Mal Elfman's of Waltham Inc

Mal Elfman's of Waltham has been selling and installing carpet, hardwood, tile and area rugs from its Moody Street showroom since 1907, when Ben Elfman opened a family rug business that later passed to his son Malcolm — the company says it's stayed privately owned and family-run ever since, with showrooms today in Waltham and Mansfield. The name that shows up again and again in its Google reviews is Paul Jackson — homeowners across several years describe him measuring a room on a Saturday and having installers back within days, matching a decades-old stair carpet after water damage, or finding a rug in stock before Christmas. In a 2022 review, one customer described a bigger job — replacing all their wood floors, refinishing stairs, installing a stair runner, replacing carpet and tiling a bathroom and fireplace — calling it all done well. Across 37 reviews from 2022 through this year, 53 Google ratings average 4.8 stars, and six more landed in just the last six months, every one five-star. There isn't much to flag: the company carries an A+ from the Better Business Bureau, no government actions turn up, and flooring retailers aren't required to hold a Massachusetts home-improvement contractor registration, so there's no license status to weigh. The one oddity is a review titled '1★ Excellent Job' whose text doesn't match its own star rating — most likely a stray click rather than a real complaint. For a full room's worth of new carpet, hardwood or tile, or just a bound stair runner, this is a shop with a century of walk-in customers behind it — worth asking about lead times if you're on a tight schedule.