The single most useful question you can ask a flooring contractor is this: “Who is actually doing the sanding, and what training and standards stand behind the way they work?” The answer tells you almost everything. Refinishing is a skilled trade, and the person running the machine matters more than the logo on the truck.
We have been refinishing hardwood in Kelowna since 2006, and the jobs that go well almost always start the same way — with a homeowner who asked good questions and a contractor who gave straight answers. So here are the nine we would want our own family to ask before hiring any flooring contractor in Kelowna, including us.
Why Does Choosing the Right Flooring Contractor Matter So Much?
Because sanding removes wood, and a floor only has so much of it to give.
A solid hardwood floor has a finite number of refinishes in it — each full sand takes off a layer, and there is only so much above the tongue and groove. A skilled operator removes the minimum needed to reach clean wood. A heavy hand takes more than that, and can leave drum chatter you will notice in raking light for years. Same floor, same day, different amount of life left in it afterward.
The good part is that this is knowable in advance. The questions below will tell you, in about ten minutes at the kitchen table, whether the person in front of you does this properly.
The 9 Questions
1. What training and standards do you work to?
A good answer sounds like: a named standard and named training. Methods that follow National Wood Flooring Association guidelines mean there is an industry standard behind the sanding, the moisture testing, and the finishing — rather than just the way a crew has always done it. Manufacturer training and certification, Bona for instance, means the people finishing your floor have been taught the systems they are actually putting down, by the company that makes them.
What should worry you: “We have been doing this twenty years” offered instead of an answer. Experience is valuable, but on its own it is not verifiable, and it is not a substitute for current training on the products going onto your floor.
2. Are you licensed and insured — and can I see proof?
A good answer sounds like: yes, immediately, with documents. Current liability insurance and WorkSafeBC coverage, both of which you can verify.
What should worry you: hesitation, or an offer to send it later that never arrives. If an uninsured worker is injured in your home, that can become your problem.
3. Will you assess my floor in person before quoting?
A good answer sounds like: always, and there is no charge for it.
What should worry you: a firm price quoted over the phone. Floor condition is the biggest single variable in a refinishing job — pet stains, cupping, previous finish type, board damage under the rug you have had down for a decade. None of that can be assessed remotely. A phone quote is either a guess that will be revised upward later, or a number padded enough to cover the worst case.
4. Do I actually need a full refinish, or would a buff and re-coat do?
This is the honesty test, and it is the most important question on the list.
A good answer sounds like: it depends on your floor, here is how we will determine it, and here is what we are seeing as we look at it with you — whether the finish is worn through anywhere, and whether the scratches sit in the finish or have cut into the wood.
What should worry you: a contractor who recommends a full refinish before looking closely, or who dismisses the re-coat option entirely. A buff and re-coat costs roughly half what a full refinish does. Someone who never recommends the cheaper service is not assessing — they are selling. Our guide to full refinish vs. buff and re-coat covers how to tell which one your floor needs, so you can judge the answer yourself.
5. What finish system do you use, and what are the cure times?
A good answer sounds like: a named product line, a specific number of coats, and honest cure times — light traffic in 24–48 hours, furniture at five to seven days, area rugs at two to four weeks.
What should worry you: vagueness about the product, or cure times that sound too good. Finish cures on a chemistry schedule, not a contractor schedule. Anyone promising you full use in 48 hours is putting your new finish at risk in its first week.
Also worth asking: is the new finish compatible with what is already on the floor? Waterborne over oil-modified, or the reverse, causes adhesion failure and peeling. It is the most common reason DIY re-coats fail, and a professional should be testing for it.
6. What is your dust containment process?
A good answer sounds like: dust-containment sanding equipment, plastic barriers at doorways, HVAC returns sealed off — and an honest heads-up that some fine dust still finds its way around.
What should worry you: a promise of a dust-free job. There is no such thing. Containment equipment captures the large majority of what a sander throws off, and barriers and sealed returns keep most of the rest out of the rest of the house, but plan on some wiping down afterward. What you are listening for is a specific system described in specific terms — not a guarantee nobody can keep.
7. Who moves the furniture, and what do I need to do before you arrive?
A good answer sounds like: a clear, specific division of responsibility given to you well before day one.
To be straightforward about our own: Strong Roots does not move furniture. The space needs to be completely empty before we start, and you will want to arrange that yourself or hire movers. We tell people this during the quote, not the morning of, because finding out on day one is nobody idea of a good start.
What should worry you: a shrug. Unclear prep expectations are where schedules slip and tempers fray.
8. What happens when something unexpected comes up mid-job?
A good answer sounds like: a described process. We price the change, we put it in writing, and you approve it before we carry on.
The most common change is not a nasty surprise under the floor — it is a homeowner adding to the job once the crew is on site. The hallway starts to look tired next to the freshly sanded living room. The closets were left out of the original quote and now seem like an obvious thing to include. The stairs come up. This happens often.
What matters is how it gets handled. The answer you want describes a change order: what is being added, what it costs, and what it does to the schedule — written down and approved by you before any of it happens. Added work can also change the finishing sequence, so the timeline is worth asking about at the same time as the price.
What should worry you: “we will sort it out at the end.” A change added on a handshake is the most common source of an invoice that does not match the quote. You want the number before the work, not after it.
9. Can I see your work — and a sample of what my floor will look like?
A good answer sounds like: yes to both — finished jobs you can actually look at, and a physical sample of your own species and stain before anything is committed to.
What should worry you: only glossy stock photography, or an unwillingness to show you anything specific to your floor. To be straightforward about our own: we do not have a before-and-after pair from every job — photographing a room before the crew starts is not always practical. We do have plenty of them, though, in our before and after flooring transformations gallery and across our social media, and if you want to see what we do at scale, the making of a new gym floor is a good look at the commercial side.
More useful than any photograph: we make sample boards in our own wood shop. Your species, your stain options, prepared on real wood so you can hold them up in your own light, beside your own cabinets, at the hour of day you actually live in the room. A photo of another home shows you what we can do. A sample board shows you what your floor will look like.
What Are the Red Flags When Hiring a Flooring Contractor?
Beyond the nine questions, a few things should end the conversation:
- A quote with no site visit. Covered above, but it is the most common one.
- No written scope of work. If the quote does not say how many coats, which product, and what is included, you have nothing to hold anyone to.
- Pressure to decide today. Legitimate contractors have a schedule. “This price is only good if you sign now” is a sales tactic, not a booking constraint.
- No certification and no interest in discussing it.
- Vagueness about products. “We use a commercial-grade finish” is not a product name.
- Reluctance to give references. Twenty years in a town the size of Kelowna leaves a trail. Ask for it.
What Does Strong Roots Do Differently?
We will keep this brief, because the questions above are the point of this post and you should ask them of us too.
Strong Roots Flooring has been refinishing hardwood in Kelowna and the Okanagan since 2006. We are family-owned. Our sanding, finishing, and assessment methods follow NWFA guidelines and processes, and our finishing work is backed by Bona training and certification on the systems we put down. Every quote follows an in-person assessment, and it comes in writing.
And when a buff and re-coat will do the job, that is what we recommend — even though it is the smaller invoice. Our flooring certifications post covers what the standards and training actually mean, and our refinishing cost guide shows real numbers for both services rather than making you call to find out.
Ask Us These Nine Questions
Book a free, no-obligation assessment and put this list to us directly. We would rather answer nine questions now than fix a misunderstanding later.
Strong Roots Flooring
2545 Enterprise Way, Units 109–110, Kelowna, BC
250-765-3123
[email protected]
We serve Kelowna, West Kelowna, Lake Country, Peachland, Summerland, Penticton, and occasionally clients throughout British Columbia.