Hardwood Floors Oct/Nov 2019

WFOY HIGHLIGHT

FEATURED CATEGORY: Best Color and Finish Application

Light Up the Night

Ben Suer, the owner of DiamondWood Floors based in Dearing, Georgia, installed his very first wood floor in May 2002. “I had sevenmonths of construction experience, owned few tools, and barely knew how to read a tape measure. My previous experience had been as a general laborer for a remodeling contractor, and most of that consisted of picking up construction debris, and loading and unloading materials,” says Suer. He continued, “When I arrived at that jobsite, my new boss brought me inside the home, showedme where the flooring was to be installed and left. His instructions consisted of, ‘You do this, this, and this. You’ll figure it out.’ Eventually, I did figure it out –many floors later, and that job, well, I survived it!” Fast forward to today, and Suer has been installing and refinishing floors more than 17 years. But Suer doesn’t see value in touting the number of years he has been in business; rather, he focuses on the education he has accumulated. “I didn’t want to be the floor mechanic that said, ‘I’ve been doing it for X years!’ – Implying that experience gave me authority. Because, if I had been doing it wrong for X years, then I would be really experienced at doing it wrong. Therefore, I turned to outside sources of education to avoid learning through trial and error on my client’s floors,” says Suer. Suer attended his first NWFA wood flooring class in 2009. Since then, he has been a Certified Installer and a Certified Sand and Finisher. He also is a

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