Ak Level and Polish

I called Ak level and polish after ripping up the carpet in my basement and discovering that the floor was too uneven for the vinyl flooring we had planned to install two weeks later. They were very responsive initially, came on time, and were the only company who actually used a 10 foot level to check multiple areas of the floor. He assured me they would be able to flatten the floor sufficiently to place our vinyl flooring, which has a slim tolerance of 3/16" over 10 feet. They were able to accommodate our tight timeline and reassured by the other excellent reviews on Homestars, I decided to proceed.

Prior to doing the job they were very responsive, answered my questions, and on the day of came promptly with a two man team and completed the grinding and pouring of the basement in a few hours. He advised me that I should not walk on the surface until the evening but wanted payment up front (despite the website saying they accept e-transfer). Perhaps this should have been a red flag.

Our problems began the following morning. As I inspected the floor I noted several spots that were badly uneven, including high traffic areas. Since Ak level and polish mentions a warranty on their website, I reached out and sent Faz some pictures. After several hours, I followed up with a phone call. Faz dismissed my concerns and told me that it was not meant to be level (though the original invoice says basement levelling) but simply flat enough to place the vinyl flooring. He asked me to place the flooring down and said he would return to fix it only if this was a problem. I obliged and placed flooring in several areas. There was a large amount of movement in several places and some areas where the edges could not even be joined due to bumps in the floor. I sent back pictures and tried to call Faz back. At that point he stopped answering his phone entirely. I had to call back from a different number in order to get him to pick up, at which point he said that he might be able to come out in a few days time. He then screened calls or blocked this number as well to make it impossible for me to contact him.

Unfortunately we did not have the time or money to address this with another contractor, and could not afford to pay the penalty to the flooring contractor for further delays. The flooring installer managed to fix some areas by gluing them down but there is still a large amount of movement in multiple areas and overall a really unsatisfactory job.

Ak level and polish took advantage of the fact that we are first time homeowners and busy as parents of a young baby to do a quick, low quality job, take our money, and then disappear. I really don't know why they did this to us because they seemed so pleasant and had such good reviews here and elsewhere online. I would never recommend this company to anyone and as a result of this experience I feel I can no longer trust this website to recommend good contractors. Buyer beware and get a written contract. Lesson learned.