Gotta rip up the old pug-urine-stained carpeting and lay down some hardwood floors. So what about that Empire Flooring which I see advertised on television about 939,425 times a day? Are they dependable or are they just a big cheesey Wal-Mart type of outfit, farming the work out to below-par subcontractors?
I used 'em. They worked fine by me. We lucked out as we wanted carpet and tile and they only HAD one tile crew in Denver. That crew was great. The leader was an early twenty something Band member doing the tile to make ends meet. Kid had a great work ethic and did a great job.
I get the impression that Empire Flooring is more a job clearing house, but they HAVE to select a pretty good group of people to do the work as it’s Empire that takes the heat for a bad job.
Empire’s been in business for decades. (Just ask anyone who grew up in Chicago!)
As I understand it, they keep a tight control over their local installers. I’m not sure if the local installers are actually employed by Empire, or if they keep a close rein on franchisees. I do know that their crew that showed up to do my living room was the most professional carpet crew I’d ever met. They were exactly on time, did a good job, (actually they did a better than anticipated job on the stairs) and left my home immaculately clean.
Compare this to installers I’ve had from Sears or Home Depot that were late, did an only adequate job, scuffed up the walls, and left scraps of carpet and loose strings on the edges.
For the OP - you’ll probably be dealing with the same installers / franchise from Union City that I had. I’d happily recommend them to anyone. My experience with them is limited to carpet, but I can’t imagine that they wouldn’t also do a great job on wood floors.
What’s their pricing like? We’re looking at having new carpet installed when we put our house on the market, and I’ve thought they might be a possibility.
1-800-588-2300-EMPIRE
(call today)
I interviewed with Empire and they had very strict quality standards but were not willing to pay accordingly. So that would translate into cheap, but good quality - good for a customer, bad for an employee. They run a very tight ship. I wouldn’t use them since they lowballed me, but that is me. 
Now everytime I have to hear the commercial, it irks me. Cheapskates.
Speaking purely as a consumer, we’ve used them twice - once for carpet and once for hardwood - and had really good experiences both times. Each time, the work was done quickly, flawlessly, precisely and on budget. They left my house cleaner than it was when they came, didn’t scuff the walls, nothing. The crews were amazingly professional. They showed up exactly when they said they would, were done when they said they would be, and did a great job.
The prices were comparable to other vendors and both times, the service was great.