With around 290 franchise locations across the United States and Canada, Floor Coverings International is hardly a “small business,” but each individual franchise – essentially independently owned and operated – tells its own “small” story.
For Norwalk resident Troy Heidenberg, the story is about a legacy. His family has more than 100 years of combined flooring experience – coupled with his contemporary “take” on the business. Heidenberg is honoring his father’s 40-year career as a wood-flooring expert by building a modern, customer-first version of the family trade while moving away from the traditional father/son building trades model and tapping into the resources of a major franchise operator.
Like car-detailing professional Peter Rossi, whom we featured in the Westfair Business Journal two weeks ago, and a growing band of young entrepreneurs, Heidenberg also wanted a career and business he considered AI-complementary, if not AI-proof. In a frank interview with the Journal, Heidenberg elaborated on that theme and shared some valuable insights as to how his “small” business is likely to grow.
Troy, for someone without a family background in the trade, is flooring still a viable and attractive career today?
“Absolutely. Flooring is a stable, essential industry that tends to grow in line with GDP and construction. AI and other new technologies only help owners in the industry, not hurt them. To enter the industry with no prior experience, you need to learn from people with more hands-on experience.”
What kinds of personalities or skill sets tend to do well in this industry?
“Problem-solving skills are essential. Nothing goes perfectly correctly in flooring, and in many trades. It’s the ability to assess the problem, learn the solution and manage the project through the problems. Social skills are essential as well, as you are managing multiple people on each project.”
What would you say are the main routes into the flooring business today – apprenticeships, on-the-job training or formal qualifications, and how long does it realistically take for someone to become competent and confident in the trade?
“On the job training and online training are most important, which is true of breaking into many hands-on trades. There are two major components to the flooring industry. One is the product side and being able to discern which products are appropriate given the circumstances. The other side is the installation side and the competency around properly installing a floor.”
What would be the first steps to setting up your own flooring business franchise and what kind of initial investment would be required to get started?
“The first step to being a franchise owner in flooring is much like being a franchise owner in anything. There is an extensive, multi-month ‘discovery’ period in which you and the parent franchise (the ‘franchisor’) mutually assess fit.
“Investments in services franchises range from $150,000 to $300,000, including initial fees and start-up expenses, and then the most successful franchisees invest well beyond that into growing their business.”
You advertise your “mobile flooring showroom.” What is that and how does it work?
“Simply put: We bring the showroom to you. We spend a lot of time getting to know our customers and their needs in our first conversation. We take that knowledge and curate the universe of flooring products to fit our customers’ use cases, desires, price points and overall goal with their flooring project. There might be 100 types of hardwoods to choose from, but through getting to know our customer and having extensive knowledge of all the products available, we bring them a much smaller, curated set of product samples, directly to their house, to help them narrow down their choices and ultimately help them get exactly what they want in their budget.
“Plus, who wants to look at a product sample in the washed light of aisle 25? We show customers products right in their house, in their own light and use advanced AI tools to show them exactly what their new floor would look like.”
Moving on to money, we’d like to know what kind of income – and, as a consequence, salaries – can a flooring business franchise realistically hope to generate?
“A well-run local flooring business should generate at least $150,000 in earnings. However, an exceptionally run business is only limited by the amount of customers it can serve. There’s room in Fairfield County to build a multimillion- dollar flooring business in the residential and light commercial space.”
Lastly, how much of your time is spent on physical work versus managing the business?
“I cut my teeth in the physical side of flooring, having been sanding and finishing floors since I was allowed on the job sites with my father as a teenager. Now I spend the majority of my time meeting customers, helping them solve their flooring needs, managing their projects and overseeing our team of extremely talented and experienced installers. Though every once in a while, it feels good to swing a hammer.”
