Hardwood Floors February/March 2024

FLOORING FOUNDATIONS

Luis Perez, owner of Hero Flooring LLC in Cincinnati, Ohio, focuses his marketing efforts on Instagram. He says it’s imperative to be on the internet since most people’s lives are now done from the phone in the palm of their hand. “Technology is growing every day, and you’re only hindering yourself by not being up with the times,” shares Perez. “I use Instagram as a photo library of my projects. I probably have more than 25,000 photos of gym floors and things I’ve done during the last 10 years of my career. I can push that to a client; they can see it’s cool, interactive, and modern. It’s a good, quick way to give people a brief legitimization about you and what you have going on.”

For more marketing tips, read “Building a Digital Foundation” on page 32. There’s more!

Luis Perez, owner of Hero Flooring LLC in Cincinnati, Ohio, found his passion for gym floors while partnering with Project Backboard, a non profit with a mission

UNDERSTANDING FINANCE Part of Cindy Bailey’s tasks include payroll, purchase orders, and estimates. Simply put, she says understanding the financial part of the business is critical because if your business doesn’t profit, you’re going to go under.

to renovate public basketball courts.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LUIS PEREZ | HERO FLOORING LLC

“If you don’t know your incoming and outgoing, you’re not going to make it,” she explains. “First, they have to know what availability they have to work with. Then, you have to be able to prioritize what equipment you need, what tools you need, and what you can do now and maybe do later.” Zizza suggests a very detailed approach to costs. “You must know every incidental cost, including the things you cannot see and touch like insurance, the tires on your truck, and the scraper blade that lasts a month, has a deteriorating cost, and you need to account for these things. Once you understand your cost, then you can add your profit. If you buy right, add your profit, and sell right, you will always stay out of financial trouble.” Moss says it’s important to learn how much money can be made and how to keep it. “If I’m a contractor and I bid the job for $2,000 and in my mind, I’ve got $500 profit built into that, the average new person in our business is not going to anticipate that the $500 is not profit. You need to reduce that by the taxes you will have to pay on it and benefits, and

“I didn’t have to learn certain things myself because my mentors

learned that, and if I listen to their good advice and try to figure out how to apply it to my situation, it’s the closest thing to a shortcut there is in business.”

— Reid Lambright, Lambright Flooring

46 hardwood floors hardwoodfloorsmag.com