Flooring Frustration
During the mitigation migraine, I spent weeks trying to get in contact with the insurance adjustor’s recommended contractor in an attempt to establish some type of deadline for the flooring remodel. I managed to get them out to the house for measurements, but any progression further was futile. Between daily voicemails and text messages that were left responded to, I had decided to search for more productive companies. My father had recommended getting an estimate through Lowe’s since they worked with multiple contractors, and I would be able to pick out my material for installation there. He had met with me at the Lowe’s near my house to assist in the process since this was all new to me and pretty much felt like I was trying to decipher Sand Script.
Our immediate impression of service should have been a red flag right off the bat. No one could be found in the flooring department when we arrived. After about 15 minutes of waiting, I decided to track down another employee for assistance. She went up to the front to have the flooring person paged but then disappeared. Another 10 minutes went by, and I was able to flag down someone else who was able to get ahold of the flooring representative, Brad. Despite my initial annoyance, Brad seemed to know what he was doing. We went through the different aisles together as he took notes on the materials I wanted to have installed. Once the forms were filled out, Brad gave us a timeline of about three business days to have the other department come back with an estimate (mind you, this was on a Friday). By the following Friday, I had not heard anything back from Brad. I called the store and was informed he was off work, but it looked like the measurements for the estimate were kicked back. The person who was covering for Brad said they would resubmit the paperwork according to the revised specifications. Satisfied with the outcome, I waited another week. Again, still no word from Brad. Three weeks had come and went. The walls from the mitigation had dried and my floors were left warped and watermarked. Yet Brad was uncontactable.
Finally, after submitting an email to Brad’s manager with Brad copied, I miraculously received a response. Brad called to inform me that estimate was still not completed since they could not authorize the flooring on the back on my stairs per my request and would need to do an additional inspection (paid out of pocket) to see if this was something they could move forward with. By this point, I was beyond frustrated and set out yet again to find a new contractor. This time, I reached out to Empire Flooring. To my relief, the process as painless and I was able to get an immediate estimate the same day. We went over material and set the date for demolition a week later.
When the flooring workers arrived, they immediately set to work ripping up the kitchen tile downstairs. They estimated a total of 4 days to have everything installed from start to finish. The downstairs furniture was moved around from room to room as they worked. At one point I had to stop and take a picture because the stacked dining room chairs in the corner of my front room looked like everything had fallen down Alice’s rabbit hole, stacked haphazardly on top of each other reaching the ceiling of the room. It was comical to say the least. As predicted the installers wrapped up with a beautiful install within the 4 days. They also did a great job and moving the heavy furniture back where they found it. Overall, I wish I had just gone with them from the start and avoiding a 2-month headache of playing the waiting game. Now that the floors were finished it was time to get ready for a very busy Spring break vacation.
Stay Tuned for the next adventures of the Yellow Ribbon Rebel…