"Transmision" board appears to be red oak.

Repairing Bona natural seal and Bona Nordic seal with poly on it, is very, very difficult. It takes a few attempts, maybe several. With each attempt, adjustments will need to be made. The goal is to apply the same amount of seal on to blend. Also, you will want to stop watching paint dry, walk away and come back when it is completely dry. Having a hair dryer on hand will help speed things up. Any seal that gets on the poly needs to be wiped away to prevent a cloudy outline. Sometimes you need to step outside standard practice. Tint the poly with Mixol to adjust the white. Or buff the poly surrounding the patch with 600 or 800 grit to prevent seal from going under the abraded poly. Have a wet rag on hand to wipe away any work that does not look good to prevent resanding the spot.

If, it is a small project. I would redo the floor from scratch. I would bite the bullet and redo a large project also, if, there are a lot of issues. That would be the easiest way to fix it. They would need to make adjustment to their coating path to prevent lap marks and any second attempt to brush a spot. The more you brush a spot, the whiter it gets. And if, any spot repairs needs to be done. It needs to done right after the first coat. This is when the repair work is easiest. Which means all puddles, lap marks, streaks, and brush marks needs to be repaired before applying the second coat of seal or poly is applied.

What are they using for applicators?

The transition board doesn't particularly bother me as those often don't match the rest of the floor, although I expected to see the nail holes filled as part of the final touchup. However, the other issues are another story. You are quite right to be upset and irritated and asking for further work. Keep after the contractor to come back with a better answer.

Ugh. This is not as straightforward as I had imagined. I’m sure they won’t accept my how-to instructions sourced from the internet. G&S Floor, I think they are using a paint brush. I simply have to hope for the best. I will report back.

Ask which one of them has the 3 day Bona training. If they look at you like you have two heads (and one of them is a small dog) then you have your answer: none of them.

Bona is tricky. Right after that it is tricky. And just for fun it is tricky. Did I mention it was tricky? Right. Bona is T R I C K Y (as in....newbies will muck up the first 5-10 floors until they get the hang of it...OR they go for the 3 day training).

I'm not kidding about asking them which one spent his/her own money and spent 3 days learning the Bona system. It will be an eye opener....for you and for them.

I don’t think they are Bona trained or certified. Unfortunately, I don’t get to pick the subcontractors. They were the worst!

Who picked the subs??? Who holds your contract? Do you have a General Contractor or a Designer?

How many times have you allowed them to 'fix' their issues?

In most building law (check your state/province for specifics) the CONTRACTOR gets ONE attempt to fix the mistake made by their subs. After that ONE attempt you are allowed (legally) to bring in a professional (ahem...not a sub who swings a hammer) to FIX the issue at the CONTRACTOR'S expense.

That's the tricky bit. Getting the Contractor to step up and pay the pro what is needed to get this fixed.

Is this a renovation or a new home build?

The General Contractor selects the subs. I also have an interior designer. This is a whole house remodel. We’re at the finish line. The third coat of Bona HD Traffic was precipitated by finish issues several floor outlets. The attempt to correct made it worse and they had to re-coat half of the first floor.

1st attempt to correct (there were four of these floor outlets in the living room):

2nd attempt.

They ultimately had to coat the living room and kitchen, which is how we ended up with a 3 coats of Bona Traffic HD. The original plan was sealer (Bona Naturale) and two coats of Traffic HD.

Who picked the General Contractor? You or the Designer? Or is this a Design-Build Firm?

I selected the GC and an independent Interior Designer. The bulk of the remodel was a complete kitchen model. I knew in advance what cabinetmaker I wanted and my GC had in fact worked with them in the past.

OK...so the order is straight for me. Your GC is your hire. Excellent. That means the GC must keep in contact with you during the fixes to all of these oopsas.

When working with a 2 part finish it is NEARLY impossible to mix a small batch AND create the same gloss level. The PERFECTION is in the milliliter range. Yes. If you mix 100ml TOTAL you need to be at a level of perfection that only an Insulin syringe can create. Yes. The sheen is THAT sensitive.

Sad to say but the floor plate 'cure' was worse than the disease. Once the floor plate was put back on the slightly darker area would have been completely covered. Now the gloss level around the floor plate has a very different sheen. The only fix to this is to do a buff and coat (add one more coat to the ENTIRE floor in that area.

Four coats then @SJ McCarthy... that can’t be good.

We have someone (not the original hardwood flooring sub) working on the corrections now. I will share. Fingers crossed.

At this point I would suggest leaving the gloss level alone. Ask for a discount and move on. Eventually life will bring the different gloss levels together.

However the transition strip that is semi-gloss is a bid distraction for me. That one is one I would try to dull down a bit more. It is possible to rough it up a bit (to bring the gloss level down) but it is probably easier to mix a snick of the matte and give it another go...while TAPING OFF the boards....which they DIDN'T DO the first time around.

The floor outlet area could have been left alone if, the brass plate covers it up. The transition piece looks more like a oil poly, instead of the water base system. That should be redone. You would then, only have the spot in front of the cabinets to dealt with. If, that is all, I would ask for a discount as SJ suggested. Pigmented finishes are very difficult to repair. A lot of times the fixes will make things worst.

For best blending results, repairs should be made before poly is applied.