Hardwood Floors February/March 2024

Flooring Association (NWFA) and owner of Mid-West Floor Company in St. Louis, Missouri. Among the many key learnings, says Moss, “One of the most important things they taught me as an installer was how to be a good businessman about it and not take a job just so you had a cash flow; take a job when you’re making money on it.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF NWFA ARCHIVES

NWFA's Virgil Hendricks, left, tours Maxwell Hardwood Flooring with Tommy Maxwell, right.

The primary driver of NWFA’s founding in 1985 was to educate the industry. Moss says the organization’s founding fathers wanted an installation guidebook that would pave the way for certifying and training wood flooring specialists. “I was responsible for writing the guidelines, and once we had the guidelines, we’ll call that the industry Bible, everybody went by those guidelines. It allowed you the opportunity to train in accordance with the guidelines, which then allowed you to test in accordance with the guidelines, creating the certification program,” recalls Moss. He says the guidelines, training, and certification programs were developed with Don Conner, and together, they co-chaired the education committees involved in that process. The National Oak Flooring Manufacturers Association (NOFMA) and NWFA merged in 2008. Tommy Maxwell, chairman and CEO of Maxwell Hardwood Flooring Inc. in Monticello, Arkansas, was instrumental in that union. “The NWFA changed things for the better,” says Maxwell. “They assured our industry had more education and training, and they merged with NOFMA to increase credibility and consumer confidence.” Maxwell says the industry is linear now, but “In the early days, we mostly manufactured parquet in 6-by-6, 5/16” and 9-by-9, 1/2” engineered laminated block.” Of the limited nature of product choices in years past, Rick Holden, retired CEO of Derr Flooring Co. in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, adds that it was very simple when his career began in 1980.

Owen Bailey, center, and Cindy Bailey, far left, owners of Bailey Hardwoods in Chapmanville, West Virginia have grown their family business from a shed in 1993 to three locations in West Virginia. Their children, Levi, far left front, Owen, and Laura, right, are also pictured here.

PHOTO COURTESY OF VIVIAN SHORT PHOTOGRAPHY

PILLARS OF THE INDUSTRY

Let’s first go back a few decades to see how the wood flooring industry got to where it is today. Neil Moss recalls how few jobs there were when he started in the 1970s because everyone was covering wood floors with wall to-wall carpet. Over the years, Moss had some very good sources to go to for finding footing in the industry, both in his father, Vincent and one of his father’s best friends, Virgil Hendricks, the first president of the National Wood

the magazine of the national wood flooring association

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