Flooring By Design

This is my first dealing with "Flooring by Design" but it won't be my last. My wife and I have been more than impressed with the professional and courteous way we have been dealt with. I myself have been a business owner for many years, so I fully appreciate when I do business with a top shelf company. Flooring by design were competitive with the big box stores while giving first rate service. Many thanks to Trevor and staff

UPDATED: Responding to the owner's response - the line of communication was wide open between both of us as she shared numerous emails. I advised him that I wasn't interested in having his team back to make the repairs (that shouldn't have happen in the first place). The board with the big dent in it is the 4th one from the wall where they started which meant, if they truly wanted to fix it properly, tear the whole floor, remove that board and restart. I'm pretty sure this is not what they would have done. They would have done what I did, add a matching filler. I changed the door casing myself as at this point in time, I wanted the job done right(reminder to look at the picture of how they cut the casing to make the hardwood fit). The owner mentions "Industry Standard", I wonder if it is a standard to email clients that write negative reviews and offer them money to remove the negative post? I'm not the only one also, see other reviews. We looked at a couple different Hardwood companies in Barrie. It was hard to match the existing color and found something somewhat close at Flooring By Design (FBD). Dealing with Trevor was pleasurable. He is knowledgeable, professional and friendly. That was the opposite when the installers came in. It took them a couple of days to complete the job. After day one, it was hard to inspect the job as the place was filthy. Lots of dust, cut pieces etc... When I came home from work the second day, this is where I found the surprises. There were lots of boards (at least a dozen) where some little pieces were broken off (as per the pictures), one area they must of dropped a hammer or something heavy as there is a good dent, a strip of hardwood is buckled in the middle of the room, black marks on my freshly painted walls, look at how they cut the door casing. I wasn't really happy! They offered to come back and fix the problems (putty) but I declined as I didn't want them in my house again. I ended it up putting matching putty and washing the walls/doors. Was not a good experience and ended up having to pay full amount as it was "the negotiated price". One would think that the negotiated price comes with a job well done.

Solid hardwood floor - Remove existing tile & oak floors $8800 Dec 2017, FBD contract $8691.46. Remove ceramic floor around the kitchen cabinets, solid oak flooring before supply/install new solid hardwood floor. Includes remove/replace a fridge, a dishwasher, a toilet and a sink. They do not accept payment by credit card over $3000? Company statement “ Located in Barrie, our team of highly qualified flooring installers is friendly and diligent and maintains the highest standards of professionalism and cleanliness throughout installation.” Despite above… team arrived no tarps, no protection for kitchen cabinets, granite, marble entrance, adjacent carpet areas or duct vents. They didn’t sweep at days' end. Broken tiles, cement, empty boxes, wood with exposed nails and tools were left scattered overnight. Material loosely carried out in non-taped boxes scavenged from local dumpster, a total mess through our main hallway. They called our home a “construction site”. Cleanliness was one issue, damage was extensive too. They damaged solid oak kitchen cabinets using a large crowbar, gouged portions of sub-floors using an electric jackhammer. They forced a sink off a wall using a crowbar rather than remove 2 simple screws. They broke a refrigeration line, which ran water all night through our floor to the finished basement below. They said, “if you wanted the job to be done right, you should have removed the cabinets first”. We asked them to leave. Trevor had them complete the demo portion. When they claimed the prep was complete, I pointed out it was not cleared enough, they left anyway. I was 8 hours the following day removing about 5 lbs. of bent nails, wire and debris ensuring the floor was ready for new hardwood. Independent installers arrived to install the hardwood, (contract for other retailers). Darl & James arrived with professional tools, and planned out the installation. They cleaned up every night. They took care in the installation process. They forgot to allow for the baseboard when installing the doorstop trim. I removed and re-installed half of what they installed. They do not re-install toilets or dishwasher plumbing although we were charged about $200 by FBD for this service. Trevor credited the water line repair and the ceiling repair $250. The speaker has not been addressed yet. He added $260 for quarter round. I explained this was in error. Doorstop was and added $100 to our payment. Trevor insisted on the $260 charge. Nothing provided regarding use/care, or warranty of our new hardwood or installation. We noticed 2 large holes in our bathroom wall, making it impossible to re-attach the sink without replacing the wallboard in that area. This was deliberate by his team. I emailed Trevor, he never responded. Within 2 weeks, a splinter came off a board, upon closer look more splinters are along this edge, and a crack. I sent a picture to Trevor and offered him to visit to view. Trevor replied he wouldn’t visit, “clearly it was damaged” (not true) and to fix it ourselves. I requested a rep to review this. Trevor refused. I called he wanted an extra charge to repair. We are so disappointed having done business with Flooring by Design, the disregard for our home, damage to cabinetry, deliberate wall damage by his team, the $160 overcharge. The withdrawal of warranty and after sale service. Update: February email received from FBD. “I will not send any more teams to work in your home” If you remove this review, we will mail a $200 cheque. My response: $200 does not cover a wall repair, board replacements that have splintered, or the cost of a certified inspector to determine the cause of the hardwood problem. Update March 24. Darl and James performed the warranty on the splintered boards. They also removed some glue from the hardwood surface. We appreciate this finally taking place. FBD has also agreed to reimburse us for work not completed and repairs to damaged area to our wall. This took 3 months, but finally our floor has been restored.

Karen was absolutely wonderful! She is very knowledgeable and was just great to work with. I highly recommend speaking to her before you begin your project. She knows her stuff.

Great floor selection and the staff is very knowledgeable and very patient. It was my first time doing such a big renovation for my entire main floor (removing carpet and lanolium) with laminate and porcelain tiles . The staff made it easy to pick the best products for the project and took the time to explain what to expect. Let's not forget the installers ( Mike and Bob ), they are excellent , very patient, explain the plan for the day and as well everything is clean at the end of each day. The project was done on time and looks awesome.

We just had our Master Bath, Master Bedroom & Master Closet done by Flooring by Design. They came in and ripped up the carpet in the bedroom and closet and took up the ceramic tile in the bathroom. We had a vinyl laminent put down and it looks wonderful. Mike and Bob were fantastic. They were polite, efficient, listened to what I was asking them and were able to answer any questions that I had and they were also very clean. When they were finished, I really didn't need to vacuum the floor because they did that for me and left the room spotless. This is the 2nd time we have had Flooring by Design come in. The 1st time was to do our hallway, living and dining room. I would definitely recommend them and will use them again when the time arises.

A great experience working with Trevor and the team at Flooring by Design. Trevor was very knowledgeable about all the different flooring types that he had available in his store and answered all of our questions about them. From the purchase to the installation by Mike and Bob, the whole process was very easy and the final project looks great. We would highly recommend Trevor and his team for any flooring project that you might have to do! Thanks again! John Eade and Steve Ritchie

We love the high quality vinyl in our newly renovated basement! Thanks to Trevor for very knowledgeable support in choosing just the right product. The cork backed flooring is quiet, beautiful and practical. It was delivered within days! My best advice is buy local… buy from Flooring by Design.