E.A. Leininger Hardwood Floors

Earl arrived at my home accompanied by another man (both smelling of cigarette smoke) to complete the refinishing/staining of my bannisters. I was originally told that it would take 2 days and would be charged for time and materials. There was no written proposal or estimate. Earl and his partner were very slow starters and spent more time talking to each other or going for smoking breaks in his trailer outside than actually working on the project. Upon my inspection of day 1 I observed handprints and red paint splashes all over my newly painted wall (less than 3 months old). I photographed the wall and contacted Earl at which time I told him that I did not want his helper in my home and I wanted the walls repaired (and should not be charged for their carelessness). Earl asked if we had leftover paint and agreed to fix it. Earl's version of fixing the damaged areas was attempting to wipe the red paint off the walls in a circular motion and to crudely paint one coat (in a circle) only on the spots. My wall appears to have 30 spots, still has handprints and red paint (appearing pink). The project took a total of 3 days. The walls still have obvious handprints and it is clearly visible where Earl "touched up" some of the spots on the wall. I called Earl again to tell him that I was not satisfied with the work and would like to have it repaired by the painter who did the original work. Earl became belligerent and stated that he was not going to pay for a painter as he "could do just as good a job as a painter." I told him that based on my interactions with his helper and himself that I no longer feel comfortable having him in my home. Earl even blamed the "age of the paint", which is less than 3 months old, as to why it didn't cover the spots and continued to Then Earl said that I told him not to paint the wall when he offered (which he did not do) and just to cover the spots, which I obviously did not do. He replied by saying "if you don't want me to do it then there's nothing more I can do, my hands are tied" and hung up. Now I am stuck paying a painter to repair a wall that was clearly and admittedly damaged by Earl and his helper. Despite his claims, Earl does not stand behind his work and finds the cheapest laborers to work with him as possible, even if they are not qualified/skilled.

Earl has done a fantastic job on the floors. His level of detail is astounding. While he was mid way through the job I visited him to check on things. He took me to a few areas and said "rub your hand on that dark spot." He continued saying "you feel that little valley, that is about 1/16th of inch off from whoever did the last job; we will get these floors perfect." Earl's knowledge base is high. I had tons of questions for him and he not only knew the answers but was excited to answer. I never got the sense that this was a job, for Earl it appears to be a vocation. The job took about 7-9 days. My house was vacant so things were easier than most remodels. I asked Earl how he handles occupied houses and he stated most of his jobs involve occupied homes. In those cases he works with the owners and does sections at a time. Bottom Line: I genuinely could not be happier with the floors. They look and feel amazing. At the end of the job Earl said "the most important piece of furniture in your house are the floors." I could not agree more.

Mr Leininger came and gave an estimate which was not the lowest but not the highest either. He explained everything he was going to do and how it was going to be done. The job took 4 days and turned out beautiful. We are very pleased with the results and highly recommend him.

Our church floor is 90 years old and has been carpeted for over 45 years. We removed the carpet from the area under the pews and attempted to sand it ourselves. Due to the extremely bad condition of the old shellac finish and the amount of dirt ground into it, we were unable to sand it with the equipment available to us. We therefore looked for a professional with better equipment. Of the 4 bidders Mr. Leininger was in the middle price-wise. Of the 4, we were the most comfortable with him. He was curteous, knowledgeable and thorough in all our discussions. The job was to be done in two stages, two weeks apart, and he was fine with that. Each stage took him about a day and a half. He was always on time and well prepared with everything he needed and throughout the job he made sure we understood what he was doing and why. He even gave us several hints on refinishing the floor even though we weren't hiring him to do that part (we did it ourselves.) We are extremely happy with the work that was done. Our floor is now finished and it is beautiful. We highly recommend Mr. Leininger to anyone who wants to refinish hardwood floors.