Competitors Hide Behind Beautiful Photos to Avoid Showing you Short Boards

Do me a favour.  Go on a hardwood flooring manufacturer’s website and check out the photos.  Are they small swatches of flooring or do they show a full room?  More than likely they only show a small swatch or you click on the swatch and it blows up to a photo of a full room.  You will probably notice that either a) the flooring in the photo is so blurry you can only see the colour and can hardly make out the width and definitely not see the board lengths, or b) the photo is of a beautifully decorated room with area rugs and gorgeous furniture but you can barely see any of the flooring.  The worst part is most of the time the writing and the literature with the flooring specs is actually hindering your view of the open floor.  Why would a company selling hardwood flooring do their best to hide it?  Wouldn’t they want to show the flooring off as much as possible?

The reason for this is simple; they have short board lengths and don’t want you to see!  It is very rare that you will see it published on the manufacturer’s website what their board lengths are, and they do their best to hide this in the photos.

Personally, I consider this to be very deceptive but it is common practice among most Canadian and American hardwood flooring manufacturers.  If you are proud of the hardwood flooring you are selling, the flooring should have the spotlight in your photos.  You shouldn’t have to lure your prospective customer’s eyes away from the product you are selling with (fake) views of mountains or a beautiful ocean scene in the background.  The consumer is buying the flooring so show them how great that is.

Many consumers are fooled by this marketing but you aren’t going to be one of them.  Don’t be fooled by beautiful photos with blurry floors.  Believe me, these people have enough money for quality photography and the blurring of the floors is not an accident.  When you are buying a floor, you want concrete details on what the flooring will “actually” look like in your home.  Ask the salesperson how long the longest board will be and what the average length will be before going ahead with the order.  The best practice is to have them put it in writing.  If a salesperson is hesitant or refuses to put it in writing you should be deeply concerned.  Better yet, have them open a box right in front of your eyes.

Hardwood Flooring is a big investment so you don’t want to choose your flooring based on a small sample in a carpet store and a blurry website photo.  The photos on the Gaylord Hardwood Flooring website display the flooring so you see exactly what you will be installing in your own home.  Standard flooring items come 1’ to 8’ with a 40-48” average board length.  Compare that with a 27-29” average board length with competitors.  Gaylord has specialty products up to 12 feet in length!

To learn why most competitors have short board lengths, stay tuned!

So it’s been leaked. Braebury Homes is the official winner of this years KHBA parade of homes in the over $300,000 category for their San Diego Model. The competition was incredible this year with so many beautiful model homes! The Gaylord team toured this model on Sunday. It was beautifully decorated with a great layout. It also had a great back porch with an incredible gas fireplace. Oh yeah, the floor wasn’t too bad either! Congrats to the team at Braebury Homes!

Which is Your Flooring Supplier?

We are often asked why we don’t sell other floor covering options.  Some feel we are limiting ourselves by only selling hardwood flooring.  That may be true but we would much prefer to be the best in one area than average in a few.  If Wayne Gretzky only spent ¼ of his time playing hockey and the rest of his time was focused on baseball, cricket and ballroom dancing, would he have been able to become “The Great One”.  Not that we are comparing ourselves to Wayne Gretzky, but when it comes to hardwood we are the great ones.

Hardwood flooring is one of the most important investments you will ever make in your home so why trust it to someone who only considers hardwood to be one of the “products” they sell.  You wouldn’t go to your family doctor for a complicated brain surgery so why would you go to a carpet store for hardwood flooring?  A family doctor’s job is to have an understanding of all things medical so they can offer a remedy or refer you to a specialist if something requires further attention.  The same is true for a carpet store except they won’t refer you to a hardwood flooring specialist.  When you are required to know a little bit about everything, it is impossible to be an expert in one thing.  The goal of a salesperson at a carpet store is to have slightly more knowledge than the customer.  The goal of a hardwood flooring expert is to educate their customer to know more than a carpet store salesperson. I can definitely sympathize with carpet store salespeople, if I had to know a little bit about everything from tile to carpet to window fashions I would be just as clueless.

Think of how much more experience someone has who does hardwood flooring all day every day.  Experts also take courses and network with other experts to expand their knowledge base as much as they can.  This practice would be way too overwhelming if you wanted to become an expert in all types of flooring.  You’ve heard the saying “Jack of all trades, master of none,” that holds true 100% in the flooring world.  Make sure your hardwood supplier has proper National Wood Flooring Association certifications, and can provide examples of their quality work.  True experts will give you an education and will even provide you with industry educational material.

Hardwood flooring is always living and adapting to the environment it is in.  It is a sensitive product and requires a lot of attention when selling, delivering, installing, and servicing.  It takes an expert to truly understand wood flooring and how it works.  Hardwood flooring experts deal with this on a daily basis so it is learned and understood.  If there is a problem, carpet stores don’t know what that problem is or the cause so are apt to guess and give wrong advice, which could potentially make things worse.  When a hardwood floor has a problem down the road, the carpet store will automatically blame it on the manufacturer because they don’t understand the problem.  More than likely the manufacturer; who has experience with hardwood flooring every day will identify the root cause and a battle will ensue between the manufacturer and carpet store with you right in the middle of it.  An expert would identify the problem and correct it in the best possible way.

At Gaylord Hardwood Flooring we handle everything from the rough lumber to the installed flooring, so you never get caught in the middle of a battle between the manufacturer and retailer.  We are true experts and are very proud of what we do.  Hardwood flooring isn’t just part of our business, it is our business.  You will not find anyone anywhere with more hardwood flooring knowledge and experience than us.  The best advice we can give is; if you are buying carpet go to a carpet store, if you are buying hardwood, go to a hardwood expert.  It’s as simple as that!

Gaylord Hardwood Flooring in the Belleville Intelligencer. http://www.intelligencer.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2826345 http://fb.me/J5H0mjX2

Gaylord Hardwood Flooring Read a quote from one of our great builder clients and feel free to check out their website if looking to build a home in the Ottawa area:“At Luxart Homes, we provide the only highest quality product and service to our clients. As such, we search tirelessly for the highest quality suppliers, with the best service. Gayl…ord beats all other suppliers, in terms of quality (finish, length) and service, hands down. I am happy to have them as our hardwood supplier, and would happily recommend them to anyone who asks. ”

Amanda Wagorn, Luxart Homes
www.luxarthomes.com

“Thanks so much for the invitation to visit your showroom recently. Congratulations on your 25th anniversary and on the beautiful showroom. The renovated space is an informative and inspirational showcase for all your products. I’m sure visitors will find the room vignettes very helpful when it comes to making a decision about flooring. Choosing flooring is like choosing stone for a countertop – you need to see more than just a small sample to fully appreciate the product. Seeing the product installed underfoot is truly the best way to shop for flooring. The installations show the variations in the grains of the woods and the great number of finish options. I also like the way the wall colours, mouldings, furniture and styling of each vignette help visitors visualize how each type of flooring works with various decorating and architectural styles. You’ve truly managed to maximize all of your square footage. I am amazed at the quality and breadth of your products and look forward to working with you in the future for stories in STYLE AT HOME.”

Margot Austin, Senior Design Editor, STYLE AT HOME
www.styleathome.com