very prompt in all my exchanges with them. Joe arrived on time for the estimate. Juan Carlos and Alberto arrived on time and finished the work on time and Juan Carlos was very helpful to me in choosing the stains for the various locations (I had three different stains applied).  The oak floors looked beautiful after they were finished.  I would definitely recommend this company and would use them again.

I scheduled the estimate for early one morning before work. Their rep was there on time and provided an estimate based on square footage (he measured every room and closet). He confirmed that the floors could be refinished (there was some question, since they are engineered wood), and even moved a (very dirty) carpet remnant (left by the previous owner) out of the way, so he could get a better look at the flooring in one room. That room had the original parquet floor, and he confirmed that it could be refinished as well. Another area of concern was the living room - it had 2 large cat urine stains (also generously left by the previous owner). Their rep confirmed that with a darker stain, they could probably camouflage most of it.   I received the estimate and stain samples same day via email, which was very convenient.

We got another estimate, which was a couple hundred dollars less, so we initially decided to go elsewhere. But, after a hassle trying to schedule the work (admittedly, we kept putting it off because of other remodeling being done in the house), our schedules finally did not align, so we came back to EFS.

I'm glad we did. They were completely accommodating, and lowered their estimate (10% Angie's list discount). We scheduled the work, and it went basically without a hitch. I especially liked the way they had prepared an area (after sanding) with the three sample stains I had chosen, so I would know exactly what the final choice would look like.

The only hiccup was the room with parquet. After sanding, they noticed that the parquet was too thin (it had evidently been refinished before), and they recommended that we replace the floor with engineered oak to match the rest of the house, or carpet. Neither was in our budget or time constraints, so we told them to continue refinishing, and we would live with the results. There are a couple tiles that have lifted up and are sort of "crunchy" - but it's nothing an area rug can't hide.

The rest of the floors look great - I get compliments on them from everyone who enters. I have noticed a few spots that seem to have circular scratches (I assume that's from the sander), but it's not at all noticeable unless you inspect really closely...and it's a small price to pay to be able to save the floors. Also - the cat stains are gone!  For the price, the flexibility in scheduling, and making sure it was done before we needed to move in, I'm very happy with their work.

They did an excellent job of refinishing floors that had not been done in decades.  The floors are beautiful!!  The work crew was phenomenal!  They also altered their schedule to finish the floors when the house was empty, which saved me money.  Great business!

Several workers arrived on time. There was some confusion about which stain and finish we had chosen. They quickly sanded in three places and applied three different stains. We chose to have them move the furniture and replace it--well worth the $500. We went away for 5 days and when we returned, the furniture was just being placed back where it was supposed to be. We were glad that we could direct them so that the furniture was placed where we wanted it. We are extremely happy with the look of our "new" hardwood floors.

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.

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