Higgins Floors

I just bought a house and am in the process of doing a significant amount or work on it. I’m at Home Depot so often I might as well get a goddamn job there. About 40% of my day is calling and emailing plumbers, painters, whatever. So, I think I have a pretty decent frame of reference.
Gareth Higgins is a fucking rockstar. If he showed up on my front door with a dead body, I would help him bury it. I’m going to name my first born Gareth. It’s a girl? Ask me if I give a fuck.
Gareth has done two floors and a stairway for us (we’re doing some work in pieces). We’ll probably have spent 12K when all is said and done. He’s always quick to return phone calls and emails, very communicative, and extremely professional. He and his guys do good work.
Would absolutely recommend.

I did not get good results from Gareth and his team.
Up front, he was very efficient and easy to deal with. His visit, cost estimate, email communication, and scheduling was all great. The crew showed up on time. They finished the job efficiently and cleaned up. Hence, 2 stars rather than 1.
The finished project is the problem, as well as Gareth’s handling it when I addressed my dissatisfaction. I asked him to sand and refinish my front steps. When you come in the front door, they are the first thing you see, leading up into the living room. Over the years, they had become stained and pitted from tracking in snow, salt, etc. from outside. I thought since he was coming to do some other floor repairs, I would have him spiff up the front steps. When Gareth finished, they were a completely different color from the rest of the house AND how they had started off. Now they appear more like a light natural pine rather than their former medium golden oak. They run right up to the adjacent floors, which are medium golden oak throughout the entire house. Gareth informed me that the floors had darkened over time and he restored the stairs to their natural wood color. I told him that naturally I would want them to match the adjoining floors, as well as remain the color that they were before. He merely stated that we had a contract for him to «refinish» the stairs, which he had done, and offered to return to stain the stairs to match AND charge me again! Now why would I not want my stairs to match their original color? This is a professional’s job to inform me up front if their work is going to radically change the original look of the product, rather than deal with a dissatisfied customer after.
I feel that Gareth’s company has some large commercial contracts and he wanted to get in and out of my home as quickly as possible. Prior to posting this negative review, I attempted to address my concerns with him directly through phone calls and multiple emails. I gave him a chance to remedy the situation and told him not to cash my check with this unresolved. However, he cashed the entire check (repairs and stairs) and did nothing to resolve the matter except continue to repeat that we had a contract and I could pay him if I wanted more work done.

Gareth screened our hardwood floors; he was communicative, clean and did the job on time. We found him to be reasonably priced and professional. I would have no problem recommending him to others.

Gareth and his team did a terrific job refinishing the floors in my new condo. Here’s what I liked most about his service:
— He spent time with me on the phone before giving a quote walking me through the process. As a first-​time homebuyer, I found those detailed explanations helpful and unique.
— He emailed every day to update me on where we were in the process.
— He was on time to every appointment we made, and the work was done on schedule.
— The floors look absolutely amazing – he really brought out the natural beauty of the wood.
My only complaint would be that the work left some stray marks on the baseboards and window sills. Gareth had warned me ahead of this, though, and other people I’ve talked to have said it’s unavoidable, so I really shouldn’t complain.