All Over the Floor

King Solomon wrote long ago: “A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better” (Ecclesiastes 7:1-3).

“It’s a sad day,” I said to myself as my first conscience thought. Today, a couple of us from Wolfe Flooring will attend the funeral of Sidney Defour. It was immediately apparent upon meeting Sidney several years ago that he was a man of rare experience—a top-caliber flooring business owner. A limited number of carpet installers perform with excellence on high-end residential projects, but only a handful of flooring professionals can orchestrate the most complex commercial installations like Sidney. He loved working with the finest woven carpets from mills such as Desso. Sidney enjoyed exercising his talent against challenging projects proving his reputation. While some are overwhelmed with 1,000-square yard renovations, Sidney was accustom to 50,000-square yard carpet installations for airports and metropolitan convention centers. Beyond commercial installs, we knew Sidney as a man of his word. It was common that Sidney would speak of his horses or show us pictures of his wife and young daughter. We will miss our friend and one of the best of our industry:  Sidney Defour (1960 – 2010).

We dedicated this last week of April to attending the Coverings convention in Orlando, FL.  Coverings specialized in ceramic and stone products and tools. Wolfe Flooring’s ability to provide extraordinary results to our residential and commercial customers depends upon our relationships with excellent flooring manufacturers. Thankfully, this international and world-class event draws representatives from more than 90 countries, including China, India, Korea, Italy, Spain, and Israel. More than 1,000 suppliers to the flooring industry exhibit at Coverings. We always enjoy seeing the latest innovations from regulars such as Florida Tile, Mapei, and TEC. But, what makes Coverings especially great is meeting the companies who traveled across the world to be with us.

Today, I met Lawrence from China, who, is only about 24 years of age and speaks very broken English. Lawrence was his company’s sole representative. Lawrence, like a young lady that I met from Italy, was in the United States for the very first time. Both Lawrence and the Italian sales representative were very happy to be in America, and specifically central Florida. Although there are many exhibitors who have exhibits costing more than $5o0,000 and are staffed by more than a dozen professionals, there are also smaller family businesses like the India-based company of a woman named Gijji.

We are very thankful for all the suppliers who enable us to offer the most artistic and durable ceramic and stone products available on Earth.

How do you purchase new flooring when the project is over budget? Today, one of our commercial clients here in Tampa, Florida asked that we divide our proposal on Armstrong’s Stonetex vinyl composition tile (VCT) into two parts. They are not sure if they can afford to have an entire renovation during this economic slump. So, we’ve divided their installation into two phases. This will raise the price slightly due to extra product waste; however, our customer will have us install the new VCT in the most prominent area first. The new VCT in their showroom will create the WOW-affect for their visitors, especially if they purchase 18-inch Stonetex VCT. When funds are available, we will install the balance in the back offices.

If you are going to take this approach, remember to purchase all the product as soon as possible. Preferably, buy all the product at one time. Why? Manufacturers may discontinue the product line and dye lots will likely be different. Deferring the installation will save money.