Lumber Liquidators

Last fall my husband and I chose Lumber Liquidators when we decided to replace our home’s existing thin plank light oak hardwood with a wide plank medium-​dark hand-​scraped bamboo. We’re talking quite a bit of square footage – the entire main floor with the exception of the foyer area and a powder room. Costs associated with our job ended up being split about ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ between materials and installation labor. We saved nearly $ 3,000 by doing the old hardwood demolition ourselves, which was no simple feat but totally worth it.
The odd thing about working with LL is that you pay them, but LL employees don’t do the labor; they sub-​contract. The sub-​contractor on our job was N&M Floors out of Kent, OH, and though our experience with N&M didn’t get off to the best start – the gentleman who did the consultation was kind of a jerk and nearly impossible to get hold of after our initial meeting – we were really pleased with the efficiency and quality of work that N&M ultimately delivered. After we paid LL and before the work started, we had to escalate to LL on several occasions when we could repeatedly not get hold of the gentleman at N&M to answer our questions and to confirm the job dates. All of our experiences at LL – probably about a dozen trips to the retail location over a span of about 6 months – involved interactions with essentially 2 employees. Some of our less positive experiences with LL occurred when I escalated N&M’s unresponsiveness to LL to explain «Hey, this puts us in a really awkward position. We paid you a while ago, and the guy at your contracted company is not even returning calls.» I’m a Project Manager for a living, and given the situation I felt I had no choice but to go into full-​fledged PM mode. It got the job done.
Some notes and advice from our experience:
* You have to pick up your own supplies from LL, and depending on the size of your job that may entail literally tons of boxed hardwood.
* The above combined with the fact that LL does not have late hours is unfortunate. If you work a lot and/​or have limited flexibility, then you may have to get creative when it comes to picking up your supplies. This could mean, for example, renting a van or borrowing a pick-​up truck (thank you, Daddy), taking PTO to make multiple trips to/​from LL, etc. The men we worked with at LL were always very clear that they close promptly each evening.
* If you have your mind set on a specific LL hardwood product and particularly if that hardwood is a good seller, then be aware that the harvest and therefore the look of the hardwood may drastically change during your transaction. Our honey strand bamboo changed 3 times between spring and fall last year, and LL didn’t bother to remove the outdated sample from the floor display, even after we reminded them more than once – very misleading.
* LL paperwork/​invoices seemed a little shady. At times the line items and units didn’t make sense, and the more questions we asked the more we discovered hidden costs and things that felt deliberately misleading. Ask questions.
* LL does not install sub-​floor, if you require one. In our case LL recommended the sub-​contractor for the sub-​floor, so we got separate paperwork from N&M Floors and paid N&M directly for the sub-​floor.
LL has not had the best press, as you might know. When we purchased our home last summer we knew we’d be putting a lot of money (mostly out-​of-​pocket) into renovations within 6 months of move-​in, and frankly LL has a solid product and the right price. We took advantage of the company’s tarnished reputation and Manager Specials galore and paid a great price for a durable and attractive bamboo.
Some bumps in the road, but we do love our floors. I recommend LL if you’re OK with potentially having to step in to somewhat aggressively manage your job should LL and/​or the sub-​contractor be less than cooperative.