Choosing Hardwood Flooring

Hi All,

I expected to begin this series by addressing the standard argument that online retailers can’t hold a candle to local retailers when it comes to customer service. I’ll do that, but then quickly move on to a question that presented itself to me over the weekend and actually ties into Rob’s posting below.

Customer service is a corner stone of the online company that I am apart of.  We demonstrate this service by returning phone calls and emails promptly and essentially ‘doing the right thing’ for the question in all situations. That said, we cannot offer the face-to-face experience that a lot of customers fear is disappearing. No argument. We’re simply not set up that way. However, I would like to apply this to the Big Box versus Mom n’ Pop debate.

Which brings me to my experience over the weekend. My wife and I are a reasonably young couple and, recently, first time home buyers. It’s a fixer upper so I’ve found myself for the first time in my life right smack in  Home Depots target demographic- I can do it, they can help. But on this day , I first stopped into the small retailer directly across the street. We walked in to the small store and began looking around. Lots of nice stuff. There was one other couple there being assisted by the lone Sales Representative. We did not receive a “Hello” when we came in, nor a “I’ll be right with you” as we browsed patiently, or even an alarmed “Get the hose!” when we left 15 minutes later with smoke billowing from my wife’s ears. No folks, it was as if we were invisible (neat trick I thought, my wife disagreed).

We then sauntered directly across the street to the Big Box store where there were more Sales Reps than customers and, to my unending surprise, our Sales Rep was not only friendly but…..(pause for effect)…knowledgeable.   This has thrown my whole belief system for a loop as I fancy myself a traditional guy in most respects. So my question to you, dear readers, are Mom n’ Pop shops all they’re cracked up to be? I’m I letting one bad apple spoil the whole bunch?

Cheers,

Tom

Share this article

Hey, Good People - Rob here.

Maybe this post should be filed under the ‘tell me something I don’t know’ section, but let’s talk about it anyway. Sometimes, it’s important to stick to the basics, after all.

An important stage in getting the best results from hardwood flooring or any sort of building materials is to get the help needed from the experts without fuss.

Here’s a story I read in an opinion piece from Americus Times Recorder about buying hardwood flooring samples, and the importance of making it easy to get them. In this story, the customer simply wanted to take away a representative sample of hardwood flooring from one of the big box stores to continue with a long-term remodeling project. Simple, right? No, as it turns out. What was the problem? The store computers wouldn’t read the code on the sample the customer chose.

With much toing-and-froing from customer, sales, and store management, the customer left without the samples, and without a possible hardwood flooring purchase either. The customer then went to a smaller, local store where he was greeted by name, and took away samples without fuss. He was not made to wait for staff to adjust his request to their process, and the customer ended up buying hardwood flooring from the store who met his needs.

From this story, I was reminded that giving the customer “no hassles” is such an important part of building relationships with them, whether you’re selling hardwood flooring samples, chewy pet toys, or Halloween outfits. Often, the short-term gain needs to be sacrificed for the long-term one. In the case of the big box store, a sales procedure needed to be left behind in order to fulfill the needs of that customer in that moment.

Customer service, which includes making ordering hardwood flooring samples easy as well as providing good communication when it comes to customer claims, has always been important to us around here. Generally, from what our customers are telling us, we do a pretty good job. But, we always want to get better at it. In the coming months, we’re planning on streamlining our processes to make things even easier for customers to get the results they’re after.

In the meantime, this was a great example to us, and to our competitors too, of how things can always improve between a company and its customers when a little bit of flexibility and empathy is employed.

So, Good People; do you have any customer services horror stories/tales of woe of your own?  How might the situation have been made better by those you were dealing with?  Let me hear about it.

Cheers!

Rob.

Share this article

Hi there, good people - Rob here.

One of the great things about this age of information in which we’re currently living is that practical information is out there at a tap of the keyboard and a glance - it’s part of the wonders of the Internet!

We’re pretty proud of how much information about hardwood flooring we have on our main site and within the pages of this blog too. But to get the basics in one blast of information, it might be worth your while to read this article from Howitworks.com as well. Some of the subject matter it covers is:

• the types of hardwood flooring out there and how hard each one is
• the types of cuts you can get - solid and engineered hardwood
• types of finishes for hardwood flooring
• tools you’ll need, and
• the right approach to installing hardwood floors yourself.

To this last point, it’s recommended that if you’ve got an elaborate layout in mind or are completely inexperienced, by all means hire a professional. But, it also encourages skilled DIYers to think about doing it themselves.

Baby (by the name of Udo, actually) and hardwood flooring image courtesy of juhansonin

I think that there are many advantages to hardwood flooring - permanence and a certain air of sophistication are two big ones. But, installing it oneself can also produce another long-lasting benefit; pride in accomplishment and a legacy of ones’ own sense of style to last for decades. Remember, most hardwood floors tend to last for a lifetime, and beyond.

Happy reading, and happy installing.

Cheers,

Rob.

Share this article

Hi all,

I was leafing through some of the posts I’ve compiled since we started this blog a few short months ago and it hit me like a slap on the face in a dark room- my work has been one sided!

The root of my bias is obvious; I work for an online hardwood retailer and have spent a good deal of time explaining the positive attributes of our business model to those who are just now dipping their feet into the inviting waters of online shopping (See! I can’t stop!).

So, let’s get back on track here and devote a little time to what the traditional store front retailer has to offer- an olive branch if you will. BuildDirect carries Olive flooring by the way (will the shameless self promotion never end!)

Today, I’m turning over a new leaf by beginning a series that will pit online shops versus traditional retailers in a fair and balanced review (to the best of my ability). And I’m counting on you all to to keep me honest!

Cheers,

Tom

Share this article

Hey, good people - Rob here!

Being in the building materials industry and being interested in the development of the Internet too as we are around here at BuildDirect, it’s nice when the worlds collide. So, here’s an interesting tidbit which is both related to hardwood flooring, and to Bill Gates and Co too.

Hardwood flooring installers Mackay Flooring based in Scotland have won the contract to provide flooring for the new UK Microsoft Offices in the city of Edinburgh (home of the Fringe Festival, for all of you live entertainment buffs out there). Obviously, this is not just a big deal for the use hardwood flooring being applied to the environment of a major technology company - the traditional meets the cutting edge as it were - but, it also means a big economic boost for the region too.

Ediburgh image courtesy of JCookfisher.

The hopes that Microsoft’s’ new offices in Scotland, (resplendent in the beauty of hardwood thanks to the guys at Mackay…) will attract more blue-chip business there is running pretty high too.

Here’s a link to the reprinted story on the Mackay Flooring blog.

Happy reading, good people!

Cheers!

Rob.

Share this article

Hi all,

Big news out of China this week.

The Chinese government has officially removed the 18% fuel subsidies well before analysts had anticipated (see an LA Times article here for more info). While this is expected to lower the consumer demand in China, thereby improving the global cost of crude oil, it has already begun to adversely effect the pricing of hardwood floors produced in this country.

My coworker in China has already reported being inundated with warnings of hardwood price increases. Our best estimate at the moment is somewhere between 5-10%. This price increase will affect factory direct buyers immediately, and DIYers too once distributors current stock in North America dries up.

Something to keep an eye on: As manufacturing and transportation costs increase as a result of rising cost of fuel, North American goods should become more cost competitive.

How have rising fuel costs affected your livelihood?

Share this article

Hey good people - Rob here.

I stumbled across this online press release from Connor Hardwood Courts about their supply of hardwood parquet sports floors for the Boston Celtics basketball team. The company refurbished the court in 1999, and have proudly declared that the team’s recent victory over the Lakers to receive their 17^th national championship was won on one of their floors. Good job, guys!

The original oak hardwood sports floors for the courts in Boston Garden had been installed in 1946. Previously, players played on concrete, before parquet hardwood flooring was installed instead. When the company was asked to refurbish the court, part of the agreement was to incorporate planks from the original flooring from ‘46. Re-using the vintage floors was definitely a “green flooring” practice. But, I think the main reason for the request that this be done was that sports fans are famously nostalgic, and appreciate a sense of history. So, Connor scored on both fronts - they pleased the venue owners and sports fans, but they also utilized some green building practices too.

Read the full press release about the hardwood sports flooring in Boston Garden here.

So, what’s the sports venue that makes you most nostalgic, good people? How did any renovations to the flooring or any other aspect of the venue in later years meet your satisfaction (or not…) ?

Tell me all about it!

Cheers!

Rob.

Boston Garden image courtesy of Just-Us-3.

Share this article

Hi good people - Rob here!

A question that has been presented to me recently is the issue of photosensitivity in exotic hardwood flooring like Brazilian cherry (aka Jatoba). This means that many choices of exotic hardwood flooring, and even in some species of domestic hardwoods, will change color when exposed to light over a long period of time. This of course has important implications for those who are designing the look of an interior around a single color.

Plan For Color Changes

When planning an interior design which incorporates photosensitive exotic hardwood, it’s best to think in terms of a tonal range, rather than a single, static color. Part of what this means is finding out what that tonal range of your chosen exotic hardwood flooring is. Ask your seller about it. Generally speaking, exotic hardwood tends to darken over time. And Brazilian cherry, for instance, tends to become less an earthy brown and more a deep burgundy as it ages.

Another part of considering a tonal range rather than a single static color is making sure that your exotic hardwood flooring ages evenly once it’s installed. This has a lot to do its exposure to direct sunlight. Paying attention to where the light hits it the most is a great idea to make sure your floors age evenly. Ask yourself:

• where my flooring is likely to get the most direct exposure to sunlight?
• where is it likely gets the least exposure?
• where should I consider throw rugs to cover certain areas, and where they should be removed or regularly rotated?

The simple solutions are usually the most effective in a lot of cases, and it’s certainly true here.

Hardwood Floors to Grow With You

Color changes in many species of exotic hardwood flooring are a reality, but not necessarily a limitation. An interior design approach can actually become very four-dimensional when you factor in that extra dimension - the passage of time. In this way, choosing hardwood flooring is about choosing a material that will grow along with you, and become a part of your life at every stage.

it’s always best to approach the purchase of your flooring by thinking of them as lifetime additions to a property. This will help you decide on how suitable your choice of hardwood flooring is in the space you’ve chosen for it.

How many of you out there have experienced this thing we call photosensitivity in wood floors? Tell me your stories, good people!

Cheers!

Rob.

Hardwood flooring image courtesy of Chadmagiera

Share this article

So, you’re convinced- online shopping is the way to go! But keep in mind, you may be buying online from a traditional store front retailer. If so, how are they able to offer you the best pricing considering the overhead they’re carrying? Even though you’re buying online from samples and photos, you still pay for the retail space and fancy displays they present to in-store customers a state over.

A true online retailer doesn’t carry the overhead of retail outlets and display suites- and you don’t pay for it.

Cheers,

Tom.

Share this article

Hi everyone - Rob here. Recently, we’ve been working on developing our new green building page, which will be launched soon. As a result, I’ve had green building materials, particularly flooring, on my mind.

The continuing development and promotion of green flooring is an encouraging sign. It means that sectors of the industry are exercising the ability to connect with a larger context - not just on the basis of commerce, but on the basis of social and environmental welfare too. That’s a very big deal to say the least, and one that isn’t about riding a temporary trend. The promotion of green flooring and green building materials is about ensuring the quality of life for everyone in the long term. But, in the meantime, companies are still trying to sell great products, and are still trying to make sure that the market will support them.

Saving Old Growth Forests

Over the last number of years, the industry has had to come to terms with the issue of sustainability. One of the main stumbling blocks for many is that old growth wood arguably makes the best flooring. It’s harder than replanted wood, it’s got fewer knots, and is generally known to be more structurally sound too. But, these benefits have to be weighed against the fact that old growth trees are also the prime producers of oxygen, which sustains life on our planet. So, is this necessarily a choice between strong, long-lasting flooring, and a better chance at breathable air in the future?

Luckily, no - thanks in part to reclaimed wood.

More Options for Concerned Consumers

Luckily, there have been a number of alternatives for consumers to consider, without having to buy into the simplistic idea that solid wood flooring is no longer a viable or even responsible option.Reclaimed wood flooring as an option for builders and consumers started by being creative the challenge of where to best source the materials without putting pressure on the environment. And the industry has risen to the occasion, with wood taken from:

• trees which have fallen in wind storms or by disease
• wood that has been used in old buildings and other structures which have since been torn down
• wood that can be found in lake beds, and in wood which has more recently been diverted from landfill

The result of this creative thinking and entrepreneurial spirit has produced a good many choices for consumers to include in their research for the best flooring for their projects.

Creative Thinking is the Best Defense

One of the most encouraging signs of the times is that manufacturers are really beginning to open dialogues with environmental agencies, as well as with their customers, as to which products offer the most sustainability. I think that there is a lot of fear and pessimism surrounding environmental issues. But, I think creative thinking is our best defence. There are plenty of examples of this, even in an industry as rooted in tradition as the wood flooring industry.

What are some of your thoughts on the issue of green flooring, and building green? Is reclaimed wood, and other wood flooring alternatives, the way forward into a long, healthy future? Or, are products like this just a band-aid solution while we wait for the inevitable?

Lines are open, good people!

Cheers,

Rob.

Old growth tree image courtesy of ((Brian))

Share this article