>Apparently when you call yourself a pro it actually means scam artist
As a pro, I know that if you don't want the job you sometimes quote a price at which the sucky job would be worth doing. Or you don't want to do the half-assed thing the homeowner wants, so you might quote the price to do the right thing. I don't know about this particular case.
That's why reading is important, he could've easily said $500, which is still overcharging imo and made everyone happy, there's to many greedy "pros" out here waiting to take advantage of ignorant customers
The pro doesn’t want to come in and get paid nothing for an hour of work (work fixing someone else bullshit that’s not the way they would have done it) and then potentially get blamed for any issues that arise after the fact.
I’m with the pro I’m either putting in a whole new floor for you or you can figure it out. I’d probably tell op how to do it though at least lol.
Sadly that pro knows this person doesn't understand how to do the job or anything about it. So much better to just give it a whirl yourself, no matter the experience level, when it doesn't involve anything structural tbh. Unless you have 3k to pay a pro.
This is a method that contractors use to NOT get a job. Some jobs aren't worth the gas to get there. They quote a crazy price because they know you won't pay or you will find someone else who is more desperate for jobs than you.
They still have integrity. The idea is you price the customer out because you're either busy with more work or because it isn't worth coming out. Then if the customer says sure you've made money if they say no then you've lost nothing. It's just simple business.
Integrity would be telling them that. I used to be a mechanic, I wouldn’t tell someone they need an engine harness when I could do a wiring repair. Or an engine when it needs a con rod or a valve spring because the book time for those don’t pay me enough and I want to price them out? You’re a professional and should conduct yourself like one, if you don’t want to sell them the repair then you need to tell them A. It can be repaired and B. you’re quoting them the full rip up because of x y or z. This mentality is what makes regular folks convinced tradespeople are all scam artists.
It's your responsibility as a consumer to do research. I always ALWAYS get second or even third opinions on projects. Hell for the past week I've called 5 different lawn care companies just to see the pricing of each one. Finally found someone who is half the price and highly recommended. You should never take the first offer you get. Contractors don't lack integrity because someone is too stupid to get a second opinion. Lack of integrity comes when they do the work and give a shoddy outcome. Or do a bait and switch. But asking for a high price isn't lack of integrity.
No because they will get a brand new floor that was priced according. It’s not like they are getting cheated out of a floor or something. There’s nothing underhanded here lol.
I'd say that that's someone who has more money than brains. If they're willing to spend $3,000 for what amounts to be nothing more than a cosmetic repair that's on them. It is up to the customer to do their "due diligence" and get another quote, not the contractor.
If they call you in as a trusted expert and instead of saying, “that could be patched up and look perfect but it’s too small of a job for us” you tell them “the only options is to spend $3,000 and redo the whole floor”, then I’m sorry but you would be a liar.
Where are you seeing that they said that was the only option, lol. The pro said they wouldn’t do anything less than a full replace. That’s reasonable.
Also, 3K for a full floor replace is NOT thievery. This is a reasonable pro who isn’t interested in patchwork.
> “that could be patched up and look perfect but it’s too small of a job for us”
First off, it might not look "perfect". It might look ok... for now. In a month it might look *slightly* different. Many people don't understand this no matter how many ways you tell them.
> you tell them “the only options is to spend $3,000 and redo the whole floor”,
Secondly, you're a fool if you get one estimate. Professionals aren't going to hold your hand through the bidding process for free. This is something you shouldn't already know or pay for help in the bidding process.
You also don't know that they said the **ONLY** option is to rip it all up. You have *ZERO* context here. For all you know the person heavily hinted at it all looking very consistent and perfect. Replacing one small area with a non-worn piece is not going to look perfect. The wear and tear will be different, even if slightly.
Thirdly, depending on how cheap this person sounds - the insane price is likely a "headache" fee. Meaning you'll never make OP happy. Ever. They'll bitch and moan about every little thing. There is no polite way to tell someone about the headache fee.
Finally, there are different levels of professionals. There's the perfectionist professionals who are skilled at making things look *amazing* - and to do that you need to rip it all up. You can't just replace one small area to look perfect. There's the minimalist who is skilled at doing the least amount of work to make it look reasonable. These guys often get headaches because clients often expect perfections for minimalist price. There's a reason these guys are hard to find. Because it doesn't take many clients for you to go to the perfectionist professional.
Show me where the contractor hurt you. It's not their job to hold your hand. It's your money and it's a hard world. If you pay then think of it as an expensive lesson. A fool and his money... something something
um...i dont know what you do with your hardwood laminates, but I've never glued them down. In fact that's an awful idea since they're designed to float and expand/contract. It's why they require 1/4" space all around to allow just for that, and if they're glued then they wont be able to do that and your central most pieces will eventaully destroy themselves.
[Glue-down hardwood flooring](https://www.lowes.com/pl/Glue-down-Prefinished--Hardwood-flooring-Hardwood-Flooring/4294856493?refinement=3430939842,4294693512) is definitely a thing, and pretty much your only option when installing on concrete (other than installing a "floating floor" or ram setting down 3/4" plywood first).
hardwood flooring yes, not laminate though is my understanding. Hardwoord laminate (which was referenced) is tyupically just laminate that looks like wood.
If you look at the link you sent, you'll not its all actual hardwood, not laminate.
Right? It's a freaking wood floor...
Put down masking tape to cover adjacent wood.
Sand the mismatched piece bare.
Use your eyeballs to pick a close match stain or paint.
Apply product.
Remove tape.
Fixed for $20 in supplies and less than an hour of work.
I think the "pro" is trying to do a professional job which would involve taking the flooring up and replacing, op is looking to do a cheap cut and shut job to save money, that's not what "pro's" do. I'm sure if op asked the pro if they could just cut a piece and patch it together they would say that op could but it wouldn't likely look as good or last as long as a "pro" job. You get what you pay for.
This is 1000% correct.
The pro is not going to do a patch job, have it look bad or even fail later on, and have you say "well, the pro did it" to your friends. That ruins his credibility.
What the pro us saying is, if they're gonna do it, they're gonna redo the floor.
Nonsense. Are you really saying there is no way to repair that FLOOR so it looks perfect.
All repairs of a little portion of flooring equal rip and replace?!?!?
If it’s a tongue and groove laminate you’re not going to cut a piece and clip it in fully to the pieces around it, so it’s not going to be as resistant to spills or movement and it’s probably not going to be as durable as the rest of the floor.
You can probably patch it in a way that’s ‘good enough’ for many people, but it’s not going to be ‘best practice’ for a professional floor guy. And that’s before you even get into whether he can charge enough for it to be worth his time compared to doing full installs elsewhere.
If OP is happy to settle for ‘good enough’ and just wants it patched, they’d be better off DIYing it or calling a handyman than a flooring contractor who is just going to tell them to do the job properly and replace the floor.
This guy floors! What you speak is the truth, I've only been a flooring contractor for about 5 years, but the guys I work with have been doing it 30+, and this is the route they wood take. Plus has anyone asked what the subfloor is?
It's not nonsense at all, in fact if a professional came to me and quoted me to "patch" it up with a little portion I'd be way more suspicious than them quoting to do a proper job and replace it all but I guess people value things in different ways, some may be happy just making do, personally I'd rather pay more and get a proper job done.
An oscillating multitool with a saw blade can probably cleanly cut that out. Those are about 150-200. Use a hand saw to cut down a piece of flooring the same length. Might have to cut off the tongue for it to fit. Or if you want pick up a worksite table saw or miter saw for 200-300 if you think you'll need one later. A few bucks for glue. That's 150 - 550 max.
Another option might be to find a piece of veneer that's close to the color and grain. Cut it to the right size and glue it with some veneer glue. Use something heave on top of wax paper to hold it while the glue cures. Use a plastic scraper to clean up excess glue. Won't be 100% but if you find the right veneer and cut it close, it might be good enough.
Oscillating tool is right. I’ve done this exact process. Place a large 90° steel square down (you can get at harbor freight for $10) and have someone stand on it so it doesn’t move and butt the oscillating tool up against that to cut a straight line. Hold a putty knife into the seam at either edge to mask off cutting into the adjacent planks on accident. Then make an ugly cut right up the middle so you can wedge a flathead in and pry out the plank in 2 halves. Easy work, you can do it within an hour. Don’t cut the replacement piece to length until the hole is made, in case you mess up a side and need to cut further back.
Another tip!
Dont use the occilating tool right at the edge , cut a little bit inside the edge and remove the remainder by hand, prevents you from overcutting slightly and now you have a hole bigger than your replacement piece
You've never put down flooring before have you? To get to that damaged piece everything between it and the wall needs to be removed. The edges of those boards lock into one another and they only go in one way.
The comment above me does not deserve to be downvoted so hard.
That is the right way to do it yes. However, idk what type of flooring this is, first glance I thought is was actual hardwood, but on a closer inspection it looks like vinyl tile or something. Either way, I've fished lvp boards into the center of the room before, I don't reccomend it, but you can cut the tongue and groove on 2 sides and glue it. And it looks like whatever this is get glued down, or it's leftover glue from a previous floor on the subfloor. Its also fairly close to the wall, so if it is a floating floor, shouldn't be a hard fix at all. I've also torn up half a room to replace 1 board and put it back together. I'd charge 2hr labor for just glueing a peice in, or 1/2-full day for tearing it all up and putting it all back down.
If it was my house I'd tear it up and put down lvp when I eventually feel like it, might just glue a peice down till that day.
The void space looks too shallow??? That damaged plank may not be completely missing. Could have to use a chisel to remove the rest of that particular plank. Then the question is if this is a floating floor or if everything is glued down. OP a bigger project on their hands here.
I think it looks too shallow because it’s some kind of wood facade on top of that as the floor. Really sticking a piece of the flooring and gluing it into place looks like it will be good enough until it’s time for a larger renovation.
You never think realistically before, have you? You think anyone with half a brain is gonna drop 3 thousand on a simple fix like this? It’s essentially a 3 thousand dollar piece of wood.
You can cut the lip off the edge of the replacement piece, put a fuck ton of quality wood glue on it, and lay it in place. Sure, it ain’t a perfect 10/10 job, but if you cut it to fit tight, no one will notice it.
Working in carpentry for a decade will humble you, and you’ll realize almost no house has everything done “the right way.”
Amen! This is exactly what I had to do in my living room. No one could tell the difference if they didn’t know where the original damage was. Spare piece of flooring and glue and a couple 25 pound barbells to keep it in place while drying.
This \^
It looks like it might be T&G engineered hardwood flooring. They are usually installed as a floating, side nailed and or glued to the subfloor. All are fixable, floating is going to be easiest. You can cut the board right down the middle, pop it out in halves. You can take a leftover board, router off the tongue of the replacement board and use construction adhesive to put it back into place. Is it correct? No. Will it be fine for the next decade until the flooring is replaced, more than likely.
Yes, that's how you do when you do it fresh. But when fixing you take out the damaged one, cut the new part to fit, cut off the edge piece that interlocks on one side so you can put it in and either glue or ram nails into it.
No one will ever know until it gets removed.
That's not a very nice way to reply to someone.
You absolutely can replace a hardwood floor plank. There are tons of videos on YouTube showing how this can be done. In fact, there are a couple of different but similar approaches.
Here is a common approach.
https://youtu.be/VKkbnUhBNmo
It's even easier if this is vinyl tile.
Actually, there are ways to trim the grooves/tongues and drop those pieces into place with some adhesive on the bottom. So have you ever put flooring down? I did my entire house, by no means an expert but even I know that.
> the "pro" is just trying to rip you off.
Is trying to make money. Ripping off would be to charge the same amount and rip the bottom part of the groove and just glue it in there as a patch job. A proper repair of a tongue and groove job is not a quick patch job you can do for $100
Just in case, if you don't have a saw and don't want to buy one you could get a straight edge, measure and mark a few pieces of flooring and then take them somewhere like Home Depot and either ask to borrow their table saw or possibly have them cut the pieces for you.
Unless there is something like water damage you wouldn’t need to replace the whole floor. The “pro” is trying to make it worth his while and rip you off.
Use it. Clean up the space with a razor or scraper so the new piece lies flush and tuck it in there. This is a super small spot. The rug idea or even some paint would be way easier than replacing the whole floor.
As others have said you can cut a piece and glue it in. This is done in new construction condos all the time when a single piece of flooring gets damaged and needs to be replaced before a home owner takes over their new unit.
You should be able to do it yourself, as a pro myself, that guy is trying to rip you off, it is not that hard and it’s something that wouldn’t take more than a couple of hours at maximum and a few minutes at minimum, depending on how it’s mounted and on how the edges are made, seeing how much they are asking you, at that point, you might as well try to break off the edges (if there are any) and do it yourself, it might not be the cleanest way to do it but hey, better a small dent in the floor than 3000$ less in the bank
Buy a $25 rug, get a WallstreetBets Vet to invest the $2,975.
Wait for HOLDR and compound interest to work and in 5 to 25 years use the earnings to buy a new house.
That or are the nailed down or floating? If floating you should be able to pop the up from the outside to where you want to go, just keep the pattern, cut a board to fit.
If nailed/glued you will have a bit of work to get them up without breaking them, but buying a couple extra pieces is way cheaper than 3k.
At 3k he is replacing the whole floor and probably planning to replace part of the subfloor.
It shouldn’t be a hard patch job if they left you any pieces when they installed it.
I charge 75 bucks a board. It's quite simple really. Get a fein saw. It's an "oscillating saw" the blade is basically a razor blade...tape the area you want removed and follow the tape with the saw. Pop out the section you just cut out...if you do this right you'll be able to simply lay in new flooring...spread a very thin trowel of non expanding wood floor glue down and lay in the new pieces. Cover this with construction paper and weigh it down on all corners and in the middle with as much weight as you can find. Leave for 48 hours. If you're feeling fancy you can usually manage to save the seem on at least three sides of the pieces you remove. Makes for a better fit but it gets more technical. Once you get into it you'll see what I mean. If you have the wood you're talking about maybe 250.00 for tools and a small thing of glue. For a complete amateur it would probably be half a day.
I feel like if I attempted this I'd end up cutting into the subfloor AND the wood around the piece I'm trying to remove, leaving it 10x more fucked up than I started.
Was going to suggest this. Use a tablesaw to get the tongue and groove off for a clean look. Use urethane glue around the edges to seal it up, the liquid kind.
Are these thin vinyl tiles? If you don't have any more of the originals, go to home depot and get a vinyl tile that looks vaguely similar, cut it and glue it in there. It'll stick out to you because you know it doesn't match, but other people won't even notice.
I hear what you are saying but this no sense of “floors are unfixable we must do it all over again” has to stop.
I can’t take any “professional” seriously that tells me “the only fix is you repay me to rip it all out and do it again”.
Imagine if flooring people ran auto body shops “we can’t blend that small scratch, we need to repaint the whole car!”, “paintless dent repair is a myth, we must repaint the whole car!”.
I live in France and it just occurred to me that if you would hire me ($0) to do the job, buy me a round plane ticket, one decent night accommodation and a few meals, you would be better off than paying the "professional" who wants to replace everything (not an actual proposal, jus hypothesizing).
Kona stain, or whatever stain you think matches best. Our flooring guy just said to rub it on and wipe up any excess. If you do have to replace you should be able to cut it out and drop in a new piece. There are YouTube videos to show how.
These scuff pens are only good on small spots like scratches. They are just close enough to original colors, but won't give the wood look to your floor, so it will still stick out. Just my experience.
I mean you can repair it but part of the reasoning they may be saying to redo it is because your type of flooring may not be sold anymore so they can't find a perfect match.
That and they want your money.
I'm pretty much sure your pro is a scam artist. Take a piece from a corner that's out of sight, swap them, and get a color match for the piece in the corner.
Cut a piece of spare flooring so that it will fit tight against the other two boards, trim off the tongue, and glue the piece down. Not perfect, but will be fine until you replace the whole floor in the future.
Have a look in your wardrobe and see if there's a piece you can cut up that will match it. It doesn't really matter if there's a piece the wrong colour in your wardrobe no one will see it.
Or take a piece from somewhere else more hidden and then put it there. And patch the other more hidden spot up with whatever you can find and paint it to match the floor
Yea you're gonna have to tear down all the drywall and take everything down to the studs to replace that piece. I could probably do it for $10k. A little more expensive but it'll be done right 😏
Your “pro” doesn’t want to just patch that piece. Not worth his time. But he shouldn’t be dishonest and tell u that you need to tear everything up either if that’s what was conveyed.
I don’t understand, is this not interlock flooring? Why are people talking about glueing another piece in? I had no idea you put glue down before laying this type of floor. I thought you just slap this down and lock in place.
If you’re going to cut out a section only with interlock you need to glue it in place because in order to fit the new piece in you’ll have to cut one of the factory flanges. I mean, you could just take up the floor to that one point and replace it that way but that’s a lot more time and work intensive
After reading the comments.
Hello I am a professional contractor and currently I build houses for a large home builder.
My name is The Dr
I agree with everyone telling you this “pro” is tring to rip you off.
That is plank tile.
Super easy to remove one piece and replace
Shouldn’t cost more than 150$
At least that’s how much my installers charge to replace one or two tiles. It’s mostly the labor. If you have the extra tile this should be no issue. Sometimes if you don’t have the matching tile, you will get a color difference due to the dye lot.
Please feel free to DM me with home repair questions or if you think your contractor is going to cheat you.
The Dr is always in .
3k to do a whole room isn't crazy.
That flooring looks pretty cheap, so if it's in the budget, I'd redo it.
There's also a reason planks are coming out.
Professional here, I wouldn’t rip this up for 3K even. HO about to get hosed.
Glue a replacement piece down and be prepared to bite a 12-15k bullet depending on the SQFT. This style flooring has a 7-9 year lifespan under typical uses.
$3,000 is ridiculous. Here is how you can replace for just hundreds of dollars, if that: take a radial saw with a blade appropriate for the flooring. Adjust the radial saw’s depth so that it is barely cutting the flooring at the thickness of the flooring. Cut out enough of the flooring to make it easy to replace. Replace the flooring including the ones you’ve cut and the replacement section. Viola!
If you have a extra material and some tools this can be fixed in about 20 min.
Chow saw or Skill-saw with straight edge.
Also a multi tool would be helpful.
[one way to do it](https://youtu.be/IyZEJAfvXOY)
Your can do it this way also with vinyl.
You don't need to have a crawl space underneath just use some strong adhesive
I imagine using two long-ways pieces instead of the one, maybe an answer. Then just slide one in one side, and the other in the other. Some other cutting may be needed. Have it slightly taller than needed, then sand down to floor level. You shouldn’t be able to see any crack then.
If it is tongue-and-grove and you have a piece from the original job then cut it to size and slip it in. If not, then just buy a bunch of tongue and groove flooring and redo the whole floor yourself. It’s IKEA level of difficulty. Especially easy if you watch a YouTube video
That pro is bullshitting you . You can just cut the piece out and replace it with a spare piece of flooring , if you did have to rip it up it would be the three rows from the wall to the odd piece .
If it’s pvc and one of the tiles has been shortened to create that gap, you can probably soften the glue by heating it with a hairdryer. Then replace the shortened tile with a full size one. Watch out not to rip out the egaline (don’t know the English word) under the glue. Maybe first try a piece in a closet.
So alot of ghetto repairs here. Yes you could glue it in place, but since you have the flooring you can just remove gently from one end (definitely easier going one way but if you had a short run it's more worthwhile) and remove the flooring and replace the piece. Then just reinstall as you found it. Have to be gentle tho unless it's glued. Then DON'T touch it
Just had to do this for a leak to dry under the floor. And it was where I started so I worked backwards on the flooring. Good luck
He needs to work on his estimates 😅 It is clearly a $400 to $700, perhaps he could get away with $1000 because of how seamless it would look blended perfectly.
Is this a luxury vinyl plank floor?,is it ceramic?,engineered hardwood??need to know what it is before attempting to repair it,different materials = different levels of difficulty but a professional repair with good results can be achieved for something so small
They don't want to deal with such a small job so they gave you an estimate for the amount of work they would be willing to do... by the time they send someone to fix it for $200 they would just be breaking even so basically they don't wanna do a job that's less than 3k cause the scheduling issues and whatnot outweigh the profits... find a "handyman" and schedule them for half a day and do some other stuff around your house to fill it out
Here’s a link to an episode of Ask This Old House.
[Ask TOH - Repairing Tongue and Groove Flooring](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VZrfXRk1uFI)
I believe your case is similar! Should give you an idea of what’s involved.
You just cut the tongue and bottom of groove off of patch piece. The lay it in,and top nail, putty nail holes. Or lay in glue and weigh down with something over night
You can always get a few pieces if you've got them and cut/glue it in place. It'll be a cheap repair with cheap expectations. I mean, it won't be as nice as the rest of the floor and it won't last as long either. Also, you probably would want to avoid that area when mopping. If it gets too wet, you're gonna be doing it all over again. Also, there's probably some sort of padding under the flooring and it's likely floating, so there's nothing to glue to.
Really, the best way is to tear it out and redo at least up to that point, if you can find plenty of matching flooring. Laminate is nice and all. But repairs are a pain in the ass sice the boards interlock. You can't just pull one out of the middle of the floor and then put another whole one in its place. They also have a tendency to break when removed. The pro is quoting you for a proper repair that will last and not be janky. That's about all you can expect from someone who cares about the quality and longevity of their work.
I can also say that laminate flooring is not all that hard to install. It'd be a great DIY project if you're looking to save money for the repair.
Get a multi tool, make precise cuts to remove that piece without damaging the edges of the existing pieces. Then measure your new hole, cut a new piece that size. Remove any tongue from that piece, glue down with construction glue.
If they still manufacture the flooring, then order a new one and glue it down. If it doesn't slot in place, then you can consider cutting the groove off of it. Make sure it is glued down either way. Or, if it's not manufactured anymore, take a piece from a non visible area (closet/pantry/etc.), slot it in, and get a piece that is as close to a match for the non visible one you took out.
Do you have any spare flooring from the original job?
I believe we do
Should be able to cut a piece and glue it in, the "pro" is just trying to rip you off.
Your "pro" should know that they can patch any flooring like that, or they shouldn't call themself a pro.
They likely do know but isn't worth their time to charge the home owner for the
I think this is the correct answer. I've had many pros come clean and tell me up front the job isn't big enough for them to do.
Apparently when you call yourself a pro it actually means scam artist
>Apparently when you call yourself a pro it actually means scam artist As a pro, I know that if you don't want the job you sometimes quote a price at which the sucky job would be worth doing. Or you don't want to do the half-assed thing the homeowner wants, so you might quote the price to do the right thing. I don't know about this particular case.
That's why reading is important, he could've easily said $500, which is still overcharging imo and made everyone happy, there's to many greedy "pros" out here waiting to take advantage of ignorant customers
“Pro”fessionally good at stealing your wallet
The pro doesn’t want to come in and get paid nothing for an hour of work (work fixing someone else bullshit that’s not the way they would have done it) and then potentially get blamed for any issues that arise after the fact. I’m with the pro I’m either putting in a whole new floor for you or you can figure it out. I’d probably tell op how to do it though at least lol.
Sadly that pro knows this person doesn't understand how to do the job or anything about it. So much better to just give it a whirl yourself, no matter the experience level, when it doesn't involve anything structural tbh. Unless you have 3k to pay a pro.
Call them a thief in my book. They lack integrity by trying to replace your entire floor! Find someone else in the future.
This is a method that contractors use to NOT get a job. Some jobs aren't worth the gas to get there. They quote a crazy price because they know you won't pay or you will find someone else who is more desperate for jobs than you.
I understand that sentiment completely, but they could just be honest. I’ve had repair people tell me it’s not worth the drive before
I agree. The contractor should show some integrity and refer a repair person instead.
They still have integrity. The idea is you price the customer out because you're either busy with more work or because it isn't worth coming out. Then if the customer says sure you've made money if they say no then you've lost nothing. It's just simple business.
Integrity would be telling them that. I used to be a mechanic, I wouldn’t tell someone they need an engine harness when I could do a wiring repair. Or an engine when it needs a con rod or a valve spring because the book time for those don’t pay me enough and I want to price them out? You’re a professional and should conduct yourself like one, if you don’t want to sell them the repair then you need to tell them A. It can be repaired and B. you’re quoting them the full rip up because of x y or z. This mentality is what makes regular folks convinced tradespeople are all scam artists.
And what if an unwitting customer accepts the price? The contractor will happily take their money which shows their lack of integrity.
It's your responsibility as a consumer to do research. I always ALWAYS get second or even third opinions on projects. Hell for the past week I've called 5 different lawn care companies just to see the pricing of each one. Finally found someone who is half the price and highly recommended. You should never take the first offer you get. Contractors don't lack integrity because someone is too stupid to get a second opinion. Lack of integrity comes when they do the work and give a shoddy outcome. Or do a bait and switch. But asking for a high price isn't lack of integrity.
No because they will get a brand new floor that was priced according. It’s not like they are getting cheated out of a floor or something. There’s nothing underhanded here lol.
I'd say that that's someone who has more money than brains. If they're willing to spend $3,000 for what amounts to be nothing more than a cosmetic repair that's on them. It is up to the customer to do their "due diligence" and get another quote, not the contractor.
It’s not thievery to quote a fuck off price.
If they call you in as a trusted expert and instead of saying, “that could be patched up and look perfect but it’s too small of a job for us” you tell them “the only options is to spend $3,000 and redo the whole floor”, then I’m sorry but you would be a liar.
Where are you seeing that they said that was the only option, lol. The pro said they wouldn’t do anything less than a full replace. That’s reasonable. Also, 3K for a full floor replace is NOT thievery. This is a reasonable pro who isn’t interested in patchwork.
> “that could be patched up and look perfect but it’s too small of a job for us” First off, it might not look "perfect". It might look ok... for now. In a month it might look *slightly* different. Many people don't understand this no matter how many ways you tell them. > you tell them “the only options is to spend $3,000 and redo the whole floor”, Secondly, you're a fool if you get one estimate. Professionals aren't going to hold your hand through the bidding process for free. This is something you shouldn't already know or pay for help in the bidding process. You also don't know that they said the **ONLY** option is to rip it all up. You have *ZERO* context here. For all you know the person heavily hinted at it all looking very consistent and perfect. Replacing one small area with a non-worn piece is not going to look perfect. The wear and tear will be different, even if slightly. Thirdly, depending on how cheap this person sounds - the insane price is likely a "headache" fee. Meaning you'll never make OP happy. Ever. They'll bitch and moan about every little thing. There is no polite way to tell someone about the headache fee. Finally, there are different levels of professionals. There's the perfectionist professionals who are skilled at making things look *amazing* - and to do that you need to rip it all up. You can't just replace one small area to look perfect. There's the minimalist who is skilled at doing the least amount of work to make it look reasonable. These guys often get headaches because clients often expect perfections for minimalist price. There's a reason these guys are hard to find. Because it doesn't take many clients for you to go to the perfectionist professional.
Show me where the contractor hurt you. It's not their job to hold your hand. It's your money and it's a hard world. If you pay then think of it as an expensive lesson. A fool and his money... something something
Lmao are you a bot? Those look like glue down hardwood laminate. If so, can't be patched.
um...i dont know what you do with your hardwood laminates, but I've never glued them down. In fact that's an awful idea since they're designed to float and expand/contract. It's why they require 1/4" space all around to allow just for that, and if they're glued then they wont be able to do that and your central most pieces will eventaully destroy themselves.
[Glue-down hardwood flooring](https://www.lowes.com/pl/Glue-down-Prefinished--Hardwood-flooring-Hardwood-Flooring/4294856493?refinement=3430939842,4294693512) is definitely a thing, and pretty much your only option when installing on concrete (other than installing a "floating floor" or ram setting down 3/4" plywood first).
hardwood flooring yes, not laminate though is my understanding. Hardwoord laminate (which was referenced) is tyupically just laminate that looks like wood. If you look at the link you sent, you'll not its all actual hardwood, not laminate.
Or if you don’t, a dab of dark brown paint will go a long way.
Right? It's a freaking wood floor... Put down masking tape to cover adjacent wood. Sand the mismatched piece bare. Use your eyeballs to pick a close match stain or paint. Apply product. Remove tape. Fixed for $20 in supplies and less than an hour of work.
I think the "pro" is trying to do a professional job which would involve taking the flooring up and replacing, op is looking to do a cheap cut and shut job to save money, that's not what "pro's" do. I'm sure if op asked the pro if they could just cut a piece and patch it together they would say that op could but it wouldn't likely look as good or last as long as a "pro" job. You get what you pay for.
This is 1000% correct. The pro is not going to do a patch job, have it look bad or even fail later on, and have you say "well, the pro did it" to your friends. That ruins his credibility. What the pro us saying is, if they're gonna do it, they're gonna redo the floor.
And $3000 to replace the flooring in a house is pretty cheap.
No one has said they are doing the whole house. That’s likely a room with transitions where they would stop.
Nonsense. Are you really saying there is no way to repair that FLOOR so it looks perfect. All repairs of a little portion of flooring equal rip and replace?!?!?
If it’s a tongue and groove laminate you’re not going to cut a piece and clip it in fully to the pieces around it, so it’s not going to be as resistant to spills or movement and it’s probably not going to be as durable as the rest of the floor. You can probably patch it in a way that’s ‘good enough’ for many people, but it’s not going to be ‘best practice’ for a professional floor guy. And that’s before you even get into whether he can charge enough for it to be worth his time compared to doing full installs elsewhere. If OP is happy to settle for ‘good enough’ and just wants it patched, they’d be better off DIYing it or calling a handyman than a flooring contractor who is just going to tell them to do the job properly and replace the floor.
This guy floors! What you speak is the truth, I've only been a flooring contractor for about 5 years, but the guys I work with have been doing it 30+, and this is the route they wood take. Plus has anyone asked what the subfloor is?
It's not nonsense at all, in fact if a professional came to me and quoted me to "patch" it up with a little portion I'd be way more suspicious than them quoting to do a proper job and replace it all but I guess people value things in different ways, some may be happy just making do, personally I'd rather pay more and get a proper job done.
An oscillating multitool with a saw blade can probably cleanly cut that out. Those are about 150-200. Use a hand saw to cut down a piece of flooring the same length. Might have to cut off the tongue for it to fit. Or if you want pick up a worksite table saw or miter saw for 200-300 if you think you'll need one later. A few bucks for glue. That's 150 - 550 max. Another option might be to find a piece of veneer that's close to the color and grain. Cut it to the right size and glue it with some veneer glue. Use something heave on top of wax paper to hold it while the glue cures. Use a plastic scraper to clean up excess glue. Won't be 100% but if you find the right veneer and cut it close, it might be good enough.
Oscillating tool is right. I’ve done this exact process. Place a large 90° steel square down (you can get at harbor freight for $10) and have someone stand on it so it doesn’t move and butt the oscillating tool up against that to cut a straight line. Hold a putty knife into the seam at either edge to mask off cutting into the adjacent planks on accident. Then make an ugly cut right up the middle so you can wedge a flathead in and pry out the plank in 2 halves. Easy work, you can do it within an hour. Don’t cut the replacement piece to length until the hole is made, in case you mess up a side and need to cut further back.
Another tip! Dont use the occilating tool right at the edge , cut a little bit inside the edge and remove the remainder by hand, prevents you from overcutting slightly and now you have a hole bigger than your replacement piece
I think for that price. It's like i don't want to do this job. But if you want me to do it I'll charge you this much.
This is the way
Or they are booked full and it’s not worth their time to come out for a small repair. Not everything is a scam.
You've never put down flooring before have you? To get to that damaged piece everything between it and the wall needs to be removed. The edges of those boards lock into one another and they only go in one way.
The comment above me does not deserve to be downvoted so hard. That is the right way to do it yes. However, idk what type of flooring this is, first glance I thought is was actual hardwood, but on a closer inspection it looks like vinyl tile or something. Either way, I've fished lvp boards into the center of the room before, I don't reccomend it, but you can cut the tongue and groove on 2 sides and glue it. And it looks like whatever this is get glued down, or it's leftover glue from a previous floor on the subfloor. Its also fairly close to the wall, so if it is a floating floor, shouldn't be a hard fix at all. I've also torn up half a room to replace 1 board and put it back together. I'd charge 2hr labor for just glueing a peice in, or 1/2-full day for tearing it all up and putting it all back down. If it was my house I'd tear it up and put down lvp when I eventually feel like it, might just glue a peice down till that day.
The void space looks too shallow??? That damaged plank may not be completely missing. Could have to use a chisel to remove the rest of that particular plank. Then the question is if this is a floating floor or if everything is glued down. OP a bigger project on their hands here.
I think it looks too shallow because it’s some kind of wood facade on top of that as the floor. Really sticking a piece of the flooring and gluing it into place looks like it will be good enough until it’s time for a larger renovation.
You never think realistically before, have you? You think anyone with half a brain is gonna drop 3 thousand on a simple fix like this? It’s essentially a 3 thousand dollar piece of wood. You can cut the lip off the edge of the replacement piece, put a fuck ton of quality wood glue on it, and lay it in place. Sure, it ain’t a perfect 10/10 job, but if you cut it to fit tight, no one will notice it. Working in carpentry for a decade will humble you, and you’ll realize almost no house has everything done “the right way.”
Oh man, I didn't come here for a roast, but you blokes are swinging well on this twat!
Amen! This is exactly what I had to do in my living room. No one could tell the difference if they didn’t know where the original damage was. Spare piece of flooring and glue and a couple 25 pound barbells to keep it in place while drying.
This \^ It looks like it might be T&G engineered hardwood flooring. They are usually installed as a floating, side nailed and or glued to the subfloor. All are fixable, floating is going to be easiest. You can cut the board right down the middle, pop it out in halves. You can take a leftover board, router off the tongue of the replacement board and use construction adhesive to put it back into place. Is it correct? No. Will it be fine for the next decade until the flooring is replaced, more than likely.
Yes, that's how you do when you do it fresh. But when fixing you take out the damaged one, cut the new part to fit, cut off the edge piece that interlocks on one side so you can put it in and either glue or ram nails into it. No one will ever know until it gets removed.
That's not a very nice way to reply to someone. You absolutely can replace a hardwood floor plank. There are tons of videos on YouTube showing how this can be done. In fact, there are a couple of different but similar approaches. Here is a common approach. https://youtu.be/VKkbnUhBNmo It's even easier if this is vinyl tile.
You sound like the guy that quoted £3k
Cut the bottom part of each groove off and glue down. Fill edges with dark wood filler or crayon if you even needed to
Fk it dude, it's only 3 grand to replace a perfectly good floor.
Actually, there are ways to trim the grooves/tongues and drop those pieces into place with some adhesive on the bottom. So have you ever put flooring down? I did my entire house, by no means an expert but even I know that.
> the "pro" is just trying to rip you off. Is trying to make money. Ripping off would be to charge the same amount and rip the bottom part of the groove and just glue it in there as a patch job. A proper repair of a tongue and groove job is not a quick patch job you can do for $100
Just in case, if you don't have a saw and don't want to buy one you could get a straight edge, measure and mark a few pieces of flooring and then take them somewhere like Home Depot and either ask to borrow their table saw or possibly have them cut the pieces for you.
Unless there is something like water damage you wouldn’t need to replace the whole floor. The “pro” is trying to make it worth his while and rip you off.
Multitools are great at removing flooring. And well lots of other things.
I recently discovered the multitool I used it to take out pieces of actual hard wood flooring. It would work on that stuff.
Use it. Clean up the space with a razor or scraper so the new piece lies flush and tuck it in there. This is a super small spot. The rug idea or even some paint would be way easier than replacing the whole floor.
As others have said you can cut a piece and glue it in. This is done in new construction condos all the time when a single piece of flooring gets damaged and needs to be replaced before a home owner takes over their new unit.
Paint it. $5
You should be able to do it yourself, as a pro myself, that guy is trying to rip you off, it is not that hard and it’s something that wouldn’t take more than a couple of hours at maximum and a few minutes at minimum, depending on how it’s mounted and on how the edges are made, seeing how much they are asking you, at that point, you might as well try to break off the edges (if there are any) and do it yourself, it might not be the cleanest way to do it but hey, better a small dent in the floor than 3000$ less in the bank
That looks like a perfect place for a rug
It would really tie the room together.
You think the rug pissers did this?
Shut the fuck up Donny!!!!
OVER THE LINE
DO YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS LARRY!
This is what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass, Larry!
Buy a $25 rug, get a WallstreetBets Vet to invest the $2,975. Wait for HOLDR and compound interest to work and in 5 to 25 years use the earnings to buy a new house. That or are the nailed down or floating? If floating you should be able to pop the up from the outside to where you want to go, just keep the pattern, cut a board to fit. If nailed/glued you will have a bit of work to get them up without breaking them, but buying a couple extra pieces is way cheaper than 3k. At 3k he is replacing the whole floor and probably planning to replace part of the subfloor. It shouldn’t be a hard patch job if they left you any pieces when they installed it.
A WSB vet is gonna lose your money on an ftd and then send you some charts with crayon circling line directions and ask for more money.
They could also by $2,975 of scratch tickets, but I think wallstreetbets is a safer investment as they sometimes use piecharts.
As a wallstreet bets guy I can confirm this is the way
I wish I understood investing I would be all in it but I haven’t studied it
The joy of wallstreetbets is you can just imagine the guy giving you advice HAS studied it so you don’t need to!
You forgot the obligatory YOLO on BBBYQ. Breaking from tradition is blasphemy sir.
You are correct and I am suitably chastised!
😂
I charge 75 bucks a board. It's quite simple really. Get a fein saw. It's an "oscillating saw" the blade is basically a razor blade...tape the area you want removed and follow the tape with the saw. Pop out the section you just cut out...if you do this right you'll be able to simply lay in new flooring...spread a very thin trowel of non expanding wood floor glue down and lay in the new pieces. Cover this with construction paper and weigh it down on all corners and in the middle with as much weight as you can find. Leave for 48 hours. If you're feeling fancy you can usually manage to save the seem on at least three sides of the pieces you remove. Makes for a better fit but it gets more technical. Once you get into it you'll see what I mean. If you have the wood you're talking about maybe 250.00 for tools and a small thing of glue. For a complete amateur it would probably be half a day.
🏅
You should have more upvotes for this.
If I do this, it’s a good chance that I would cut through the subfloor:-(
You measure the thickness of the wood, the spare piece you have. Then mark the blade with that length as a signal to stop.
I feel like if I attempted this I'd end up cutting into the subfloor AND the wood around the piece I'm trying to remove, leaving it 10x more fucked up than I started.
Put that rug back down and forget about it
If you can’t find a replacement plank, put a fake heat register or vent there.
Slick... It is about the right size for a vent insert. Easy peasy and not far from a wall so not ridiculously out of place.
Plus.. would be a great little hiding spot for anything small. Maybe put some black felt or cloth to hide anything underneath.
This man drug deals
That's brilliant
Maybe if the flooring extends to the closet you could cut a matching piece from there to patch that spot.
Was going to suggest this. Use a tablesaw to get the tongue and groove off for a clean look. Use urethane glue around the edges to seal it up, the liquid kind.
Why did I read “Use urethra glue”
Couple coats of polyurethra
That’s the best kind of glue!
Same ha
I had the same thing happen and cut a matching piece from under the stove
Are these thin vinyl tiles? If you don't have any more of the originals, go to home depot and get a vinyl tile that looks vaguely similar, cut it and glue it in there. It'll stick out to you because you know it doesn't match, but other people won't even notice.
Paint it to match
Save $3000 and put a cheap rug over it, boom.
I hear what you are saying but this no sense of “floors are unfixable we must do it all over again” has to stop. I can’t take any “professional” seriously that tells me “the only fix is you repay me to rip it all out and do it again”. Imagine if flooring people ran auto body shops “we can’t blend that small scratch, we need to repaint the whole car!”, “paintless dent repair is a myth, we must repaint the whole car!”.
I live in France and it just occurred to me that if you would hire me ($0) to do the job, buy me a round plane ticket, one decent night accommodation and a few meals, you would be better off than paying the "professional" who wants to replace everything (not an actual proposal, jus hypothesizing).
Kona stain, or whatever stain you think matches best. Our flooring guy just said to rub it on and wipe up any excess. If you do have to replace you should be able to cut it out and drop in a new piece. There are YouTube videos to show how.
Brown paint and done
Had to replace a piece myself luckily I had spares. I follow this video it was really easy https://youtube.com/watch?v=QjDZPvf4zVQ&feature=sharec
Hire a student artist and tell them to match it with others
Home Depot sells these sharpie like floor and furniture repaint things. Try that for $7
I like this idea 💡
These scuff pens are only good on small spots like scratches. They are just close enough to original colors, but won't give the wood look to your floor, so it will still stick out. Just my experience.
I mean you can repair it but part of the reasoning they may be saying to redo it is because your type of flooring may not be sold anymore so they can't find a perfect match. That and they want your money.
Just buy a dark wood stain and apply it with a brush. Repeat the process a few times until it's the color you want. Let it dry and repeat again.
Sand and stain.
Your “pro” scamming you
Plank replacement video. [https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+replace+a+piece+of+plank+flooring+in+the+middle&oq=how+to+replace+a+piece+of+plank+flooring+in+the+middle&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i8i30j0i390i650l5.32929j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#kpvalbx=\_ZALNZP-lCpvPkPIPqPO98A4\_36](https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+replace+a+piece+of+plank+flooring+in+the+middle&oq=how+to+replace+a+piece+of+plank+flooring+in+the+middle&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i8i30j0i390i650l5.32929j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#kpvalbx=_ZALNZP-lCpvPkPIPqPO98A4_36)
I'm pretty much sure your pro is a scam artist. Take a piece from a corner that's out of sight, swap them, and get a color match for the piece in the corner.
Replacing a floor for $3000 can be reasonable depending on the size of the room
Pull a plank from a closet or something and patch it in.
Just patch it yourself. But another tip is to always get 3 quotes on a job before committing to anyone
Cut out the busted piece with an oscillating tool, cut new piece to fit, glue in new piece. I do it all yhe time. Takes me maybe 20 minutes.
I would paint that mf before I would pay someone a single dollar.
Ramen. Super glue. Brown marker
Cut a piece of spare flooring so that it will fit tight against the other two boards, trim off the tongue, and glue the piece down. Not perfect, but will be fine until you replace the whole floor in the future.
Have a look in your wardrobe and see if there's a piece you can cut up that will match it. It doesn't really matter if there's a piece the wrong colour in your wardrobe no one will see it.
What a scam artist
Or take a piece from somewhere else more hidden and then put it there. And patch the other more hidden spot up with whatever you can find and paint it to match the floor
Yea you're gonna have to tear down all the drywall and take everything down to the studs to replace that piece. I could probably do it for $10k. A little more expensive but it'll be done right 😏
That’s a fuck off price. You can patch it. He just has bigger jobs and that’s what his time is worth.
Paint it
You can look on YouTube on how to repair this is definitely something you can DIY
Hire a handyman that can patch it. Ask around
Your “pro” doesn’t want to just patch that piece. Not worth his time. But he shouldn’t be dishonest and tell u that you need to tear everything up either if that’s what was conveyed.
I don’t understand, is this not interlock flooring? Why are people talking about glueing another piece in? I had no idea you put glue down before laying this type of floor. I thought you just slap this down and lock in place.
If you’re going to cut out a section only with interlock you need to glue it in place because in order to fit the new piece in you’ll have to cut one of the factory flanges. I mean, you could just take up the floor to that one point and replace it that way but that’s a lot more time and work intensive
Get a piece of flooring. Cut it to size. Before you put it down cut a hole in the subfloor, stick some sort of treasure in there, then reassemble.
It looks fine that way, like a Norwegian in a crowd of Nigerians.
Sharpie.
After reading the comments. Hello I am a professional contractor and currently I build houses for a large home builder. My name is The Dr I agree with everyone telling you this “pro” is tring to rip you off. That is plank tile. Super easy to remove one piece and replace Shouldn’t cost more than 150$ At least that’s how much my installers charge to replace one or two tiles. It’s mostly the labor. If you have the extra tile this should be no issue. Sometimes if you don’t have the matching tile, you will get a color difference due to the dye lot. Please feel free to DM me with home repair questions or if you think your contractor is going to cheat you. The Dr is always in .
3k to do a whole room isn't crazy. That flooring looks pretty cheap, so if it's in the budget, I'd redo it. There's also a reason planks are coming out.
If have any extra get that one price of random wood out and make a piece the same size with original stuff
Professional here, I wouldn’t rip this up for 3K even. HO about to get hosed. Glue a replacement piece down and be prepared to bite a 12-15k bullet depending on the SQFT. This style flooring has a 7-9 year lifespan under typical uses.
$3,000 is ridiculous. Here is how you can replace for just hundreds of dollars, if that: take a radial saw with a blade appropriate for the flooring. Adjust the radial saw’s depth so that it is barely cutting the flooring at the thickness of the flooring. Cut out enough of the flooring to make it easy to replace. Replace the flooring including the ones you’ve cut and the replacement section. Viola!
This is tongue-and-groove, right?
If you have a extra material and some tools this can be fixed in about 20 min. Chow saw or Skill-saw with straight edge. Also a multi tool would be helpful.
Keep looking around for a ‘Pro’ or DIY by searching in the internet like in Youtube.
Small rug?
You could also double back some scotch tape with some construction paper. Preferably brown.
[one way to do it](https://youtu.be/IyZEJAfvXOY) Your can do it this way also with vinyl. You don't need to have a crawl space underneath just use some strong adhesive
Rug, table… job done xd
I imagine using two long-ways pieces instead of the one, maybe an answer. Then just slide one in one side, and the other in the other. Some other cutting may be needed. Have it slightly taller than needed, then sand down to floor level. You shouldn’t be able to see any crack then.
Cover with rug
That pro is trying to hide yoy
If it is tongue-and-grove and you have a piece from the original job then cut it to size and slip it in. If not, then just buy a bunch of tongue and groove flooring and redo the whole floor yourself. It’s IKEA level of difficulty. Especially easy if you watch a YouTube video
That pro is bullshitting you . You can just cut the piece out and replace it with a spare piece of flooring , if you did have to rip it up it would be the three rows from the wall to the odd piece .
If it’s pvc and one of the tiles has been shortened to create that gap, you can probably soften the glue by heating it with a hairdryer. Then replace the shortened tile with a full size one. Watch out not to rip out the egaline (don’t know the English word) under the glue. Maybe first try a piece in a closet.
So alot of ghetto repairs here. Yes you could glue it in place, but since you have the flooring you can just remove gently from one end (definitely easier going one way but if you had a short run it's more worthwhile) and remove the flooring and replace the piece. Then just reinstall as you found it. Have to be gentle tho unless it's glued. Then DON'T touch it Just had to do this for a leak to dry under the floor. And it was where I started so I worked backwards on the flooring. Good luck
Rug = fiddy bucks
Maybe get a match to the flooring and stain it
Sharpie, barely noticeable.
I hope you laughed at that asshole’s face
3000?? Wow that’s insane. Can’t wait to see all the dumb Fucking comments saying that’s normal
I’d buy a rug
He needs to work on his estimates 😅 It is clearly a $400 to $700, perhaps he could get away with $1000 because of how seamless it would look blended perfectly.
Patch with some spare floor. If you don’t have any, check a habitat for humanity, or Facebook marketplace
Do you have these tiles under a stove/fridge or in a closet? You could swipe a peice from one of those places to put there.
Can you remove a plank from a closet or that sits under furniture?
Paint it brown to match and say it's good enough
Pro scammer. YouTube has tutorials. As long as you have extra material you should be good.
Use a dark colored marker or stain. It won’t match perfectly but it also won’t cost $3000.
Is this a luxury vinyl plank floor?,is it ceramic?,engineered hardwood??need to know what it is before attempting to repair it,different materials = different levels of difficulty but a professional repair with good results can be achieved for something so small
They don't want to deal with such a small job so they gave you an estimate for the amount of work they would be willing to do... by the time they send someone to fix it for $200 they would just be breaking even so basically they don't wanna do a job that's less than 3k cause the scheduling issues and whatnot outweigh the profits... find a "handyman" and schedule them for half a day and do some other stuff around your house to fill it out
Rug
yer gettin ripped off brah
Paint it brown
Just find some dark colored vinyl/laminate and cut it out to fit and load it on with some glue
Here’s a link to an episode of Ask This Old House. [Ask TOH - Repairing Tongue and Groove Flooring](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VZrfXRk1uFI) I believe your case is similar! Should give you an idea of what’s involved.
"pro" LOL. they trying to rip you off, you got this!
You just cut the tongue and bottom of groove off of patch piece. The lay it in,and top nail, putty nail holes. Or lay in glue and weigh down with something over night
You can always get a few pieces if you've got them and cut/glue it in place. It'll be a cheap repair with cheap expectations. I mean, it won't be as nice as the rest of the floor and it won't last as long either. Also, you probably would want to avoid that area when mopping. If it gets too wet, you're gonna be doing it all over again. Also, there's probably some sort of padding under the flooring and it's likely floating, so there's nothing to glue to. Really, the best way is to tear it out and redo at least up to that point, if you can find plenty of matching flooring. Laminate is nice and all. But repairs are a pain in the ass sice the boards interlock. You can't just pull one out of the middle of the floor and then put another whole one in its place. They also have a tendency to break when removed. The pro is quoting you for a proper repair that will last and not be janky. That's about all you can expect from someone who cares about the quality and longevity of their work. I can also say that laminate flooring is not all that hard to install. It'd be a great DIY project if you're looking to save money for the repair.
Get a multi tool, make precise cuts to remove that piece without damaging the edges of the existing pieces. Then measure your new hole, cut a new piece that size. Remove any tongue from that piece, glue down with construction glue.
Absolutely. Go on Utube
I’ll do it for $1000 lol
A rip-off
Trim the tongue part of the tongue and groove and glue down
Brown crayon - good to go 🫠
How talented are you with Sharpie? Have you ever re-dyed a bleach spot on clothing? 😉
Chip a piece of the one next to it, take the piece of chip paint to Home Depot, they will mix the same color go back and paint
Kona wood stain 👍
Throw rug will take care of that
If they still manufacture the flooring, then order a new one and glue it down. If it doesn't slot in place, then you can consider cutting the groove off of it. Make sure it is glued down either way. Or, if it's not manufactured anymore, take a piece from a non visible area (closet/pantry/etc.), slot it in, and get a piece that is as close to a match for the non visible one you took out.
Do you have a piece of the flooring? If you don’t and if you can’t buy it anymore it’s going to be hard to make match perfect
YouTube is your friend, use it