About a month ago, me and a guy I was training went to a residential where the homeowner and the husband were in Hawaii, and the person she told me to deal with was her mom. They had hardwood floors. So you know what happens next.
We normally dont move ANYTHING. We have them do it or it dont get done. Now the lady has us move her bed away from the window, and it gouges the floor with about a 10 inch long scratch. I let the lady know what we did (the mom) and she said that it matches the one she made right next to it and not to worry about it.
Now, I get a message on Thursday, that the homeowner wants me to take care of it. Wants to know how to proceed.
I would call a furniture repair specialist in your area. Those guys can do some serious work. My buddy scratched a few places on a hardwood floor in a new model one time and he hired this guy that repaired the floor flawlessly. The builder was totally amazed and now uses the same guy on all of his flooring scratches. A scratch on a floor is a walk in the park compared to furniture repair. Im im not mistaken, this furniture repair guy fixed 4 deep scratches for around $200.00. Better than ripping the floor up and starting over. Good luck Tory!
tough situation but there should be an easy fix, without it getting too costly…
a friend of mine who has a window tinting company told me a trick… never tried it but i thought i would share. put some joy on a window rag and rub it into the scratch until it blends the scratch with the rest of the floor. he said it works with a scratch not a gauge.
I have hardwood floors in the entire house. If it’s just a simple scratch go out to the home depot and buy a $5.00 stain marker that is as close a match to the color you can find. It won’t remove the scratch completely but it will hide it very very well. I use it all over my house and you would never know there are scratches on my floor unless you got on your hands and knees with a microscope. I would not contact a floor company just yet. They are prob going to tell you that the entire floor needs to redone in order to get the correct match etc.
Isn’t the level of repair up to the customer? There are too many variables for me to make a real decision or recommendation over the Interweb. I certainly wouldn’t recommend any floor repair company without knowing their work.
Then again, I’ve had builders ask me to use Murphy’s Oil or Endust during final CCU to minimize construction-phase scratches…
Yeah, we need to offer options and not feel ripped off.
By not addressing these issues quickly, or passing them off as the homeowners problem, you can quickly escalate the situation. The homeowner then has the mindset that they’re going to make you fix it, and then some.
If you address it quickly, bring somebody in to fix it, you’ll de-escalate the problem. They’ll realize that you’re concerned and you’re looking out for them.
I had a problem one time where my window cleaning solution pulled the stain right out of wood siding on a job. It was mainly along the framework, but it looked terrible. I stopped as soon as I knew what was happening, and alerted the homeowner. He was upset, and I could tell he wanted it fixed - and then some.
When I told him I had a wood and deck staining expert on his way, and that I would cover the cost to have it repaired, it took the wind right out of his sails. You could see the smoke stop coming out of his ears. He even went and got the leftover stain he had out of his garage. It was a simple fix that I could have done myself, but by having an expert come and do it, it showed that I wanted to go the extra mile.
I would also respond quickly and offer to take care of it. It’s just good business. And I also agree that allowing the customer to have it done “their way” is the best route to keep them satisfied so long as they are reasonable.
You’ll know if they’re reasonable almost instantaneously.
I know a guy who carries a set of scratch remover tubes made by Old English Furniture Polish on his truck. The set has three shades of brown in it.
I’ll through a folded huck towel under the feet when I need to move a piece of furniture. I have sliders but they take time to fetch. They hucks are right there with me, quick and easy.
Honestly I’m not sure anymore. It’s like watching Judge Judy. One day she makes a guy pay back his girl friend for a so called “Loan”. Next day she is yelling at the girl for giving a boy friend a loan. I think if he makes a reasonable effort to solve the problem he should be ok. Something like this would be pretty dam hard to prove in a court if he did not admit to doing it. How many times have you, me or anyone else for that matter walked into anyones home and looked for scratches on someones floor? I could see a floor guy being caught up in his/her field, looking over every floor. This lady should not be so freaked as long as he works with her. But then again we all know there are those people who will never be happy.
Of course you have to pay to fix the Gouge you caused in her floor. I find it mind boggling that you would even ask if you should pay for the damage YOU caused.
The very minute I saw wood floors I would have not touched the bed. Here is the problem…you can’t trust people and even if you didn’t do any damage, there are A LOT of people out there that will stick it to you if they can!
I did fix it. It cost 400 bucks, and the job was only 200, but I did fix it. Reason I asked, was because the lady put a gouge in the same spot when she moved the bed not long before I did, and she told me not to worry about it is all. Normally of course I would. But of course I did do it, and I did fix it.
now thats funny…whats up big Larry!!! How ya doin?
