It's unofficial - Lowes sucks.
Back to my flooring project. A guy from Lowes stopped by this week to do measurement. Mind ya, I had to shell out $30 for Lowes to do an estimate. The guy looked nervous and went ahead and measured rooms without confirming with me. Yes, the rooms he did were correct, though. I did not tell him that I wanted the front door entry to be a bit wider.
Know what he did? He went to the kitchen, and measured 1 wall and its adjunct wall, and tada it was like 12 x 5. Um. There are an oven, a refrigerator, and a dishwasher that will need tiling too but he measured just the room itself, wall to wall. He did not discount the cabinets which take up maybe 15% of the room. Idiot. He did the same thing with the hallway and bathroom. The cabinets occupy 30% of the room. I was suspicious. Contractors will determine the cost by multiplying labor by the square feet. I am not going to pay for labor on areas that would not have tiling. I asked him how many square feet did he get. He said 252. I was like hell no. I told him I came up with 152 sq ft myself.
Doh. He did re-calculating and came up with 222 sq ft. Again, I mentioned the cabinets and such. He said that generally there tend to be 10 to 20% waste included. Ummm ok.
Guess what was their estimate? $2589.66. And that does not include the tiles, trim molding and grout. So that would end close to $3000. And I got this sloppy measurement which I PAID.
Screw Lowes.
The Home Depot guy came over yesterday morning. First thing when I opened the door, he greeted me by signing "Home", and spelling "Depot". I was instantly impressed. He looked cute - dorky cute type. Shaggy hair, dark and curly. He was very through and asked me which rooms, and asked me if I wanted it to be wider or narrower. I was pleased. He had this electronic "laptop" which he wrote on to communicate with me, and to put down information on measurement and others. He asked me if the refrigerator had an ice maker. Notice: Lowes did not ask that. I said no. (Yes it does but it is not hooked up. If it is, it means more money to move). He took his time, measuring every inch and inch, writing on his "laptop". (Lowes took just 10 minutes). Then he showed me his diagram of my flooring. Wow. I was stunned. It was very exact, down to the doors, nooks, and such. He had me to sign it, confirming it was correct. That is it. I am impressed. The Lowes guy just wrote down on his paper, the numbers and a sloppy diagram. Home Depot has far more advanced technology and the guy that came out was very polite and accurate.
Home Depot rocks. Maybe it won't rock when I find out the quote from them on Monday...eeps.
A local contractor (who signs) will come out this Thursday to do an estimate. I heard many positive remarks about him, although I heard one con - he was a little expensive. Let's see.
Know what he did? He went to the kitchen, and measured 1 wall and its adjunct wall, and tada it was like 12 x 5. Um. There are an oven, a refrigerator, and a dishwasher that will need tiling too but he measured just the room itself, wall to wall. He did not discount the cabinets which take up maybe 15% of the room. Idiot. He did the same thing with the hallway and bathroom. The cabinets occupy 30% of the room. I was suspicious. Contractors will determine the cost by multiplying labor by the square feet. I am not going to pay for labor on areas that would not have tiling. I asked him how many square feet did he get. He said 252. I was like hell no. I told him I came up with 152 sq ft myself.
Doh. He did re-calculating and came up with 222 sq ft. Again, I mentioned the cabinets and such. He said that generally there tend to be 10 to 20% waste included. Ummm ok.
Guess what was their estimate? $2589.66. And that does not include the tiles, trim molding and grout. So that would end close to $3000. And I got this sloppy measurement which I PAID.
Screw Lowes.
The Home Depot guy came over yesterday morning. First thing when I opened the door, he greeted me by signing "Home", and spelling "Depot". I was instantly impressed. He looked cute - dorky cute type. Shaggy hair, dark and curly. He was very through and asked me which rooms, and asked me if I wanted it to be wider or narrower. I was pleased. He had this electronic "laptop" which he wrote on to communicate with me, and to put down information on measurement and others. He asked me if the refrigerator had an ice maker. Notice: Lowes did not ask that. I said no. (Yes it does but it is not hooked up. If it is, it means more money to move). He took his time, measuring every inch and inch, writing on his "laptop". (Lowes took just 10 minutes). Then he showed me his diagram of my flooring. Wow. I was stunned. It was very exact, down to the doors, nooks, and such. He had me to sign it, confirming it was correct. That is it. I am impressed. The Lowes guy just wrote down on his paper, the numbers and a sloppy diagram. Home Depot has far more advanced technology and the guy that came out was very polite and accurate.
Home Depot rocks. Maybe it won't rock when I find out the quote from them on Monday...eeps.
A local contractor (who signs) will come out this Thursday to do an estimate. I heard many positive remarks about him, although I heard one con - he was a little expensive. Let's see.
posted by Pamela at
11:52 AM
4 Comments:
Next time, don't ever shell out a cent for an estimate..... They want your money, they gotta earn it......
Good job Pam. Ever think about hooking up the ice maker? I got mine hooked up and it was easier than I thought. It's so satisfying to hear the little ice tray fill up with water when the maker goes on. :)
Steve -
Well actually, Home Depot does charge for measurement, but they are having a special ending 3/31 for free measurements and 10% off floor installation
Matt -
Yeah I did think about hooking the ice maker, but eh, I never see a need for ice myself. I have a need for ice maybe once a year, which ice cube trays will be self-sufficient.
ok I have worked for both companies..... THD has the techie uppper hand but they lose on the fly.... you obviously use TDD from your comments made so THD would suit you well for techie know how..... however in the end I think if you gave Lowes the chance they deserve you might have been suprised,... as to pay for estimate heck YEA that weeds out the kickers from the buyers feet and hands down.... ALWAYS ALWAYS pay for a measure you know they are serious and the Company knows the clientis serious about the job.
I hope THD did a good job for you.
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