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clueless
Citizen
Username: Clueless
Post Number: 3
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Friday, August 1, 2003 - 11:37 pm: |     |
I have read alot of recommendations on Russo Flooring. Are the still in business? I looked them up in the yellow pages...nothing. I called the office number listed on MOL (973-481-6372) and got a computer/canned answering machine that did not say Russo flooring. I left a message.
I called the cell number listed in the forums (973-964-6624) it said number was out of service. A day later I got a call from someone about flooring, but did not ID as Russo flooring. Gave me a cell number that was not the cell number listed above.
Perhaps I am overly suspicious, but what is Russo's first name? Did someone just take over the business and relying on the previous reputation?
Also, any other recommendations for Flooring Sanding/Finishing? I want to do the entire house including stairs.
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1-2many
Citizen
Username: Wbg69
Post Number: 176
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, August 2, 2003 - 11:57 am: | |
The guy who runs Russo's first name is Claudio. The messages ARE canned. His cell number is 973-418-something (didn't write it down, but remember the prefix is a variant of his land line prefix), if that helps. his work is great. use him, if possible. |
Mr. Reingold
Citizen
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 325
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 4, 2003 - 6:04 pm: | |
Claudio's cell number is 973-418-2417.
Tom Reingold
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papayagirl
Citizen
Username: Papayagirl
Post Number: 103
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 12:16 pm: | |
We need our floors done as well, so i called Russo (at the main number, not cell) and left a message earlier in the week. I'd also intended to call Kean Flooring, which is a company my neighbor raved about, but never got around to it.
Yesterday, just as i was looking for Kean's number, they called me. It was spooky. They were unclear about how they heard i needed my floors done on the phone, but today when they came over to do the estimate, they said Russo gave them my number. Apparently, sometimes they "swap" business. Which explains why Russo never called me back.
Unfortunately, the person Kean sent over to do the estimating was a woman who owns her own cleaning business and has been doing estimating for Kean on the side for about a year. I'm not sure she correctly identified the type of wood in our floors, and she was puzzled when i suggested tearing up our severely dog-pee-stained floor in the dining room (which is what 3 other floor companies all recommended) if they could just lay a new floor on top of it. "You just step up into the dining room from the living room!"
So many times, i hear great things about contractors in real life and here on MOL, only to find a clueless salesperson come out who can't accurately represent what the company can probably do. It's too bad, because i can't in good concience ever hire companies like this. |
marken
Citizen
Username: Marken
Post Number: 33
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 18, 2003 - 2:14 pm: | |
papayagirl, et al --
if you're looking for a wood floor refinisher, see the fix-it thread "advice on sagging & squeaking wood floor"
There you'll find a summary of my highly favorable experience with Distinctive Flooring - 973-663-6979. I give them the highest recommendation. Feel free to PL me if you have any specific questions. |
papayagirl
Citizen
Username: Papayagirl
Post Number: 106
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Monday, August 18, 2003 - 4:32 pm: | |
Thanks marken. Distinctive Flooring gave me a quote a while back, and i haven't ruled them out. They were one of the companies that didn't send out a sales rep to do the estimating, which impressed me. The guy (Pete?) seemed very knowledgeable.
My husband swears by someone who did an amazing job on his parents' floors in Maplewood many years back. Unfortunately, his quote was way above what i got from DF and others, so I've got that issue to reconcile. I'm glad to hear another vote for DF. |
Dawn Botti
Citizen
Username: Slushpuppy
Post Number: 9
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2003 - 3:25 pm: | |
We used Russo Flooring too. They refinished our floors downstairs and did the stairs and upstairs hallway. They were great ! Just understand that the company is basically run by one young guy, Claudio. He's from Brazil and while his English is great, there is a tendancy for there to be miscommunications based on the language thing (For example, I notice that when he is reccomdending something he may phrase it in the form of a question instead of a reccomendation.) The cell number posted is the correct one. Their work is neat, quality and and prices are reasonable.
Good luck,
Dawn and Gary |
davidbuckley
Citizen
Username: Davidbuckley
Post Number: 117
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, August 30, 2003 - 1:58 pm: | |
Distinctive Flooring (Pete DiMarco and partner Brian) is a wonderful business.
They are honorable, straightforward businessmen who are also fine craftsmen.
They have done superb work for me twice and even went down to Seabright to work for my mom, even though it was out of their area.
PL me to discuss if you want.
Be well, all.
David Buckley
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clueless
Citizen
Username: Clueless
Post Number: 6
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Monday, September 8, 2003 - 12:59 pm: | |
I ended up using Russo Flooring and overall I was happy with their work. I did our whole house. The 3 Floors included an actual 1700 s.f. of hardwood floors and two stair cases. His price was reasonable, he did the closets withoutmeasuring them as part of the total square footage, and did not nickel and dime us to death. Here are my impressions based on this job:
POSITIVES:
*Very accomodating- Claudio did everything we asked and he seemed to put our satisfaction as a priority. We changed our minds several times between glossy and semi-gloss. As a result, the first coat was semi, the 2nd glossy, and the 3rd semi. When the job was done some of the rooms ended up with different gloss levels. He came back to make sure the gloss levels were all even and redid those that weren't. So we actually have 4 coats in 2 rooms. I can see other contractors charging us or even being upset that we couldn't make up our minds. We also changed our minds about some of the other minor repairs and he never seemed to be annoyed.
*Attention to detail- We had some repairs done to the floors. All three floors of the house used differents woods. When the repairs were done, I thought they looked good. Right before the poly was applied he called me and told me some of the repairs were done with the wrong wood. He ended up ripping the wrong sections and doing it again. I never noticed the wrong wood, but perhaps I may have once the poly was applied. Either way I appreciate him double checking the work of his crew.
*Very Hungry for business: Claudio will negotiate with you. As Dawn said he's a young guy with one crew. He did all the estimates himself and deals with you directly. He also will do what ever you want. He ripped up the carpet for so little money, we just decided not to do it ourselves. More impressive, he offered to do a lot of little things for me free of charge. (Putting in some quarter round molding only charging me materials)
Even after I paid him for the job, he said he would come by this week and help me repair some of the stairs that I was working on for free. I just need to buy the materials (not form him)! How many contractors would do that, especailly after finishing the job and geting paid?
DOWNSIDES:
*Scheduling: We were not in a rush since the house was empty, but the job was a few days late. However, after pulling up carpet there were repairs that were not anticipated and we added a 3rd coat of poly at a later date. If I were to push harder I think he would have finished on time, but quality was more important to me than completion date.
*Cleanliness of his crew- His crew was not as clean as we would have liked. They left cigarette butts outside (They picked them up after we told them that was not acceptable). They also left lot of fingerprints on my newly painted walls (Not a big deal for me, I have lots of touch-up paint.) He did offer to repaint some of the trim without me having to ask.
*Other annoyances- The crew drank all my gatorade in the fridge (he offered to replace the the bottles they drank). They were not as clean as I would like when using our bathrooms.
I told Claudio if I were to recommend him to my friends, his crew would need to mind their manners a little more. He actually thanked me for telling him and said he would talk to his crew about it. Whether they do, I'm not sure.
If you do hire him I would lay out the ground rules for cleanliness with him and address any of these issued with him.
OVERALL: I have and will continue to recommend him. Claudio is hungry for the business, very accomodating, detail oriented, and aims to please. If you are not happy with his work or anything, he seems to do what it takes to make you happy. Claudio put up with us changing our minds and never got upset. By the way, our floors look beautiful.
Papaygirl, perhaps you should give him another chance. Afterall, the person that came over was NOT really representing Russo FlooringTry calling his cell phone (973)418-2417
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