A Second Strategy

Many years ago I remember being really behind in a high school tennis match and expecting to lose the match. Two games before I would have lost (best two of three sets), it finally clicked to me that the guy I was playing had a terrible backhand. I started serving exclusively to his backhand and hitting everything on that side of the court. Not long after that, I ended up winning the match. I was originally planning on coming into the match just going head to head based on hitting power and foot speed. This guy had a great forehand and was fast, so that strategy was not going to work.

Fast-forward to my life now: If you ask me, my joke is that I wish I didn't even own saws, because that's how much I love sanding and refinishing. It didn't start out that way, because I was thoroughly convinced I would build a career off installing the most elaborate floors in town. I spent the greater part of six years trying to convince every customer to let me build custom fireplace headers, install medallions, etc… Once the market went into the toilet, I realized finally that installing wood floors has a few drawbacks compared to refinishing:

1. If you put in the wood floor, then you become liable for the performance of that wood floor afterwards. Considering how complicated the environmental factors are that affect a floor, this leaves you vulnerable to many things, especially if the customer hires a lawyer and decides you're a bad guy. Add onto this that the number of wood species in demand increases almost every month and that the emergence of new research on their behavioral characteristics doesn't match their surge in demand, and you have a bad scenario.
2. I have yet to be able to be as accurate in predicting installation times (hourly) in residential markets as I am at predicting the hours required to refinish a floor. Any variable could arise during an installation. What if additional acclimation time is required on the day you show up to start an install versus what you expected? I once had landscapers pressure-wash a house and force water through the slider and cup my new install, which set me back on time. That's just one of many stories, though. Maybe someone has a better approach, but I have yet to find a way to make every install equally as profitable when compared with refinishing.
3. Any carpenter with an eye for making tight cuts can install a wood floor. It may take them longer, but if you give a person a few saws and enough time they can usually turn out an install that looks good (if they care). It's not likely that the same person can jump on my sanders and produce an equal quality sand job to what I can do. In addition, my sanding setup costs over $10K to buy, so my competition will be far reduced based on startup costs. Yes, I can hear people complaining about the Craigslist guys as I write this, but trust me, their split drum and buffer just cannot match what I can do any day of the week:

Our industry has lots of niche markets that are yet to be fully developed. Whether it is UV-cured finishes in commercial restaurants to becoming a master of black-stained maple, all is possible. With enough effort, someone can become the expert for that niche. We tend to be creatures of habit, yet the most enthusiastic contractors from convention are always telling me about new stuff they are doing and how profitable the work is. In my opinion, their enthusiasm is from financial peace of mind and then innovation and reward.

Hope all is well, my friends, and I'll keep you posted on some new endeavors in a few weeks. Stay in touch, and I'd love to get an e-mail from you all sometime. Thanks for reading.