Mr Steve Nicholson, aka Smoothcrete Inc. now also operating as YourConcrete.ca came to price staining our basement floor. He described how the finish would be so permanent, how he would paper off the walls and tape to ensure. He spoke about how he would sand the floors to remove any debris and prepare it to take the stain. How he would wash it so carefully.
He said that it would take 5-7 days to do it all. So we agreed.
Well he spent less than 3 days on the floor. He splashed stain in many places on the walls requiring us to repaint. He didn't sand the floor at all and stained right over debris and drywall mud. In other areas he applied no stain at all and applied a coat of sealer over all of it. So there are spots where it's just sealer over bare concrete and other places where there is now neither stain nor seal.
Cleaning up the floor left spots under debris that had no finish. Cleaning the drywall mud also left unfinished spots.
We brought in a real pro who tested a bunch of spots in each room and 3/4 of his tests the finish comes right off with a thumbnail.
Steve has behaved terribly unprofessionally by making contractual promises he didn't keep, by improperly preparing and applying the stain, and by refusing to even entertain the idea of fixing the problem he created.
He would just yell at us on the phone and claim we must have put something on the floor to ruin it just so we can bother him.
If you still decide to go ahead with Smoothcrete (aka etc) I suggest you be careful to do the following (which applies to any contractor)
List, in great detail, every little step, preparation, work, cleanup, explicitly which products are to be used. Not only the make, colours, and type of stain but also specify specifically the type of sealer, how many coats you will get. Require in the contract that manufacturer's directions be followed and their preferred companion products and/or processes will be followed.
Require a workmanship warranty that covers actual costs of correcting workmanship problems for a period of time that is enough for you. Pay with a credit card
If a contractor won't sign such a contract, RUN! But even if he does agree, as we have discovered, you can probably never force them to fix the problems they create or get them to pay for someone else to fix it.