Hardwood Floors by Steve LeBeau, Inc.

Since LeBeau Hardwood Floors, LLC, (a.k.a.) Hardwood Floors by Steve LeBeau, did not follow the recommended manufactures and wood industries installation procedures, we had serious problems in two areas of our house due to their faulty installation. The first was in the hallway/family room and the second in front of the sink area in the kitchen. In addition, we also had many other bad workmanship issues as well as LeBeau not completing items that they verbally stated that they would do. We also were forced to pay for two additional repairs that were caused by their installers.
Two out of twenty boxes of [redacted] flooring delivered caused an appearance problem when installed due to additional labels on their box stating “[redacted] Special discontinued.” Since LeBeau did not "Rack Out" (layout) the room or work out of several boxes at a time as recommended by all manufacturers and wood associations when installing prefinished hardwood floors, distinctive differences could be seen. They essentially worked out of one box at a time. The difference in color may have blended in if they worked out of multiple boxes or “Racked Out” the floor. I asked one of the installers (Installer #2) if all of the boxes of wood had the same date code and dye lot and he said "YES.” Unfortunately that was not correct.
LeBeau's foreman halted the work and stated that the installers installed too much dark wood together in the two areas and would remove it and replace it for free. The next time I saw him he told me that his brother, LeBeau's owner/accountant said that he would not do it for free and only charge us their cost, which amounted to $725. We agreed to pay LeBeau for the work since we did not have all of the hardwood flooring installed and 95% of our furniture for the two rooms were in our garage and enclosed porch. In order not to continue living under the conditions we were in, we were forced to agree to that. We did not feel that we should have been charged for the work since LeBeau's installers were at fault for not following standard and recommended procedures.
In addition, we also had many other bad workmanship issues. While removing the linoleum and particle board caused much sawdust in the kitchen and family room, I understood that was to be expected. What I did not expect were the dents in walls, cabinet doors and woodwork that the installers caused.
Initially, when LeBeau's installers had to cut some of the flooring, they proceeded to cut the wood in the family room causing much unnecessary sawdust to circulate in our house. I had to tell them to stop cutting the wood in the house and do it in the garage like the various workers who did our kitchen cabinets, kitchen backsplash tile and bathroom floor tiles had done.
After Installer #1 removed the wood in the family room hallway, I told him that the plywood sub-floor was loose. He said that it was fine. I forced him to come and take a look. When I pressed down on the plywood, you could see the nail heads above the wood. He then resolved the issue by re-nailing the plywood. Unfortunately, he did the kitchen area first. I know that he did not check the sub-floor since a squeak developed in front of the stove. In that area of the kitchen, he used his large shovel-like tool to remove the wood.
When a tool that Installer #2 was using fell on the floor and put a large dent in a board, Installer #1 replaced a section of that board. LeBeau charged us for that repair. I also saw at least three other smaller dents in the same area.
Installer #1 “snuck” in an ugly board in the entry way into the kitchen. When my wife questioned him why he did that, he had a smirk on his face and said that it was a “conversation piece.” We insisted that he replace it with a more desirable piece of wood. He later replaced it when he repaired the dent caused by Installer #2 in the other board. We were also charged for that repair.
I told Installer #1 that one board in the kitchen had a defect in it. He looked at it and did nothing about it.
Installer #1 had to replace boards in three doorway areas where Installer #2 installed or tried to install the boards.
When Installer #2 was gluing some boards in a doorway, he got glue on a few good boards. I told Installer #1 about this and Installer #1 had to use paint thinner to remove the glue.
For some unknown reason, only seven of eleven sections of baseboard were removed from our family room and thrown in a pile in the garage. The nails in some of the baseboards scratched some of the exposed surfaces of other pieces of the baseboards. I had some success repairing the scratches. I had to replace the baseboard since LeBeau never called us to finish the project like they promised.
I also discovered some spaces between the boards, the most bothersome being in the doorway between the kitchen and family room and in front of the kitchen sink.
The majority of the nail holes were not filled after the hardwood floors were installed. I had to complete filling the exposed nail holes.
Installer #1 did not dispose of the removed wood because he said that LeBeau's foreman would pick up the wood that was to be removed. LeBeau's foreman never removed the wood and I had to pay someone $20 to remove it.
In addition, the installation guidelines for installing hardwood flooring require that moisture testing is critical when installing hardwood floors. The moisture content of the sub-floor and the hardwood flooring should be measured and be within 4% of each other. LeBeau's installers did not do that. When I asked Installer #1 if they had a moisture measurement meter, he said that it was in another truck. I asked him to bring it and of course, he did not. He told me that they only use it if there was water damage.
At one time, we only had our sofa in the family room. LeBeau's foreman said that he would come over and put our chairs back in the room for us. We felt that was very kind of him and told him we really needed that. Unfortunately, he never did what he said he would do.
What was most disbursing was that when the floors were completed, LeBeau's foreman said that he was busy and he would call us in two weeks to complete the project which included replacing our furniture and dishwasher in their proper places. HE NEVER CALLED US! We were without our table, chairs and dishwasher in the kitchen and only had our sofa, three small tables to hold a lamp and our drinks during our meals, and our TV in the family room. We were in various states of array from the first week of July until the last week of September. If it wasn't for our neighbor's son visiting his mother, I have no idea how long we would have had to live like that. I told him about our situation and he offered to help me move all of our furniture back where it belonged. As it turned out, I had to complete the project since LeBeau's foreman never called us to complete the project.
I find it very hard to believe that LeBeau would leave a customer in this situation and treat a customer this way. If LeBeau did not want to finish the project as well as replacing the furniture that they were paid fifty dollars to remove, they should have been more professional and courteous and told us so. (If they replaced the furniture, we were required to pay an additional $50 for that task).
Since LeBeau caused the problem, I requested a refund of $725 from them. The owner/accountant said no since LeBeau installed the wood that was delivered to me. I mentioned that I would go to the Small Claims Court, the Revdex.com and the New York State Attorney General’s office for help in this matter. I decided to start with the City of [redacted] Small Claims Court. After the trial, I was awarded a judgment of $400 since the judge felt the problem of the wood labeling was not LeBeau's fault. It should be noted that during the trial, the judge asked LeBeau's foreman if he said that he would replace it for free. Under an oath, his response was "NO,” and as stated above, was different that what he told me.
During the trial, LeBeau's foreman told the judge that they sand, stain and put a poly finish on the floors in order to obtain a uniform finish. That is the procedure required when refinishing existing floors or installing unfinished flooring. Our case was completely different since our flooring was prefinished. LeBeau did not follow the recommended installation procedure for installing prefinished hardwood floors. He was comparing apples to oranges when explaining this to the judge.
LeBeau's owner/accountant did not pay the judgment within the recommended thirty days. He came up with many excuses as to why he did not send the judgment payment and stated that he was in disagreement with the judgment. He was still obligated to pay the judgment no matter what his feelings were. After e-mailing him three times and threatening to pursue other avenues to collect my judgment, he finally sent me a check.