A Few Tips About the Flooring Business
Epoxy flooring is a popular way to add durability and aesthetics to a floor. You can even add designs incorporated into the floor for an artistic look.
As a business owner, you’ll want to focus on a few key issues:
Offering Competitive Pricing
You want to offer attractive pricing to attract customers. The more competitive, the more work you can get.
To get your first few clients, you may have to price below cost and rely on referrals from these clients to get more work. You’ll also gain experience and improve your business and epoxy flooring skills with each job.
As your business grows and you get more work, you can gradually raise your prices.
Giving Accurate Estimates
You must be able to assess the job or the condition of the damaged floor. If you remove old floors to install new epoxy, keep the area blocked until the epoxy cures.
Leaving the job spotless will impress your client. With so much to do, you want to be sure your estimates are accurate.
Account for the unseen. For example, while working on the floor, you may come across a spot that needs to be repaired before applying epoxy.
If you fix this at your expense, you lose money. If you make the customer pay, they will be displeased. You could give the client a quote with no issues. Problems will be extra. So the client is aware that the quote may not cover issues that may arise.
Always charge the quoted price or less. Assume you overpaid because you miscalculated the area. It’s not the client’s fault, so don’t charge extra. Instead, make it up on another job.
It’s also good business to charge slightly less than quoted to keep customers happy and gain referrals.
Offer Robust Guarantees
Guaranteeing your work is an essential part of running an epoxy flooring business. Building a strong reputation involves quality work that you stand behind and guarantee.
Your warranty should cover the cost of the repairs as well as the inconvenience you caused the client.
Being on Time for Meetings and Job Completion
Contractors have a bad reputation for being on time, showing up at the job site, and finishing when promised.
So be on time and finish on time. You will gain more clients than juggling five job sites at once.
Getting Customers Through The Door
In an epoxy flooring business, having customers is essential for success. However, attracting customers can be challenging in the beginning because your business is new, and people may not be aware of it.
As time goes on and you gain more experience in marketing, it will become easier to attract customers, especially if they appreciate the services you provide.
To help you in the meantime, I recommend reading the following article for ideas on how to bring customers to your door as a new business.
The article will provide valuable insights and suggestions to help you attract and retain customers.
See our article How To Get Customers Through the Door; you’ll find a few ideas you can use.
Marketing Ideas
Promoting your epoxy flooring business is something you should do continuously.
The more effort you put into effective marketing strategies, the more money your business can make.
You don’t need to hire an expensive marketing agency to market your business. Instead, focus on raising awareness about your business whenever you get the chance.
Take advantage of any opportunity to let people know about the services you offer and how they can benefit from them. This could be through word-of-mouth, social media posts, attending industry events, or even distributing flyers in your local area.
Remember, marketing is an ongoing process that helps attract new customers and keeps your business thriving.
By investing time and effort into marketing, you can increase the visibility of your epoxy flooring business and attract more clients.
See our marketing section for articles that will provide ideas to bring awareness to your epoxy flooring business.
Skill Set:
It is important to assess your skill set and determine if you have the necessary abilities to run an epoxy flooring business successfully. If you lack a particular skill, you have the option to learn it or hire someone who possesses that expertise.
Essential skills for an epoxy flooring business owner:
- Epoxy Flooring Knowledge: Understanding the techniques, materials, and processes involved in epoxy flooring installations.
- Business Management: Skills in managing finances, operations, marketing, and customer relations.
- Sales and Marketing: Ability to promote your business, attract clients, and generate sales.
- Communication: Effective communication with clients, employees, suppliers, and other stakeholders.
- Problem-solving: Capacity to identify and address challenges that may arise during projects.
- Time Management: Efficiently managing time and prioritizing tasks to meet deadlines.
- Attention to Detail: Being meticulous and ensuring high-quality workmanship.
- Adaptability: Being flexible and open to adjusting strategies in response to changing circumstances.
- Safety Awareness: Knowledge of safety protocols and ensuring a safe working environment.
- Customer Service: Providing excellent customer service and ensuring client satisfaction.
Having these essential skills can greatly contribute to the success of your epoxy flooring business.
Equipment
A List of Equipment You May Need for an Epoxy Flooring Business:
- Surface Preparation Equipment:
- Floor grinder
- Shot blaster
- Scarifier
- Floor scrubber
- Mixing and Application Equipment:
- Epoxy mixing station
- Epoxy application tools (rollers, brushes, squeegees)
- Notched trowels
- Spike shoes or spiked rollers
- Epoxy sprayer (optional)
- Safety Equipment:
- Protective eyewear
- Respirator or mask
- Gloves
- Protective clothing (coveralls)
- Concrete Repair Tools:
- Concrete crack repair kit
- Concrete patching materials
- Concrete grinding cup wheel
- Surface Testing and Measurement Tools:
- Moisture meter
- pH testing kit
- Coating thickness gauge
- Surface Finishing Tools:
- Floor burnisher
- Polishing pads
- Cleaning and Maintenance Equipment:
- Floor scrubber
- Wet/dry vacuum cleaner
- Mop and bucket
- Miscellaneous Tools and Supplies:
- Power mixer for large epoxy batches
- Extension cords
- Tape measure
- Mixing buckets
- Utility knife
- Mixing sticks
- Safety cones or barricades
Remember, the specific equipment needed may vary depending on the scale and scope of your epoxy flooring business.