Susan

Bob is a nice guy, and It almost pains me to post a negative review, but I don’t feel I have a choice. We hired Bob to refinish our hardwood on our main floor, to install hardwood on stairs that previously had carpet, and to install laminate flooring on the second floor. Hardwood was disappointing from start to finish. After staining AND sealing we discovered that roughly half of the boards “did not take the stain.” We should have been told this before the varithane was applied. He tried to “mask” those areas by applying more stain on top of the sealant, then sealing again. It now looks like stain has been applied unevenly. In addition the hardwood at the very front of the house (first thing you see coming in the door) looks grey and dirty. I pointed this out and was told “it’s just dust. It will come off with a damp cloth.” I tried that, to no avail. - This should not have been my responsibility since Bob was paid to do the job. My stairs were also a disappointment. Gaps were left between risers and walls, paint was scraped and only fixed once I pointed it out multiple times. Risers were loose and not nailed on. When I pointed that out, some got nailed on, some still remain only held on by the treads. The risers that were nailed have been left with black nails showing, not filled and painted as you’d expect. One riser was left with exposed wood on the side of the staircase. The end of at least one tread was not stained and there is a patch on one of the treads - right at the front of the stair, where it looks like stain has not been applied properly. I was grateful that none of the spindles cracked, since it would have been more money to replace them all. Now however, I wish I had. Spindles on my stairs were cut too short leaving a gap of nearly a quarter inch from the tread. Bob’s remedy for this was to apply caulking between tread and the bottom of the spindle. It looks exactly like caulking. Not like wood. Painters’ tape was left on the floor at the bottom of the stairs, and when *I* (not Bob - he’d already left, paid in full) removed it, there was a gap between the hardwood and the riser, and white paint from the riser on the hardwood floor. I would have thought that spot would at least have been filled. At the top of the stairs, there is still unpainted wood from where carpet had been laid. Although I did have contractors in painting walls, I believe that since that wood was over a riser it should have been painted by the contractor doing stairs and flooring. (Also, the paint colour that should have been used was the white used on the risers.) Laminate was installed ok, although there are a couple of spots by a wall where the underlay sticks up, even with baseboards on. And doors were not reinstalled after laminate was put in . One would not close. Bob’s response “well yes, because your floor is 10mm thicker. The door will need to be cut.” Then he said “fine I’ll do that.” As though making sure doors open and close is not part of installing flooring. My porch was barely swept the day Bob left, but not as clean as I would expect. Empty boxes from laminate were left in a heap in my garage rather than removed. For 14k plus the cost of laminate- which I paid for - and picked up additional moulding and nosing myself, I expected a much more professional job.