When recommending floors, how much does longevity matter to your client and to you? Considering long-term value can guide choices in cost, sustainability,
and future opportunities, says Richard Aylen
WHEN you’re recommending floorcoverings to a client, how high on the list of priorities is longevity of the floor?
If you’re a flooring contractor, distributor or specifier, having a floor with a long lifespan may be a lower priority for you than the client. If you’re a flooring supplier of any kind, then a floor that has a relatively short life could even be seen as an opportunity because you may get an order for a replacement floor all the sooner.
For others of course there are significant benefits in having a floor with a long life, including the fact that this is usually a far more sustainable option than one that goes into landfill or an incineration plant within a relatively short time.
Sustainability and how it is affected by lifespan is a substantial topic, and one I have covered in previous columns, so this time I will talk about the other benefits that can arise from having a floor with a very long life.
What do we mean by ‘long life’?
At the top end of the scale are floors that can be refurbished and repaired with relative ease. For example, there are many solid wooden floors in older buildings that have been in use for 100 years or more.
This is largely because wooden floors can be refurbished many times over, and they are relatively easy to repair if damaged. Stone and tiled floors may also last a very long time, being resistant to wear-and-tear, though they lend themselves less well to full refurbishment.
Other floor types, including textiles, engineered wood, vinyl and other synthetic finishes generally have shorter lives; sometimes as little as a quarter of the lifespan of a solid hardwood floor, and this generates more waste.
As a result, our industry is still trying to develop ways to dispose of waste flooring products safely in ways that will not increase global warming. This is a changing picture but there is still no effective and sustainable way of recycling and disposing of synthetic floor finishes.
Why should contractors and distributors worry about this?
First, your client will give serious consideration to a floor that will cost them less in the long term, and a long-lasting floor is the easiest route to achieving low lifetime costs. This means you are more likely to get the customer’s order.
You can build trust, and a long-standing relationship with the customer if you offer them additional benefits, beyond quality and aesthetics. They will usually be interested to know that a floor with a long lifespan will cost them less in the long term, and they will be spared the disruption of having the floor replaced after a relatively short time.
While it means that, as the supplier, you may have to wait for longer to win an order for a replacement floor, it does mean that they will value your advice and will choose to employ you when other floors in their building need replacing. In addition, they will be happy to recommend you to other clients, thereby expanding your customer base.
By establishing a longer-term relationship, you will know the client and their floor better than anyone and this means you can provide the best advice and be on hand to do the work. You don’t have to price for risk so you will be competitive, and therefore more likely to get the order.
If you have supplied a floor that requires periodic maintenance and one that can be refurbished, then you will be able to offer maintenance and refurbishment services to your existing clients.
You can also use this to bring new clients on board and create a regular income stream by supplying cleaning and maintenance products and services.
For many clients and designers, the idea of using a reclaimed floor is very appealing, especially for building refurbishments, adaptations and heritage buildings. Some floor types are better suited to reclaiming or repurposing than others and having a long lifespan is certainly an important factor.
In addition to this the floor must also be one that can easily be lifted and cleaned up for reuse, without significant amounts of damage or waste. Generally speaking, floor types that are fully bonded to the base are more difficult to reuse because the floor finish will often be damaged beyond repair or contaminated with adhesive or screed when it is taken up.
That said, there is a healthy market for reclaimed woodblocks which were originally laid in bitumen adhesive.
The floor types that are often easiest to reuse include floating floors that aren’t glued down, and in the case of timber floors, those that are nail fixed. This growing market presents opportunities for flooring contractors although some new knowledge and skills need to be acquired in order to avoid expensive mistakes.
High on the list is the ability to assess waste factors, acquiring the skills to refinish and re-install, and dealing with client’s expectations about the looks and performance of an older floor covering.
For certain types of floorcoverings, including wooden floors, this is an area where opportunities are growing for those who are willing to learn how to understand the raw material and be aware of the pitfalls.
The days of the throw-away society appear to be numbered and in the longer term it will probably become more difficult for manufacturers to offer materials that have short lifespans and cannot be safely recycled or repurposed.
In other walks of life we’re becoming used to buying refurbished tech devices such as mobile phones and laptops. There’s no reason at all why we couldn’t have refurbished wooden floors.
The long lifespan of a solid hardwood floor means there’s already a good supply of reclaimed hardwood floors but the main appeal of these is that they look old and worn. However, there are clients that may want a new-looking floor but also to have a more sustainable installation.
This is a perfectly realistic aim as a reclaimed hardwood floor can be refurbished so that when installed and finished, it looks as good as new.
www.junckers.com
Richard Aylen is technical manager, Junckers