Contractors I've loved

Posted March 22, 2004

I decided to list the good contractors I've dealt with in this kitchen remodel, for the edification of other potential remodellers. Note that I've done almost all of the work on the kitchen myself, so this list is short only because I haven't interacted with contractors much, rather than having had bad experiences.

Reliable Floor Coverings of Edmonds, WA.

This is the firm that did my floors. I got the floor down to the old fir boards, and they removed the old boards, installed new oak, and sanded and finished it for slightly over $2400. The kitchen is about 180 square feet.

They did great work, the finished floor looks excellent. The people I dealt with, from the initial salesman who came out and did the bid, to the workers who actually removed and installed floorboards, were all very pleasant and nice to work with. The price was very good, particularly compared to installing linoleum or even good quality vinyl.

The only tiny problem I've had so far is that one floorboard wasn't set close enough to the wall, and a tiny gap pokes out underneath the trim at the back of the room. I can put in thicker trim to cover it, but I wish that board has been set further back.

But that's it. I have no other reason to complain about their work at all. Impressive.

Contour Stoneworks of Tacoma, WA.

Contour is the local contractor that does all the engineered stone countertops (like the quartz countertops I got), so it's actually kind of hard to avoid them. Fortunately, the work they did was excellent quality, and they were very nice to deal with. I ended up delaying their installation by several months, since I ordered the countertops in November, 2004, and didn't actually get the template done until the beginning of March, 2005.

Templating took about an hour and a half to finish, and the woman who did it was happy to chat with me as she worked, and explained what all she was doing. About two and a half weeks later, the scheduler called me to set up the installation. Installation took almost exactly 3 hours, and the installers were also very friendly and willing to explain what all they were doing.

The final product (Zodiaq in Argo Green) looks fabulous. The pieces all fit exactly right (kudos equally to the templater and the CNC mill operator). It was expensive, at just over $4000, but Corian, a leading alternative countertop material, would have cost just about as much (like, $3800 instead of $4000), and wouldn't have been anywhere near as durable, or looked as nice.

Created by Ian Johnston. Questions? Please mail me at reaper at obairlann dot net.