Floor Crafters offers a mobile model with no retail showroom, residential and commercial customers, subcontracted installation, franchisor-supported marketing, and the ability to scale through multiple territories.
Each week, I spotlight a franchise brand that has caught my attention and share what I find interesting about the business model, industry and opportunity.
I met with the Floor Crafters team and one of their current franchisees recently, and immediately saw this as an outstanding opportunity for many of the aspiring entrepreneurs that I speak with every week.
For an experienced executive, manager or sales professional exploring franchise ownership, Floor Crafters offers an interesting combination:
Flooring may not be the first industry that comes to mind when you think about franchise ownership. But when I started looking more closely at the model, there were several things I found particularly interesting.
One of the first things that caught my attention is what Floor Crafters doesn't require.
There is no traditional retail showroom, office or even a warehouse. The business can be operated with a home-based office, creating a much leaner operating footprint than a traditional flooring retailer.
Floor Crafters brings the showroom directly to the customer with a branded mobile showroom stocked with flooring samples. Customers can see carpet, hardwood, tile, luxury vinyl and other flooring options where they will actually be installed.
I like the simplicity of that model.
Another aspect of the model that caught my attention is the ability to pursue both residential and commercial customers.
I think that's important.
Economic conditions change. Housing markets change. Commercial activity changes. Different segments of the economy don't always move in the same direction at the same time.
Having the ability to develop business across both residential and commercial markets gives an owner more than one avenue for growth and the flexibility to adjust where they're focusing their sales efforts as market conditions fluctuate.
I'm often asked whether a business is "recession-proof." Nothing is completely free from the effects of a down economy. In my view, having both residential and commercial customers can help diversify the sources of demand an owner is able to pursue when market conditions change.
And flooring itself is a large, established category.
People buy homes. They build new and remodel older homes. Apartments turn over. Businesses renovate. Properties are damaged and need new flooring. Builders and property managers need flooring partners.
In other words, this isn't about introducing consumers to an unfamiliar product category. It's about competing for existing flooring demand.
The mobile model also contributes to something else I like about Floor Crafters: the potential for attractive margins without the overhead associated with a traditional flooring showroom.
Installation and production are handled by 1099 flooring subcontractors, so the franchise owner isn't expected to build a large installation workforce.
That changes the role of the owner.
You're not laying flooring and you're not directly managing a team of installers, either.
You're building the business, developing relationships, managing the sales process, overseeing projects and creating a great customer experience.
For someone coming out of an executive, management or sales career, that's an important distinction.
This is one of the most important questions to ask about any franchise.
According to Floor Crafters' franchise materials, the company provides franchisees with marketing and lead-generation support.
The system includes a centralized call center that can book estimates directly onto the franchisee's calendar, along with digital marketing support including website development, SEO, email marketing, paid search and social media.
The marketing program includes Google and Local Service Ads, Facebook, Instagram and retargeting campaigns.
There's also an augmented-reality flooring visualizer that allows customers to see what different flooring options could look like in their own space.
Of course, I would never suggest that franchisor marketing means an owner can sit back and wait for the phone to ring. But this type of franchisor support is great to see and takes some pressure off the owners. They don't need to become advertising experts to own this business.
They need to build relationships, develop their local market, follow up with prospects and convert opportunities into customers.
There's a big difference between doing that entirely on your own and having a system designed to help generate and manage demand.
Floor Crafters isn't looking for someone who simply wants to buy themselves a job.
According to the company, its ideal candidate is more likely to be an experienced executive, manager or sales leader who knows how to manage teams, projects and financial performance.
Someone organized. Accountable. Comfortable making decisions. Good with people. And interested in building something that can become bigger than themselves.
The model is particularly interesting to me because multi-territory ownership is part of the growth story. For the right person, that creates an opportunity to think beyond owning a single territory and instead ask:
What could I build in this market over the next five or ten years?
This is always one of my favorite questions.
What will I actually be doing every day?
A Floor Crafters owner is primarily focused on sales, leadership and managing the business.
That can include reviewing leads, meeting with homeowners or commercial customers, conducting onsite consultations, preparing estimates, coordinating projects, managing subcontractors, following up with customers and developing referral and commercial relationships.
According to the company's franchise materials, the franchisor provides a structured Fast Start program before opening, followed by 40 hours of in-person training covering the sales process, project management, estimating, subcontractor management, marketing and product knowledge.
That means new franchisees can rely on the skills they've built over their careers and build upon those skills with the targeted training that's provided. No flooring industry experience is required.
But you do need to be willing to learn the business and lead it.
There are thousands of franchise opportunities available, and no franchise is right for everyone.
What caught my attention about Floor Crafters is the combination of a mobile model with no traditional brick-and-mortar requirement, residential and commercial revenue opportunities, attractive margin potential, franchisor marketing and lead-generation support, subcontracted installation, scalability and available territory.
But as I've said before, I also put considerable weight on the people behind a franchise. That's why my conversation with the Floor Crafters team and one of their existing franchisees mattered to me.
A spreadsheet can tell you a lot about a business. Talking with the people who are actually building it can tell you something different.
I don't start a franchise search by asking, "Which franchise should you buy?"
I start with the person.
What are your goals? What skills do you bring? What role do you want to play? How much do you want to invest? Do you want to build one territory or several? And what kind of business and life are you ultimately trying to create?
Then we look for opportunities that align with those answers.
For the right candidate, Floor Crafters is one I think deserves a closer look.
For an experienced professional evaluating home-service franchises, Floor Crafters stands out for its mobile operating model, lack of a traditional retail showroom, residential and commercial customer opportunities, subcontracted installation model and potential for multi-territory growth.
Those characteristics don't make it the right franchise for everyone. They do make it a concept worth evaluating for someone whose skills, investment parameters and goals align with the owner role.
During a brand overview Zoom meeting we'll spend about 20 minutes talking more about the brand's history, the business model, the investment requirements and potential return on investment, funding, and the due diligence process. I'll then be able to position you as a high-priority candidate if you'd like a deeper dive.
