Archive for the ‘portland hardwood professional’ Category
Who is working on your project?
Saturday, July 17th, 2010
Sometimes consumers will walk into a retail store such as Home Depot and order up a bunch of flooring and labor and assume everything is good to go. The biggest thing people are missing is that ALL of the labor that retailers use is entirely subcontracted from that point onward. This is where most communication breakdowns happen particularly regarding a site finished wood floor. Let’s look at why.
Most retailers have only ever sold flooring. I have rarely encountered a retailer where the sales staff has ever sanded a significant number of floors. They rely on the people to whom they are subcontracting the labor to maintain a high standard. Any problems that arise with the floor at that point are being handled by the subcontractor and not the retailer. It’s like passing the buck and it puts relations at a tricky point.
The best way to purchase a site-finished hardwood floor is to hire a reputable wood flooring professional. Go to the National Wood Flooring Association website and evaluate from there who fits your needs. All wood flooring contractors who specialize in site finished wood floors have access to wholesale distribution showrooms with equal or greater selection than most retailers. In fact, a lot of retailers purchase products from the same wholesale distributors as the contractor. The contractor can handle all materials and labor and reduce or eliminate any mis-communication liabilities if they are more closely involved in the process from the beginning.
Tags: hardwood choices for the wise consumer, hardwood floor contractor, portland oregon hardwood contractor
Posted in Hardwood floor Portland, Uncategorized, hardwood floor, portland hardwood professional | No Comments »
Okay, time’s up. Let’s educate
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010
The difference between me and you is that I am supposed to have a better eye for what I do in my profession because of formal training. I often see floors that just baffle me because people aren’t aware of what a garbage floor looks like. I’m not perfect and our company makes mistakes, but we fix them. I am going to link this blog with an ongoing series of video blogs to educate the consumer about hardwood flooring products, fit, finish in an order to educate people what to expect when determining quality. I don’t blog to hear myself, I blog in order to educate consumers anywhere in the nation or world about hardwood floors from a contractor’s perspective. We will begin this week, so look for the link to our YouTube channel.
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Lowest price=Lowest Common Denominator
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010
I had a thesis advisor who did a lot to help me avoid one of the common pitfalls that happens to people. He always referred to it as the “lowest common denominator” as a suggestion that people would rather be a minimalist in their ways than really try to achieve the most that they could in every endeavor.
The problem that consumers don’t realize is that all contractors pay roughly the same cost for materials, unless they are stealing material, which I doubt. Therefore, to have a lower cost the contractor must have a lower labor cost.
To have a lower labor cost either jobs must happen faster or employees must be paid less. HERE are the pitfalls of such a model.
1) Faster jobs-If you want attention to detail on your project, then forget it if the job is a production job that has to be done quickly.
2) Low paid employees- Underpaid employees really don’t want to do the best job, end of story.
Here is my challenge:
If you know the name of a licensed hardwood floor company in Portland, Oregon that is “cheap” and always a low bidder, and has legal employees covered by workers compensation then please give me their name. I want to know their model and secret if their work looks good. I will donate a free premium Glitsa tack mop and cleaning kit once I see the job and you can convince me that their work is really a quality product if I know what finish they used on the floor.
Tags: hardwood floor contractor, hardwood floor professional, hardwood refinishing, Portland hardwood floor, portland oregon hardwood contractor
Posted in Hardwood floor Portland, floor refinishing portland oregon, portland hardwood professional | 1 Comment »
Older businesses can disappear
Sunday, May 9th, 2010
About a year ago following the fallout of the housing market I was reminded by a friend that a company in Vancouver, WA was bankrupt and shutting down. This was significant because this company had all the markings of a “big successful floor business” such as a showroom, tons of vans and crews, etc… In many people’s eyes this is what defines a company that is solid and “real”. Looking behind the curtain though, there is a lot of overhead to maintain this type of business and with just a few unfortunate circumstances this business was gone in no time.
During a recent estimate I was discussing with a customer the gaps she had in her floors in her newly built house. She said she contacted her builder and he had been unable to locate the contractor who installed the floors originally. After talking we both realized that the warranty claim will never be done because the company in Vancouver did the original installation and they are no longer in business. This was just one person I ran into by chance. How many hundreds of people have warranty claims that will never be resolved by this “pillar” of a company?
The point of my blog is to suggest simply that the best contractors don’t need a huge showroom and tons of vans running around to be successful. In fact choosing a smaller and more efficiently operated hardwood floor business may be your best option these days if you want someone to return your calls in six months.
Tags: hardwood floor contractor, portland oregon hardwood contractor
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Beware of the boutique
Saturday, January 30th, 2010
Recently our shop was approached by a “boutique” wholesaler to subcontract installations and sanding. It sounded like an interesting way to grow our business possibly. I had my reservations based on conversations with other remodeling colleagues who previously used this group. Specifically I was concerned that they were unwilling to pay a fair market rate for top notch contracting because of the types of installers they typically use. A brief conversation with the outfit quickly verified that my intuition was correct. The rates that they were willing to pay to installers were about 60% of the going rate for the best full service hardwood flooring contractors in town.
Normally I don’t want to discuss price, but it is valid in this case. I know that quality service requires time and very careful effort. The mathematics of a service business require that to lower price you must lower service unless material costs are lowered.
What I urge consumers to do and always will is to specifically work with reputable small retailers with great experience. Flashy “high-end” boutique retailers pay considerable overhead in rent for facilities and staffing. To stay competitive they must create downward pricing pressure on subcontracted labor, which invariably results in mediocre work.
In these days of the internet research I advise consumers to really investigate service providing retailers before making an “impulse” buy with your hardwood floor. Stay informed with resources such as the NWFA.
Tags: hardwood choices for the wise consumer
Posted in hardwood floor choices, portland hardwood professional | 1 Comment »
The price isn’t right
Sunday, November 8th, 2009
One of the things I have been startled about lately is how the hardwood floor refinishing market in Portland has been subject to really large variances in price. At our company we try to deliver a service with considerable value that includes very personable customer service in addition to a quality product. We make a very disciplined effort to hide no element of what is included, which are the questions that consumers should ask in order to make an apples to apples comparison:
1) How many finish coats will be applied? This determines longevity to a great degree
2)What type of finish will be used? Home Depot polyurethane versus GlitsaMax 2 component waterborne urethane isn’t really a contest, the latter will start to outperform after 2-3 years easily. Just look at my floors, which are the test subject of 2year old and 4year old boys dragging toys and dropping everything. They look brand new one and a half years later.
3)How is the floor being filled? Is the floor being trowel filled across the whole area to alleviate gaps or simply spot filled in the large areas? This has a considerable impact on labor in the process.
4)How clean is the contractor? I think most people who want a refinish might care about a clean house. Does the contractor vacuum the house and vents after sanding and before coating the floor? Do they use dust collection? These are questions to ask when you want to know how MUCH service you are paying for.
5) Is the contractor licensed and CURRENTLY bonded? Do they pay their taxes? These may seem like simple questions but I assure you they are essential because if the contractor does not have a current bond, then any damage they are liable for upon entering your home comes from your pocket in most cases if there is no bond. Paying taxes is essential for supporting our parks, schools, etc… so it goes without saying that it is important for a community.
6) Do they contribute to any organizations or have ANY credentials beyond a license?
Our memberships and certifications alone cost us close to $2000 per year alone not counting any time for involvement with committees or helping educate other members. This may seem like a minor element, but I say that it is the fundamental building block for a quality contractor for two reasons. The esteem of being known for quality work goes with being in an organization and secondly the access to the latest information ensures better quality in your business.
I hope that these questions stay current amongst the consumers of Portland so that during the trying times we can all maintain or hopefully elevate the state of this industry rather than take the path of least resistance by lowering quality and price simultaneously.
Tags: dustless refinishing, Hardwood floor durability, hardwood refinishing, Swedish finish, wood floor sanding
Posted in Dustless Hardwood Refinishing, Hardwood floor durability, hardwood floor choices, hardwood floor finish, hardwood floor refinishing prices, portland hardwood professional | 1 Comment »
Sustainability and the homefront
Monday, September 21st, 2009
I have to write this blog as a celebration more than anything. For those that have ever visited our website you may know that we are fans of sustainability from a bigger picture view. I am an avid fan of domestic wood species and local sourcing of material. Domestic species have less of a carbon footprint with regards to transport and they have a great dimensionality with regards to potential for appearances. In addition our domestic economy is strengthened from buying in our borders and as everyone knows right now we need that more than ever.
This is the latest news I received today from the National Wood Flooring Association:
“U.S. House Passes Pro-Hardwoods Resolution
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed Resolution 81, non-binding legislation that urges American hardwood products be “given full consideration in any program directed at constructing environmentally preferable commercial, public, or private buildings” because U.S. forests are a legal, abundant and sustainable resource. The resolution passed with unanimous support. Integral to the resolution passage was Rep. Brad Ellsworth of Indiana. “We want to thank everyone who took the time to encourage their Member of Congress to support this resolution,” says the Hardwood Federation’s Deb Hawkinson. “The resolution needed 50 co-sponsors, and thanks to the industry’s efforts there were 52.”
Tags: domestic hardwood floor, Portland hardwood floor, sustainable hardwood
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Oh, So you do that too…
Thursday, August 27th, 2009
The title of this blog may seem a little odd, but it serves a purpose. Sometimes there is a little bit of confusion to the services my company offers in the world of wood flooring in Portland. My portfolio on the website could possibly lead people to believe that our work is only high end and custom work. The truth is that 90% of the hardwood floor installations we undertake are adding new flooring to an existing wood floor and refinishing the whole floor. I will walk you through this with a couple of step by step photos. In the first photo is where the floor ended after a wall was taken out in a remodel by my friends at Envi Construction. 
In the next photo, you can see where we removed a selected number of boards so that we may integrate, in a random pattern, new flooring. The goal we seek to accomplish is making the new floor and the old floor look harmonious in every way.
Afterwards, new matching flooring was installed and sanded and finished for a contiguous appearance.
There are a couple of tricks to ensuring a proper appearance that involve grading and specifying the mill providing the material. Depending on the mill and the region of production some flooring (particularly red and white oak) can be quite variable in the tones. This difference doesn’t become evident until sanding, so specifying product relies on a particular attention to detail and experience.
Tags: dustless refinishing, hardwood floor repair, hardwood refinishing, Portland hardwood floor
Posted in Dustless Hardwood Refinishing, Hardwood floor Portland, Hardwood floor refinish, floor refinishing portland oregon, hardwood floor, portland floor, portland hardwood professional | No Comments »
Are you dealing with a jack of all trades or a specialist?
Saturday, July 11th, 2009
The other day I was in a discussion with a colleague about a new direction that a local wood flooring company is taking. They are a larger company and have a lot of employees that they need to keep working. Rather than let go of employees and focus on their specialty of wood floors, they are now doing remodels as well. This is interesting because it illustrates the phrase, “Jack of all trades, Master of None”. They aren’t a premium quality wood flooring company to begin with and with the added dimension of full service general contracting I really wonder how they will manage to maintain their quality in wood flooring.
As I understand it, a recession happens when the amount of available cash in circulation is reduced. It started to occur to me that during this time it is best to reduce your volume, increase your service, and specialize in a few specific facets of your trade. Passing more referrals in areas that are not your specialty allows more cash to circulate to other trades around you. This allows you to manage profitability much better in my opinion because you do what you do well and do that only. It improves your performance as a contractor and allows you to focus on service and quality.
The intent of this blog is to serve as an educational piece for those in any industry. If you are dealing with any professional who will always tell you they can do every part of your project, then I would really question their potential for quality. I have a favorite saying with which to end: “If you think you can enrich yourself by diluting others, you can only end by diluting yourself”.
Tags: hardwood floor contractor, Portland hardwood floor, portland oregon hardwood contractor
Posted in Hardwood floor Portland, portland hardwood professional | 1 Comment »
Experience, wisdom, and the whole nine yards
Sunday, June 21st, 2009
I began to think about what defines a quality contractor the other day and it led me to start thinking about how you define quality. I would say that quality is obtained when you determine exactly what the client wants in a product or service and afterwards you deliver the equivalent amount of service.
This is where wisdom and experience come in because without a combination of these two you really wouldn’t be able to deliver quality. I often hear a lot of “experienced” “floor guys” talk about how long they have been in the business. You’ll hear companies talk about how between the two or three owners they have over 40 years of experience. That’s nice but if you never educate yourself as a contractor then you really only have one year of experience repeated 40 times.
True professionals are judged on multiple facets in my opinion. A professional is someone who is constantly seeking to improve their service by continuing education, adopting newer and more efficient tools and methods, and shares their knowledge with others for the good of the industry. Additionally I would suggest that a true professional wakes up everyday with a passion to do their job and has an empathy towards the vision of the homeowner and their expectation of service.
Well, well, well this leads us to a rarely mentioned word in the blue collar world called wisdom. Everytime you hear the word wise you probably think about some old man in a rocking chair with a head of grey hair talking about his experiences in life. I would say experience is a component of wisdom but not the whole enchilada. An acuity for the details of a process as related to your past experiences would somewhat make you wise in my book. The only caveat is that the person engaged in this process must be guided in a way so that their observation for detail is governed by honesty and genuine empathy for the customer.
I know this blog may seem somewhat esoteric, but when I look forward to every new day in becoming a more wise hardwood flooring professional I have to think about what rules I adhere to in aiming for continued success. If you find yourself a reader of this blog, then I would like for you to know more about the person behind the company than what I do for a living.
Tags: hardwood floor professional
Posted in experience, hardwood floor | 2 Comments »