Check Out These Stories From Wood Floor Pros Who Persevered

May 14, 2025

Pros

The road to being a successful wood flooring pro is often filled with obstacles and challenges, but these pros persevered. Read the stories they shared:

From the Humblest Beginnings to High-End Hardwood Flooring

Nothing In Life Comes Easy: How I Started My Gym Floor Company

Overcoming Addiction, Prison to Find My Wood Flooring Life

My Painful Road to Owning a Wood Flooring Business

From a Borrowed Palm Sander to High-End Wood Floor Pros in Five Years

How I Started: $37, No Car and No Connections

What I Learned After My Near-Death Accident and Three Months in the Hospital, Part 1

A Bold Business Plan: Embrace What Makes You Unique

How I Got Out of Wood Flooring, Then Started Again—But Better

After A Tragic Loss, Going From Homeschool Mom To CEO

My 2020 Story: 23 Days in a Coma With COVID-19

Jj25 Talk Back1

What’s Something You Used To Do on a Job Site That You Can’t Imagine Doing Now?

May 29, 2025

A Complicated Challenge: Refinishing the Tavern on the Green

A Complicated Challenge: Refinishing the Tavern on the Green

Enter the 2026 Wood Floor Business Truck & Van Contest

Jj25 Truck Van Exterior Graphics2

Blending Personality With Practicality: See the Winners of the 2025 WFB Truck and Van Contest

I went from being anti-laser to having a full fine woodworking shop including a new laser-cutting machine.

From a Summer Bowling Lane Job to My Own Laser

What’s Something You Used To Do on a Job Site That You Can’t Imagine Doing Now?

We asked wood floor pros to share things they used to do but can't imagine doing on a job site today. Here are some of our favorite responses shared by our readers on the WFB Facebook and Instagram pages.

Jj25 Talk Back1

Sponsored

A Complicated Challenge: Refinishing the Tavern on the Green

LED Coating Solutions

Avedis Duvenjian of LED Coating Solutions by Archetypal takes us through the refinishing of the historic Tavern on the Green Restaurant in New York City.

A Complicated Challenge: Refinishing the Tavern on the Green

Enter the 2026 Wood Floor Business Truck & Van Contest

Blending Personality With Practicality: See the Winners of the 2025 WFB Truck and Van Contest

Get ready to rev your engines and roll into the world of wood flooring pros’ work vehicles. The WFB Truck & Van Contest celebrates pros' trucks and vans with categories for Best Exterior Graphics, Most Organized Interior, Most Unusual Work Vehicle and Biggest Disaster.

Jj25 Truck Van Exterior Graphics2

From a Summer Bowling Lane Job to My Own Laser

When Jason Vivash headed to university, his roommates worked for a guy refinishing bowling alleys all summer—and he had no idea that would lead to such an involved career producing his own custom wood floors.

I went from being anti-laser to having a full fine woodworking shop including a new laser-cutting machine.

The Personal Connection: How Do You Make Clients Feel?

As hardwood floor pros, we are always striving to use the best products, the latest gear and the newest tech we can get our hands on, but what actually keeps every one of us in business?

The Personal Connection

Tell Us About the Most Difficult Wood Floor Job You Ever Did

We asked wood floor pros to share their most challenging jobs. Here are our favorite responses shared by our readers on the WFB Facebook and Instagram pages.

Am25 Talking Shop Most Difficult

How I Sold My Wood Flooring Business in Two Days

During our summer visits to Arizona, we began looking at Scottsdale-area real estate. I told Stephanie, “If we’re going to do this, I have to sell the business"—and we sold our wood flooring business two days after the listing went live. Here's how.

Am25 L Ive Learn Hed Sold In 2 Days

Tales From the Front

Wood Floor Tale From the Front: Birds Create a Foul Surprise in Bermuda

When Howard Brickman of Brickman Consulting in Norwell, Mass., went to do a gym job in Bermuda in the ’90s, he discovered something unexpected regarding the subfloor prep.

Am25 Tales Guano

Video: Angelo DeSanto on the Show Floor at TISE 2025

Wood floor pro and Wood Floor Business author/blogger Angelo DeSanto of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.-based wood floor contracting company Dande West takes viewers on a walk through the show floor at TISE 2025, the biggest flooring show in North America.

Screenshot 2025 02 04 At 3 41 47 Pm

How We Did This Floor: Edge-Grain in the Portland International Airport

Approximately 57,000 square feet of the Portland International Airport now has local edge-grain white oak wood flooring with an oil finish—a massive undertaking, even for a company like Pure Floors Inc. This is how they did it.

Screenshot 2025 01 20 At 10 44 04 Am

What’s Your Favorite Tool You’ve Bought Recently?

Wood floor pros share their favorite tool/equipment purchases, from sanding equipment to installation tools.

2 B 225 Wfb Fm25 Talking Shop Glenn Harris

An Eye-Opener: Your Wood Flooring Equipment Costs vs. Labor

Wood floor pro Matt Garcia takes a deep dive into the actual costs of buying and maintaining the sanding equipment necessary to do wood flooring—and why it's such a small cost over the long term.

Investing in good equipment and its maintenance is a small cost over the lifetime of the tool.

Page 1 of 22

Resource Book

Looking for a specific product or a company? Wood Floor Business has the only comprehensive database of the industry.

Podcasts

All Things Wood Floor, created by Wood Floor Business magazine, talks to interesting wood flooring pros to share knowledge, stories and tips on everything to do with wood flooring, from installation, sanding and finishing to business management.