It happened again. I have a customer who hired a contractor who didn't bother to tell them the correct order of operations. It pays to have a good and honest contractor who will not only do a good job, but will also tell you the optimal order to do things so that you don't waste money.
On Monday, I met with a nice homeowner who wants to refinish and repair their hardwood floors in Westchester. We often repair small sections of hardwood before we sand the floors. Normally, this work is straightforward. We weave in new hardwood and refinish and the floors look seamless.
But, in this case, unfortunately for the homeowner, the previous contractor did the work in the wrong order. He removed the old metal door casings (which is fine) and then put in new wood casings. Not only did he neglect to fix gaps in the wood floor, but he built the door casings all the way down to the subfloor...and below the hardwood.
The smarter way to do this would have been to weave in new hardwood and then place the door casings on top and then paint. The hardwood needs to go underneath the door jambs (not up to the door jambs). Now, the good news for this homeowner is that I have a contractor that can help him. He has a tool that will cut the door casings, he can then weave in the hardwood and then he will need to repaint.
It just breaks my heart that my customer is now going to have to pay more for this work, and it was completely avoidable if it was done correctly the first time
I see mistakes like this happen too often - the customer doesn't know the right order of things and the contractor never bothers to tell them. I don't know why this is. I don't know if the contractor is just trying to sell their job and make a buck, or if the contractor doesn't think ahead. A responsible contractor will inform their customer about this and ultimately save the customer money (and garner their respect).
I just advised a customer to hold off on a carpet runner project because she wants to sand and stain her hardwood floors...and that means the steps need to be stained before the carpet goes on top. I happened to meet with this customer yesterday, and she is thrilled that she avoided this big mistake.
I've seen counttless mistakes with customers who have done kitchens in the wrong order as well as the combo of painting and flooring. See Is it better to paint or do the floors first? So, it pays to get the right contractor, and it pays to ask the right questions so you avoid double rework.
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