Please - if you are going to ever read & abide by a Google review, please let it be mine. After…read moredoing thorough research of various flooring companies in Richmond, we decided to go with Footprints to refinish our staircase and upstairs in our new home based on the number of great reviews and pricing. It was such a mistake.
They started on time, which was great. But then we would go to our house periodically throughout the week they allocated for doing the floors, and they often were not at the house. But I didn't think much of it - maybe I just happen to stop by every time when they aren't here. And I saw various signs that they had been at the house, mainly large pieces of sharp wood scattered in our yard, nails laying all over the floor, and trash from their lunches scattered in the home. Again, I wasn't too nervous - I figured it was part of the flooring process and it would all be cleaned up when they were done.
Then, after not hearing from anyone on the team for days, I messaged the project lead (who I had not yet met or ever seen at the house) to ask about when the project might be done. (We were scheduled to move into our house one week later.) He responded: Oh, they are done! Walk on them as you wish!
To say that I was shocked and disappointed is an understatement. The trash, nails, and sharp wood chips were still scattered throughout the home. At least 5 railings from our staircase were scattered around - they must have taken them off and never put them back on. We knew there was going to be sawdust all over the home, that's part of refinishing floors. But Scott had assured us they would try to get the big piles before leaving - that never happened. BUT WORST OF ALL WERE THE ACTUAL FLOORS. When we walked on them barefoot, we got splinters. Not only did they not apply any coating, but they also did not sand parts of the stairs that were difficult to get to, leaving the old stain on part of the risers. (JUST LOOK AT THE PHOTOS).
I sent photos to 2 other flooring experts in Richmond. Both were shocked. One of them said he had never seen such a shoddy job in his 15 years of doing this work.
I call Scott very upset. The project lead comes over to the house, and sees the job they have done (including some shoe molding installed in broken, sloppy ways) and he is shocked. The team left without finishing the job, he confirms. In fact, he tells me that he is dealing with the same issues at TWO OTHER HOUSES.
They promise they will make it right. The following week, they come back to the house to actually do the job of refinishing the floors, putting poly on, and fixing the sloppy shoe molding. (Still without fixing all of the problems - like the old stain that they decided to just leave in hard to get to places. See photo!) It takes another week - a week that we were hoping to paint and clean our new home, which we weren't able to do - and they finish fixing their job 24 hours before the movers arrived with our furniture.
When Scott comes to retrieve the 2nd half of his payment, I nicely ask if he thinks the job done here warrants a full payment. Before I can finish asking, he rudely cuts me off. "We finished the job, we get the full payment. I'm not taking anything off." I wasn't expecting that big of a discount. Maybe just a few hundred dollars off of a $5,000 bill to show some good faith and customer service - after all, they took an extra week because of THEIR ERRORS completely messing up our schedule. (Imagine if we still didn't have an apartment to live in at the time!) And they also permanently damaged our floors (I've since showed another flooring expert who said they over-sanded in some places so it would be impossible to refinish the floors again to fix their job, even if we had thousands of dollars lying around to do so.)
Oh, and the trash, wood parts, and nails were still scattered throughout the home. They broke a piece of the stairs trying to put it back in, and did not tell us, only covered it up with masking tape. And the old stain is still on the floors in one room. (See pictures).
Please, please. Hire anyone else. Let our mistake by your gain.