• Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
  • NEWS
  • PRODUCTS
  • A&D
  • INSTALLATION
  • MARKETS
  • AWARDS
  • EDUCATION
  • BUYER'S GUIDE
  • MEDIA
  • EMAGAZINE
  • SIGN UP
cart
facebook twitter linkedin youtube
  • NEWS
  • Breaking Flooring News
  • eNewsletters
  • PRODUCTS
  • Carpet & Area Rugs
  • Hardwood
  • Installation Products
  • Installation Tools & Equipment
  • Laminate
  • Resilient
  • Specialty
  • Tile & Stone
  • MARKETS
  • Commercial
  • Residential
  • AWARDS
  • Installation Awards
  • Top Flooring Products
  • EDUCATION
  • Continuing Education
  • Webinars
  • Sponsored Insights
  • MEDIA
  • FLOOR Podcast
  • Videos
  • TISE 2025 Videos
  • eBooks
  • EMAGAZINE
  • eMagazine
  • Archive Issues
  • Contact
  • Advertise
search
cart
facebook twitter linkedin youtube
  • Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
  • NEWS
    • Breaking Flooring News
    • eNewsletters
  • PRODUCTS
    • Carpet & Area Rugs
    • Hardwood
    • Installation Products
    • Installation Tools & Equipment
    • Laminate
    • Resilient
    • Specialty
    • Tile & Stone
  • A&D
  • INSTALLATION
  • MARKETS
    • Commercial
    • Residential
  • AWARDS
    • Installation Awards
    • Top Flooring Products
  • EDUCATION
    • Continuing Education
    • Webinars
    • Sponsored Insights
  • BUYER'S GUIDE
  • MEDIA
    • FLOOR Podcast
    • Videos
    • TISE 2025 Videos
    • eBooks
  • EMAGAZINE
    • eMagazine
    • Archive Issues
    • Contact
    • Advertise
  • SIGN UP
Architecture & Design (A&D)Residential Flooring

Atlanta Flooring Design Centers Offers Update on Southeastern Builder Market

By Tanja Kern
Atlanta Floring Design team

The team at Atlanta Flooring Design Centers in Suwanee, Georgia.

Photo: Atlanta Flooring Design. 

November 13, 2023

Atlanta Flooring Design Centers, headquartered in Suwanee, Georgia, covers the residential, commercial and multifamily markets.

The specialty flooring retailer opened its doors in 1985 in Duluth, Georgia, and thanks to many growth spurts, moved its headquarters to Suwanee in 2007. The company operates in six states with showrooms in Suwanee and Buford, Georgia, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, and nine additional warehouses in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina. 

Company leaders say a driver of growth was builder markets. We caught up with the builder team to find out the company’s outlook for the remainder of 2023 and what’s trending in flooring among production and custom home builders. 

 

FLOOR Trends & Installation: What’s the status of your builder business?  

Mark Tunick

Mark Tunick, VP of Builder, Atlanta Flooring Design Centers.

Mark Tunick, VP of Builder, Atlanta Flooring Design Centers: We’re in 10 markets. Half of the markets are up over last year. Half are down as a whole. It's nominally down single-digit percentage points, which is a far cry from industry average, so I’m good with it. That was through June. July’s been okay, but I still think there's a potential for the second half of the year to be busier than the first half. There was a significant reduction in starts late Q3, but really in the Q4 calendar last year because of the rise in rates and the talks about imminent recession.

Then come January, February, talking to customers, the buyer confidence is still pretty high even though the rates had doubled. Customers are still out there looking for homes, so we saw a pause and then people pushing the restart button beginning of the year. It takes time, especially if you stall starts and then you pick 'em back up. Then number two is buyer sentiment and being conservative and then kind of seeing that that confidence is better and traditionally anticipated. Builders were freeing up the purse strings a little bit to start more homes.

When you look, our hottest markets right now in terms of year-over-year growth are Pensacola— that was new last year and it’s our newest operation— We do Pensacola and Baldwin County, Alabama, Alabama shoreline, Myrtle Beach, Wilmington, the Carolina Coast. Pretty busy.

 

FLOOR Trends & Installation: What’s happening with average home size?  

Tunick: I would say Atlanta has always been more square footage, more bang for your buck, larger square footage, lower finish, lower spec level. I’ve seen some of that reduce a little bit due to the affordability factor; so, yes, I've seen square footage come down, maybe 10, 15%. Comparatively speaking though, Atlanta certainly compared to Florida, Carolina Coast. Atlanta and Charlotte are probably bigger city. Bigger markets are pretty comparable in terms of square footage. You go somewhere like Birmingham, Huntsville, it’s typically had a higher spec level, higher finish level, less square footage. So, we've seen square footage change a little bit, and honestly, I thought we'd see a lot more. Thankfully what we're having is, over the years we've seen spec changes, you know, more floating floors versus glued down.

Atlanta Flooring Design showroom

Thankfully, because rates are up, land's up, development's up, one of the things you look at is, how do we make the home more affordable? Thankfully we have not seen much of a regression on flooring standards. Those have felt pretty constant. There’s far less vinyl than what we saw in the crash of ’08 and ’09. Most of the builders, even in that “production” price point, are using, you know, LVP, laminate. We’ve seen a migration away over the last several years from tile with the production guys, partly because of affordability, but probably market to market even more so just because of the lack of skilled floor mechanics in the market. But the good news is we have not seen builders revert back to carpet in main areas in lieu of hardwood and vinyl.

The reality of it is this: even though rates are up, build cycles —which time is money— build cycles are down because the market's not quite as busy and supply chain's better and a lot of the costs have reduced. If you talk to most builders now, they say their cost—their sticks and bricks—the consensus would be it reduced to some degree over last year, but it’s impossible to get it to offset the rate hike.

 

FLOOR Trends & Installation: What’s your outlook? 

Tunick: Demand's still there. Inventory's low. Atlanta's still one of the more affordable markets, all things being considered. You have a lot of people still working remote. You always see a little bit of a pause just because school's starting up. But honestly, when we look at our numbers year over year, I can never identify a certain week or a month. There’s always something being built, people buying 'em.

 

FLOOR Trends & Installation: What’s trending in floors among builders? 

Jeannie Homer

Jeannie Homer is the showroom manager and lead designer who selects design packages for builder customers. Photo: Atlanta Flooring Design Centers.

Jeannie Homer, showroom manager and lead designer: In cities we are seeing a more industrial feel, which is more concrete and less of a natural look. More medium browns are coming in, and while green came out about five years ago, it’s just now surfacing.

Custom homes pretty much always install a wood floor, either with an engineered wood or a solid. Engineered woods will be wider widths. Homeowners might opt for an LVP or laminate on a terrace level. In comparison, semi-custom homes will install a 5-inch sand finish because they want solid wood.

Most homeowners in custom homes today want slab backsplashes for a clean, minimalistic look with no grout lines to maintain. While most of the slabs will be delivered to the site in an A-frame, not every builder and installer is prepared for the slabs.

The slabs are tricky. A lot of builders have not prepared to put the slabs on the wall if they didn't account for the weight. The installer also has to have a special cutter.

For production building, the selections are more locked in. The team curates the selections with the builder so that when the homeowner comes into the showroom, the homeowner has a minimum amount of selection to choose from that minimizes issues with installation.

Flooring choices in tract homes don’t follow the trends as closely. You’ll see a little bit of a difference there—you’ll see a lot darker wood because the lighter have not come down where they're going at the most current costs. To give them this current option, you're going have to pay higher prices.

KEYWORDS: flooring installers flooring retailers single-family housing

Share This Story

Looking for a reprint of this article?
From high-res PDFs to custom plaques, order your copy today!

Tanja kern headshot 2023

Tanja Kern is associate publisher and editorial director of FLOOR Trends & Installation. She brings more than 20 years of experience covering the flooring, design, and construction industries through print and digital platforms.  


Recommended Content

JOIN TODAY
To unlock your recommendations.

Already have an account? Sign In

  • resilient flooring

    The 7 Types of Resilient Flooring

    The resilient flooring category is comprised of many...
    Resilient Flooring
    By: Resilient Floorcovering Institute
  • QuickDrain USA’s ShowerLine linear drain

    Tips for Curbless Shower Installation Using a Linear Drain

    Consider these four tips when planning for a curbless...
    Flooring Installation Products
    By: Darryl Jones
  • 2024 New Flooring Product Guide

    2024 New Flooring Products Guide

    We explore this year's introductions in area rugs,...
    Flooring Installation
    By: FLOOR Trends & Installation Editors
You must login or register in order to post a comment.

Report Abusive Comment

close

1 COMPLIMENTARY ARTICLE(S) LEFT

Loader

Already a Registered User? Sign in now.

Manage My Account
  • eMagazine
  • eNewsletter
  • Online Registration
  • Manage My Preferences
  • Subscription Customer Service

Shaw Flooring Network Retailers Report Post-Election Sales Surge

Shaw Flooring Network Retailers Report Post-Election Sales Surge

SolidTech R: Sustainable, High-Performance Flooring from Bottle to Floor

SolidTech R: Sustainable, High-Performance Flooring from Bottle to Floor

What Shaw Flooring Network Dealers are Banking on for 2025

What Shaw Flooring Network Dealers are Banking on for 2025

Retailers Share Top Takeaways from Shaw Flooring Network Convention

Retailers Share Top Takeaways from Shaw Flooring Network Convention

More Videos

Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content is a special paid section where industry companies provide high quality, objective, non-commercial content around topics of interest to the FLOOR Trends & Installation audience. All Sponsored Content is supplied by the advertising company and any opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily reflect the views of FLOOR Trends & Installation or its parent company, BNP Media. Interested in participating in our Sponsored Content section? Contact your local rep!

close
  • Woodura Herringbone 2.0
    Sponsored byBjelin

    The Herringbone Floor of the Future

Popular Stories

company branding

Branding and Marketing Strategies for Flooring Contractors

Mimi Mulugeta and Michael Barrows

Military Vet Trades Retirement for New Flooring Venture in Alpharetta

how to properly trowel adhesive

Flooring Adhesives Education: The Key to Preventing Costly Installation Failures


Download the Free Moisture Meters Guide

Events

December 1, 2030

Webinar Sponsorship Information

For webinar sponsorship information, visit www.bnpevents.com/webinars or email webinars@bnpmedia.com.

View All Submit An Event

Poll

Growth Challenges in the Flooring Industry

What’s holding you back from growth in 2025?
View Results Poll Archive

Products

2025 BNI Interiors Square Foot Costbook

2025 BNI Interiors Square Foot Costbook

See More Products

FLOORtalk podcasts - Listen Now

Related Articles

  • Atlanta Flooring Design Centers

    Atlanta Flooring Design Centers Features Industry Leaders Who Lead on Multiple Fronts

    See More
  • Flooring Volume Growth 2022.jpg

    Anchor Peabody Offers Q1 Flooring Market Update, 2023 Outlook

    See More
  • Rubber sports flooring

    An Update on the Sports Flooring Market with Sika-Dritac’s Kent Berheide

    See More

Related Products

See More Products
  • radiant.jpg

    Radiant Floor Heating, Second Edition

  • floorfinishes.jpg

    Environmental Impact of Materials: Floor Finishes

  • BNI Interiors Square Foot Costbook 2025 Edition

    2025 BNI Interiors Square Foot Costbook

See More Products
×

We’re rolling out the red carpet of flooring knowledge!

Stay in the know on the latest flooring retail trends.

JOIN TODAY!
  • RESOURCES
    • Advertise
    • Contact Us
    • Directories
    • Store
    • Want More
  • SIGN UP TODAY
    • Create Account
    • eMagazine
    • eNewsletters
    • Customer Service
    • Manage Preferences
  • SERVICES
    • Marketing Services
    • Reprints
    • Market Research
    • List Rental
    • Survey/Respondent Access
  • STAY CONNECTED
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • X (Twitter)
  • PRIVACY
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • TERMS & CONDITIONS
    • DO NOT SELL MY PERSONAL INFORMATION
    • PRIVACY REQUEST
    • ACCESSIBILITY

Copyright ©2025. All Rights Reserved BNP Media.

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing

search
cart
facebook twitter linkedin youtube
  • Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
  • NEWS
    • Breaking Flooring News
    • eNewsletters
  • PRODUCTS
    • Carpet & Area Rugs
    • Hardwood
    • Installation Products
    • Installation Tools & Equipment
    • Laminate
    • Resilient
    • Specialty
    • Tile & Stone
  • A&D
  • INSTALLATION
  • MARKETS
    • Commercial
    • Residential
  • AWARDS
    • Installation Awards
    • Top Flooring Products
  • EDUCATION
    • Continuing Education
    • Webinars
    • Sponsored Insights
  • BUYER'S GUIDE
  • MEDIA
    • FLOOR Podcast
    • Videos
    • TISE 2025 Videos
    • eBooks
  • EMAGAZINE
    • eMagazine
    • Archive Issues
    • Contact
    • Advertise
  • SIGN UP