Referral Flooring Hamilton · Burlington
Referral Flooring Referral FlooringBurlington, Ontario 289-689-4242 Book a free estimate
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Pick your floor at your own kitchen table.

We bring the samples to your home so you choose your floor in your own light. It comes with the free estimate.

Free in-home samples Old floor gone the same day 1 year warranty
A finished Referral Flooring job: a coffered-ceiling living room floored wall to wall in warm oak, with the bay window light running down the length of the plank
Step 1 of 4
What are we flooring?

Pick the closest one. We sort out the details when we are there.

What is down there now?

This is the one that decides how much comes out before anything goes in.

Do you already have the flooring?

Plenty of people buy it themselves and just want it installed properly. Either is fine.

Where do we come, and when?

The visit is free, and nothing is owed at the end of it.

No obligation. We reply the same day.

Service area
It comes to you

The samples ride along with the estimate. Solid hardwood, engineered, vinyl plank and carpet, on your floor, in your light.

Their own services list
The old floor leaves

Carpet, tile, hardwood, vinyl, subfloor, baseboard and casing goes out in the truck the day it comes up. It does not sit in your garage.

Same-day disposal, confirmed
Backed for a year

Floor repair and installation carry a one year warranty. You call the same number you called the first time.

1 year warranty, confirmed
Covered and insured

WSIB coverage and liability insurance, both current. Ask for the clearance certificate before anyone starts, from us or from anybody else you are considering.

Owner's own statement

What we actually do differently

The van parks in your driveway.

Most flooring companies ask you to drive to a warehouse, stand under fluorescent lights, and pick a floor for a room they have never seen. We think that is backwards. So the samples come to your house, get laid on the floor they are replacing, next to your cabinets and your furniture, and you take as long as you want.

You get a firm number before we leave. If you do not like it, that is the end of it, and it has cost you nothing.

  • Solid hardwood
  • Engineered flooring
  • Vinyl plank
  • Carpet
  • Moulding profiles
  • Floor registers
  • Felt pads
  • Cleaning supplies

What is in the van at every estimate

A finished dining and living room, the floor reading mid-brown in the room's own daylight rather than under store lighting

The whole job, one company

Including the parts most crews quietly sub out.

Stair and railing installation. Hardwood floor refinishing. Joist planing and subfloor levelling. Flush-mount vents that sit level with the plank instead of perched on top of it. One list, one company from Burlington to Waterdown to St. Catharines, and one number to call if something is not right.

A curved staircase with wood treads and iron spindles, the stair and railing work most flooring crews subcontract out

Removal

Same-day disposal included

  • Carpet
  • Tile
  • Hardwood
  • Vinyl
  • Subfloor
  • Baseboard and door casing

Prep and repair

Covered by the 1 year warranty

  • Joist planing
  • Subfloor planing
  • Self-levelling cement
  • Concrete grinding, low dust
  • Full subfloor screw-down
  • Subfloor installation

Installation

Furniture moving included

Finishing

The part that gets skipped

  • Baseboard and casing installation
  • Painting or staining to match
  • Flush-mount vent installation
  • Vent cleaning
  • Moulding profiles supplied
  • Floor registers supplied

What it is like to live here that week

Nobody's real question is "what does hardwood cost".

It is how long the house is a construction site, and who is tracking dust through it. So here is the whole thing, in order, start to finish.

  1. 01

    The estimate

    We measure, you pick from the van, and you get a number before we leave the house.

  2. 02

    Tear-out

    The old floor, baseboard and casing come up and go straight in the truck. Same day, not next week.

  3. 03

    Prep

    Joists and subfloor get planed, screwed down and levelled. This is the unglamorous part that decides how the floor ages.

  4. 04

    Install

    We move the furniture. Doors get cut so they clear. The floor goes down the way that material is meant to go down.

  5. 05

    Trim

    Baseboard and casing back on, painted or stained to match what is already there.

  6. 06

    You get your house back

    Vents set flush and cleaned, furniture back where it started, floor clean.

The measurable part

How flat is flat enough?

Almost every floor that fails, fails underneath. It gets blamed on the wood. The trade actually has published numbers for this, and they are the reason the boring part of the job is the part worth paying for.

These are the industry figures, not our own. Every one of them is quoted from the current national installation guidelines, and the source is linked so you can check us.

  • How flat does a subfloor have to be?

    For nail-down installs using fasteners 1½" and longer, the subfloor should be flat to within ¼" over 10 feet, or 3/16" over 6 feet. For glue-down, floating and shorter fasteners, which covers most vinyl plank and engineered work, it tightens to 3/16" over 10 feet, or 1/8" over 6 feet.[1] That is the difference between planing and levelling a subfloor and hoping for the best.

  • Why do gaps open up every winter?

    Wood moves with the air around it. The guidelines define appropriate conditions for solid wood as an interior kept between 30% and 50% relative humidity and 60 to 80°F.[1] An Ontario house running dry through February sits well under that, which is why boards shrink apart in winter and close back up in July. Normal, and not a defect.

  • Does new flooring really need to sit in the house first?

    Hardwood is manufactured to 6 to 9% moisture content, with an allowance for some pieces up to 12%.[1] If it arrives wetter or drier than the room it is going into, it will move after it is nailed down. That is what acclimation is for, and it is why the answer is a meter reading rather than a fixed number of days.

  • What is a WSIB clearance, and should I ask for one?

    Ask for it. A clearance is a number the WSIB issues showing a business is registered and up to date with them, including premium payments and reporting.[2] It is valid for up to 90 days,[2] so it is a current document rather than a badge somebody earned once. Referral Flooring carries WSIB coverage and liability insurance and will hand you the certificate. Any contractor who will not is telling you something.

  • What about a concrete basement slab?

    Slabs get tested, not eyeballed. The guidelines specify in-slab relative humidity probes to ASTM F2170, calcium chloride to ASTM F1869, or calcium carbide testing.[1] A slab that reads too high needs a vapour retarder or a different material, and finding that out afterwards is expensive.

Sources

  1. National Wood Flooring Association, Wood Flooring Installation Guidelines, revised 2025. Flatness tolerances, interior temperature and humidity, manufactured moisture content, and concrete moisture test methods.
  2. Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario, Clearances. What a clearance confirms and how long one stays valid.
  3. National Wood Flooring Association, Technical Guidelines, the index to the current published standards.

Sources last read

More of these, quoted the same way and with their sources beside them, are on the tips page: why a new floor squeaks, cups or gaps, what can be laid over your existing tile, and whether hardwood can go in a basement.

Not our words

What that actually feels like to live with.

The section above is the published standard. This is what people who paid for the work said about it afterwards, on a public profile where we cannot edit them.

4.8 out of 5 across 45 reviews on Google · Facebook

By Max's own count, 150 to 250 floors a year for more than twenty years. Thousands of houses, most of them booked because a neighbour already had theirs done.

I recently had a new kitchen installed and the cabinet makers could not believe how level the floor is.
Lisa BaxterGoogle review
We had previously hired a contractor who was skilled at many things but had never worked with 7 inch planks before, which resulted in floor movement and squeaks.
Paula Candido WardGoogle review
Our floor needed quite a bit of work to make it level, and the guys put in a lot of extra effort to make sure that the job was done right. They are up front in their pricing.
Tracy AlkemaGoogle review
A century home, and 2 additions which had settled unevenly over time. Especially in the kitchen and dining area, there were noticeably uneven joints.
Bob WarrinerGoogle review
Despite the myriad hidden challenges a 50+ year old house presents, Max efficiently and professionally addressed all required work on time and within budget.
Phil HomerskiGoogle review
Right on time, affordable, courteous and minimal disruption to our daily lives while working on the project.
Olusola OsibeluwoGoogle review

Quoted from public Google reviews. Referral Flooring cannot edit or remove them, which is the entire reason they are worth reading.

The work

Floors in real houses, right around here.

Finished jobs. Baseboard back on, vents set flush, furniture returned, floor clean.

A living room floored wall to wall beside a brick fireplace, baseboard reinstalled and painted to match the trim
Living room
A kitchen floored in one continuous run under the island and appliances, with no transition strip at the doorways
Kitchen and island
An open plan main floor running the same board through the living, dining and kitchen areas without a break
Open plan main floor
An upstairs landing with a wood railing, turned newel post and iron spindles, matched to the floor it opens onto
Stairs and railings

See all 19 finished jobs

Before you call

The questions people actually ask.

What does new flooring cost in Hamilton or Burlington?
Four things move it, in roughly this order: what the subfloor needs before anything can go down, whether the old floor and baseboard have to come out and go away, stairs, and the material you choose. Anyone quoting the first one over the phone is guessing, because it is hidden until the old floor is up. So the number is given at the house, by Max, before he leaves, and it is firm rather than a range that moves later. The visit is free and nothing is owed either way. What actually moves a flooring quote.
How long does it take, and how many days is my house torn up?
It is set by how complicated the space is and which floor you picked, not by square footage alone. A square room with a sound subfloor is the quick case; a staircase is the slow one, because every tread is cut and fitted individually. Floating floors go down fastest, nail-down is slower, glue-down waits on the adhesive. You get a realistic schedule at the estimate rather than a best case, and the old flooring leaves the same day it comes up, so the mess does not sit around after the noisy part is over. What decides how long a job takes.
Can you put the new floor over what is already down?
We take the old floor up instead. Going over top hides whatever the subfloor is doing, and the subfloor is what decides how the new floor ages. Carpet, tile, hardwood and vinyl all come up, then the joists and subfloor get planed, screwed down and levelled before anything new goes on.
How much does it cost to remove the old flooring?
Nothing on top of the job. Removal is part of it, including the baseboard and door casing, and it goes out in the truck the same day it comes up rather than sitting in your garage waiting on a bin.
Can you refinish the hardwood I already have instead of replacing it?
Yes. Sanding and refinishing existing hardwood is one of the things we do, and it is worth asking about before you price a whole new floor. We will tell you at the estimate which one your floor is actually a candidate for.
Do you do the stairs, or do I need a second contractor?
We do them. Stairs and railings are the part a lot of flooring crews send out to somebody else, which is how you end up with two schedules and two people to chase when something does not line up.
How bad is the dust?
Concrete grinding is done low dust, and the old floor goes straight out to the truck instead of piling up in the garage. It is a renovation, so it is not nothing, but it is contained and it is gone the same day.
Do I have to move all my furniture?
No. Furniture moving is part of the job, and it goes back where it was once the floor is finished.
What about the doors that will not clear the new floor?
We cut them. Door cutting is part of the install, along with baseboard, casing, and the vents set flush into the new floor.
What if something is wrong afterwards?
Floor repair and installation carry a one year warranty. You call the same number you called the first time.

Next step

Let's get the samples on your kitchen table.

Thirty seconds to book. About an hour of your evening. No obligation, and nothing owed either way.

Book a free estimate Call 289-689-4242
Phone
289-689-4242
Email
referralflooring@gmail.com
Area
Burlington, Hamilton, Waterdown, Dundas, Stoney Creek, Ancaster, Binbrook, Grimsby, Oakville, Mississauga and St. Catharines
Samples
Brought to your home with the estimate.
Coverage
WSIB clearance and liability insurance, on request.
Call Book a free estimate