Do you think it wrinkled before the customer got home

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This doesn't look like it's helpful for new installers trying to learn this trade. I'd patter cut this too, but I'd cut it all 2 or 3 inches oversized and put a lineup mark at each end.
I also wouldn't do relief cuts at both ends of the 16-ft run before stretching. It would be nice if the house was 80 degrees and they took an hour or more for lunch to allow at least some acclimation.
 
Might have stayed tight until he cashed the check.

Is that one of those Harbor Freight stretchers?
The stretcher is one of those kneeless stretchers. They work in small areas and work something like working off a deadman. I think I saw him add in a couple of dutchmen where he cut it short and laid a piece underneath. Luckily he had the old piece to template off of.
 
I've heard of those it's called the kneeless kicker. It saves you from having to kick the carpet to hook it on the tacks. It looks like it would be a good tool and save your knees but it's not a stretcher. I don't know how adjustable it is and it might work good in hallways.
I didn't see a stretcher or tubes during the install so I know he didn't stretch it lengthwise which at the beginning he said "a 16 ft piece of carpet" I noticed there was a doorway that he had to connect in that part wasn't shown and I think the doorway was at an angle. This does not look like an easy installation if it is going to be stretched correctly.
The first thing that bothered me once they got the carpet into the hallway, he made full relief cuts at both ends of the hall so the carpet would lay flat everywhere.
I wouldn't wouldn't want to make my second relief cut until i had some stretch on the carpet.
The whole thing just seemed kind of haphazard... a little here then a little there.
 
The stretcher is one of those kneeless stretchers. They work in small areas and work something like working off a deadman. I think I saw him add in a couple of dutchmen where he cut it short and laid a piece underneath. Luckily he had the old piece to template off of.
The template would definitely help out and I think that was a good idea. I slowed the video speed down to 25% (1/4 speed) and that little piece you're talking about is because the tack strip was an inch away from the baseboard. He put a scrap of carpet behind the tack strip to lift it up.
If that piece tack strip was an inch away from the wall, then you know the entire tack stripping job should have been ripped up and replaced with the tack strip closer to the base.
When I watched the video, I looked down below and there was 600 views and zero comments.
....ZERO!
...so I had to make one 😁
 
Actually .that is the type of job that stretcher would work good. You can twist turn jump through hoops without moving tubes and setting them up. I probably would have used the crab jack in that situation. I didn't pay any attention to the how far the tackstrip was. In my case I would replace all that. Strip placing to me is one of the most important things on a job.
 
Those kneeless kickers are a bad idea. You know they can't get the carpet tight.

At least a stretcher with a stinger has something to push off of. Those kneeless kicker things stretch the carpet between the head and the foot but don’t stretch it in relation to the overall width or length of the carpet. Might as well just use a kicker to bump that hallway for all that thing is worth.

Besides that dude has boy band hair.
 
At least a stretcher with a stinger has something to push off of. Those kneeless kicker things stretch the carpet between the head and the foot but don’t stretch it in relation to the overall width or length of the carpet. Might as well just use a kicker to bump that hallway for all that thing is worth.

Besides that dude has boy band hair.
I used a stinger in the senior apts. I did. Carpet was changed every 3-6 months anyway. They used old rubberback carpet for pad.
 
Actually .that is the type of job that stretcher would work good. You can twist turn jump through hoops without moving tubes and setting them up. I probably would have used the crab jack in that situation. I didn't pay any attention to the how far the tackstrip was. In my case I would replace all that. Strip placing to me is one of the most important things on a job.
I've never looked up the description from the manufacturer but this thing isn't going to stretch 16 ft. Like CJ said it'll only stress the area in between the two ends of the unit. I think it's made for tight areas and once you make your initial stretch you can use that instead of a knee kicker to hook the carpet on the tack strip before you actually use a stretcher. In that case it saves your knees, which I think is it's intended purpose.
Opposite the curved railing on the other side of the room there was an angled doorway most likely a bedroom. I figured do a long stretch to get you across the doorway and maybe use that tool to hook it on the tacks, but then you could use a real stretcher to stretch towards the railing which would tighten up the doorway seam. Same guy does machine gun drive-bys.
 
I would have stretched the hallway carpet at the doorway with the existing carpet, made the seam then stay nailed inside the room before I stretched the hallway. It does tend to move the seam a little so if you have different carpets you do have to take that into consideration so the seam doesn’t move past the threshold into the hallway.

I’ve also stretched up to a seam then stay nailed many a time but it’s definitely easier for me to make my seams before doing the final stretch. To each their own.
 
Says he's been using it for 20 years with no callbacks.

I think I've got him beat. 40 years with tubes, and two restretches, both in 87 when I started on my own. Both jobs were members of the same family. 😁
 
many people would rather pay someone qualified to fix a bad job than call back the original installer. i want my customers calling back because its usually another job and an easy sell.
 
many people would rather pay someone qualified to fix a bad job than call back the original installer. i want my customers calling back because its usually another job and an easy sell.
That's the same with me and I think everybody else here.
Even though when I bill a customer direct I charge more than I would make working directly for a store.
That said, even though my bill is higher when I hand the bill to the customer they say, " oh is that all "😟
At that point, it's too late to rewrite the bill. 😁
 
That's the same with me and I think everybody else here.
Even though when I bill a customer direct I charge more than I would make working directly for a store.
That said, even though my bill is higher when I hand the bill to the customer they say, " oh is that all "😟
At that point, it's too late to rewrite the bill. 😁
Most of my regulars would say, "I don't need an estimate" "Just tell me what I owe when you get done".
 

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