I am the 4th generation of my family residing in Omaha, Neb. I have spent my entire career here as an independent entrepreneur in the commercial interiors industry.
When Beatty Floors was founded in 1929, Vancouver (located in British Columbia, Canada) was a small town with dirt and cobblestone roads and limited economic development.
During the course of my nearly 22 years of writing and reporting for this industry, I’ve been to countless residential and commercial trade shows, conventions, meetings, etc., not to mention on a daily basis being able to communicate with people throughout the country from every level and sector of the industry.
While the residential industry continues to plow through a mixed business climate, one needed to look no further than the world famous Merchandise Mart and the 47th NeoCon to feel the strong pulse of the commercial industry, as more than 50,000 people from around the world fought off heavy storms and tornado warnings to see the newest products for projects they were working on and learn about the latest trends for upcoming jobs.
Business in our core market of Atlanta has been robust for the last several years, and the pipeline of projects continue to look strong well into 2016.
When the Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) was created in 2002, the concept of diverting carpet from landfills for the purpose of recycling it back into itself or finding other afterlife solutions was mostly pie-in-the-sky thinking.
When my business partner, Larry Burt, and I purchased Kansas’ Interior Surface Enterprises in 2007, we had some very simple and basic goals for the business.
For anyone wondering how the commercial segment in general is doing, one just needed to wander through the Starnet Annual Meeting to see members were in an upbeat mood as the contract business continues to outpace the overall industry.