W. R. Hutchings Construction, Llc

We did this job for the [redacted] in October as stated and would like to respond point by point to the complaints. 1.) It is true that the customer did call us to inform us that the floors in the living room were rough. This can sometimes occur when the finish is put down over stain. As we were not...

there after the final coat the customer was the one who let us know about this. I spoke with Mrs. [redacted] and told her we would be back the next day to correct her concerns. I also had made an error and had not used Semi-Gloss finish on the coats so again we corrected this for them. We sanded the floors smooth and put the semi-gloss finish on the floor. As this floor was sanded and stained a semi-gloss finish will have a slightly more shiny sheen but will still never be as shiny as the Kitchen floor for several reasons:  A.) The kitchen floor is a completely different species of wood and was originally a pre-finished floor. The kitchen is Brazilian cherry while the living room is oak.  B.) The kitchen had 2 coats of Amber seal and 3 coats of finish on it with the top coat being Semi-Gloss. Brazilian Cherry accepts the sealers very differently then an Oak floor wood. The kitchen floor before any finish was applied was already shiny and got shinier after the finish went on. To compare the shiniest of the kitchen to the living room is not comparing apples to apples as they will never have the same shine.  2.) We make every effort to avoid getting stain on the baseboards and we did tape them but unfortunately some of the stain got behind the tape. This does happen and I would have been more then happy to touch up the baseboards if asked to do so. As for the registers it was never discussed nor stated in the estimate the these would be removed. We tried to not get stain on them but unfortunately this did happen. We also at the request of the customer came back and removed them and stained and finished underneath them. 3.) We do our very best to avoid sanding marks and take our time going back over the entire floor to sand out any that show up. We follow the National Wood Flooring Association guidelines for sanding. As this was a site finished floor and not a factory finished some sanding marks can occur. During one of my visits the customer pointed out one drum mark to me from an angle. Otherwise I did not see any significant marks on the floor. NWFA guidelines for inspection state that if you stand 5 feet above a spot on the floor if you cannot see a mark in 3 seconds then it would pass inspection. That is the case on their floors. It is also stated in the terms and conditions of the estimate they approved. Below are the terms and conditions: Hardwood floors are refinished using the proper equipment to complete the job. Wood by nature is unpredictable and therefore the finish of the wood may have lighter and darker areas based on how the wood reacts to staining or Polyurethane. We will take every care to make the floors look as new as possible however duplicating a factory finish is not possible. Additionally stains caused by water and pets may not come out during sanding or bleaching. • We will conduct a free in-home inspection of the floor • During this inspection we will check your floor for damage, pet and water stains and previous finishes applied to the floor. We will also look for obstacles to doing the work such as radiators, floor vents and moulding. • We will discuss the various options with you regarding whether you would like to change the color via staining or have a “natural” floor. This will include the different finish options to include Polyurethane or Water Based Finishes as well as sheen level Satin, Semi-Gloss or Glossy. • A written estimate will be emailed to you with the details as well as an Approve and Decline button. By pressing approve you are agreeing to the terms and conditions 518 Floor Care to complete the work for you. Once you approve we will call you to schedule a date for the work. • All Furniture MUST be removed from the areas to be sanded and we also recommend you take down shades and drapes as well as any other items that would be difficult to clean. We use every care to limit the amount of dust we create while sanding utilizing vacuum systems however there will be dust so please cover anything you are concerned about. • The sanding and refinishing process may take anywhere from 2-5 days to complete and is highly dependent on the environment and finish dry times. Polyurethane is 8 hours between coats drying and Water Based is 2 hours between coats. During • We utilize a 220 Volt Sander that will need either an electric range or dryer plug. • The sanding process is noisy and dusty so please be aware of this. We usually recommend that you are not home while we sand. • While we are as careful as possible while sanding we are using heavy equipment and minor damage to walls, banisters and baseboards may occur to include nicks, dents, gouges as well as stain. Again we try our best to avoid this but be aware that you may need to touch up areas when we are done. • Please note that this will be an On-site refinishing and will not rise to the level of a factory pre-finished floor. We use every care to limit any and all sanding marks and variations in colors in the final finish however some of these are unavoidable due to the condition of the wood prior to sanding to include stains already present. We strive to deliver you a high quality floor each and every time. Customer expressly understands and agrees to the above points. 4.) In reference to the basement epoxy job. We diamond grinded the floor in preparation for the epoxy finish. We had to do this in stages as the customer had a wall unit in the area that the epoxy job was to be done. When we arrived we had to move the wall unit to the other side of the basement. During the original estimate this was discussed with [redacted] and she was told that by having to do the two sections at different times that the epoxy may not match. She stated this was fine as they had planned to put a wall up on one side of the basement. As for the cracks in the floor I do not have it listed on the original estimate that the cracks would be filled however I did observe a crack near the stairs. The rest of the basement still had flooring down on it. It was not until we went to diamond grind the floor that we found that the cracks ran almost the entire length of the basement. This was never part of the original estimate. Had we been aware of this from the beginning this would have required an additional charge. We proceeded to epoxy the floor without filling the cracks. It was not until we were nearly finished that the customer stated she wanted the cracks filled. In the name of customer service I went out and bought crack filler and filled all the cracks which took an entire bottle to do. As this was over the original epoxy we were forced to add additional epoxy to cover this filler. This caused us to run out of epoxy. We completed the work minus the entire area where the refrigerator and wall unit were located and went back 3 days later due to the epoxy not drying to do the top coat. We did not receive a complaint at that time. We next had to wait for the top coat to dry and the new epoxy to arrive which we incurred the cost for. My guys went to the house and moved the refrigerator and wall unit which scratched the epoxy and put gouges in it. The wall unit was too heavy to lift and not something we would normally do. This lead them to have to epoxy a bigger area then originally planned which made the epoxy thicker there then on the other side of the pole line and thus shinier. We did all that we could to make this look as good as possible and returned again to clear coat the new epoxy. As the customer was unhappy about the cracks and sheen I offered to forgo the additional $520 they owed me for the job. After expenses We did not make any money on the basement. From this complaint I understand the customers point of view however there is no easy fix for this. In order to fix this all the epoxy would need to be removed and the entire area recoated. We did the work in good faith utilizing proper techniques. We returned on several occasions to try and please this customer to no avail. We do not feel that our work was poor and the request that we refund another $2,000 is unreasonable. I did not have to forgo the original $520 but I did so in the name of customer service. Although I do not have to do this I would be willing to refund them an additional $1,000 to address there concerns.

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
Regards,
[redacted] And [redacted]