So I recently had 1500 sqft of red oak added to exisiting red oak, sanded to bare wood and all stained and refinished. We have done this before and first time hired someone not specialized in wood floors and had issues but this time got the best in the are and paid a premium. All these guys do is hardwood.

But there are issues everywhere. For someone not paying attention they probably look great. But...
Big orbital marks in stain throughout
Huge splotches and unevenness in color - not by board but likely based on putting more or less stain or forgetting a spot
Prices of wood that are still "raw" like little chips without eurothane
And even sander marks on top coat


The owner is coming to look at it and inspect. At this point issues are everywhere. Am I being nit picky, is this just "normal"?

What are my options?

I can't figure out how to post picture but will try

Light brown colored stains are the easiest to deliver. The stain should be uniform with no machine marks, only the beauty of the wood showing. Darker colors are harder to get uniform, without machine marks.
Any spots that show up during the staining process can be fixed with handwork before the stain dries. This usually takes place late in the day, so energy levels are lower and if supervision is lacking, then the floor can only look better with a darker colored tint coat of finish before the final clear coat, which hides some of the beauty of the grain. It is best to complain before all the coats of finish have been applied.
Sometimes it can take two attempts to get a passable job.

Pete thanks so much. I did actually try to get them to fix it before poly and song the way but they assured me it would be ok. It of course was not.

Also they want to come look at it but want to look at it first thing in am. But I am thinking that it should be at night so there is no question about lighting and just straight up can light. During the evenings is where I can see all the issues magnified.

Given they are done. And did not listen to our pointing out issues - not to mention that should not be our responsibility to spot check them. I feel stuck bc it sucks but we don't want to move out and have them screw it up again.

The correct technique to judge the floor is to look down, not to see a reflection, from head height.
It sounds like you would not need to have a night viewing.

Thanks that makes sense. We are meeting tomorrow in the morning to view all the issues.

I am just waiting for him to say "those marks are normal". And glad to know and have your feedback that for sure they are not normal and it is not normal to have circular marks all over my floor.

Thanks for all the help! The president did come and look and ended up redoing the entire floors!

Good deal. I hope they brought their "A" team this time.