Absolute Flooring, Inc., provides flooring for residential, builders, commercial, multifamily residences, and designer clients in Gallatin, Tennessee. Brad Carver, general manager, shares market insights and tells us about the growth happening at the business. 

FLOOR Trends & Installation: Can you tell us about your Absolute Flooring store?

Brad Carver: Absolute Flooring is located in Gallatin, Tennessee, which is about 25 minutes northeast of Nashville. We are a small, female and family-owned business with six employees. We have two showrooms, one being about 2,000 square feet, and the additional showroom is part of the warehouse, which is around 2,500 square feet. The warehouse that’s joined to the office is about 15,000 square feet. The work we do is 40-50% builder work, 20% retail and then the rest is mixed between senior living and multifamily and some Main Street commercial.

Brad Carver, general manager, Absolute Flooring, Inc. in Gallatin, Tennessee.

FTI: How did you get into flooring?

Carver: It's a family-owned business. The owner has recently retired, but her son has stepped into the ownership role. I’ve been friends with him for probably 20 years now. I have a banking background, so I spent about 15 years there. I spent a lot of time on the road at the bank I was working for and I was looking to get back closer to home. I began my first position with Absolute Flooring which was managing the warehouse. From there I moved into sales and then I left for a bit and managed a credit union. I moved up the corporate ladder there but ended up just getting tired of it. At that point, we started talking about me coming back as a general manager and the pieces just fell into place after that. I’ve been back now for almost four years and all together for seven in the industry.

FTI: How’s business?

Carver: We had a good year. In 2023, sales were actually down, but our profit was up. In 2024, we’re hoping to boost our retail business with the addition of another sales rep. His main focus will be cold-calling. 

This is a booming area. The influx of people and growth in the area has helped. We do a lot of builder work, a lot of new construction, and that hasn’t slowed down here. There were some builders that went through a slow period last year due to rising interest rates, costs, etc. but they've started to pick back up. 

FTI: What challenges are you seeing?

Carver: We are still having some inventory issues with transit times and stock levels on some things. The shortage of installers is also a challenge. Also, being fully staffed in general is a challenge and we're not the only ones that's experiencing that. 

FTI: What types of flooring are trending in your area?

Carver: Hard surface definitely more than soft surface. There's a trend here, just like probably most anywhere, toward the waterproof flooring. We do a lot of tile work. So. I think the resilient flooring is probably the bulk of the business that we see.

FTI: How do you handle the installation part of your business? 

Carver: All of our installers are subcontractors. We have seven crews right now, five of those have been with us for 15-plus years. One thing that we could add would be a project manager type position but someone who is bilingual that could communicate with the subcontractors easily. It would help bridge the gap between the installers and the office.

FTI: Do you find it challenging being on the retail side without a background in installation?

Carver: Being in the warehouse, managing the warehouse originally, that helped me understand and learn from the ground up. So, I've been on both sides of the business. I think that's helped me see what installers go through. I've been out on jobs and watched installations so I understand that. There's more to a carpet seam than just putting two pieces of carpet together. I understand that there's more to it, although I can't do it. Holding different positions has served me well and allowed me to see the headaches that different people go through at times.

Absolute Flooring sales are comprised of roughly 50% builder work, 20% retail, and 30% senior living, multifamily and Main Street commercial.

FTI: What product trends are you seeing and how are they resonating within your market?

Carver: Resilient flooring. The key terms people are wanting are waterproof, scratchproof, life-proof, dent-resistant, etc. There's still a big push toward luxury vinyl plank, luxury vinyl tile, laminate, things that are easier to take care of. 

FTI: Is there anything coming up you’re looking forward to? 

Carver: The education program Floor Covering Education Foundation (FCEF) is starting to offer installation programs at some of the community colleges here in town so we will be partnering with them in the very near future.

FTI: What advice do you have for others in the flooring industry, or those that want to join the flooring industry?

Carver: It's very rewarding career. It may not be the first thing people think of as a career. But just like I tell my kids, learn something new every day. We're always learning and that's not a cliché, that's accurate. Whether it's something installation-related or business-related. Always be willing to evolve and change with the times.