Complaint Review: Smoothcrete - Mitchell Ontario

On Thursday December 17, 2009 my husband and I met Steve Nicholson at a home we were having built to give us some ideas and a quote on staining our concrete slab.  

That afternoon I emailed  a layout of my floor, a couple of pictures I had downloaded from the internet, the colours I was interested in, and a basic description of what we wanted.

On December 21, 2009 smoothcrete emailed back our price to do our floor and a start time of whenever we wanted.  The first week of January Steve conctacted us to set up a time and told my husband that he was  working on some colour samples for us to look at.  I emailed Steve back to do the colour samples in an ebony colour in three different shades, light to darker.  Steve emailed back saying I will make up some today.   I never did see those samples.  Instead the day the job started,  January 18, 2010 Steve had a sample board of colours he had used in the past.  No big deal since I seen some colours I liked and decided not to push the issue. We did change our minds on the design from a 2x 2 tile to a larger tile with borders he had no issues with that as he had said a little bit more work but no problem.   On more then one occasion Steve had said that I could change my mind on design right up to the last minute.  The first colour that was started with was nothing like the colour sample I had chosen.  I waited until the second day of staining to say anything because I thought maybe it was a two stage process and after all he was  the expert.  When we started questioning the stain job he got very defensive, claiming that we were insulting his work and it was not finished yet.  When he was questioned on the colours his statement was that it was not the first time he had this argument and the stains are never the same on the floor as they are on the samples.  If there is such a variation from floor to floor whats the point to colour samples?  He assured us he would fix the floor the way we wanted it but could do nothing about the colours.  We said okay we will have to live with the colours and he would adjust all areas on the floor that needed to be fixed.  On the fourth day Thursday he finished up around 7:00pm and was paid for his services with a small amount held back that would be paid when he would fix up any mistakes and to give the floor a final polish and seal. 

Friday morning we went to turn some lights off that were left on but the floor was still very wet so we were unable to do so and get a good look at our sexy floor as he called it. We also found out on Friday morning that he drove two hours out of his way to certify my cheque at my bank. 

Saturday came and we got to have a good look at our floor.  What a disaster.  The colour is off, patchy, uneven, the pattern is out of square and the sealant had bubbled, honey comb/crackel over 50% of the floor.  We called him on Saturday to let him know what happened with the floor, and he told us not to worry and to go ahead and finish the trim and he would be back to fix things.  After everything that had happened with him over the course of the week and then to certify our cheque we did not have a good feeling that he ever be back to fix things. 

We started to do some technical research and did not like the things we were finding out.  We were in contact with the concrete network, Brickform (the manufacturer of the acrylic stain that was used), concrete suppliers and other concrete contractors.  Not one person we have contacted agrees with how our floor was stained and sealed.  I had not given his  name to anyone other than an employee of Brickform who agreed to call Steve for me to discuss how the stain on my floor was applied. 

On Friday February 12, 2010 Steve did came back to my house to see what you could do to fix the floor.  And he told me the only reason he was there was out of good faith, I am sorry it was out my good faith that I allowed him to come back to see if he could and would fix the countless mistakes that were made.  He did not like the fact that I was challenged him on his workmanship and that he did not apply the stains according to manufacturers guidelines.  He told me I need to do my due diligence to find out how to stain a concrete floor.  I believe I did that but a little too late.  I have made numerous phone calls, emails, letters and faxes to try and get smoothcrete to fix the problem or give me my money back but he has not interest in doing so because he knows he can continue to get away with what he is doing.

I ended up with a floor that was a  complete mess and could not even have ceramic tile laid overtop because of the sealant that had been applied to my floor.  My orginal concrete contractor could not belive what was done to my floor, he could not even do an overpour because he was afraid it would make things worse.  I had other concrete people come and look at my floor and their coments were awfull most of them said it was probally one of the worst jobs they had ever seen.   It cost me thousands of dollars to strip the floor and to have it sanded so I could at least put another type of flooring down. I could not restain the floor without spending even more money to bring it back to a state that the floor could be re-stained.  I ended up putting a tile over the floor which looks wonderfull but I am out a pile of money and my time and the delay of the home. 

Since I have started researching I have since found I am not the first person Smoothcrete has done unproffesional work for.  I am planning on sueing the contractor for the cost of getting the stain removed and the cost of the new floor.  I cannot use any regular consumer groups to report the fraudulant behaviour of Smoothcrete because this home is a rental property and it is owned by a company not an individual.  At the end of the day this contractor needs to be stopped from ripping inocent people off.