You're not getting that look with .98 Bubba and Minwax. That's a higher end highly skilled flooring professional who uses professional products. Based on the trendy look you say you want, I would cancel the meeting and move on up the food chain. Even a pro will have a difficult time producing that with red oak instead of white oak.

Thank you for your advice. I know that this would be a challenge, and I was thinking we would have to have the floors bleached first maybe?? Not sure. What is .98 Bubba? Are you saying that Minwax is not a "professional" product? I am asking because I really have no education in this area as of yet. Any information is welcome.

Lots of people like to bag on Minwax but I don't understand why. Until recently when DuraSeal (OWNED by Minwax by the way) came out with quick drying versions of Minwax colors, we still used Minwax stains occasionally. DuraSeal has a line of professional floor stains and surface finishes. I was always taught that the difference between the two was that you had to use polyurethane over Minwax because the thinner consistency made it unsuitable for use with wax.
Two things.
1) You mentioned "hardwax oiled". That typically refers to a new generation of oil finishes. The term hardwax would specify that the oil finish has wax in it. There are other oil finishes that are strictly oil with no wax that can be used with or without a surface finish. Before doing a finish like this you need to do thorough research. Oil finish sellers make promises about the durability and ease of care but it's more maintenance intensive than a urethane finish. The main attraction is that it's easier to touch up than urethane finished floors. Some finishers may not be familiar with the product and will be hesitant to use it.
2) Regardless of what finishing method you choose, it's going to take some work to get your floor looking like the picture on the right. To me it's not gray, it's a light brownish black. Or is it blackish brown? To offset the redness of your wood it will probably need to be bleached then stained. In the Minwax/Duraseal colors you'd probably use either Ebony or Jacobean or maybe a mix of the two, possibly thinned down with natural (clear). You can also add white to it to get a more gray tone. If you don't bleach it, it will have red undertones. If you go with a standard stain and urethane it would probably be best to use a non-yellowing urethane like Bona Novia or Mega Clear to avoid it turning yellow over time.

I've seen or heard of quite a few local oil finished floors with issues. We did only one and it didn't perform as advertised. It was a beautiful black stain with a coat of white over top that accentuated the grain. Within a few months the white wore out of the grain then the black wore significantly exposing the oak color of the floor.

Ive done a few grey floors. And their not easy. Its kinda of a fad in my opinion. But its still too early to tell if they like it over the long haul. Ive tried different methods of mixing the color and each time they came out okay but the customers i worked with didnt have high expectations. Their floor was beat to hell and really just wanted almost a paint to cover the mess.

Go into color picking with an openmind and forget that prefinished picture. You need to look at what your floor is capable of.

You could try a grey pastel but that doesnt really give you the blacker grains.
And you def want to go with a water boyrne urethane. If your guy doesnt or havent used any water. Find someone else.

Thanks everyone for the information and guidance. As it turns out the guy didn't even show up! Can you believe that?? We are looking into a few other leads. But we may just have the floors sanded and we apply the stain and the hard wax oil finish. I like the look of that over the poly. thanks again.

Newskiltz was wondering how your floors turned out? Did you get the look you were going for?

Looking for a similar look with our newly laid red oak flooring and giving serious consideration to hardwax oil finishes. Thx