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Review 10/3/2011
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September 26, 2011
Review of A&S Floor Covering
Summary:
My brother and I met with three different vendors including A&S Floor Covering, Sears, and a local vendor that I'll call "Company U". I also got a verbal quote from Costco. We had four primary criteria in choosing a vendor: quality of product, quality of installation, price, and schedule.
Surprisingly, we eliminated Costco right away, without even meeting them, due to price. They were not even in the ball park. We eliminated Sears after an in-home meeting, also due to price.
That left us with A&S vs. Company U. If neither of these companies met our needs, then we were prepared to meet with more vendors. But, there was no need. We chose A&S because, based on our criteria, they met all of our needs.
We are extremely happy with the results and highly recommend A&S Floor Covering.
Details:
My brother and I had just moved our mother to a senior assisted living home, and we were preparing her house to be rented out. We decided to explore replacing the carpeting to enhance the rental value. The existing carpeting was of very high quality, but it was over 15 years old and showed signs of wear and discoloration.
I started searching online for carpet vendors and eventually found a site called 1800contractor.com which redirected me to ServiceMagic.com. I received two referrals, one to A&S Floor Covering and the second to Sears. I also received a third referral from a property management company that we were considering.
I called A&S Floor Covering and spoke with a woman to schedule an in-home estimate. She asked if we were only considering carpet, or whether we might consider wood laminate. I replied that we might consider laminate if the price was right.
The day before our appointment, my brother and I went to visit the A&S showroom. They have a very nice selection of carpet, laminate, and tile. One of the things that I liked about the showroom is that it is very efficient and highly functional. Every bit of space is effectively used.
I have seen larger, more elaborate showrooms, but I'm always concerned about the overhead needed to maintain large showrooms as they usually equate to higher prices. Someone has to pay for those big, opulent showrooms. I'd rather spend my money on the actual product, not on subsidizing their marketing efforts.
At A&S, we met Serj and Max. They showed us a number of different carpet sample at different price points. We also asked about wood laminate and they showed us some samples. Serj said that, although they stock 8mm thick laminate, he tries to steer his customers to the thicker 12mm laminate because his customers' experience has been much better with the thicker product.
He also showed us two different grades of padding that are installed underneath the laminate. He showed us a 3mm foam padding with moisture shield and said that that is his standard. He also showed us a sample of flimsy blue padding that he said is the standard for most other vendors and said he doesn't even offer that because it is decidedly inferior.
(In contrast, Company U said that the flimsy blue padding was more than adequate for our needs. They did offer the thicker padding, but at additional cost.)
The next day, Serj and Max visited our home, took some measurements, made some recommendations and said that they would email me the price estimates.
We also had Company U visit us and went through a similar procedure. The sales manager gave us verbal quotes on his measurements and on both carpet and laminate.
Price quotes:
A&S emailed a quote to me, Company U gave me a verbal quote. At first glance, Company U's quote appeared to be lower, but their measurements of the rooms was lower. I went to visit Serj at A&S and spent over an hour with him on the details of the quote. He was very patient and after spending about an hour going over the numbers, I concluded that he had done a very thorough job on the quote. I could not find any errors or discrepancies. I also visited Company U to get the details behind the quote. Again, Company U would not give me a written quote.
One of the elements of the two quotes was "waste" or excess material. Serj explained that they needed to add about 10% more material (carpet or laminate) due to "puzzle-fitting". In order to tailor fit the floor covering to the rooms, they might have to use extra material. While it might be possible to use smaller pieces to fill in certain areas, the resulting "patch work" would not look as good as it would if they used larger pieces. Company U only allowed for about 4% waste which contributed to what had first appeared to be a lower quote.
After looking at the details, A&S's quote was actually lower than Company U's. Since the quote was the best that we had received, I did not try to haggle on the price. I signed a work order with A&S for the wood laminate and gave them a deposit.
Installation:
David Campos and his co-worker Esteban arrived on time and started removing the old carpet and installing the laminate. Their attention to detail was superb. It took them three days to install the laminate in the living room, dining room, family room, a small bedroom, and five stairs. Then, another day to add the base board and "transitions" – the wood trim used to cover the seams between the laminate and other material such as the kitchen tile.
The result was absolutely stunning. Our property manager said that the new floor should increase the rental value significantly.
Conclusions:
For us, this was a major expenditure and I was prepared to do whatever due diligence was necessary to ensure a good result. For anything above $1,000, I always get at least three competing price quotes and if none are satisfactory, I seek additional quotes. I also dissect the quotes so that I know exactly what all of the numbers represent. If a vendor simply gives me one number, I ask for the details so that I can understand how the total was derived. I check the California State Licensing Board web site to make sure that the business has an active license and is insured, and the Better Bureau web site for their rating. I check references when available.
A&S Floor Covering passed all of my tests with flying colors and our experience with A&S was first rate in every way. The quality of the product, quality of installation, pricing, and scheduling were all exceptional.
Addendum: My brother decided to re-carpet his home which is located a few minutes away and also chose A&S.
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