AHF Products showcased several hard-surface brands at NeoCon 2024, emphasizing its market position as a one-stop shop for architects, designers, and other flooring specifiers looking for high-quality flooring. We met up with AHF Products Chief Commercial Officer Jennifer Zimmerman and Vice President of Commercial Fred Reitz to learn more about the company’s approach to the market.

FLOOR Trends & Installation: Tell us about your presence at NeoCon.

Jennifer Zimmerman:  This and every year we’ve been coming with something different. Last year, we were here with Armstrong, Parterre and AHF Contract. This year we brought Crossville Tile. We’re really excited to be the only hard-surface company out there with the product portfolio we have for the commercial space: VCT, sheet vinyl, LVT, and now tile. This is a one-stop shop for everybody.

Fred Reitz: To add to what Jen said, four years ago I walked the show thinking, “How do we get into the commercial market?” There are two entry points you can take. You can build a team and go out and wait for those specs to turn around 18 months later, or you can make an acquisition. Parterre was our first entry point into that. We went after Parterre because it had such a strong brand; they were the first ones in the United States to import vinyl and they had strong relationships from the specified side of the industry. So, the first year we walked the show, the second year we showed up with AHF Contract and Parterre, and now we’re a major player in the hard-surface flooring industry. We built this army and nobody noticed. Today, we have stable brands. Armstrong Flooring and the commercial industry are synonymous. When our team goes to market, we have everything specifiers need in this space. Do you need cove base? Do you need bathrooms? Do you need VCT? Do you need LVT? Do you need commercial sheet? We have everything.

Floor Trends & Installation: Can you explain how each brand supports the various commercial market segments?

Reitz: We have the ability to properly channel segment. The goal is to round out each of the brands so they can all be full-service, but each one participates in a different part of the market. Parterre has always been heavy in retail, hospitality, and multifamily. AHF Contract and Armstrong are heavy in education and government. Institutional spaces, we own it. Crossville covers all of the segments because we go from the institutional bread and butter all the way to the high style. We have 12 domestic factories. We can service all of the customers from the U.S. with really good lead times and help with our customers so that they don't have to carry six months of inventory as they're bringing containers in from overseas. That’s the big differentiator for us. We make our products—we're 90% manufactured goods in our own plants.

Floor Trends & Installation: What's a product highlight at this year's show?

Reitz: We relaunched Medintone [homogeneous sheet vinyl] last December. It’s still the number one specified sheet vinyl. It is still moving as fast as we can make it; it’s been an unbelievable story. We’ve made some enhancements as far as staining resistance and Diamond 10, and from a visual standpoint, an updated color palette. We took some of the best sellers and used that to trampoline into where we need to be for color for today. Overwhelmingly, what we hear from the field is no one ever got fired for spec'ing Medintone. It’s stable. It’s reliable. It’s a go-to for architects, designers and contractors. They know that it's a great product and we're going to stand behind it.