BURCHETTE & BURCHETTE

We had used this company about 12+ years ago to refinish our living room in a home we lived in previously so we,were thrilled with the estimate they gave us for this install and refinish. We knew we would have to remove all of the furniture throughout the living space and we were told it would take 5 days to complete the work. The work was begun on Monday morning 10/15 on Thursday I called to see how the job was going and was told the 3rd coat of polyurethane would not be applied until Friday 10/19 and we could not walk on the floors for 36-48 hrs after that (something not mentioned in the total out of house time). We came home on Sunday afternoon 10/21 and noticed the shoe molding had not been replaced and the doors were not rehung. We preceded to clean the sawdust and replace the furniture excluding the refrigerator and stove into the living space. I called the store Monday morning 10/22 to check when someone would be coming to install the shoe molding and reinstall our doors. Jessica informed us that the 3rd coat of polyurethane had not been applied on Friday due to the floor not having dried enough from the 2nd coat. First we had heard of this so we had to remove the furniture we had replaced and move out of the house again for 3 more days. Now we are up to day 11 not residing in our home. I came home on Thursday 10/25 to find the garage door would not open and while finding the cause for this realized the fuse had been tripped and we had lost everything in 2 refrigerators during the time we were gone. We contacted Burchette and Burchette via email and phone calls put did not hear from them until we called back several days later . I spoke with Jay about the LACK of communication, the tripped fuse (we were told their crews often tripped circuit breakers but were very contentious about resetting them) obviously not in our case. I told him about the issues we had were the floor had been woven in which had left 6-7 places that had gaps that were filled in with putty that did not match the floor. They sent someone out to change the putty color which does look better . The last call was about a gap going into the powder room that someone also filled with putty. Overall the floors are beautiful we wish the communication and small parts of workmanship had been better.

We contracted with Burchette and Burchette to replace four rooms of old carpet and vinyl with new hardwood flooring, and to refinish existing flooring in the foyer and dining room to match the new flooring. The job involved the entire main level of the house. The new flooring was to be of the same grade as the existing floors. The existing floors were identified as "number one common" by the sales person and we chose to place the same grade in the rest of the house. He assured us that the new flooring would blend in well with the existing and the quality of the new would be at least as good as the existing flooring. There were several delays and the job took longer than anticipated, but only by a few days. Once the job was "complete" and we saw the finished job, we immediately liked the overall look and color of the floors. However we were shocked at the quality of wood that had been used. It literally looked like a shotgun had been taken to some parts of the floors. We understand that in every shipment of flooring there will be some boards that have a lot of imperfections. However, there was a high percentage of "bad" boards and no discretion was used in placing the boards - some of the best planks were put into closets and underneath appliances and the worst ones were in the middle of rooms. In addition, knotholes had not been filled with putty before the stain and polyurathane were applied. There are some areas that display particular skill in laying the floor, such as around the fireplace, and the blending that was done with the existing flooring. Two independent flooring professionals assessed the job and both stated that "number one common" boards were used in the new flooring, although many boards were barely within the criteria to classify them as number one common. Also, in their opinion there were some "number two common" boards mixed in. In addition, they identified the existing flooring as "select" grade. So both confirmed that the quality of the new flooring was at least one grade lower and in some places two grades lower than the existing flooring. We understand that to have used "select" grade would have been only 25 cents per square foot more, which we would have gladly paid to have the quality job that we were expecting. To give an example, in a room with the old flooring, there were eight flaws/imperfections/knot holes in the wood that could be seen and felt with one's finger. In a room of approximately the same size with the new floor, there were over 200, yes that's two hundred. The company's fix was to fill the holes (knot holes and worm holes) on top of the three existing coats of polyurethane and then add another coat of polyurethane. When this was completed, the appearance of the flooring improved, but it is still obvious that the quality is poor. We wanted the flooring to be taken out and replaced by another company, but felt that it was wasteful to do this. The company was uncooperative in listening to our concerns. In our first conversation with a senior staff member, we told him that we would be getting an expert opinion on the flooring installation and quality. He encouraged us to do so and offered to pay for the report. When the report came back, he was not in agreement and did not reimburse us our $75 cost. We persisted until finally we were allowed to speak with the senior owner, who heard our concerns in a professional manner. He negotiated the price to a more than 50% reduction for which we were grateful. To clarify the numbers, the original estimate was for $8400. We ended up paying $3200. However this does not erase the series of errors that were made nor the poor quality of the overall finished product. Had there been no concessions in price, the grades above would have been straight F's. The floors are fine for a cabin in the woods but that's not what we have, and we did not receive what we were promised. We have chosen to "like" the floors, which is better than crying every time we look at them. About two weeks after the workmen left, one board splintered. One of their workmen saw it and acknowledged that it needed to be fixed; we sent pictures to the owner and asked numerous times for repair. It has been almost a year now and no one has come to fix the area, which incidentally is in the middle of the living room floor. In addition, the final polyurethane coat was messy in several areas. We have concerns about the long term effects of the putty applied over the three coats of polyurethane and wonder what might be in store several years down the road. We believe that the project would have gone better had there been more supervision on site, or at least check-ins by a project manager at points along the way. Different teams came in for different parts of the process but no one person had oversight of the whole job. This was a disappointing experience.

It is better to go to Elkin to see the products and make your order there, Communication between the salesman and the company were very unsatisfactory. Once the order was properly made, the installation was quick and satisfactory. I thought the charge for carpet removal was excessive but I could not do it myself.

DO NOT hire this company! I originally requested the the floors be stained and poloyurethaned underneath the frig., dishwasher. and beverage center. Upon returning, after being out of our house (out of town) for 9 days, we could see unfinished hardwood floors around the sides and in front of the frig. and in front of dishwasher. They moved the frig. to INSTALL the wood floors but said they could not move it to stain underneath! There were about 25 different spots WHERE THE STAIN DID NOT "TAKE". THEY POLYURETHANED RIGHT OVER IT!!! I could get NO answers as to who approved the job ready to poly. IT LOOKED LIKE I HADE OLD WORN OUT WOOD FLOORS INSTEAD OF NEW! Ther solution to this problem was to use those markers and color on top of the poly-which you can tell in the afternoon light and it wasn't just one or two spots-but 25. When one of the workers came back to take care of these issues he tracked mud all through my house (all over the new hardwood foors.) This was the most unprofessional job!

It was a very good job! I thought that they were very professional, they have to do some prep work and they didn't use the right machine and it caused some problems, but they did fix it and they didn't charge me. Me and my husband would recommend them to others, their prices were reasonable.

When they did not call, we called them. We were assured that someone would be in touch with us shortly. When we had not gotten a call in the next couple of days we called them again. The sales person told us it would be later that day, but still no call. Maybe they thought our project was too small, I don't know. That was months ago, and they still have not returned our call or gave us a quote.

THEIR PRICES WERE TOO HIGH COMPARED TO THE QUALITY OF THEIR WORK. I THINK THERE ARE OTHER COMPANIES IN THE AREA THAT COULD DO A BETTER JOB FOR A BETTER PRICE.

THE FLOOR LOOKS GREAT. WE NEVER HAD ANY PROBLEMS WITH THE COMPANY. I WOULD RECOMMEND THEM TO ANYBODY. THEIR QUALITY OF WORK WAS EXCELLENT, AND THEIR PROFESSIONALISM AND RESPONSIVENESS WAS GREAT.