Ok, so I recently bought my home and the 30 year old white oak floors were looking pretty beat up so I called a contractor to come sand and refinish the floors. The contractor was highly recommended to me by my painter who is a close family friend. So he came and priced out the job at $3,600 check or $3,000 cash for 1100sf. I told im Iwanted to go with a high gloss finish and he said that was no problem.

About a week later his guys worked 4 days, they sanded and sealed the floors the first day, did a coat of absco satin the second and third day, and on the last day did a coat of Fabulon super gloss, saying that only the final coat determines the finish. I thought it all looked great but as the guy was finishing the last few feet before the door out of the house he stopped an pointed out a footprint from a boot of dust/dirt that he had just applied polyurethane over. The footprint wasn't in the lower layers just the top coat of the gloss (it isn't raised and isn't extremely noticeable but I also don't want to pay $3,000 for a newly finished floor to get to stare at a footprint for the next ten years or so in my new house). He said it wasn't too bad but since it was wet he couldn't sand it out then. The guy then handed me a couple pieces of sandpaper and a quart of polyurethane and told me to wait 2 days, tape off the area and sand it myself to get the footprint out and then apply polyurethane just to that area. I've never done this before and was worried I'd just make it worse so I called the boss who priced the job out. He said no I cant do that they would have to come back and correct it for me and said to call him later in the week, so I paid the guy the remainder in full on good faith that they would correct the mistake. The entire rest of the house looks great and he had done a great job with everything so far so I trusted him to correct the error.

I called and he said he'd come the following Saturday (11 days after the last coat was applied). I waited there all morning Saturday ( a day I could have been working). By the afternoon I called him a few times he never answered, and then by 3 he texted me and said his guys got tied up at another job could then come early Tuesday morning so I said fine, because I'm a contractor too and i can understand guys getting tied up on another job.

So I told work that Tuesday I'd be coming in late and waited there all morning. By 10 I tried calling him with no answer, by 10:45 I texted him asking if he was coming to which he replied that he spoke with his guy and it was now their opinion that the footprint would not come out and it's best to leave it because they might just make it worse. I tried calling him and he wouldn't ever answer the phone for me. So I texted him asking him then why on the day it happened did his guy leave me sandpaper and a quart of polyurethane and said I could do it myself if they now think that it cant be fixed (meanwhile the boss hasn't even come by since the job started or seen the footprint). His reply to the was simply "Good question" and repeated that he thinks it'd be best to just leave it and he didn't think they should try fixing it. So I asked him why did he tell me they'd come Saturday and then Tuesday if now they're saying that it simply can't be fixed, why did I have to waste my time that I could have been working if they had never even intended on coming. To which his entire reply was "Im sorry" and still would not pick up the phone for me.

By this point I was weighing the options of how to get this remedied and called my painter to see how well he knew this guy and he said he'd call him for me and that he refers him a ton of business. I then received a text after my painter called from the floor contractor saying that if its ok with me they'll now come this Saturday "to do their best to fix the problem".

So I guess my question is how hard is it to remove a footprint of dust/dirt under a single layer of polyurethane and is this something that would be a spot repair or would I need to remove all the furnture from the room again? I would assume that wouldn't simply buffing(or light sanding) the top layer to remove the print and then applying a new coat would fix it wouldn't it?

Is this guy just not wanting to take the time to fix it or could it actually come out worse? Idk if the fact that its a high gloss finish makes it more difficult to just correct the affected boards without there being a noticeable seam between them and the rest of the top layer of the finish?

This is a fairly simple repair. Tape off the affected boards completely with good painters tape. Frog tape works even better. .It's possible to free hand them but taping will guarantee you get clean finish lines .

Step 1 is to tape off the affected boards .Tape the long sides first and then add tape to the butt joints.Press the tape down firmly or finish will run under it .

Then start hand scuffing the affected boards with 180 grit paper or 220 grit paper . Move with the grain and use minimal pressure.Let the paper do the work and eventually, the foot print will sand out .

Step 3 is to vacuum and tack the area clean.

Step 4 is to brush on the same poly used for the final coat .Start out light because a heavy coat will run or pool . As soon as you brush out the poly, pull your tape up and discard it .

I'm not sure I'm understanding this.
he was coating and stepped in the finish and didn't just brush the footprint out right then?

who the hell would do that? its stupid..

they were just giving you the run around..its an easy fix especially considering its a Gloss finish..its touching up satin and semi glosses' that can be problematic..