Fun2cook, yes you can have wood floors. The initial investment is higher, but you will not have to worry with traffic, dings, scratches, pets, kids, etc. Our kids are now teens, but 4 years ago, we put in an engineered unfinished wood veneer floor with a 6mm veneer. Being unfinished allowed it to be hand scraped, stained and coated on site. It was a strange process to watch (get it pretty wet with sponge mop to soften wood, then 3 guys scrape in unison, 18"-2' at a time). The wood gouges differently in each board. I went with heavy scraped but you can do light or medium scrape as well. Between everything my kids are in to, football, wrestling, music (think friends and their amplifiers coming and going)scooting furniture (they scoot while sitting rather than pick up a chair) dogs and cats, it takes LOTS of abuse. We went this way after a smooth plank floor (3mm veneer) and carpet that just got worn out after 2-3 years from traffic, kid toys, gouges thru the veneer, and water from a toilet overflow (ran out the bathroom). We recently (April 2010) had an interior hot water heater go out and empitied its contents onto a portion of the floor. So much so that two bedrooms in that hallway had to have new carpet. It also went under a wall and into my master bath (marble) and closet (carpet) which carpet was ruined. The MDF built in shelving soaked up the water and crumbled (new maple built-in closet going in today-cabinet maker made it for the same cost as ripping it out, repainting, and having trim man come and re-do what we had with mdf. It was also half what those closet system people for same layout. We did out own tear-out and paining. Anyhoo, the wood floor was completely undamaged. Even the eurathane didn't lift. Nor did it seep through cracks or where carpet met wood (surprised at that). It is more expensive in the outlay of dollars, but the ding from a helmet facemask, or scratch from piano bench (before pads) are covered by tinted markers or sharpie. I looked in to putting it into the 2 bed rooms but it does run about $10 a foot. Plus, those rooms would have to have a leveling compound which ran it about 11ish a foot. With the hot water heater being replaced (we went gas tankless from a local independant plumber-not a national chain) and a new front door (another saga in itself), we just couldn't swing it. So we went with Shaw low pile tuftex carpet. The product we used is shamrock plank flooring. It comes in several woods, pre-finished or unfinished.

The scuffs, I'd let them attempt to repair. The dents, peeling finish & uneven finish, I would ask to have replaced.

My contractors laid Luan over my tile and plywood over the Wood floors. no damage at all. no damage is acceptable and it is on your gc to ensure that you have pristine floors,at the end of the remodel. it is certainly not professional for a contractor to think cardboard would protect new floors. As a non professional I knew enough to ensure that at least Luan was placed but my gc used plywood. It's a fix on his dime. an expensive one I'm afraid.

The scratches are after the fact. One of the cracks you are showing is the natural ring of a tree that has some depth to it. That one's fine. The edge crushing should not be there. That is installer error. Since you are missing a HUGE amount of your square footage, your GENERAL CONTRACTOR has to deal with all of this. All of it. It will be an expensive lesson for him/her to learn. They are responsible for proper installation. GC's (not all....but most) like to save money where they can. They will use their 'hammer swingers' to install stuff like tiles, hardwood, toilettes, etc. They choose not to use professional tile setters, hardwood flooring installers, etc. Those pros cost the GC MONEY. So they do what they have always done and send out some of their 'dudes' to throw in a wood floor. Today you have seen the results of that. This is an expensive lesson that the GC MUST LEARN. The GC owes you ALL of that extra wood. All of it. You have just discovered what happens when you try to use other dye lots....it doesn't work. I would personally push for full removal and installation of a 'like' wood floor. The GC would pay for bringing in the wood AND the removal of the old and installation...and all labour costs. The GC will find out how quickly his profits on this part of the project disappear. This is a lesson the GC must learn...so LET HIM/HER learn it. The other option: get ALL of the flooring budget BACK (all of it) plus the labour costs to remove the floor (yep...) and then HIRE someone ELSE when you take possession of the house at a later date.