In Sept I contacted Chris with Elite Concrete Solutions to get a quote on staining our concrete floors. I e-mailed picture samples (English Red) of the color we wanted as well as all measurements of the rooms to be done, approximately 1000 sq ft.
He contacted me back and gave me a price quote of $4.00 per sq ft on existing concrete or $5.00 per sq ft with overlay. Said they would need to do an overlay if there were lots of chemicals and stains on the existing concrete.
He and his workers came out the day scheduled to do the project. He then examined the concrete and said it looked good. It did have some dents and small cracks which I liked and didn't want repaired if they weren't necessary. I again showed him picture samples of other floors with the color we wanted, he stated that they would have no problem getting that color. The quote was for $4000. I gave him $2000 and was to give him the remaining $2000 when job was completed.
They began ripping up the carpet so the kids and I went to our hotel room. The next day I stopped by the house to check out the floors and they had taped off everything and it looked as though they were preparing to apply the stain. I came back the next day and they had indeed applied the first coat of stain. When looking at the stain on the floor it did not appear to be the right color. There was no red in it. It looked chocolate brown. I told the worker that the color was not right, that it was too dark and there was no red in it. He said, "no red" and when we apply the 2nd coat it will be even darker.
I called Chris and explained the situation. He said, "it was ok... That there would be red in it and to let the workers apply the 2nd coat." I explained that that even his worker said "no red" and that it would be even darker with the 2nd coat. Again, he reassured me that there would be red in it and to tell them to go ahead. I told the worker what he said and I left.
I came out the next day, and sure enough, as the worker had said, it was very dark (Tootsie Roll brown) and there was no red! I called Chris again and explained that the color was not right. He spoke with his worker and he even told him it had no red in it. He said we could strip it and redo it, but I explained I was not going to pay for another week at a hotel and storage and such. He then told me he would pay for our hotel expense. I told him I would need to speak to my husband.
My husband who was out of town working on hurricane Ike damage called and came to the agreement that we would not have to pay the second $2000 due to the color being wrong.
A week later I rec'd an e-mail and/or text message saying that Jacob would be coming out to collect $1000. I responded that we do not owe them anything. Chris called me and stated that he and my husband agreed on $1000 off and that had left a balance due of $1000. We argued back and forth through e-mails and text messages for some time. He threatened to take us to court and said we'll see you there.
We had spent $625 for movers to move all of our furniture out and store it. This price also included moving the furniture back in when floors were finished. We were to stay in a hotel for the week while the floors where being redone. This ended up costing another $600 or so.
About a month and a half later, our floors started scratching and peeling off. I was furious! I contacted other contractors and had a couple come out and take a look at the floors. The told me that it would be pretty expensive to redo the stain as they would have to strip the floors and restain them. Not to mention another $1200-1700 out of pocket to pay movers, storage and hotel stay. That it would take more days than before as well. Still furious, I sent Chris a e-mail stating that if he did not rectify the problem with my floors with in 30 days we would be filing a suit against him and his company.
For the first time Chris wanted to come and see the floors. He had never been out to our home other than the 1st day to get the $2000 initial payment. When he came out he looked at where the floors were scratching and peeling off and said it was from our big dog. These scratches were all the way down to the concrete. I reminded him that he told me that these floors would be very durable. He said he didn't know we would have our big dog on the floors. He asked me what I wanted him to do... I told him we wanted our $2000 back as we were going to have to have them redone. He asked if he could have until the morning to think about it. I agreed.
I called Chris the next day because I had not heard from him yet. He said he would pay us back but did not have the money at the time because business was slow. This was 12/05/08. I agreed he could pay us $2000 by the end of December. The end of the month came and he had excuse after excuse. Finally he said he did not feel like he should have to pay it. So he refused and said take me to court. Over the next several weeks we tried to settle this issue with Chris. Offering several different agreements but he still refused. I said ok and filed suit! The JP's office said it could take up to 6 months before a court date is even set.
I rec'd a form from the JP's office needing my signature. I mailed it back in and then called a few days later to check the status of the suit. They told me they would be serving them any day. I thought to myself... I will off to settle one more time. I texted Chris and said we would still be willing to settle for the $2000 and he agreed. I told him he could pay me $1000 on the Feb 27th and $1000 on March 13th.
When I called him originally for the quote I explained how we were foster parents and had several children and pets and that we were looking for the best way to go and found that staining the concrete looked to be the best way. He agreed. I also explained that we had other contractors that had been out to look at the work they had done. And that one had stained his own floors and has a big German Shepherd who has never put a scratch on his floor.
Now I have found that we are limited to what we can do to our floors due to the stain in regards to redoing it or putting something over it. Apparently, you can not put glue on the stain to hold down tile or hardwood. I am very upset with my floors and how we had to threaten to file a law suit in order to get the contractor to refund our money. We are still out $1200 and will have to pay that and more to have the floors restained.
Today is March 13th and we just have cashed the final payment from Chris and are thrilled to be done with Elite Concrete Solutions, now doing business as Texas Elite Concrete Solutions.
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