We've got a mixed review for Graham's Flooring and Design:…read more
We wanted to get a couple different bids on materials and labor for replacing the slick vinyl floor at our new home in Loveland, Colorado. In addition to Peak flooring and Lumber Liquidators, Graham's is right here in town, as well. Lumber Liquidators has a bad reputation in both California and at this Loveland Colorado store, so they were eliminated from our list. Graham's was a tough one because we kept showing up at their door on days when they were closed for special events. While waiting for Graham's to have people in attendance we went to Peak Flooring and brought a big sample piece from the flooring we had left behind in California. Kristy spent a long time showing us various sample pieces and even encouraged us to take the samples home to see how they looked in our environment. Then an estimator came by and took measurements and then we finally found time to get to Graham's to get a competing offer.
We brought our sample from California and showed it to the woman minding the store. The woman said she just worked the front office, but she had a phenomenal eye for the products and the color of our sample from California. She said she had just the right thing and went to the warehouse while we browsed the samples in their showroom. When the woman came back (sorry, I can't remember her name) she showed us a sample that she said was a new line that the salesmen hadn't had time to build the display for. It wasn't the same as the sample we had brought in, but it was a lot closer than anything in the offerings from Peak flooring and, although I would have preferred engineered hardwood, the vinyl hybrid was still better looking than the samples in our home and had a better warranty and durability specifications. We were sold!
We scheduled a visit from their estimator and we were happy we were persistent about visiting Grahams -- third time's a charm!
Kim showed up and took measurements around the house while chatting with us about Loveland and Colorado and how it's different from California. She promised to get us great pricing on the flooring and labor and left us feeling pretty good about our choices for the flooring and installation company. We ironed out installation dates and materials costs via email and Kim was able to get us great pricing even though the Colorado warehouse was out of stock for the new line of flooring planks.
It was a bit strange when the two installers (Rocky and Israel) and the foreman (Eddie) showed up bright and early on installation day. Kim didn't show up with them because she had been booked at another estimation appointment down in Denver and, for some reason, they weren't willing to start without her. When she showed up 90 minutes later, the installation team discussed a few things with her and she told me she had forgotten to check for the need for underlayment in the bedrooms where the carpets were going to be replaced by flooring. She quoted a decent price for the additional material but, with the installers ready to go and materials already on site, I really didn't have much of a choice but to agree and proceed. Needless to say, that was a bit uncomfortable.
With that, Rocky and Israel set about removing carpet while Eddy disappeared for a few hours, returning later with the particle board to be used as underlayment. Kim also disappeared, but we hadn't expected her to get involved in the labor anyway.
The job took longer than expected, particularly with the extra requirement to cut and lay out the particle board. We also discovered some scratched boards mid-way through the installation efforts, and replacing those boards required removal of several adjoining planks. We were glad they did it, though, because we knew we wouldn't be able to 'un-see' those scratches if the problem wasn't corrected. After that, Israel continued installing our flooring while Rocky disappeared -- apparently he got a call and was diverted to a house in a nearby neighborhood where he started the demolition process for their flooring job.
The job had been scheduled for three days with the hopes of completing it in two; the guys came back for a fourth day to finalize the installation and add the finishing touches -- putting the baseboards back on and adding a special nose-board at the top of the stairs.
All in all, the guys did a great job and we are just ecstatic about the results. We do feel the job could have been completed in 2.5 to 3 days if everyone had showed up on time and stayed on-site to contribute, but the delays didn't cost us any extra so we're really only complaining about the extra time that we had to endure the reverberating noise of hammers pounding throughout the house.
It seems like Graham's Flooring is so popular that they're a little over-booked, but we love the flooring and the results!