Questions to Ask a Toronto Flooring Contractor Before Hiring

The questions to ask a flooring contractor are about who does the work, what the price covers and who deals with your building. Ask who installs, when the price becomes firm, what removal and moving add, and who prepares the condo paperwork. In a Toronto condo, ask the paperwork question first, because a rejected floor costs most.

Who will actually install the floor?

Ask whether the people who quote are the people who install, and if not, who is. Many flooring companies use subcontracted installers. That is normal, but you want to know who is accountable on the day and who you call when something is off.

Listen for a name and a role rather than "the crew". At Floorrable, the installation is scheduled with your building and you deal with one point of contact from the estimate to the walk-through.

When does a flooring estimate become a firm price?

A firm price should come after someone has measured the rooms. A number from photos or a floor plan cannot see the subfloor, the glue under the old floor or the real wall lengths, so ask whether you are looking at a range or a firm price, and what turns one into the other.

Floorrable works in that order: an online range in about two minutes, then a free measurement that turns it into a firm price with waste and prep included. If a contractor quotes a firm price without seeing the floor, ask what happens when the measurement disagrees. The seven steps from estimate to walk-through show where each number comes from.

What does the price leave out?

Ask about each of these by name, because they are the lines most often priced separately:

• Removing the old floor. Ask whether the quote is built on what is down now. Tile set in mortar is heavy, slow to chip up and dear to dump, while carpet rolls up in strips, so the two are priced very differently.
• Moving furniture. Ask whether it is included, optional or excluded, and what is never moved, such as pianos, safes, aquariums and wall-mounted TVs.
• Baseboards, quarter round and transitions where the new floor meets tile or a balcony door.
• Stairs, which depend on the steps, the nosing and the sides, and are usually quoted on their own.
• Subfloor levelling, which often only shows once the old floor is up.

To compare two quotes line by line, use what a full quote should include as the checklist.

Who prepares the condo approval package?

The contractor should, and in a Toronto condo it is the question to ask before any other. Each condo corporation sets its flooring requirements in its declaration, by-laws and rules, usually including a sound requirement for the finished floor and an underlay the board accepts. The contractor should read your building's rule, choose a floor and underlay that meet it, and prepare the documents the building asks to see.

A contractor who says approval is your problem is handing you the riskiest step. Floorrable confirms the acoustic requirement and board approval before anything is ordered. If your building's application lists paperwork from the installer, such as an insurance certificate, ask each contractor whether they can supply it before you pay a deposit. What a Toronto condo board asks for covers the rest of the package.

What gets checked and recorded before the planks go down?

Ask what the installer checks on the subfloor, and whether they photograph it. Level, moisture and soundness decide whether a floor stays flat, and once the planks are down nobody sees the slab again.

Every Floorrable job is photographed: at least four shots before, including the bare subfloor, two during, of the prep and the underlay before the planks hide them, and four after. Ask any contractor what record you would have if a question came up a year later.

If the floor runs through a kitchen with a gas range, ask who disconnects it. In Ontario, gas lines are for a certified gas technician only: the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) sets that rule for disconnecting and reconnecting them. A flooring crew should never touch one, and Floorrable books a licensed technician when a job needs it.

How is payment split, and what are the warning signs?

Ask for the payment schedule in writing: how much is due to order the material, and how much at the end. With Floorrable you pay a deposit once you approve the firm price, and the balance after the walk-through on the finished floor, when you are happy with it. Ask too which warranty covers the product and which covers the installation. Floorrable's terms are on the warranty page, and for the seven days after the walk-through you can raise anything at all and we come back to look at it.

Slow down if you see any of these, and walk away if you see two:

• a firm price given without anyone measuring the rooms;
• full payment asked for before the material is ordered;
• no written quote, or one that shows only a square footage and a total;
• pressure to sign the same day, or a discount that expires tonight;
• a vague answer about who installs and who deals with the building.

Put the same questions to every contractor and compare the written answers, not just the totals. To see how Floorrable answers them for your own rooms, start an estimate online; the building check and the free measurement come before any material is ordered.