Flooring with Outside Contractor

[qwerty]

@ eye phone - I don't disagree but I don't think most people here on TI that used Venetian paid almost $7/sq ft for labor install.

 

[notTHEoc]

Amount of glue used can be a large source of variation. Bostik / Sika high quality glue cost ~$35 / gallon. If you go by the book (what the wood manufacturer recommends), you might only cover ~20sqf / gallon. But some installers try to get by covering ~60sqf+ / gallon. So your glue cost can range from ~$1.75 per sqf to less than $0.60 per sqf. More glue will provide better moisture barrier, sound deadening and feel. Also, the wood manufacturer might not honor warranty if glue has not been used per their install specification.

 

[qwerty]

Amount of glue used can be a large source of variation. Bostik / Sika high quality glue cost ~$35 / gallon. If you go by the book (what the wood manufacturer recommends), you might only cover ~20sqf / gallon. But some installers try to get by covering ~60sqf+ / gallon. So your glue cost can range from ~$1.75 per sqf to less than $0.60 per sqf. More glue will provide better moisture barrier, sound deadening and feel. Also, the wood manufacturer might not honor warranty if glue has not been used per their install specification.

My sq footage was pretty close to a fellow TI member who used Venetian and my install per sq ft was 60% higher so the glue variance would not apply here.

 

[eyephone]

@ eye phone - I don't disagree but I don't think most people here on TI that used Venetian paid almost $7/sq ft for labor install.

1. It's either he recently raised his prices.
2. When the contractor saw your house he was like this is a big house with a big tv and nice furniture. I'm going to charge more per sq foot, this guy can afford it. (I'm just guessing and assuming) :O

 

[qwerty]

@ eye phone - I don't disagree but I don't think most people here on TI that used Venetian paid almost $7/sq ft for labor install.

1. It's either he recently raised his prices.
2. When the contractor saw your house he was like this is a big house with a big tv and nice furniture. I'm going to charge more per sq foot, this guy can afford it. (I'm just guessing and assuming) :O

Funny you mention that. I was joking with my wife that he must have thought I was loaded to land an Asian wife and figured he could take me for a ride

 

[irvinehomeowner]

I'm going to call out both Venetian and Hardwood Depot and compare notes with qwerchete.

(I should hide all my TVs first)

 

[qwerty]

I'm going to call out both Venetian and Hardwood Depot and compare notes with qwerchete.

(I should hide all my TVs first)

Yeah let me know. I have all the info saved in excel.

 

[lnc]

@ eye phone - I don't disagree but I don't think most people here on TI that used Venetian paid almost $7/sq ft for labor install.

1. It's either he recently raised his prices.
2. When the contractor saw your house he was like this is a big house with a big tv and nice furniture, he must be related to Derek Jeter. I'm going to charge more per sq foot, this guy can afford it. (I'm just guessing and assuming) :O

I think qwerty's resemblance to someone might have something to do with it.

 

[ZeroLot]

I know a friend that went with Hardwood Depot, their prices are better than Venetian but they also take twice as long to install.  If time constraints is a factor ... It's hard to beat Venetian.

 

[notTHEoc]

My sq footage was pretty close to a fellow TI member who used Venetian and my install per sq ft was 60% higher so the glue variance would not apply here.

Not sure why your overall quote is so much higher, but surprised the price delta between demo/no-demo is only ~$2.00/sqf. I think the cheaper, solo handymen charge $2.00/sqf for tile demo. But the larger guys charge more like ~$4.00/sqf for tile demo so they can make a profit on the demo work as well. Were both quotes given to you simultaneously or you get the quote including demo first? If it's the latter, maybe the demo work was marked up there but then not appropriately discounted later.

 

[ZeroLot]

My sq footage was pretty close to a fellow TI member who used Venetian and my install per sq ft was 60% higher so the glue variance would not apply here.

Not sure why your overall quote is so much higher, but surprised the price delta between demo/no-demo is only ~$2.00/sqf. I think the cheaper, solo handymen charge $2.00/sqf for tile demo. But the larger guys charge more like ~$4.00/sqf for tile demo so they can make a profit on the demo work as well. Were both quotes given to you simultaneously or you get the quote including demo first? If it's the latter, maybe the demo work was marked up there but then not appropriately discounted later.

You can always negotiate the final price.  I did with Venetian and got a second quote which I really really liked.

 

[qwerty]

I know a friend that went with Hardwood Depot, their prices are better than Venetian but they also take twice as long to install.  If time constraints is a factor ... It's hard to beat Venetian.

venetian quote 1.5 days with no demo and 3.5 with demo. hardwood flooring depot quoted 3.5 days including demo. so no variance there. hardwood depot said they could do the tile demo in 1 day.

 

[qwerty]

My sq footage was pretty close to a fellow TI member who used Venetian and my install per sq ft was 60% higher so the glue variance would not apply here.

Not sure why your overall quote is so much higher, but surprised the price delta between demo/no-demo is only ~$2.00/sqf. I think the cheaper, solo handymen charge $2.00/sqf for tile demo. But the larger guys charge more like ~$4.00/sqf for tile demo so they can make a profit on the demo work as well. Were both quotes given to you simultaneously or you get the quote including demo first? If it's the latter, maybe the demo work was marked up there but then not appropriately discounted later.

venetian gave me both demo and no demo quotes at the same time.  they were charging about $2 per sq ft for demo while hardwood flooring depot was charging $1 per sq ft for demo.

 

[ps99472]

Why bother with flooring?  Just buy a new StanPac when it becomes available.  Leave the reno to the 99%ers

 

[irvinehomeowner]

My sq footage was pretty close to a fellow TI member

Hah.

 

[qwerty]

Why bother with flooring?  Just buy a new StanPac when it becomes available.  Leave the reno to the 99%ers

Yeah we are thinking about that as well but the pricing and floor plans aren't out yet.

 

[liyangx]

what brand of floor you used, what brand of Glue they used. Did they list them in your contract?

@jrscgsr:

Thanks for the review.

So you decided to put wood in your kitchen area, was there any concern about moisture or dropping pots/pans on it?

Yes, we definitely had these concerns.  We were told by all 3 companies that as long as we were quick to wipe up spills that it shouldn't be a problem with normal everyday use.  Of course large leaks from dishwashers/refrigerators will become a problem if they occur.  With the layout of our great room/kitchen, we couldn't find a good transition point to put a different material into the kitchen area and still look good to our eyes.  The original flooring had the transition point aligned with the wall of the hallway (from carpet to tile), and we thought it would look strange to go from wood->tile at this spot since the kitchen flows straight into a breakfast nook area and then to the great room.  In all the models they had the same flooring throughout the first floor, so we couldn't picture if it would look any good.  Hopefully we don't run into any problems and the future kids don't ruin the floors!!

 

[ZeroLot]

I know a friend that went with Hardwood Depot, their prices are better than Venetian but they also take twice as long to install.  If time constraints is a factor ... It's hard to beat Venetian.

venetian quote 1.5 days with no demo and 3.5 with demo. hardwood flooring depot quoted 3.5 days including demo. so no variance there. hardwood depot said they could do the tile demo in 1 day.

Wow!  3.5 days with demo.  That's a long time with Venetian.  You must have a lot of tiles in your house??

 

[qwerty]

I know a friend that went with Hardwood Depot, their prices are better than Venetian but they also take twice as long to install.  If time constraints is a factor ... It's hard to beat Venetian.

venetian quote 1.5 days with no demo and 3.5 with demo. hardwood flooring depot quoted 3.5 days including demo. so no variance there. hardwood depot said they could do the tile demo in 1 day.

Wow!  3.5 days with demo.  That's a long time with Venetian.  You must have a lot of tiles in your house??

Yeah with Venetian the demo was going to take longer than the install. The whole first floor is tile except the downstairs bedroom is carpet.

 

[liyangx]

Hello TI'ers,

I just wanted to take a quick poll on which flooring contractors in the Irvine area you guys would recommend to use once you close escrow on a new home.

I have an appointment scheduled with Venetian Flooring and based on all the positive feedback I have not tried asking anyone else for a quote just yet.

Has anyone had Venetian Flooring install wood floors recently? Just wanted to see if their craftsmanship has held up.

What kind of quotes and how much sq/ft did your projects have?

Also does anyone know of stores in OC they would recommend buying wood flooring from? I want to shop a quote I got from State College Distributors around and see what competitive pricing I can get.

Thanks to all those here who are always so helpful.

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