What GS Floor is trying to say is this: A wood floor finish is INSPECTED (by a professional) for irregularities from a standing position, at a 10 FOOT distance, during daylight hours in NATURAL LIGHTING.

If these swirl marks are unnoticeable from a STANDING POSITION at a distance of 2ft feet away (most people are taller than 5'2") you will manage to achieve "10 foot distance".

So the answer to the question, "What do these look like from a standing position, 2ft away in natural lighting conditions?" - will be the way you ASSESS the quality of this job. If from that distance these abrasion disappear from view, then the job is to industry standard.

Now....the 2nd buffing could mean many things but normally means the light sanding after the stain has been applied. Normally the stain is allowed to dry/cure. This will have RAISED THE GRAIN (made the wood puffy). To get rid of this, the company will buff or lightly sand the wood to get rid of this roughness. This is how they "knock down the grain".

Once this has been achieved, they will do a vacuum and a tack cloth and then apply first coat of polyurethane.

If you are worried about these abrasions that you are seeing here, I highly recommend you visit the site JUST BEFORE the SECOND coat of polyurethane has been applied. You can then assess the floor from the industry standard: "From a Standing Position, during daylight hours, in natural lighting, from 10 foot distance."

I'm going to guess that most of these imperfections will be taken care off by the buffing before the polyurethane.

Just remember: you need to view these from the industry standard.....10 ft distance in natural lighting.