Hardwood Floors December 2017/January 2018

DEC 2017 / JAN 2018

TODAY’S SAVVY CONSUMER

RISK MANAGEMENT 101 MAINTAINING INSTALLATION EFFICIENCY TECH FOCUS: EDUCATING CUSTOMERS ON MAINTENANCE

trust the source

3M produces a full line of 3M ™ Floor Sanding Abrasives that takes you on the journey from start to finish. But it doesn’t stop there. With more than 100 years of heritage and innovation, you can trust 3M for all your floor sanding needs, from personal safety and adhesives to masking and abrasives. For performance that will make you and your customers proud, choose 3M.

For professional floor sanding results.

© 3M 2017. All rights reserved. 3M, Edge-Lock, Regalite, ScotchBlue, Scotch-Weld, the BLUE color of the tape, Hand-Masker and the Plaid Design are trademarks of 3M.

Dark Gray

Rustic Beige

Heritage Brown

Aged Barrel

Warm Gray

Silvered Gray

Your customers drawn to the latest looks are going to love our six new warm neutral colors. We’ve looked at where color and design trends are heading and have developed the perfect shades to aid your business. They range from light, rustic tones and timeworn grays to a couple of deep mid-tones to round out the selections. As the wood stain leader, you can count on DuraSeal Quick Coat for beautiful, trend-forward colors that give your customers a range of fresh choices. New choices to tempt homeowners. Introducing Quick Coat warm neutral colors.

To request a product demo or contact a sales rep, visit our website at: www.duraseal-wb.com DuraSeal Water-Based nishes are certi ed to GREENGUARD standards for low chemical emissions. To learn more, visit greenguard.org.

©2017 DRSL1083/17

FEATURES

O N T H E C O V E R

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Today’s Savvy Consumer | By Brian O’Bannon and Neil Newhouse In NWFA’s first-ever consumer research initiative, we asked homeowners an extensive line of questioning related to wood flooring. The results were overwhelmingly positive and demonstrated that U.S. homeowners love wood.

56

Educating Your Customer About Maintenance By Brett Miller It is our responsibility to educate our customers on how to maintain their wood floors to keep them looking as good as the day we deliver the final product.

48

Maintaining Installation Efficiency By Kjell Nymark Wood flooring contractors often find themselves “under the gun” to meet deadlines. Here are some tips that can help improve daily efficiency.

PUBLISHING PARTNERS

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CONTENTS

Chris Zizza | Chairman Michael Martin | CEO Anita Howard | COO Bree Urech-Boyle | CFO Brett Miller | VP, Education & Certification NWFA LEADERSHIP

Industry Insights:

15 Government Affairs A look into what lies ahead in 2018. 20 Designer Insights Connecting pros and consumers.

By Dana Cole

By Emily Morrow Finkell

PUBLICATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE Julie Russell, Chair & Board Liaison | Glitsa, a division of Rudd Company Len Daubler | Shaw Industries Inc. Avi Hadad | Avi’s Hardwood Floors Inc. Lenny Hall | Endurance Floor Company Inc. Jessica Hickman | Allegheny Mountain Hardwood Flooring Kevin Mullany | Benchmark Wood Floors Inc. Mike Sundell

Business Best Practices:

24 Finance What type of business insurance do you really need?

By Bree Urech-Boyle

28 Business Basics Risk management 101.

By Barbara Dunn O’Neal

32 Sales Savvy Challenges facing salespeople when selling value.

Jeremy Waldorf | Legacy Floors LLC Adam Williams | Palo Duro Hardwoods

By Paul Reilly

36 Marketing How to leverage the power of online reviews. By Katrina Olson 38 Technology The top five tech resolutions for the new year. By Jodi O’Toole

PUBLICATION TEAM

Stacy Brown | Publisher/Editor | stacy.brown@nwfa.org Brett Miller | Technical Editor | brett.miller@nwfa.org Laura Boyle | Creative Director | laura.boyle@nwfa.org Megan Lhamon | Industry News Editor | megan.lhamon@nwfa.org Katie Schenk | Media Production | katie.schenk@nwfa.org Jodi O’Toole | Web Development | jodi.otoole@nwfa.org

At the Site: 46 Sponsored Content What it takes to tackle dirt and dust.

By Swiffer

111 Chesterfield Industrial Blvd. Chesterfield, Missouri 63005 P : 800.422.4556 Local : 636.519.9663 F: 636.519.9664 E: news@hardwoodfloorsmag.com W: hardwoodfloorsmag.com

52 Tech Troubleshooting Installing wide plank floors.

By Brett Miller

56 Maintenance How to educate customers on maintenance. 62 Finish Focus Love and care of your finishes and sealers.

By Brett Miller

By Ethan Erickson

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Bree Urech-Boyle Dana Cole Michael Dittmer Anita Howard Megan Lhamon Michael Martin Brett Miller Neil Newhouse Jason Elquest Ethan Erickson Emily Morrow Finkell Lenny Hall Kjell Nymark Katrina Olson

65 Tech Talk How do you help your customers By NWFA

Brian O’Bannon Barbara Dunn O’Neal Jodi O’Toole

maintain their floors after the installation? 68 WFOY Spotlight The art of storytelling through wood.

Regional Instructors

Brad Puck Paul Reilly Chris Zizza

By Stacy Brown

Product Focus: 78 Maintenance Products & Recoat Systems 84 TISE Exhibitor Showcase

ADVERTISING SALES

Libby White Johnston Media & Advertising Sales libby.johnston@nwfa.org | 337.794.9232

Also in this Issue:

Hardwood Floors (Print: ISSN 0897-022X and Online: ISSN 2475-5125) is published on a bi-monthly basis, plus the Annual Industry Guide, by the National Wood Flooring Association and distributed as a membership benefit to its member companies and without charge upon request to qualified individuals throughout the wood flooring industry. Single copy price is $8, annual Industry Guide is $50. Subscriptions: $40/ year (includes 6 issues and Industry Guide) in the U.S. and Canada. Publication office: 111 Chesterfield Industrial Blvd, Chesterfield, MO 63005. Phone: 800.422.4556. Printing office: Walsworth, 306 N. Kansas Ave., Marceline, MO 64658. Printed in the U.S.A. Application to Mail at Periodicals Postage Prices is Pending at Chesterfield, MO, and additional offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Hardwood Floors, P.O. Box 9147, Lowell, MA 01853. Copyright © 2017 by the National Wood Flooring Association. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited.

6 Chairman’s Cut 8 Wood Stock 70 NWFA Resources 90 New Products 91 Ad Index

By Chris Zizza

92 Final Coat CEO’s Message

By Michael Martin

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CHAIRMAN’S CUT

By Chris Zizza Chairman, NWFA

As 2017 comes to an end, let’s look into 2018 with hope and promise. As those of you who knowme personally

BigStockPhoto ©

WHAT’S DREAM HOME? IN YOUR

As we look toward a new year, we have much to be thankful for – we have customer preference. We have an environmentally friendly product. We have more work than we have installers to perform. We have more demand than we have mill workers to produce, or distribution sales experts to meet and grow demand. In the “dream home” of the wood ooring industry, I see something more than just wood…I also see a wood ooring professional who not only does the install right the rst time, but follows up with the consumer on a regular basis for maintenance and repair. Consumers like to take care of things they spend a lot of money on. Our consumer research shows that homeowners still don’t know how to care for and maintain their oors – and this is a huge problem. You can’t ruin look-a-likes with excess water and vinegar, but you can ruin wood ooring with the wrong products and maintenance. It’s up to you to become the expert your client relies on for advice and service a er the initial install. So what’s in your dream home? Be er yet, what’s in your customer’s dream home? Hopefully, the answer will be you and your team in 2018.

who already have wood oors responded with wood. ey want more wood. More than 50 percent of consumers who don’t already have wood oors responded with wood. ey also want more wood! All told, 66 percent of respondents would put wood in their dream home. at’s nearly three times the preference than for any other oor covering. Tile in dream homes, 16 percent; carpet, 10 percent; laminate, 6 percent. So, despite all of the look-a-like products in the marketplace, consumers want more wood in their dream homes. And most of them think they can tell the di erence. e question is: What are we all going to do about it as an industry? We need to protect the consumer’s clear desire for wood above all other ooring types. We all have a responsibility to protect the end users by providing quality products at the manufacturing and distribution levels, and as installers, we need to pay a ention to the details and avoid silly callbacks (like cupping because you don’t have a moisture meter to help educate your homeowner, or worse, you do own one, and you ignore the rules anyway). Please, let’s all follow the rules of our industry and help the consumer as well as ourselves.

are aware, I’m an eternal optimist. I like helping people. I like believing in our industry’s future. And I like the Patriots. But, in this issue, there’s something I like even more than Brady’s Bunch, and that’s the NWFA’s rst-ever homeowner research study. is study brings all of us hope and promise. Wood is good, and it’s here to stay. Let’s start with the worst thing consumers said about our product: it’s expensive. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Consumers should see wood ooring as a luxury design element in their home, not a disposable commodity. But my favorite part of the study (see page 40), asked homeowners what kind of ooring they would choose for their dream home. More than 80 percent of consumers

80% OF CONSUMERS SAY THEY WOULD CHOOSE WOOD FLOORS FOR THEIR DREAM HOME

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Wood

CONTRACTOR CORNER

DETAILS Down to the I L

• 3M’s Personal Safety Division has launched a new online resource, the 3MCenter for Hearing Conservation. Safety managers can nd articles and details about the seven elements of a hearing loss prevention program, as well as helpful videos, toolkits, fast facts and more. • Jared and Kristin Fitzgerald, owners of Southern Oaks Flooring in Nashville, Tennessee, were chosen as the winner, among more than 20,000 entries, of the Mercedes-Benz Vans’ “ e Right Van for the Job” contest. • Kidde recently issued a recall on two styles of Kidde re extinguishers: plastic handle re extinguishers and plastic push-bu on re extinguishers. e re extinguishers can become clogged or require excessive force to discharge and can fail to activate during a re emergency. Visit Kidde.com for full details on steps to take if you have an a ected model.

By Megan Lhamon

Before wood can be chosen by a consumer or installed by a contractor, it has to be manufactured. Before it can be manufactured, it has to be designed. For many of us, this step may o en get overlooked when thinking about what’s going into our living room, but interior designer Jamie Beckwith thinks it’s an essential part of the process. Ten years ago, Beckwith started a high-end residential interior design business out of her home in Nashville. As she was doing interior designs, she became increasingly interested in product design.

Enter the Jamie Beckwith Collection. “ e Jamie Beckwith Collection was born because I felt there was a void in the marketplace as far as wood ooring went,” says Beckwith. “ e available designs were standard. I had the idea to create a tile-hybrid to make a shape and pa ern similar to parquet ooring but taking it one step further.” “I played around with ideas, a ended a few trade shows to learn more about

SUBSCRIBE TO HFM E-NEWS The latest industry news

wood, and eventually decided I needed my own machinery so that I could make the products I envisioned,” she adds. “My place now is pre y much a laboratory. We have a facility in Nashville, used mostly for creating samples and designing new products, and one in San Diego.” Beckwith has continued to evolve her collection by designing other products using the signature wood component she originally designed and created.

delivered right to your inbox. Visit hardwoodfloorsmag.com for details.

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MANUFACTURER MEANDERINGS

• Flooring companyMuscanell Millworks, in Cortez, Colorado, has been purchased by German manufacturer Lägler Holdings. About 25 employees work at Muscanell; the sale closed on Sept. 30. • LATICRETE has been honored by the Hartford Business Journal at its 2017 Family Business Awards, which recognize outstanding achievements in family-owned businesses across the Northeastern region. • ProTeam announced the addition of Jim Ellio as Midwest/Mountain States regional sales manager. • Pallmann held its inaugural training school at their newNorth American Training Facility in Aurora, Colorado, in mid-October. Twenty-seven students representing 23 di erent companies from around the United States were present. • Hardwood ooring company Havwoods International has o cially arrived in North America. e London-based company announced its expansion with the opening of a showroom in New York City. • Armstrong Flooring announced that it has achieved FloorScore® certi cation for the company’s solid hardwood products including the Armstrong®, Bruce®, and Capella® brands.

Wood veneer wallpaper is one of the many innovative products from the Jamie Beckwith Collection. Photos courtesy of Jamie Beckwith.

“A er the ooring, I came up with the idea for wood veneer wallpaper. We collaborate with MDC out of Chicago – we do the design, and they manufacture and produce the product,” says Beckwith. “Although it cuts like wallpaper, the veneer is heavy, like wood.” Next on her list – a lighting collection in partnership with Currey & Company Lighting. “We get to design the lighting using our signature wood component, and Currey makes the hardware,” she says. Beckwith has found her niche thinking outside the box. “Trying to manipulate or use wood in ways that people aren’t used to seeing is very exciting. We’re designers rst, so having the opportunity to learn the latest trends and actually create our own products based on those trends is amazing. I’m really looking forward to seeing what the future of the Jamie Beckwith Collection holds!” You can view Beckwith’s collection at jamiebeckwithcollection.com.

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DISTRIBUTOR DOINGS

MAKING HISTORY

• Gilford-Johnson Flooring LLC, a ooring distributor in Je ersonville, Indiana, has purchased Miami-based Mastercra Flooring Distributors. • Horizon Forest Products is celebrating its 25-Year Anniversary. In 1992, Horizon opened its doors with just eight employees in a 20,000 square foot facility near the Raleigh-Durham International Airport. ey currently employ more than 120 employees in 11 branch locations across ve states. Solutions, has been named the president of the board of directors of the Floor Covering Distributors Alliance (FCDA). • J. J. Haines announced that Brian Green was promoted to senior vice president – CMH sales &marketing. In this new role, Brian will lead all sales and marketing e orts for the company’s CMH Flooring Division. • PID Floors recently announced the opening of a new showroom in New York City’s Herald Square exclusively featuring Bauwerk® parquet ooring products. • Home Depot Inc. is eliminating substances like formaldehyde and lead in several categories, making it the latest retailer to accede to demands for greener products. e changes are part of a broader plan to minimize or disclose harmful substances in the paints, insulation, and ooring it sells. • Lumber Liquidators said that it reached an agreement with a group of plainti s to se le lawsuits associated with Chinese- made laminate ooring previously sold by Lumber Liquidators between Jan. 1, 2009 and May 31, 2015. RETAILER ROUNDUP • BobWagner, president and CEO of Baltimore-based Fishman Flooring

most recent work for Lynn inside of the Supreme Court. e task at hand included removing bookcases and matching the oor covering to the existing ri and quarter sawn white oak, including some walnut and mahogany inlays. PROCESS DETAILS “A er the original bookcases were removed, the oor covering underneath no longer matched what was in the rest of the room,” says Lynn. “As we do with any historic restoration, we deconstructed the existing oor, labeling every piece, and used wood from our stockpile to recon gure the oor to accommodate the new layout.” For Lynn, this work is a family a air. “It’s unique to be able to continue my grandfather’s legacy in the Supreme Court building by using my skills to restore the oors inside. It’s fun. It’s challenging. It’s historic restoration.”

Sprigg Lynn, the owner of Universal Floors Inc., a family-owned company out of Washington D.C., has been working on oors in the U.S. Supreme Court, previously located inside the Capitol building, for many years. David Lynn, Sprigg’s grandfather, was the seventh architect of the Capitol, making the work even more signi cant to Sprigg. Universal Floors has a growing stockpile of salvaged wood, making them an ideal candidate for work in Washington D.C.’s historic homes and buildings. “When houses are slated for demolition, we go in, inspect the property, and salvage the wood. We’ve go en wood from all over the city,” says Lynn. FLOOR FOCUS Earlier this year, Colorado’s Neil Gorsuch joined the Supreme Court as a Justice and had a few renovation requests for his o ce. ese requests have become the

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By Megan Lhamon

Pinnacle floors have texture you can feel with your eyes.

Earthy. Warm. Ar tist ic. The ar t of f looring. Pinnacle is hardwood flooring at its best in style, color and texture, handcrafted to perfection. Sourced responsibly the world over, and

produced to our stringent standards, Pinnacle brings the feel of hardwoods and all of your expectations together as never before.

F L O O R I N G E N R I C H E D B Y A R T I S T R Y A P R O D U C T O F S W I F F - T R A I N Contact: info@pinnacleflooring.com

Photos courtesy of Sprigg Lynn

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Pinnacle Ad-Hardwood Floors Magazine.indd 1

1/10/17 3:10 PM

Wood

PIECES

PICKING UP THE e 2017 hurricane season is one many will never forget. With two deadly hurricanes, Harvey and Irma, making landfall in the U.S. within weeks of each other, our southern states, in particular, experienced a great deal of devastation. In the months to come, millions of residents will work to repair the damage done to their homes or those around them – many, having lost their homes and belongings, will have to start over completely. Numerous NWFAmembers are among those a ected by the hurricane a ermath, both personally and professionally. “I had about 2-1/2 feet of standing water in my house a er Hurricane Harvey hit,” says Rob Navon of Houston Floor Inspections in Houston, Texas. “I live near a bayou, so the water came in quickly and didn’t allow for time to move things. I lost all of my furniture and all three of my cars.”

By Megan Lhamon

Another member, Neil Moss, had three family members including his brother-in-law, industry veteran Mel Hollis, who sawmore than ve-feet-high sewage and water in their homes. “In the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ e orts to keep dams from failing, many neighborhoods and businesses downstream that had never ooded, nor were ooded during the storm, were intentionally ooded. My family members’ homes were among those,” says Moss. “We sold out to investors and are currently living with my daughter and son-in-law,” says Hollis. One thing both Navon andMoss saw immediately following the stormwas hospitality. “Our community received tremendous assistance from local groups as well as out-of-town and out-of-state friends who came in to help remove rubbish or tear down drywall,” says Moss. “Other volunteers showed up with food to feed those who had just lost everything. It was quite a sight to behold.” Navon had a similar experience. “I was rescued frommy home via boat and brought to a community shelter where there was food and a place to stay. It was incredible to see everyone come together and help in this time of dire need.” e next step for many of the a ected residents will be guring out what to do with all of the damage. With millions a ected, it could take months to receive money from insurance companies, which could prevent many from being able to begin repairs to their homes or move elsewhere. “One of the rst things I did was go to a dealership to nd a new vehicle,” says Navon. “It was a huge challenge nding a vehicle that didn’t have water damage and was reasonably priced. Many dealers were trying to sell cars that were damaged. Some people might not have picked up on the damage, but as an inspector, it didn’t take more than a look underneath the car for me to recognize water damage.” A er he found a vehicle, Navon started seeking remediation companies and general contractors to help get his home back together. “ e remediation company I hired came in and took up about 2,000 sq. . of hardwood ooring in my home,” says Navon. “ ey also placed blowers and dehumidi ers throughout to bring the moisture content back to an acceptable level. Months

Photos courtesy of Rob Navon

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In the midst of recovery e orts starting fromHurricane Harvey damage a few states over, Hall was doing what he could to get ready before Hurricane Irma came through. “Before the hurricane, I ordered additional stock in most-used items: plywood, nails, sandpaper, and nish,” says Hall. “We shut down operations that Wednesday a er fueling all of our trucks, allowing our guys to get their homes and families ready. e Tuesday a er the storm hit, I visited two building suppliers and bought all the circular saw blades on the shelf. It took more than a week to nd electric cords, cables, plug ends, and plywood.”

later, the moisture content and relative humidity still do not meet recommendations for installation.” Another challenge Navon faces has been nding a reliable general contractor with a reasonable quote. “One guy came in and said it would cost $175,000 to replace and repair the damage done. Another was asking for $2,500 just to come out and give an estimate. A third was already booked until February 2018 and not taking any new clients,” adds Navon. “I’ve seen and heard of so many out-of-state guys coming in to get extra work but don’t really have the quali cations to do so, and on top of that, they are price

gouging because of the obvious demand. In one situation, an out-of-state contractor came in trying to sand and nish cupped oors when they clearly needed to be torn out.” Unfortunately, that seems to be a common occurrence – Moss, Hollis, and Lenny Hall, owner and operator of Endurance Floor Co. inWest Park, Florida, are seeing a similar trend. “ ere’s a huge shortage in drywall and drywall hangers, and guys are coming in and ripping that stu out and ge ing ready to put new oors over a wet sub oor and within walls that haven’t been allowed enough time to dry or be treated,” says Moss. “A huge di culty we’re seeing in our area is that the already short labor pool is now evaporated,” adds Hall. “Any warm body willing to work has been hired by companies that can work with low skill level personnel.” “In homes that saw a few feet of water, mold is already starting to show through the ceiling,” adds

Photos courtesy of Neil Moss

“Operationally, the di culty comes with the in-progress work, the work in the pipeline, and then dealing with the amount of work heading our way. We have a policy in place where we only take previous clients during times of high demand, such as this,” adds Hall. “We’ve worked that way since Hurricane Andrew hit in 1992 and our clients are very appreciative, exceptionally loyal, and our greatest source of goodwill.” “Most jobs are a total replacement,” says Hall. “We expect to be working on Irma related work for the next four to six months.” Amid so much devastation and heartbreak, it is important to nd someone you trust to help make repairs to your home when your home is ready. e NWFA is happy to help o er recommendations for issues our members and consumers may be facing.

Moss. “It will take months, and in some cases, more than a year, to treat the homes and get them to a place where they’ll be ready for newmaterials to come in.” “ e Houston Remodeling Association is predicting six to seven years to rebuild due to the shortage of skilled workers,” adds Hollis. In all of this havoc, Moss has noticed a positive trend with the hardwood oors in many homes. “Of the 21 oors I’ve been trying to save, all of the engineered hardwood, rotary or sawn, were saved, at least structurally, and not a single oated oor could be saved. Unfortunately, many sat under sewage water for more than a week so they won’t be salvageable due to becoming a potential health hazard, but it’s still cool to see that a properly installed hardwood oor could withstand so much devastation.”

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A CELEBRATION is in Order

By Megan Lhamon

In keeping with New Orleans’ tradition of a large scale legacy project at centennial milestones, Mayor Mitch Landrieu has proposed the full-scale restoration and preservation of historic Gallier Hall as the legacy project for the city’s Tricentennial. A er damage occurred to the building in the summer of 2014, extensive repair to the exterior and interior were necessary. Louisiana native and NWFA member, Ron-Del Floor Service Inc., was chosen as the team for the job. In business since 1959, Ron-Del Floor Service serves Greater New Orleans and its surrounding areas. “We are proud to have been chosen for this project to help restore and celebrate the upcoming Tricentennial of our city,” says Michael Caldarera, Project Manager. “It has been an honor to help preserve such a historic building.”

During

FLOOR FOCUS e job consisted of various repairs as well as the sand and nish of roughly 14,500 square feet of existing ooring. “ e existing species were red oak and American walnut,” adds Caldarera. “Upon completion, the oors were sanded using Lägler equipment, Norton abrasives, and nished with DuraSeal’s Espresso stain followed by three coats of Bona Woodline polyurethane.”

A er lots of hard work, the oors are all ready for the Tricentennial celebration.

After

Photos courtesy of Michael Caldarera

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GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

By Dana Cole

RESOLVE TO GET INVOLVED

Once candidates dive into the campaign, they will be looking for ways to connect with and impress their constituents. As a voter, you have the unique power to educate and inform those who will be considering legislation and policy that impacts your bo om line. Certainly town hall meetings are an excellent opportunity to see the candidates in action. Debates, live or telecast, also have the power to inform. However, one of the best ways to make a lasting impression upon any decision maker is to invite them

o cials swing into full-time campaign mode, they will be spending a great deal of time in their home states and districts making the case about why they should get to return toWashington. Challengers will be making their case too; why incumbents should be rejected and how new blood and ideas will reinvigorate the political process. It is too soon to tell what the outcome in November will be (although the media is already busy making predictions). However, it is not too early to start thinking about how you can make a di erence.

e new year is almost upon us, and 2018 promises to be just as exciting as the last few years in Washington, D.C. Members will return in late January to begin the second half of the 115th Congress, and we will be watching their activities carefully, monitoring what they will and won’t be working on that impacts the hardwood industry. 2018 is also an election year. Elections always have the potential to change the course and tone of Washington, D.C., and this year is no di erent. Once elected

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Peter Connor, VP of Nicolet Hardwoods and WD Flooring, gives Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) a tour of the Nicolet Hardwoods facility in Laona, Wisconsin. Photos courtesy of Dana Cole.

Resolve to Get Involved (Continued)

elected o cials will remember your role in your community and your hospitality. e Hardwood Federation has developed a guide to help you plan, prepare for, and conduct a successful facility tour and ensure that your experience is as e ective as possible. You will nd a simple, yet thorough, checklist to follow to ensure your facility tour runs as smoothly as possible. e guide is available on our website at hardwoodfederation.com.

to your place of business and let them see, feel, and smell what it takes to work in the wood ooring industry in 2018. Conducting mill or site visits for elected o cials at any level of government – local, state, or federal – is an excellent way to build relationships for your company and increase support for a pro-growth, pro-business, pro- hardwood agenda. Likewise, they provide unique opportunities for lawmakers to meet with their constituents, hear the success stories and the struggles that you face, and see rsthand how their policies work in real life. Facility tours educate lawmakers on the importance of the hardwood industry in the economy. ey paint the perfect picture of the hardwood industry at work. e de nition of elected o cials covers a wide variety of individuals, including those elected to local city councils or mayors’ o ces, those who represent your community in state legislatures and governors’ o ces, and those who serve as members of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate inWashington, D.C. It is vital that people at every level of government understand why your business is essential to your community. Policy, rules, and legislation happen at every level of government, and many of those elected at the local level will continue their careers at the state level and in Congress, bringing their experience and awareness with them as they move from one rung of the political ladder to the next. Facility visits can also provide excellent press opportunities for your company. Be er yet,

Download a Free Guide The Hardwood Federation has a guide to help you plan, prepare for, and conduct a successful facility tour. Download a copy at hardwoodfederation.com.

e Hardwood Federation is here to help you with the process, and if you have any questions or need assistance along the way, please do not hesitate to ask. We are here to help you. Dana Cole is Executive Director at the Hardwood Federation, a Washington D.C.- based hardwood industry trade association that represents thousands of hardwood businesses in every state in the U.S. and acts as the industry’s advocacy voice on Capitol Hill. She can be reached at dana.cole@hardwoodfederation.com.

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Experiencing Moisture Issues?

Thehardwood industry’s most trusted lineofmoisturevapor control products. Bostik’s Got YouCovered!

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*When usedwith anyBostik adhesive. T3210_11.08.17

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS DESIGNER INSIGHTS

By Emily Morrow Finkell

Install Confidence: Consumers Need Skilled Professionals When consumers think about tackling renovations to their home, they are most likely a li le torn about if, howmuch, and where to use carpet, hardwood oors, or rugs (or even a combination of them all). e rst decisions they need to make are howmuch of the legwork are they willing to do, and whether or not they want to bring in the help of a professional. As wood ooring professionals, we already know that it is money well-spent to tap into the expertise and guidance from someone who does this type of thing regularly and knows the potential pitfalls, not to mention the commercial construction, I’ve taken for granted having the resources of skilled tradesmen like electricians, brick and stone masons, nish carpenters, and ooring installers. While talking with designers and speci ers, it came to my a ention that not everyone feels they have the resources or the competency to handle the hardwood ooring portion of their design projects as they might manage other parts of their design projects. Results from 260,000 people surveyed, show 84% hired a

“Why?” I asked. e responses varied from concern about not having a tight enough control over the succession and timeline of jobs to the variations in all of the hardwood ooring types (leaving that part to the contractor), all the while, perhaps being limited to the ooring choices that their “go-to-guy” had to show them. As with everything, there are exceptions, and there are always scenarios where I’d nd designers who held in their resource rooms beautiful ooring options, many of which had obscure labeling with elegant and European sounding brand names.

latest trends fromwhich to choose. But what compels a consumer to call a professional and who exactly do they consider a professional? Recent research released fromHOUZZ and the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) states that out of 260,000 survey respondents, 84 percent hired a professional or specialist to assist themwith their home renovation project. Half of those responding to the survey hired an actual interior designer, and the other half was divided between hiring kitchen and bath designers and design- build rms. Overall, most homeowners nd themselves challenged by things like determining their budget; working out the scheduling of work to be done; selecting products, nishes, and materials; identifying their style; and coordinating the professionals within their schedules. During the past two years, as I worked to launch a line of premium hardwood oors to the trade, I’ve been surprised by one revelation that has to do with hiring skilled installers of ooring, speci cally hardwood ooring. Having grown up in my family business of industrial and

professional to assist with a renovation project. - Research from Houzz and the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID)

Photo courtesy of Emily Morrow Finkell

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Install Confidence (Continued)

Photo courtesy of Emily Morrow Finkell

a consumer hires a professional designer and/ or a professional installer, their chances of loving the outcome are much greater. Most professionals have typically worked with their tried and true products and brands, knowing that their reputation and livelihood is at stake with word-of-mouth and social media being one of the primary platforms on which they showcase their work. Knowing the right type of ooring for the right areas in the home is so critical, once again proving the value of working with a professional designer and installer. ere are some necessary things consumers should consider when choosing hardwood ooring for their home. For example, I’d suggest sticking with porcelain tile or vinyl ooring for the full bathrooms where showers and bathtubs create a constantly moist environment. Powder room type bathrooms, on the other hand, are beautiful when hardwood ooring is used and especially so if there’s a harmonious and continuous ow of the same hardwood ooring going throughout an open oor plan. Many times, I am asked if hardwood ooring is okay for kitchens to which I always answer, “Yes, absolutely.” In fact, hardwood ooring is my

Why is this information relevant? I’d like to think we have an opportunity to bring our professional groups together to be er connect designers to a higher level of skilled installers, a be er variety of hardwood products, and more importantly, a more in-depth knowledge of what to look for in quality and premium hardwood ooring. Today’s ooring options, especially hardwood ooring, are durable beyond what one would expect if they based their judgment on ooring of 20 years ago. We have technology built into each layer of hardwood from the face, to the core, to the back. Advanced aluminum oxide nishes not only resist surface scratches and daily wear, but also popular hardwood species like white oak have become even harder and more stable when pressed and cross-plied with similarly hard species. Many imported hardwood products are o en imposters to European oaks, having genteel sounding names romanced with rich storylines. But when the rubber hits the road, or the can of soup hits the oor, the truth comes out, and the shortcuts can be seen and felt, leaving many homeowners disappointed in their ooring choice, perhaps disillusioned in hardwood unnecessarily. When

According to the NWFA Education & Research Foundation 2017 Consumer Study, 39% of consumers rely on contractors as a resource to determine the best type of flooring for their home.

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designers to start with this impressive pool of skilled professionals.

the “Find a Professional” feature at wood oors.org, the NWFA Industry Guide at hardwood oorsmag.com, as well as a team of experts that designers and consumers can tap into to locate credible, certi ed installers that they can rely on to bring their vision to life. If you are an installer who has not joined NWFA or gone through certi cation with the NWFA, I encourage you to consider the importance and value of the program. Certi cation sets you apart from the rest of the pack and allows you to force the competition to step it up in their credibility. I encourage my fellow

favorite option for kitchens as it adds so much warmth, character, and personality to the kitchen which has become the No. 1 area of the home where families and friends gather and generally is the largest part of a home’s budget. Hardwood ooring and kitchen cabinet styles have both evolved over the years to provide homeowners extensive options of colors, stains, and nishes giving a high-end, luxurious rst impression for the rest of the home. So how can designers and homeowners be er connect with skilled installers? NWFA has several resources including

Similarly, I encourage installation professionals to reach out to local

designers, introduce yourself and share the value of working with a professional for wood ooring projects. e ASID “Find a Pro” feature at asid.org puts you in contact with North America’s most talented professional designers. In addition, the NWFA has a set of presentations that can be used to provide education and CEUs to designers. Forging these relationships will help improve the overall quality of any ooring project.

Emily Morrow Finkell is CEO of EF Floors & Design in Dalton, Georgia. She can be reached at emily@emilymorrowhome.com.

WOOD MOISTURE METER LINE

CONCRETE MOISTURE TEST

the magazine of the national wood flooring association

23

BUSINESS BEST PRACTICES

By Bree Urech-Boyle

FINANCE

BUSINESS INSURANCE What do you need?

from all business risks. e example they used was a business that inadvertently breaks intellectual property laws or is sued by an employee. Another signi cant point in the article is that o en a client will request evidence of your certi cate of general liability before doing business with you. is is especially true in our industry where workers are entering homes to work on client’s oors. e client wants to see it to feel be er about their liability in case something goes wrong in addition to the wood ooring professional needing coverage for protection. I have heard many stories from the best of the best in our industry. Bad things happen to good people all the time. Good people that are working hard, mastering their cra , and have all the best intentions. Don’t assume taking the high road will protect you. Our broker also provided a bulleted list of basic coverage you may consider purchasing. e list is broken down into two categories, property and casualty insurance, and health and related insurance.

work you put into building your business. Not many small businesses could survive litigation that can easily span hundreds of thousands of dollars. e next question generally is, “what kind of business insurance do I need?” Insurance coverage is o en something you don’t know is adequate or not until you need it. How do you know if it’s adequate? One great place to start is with a good insurance broker, someone you trust to be straight with you while looking out for the needs (both now and in the future) of your business. If you own your business, the broker could also understand you personally and know how to cover those needs as well. To add value to this article, I reached out to the insurance broker for the National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA). Our broker rst called a ention to an article on the U.S. Small Business Administration’s website, sba.gov. e article, “What Kind of Business Insurance Do You Need?” is a short and easy read that includes several helpful nuggets of information including the fact that forming a Limited Liability Company (LLC) will not protect you personally

To prepare myself to write this article, in addition to slightly more serious research, I spent a few minutes scrolling through business insurance cartoons on the internet. One included a mustached man that was speaking to a woman si ing at a computer. He asks, “What happens when we have a re…I mean IF we have a re?!” Another included two men si ing at a desk, one presumably the agent with a paper in his hand speaking to the other. He says, “I think you misunderstood. e million dollar umbrella policy only covers you for claims involving an umbrella.” A favorite was a pig si ing at a table looking distraught talking with his agent. e agent says, “Your policy does cover wind damage, but not from hu ng and pu ng.” On a spectrum of silly to cruel, they were nearly all negative regarding the insurance industry. Like many jokes, there is some truth to them, but they are mostly exaggerated. In reality, there are many reasons that business insurance is a good idea. ey may include regulatory requirements, entities at high-risk (think doctors), and situations where an insurable situation could destroy the hard

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Business Insurance (Continued)

PROPERTY AND CASUALTY INSURANCE Unlike health insurance, which protects people, property and casualty insurance covers the business – the owner, the business site, liability protection, and the physical assets that are vital to the success of your business. • Workers’ Compensation Insurance: If you or your employees become disabled due to an on-the-job injury or illness, workers’ compensation insurance allows you to provide wage replacement and medical bene ts to the a ected employee while protecting you and your business from costly liability litigation. • Business Insurance: ese plans include several policies that protect your business from circumstances that could negatively a ect your operations. Policies include property, casualty, liability, commercial auto, and more. • Cyber Insurance: It’s estimated that half of small- to medium-sized businesses have been hacked or had their systems compromised in the last 12 months. New types of coverage are available that protect your company’s digital assets in the event of a cyber a ack.

HEALTH AND RELATED INSURANCE Group and individual health insurance are about people – you and your employees. In the case of an accident or illness, these plans can help pay for quali ed medical care for the policyholder and their dependents. • Group Health, Accident, and Life Insurance: ese plans give yourself and your employees access to coverage including medical, dental, vision, life, and short- and long- term disability insurance. • Voluntary and Supplemental Insurance: Voluntary insurance allows your employees to help determine their own insurance bene ts, which they pay for out-of- pocket. Voluntary insurance may be used to establish your company’s bene ts package or supplement your current group bene ts. • Individual Medical Insurance: Individual medical insurance can help keep rising health care costs in check through health, vision, dental, life, and short- and long-term disability plans for you and your family.

ink about the inherent risks of your business and who you want to be covered. Take those thoughts to your broker so they can understand the story of you and your business and help you determine your insurance needs. One important thing to keep in mind is that if you take care of your employees, you are more likely to earn their loyalty. Investments in things like insurance for the bene t of an employee are typically valued greater by them than the relative cost to the business. In addition to the intangible bene ts of feeling like your employer cares about you, most employees cannot secure comparable insurance at the costs available to businesses. You get what you give and paying insurance premiums can give more than just a safety net when used strategically.

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Bree Urech-Boyle is Chief Financial Officer at the National Wood Flooring Association in St. Louis. She can be reached at bree.urech-boyle@nwfa.org.

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BUSINESS BEST PRACTICES BUSINESS BASICS

By Barbara Dunn O’Neal

Getting Down to the Basics: Risk Management 101

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Risk Avoidance e best way to manage a risk is to ensure the risk never happens in the rst place. at means that you and your sta are ensuring the safety of yourselves, your customers, and the public as a whole. On a job site, in an o ce, or in a warehouse, you must be diligent about inspecting the area on a regular basis to make sure there are no potential hazards. Whether it’s an electrical cord that someone could trip on, or a large box of materials barely hanging on to the top shelf, regular inspections can make sure the “bad thing” or injury doesn’t happen in the rst place. Safety should continue to be the top priority, and any complaints of safety problems or issues should be investigated promptly. Risk Shifting One of the most e ective ways to manage risk is to shi risk to others. An example of risk shi ing is indemni cation. e concept is that the company shi s risk to the party that can best control the risk. For example, if your company is hiring another company to do a oor installation, the risk is that the installation will be improper or someone will get hurt. In this case, the company can shi that risk to the installer by asking it to indemnify the company in its contract with the company. e indemni cation language states that the installer will indemnify and hold the company harmless (from a nancial standpoint) from any claims due to the installer’s negligence. Here’s a sample indemni cation clause:

No matter which facet of the hardwood flooring industry you work in, managing risk is an every day, all day project. Let’s take a look at risk management techniques (“tools”) that you and your company can begin adding to your risk management plan (“toolbox”).

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