EF Marburger Fine Flooring

We hired Marburger based on a referral from a neighbor who also happened to be a former employee. From start (meeting to discuss project scope, timeline and cost) to finish (completion of installation), this was a 5-star project! We hired Marburger to replace the builder's grade vinyl flooring with a spectacular engineered hardwood. The project encompassed the entirety of our first floor - a space of approximately 1,800 square feet. The workmanship and the professionalism of the work crew exceeded our expectations, and we would hire them again in a second. There were a couple minor things we noticed after the installation and Marburger responded and addressed them immediately. True to what they told us at the outset, they stand by their work even after the job is done! We give Marburger 2 thumbs up and a 5-star recommendation to anyone considering hiring a flooring company in the greater Indianapolis area.

What Makes a Five Star Company

We had E. F. Marburger tile our foyer last year and had high expectations based on the Company’s reputation. We asked that the work be done prior to our annual Christmas Open House. It turned out to be a very problematic installation. Our front door was damaged, as was our lawn where the installers disposed of their wastewater, and most importantly the tile work itself was of poor quality. There was also damage to the hardwood floor in three rooms where those hardwood floors transitioned to the tile. I called Shirley Page at Marburger and discussed the issues with Shirley. She said that Marburger had used a crew that was new to the Company in order to meet our installation time request. At this point I would have given E. F. Marburger a single star at best.
The Company’s response to our issues was to tear out the original tile, re-level the base and have one of their best install teams do the new tile install. They did a great job. In addition, the Company paid for the repainting of our front door, re-seeding of the damaged lawn, and the repair of the damaged hardwood floor by the flooring company which originally installed the hardwood floor, even though Marburger provides the same service.

Several months later, one of the foyer tiles cracked. The Company had it replaced in a timely fashion and one could not tell that the floor had been repaired. Their installer, Tom Legge is a true craftsman.

Companies that strive to be at the top of their industry should not only be measured by how they meet initial customer expectations, but what they do when things don’t go as planned. This is what really defines the pride and culture of an organization.

This is why I now rate E. F. Marburger as a Five Star Company

Really disappointed in my first experience with EF Marburger and won’t be a returning customer. I’ll do my best to give potential customers an effective abridged version:

We had about 900-ish square feet of vinyl plank flooring installed. Our sales guy was aloof and every time he communicated with us he gave us wrong information about dates and times regarding install. The day of installation, two boxes of flooring that were sent were the wrong color. Thus, we only had half a kitchen floor done on the first day. I realize the manufacturer sent the wrong color, but EF Marburger had the boxes sitting in their warehouse for almost a month before install and no one checked to make sure my order was complete/as expected. So, we wait weeks for the rest of the color matched flooring to come in, only to be short and still not have my entire kitchen floor done after a second day of install. Clearly our sales guy measured wrong on his site visit. We had to wait another several days to get the rest of the flooring in and installed. There were more frustrations along the way, not to mention the time that had to be taken off work for 3 separate days of install. Keep in mind, this was collectively almost a month of incomplete flooring in my kitchen. Our sales guy was so poor in communication that we cut him out of the process and talked only to the 3rd party install guy who was kind and competent. In my displeasure for having to deal this this issue for way longer than was ever necessary, I call the company and get put through to the owner. I air my frustrations and she was kind and receptive. She said she’d give us a discount on the remainder of the bill (we paid half up front). I was ok with that. Fast forward almost 4 months and we haven’t received a bill. I thought that maybe because they botched my job so badly and they have such a great reputation that they’d called it even. Then, two days ago, I get an invoice for the remainder of our invoice WITH NO DISCOUNT APPLIED. I called this morning and, again, complained. Finally got a call back from the owner a little while ago and she offered a $250 dollar discount on the remaining 3k. I told her she needs to do better so she said she’d see what she could do and tended me an invoice. She finally gave us a $350 discount on a project that should have taken 6 hours but ended up taking almost a month and the bill took 4 months to get to us. That’s a discount of $11.67 per day of me not having a completed kitchen floor. That’s incredibly weak when you account for the time of project incompletion, the lack of communication and miscommunication from the sales guy, and the time that had to be taken off work for 3 separate days of install. Sorry this is long, but I get so tired of companies absolutely not caring about salvaging relationships with customers for the potential of repeat business. Mistakes get made, it’s how you rectify them that proves you value your customers. I’d have been fine if I had just been communicated with and not jerked around. Customer service is truly dead. But hey, to their credit, the flooring does look good. I’ll enjoy it with what little time on earth I have left since they took half my lifetime getting it done ??

UPDATE: The specter of my poor experience with EF Marburger looms large, even after being a first time customer (see above). Recently noticed the trim around my sliding patio door has been wicking up moisture, apparently has been for a while and the damage has just started to show. Did some investigating and found the cause. The third party guys EF Marburger contracted to install my new floor shot nails into my vinyl patio door threshold when they reinstalled the quarter round. So, water was getting in the track and draining into the nail holes, into my house, and not making it to the proper weep holes to drain outside. There is water damage underneath the new flooring, quarter round, and trim at the corners of the patio door that needs to be replaced.

The staff made this remodel so much easier for me! Two bathrooms and the kitchen were involved. The main bathroom had some tricky issues because the house sits on a slab, making it difficult to move the plumbing. E.F. Marburger hired knowledgeable subcontractors to figure out a way to make it work. I'm so pleased with the results!