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hmmm. So we are new to this. Have a townhome, want to have laminate flooring installed on entire bottom floor. We have some ceramic tile to be pulled up.
So I called Lumber Liquidators, they seem to have good pricing -- almost too good...
This guy seems ok, gives me the no. to their "install line". Once dialed I get a young girl who rattles off their policy right away --- $25 upfront fee for measuring, then 50% of the total upfront before work is even completed.
Now I'm not a contractor hiring pro but um, doesn't this sound a bit lame? Or maybe not, maybe this is how it is.
It sent off alarm bells and I told the girl, hmm, doesn't sound too good. Then she got snotty and that was that! End of phone call.
We are also looking at just calling private contractors thru service magic.
And also Carpet Mill. Now Carpet Mill didn't mention one thing about a fee -- in fact their website says, FREE in home estimate.
Help! Love to hear the advice. And no we aren't going to install it ourselves. So any advice on how others went about hiring someone to install laminate would be great. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please, please, please stay away from Servicemagic. Do a google search of servicemagic reviews and you will see that this company is less than desirable to work with for contractors and homeowners both.
Your best bet to find someone to work on your house is word of mouth. Start asking the people you know if they have had any work done. If that doesn't work, see if anyone has a friend or relative in the trade. And get references from any contractor you talk to. If they can't supply references, move on to the next one (admittedly, some people are just starting their own business and may have the experience but no customer references yet. In that case, at least get personal references that you can check out). If all else fails, the service category on craigslist is your friend, but again, make sure you check references and license/insurance documentation.
As for LL, I use them frequently when I do flooring jobs. However, I'm the installer, and all I need from them is the product. That side of the business is good to me, but I can't say much about their installers, except that as far as I know they sub the work out. Which means you will probably pay a bit more for them setting up the install than you would if you found your own installer.
Gotcha on servicemagic. Although I could do the same research you suggest, calling references, etc. with whatever contractor they throw at me. It's not binding, they just send you a list of supposed contractors that are skilled in the area you need.
Sooo, with all that said, we have asked around, but live in a large city and finding a good contractor is like finding your contact on a white linoleum floor. Scrutinizing is tiring. Carpet Mill by our home says they use this one guy. Just one guy. Seems strange to me, but again, I am not the laminate flooring expert. We do need some ceramic tile pulled up and 650 sq. ft of laminate -- can one guy do that??
I'd love to find an independent contractor, but am at a loss as to how to do that.
We thought about Lowes but their prices were pretty high, selection not so good. Also Carpet Exchange seemed ok. Of course both of these contract out. I don't mind paying a bit more --- just want peace of mind.
650 sq. ft. plus some tile demo is definitely doable by one guy. That being said, just because they only use 1 guy doesn't mean that 1 guy doesn't have someone working with him. So, don't be surprised if he has a helper. Also, don't be afraid to ask for pictures of previous jobs. Most skilled tradesmen are more than happy to show off their work ^_^
I always ask my customers if I can take a picture after I finish any kind of visible job (painting, trim, flooring, tile, etc.) 99% of them are more than willing to let me take snapshots so that I can show potential customers.
ok, thanks Jim. I just spoke with a guy (referred by service magic). I'll do the work in checking references (and I'm guessing licenses?) and will check with a few others for price comparison. What I like about contractors is that they are your regular guys, not always out to ********* like the big box stores. And I'd much rather give money locally than to a chain.
We bought hardwood floors from Lumber Liquidators but did not have them install them...we hired an independent contractor.
We've also used ServiceMagic in the past and had really good luck with their suggestions. We found our painting company and window company through them. We "interviewed" about 3 of the recommendations from ServiceMagic and found them all reputable.
SCG: Thanks for that info! I think private contractor is the best way to go to. We might buy from Lumber or another place but will probably use a private guy to install. Thanks for that info re: service magic. I know there are complaints about them, but honestly there are complaints about every person/company that exists!
When you "interviewed", what kinds of things did you look for, ask?
SCG: Thanks for that info! I think private contractor is the best way to go to. We might buy from Lumber or another place but will probably use a private guy to install. Thanks for that info re: service magic. I know there are complaints about them, but honestly there are complaints about every person/company that exists!
When you "interviewed", what kinds of things did you look for, ask?
Also, who installed your hardwoods?
No problem.
We basically made sure anyone from ServiceMagic was licensed, had recommendations we could call, asked about who was responsible for getting the permits, etc. We had them come out & give us quotes for the work, show us pictures of work they'd done. We didn't have issue with any of the companies ServiceMagic sent us. We ended up going with who gave us the best prices and who we felt most comfortable with. We've even used one of the companies we did not choose the first time around to come back and do a different job for us because we really liked them at the time, they just couldn't give us the best price on that particular job.
As for the hardwood floors, we were in the middle of a big renovation on our house so we had one of the contractors on the job put in the flooring for us (as well as tile floors in another area of the house). He was actually the one who suggested Lumber Liquidators to us, he'd had many customers use their products w/o issue.
I don't know anything about permits. We are just having tile pulled up and then laminate laid in our entire bottom floor. I suppose I should check on that.
I read up on some pointers with contractors. I'm also making a list of questions so I don't forget when they come by. One place I scheduled said that they mainly did carpet, and also did laminate quite a bit. I asked for pics but the lady said, I don't think we have any on hand. Should I drop them from the list?
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