Mclaughlin Flooring Installation Inc.

I had Rick to install my flooring in April, 2009. I saw his review on Homestars and thought he would be good contractor for my 2bedroom apartments in North York. I hired him to install engineered hardwood. As new homeowner, I do not have any knowledge of flooring installation, I only know which color of the floor and type I want. When I went to the store to pick up the sample (He works with Brampton hardwood flooring), I picked up the maple engineered hardwood flooring. He subcontracted out to two guys to do the job. Instead of estimated 3 day process, it was turned into 7 days.

After installation, I thought his subcontractors did a good job because it looked wonderful, but then in winter time comes, I saw a large gap between my bedroom and my living room. I had to call Rick to see if he can fix this, I called many times, no return of phone call at all. I gave up calling afterward because the floor gap closes during summer time. So I let that slip by.

Recently, I had a flood in the apartment, I had to fix about 100 square feet of damages. I called Rick again to see if he can fix my floor. He came by, measured it, and then I had to chase him about the estimate because he was not answering his email, text message and voicemail that I left for him. I was away from the country, and it is an state of emergency because now my apartment is a rental unit with tenants. They need to know how fast I can fix this.

When he finally picked up my phone call, he told me that he does not do email, or he has any time to reply text messages. His attitude was very rude over the phone. So then, it took him 1 week to give an estimate. The estimate only provided the price, but no details as how much wood cost per square feet, how many days to fix and if the wood I used 3 years ago still exist. The only thing he told me is this is a difficult repair because it was done through tongue-and-groove as all the pieces of wood are connected to each other. This was shocking to hear because when I first contracted this out to Rick, he told me it would be easy to remove and change pieces.

I had to call another contractor to see if I can get the quote faster, and I finally found one who is reliable and responsive. I went with this contractor instead of Rick. The new contractor opened up the floor and said the floor was poorly installed, and the underpad was also poorly installed. He also mentioned that because the method of the floor was installed, made it impossible to fix the floor just by area. The entire area has to be changed. He also made the call to Brampton hardwood to see if my old flooring still exist, they said it does not exist anymore. So I had to find new wood to replace my existing one.

This was an extremely stressful period for me and thanks to my new contractor that he has everything fixed in a time that he promised, and my new contractor was very transparent about the cost and the details.

Even till now, Rick has not replied his email about my question regarding to his quote. He does not do a follow up with the quote or provide any updates. His unprofessional-ism made me wonder why he got all those positive reviews on Homestar? And being responsive and keeping up with the update is who I need for this job.

This is 2012, Rick is still not using Email or Text message to communicate. I would definitely not recommend him for any floor installations. If anyone is interested the contractor that I have used, send me message so I can refer him to you.

Update: after I had written my review, Rick as someone who does not use Email immediately wrote me back stating that I had ruined his reputation. Instead of appologizing, he was even more rude in the email saying it was 'disgusting' to use another contractor. He did not do the floor in the first place and then claim that was his work. He hired two ametuer flooring installers to do my floor! And the floor was not installed properly either. Flooring installation is a business, I am just a client looking for someone to repair my floor. If he cannot deliver my expectation in the first place, why would i use him? I had a faith in him but he is very unresponsive. He mentioned that there was communication breakdown, but I had given him an alternate contact in the city for him to contact. He did not reply until I chased him. Oversea was not an issue, I maintained my availability for communications, and my new contractor did not have problem communicating with me either. Then again, I would not recommend him to anyone who is looking to install their floors.