I'm a newbie contractor. Go ahead and flame me.

Okay. I'm operating in the Dallas area. I'm not really an installer. That's why I've hired a couple of experienced guys.

So first let me thank you for this forum. I've been reading for hours now and speaking from experience, I appreciate that fact that you share ideas and advice freely.

I formerly owned a stained concrete flooring company but found the product to be unpopular and unfamiliar with builders and subs. Too many issues were out of my control. I love the flooring business so this is what I have chosen.

I've started a company to specialize in site finished hand-scraped oak floors. The only mentions I have seen about hand scraped floors is for prefinished glue down stuff. Is there any place online where contractors talk about site finished hand-scraped oak floors??

My business is focusing on high-end residential remodel and high-end residential new construction. This is an extremely popular flooring choice in my area right now and people coming from outside of our area or outside of Texas have not seen this at all.

Most of the installers in my area are using cheap oil based polys such as Masterline. My local supplier is urging me to try out water based products like Basic's Emulsion and Streetshoe.

QUESTION ... Will homeowners shell out extra money for more expensive water born sealers such as emulsion?? In your opinion(s), are they worth the extra money. Are they much harder to use?

Thanks again for all you do and I look forward to someday contributing my experiences to the forum.

HSW

IMO, hand scraping wood flooring on-site is not cost effective, unless you're using very low paid labor and they're fast. You can buy pre-finished or even unfinished scraped flooring for just a little more than the flooring un-scraped. However, if you're bound to venture down this path, forget hand scrapers. Use the Festool power planer, http://www.festoolusa.com/ProductDetail ... did=574539
with the undulating head, http://www.festoolusa.com/ProductDetail ... 85331&ID=0

About finishes, nothing much cheaper than cheap OMU. However, you'll need to come up with a finishing system for your scraped floors. Waterbornes adhere to themselves much better than OMU does. Often, you can recoat within a day or so without abrading the finish. Not the case with an OMU. You'll need to experiment on stains, sealers and finishes and offer your customers the products that suit their needs.

Thanks for the advice.

Based on what you know, what do you think a reasonable price range would be for the site finished, hand-scraped floor? 800 sq.ft. or more.

It depends on the wood species, the size of the flooring (thickness and width), how it's being installed, etc. Ballkpark, I think pricing should begin at around $16.00 a ft, out the door.

It's good that you have a backgruond in concrete being in Texas I would bet you will be laying over it most of the time. Lots to learn about how they work together. Good luck.