[island_dude]

My wife and I decided to rip up our carpeting and lay down new hardwood floors. We got a number of quotes over the whole range, and settled on a company that was a little lower than the middle. This guy came highly recommended by a friend. I never met the guy, but my wife liked him and based on what seemed like a reasonable quote and a good recommendation we went forward. We started to sort out the details: I would be resposible for obtaining the materials (this seemed a little strange actually), he would move the large items as necessary, and it would take between 3-4 days to lay about 1050 sq feet of flooring.

The crew showed up on a monday around 9:00 (minus the main guy) and started tearing out the old flooring. In the process some areas were uncovered that were damaged by cat urine. They kicked off a small investigation as to what to do. They cut out part of the subfloor and messed around for a bit. They left at about 4:00 having just barely gotten rid of the old materials (which we dumped on the lawn).

They came back at 9:00 the next day and started laying the flooring. They took a two hour lunch and left at 3:30. At the end of the week (before a long weekend), they managed to complete only part of one room. They left the place a mess: sawdust everywhere and debris left all over. They guys were like bulls, the damaged the walls as they moved around and were anything but careful.

Long long story short: At the end of the week my wife asked the owner why its was taking so long. He starts yelling at her about all kinds of stuff --- like it is her fault that they can't get the job done. We nearly fired the guy then and there (and should have as it turns out). I talk to him to smooth things out and get a song and dance about being short handed, not making any money on the job etc.

By the end of the second week most of the flooring is down but there are a lot of things not done or not doe right. The place is a total mess. meanwhile the guy claims that it took 17 hours to do the sub-floor work (at $60/hr).

I was away on travel when he shows up on the following monday. They worked about three hours and as the guy is leaving he tells my wife (who he knows is alone and I am away) that she has to move the furniture around. She tells him to get out and never come back.

Now the scary part. We had another crew come do the upstairs and see if they could fix the mess downstairs. It takes them two days to do a job of roughly the same size. Its perfect. In the process they mention a few troubleing aspects of the other contractor's job. He layed some of the flooring along the joists instead of across them. They didn't mark the joists so most of the wood is just nailed into the sub floor. So, not only did they take forever, damage the house, etc., they did a crappy job that I will have to redo down the road.

The guy mean while feels that I owe him another $600 on top of the amount that remained. This means that the $4700 quote became a $6300 substandard job. With me having to put up with a lot of crap. The guy wants the a total of $2300 and is threatning to put a lein on the house.

I have a number of pictures (I'd post them, but they are way too large) of the damage. This guy is't going to see a dime from me, but its going to be a painful process.