Hi Blondie (feels weird starting off a conversation with that, but oh well... :-D)

I'm Rob and I actually work at BuildDirect. Clearly my personal experiences aren't really what you're after. But, please let me know what your specific concerns are. Maybe I can help to dig up some information you'll need in order to help you make up your mind about making a purchase. I'm not a sales guy, but I'll see if I can answer any questions you've got. In the meantime, I'll check in on this thread as it develops to see how things are going.

Cheers!
Rob
BuildDirect

Here is a link that might be useful: BuildDirect blog

Hi Rob,

Thanks for responding.

My specific concern comes from the complaints I have seen online of builddirect not standing behind their product when product doesn't hold up as hoped.

Mostly the answer customers have gotten have to do with the product being manufactured in China. On a personal level, given all of the filthy water and sewerage contamination we're hearing about in some products imported from China, I am reluctant to go that route.

I have a few samples here, and one of the solid hardwood French bleed samples I just loved was immediately nixed by my husband because it was not a wide plank but rather two narrow boards glued together. That concerns me.

I am looking for 1700 sf, so for me, this floor is an investment. I want to be careful with my budget, but not through my money away on a floor that comes with regrets, so I posted to hear other homeowner experiences.

I am about to check with BBB and will continue my search online, hoping others here will chime in.

Thank you.

bump

Hello again, Blondie

I definitely understand that you want to do your research before you invest in a floor. It's a long term investment and you want to get it right. Most of our customers, and really all savvy flooring consumers, are taking similar steps to making the right choice by doing their research.

I've had a chat with the salesperson about the product you talked about. You're right on two counts. The product is manufactured in China, and it is comprised of two planks fused together.

A couple of points on this. The process of fusion still results in a floor that lends structural stability, which is one of the reasons you'd buy a solid hardwood floor. The manufacturer is based in New Jersey, with a factory in China. This means that products made there adhere to North American standards. We're in direct contact with the production process. If you were to buy, you'd deal with us, not with them. Also, the finish on the product is German - Klumpp brand, which is widely known as a trusted finish industry-wide.

We've not had any product-related claims on this particular choice. And we do have a 30-day money back guarantee on all products. You can send me an email to robjones(at) builddirect(dot com) if you have any questions or need more detail.

I hope this has been helpful. Let me know if you have any other questions, and again, please feel free to email me if you need to. Otherwise, I'll continue to watch this thread to see if I can help any further.

Cheers!

Here is a link that might be useful: BuildDirect Blog

I can give my experience and it is not pretty. If there is a way to post pics, let me know so I can show you what Build Direct sent to me.
I have ordered twice from them over the past 3 years. This time the amount I needed with flooring was miscalculated and I was 3 boxes short. (30 pieces) I called and talked to Julian, who was very pleasant and I told him what happened and how I needed to order 3 more boxes. I didn't care for the fact that AFTER my credit card was taken I was informed that I would have to drive to PA to pick up my boxes. I told Julian I had a UPS account number as we own a business. He took my number and then hours later I received an email from him saying that B.D doesn't do that and I would have to set it up for pick up. He told me to let UPS know that it would be 3 boxes weighing 43 pounds each.
3 days later the UPS guy came here with 1 box that was taped all together with 20 REJECT pieces thrown into it.
I am currently waiting for a response from them. I am nervous now as the last room isn't finished, and I still have no flooring. I am sitting here in tears this morning with how totally unprofessional they are.

Have spoken with a Stefan. UPS notified me that 2 boxes were picked up and the second one was to be delivered today. Meanwhile, Stefan said that they had no problem sending me out 3 new cartons, but once again I would have to pay for the shipping. Mind you, it cost me 66.00 via UPS. Got the second box delivered just a little bit ago and if it was possible, this one is even worse. I just emailed them and stated that I refuse to pay for shipping as they were clearly at fault here and this is plain out deceptive practices. Waiting on a reply. UPS informed me that Build Direct knew exactly what they were doing having me be the payer and shipper. This way it looks like I was sending this to myself and with it being damaged goods, etc., I would be the one eating all charges.

I ordered my floors in April, I was told they'd be here in June because they were backordered. Then June came and went and I was told July. Well you've guessed it, I still don't have them and it's the end of August!!! I was told last week my floors have arrived and should be shipped this week. I'm not holding my breath...& let's hope IF they do come they will be good quality and that I ordered enough. I'd hate to wait even longer :( and I have to pick the pallet up an hour away when/IF they ever arrive. Needless to say I'm frustrated and I'm about to request my money back!! I'll update you if I ever get my floors and how they look...I hope BD can redeem themselves with good quality for the price :)

I just received a shipment email saying my floors will arrive next Wednesday. I was suppose to pick them up an hour away from my house(even after paying $500 shipping) BUT I received an email saying they will arrive at my home now :) I am very pleased with them making special arrangements so I don't have to worry about making the drive to pick them up. I am anxiously awaiting their delivery :)

Bad, in a word. The flooring I recieved will not click together. I've had a professional come in to look at it and he said the product is not worth trying to install. I am so disappointed that after doing so much research I could have gone to HD and got 68 cent square foot laminate that goes together like a dream. Still waiting to hear from BD.

Purchased over 2000 sq feet of Build Direct Vanier Santos Mahogany engineered flooring in August 2011. Installation begain in September 2011, and about a week after installation of the majority of flooring was complete. Began to see cracks, and even one case of delamination where the top layer separates from the underlying plywood. Further installation stopped and the company was notified and sent photo documentation. Took many weeks for BD to send an inspector who took about 35 mins, did not even look at unused wood with cracking and delamination, did not do subfloor moisture measurements, did not even look at downstairs wood flooring, and then submitted a report without any conclusions or statements regarding the reason/responsibility for problem. Build Direct however made an determination that the problem was due to installer errors. I hired an independent certified wood flooring inspector who spent 3 1/2 hours doing a thorough study of the flooring with multiple measurements of moisture in the flooring and subfloor, and looked at all areas of flooring and unused flooring. He concluded that delamination and cracks are a manufacturing issue. So far, Build Direct has only offered to sell me DIFFERENT flooring material at a discounted price. That means 10's of thousands of dollars of additional cost to me, to rip up the current ugly flooring, reprepare the subfloor, repurchase new flooring and reinstall this flooring, and reinstall baseboards and paint touch up; all for something that an independent certified wood flooring inspector has stated is a manufacturing issue. My home has remained empty for months as this issue has not been resolved, and the flooring appears to worsen with each passing week. Build Direct is located in Canada making sueing them difficult, and their product is made in China. I would never ever again consider buying from them.

I certainly don't want to bad mouth the company, as I don't know much about them, but unhappy consumers should "hold their feet to the fire" in cases such as this one. It may be difficult to sue, because you or your attorney would need to do so in the Canadian jurisdiction, but it is not impossible.

Everyone in the flooring business has at times found themselves unknowingly selling defective merchandise or products that do not meet marketability standards. However, that does not excuse the business from liability. Your expert would have to prove that the product is defective or not suitable to be marketed for the given purpose.

Sometimes it is not the flooring that is the problem, but rather the house wherein it is installed.

Folks please note that BuildDirect either in private email communication or via discussion on this or any forum has answered the question of:

1) Why they discount the opinion of a certified wood flooring inspector who stated in his written report that the dozens of delaminations in the floor I purchased from BuildDirect is, and I quote, a "manufacturing responsibility."

BuildDirect does not honor its warranty; stay away from them.

I seem to be in the large group who received very sub-standard product from Build Direct. BD was understandably unable to rectify situation as their business appears to be hawking really poorly manufactured products. Don't make mistake I did and do your research and find a reputable distributor of quality products.

Hi blonde, I know it is flooring but I purchased cedar decking from build direct earlier this year. The only trouble I had was the the way it was handled in shipping. I called build direct sent them a pic of the damage and they immediately offered to send out replacements. In fact I had ordered extra and stopped the order and took the refund. The only bad news was I figured each board cost with shipping and they refunded only the cost of the board. Still the deck looks great and I was pleased with their customer service. I personally thought it was a sub contractor issue.

Here is a picture of the flooring that I purchased from BuildDirect; It delaminated and had to be torn up and replaced by another manufacturers product. BuildDirect refused to honor their 25 yr structural warranty, made nonsensical excuses contradicted by their own inspectors measurements, ignored an independent certified flooring inpectors assignment of fault as manufacturing responsibility, and hide behind their Terms of Service preventing small claims lawsuits. Avoid repeating my mistake, buy from an American retailer!! Here is a pic of the floor I spent 10K on from BuildDirect; had to rip it up and start over.

While I had an ok experience with their sales rep, I concur with most of the other posters here that BuildDirect products are not the best quality. I wrote up a lengthy note to them but other than apologize there was nothing more that they did. I bought over 2400 sq feet of their "Premiere" Santos Mahogany flooring but there were too many defects and plank distribution skewed towards shorter pieces (2' or less) in each box (between 40-60% per box).

I would not recommend buying products from them. Another colleague of mine recently bought almost the exact same flooring locally and for nearly the same price (without paying for shipping which was around $800 in total for me).

My advice is find a good and reputable retailer locally who will deliver and stand behind their product.

I too have had a bad experience with a product sold to me by Build Direct. It is from Yanchi Stained Horizontal Handscraped Collection, color: Appleton Cinnamon #1, Dimensions: 960X132X15MM, SKU:#10088121, Made in China. SHIPMENT WAS DELIVERED ON 03/31/14 . It sat for more then two weeks to acclimate to the house. After it was installed and the house was complete we noticed that after a damp cloth laid on it for less then 5 mins. it started forming a white stain that would not go away. We also noticed that it scratched very easily. When we got the on line Brochure it stated that it would wear like stone. This turned out to be untrue. We contacted Build Direct immediately. Over time we told them we would except a floor being sanded down and re-finished even though we will loose the hand scraped finish. We got two estimates As per Build Direct. They came back and said they would only pay half of the lower estimate because the warranty did not cover moisture.(I should have seen the rest coming) They had us pick an inspector from their list of certified wood flooring inspectors. They claim the inspector said it was due to excessive moisture. I have yet to see this report. This has been going on for over a year and a half. I think they think I am just going to go away. The story continues. I guess this is just an other bad review hidden on the internet somewhere. Poor Chinese building products surface again.

As a real estate investor I was excited to find builddirect as I hoped to install their click and lock laminate flooring in 8 townhouses I am remodeling. I've ordered several samples and expect them tomorrow but after reading these reviews it seems obvious that any savings I hoped to accomplish would be far too minor to justify installing the horrible product you folks describe. Should have known this was too good to be true. As usual, you get what you pay for. .

I am having EXTREME difficulty with build direct right now. They sent me 1100 sq feet of defective flooring. I sent multiple photos showing the defects on almost every piece and now they are telling me they cant find a freight carrier to come pick it up! they use ABF who has been totally unresponsive and tells me they are really busy and cant find a local trucking company to pick this up. Its been over a week! They are using me as a storage facility and cant refund me my money until a truck comes! so my credit card is maxed out, I have no where to store anything because the flooring is taking up my entire garage, and paying interest on the $4500 on my card. Not to mention the money I had to spend for the installers who showed up...what a mess...

Wow. I wanted to purchase about 2,400 of hardwood flooring, but now I think I'm going to have to look elsewhere. This is really disappointing. if anyone has any suggestions I'd appreciate hearing them.