How to Work With Flooring Contractors

Flooring professionals are the foundation for the best possible interior space for your home. Whether it's laminate flooring for your kitchen, ceramic or stone tile for your bathroom, hardwood flooring for your home office, or carpet for your bedroom, you can't expect a high-quality, durable flooring solution without an experienced flooring professional to install it. But they can use your help, too. In order to make their job as easy as possible, and to make your experience working with them a pleasant one, here's a few things you can do to help things along.

Be Clear and Descriptive about Your Vision and Budget
Probably nine out of every ten problems result from poor initial planning and miscommunication. If you need your floor have a top-tier non-slip surface, if you want a floor with the most eco-friendly properties, if you have a strict budget limit that can't accommodate mid-project obstacles, if you want a floor that's going to last 20+ years, you need to explicitly communicate these qualities to your flooring professional. There's a good chance he or she has a superior solution than your first impulse. If these needs aren't discovered until the flooring materials are already purchased, things can get tense and unnecessarily complicated in a hurry.

Anticipate the Needs of Your Flooring Professional
Perhaps the most helpful thing you can do to make sure your relationship with your contractor and crew is a productive one is to anticipate their basic needs and provide for them. Simple steps such as making available a source of water for them to wash off tools or to fill water bottles, and designating a bathroom that your contractor and crew can use when necessary, will make your project progress quicker and head off any conflicts that might arise later if there are areas of your home that you'd prefer to be off-limits. Also, taking the time at the start of the project to point out electrical outlets and places to store materials and tools will make your contractor's job easier from the get-go.

Communication
Talk with your flooring professional ahead of time about all phases of the project so you know what to expect and share any concerns you may have so those issues can be addressed ahead of time. This will help you to plan for times when certain areas of your home may be off-limits, since you will know when and how long you'll need to plan to work around your flooring installation, and it will help your contractor to accommodate any special needs you may have. Also, be sure to talk with your contractor during the project now and then to see how the job is going and to check in on whether there's anything more you can do to make their job easier. Finally, remember that a homeowner who addresses concerns in a respectful manner is bound to get better results than one that is demanding or rude.

Make the Work Area Off-Limits
With flooring more than other home improvement projects, it is very important that you stay off the work area until the project is finished. This is a good idea with any home improvement project because of safety reasons, but especially important with flooring since foot traffic prior to the installation being finished can undermine the whole operation in a number of ways.

Hardwood floors are easily scratched and stained if they are used before the finish is applied, ceramic and stone tile will likely crack and pull apart down the road if walked on before the tiles have had a chance to set properly, and carpet can come loose and wrinkle if it is used before the installation is complete. Nothing will frustrate your flooring contractor more than discovering that the prior days work was all for naught because you broke this cardinal rule. Especially important in this respect is making the area off-limits to children and pets, as they are the most frequent offenders.

Final Considerations
Remember that your flooring contractor and crew are people too, and they appreciate a little special attention as much as the next guy. While making the extra effort certainly isn't required of you, nothing encourages a crew of installers to work harder for their client more than a box of donuts sitting out on the table when they arrive in the morning or a pitcher of lemonade on a hot afternoon. Finally, don't forget your flooring professional is an expert in the field. Keeping up to speed on the progress of your project is a good thing, but even more important is knowing when to step back and let the professionals do their job.