UPDATE:HDB Interiors measured 1100sqft of flooring space, new installer has measured this and informed us we only have with waste 864sqft total including a powder room that wasn't included in measurements with Tony. See picture 2 for milky look to the floor, the cracks over 25% of the floor are not the only issue with this product.
We hired HDB Interiors to replace the flooring in our Condo in July 2008. What a huge mistake! Tony provided us with a written contract stating that the product he will be installing is $7.25/sqft but that it is “milled in Quebec and grown in Brazil not Indonesia”
In September 2008 Mr. Hellman informed us the day before installation that he did not have the wood we purchased but offered us Cumaru instead. He stated that this wood was a better product and the only difference was that it was a different species and size all other information remained the same. Furthermore he offered us a discount of $1,000 for the inconvenience because the wood was a smaller width than we originally wanted.
The wood was installed and everything was great – for 6 weeks…and then the problems started.
When we came back from a 4 week vacation and finally moved back into our condo a week later we noticed the wood was cracking in several areas (this was only 6 weeks after installation!). Mr. Hellman came in and inspected the wood and informed us he would need to speak with his supplier. At that time Mr. Hellman did not indicate verbally or in writing that the gas fireplace was the issue, if he had he would have known that the fireplace had not been used once since installation (we had only lived with this floor for a week at the time!!). Since Tony is a flooring “expert” he should also be able to tell us that pressure cracks due to lack of humidity do not appear within 6 weeks of installation as these did, these cracks more than likely happened due to the poor quality of the wood. Furthermore, Tony did not provide care instruction (neither written nor verbal) and the installer removed all the boxes off site. On September 23rd, 2008 I sent Mr. Hellman an email asking care instructions for the wood, Mr. Hellman never responded to that email.
We needed some additional wood for the kitchen, and our contractor contacted Mr. Hellman in November 2008 and requested to purchase 1 box of wood to repair some minor scratches in the kitchen. At that time Mr. Hellman offered to give our contractor 1 box (not 2) and indicated (it was probably a leftover box from our original install!). Our contractor replaced approximately 6-10 planks of wood in the kitchen (approx. 10sqft).
According to our written invoice we paid $7.25/sqft for the wood that was installed; this wood has never sold for more than $4.99/sqft. Tony sells Continental Designs wood milled in China for a minimum 45% mark-up as wood milled in Quebec. Neither he nor his supplier will offer written information about where the product is milled. In fact his supplier informed me when I called that “it is definitely not milled in Quebec or anywhere in Canada” but they stated they do not know where this wood is milled, however, we have written and verbal confirmation from several other suppliers that this wood comes from China.
Tony’s lack of professionalism shows in many ways. He sent us several mass emails asking for referrals (including all his customers names and email addresses on these emails, he refuses to deal with us directly, and he wrote a testimonial from us on his advertising material without even telling us. Tony even went as far as to create an account on homestars using my email address and posted a false review of himself from us (I have asked homestars to remove this but took screenshots for my record).
