From its location at The Old Library in Carcroft, Floorserve is a family business run by Simon and Stefan Clarkson. Simon spoke exclusively to CFJ about the company’s history and the challenges it faces.

‘We’re a nationwide contractor and also have The Carpet Vault as our sister domestic showroom targeting a local demographic. The company was founded in 1988 by our late father; it was originally named Square Deal Carpets and located at different premises just across the road from where we are now (The Old Library, Skellow Road, Carcroft in Doncaster). We changed the name to Floorserve in 2008 because we wanted to project a more professional image and were being ribbed about a connection to Square Dealers from Coronation Street. It just had a wheeler-dealer type ring to it which we wanted to modernise. Unfortunately our dad wasn’t retired long before he passed away, but me, my brother, Stefan, and my sister, Haley, continued to run and grow the business. I’m now 53 but started floorlaying with my dad at 13. When The Old Library came up I thought it would be ideal for us so we went to auction and managed to acquire it in 2014. We had to do a lot of renovation works, including knocking down the walls because they contained 17t of asbestos – the grey kind found in fibreboards – and that cost us a fortune. Duane, my brother’s nephew, helped us tear it apart because he has a past in building and labouring trades. Then we replaced the external walls and future-proofed the building. Many people don’t realise just quite how big the building is; it encompasses about 1,000m with multiple parking spaces and easy access. Our turnover is just under £1m, and that has been stable through Covid-19.

‘We carry out commercial and domestic work. On the commercial side, we’ve worked with big names such as Skanska, completed a few prisons in the private and state sector including Doncaster Prison, and we’ve worked on hospitals in Derby and Mansfield, among other contract work. I, Simon, used to be an active floorlayer myself but I’ve been off my knees now for about 16 years as it caught up with my hands, knees and back. I began to feel knee pain in my late 20s and stopped when I was 38. I used to complete the installations so I know both sides of the coin – both technical and selling. But sometimes when we’re exceptionally busy, I still muck in. I was recently supposed to be at a good friend’s birthday party but a job ran over so I helped out. I sent a selfie to my friend saying: ‘This is where I am; I’m not coming, not because I don’t want to but rather because I’m stuck here.’ The job entailed completing Omega Kitchens in LVT click herringbone. A subbie couldn’t make it so me and the other lads worked until 8pm every night until the job was completed. The installations I’m most proud of include the mental health hospital in a Coventry Hospital with Tarkett and Marley throughout and it looked fantastic.’

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