Patrica’s Abbey Flooring

Patrica's Abbey Flooring Of Cape Coral

Patricia's Abbey Flooring was hired by my partner to install LVP floors.   This has been a stressful situation fraught with problems where I have been unfortunately involved and had to waste too much time.  

The owner's son seemingly incompetent or unwilling to resolve the situation.  The installation was planned poorly, executed poorly, and not resolved when problems arose.  Below, Im discussing the specific problems and Patrica's Floors lack of response from Chad (His Dad owns the business).  

Much like other Yelp Reviews, the salesperson was "nice" however the work is garbage.  

Problems

Warning

Warning:  Have you seen the Cape Coral news about Zwerican Homes?  30 homes delivered incomplete without electrical boxes, waterproofing, insulation, etc.  And yet the company is business as usual!

As a 4th generation electrician Ive worked in construction sales, sales management, installation, estimating.  From back breaking steel tying for pool foundations to estimating 100 million dollar projects, Ive done it all.  It is a risk with all contractors, but Florida in 2023 is worse than anything I encountered in NC.  

Fort Myers and Cape Coral flooring contractor are cutting corners on floor prep, WRONG materials. Installations often ignore manufacturer inherent designs causing rapid failure and customers who have to pay to fix problems.  

Intro

1.  Contractors are unsung heros many with skills on par with the top artists.  My respect for contractors is immense.  However contractors are OFTEN put in bad situations, their bosses FORCING them to cut corners and cheat homeowners.      

Construction is hard mentally and physically, often requiring inventing solutions.   As they say, the best plan rarely goes as planned.  But that is NOT what Im describing with Abbey Flooring.  

What I saw with Patrica's  Abbey Flooring of Cape Coral was gross neglect, disorganization, and bad business practices.  After meeting the owners son it was clear that this is a top down problem.  One installer stating that  "technology get replaced every 5 years" after I notice he put a gash in my TV.   We never mentioned this TV damage to the owners, our only goal was getting the installation problems resolved.  

Protection from Bad Contractors, Companies

Detailed and Itemized Estimates- When you buy food you expect an itemized bill, right?  

From job scope to materials, an itemized estimated bill ("Estimate") should be presented to you.  We expect transparency from McDonalds over a $15 cheeseburger meal, yet many homeowners do not have itemized estimates for $20,000 renovations.  And that is crazy!

Itemization and estimates creation is a royal pain in the @$$ for contractors.   It can take hours of annoying computer work and customization to a clients unique situation.  However this inconvenience pays off in spades for both parties.  An estimate provides a roadmap allowing for communication when deviations happen.  It helps the installers understand specific details.   

Most importantly it shows that someone competent is assessing and managing the work.    

If a contractor DOES NOT provide you a detailed estimate, it is going to hurt your final result.  

Forgotten + Wrong Materials

Summary: Material delivery lacked underlayment despite explicitly having discussed this with salesperson.   My partner had to pay extra to add underlayment.  This is a common contractor trick, omitting materials and then asking for more money once the job has started.    

Bullnoses and Thresholds

6 trim pieces installed.  4 of the 6 were incorrect material.  (33% success rate)

2 thresholds failed within weeks of installation, coming unglued and dislodging.  You can see this in photos below. The failed piece is "T Molding" and is used for connecting 2 pieces of vinyl floor of equal height.  In this installation there are zero applications of vinyl to vinyl. This was an incorrect piece that should have not been on the jobsite.  

A Bull nose is a piece that goes on the edge of a cantilever.  Every stair has a bull nose at the end and they are usually round.  A SQUARE bullnose was installed at the top stair tread at this job.  As you can see in the photos, this home has round stairs.  

Why Patricia's Abbey Flooring decided to order and then install the wrong pieces is a mystery.  They came and replaced the stair bull nose and 1 threshold.  This leaves   They refused to remove and reinstall the correct pieces.    They were requested to leave the materials so that I could reinstall the CORRECT pieces at a later date.   They refuse to respond and provide the correct pieces. 

Ghetto Rigged Bullnose + Tripping Hazard

Poor planning left the entire floor run the wrong direction.  And at the top of the stairs the inherent  Tounge and Groove was not able to be used.  And instead, the installer simply over lapped the tounge over the board for a Ghetto-Rigged installation.  Not only did it look bad and catch dirt, it was a tripping hazard and a lawsuit waiting to happen.    

The owner's son (who said he doesnt have install experience) came out to assess this and 

We confirmed with the manufacturer that this was improper before requesting a meeting with the owner.  Instead being forthcoming with solutions, the owners son stated "we do this all the time" and "we have done hundreds of these like this."    

Tounge and Groove

When it comes to construction there are fundamental principles dating back to antiquity.  Keystones are wedge-shaped stones at the apex of churches and in Ancient Rome in arches for aqueducts.  Dovetail joints are interlocking fingers seen in furniture making and log cabins. 

In modern Florida Construction, tongue and groove joints are the most common.  Tounge and Groove involves 2 pieces of wood, one having a tongue or a peg.  The other having a groove or a gap.   When the round peg goes into the round hole this creates a safe and stable installation which is resistant to movement.  Tongue and Groove construction locks roofs and flooring into place.  Without the tongue and groove the floors and roofs will fail.  

LVP floors on an unlevel surface can fail at the tounge and groove joints.  As you can see in the photo above, the tounge and groove are thinner.  A high stress area that is unlevel is a MAJOR concern for breaking an lifting which would require repair or replacing the entire floor.

Floor Prep Neglected (Leveling)

Floor Preparation is hidden thus many Florida floor contractors skip the leveling,  expansion joints, and uncoupling for tile floors.   Unfortunately, cheating usually comes back to bite people in the rear.  

Vinyl Plank Floor Lifting

The concern with this installation is that the HIGHEST traffic area has a major hump.  The top of the stairs is a vulnerable area.   Abbey Flooring did not choose to grind down this high spot on the concrete.  

The worst hump is right infront of the bullnose and the area which they have Ghetto-Rigged up.  This installation has failed at multiple places.  The home belongs to my good friend and this installation is going to need ongoing repairs.  

General Incompetence and Indignance

The overall impression of Abbey Flooring was that they dont take pride in their work.  The installers who were here on the job seemed to be competent.  However they seemed to not be happy about the work and unconcerned. 

The owner showed contempt for problems and initially lied about them.  He even suggested that the improper methods had been performed "hundreds of times."  And I think that is accurate.  I expect they have and will continue to do sub par installations for people who dont know any better. 

My experience with Abbey Carpet & Floor At Patricia's is that they are the exact type on organization that gives Florida contractors a bad name.  Sub par work sold to retirees who dont know better.