Used Floor Coverings International in Redmond for a large job in March that included:
Extending hardware floor up stairs and in hallways
Refinishing existing floors
Installing carpet
Installing painted wainscoting and upgrading the baseboards
DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY
Here is the list of the good, the bad and the ugly,
The good:
The carpet installers were good and did a nice job.
It would have been even better if the company had suggested ordering a larger piece of carpet along with the foam pad so I could understand the experience I was ordering.
The installers did a nice job with the installation of the handrail on the stairs; they came up with an innovative approach to the handrail that takes a jaunt along the wall.
The stairs in general look nice
MaryAnn who was the project manager was generally good to work with-she helped us with the stain on the hardwood floors
The bad:
The installers decided to install the wainscoting before they sanded and refinished the flooring, which then caused the installers to use a smaller sander next to the wainscoting which left striations in the flooring, and, left stains on the wainscoting. The installers seemed as though they thought they were finished and the team sort of complained about me complaining about the lack of attention to detail and quality.
The owner the company seemed to have a lot of personal emergencies that arose during the job and was not there for the three+ week job.
The foreman was barely onsite and didn't give his team the feedback they needed to do the job properly
We provided a list of work we wanted done and materials we wanted on the transition points, and floor squeaks we wanted fixed, but that information was never transmitted to the installers. So, the job was not exactly what I wanted when it was completed despite the very high price.
The installers were supposed to work from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. but never worked those hours; most often they worked from 10 or 11 until late at night.
It would have been better if we had laid out the wainscoting together in advance of the installation as I was promised the foreman would do, but that never happened so we made decisions in real time which was not optimal
The owner talked me out of the 5.5 inch baseboard that I wanted which was my bad. I went with 4.5 inch baseboard which is too short.
MaryAnn seemed to lose track of how much we had already paid and was going to overbill us by almost $10k until I reminded her that we had already paid $10k before the team started the job.
The ugly:
We rented pods for our belongings and gave the keys to the foreman on the first day they were onsite; the team was going to see if they could fit more belongings in the pod. Somehow, the pods were never relocked at that time. Around the 7th day I noticed the pods were unlocked. When I inquired as to why the pods were not locked the team couldn't come up with an answer as to what happened. We then purchased a second set of locks and locked the pods. Fast forward to today and we are continuing to realize the thousands of dollars of belongings that can't be easily replaced, and the sentimental items that can't ever be replaced, are missing. We are angry and heartbroken that the installers either contributed directly to the loss of our belongings, or indirectly by their carelessness of not locking the pods.
When you read the reviews note that the two positive reviews are from employees.
If I had to do it over again, and I wish I could, I would not have hired this company.
In response to the response from Floor Covering International:
If it were true that the lead talked to his team every day and/or was onsite everyday that would be an even worse performance. If he was that in touch with his team why would they have installed the wainscot before sanding and staining the floors? It doesnt make much sense particularly since they didn't protect the wainscot when they sanded and stained the floors.
You didn't address that the installers never showed up on time; they showed up 3-4 hours late every day. You didn't address that the transition points are not what I asked for, particularly upstairs as they lead into the bonus room; I asked for carpet at the transition, you didn't address that the squeaks were not fixed, even though you took notes as such during the walkthrough of the house, and the lead never showed up to work out what the design of the wainscot would be before they started the job. I disagree that I asked for lots of changes. But I do find it sad that the team was going to leave the rotting wood in the bathroom and that I had to pay $1000 extra to have that issue fixed; they were going to install new hardwood directly over the rotting wood. If the team had done such a great job than when the owner finally arrived there would have been little to do; instead the team spent two days bringing the work up to standard (based on what could be fixed). I could file a police report for sure, read more
