Is this a ripoff for hardwood floor work?

Question

If someone agreed to "refinish hardwood floor" as part of the scope of work in a contract, and the work they performed was to simply vacuum the floor and then use a mop to apply what looks to be either a brown paint or solid stain, should I feel cheated.  The cost in the original estimate was $1250.00 for 450 feet.

Darius Ogloza · Answer

You should.

Jon Gregory · Answer

In my opinion “refinishing” a hardwood floor means you sand it down to the bare wood (remove all old finish), and then apply coats of polyurethane to “refinish” the floor. There is a different service that can be done that we call a “buff and coat”, where the existing top coat is lightly sanded and a new coat of polyurethane is applied after. This is a much cheaper service ($1-$1.50 sqft). I’m not experienced with the legalities of the terms but I would check with the National Wood Flooring Association, they are the industry trade group that produces technical manuals/standards for our industry.

Jon Gregory · Answer

Hardwood floor refinisher here. I agree with Marian that it’s a bad idea to use that type of product on a floor. It’s better to use on lighter trafficked surfaces like a cabinet or something. I’ve seen lots of short cuts and tried them all through the years and that is something I would never do again. (Use colored top coats on a floor)

Marian Smith · Answer

@Curt Bixel  Minwax has or had a product that was like their polyshades, so a colored topcoat but it doesn't penetrate, didn't appear to, so it wears off in traffic areas.  My brother used it on his floors.  Bad idea.  The container said it was recommended by Bruce or some big name.  The industry standard for refinishing, I would think, would be to sand, stain, topcoat.  I believe that Minwax product was intended to recoat the original finish...like a screen and topcoat...colored to camouflage scratches and even out the irregularities but match the original floor so if it wears off it isn't noticeable.  Your guy took a shortcut.  I would think the term "refinish" can be defined and you got a "refurbish," which is different.

Jimmy Chao · Answer

The cost of labor for sanding and staining is the major variable when figuring the average cost of wood floor refinishing, because the price of skilled labor varies throughout by ZIP code.

Kyle J. · Answer

@Curt Bixel Every common definition of “refinishing” hardwood floors I’ve ever seen includes sanding them.

Someone who simply vacuumed the floors and then mopped some paint on them did not “refinish” them. They can argue they re-coated them, or re-painted them, or whatever hack term they want to use, but they did not “refinish” them.

I’d tell the subcontractor that did the work, or the Project Manager that hired them in the first place, that you want them re-done properly. (Hopefully you didn’t already pay them.)

Dutch Langley · Answer

I have floors "refinished" all the time.  Sand, coat and 3 coats of stain or poly with buffing in between.  I pay about $2 a square foot for that.

Colleen F. · Answer

That's not a real refinish.  The scope for a floor refinish you have to specify but that doesn't seem like they did even a minimum especially if you said replace the wood in the corner and they didn't.

Recently we did a repair for a partly damaged floor. They cut out the bad part, replace the boards, stain to match the rest of floor.  They sanded the new wood, did a light sand on the rest of the floor and recoated it all with poly.   For a refinish job they sand all the finish off and recoat as specified usually with 3 coats of oil based polyurethane.  If they were changing the color the minimum they should have asked you if the color/ finish was okay.

Wayne Brooks · Answer

“.....when/where applicable”.

Is this a ripoff for hardwood floor work?

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