burned by a contractor

[MTK]

So the wife and I are moving into a new house soon and we're doing some major remodeling in the new place.

New hardwood floors throughout the main living area and in the master bedroom, a brand new kitchen, new carpets in the guest bedrooms, new paint, etc.

We hired a guy to do the floors and carpets, and he also did some painting in 2 of the bedrooms, and he scrapped our popcorn ceilings. This guy came recommended from a neighbor, and we checked his work there and everything seemed fine.

We haven't been too happy with this floor guy so far but the crap really hit the fan tonight. Up until now his work wasn't horrible necessarily, but he just kept missing deadlines and was hard to get in touch with sometimes. So we stopped in to check out the floors tonight and they looked horrible, just pathetic. I swear a monkey could have done a better job. Blotches everywhere. Obviously he did a piss poor job with the sanding and every blemish is showing, big time.

So we're into this project pretty deep and I could just throw up after seeing the total amateur job he did with the hardwoods. Luckily, the contractor we have doing the kitchen remodel is a real professional and a great guy, I only wish we would have just hired him to do the whole house. He's calling his guy that does floors to come out and see if he can salvage the damage that's already been done. Best case he can sand them properly and stain them again, worst case we might have to rip up the floors and start over.

We feel like we've been kicked in the gut. We're just thankful the contractor who is doing the kitchen is a real pro who can help us out. Hell, he even flat out old told the floor guy he did a shit job right to his face!

I guess the lesson here is to really do your homework when hiring a contractor for a major job, and get more than just a neighbor's recommendation. I think this contractor was just a small time guy who bit off more than he could chew, and unfortunately we're the ones that have to deal with cleaning up his mess.