All Things Wood Floor

In this episode of All Things Wood Floor, host Steve Diggins of Specialty Forest Products talks with young wood flooring pro Israel Alejandre, the owner of Cedar Oak Flooring based in Middlefield, Ohio. Featured as part of Wood Floor Business’s annual discussion about the Next Generation of emerging talent in the hardwood flooring industry, Israel shares insights into his journey as a young professional navigating the trade. Broadc...

Brad Rushing of North Palm Beach, Fla.-based California Designs discusses what it is like being a retailer in one of Florida’s luxury markets, what he learned about business and people from his father, how the company has kept both clients and employees for decades, how Brad modernized the family business, including their marketing, and how educating clients boosts their business.

See California Designs’ profile in the 2024 Wood Fl...

Jack Horton’s father was a doctor, but he encouraged his four sons to go into the trades, and at age 16 Jack was learning to run a sawmill. Today, at age 30, he is a wood flooring contractor who installs, sands and finishes wood flooring he and his brother mill themselves, and they also sell whole-house packages of flooring and millwork to contractors. Jack and host Stephen Diggins discuss Jack’s unique journey into the trade and t...

In Part 2 of this episode with T.J. Haas of Mad Science Flooring (www.madscienceflooring.com) in Syracuse, N.Y., T.J. and host Stephen Diggins discuss the right ways to use multi-disc and planetary sanding machines to get a floor flat while removing the scratches, how to choose your abrasives wisely in today’s wood flooring market, how T.J. has made a living out of doing things that nobody else wants to do, and how he charges a pre...

T.J. Haas of Mad Science Flooring (www.madscienceflooring.com) in Syracuse, N.Y., grew up learning anything and everything about bowling lanes and wood flooring, and today he continues that legacy. In Part 1 of T.J.’s episode, hear T.J. and host Stephen Diggins discuss what it was like growing up in bowling alleys; the story of his dad’s health issues and why he’s so passionate about hooking up electricity safely and correctly; mod...

In this sponsored episode, host Stephen Diggins dives into the world of wood floor experts Mike Hoy and Chris Pester, who have decades of experience in wood flooring and are now representing GameTime. GameTime now offers everything from vinyl graphics to coatings for sports floors and residential floors. Mike, Chris and Stephen discuss how vinyl graphics have transformed the world of sports flooring, the sponsorship opportunities t...

Lifelong wood flooring pro Ron Teljeur of Acorn Wood Floors in Aldergrove, British Columbia, grew up in the wood flooring business with his father, went to college to study physics and ended up circling right back to wood flooring—a job he still loves. In the years since he graduated, he started his own business, sized up, sized back down, and learned a lot along the way, becoming a specialist in renovations and particularly the to...

Aaron Sheaves of Sheaves Floors in Weyers Cave, Va., has been on wood flooring job sites as long as he can remember, but one thing he never would have predicted would be how posting on TikTok would transform his business — and generate income. On this episode, he and host Stephen Diggins discuss how he got started on the platform and the impact it’s had on his business, as well as what it’s like working on historical homes in his V...

In Part 2 of this episode, João and Susy Dias of Fino Oficio continue their conversation with Stephen Diggins and explain why they only hire people with no experience in the wood flooring industry, how they manage to charge so much more money than other wood flooring companies, how they work together as husband and wife, how they handle client relations so that customers realize they don’t have to worry about their wood floors, the...

In Part 1 of this episode, listeners will discover the origin story of how couple João and Susy Dias of Fino Oficio in Lisbon, Portugal, went from no experience in wood flooring to being one of the best-known wood flooring contracting companies in the world, why they are always willing to help other wood flooring pros, what it has been like to participate in the Workcamp Parkett gatherings in Europe, and the inside stories from som...

Occupational therapist Jennifer Hale spends all day every day helping people do their jobs without pain, and in this episode, she's concentrating on hardworking wood flooring pros. Jennifer and host Stephen Diggins talk about how pros are really "industrial athletes," and how they need to train just like any other athlete to perform their jobs without injuries or pain. She explains why nutrition and hydration are so important for p...

When Adam Bissey was a wood flooring contractor, he saw how so many retailers were missing opportunities, and so he made the leap to open a retail location of his own—one that is now a thriving staple on the Jersey Shore. In this wide-ranging conversation, host Stephen Diggins and Adam discuss the challenges of starting as a retailer; how Floors by the Shore succeeds by focusing on excellence in every way, from subfloors to custome...

Lifelong wood flooring pro David Ford of Stauf USA is back to talk with Stephen about some important issues in the wood flooring industry, including reverence for the previous generations of pros and the importance of training and work ethic. They also discuss ideas for other value-added things wood flooring pros can do to increase margins on every job, the incredible potential there is in the wood flooring industry to make a lucra...

When Kent Rogerson and Jamie Lambert of South Carolina’s Low Country Flooring got their first wood flooring job, they had never even seen the tools required to do the trade. But they learned quickly and grew the business—and then realized they had to down-size the company as they pursued their obsession with quality. In this episode, they detail the hilarious details of their first install, sanding and finishing jobs; what they loo...

Steve James transitioned from a career at General Motors to the lumber industry when he became CEO of Frank Miller Lumber in Indiana, transforming the company culture there to create a motivated long-term workforce. James and host Stephen Diggins discuss the challenges of a lumber business focused on quartersawn lumber, as well as James’ insights as a member of the Maxwell Leadership Certified Team.  

Matt Garcia was a typical wood flooring pro with a small company of craftsmen when he moved to Texas and realized he had a huge opportunity to grow his business—but after trial and error, he also realized that in order to grow his business AND be profitable, he had to work on his business, not just in his business. Hear his advice about what he learned and the key changes he made that have transformed his company, improved quality ...

When the U.S. government needed the massive chevron floor replaced in the Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C., Universal Floors tackled the job with the help of some friends, including Kent Rogerson and Jamie Lambert from Low Country Flooring. Hear Universal Floor’s Sprigg Lynn, along with Kent and Jamie, discuss the intricacies and complications of handling this job. In Part 2 they reveal more about the installation, sanding and...

When the U.S. government needed the massive chevron floor replaced in the Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C., Universal Floors tackled the job with the help of some friends, including Kent Rogerson and Jamie Lambert from Low Country Flooring. Hear Universal Floor’s Sprigg Lynn, along with Kent and Jamie, discuss the intricacies and complications of handling this job. In Part 1 they discuss demo, subfloor prep, installation and m...

Angelo DeSanto is one of Wood Floor Business’s most popular authors and bloggers—in addition to running his own wood flooring business in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. He and Stephen talk about how he stands up to contractors to get paid on time, the seemingly simple details that make a skilled wood flooring pro, and the accident that almost took his life—and how he managed to recover his health and his business.