Used these guys a second time. (different home) This time for a much larger area of wood flooring…read more Plus some beautiful ceramic tile in kitchen, laundry room and 4 bathrooms.
Deciding on the wood:
The owner Aaron met me at his supplier and showed me samples, and gave me excellent recommendations based on his prior experience with that wood. (Note, some vendors make wood that looks good but is much thinner or made cheaper / lower quality) Took home large samples of the wood I liked best, so I could how it looked in the house.
The Crew:
First, a sidebar.... So many times I experience store employees who have a "tude" or don't care, and I wonder, why do they even have a job, with all of the unemployed people in the US. That rude or lazy employee doesn't deserve that job, and there are thousands of people in line who would take that same job and do it with diligence. (end sidebar)
Okay so now lets talk about Aaron's crew. They are amazing. Hardworking, fast, and incredibly good at what they do. I wasn't at the house when they were working, but would visit to see how they were doing. And every time I "popped in" they were working like madmen, killing it!
The Cleanup:
I've used a lot of contractors for various home improvements, and in general I could say that no matter how good they are, they suck at cleanup. Always leave dirt, sawdust, empty packaging, nails laying in random places. But Aaron's few does STELLAR CLEANUP. Out comes the huge industrial canister vacuumes and brooms and towels. They were serious about cleanup. Now get this. After doing flooring, baseboards, and tile work, both upstairs and downstairs, they left everything like new. I did a walk thru, and saw just one spec of something on the floor, so I licked my finger to pick it up. That was all there was! just a spec! And it probably wasn't even from them.
The Finished Work:
Well the flooring and crown moulding baseboards were drop dead gorgeous. There were some tricky corners and somehow they got those baseboards done perfectly. Nailed it! Just love the wood flooring and crown work. Stellar. Now lets talk about the ceramic tile. Not only did Aaron's tile guy do awesome work in the kitchen, laundry room, hallway, and 3 bathrooms plus master bathroom... but in the master bathroom he perfectly handled some tricky issues, including uneven flooring that didn't match right with the carpet. He made everything level. Plus he did some other magic, making the bathroom baseboard line up height wise with the bedroom baseboard at the corner junction. Anyways, the tile guy, and every other guy on Aaron's crew, get an A+.
Freebie:
As part of the bathroom tile work, they must remove the toilet, lay down new tile, then re-install the original toilet. After they removed the toilet they pointed out that it was old and could use a replacement. So I ran over to Costco and picked up a top rated Kohler water saving toilet. They installed it for me for *free*, explaining that after the tile was complete, they would have had to re-install the old toilet, and installing the new one instead would be no additional work. (either way they're installing a toilet, be it the original one or a new one) Many companies would have taken advantage of that situation and added a "Toilet Install" charge to the final invoice, but these guys were completely honest about things and didn't attempt to charge extra.
Closing thoughts:
These guys are a "class act" and let me tell you why. The wood flooring came from their supplier, but I had purchased the kitchen floor tile myself from Costco. Beautiful, modern and extra large rectangular tile. Although I miscounted and was short 2 cases. (probably was distracted by the free food samples at Costco!) So at the end of the installation job, the tile guy didn't have enough tile to complete the kitchen. My fault entirely. (btw the rest of the house was finished, all tile and wood flooring) So I trekked to Costco to buy more tile, and as a result of not enough tile he had to come back the next morning to finish the kitchen. An extra trip, because of me. But... he didn't complain. Nor did the owner Aaron. These guys are a CLASS ACT, very professional all the way through.
