Interested in any type of "custom" add ons , services, or niches , that adds to our bottom line , and seperates us from competition.

Of coarse quality, service, & reputation are some of our strongest selling points. But I'm talking about a "Nich Service" we can offer.

I may be a "Newbie" to this forum. But I was brought up in the family floorcovering business .
Creative Floor Coverings, Sherman Oaks, CA. , est. 1957. And we were always "creative", seeking out cutting edge ways, and offering those niche installation ideas. ( I really enjoy that part of the business, and still always thinking about it, looking for that edge).

What do you guys think? What have you done in the past ? Or new ideas ?

For that "Creative Niche"

Howard

I worked for a store that was mostly floors and I ran the hardwood division. But we also sold and installed window coverings. I cannot say if it made any money or not. With my wood floor business ( for what it is ), I have chosen to specialize only in wood floors, although I will do laminates as well. But I can do pretty much anything to do with wood floors. If I cannot personally do it, I can arrange to have it done. I offer custom borders, inlays, registers, cleaning and maintenance supplies and all types of wood flooring, from factory finish to sand and finish in place. I've even done ceramic tile, though I'd rather not. That's about as much "niche" as I get.

Somehow i have landed in a factory finished niche market where most callers are now requesting some type of custom treatment...... borders, inlays, medallions, diagonals, herringbone, etc. Not too many years ago everyone wanted a straight forward standard install but by building up a good clientele referral base I am now getting much better paying work. This type of work has no real competition, mainly because they don't call all over town getting estimates. However this happened I intend to keep it going.

My work ethic, whether it be a cheap laminate or tile, or a high quality hardwood or marble ,my goal is to leave every customer with a magazine quality job that any manufacturer could put in an advertisement. I'm anal about all details and offer quality over cost.

I've never considered myself to be the best at anything, but the callers seem to think otherwise

Jerry, your way to humble. Your so good I doubt you need to go to any classes you've talked about wanting to go to my friend.

I'm thinking of niches directly related to hardwood or laminate flooring. That's all I specialize in as well. I heard about a seminar at Surfaces that had to do with painting faux borders, and other stuff on wood. Sounded pretty wild,( and maybe tacky ) sorry I missed it. Any of you guys know about that niche?

Years back we got into pegging and grooving, it was the rage of the 70's, a great niche. We also did all kinds of hand distressing, borders, inserts, brass & square pegs. They were great niches for that time.We also did a ton of trick stuff with wood and stone combinations, and custom vinyl tile treatments.
Obviously these are ancient. Looking for types of niches that can be applied today, strictly limited to wood or laminate.

Jerry , Im in the same boat, with the factory finished market, ( out here strictly plank, no herringbones, or parquet patterns ) . Man do they even still make pre-fin. parquet ? Great point about seperating yourself by offering borders, inlays, and medallians. If that's popular in your area, it's a great way to go. Unfortunately not popular in Las Vegas. I do think you hit on something with the diagonal. I did a ton of that years back, and it's a hot looking floor. I'll bet most installers think that's a big deal, and it scares them. Thanks, I may just start pushing that How much extra do you usually charge for diagonal ?

Howard

Typically a wall to wall diagonal is .75 to a 1.00 sf more... this all depends if the room is wide open and large or is the room all cut up, wrap-arounds, etc.

This guy has a nice niche market.







http://www.czarfloors.com

The guy's in Russia, for crying out loud. Home of the Czar, Peter the Great and all those fancy palaces. Floors in the USA got semi-close to that degree of complexity in the Victorian era of home decorating. But many of the intricate parquet flooring was mass produced in factories. Some intricate flooring was done on site, like these in Sarah Winchester's house circa 1880.



Regardless, not much call for that in the states. One would need to be in Europe or the middle east. Perhaps one of the princes of the royal Saudi family would like that in their palace.

Definetely not your run of the mill. Incredible

CZAR FLOORS
Newtown, PA 18940

Money neighborhood .

Thanks for the feedback, but I actually wasnt inquiring about the type of clientele to go after. I was trying to get some good ideas for innovative niches, having to do with hardwood flooring. To offer customers.

One of the most recent "designer" requests up here have been for Leather floors. Usually in one room such as a home office or library, as part of a larger install. Pretty expensive stuff but good margins

Well I'll be a monkey's uncle! I thought they were in Russia. There was a russian flooring contractor that won some awards a few years back, I thought. "Inter -something". I am surprised that there is a market that will even support this caliber of wood flooring. Let's face it, floors of this caliber are very expensive. And even for those that can afford it, the style isn't for everyone either. I have yet to run across any customer that said, " I don't care what it costs, this is what I want."

Ya, not very often do you get a client with NO budget. Has happened to me only once.
Two years ago, a past client wanted to upgrade her home to a kinda mediterranian look. We discussed several flooring options, but none of them had the "Wow factor" she was looking for.
Finally we settled on a modified Palais de Versailles pattern, made out of burled walnut, with pillowed edges on all components, all done by hand, approx 950 sq. ft.
When I told her there was no way to calculate the costs but that it could be as much as 100 g's, she said: "well thats just the cost of a new car and I buy one of those every two years, so go ahead."
Final bill was $117,000.00 and she just smiled as she wrote the cheque, gave me a hug and a bonus for my efforts.