2020 WFB Contractor Survey: Wood Flooring Pros Share the Details of Their Work Lives

Sep 22, 2020

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For the second time, we asked our contractor readers to tell us the nitty-gritty details of their lives as wood flooring pros. What are their work hours? What safety equipment do they use? Which machine do they use for final sanding before stain? To find out these answers and much more, keep reading. (To find stats regarding their business outlook and more, go to the annual WFB State of the Industry survey from the April/May 2020 issue at wfbmag.co/soi20.)

The Typical Wood Floor Contractor

We asked you for your stats, and we crunched the numbers to build a profile of the most typical wood flooring contractor working today in the U.S. Here is what the contractor looks like:

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RELATED: WFB 2018 Wood Flooring Contractor Survey

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WFB Wood Flooring State of the Industry 2024

April 2, 2024

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Custom Stain Application Techniques with Loba-Wakol North America

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2021 WFB Wood Flooring Retailer Survey

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State of the Wood Flooring Industry 2021

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State of the Wood Flooring Industry 2020

WFB Wood Flooring State of the Industry 2023

Results from the 2023 Wood Floor Business State of the Industry survey, which offers insights into current industry trends for wood flooring manufacturers, distributors, retailers and contractors.

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2021 WFB Wood Flooring Retailer Survey

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State of the Wood Flooring Industry 2021

When WFB was preparing this section last year, the world had just come to a standstill as the COVID-19 pandemic ramped up around the globe. In the following pages, you will find the results from our survey of wood flooring manufacturers, distributors, retailers and contractors, as they shared with us how this history-making year impacted their businesses. (Results were compiled in February.)

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State of the Wood Flooring Industry 2020

Following are the results from WFB's exclusive State of the Industry Survey, which the magazine has been doing since 1992. Please note that responses to this survey were collected in late January and early February, when the novel coronavirus was just beginning to be detected in countries outside China. As this issue went to press in mid-March, the coronavirus had been declared a pandemic and was escalating daily.

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State of the Wood Flooring Industry 2019

Although many wood flooring pros feel positive about 2019, others are cautiously watching the predictions for housing this year and tempering their expectations. What else did we find out in our exclusive State of the Industry survey (which we have published since 1992)? To discover more helpful data from wood flooring manufacturers, distributors, retailers and contractors, keep reading.It has been a hectic past seven months for many companies that have relied on importing or exporting Chinese wood flooring for their business. The Trump administration's levy of an additional 10 percent tariff to all types of wood flooring from China in September 2018, with an ongoing threat of increasing it to 25 percent (still unsettled as of press time of this issue), spawned in-kind retaliation from the Chinese government and rattled segments of the wood flooring industry here in the United States. The trade war's impact, suppliers say, could alter the way the industry ticks.

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WFB 2018 Wood Flooring Contractor Survey

A special thank you to these companies for supplying the opening art for the 2018 contractor survey: PTL Hardwood Floors, Forest Hardwood Floors, Pyle Legacy Floors, Red River Floor Company, Parkers Hardwood, Jim Kramer, Epic Hardwood Floors.

State of the Wood Flooring Industry 2018: On Solid Footing

In Wood Floor Business's exclusive statistical report on the wood flooring industry, manufacturers, distributors, retailers and contractors give results on 2017 and predictions for 2018.

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State of the Wood Flooring Industry 2017: Steady Growth

Statistics summarizing business conditions for wood flooring manufacturers, distributors retailers and contractors.

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State of the Wood Flooring Industry 2016: A Steady Climb

Statistics from wood flooring manufacturers, distributors and contractors about their sales and more in 2015, as well as predictions for 2016.

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State of the Wood Flooring Industry 2016: Out in the Field

Instructors from the National Wood Flooring Association discuss challenges wood flooring pros face on today's jobs.

NWFA instructors quoted here include: (back row, left to right) Brett Miller, NWFA; Jason Elquest, Blackhawk Floors, Scottsdale, Ariz.; Toby Merrill, Walk on Wood, McHenry, Ill.; Scott Taylor, Milwaukee; (second row) Jon Namba, Jon Namba Services Inc., Salt Lake City; Mike Dittmer, Michael Dittmer Wood Floors, Putnam, Ill.; Lenny Hall, Endurance Floor Company Inc., West Park, Fla.; Kjell Nymark, Metropolitan Hardwood Floors, Coquitlam, B.C.; and (kneeling) Joe Rocco, Artistic Floors by Design, Parker, Colo.

State of the Wood Flooring Industry 2015: Building Momentum

A summary of wood flooring industry data from manufacturers, distributors and contractors in 2015.

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Solid Ground: State of the Wood Flooring Industry 2014

Manufacturers say their sales (in dollar volume) in 2013 were…Manufacturers say the prices they paid for raw materials in 2013…Manufacturers say wood flooring prices in 2013…Manufacturers expect prices in 2014 to…Wood flooring manufacturers answered that their biggest threat is:Do you agree or disagree with the Lacey Act?Should the LEED green building program recognize other wood flooring certifications besides FSC?Distributors say the dollar value of their wood flooring sales in 2013...31% of distributors said they had sold some products online in 2013.Five years ago distributors answering our survey said 19% of their sales were exotics. This year those combined numbers totaled only 6%.We asked distributors if their business had been affected by liquidators (such as Lumber Liquidators). They said:What is the outlook for 2014? Distributors answered:What is the single most important issue affecting your business specifically?Contractors say the dollar value of their wood flooring sales in 2013...(more than one answer possible)We asked contractors if their business had been affected by liquidators (such as Lumber Liquidators). They said:"I am always optimistic, otherwise I would not be in this industry.""People often want to compare prices of the premium product with [liquidators] … they do not offer customer education, and yet most consumers do not find this out till it is too late."

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