Cardinal Flooring and Cabinets

They provided excellent service. They met the completion date. The people that did the install cleaned up after themselves every day and I would highly recommend them.

They did a great job - I have an older home and there were problems with my walls being straight for the backsplash, but they did a good job with the installation.  My kitchen looks beautiful.  I would recommend using them for kitchen remodels.

I contacted Cardinal in Sept 2012 because we had a new tile floor (~600 sq ft) installed in Dec 2011 during a complete gut and kitchen remodel, and within 4 months grout was cracking out and the original company was no longer in business.  Jeff, the owner, came out and was great.  I wanted to assess if it could be repaired or needed to be replaced.  Verdict was that it needed to be replaced because the mortar used had been too runny and they used 1/4 backerboard.  Jeff assured me they would do what was needed to ensure we didn't have the same problem again.   I was so impressed with Jeff's knowledge that I also decided to have them put in a kitchen backsplash at the same time.  I was also very pleased that when I shopped around for cheaper tile prices Jeff agreed to match the price of the tiles.
Jeff said they would use 1/2 fiber rock which would take care of a lot of the problem along with the right consistency of thinset.  Jeff and I talked in a subsequent phone call and told me they would assess during tear out, and if needed, they would use a flex grout which wouldn't crack and additionally they could thinset and screw (rather than nail) the backer board to the subfloor if there was a lot of flex.   Perhaps it was miscommunication, but I came away with the impression that if I wanted the backer board thinset to the subfloor, even if the assessment on the amount of flex said it wasn't needed, then I  would need to pay.  But if it wa indicated to ensure proper installation, they would just do it to ensure the grout didn't crack and minimize their warranty risk.  I knew the Flex Grout would be an additional charge because it is a more expensive product. During tear-out they decided the floor had a lot of flex and they would need to thinset the backerboard to the subfloor and use the flexgrout.  First issue - I was charged an additional $250 for thinsetting the backerboard to the subfloor and using screws.  On top of that, they 1/2 nailed 1/2 screwed most of the sheets and the remaining were just nailed.  At this point I didn't complain because they were working very fast and I was eager to get the floor in and felt it would be secure enough even with the nails (I came to this conclusion because during tear out ~70% of the tiles came cleanly off the mortar indicating it was just poor workmanship and not using the materials properly).  Had I known I was going to be charged the extra $250 (I didn't get that addition to the bill until much later) I would have raised the concern that they didn't use all screws.
I also negotiated to only pay 1/2 the cost of the Flex grout because he got numbers wrong on the original estimate for the floor ($5500) which I had accepted and told me it would really be $5850.  So I paid $125 for the Flex Grout vs. the $250 he originally charged.
2nd issue - As I've seen in other reviews, they do not bring, or bring enough of, their own supplies to clean up.  I was quite upsret when I came home and saw they had not only used a good dish rag I had in the kitchen sink to wipe up mortar dust, but they also used my 2 yr olds face cloth that was in the sink (white with butterflies - obviously not a rag to clean with) and it was filthy gray.  There was mortar in my sink I had to ask them to clean, they used my broom and trash cans (even thought they brought their own trash cans for haul off) and several times I had to offer them additional rags for cleaning (even though i was told they had shop towels available to bring to the job). 
When the floor was complete it was still hazy and I mopped the next day to get the grout haze off.  I mopped 8 times and could not get the haze off - you could literally see the broad wipe marks of the sponge during the original grout clean-up.  During the 8 moppings I realized there were mortar and grout blobs all over the place that were going to require a good amount of scraping to get off.  The quarter round they put in around the kitchen cabinets had terrible miter joints and wasn't secure in numerous places,  paint on the walls had been knicked, baseboard and door trim was scratched in numerous places down to bare wood, and several places simply had grout on the walls from where dirty hands touched them.  I have been through 3 kitchen remodels and have tiled 3 floors, so I fully expected some grout haze, and random spots of mortar here or there, and maybe a chip or two in the paint and even a couple of knicks in the trim, but this was EXCESSIVE!  I had the foreman come up and he was appalled, as was Jeff when the foreman showed him a video of how things had been left.  They said they would make it right.  However, they had started other jobs and we agreed they would wait to clean up until the backsplash tile came in and was ready for install which was several weeks later.
Of all this, the grout haze has been the most frustrating and disappointing with multiple days of scrubbing, calls to the manufacturer, trying a buffer, having the manufacturing rep come look at the floor etc..  I was told the Flex Grout was a fairly new product for Cardinal and they had not used it much in the past (and the foreman said he would never use again).  After much labor was spent on hands and knees by a worker who was pretty consistent with multiple excuses - they rushed me to finish the job (to explain the mess left and shoddy workmanship), it must be a defect in the tile, to it's just not going to come up-they need to get the manufacturing rep to come out (which I also suggested fairly early on).  The product has poly-urethane (sp) that must be cleaned up right away with a special product (they went and got something off the shelf from Home Depot to clean the first time they came back which didn't do a thing).  When the rep finally came out he admitted that you usually don't see the "wipe marks" on a dark floor but on light ones it really shows up.  So I guess everyone who uses the product has a haze left they just don't know it!?!?!?!?!  He recommended the buffer, which the foreman tried and didn't feel like it was working, so then went back to hands and knees.  After again working on it with 2 people all day we finally came to the conclusion it would not all come off.  So i told them to focus on the areas where it really showed (where the sun shines in the room) and not bother anymore on the areas where there would be an area rug and did not get direct light.  The foreman kept asking if I was satisfied (they were insistent they wanted to make this right - and granted really tried), but I told them no.  Ultimately I had paid for a floor for the 2nd time and I went from one problem - cracked grout, to a new problem where the tiles just look like there are patches where it is just dirty all the time.  I wish I had not paid the final $1000 payment because ultimately I have a tile floor that will  never look like it should for the $6,000 price tag.
I have to say that while Mike, the main worker, was a very nice person, easy to talk to etc (he even left us 2 bottles of wine), I feel he was a big part of my dissatisfaction.  In addition to the poor workmanship installing the qtr. round, they also put in oak instead of maple.   The foreman bought and stained maple and brought it to Mike to replace the oak.  When I came home there was 1/2 maple and 1/2 oak trim mismatched throughought the kitchen.  When I called the foreman, he said Mike thought he was only supposed to replace where there were bad miters (which why didn't they call me before I had to come home and discover myself - I think they were hoping I wouldn't notice).  Mike's excuse was he was colorblind and couldn't tell it was different types of wood.  Color had nothing to do with it - it was CLE

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.  They talk a smooth game.  Check out the BBB website.  Nothing is thier fault.  A one week job took almost 2 months!  They never stayed on the job longer than 2 or 3 hours, they were always packing up for another Cardinal  job site.  They left our home filled with sawdust and loose flooring everytime they came.  They used our broom and dustpan to clean up what little they did sweep up.  They did not even have a vacumn cleaner with them.  They come in personal vehicles and use whatever tools, caulk, putty or what ever they have on them, no matter if it is the right tool or material.  They have no sense of workmanship.  It took weeks to try and clean up after they left.  If you value your home, sanity, or wallet you will not use this company.  In respones the Cardinals reply:  They did not complete the flooring in 7 days!  They did not work a full day at our home.  They arrived mid day or left early for a another job every day they were here.  They did not use the appropriate supplies!  They absolutely did not clean up their mess!

I was looking for new flooring for my kitchen and had a couple of other bids which seemed extremely expensive.  After looking at do-it-yourself projects at home depot and lowes I noticed the Cardinal flooring sign and stopped in to see what they had to offer.  I was very impressed with the way I was shown  what was available and no one was pushy about selling me their product.  I made an appointment for the owner  to come to my house to measure and give me a bid. He also brought samples of 4-5 of the colors I had liked which made it easy to see which one was the right one for my house.    His bid was low enough that I could do two rooms for  less than the cost the others were giving me for my kitchen alone.  I had both the kitchen and dining room flooring installed in Decembber 2011.  After seeing how wonderful those two rooms were after the installation I decided to have my living room flooring installed by them too which was started today.  The installers are very professional and extremely knowledgeable about their work.  My plans are to  have flooring installed in two more rooms and Cardinal Cabinets and Flooring will be the company that I call for the job.