Hardwood floors (main floor) and Stair refinishing
We hired Parqueteam in early January to remove and install solid hardward, replace our pickets and stain our stairs. From the onset, Emil was not present and day-to-day communications were limited to text and voice mail messages. This resulted in some frustrations, as we were dealing with a crew that did not speak English.
Initial frustration started with the staining of our stairs. The sample stain on the stairs did not match our floors, and I made it clear to Emil's father (part of the crew) that I did not like the sample stain. I was told to "wait and see how it turns out". I kept asking for another stain samples and was pressured to hold off. Apprehensive about having all 21 steps done in a stain that did not match, I ended up going to the paint store and purchasing my own stain. Emil did reimburse us for the cost of the stain, but it should be customary to allow the homeowner to have a say in stain selection.
The varnish was another frustration. I wanted Satin finish and Emil's father kept insisting that matte was fine. Again, I was told "don't worry, it will be fine". It took a few text messages to relay the fact that I wanted a Satin finish, and the used bottle of "High Gloss" that was brought to my house wasn't even matte! It seems like the crew wanted to use stain and varnish from a previous job (the cans were opened and used). In the end, the stairs turned out nice, but getting the results was a frustrating process from start to end.
My garage was a disaster zone for two weeks. While I recognize it was necessary for them to work somewhere during the cold winter months, I didn't expect to have garbage and boxes from a previous job housed in my garage. All of our belongings were haphazardly tossed to the other side of the garage and everything is covered in a layer of dust.
The overall floor installation is good, however we do find there are many spots where touchup pens and wood filler were used to fill chips and scratches. The crew left in a hurry on a Friday evening, and did a poor job of cleaning up the floors.
Lastly, Emil's van leaked transmission fluid/oil on our driveway. It is a huge spill, and we brought this to his attention. He told us not too worry and that it would come off. He was also going to "talk to his mechanic about it". We'll weeks later after the melting snow, and two applications of Oil Lift, we are still left with damage to a brand new driveway.
While Emil is a pleasant individual, he needs to be present at the job sites rather than juggling multiple installations at the same time. Many of the frustrations we experienced could have easily been rectified if he had been present, face-to-face rather than MIA.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $9,000.00
- Company Response
this review seem to be all about the transimision leaking and not about anything mentioned above..
first of all, communication was never a problem between us, we talked over the phone many times, and texts as well, and ive been in and out of this project as well..we did not plan to put any stain without your approval! you were told that many many times! we wanted to check the sample with varnish, that is all! you were going to the paint store to buy the white paint you liked, so i told you to choose the stain from there at the same time, since you didnt like that match!
varnish were just samples we brought to show you! again, no one would put a varnish you dont like! you been told that many times as well!
the garage situation, you been warned many times! we agreed to cut there so we dont have to cut inside the house! you knew a head of time about it!
and small scratches were caused because you had furnitures as well that had to be moved. we fixed everything you asked for, and you were happy.
in the end of the job you guys thanked us and said you were happy with everything. the mood changed the next day when you found out that the night before our transmission leaked on your driveway. we didnt know about the leak until the next morning, so we clearly were not aware of the leak on the driveway until you mentioned this to us. we asked you to wait till weather gets warmer so we can try and clean it.. you didnt want to wait..
that a bit dishonest review, all about a small accident happened to our car.. could be solved with us differently, but you chose this way... to bad.
enjoy your new floors and stairs
emil