Floor covering buyer beware. Next to a house or automobile, flooring is one of the largest purchases that many homeowners will ever make. Like that car or house a floor covering can bring joy or pain.
A properly selected floor covering will also add function, value, comfort, and pleasure.. Floor covering chosen with little or no consideration for the environment may result in significant disappointment.
Floor Covering Planning
In a home or a business, floor covering is both an important and a valuable element of design. Please take care of selecting the desired aesthetics and performance qualities. With the vast variety of materials, fibers, styles, and colors available, an individual can find a product within the correct price range that will provide years of enjoyment and functionality. An improperly selected floor covering may not perform to your satisfaction.
Prepare For Your Purchase
As a consumer, you should expect the sales representative to educate you and steer you in the right direction. As a floor covering purchaser, beware of the sharks that only want to make the easy sale.
Unfortunately, many companies fail to educate their sales representatives on the products they sell. More discussed in part 2, Floor Covering Styles.
It is the responsibility of those marketing a floor covering product to understand color, construction, performance, and installation. The salesperson should pass knowledge to the consumer. A knowledgeable salesperson will share that knowledge. The slick salesperson may only care about the sale and not be concerned with after-sales service. As a result, it is important that the consumer prepares in advance for their purchase.
The consumer needs to understand that just because a floor looks like a good deal, it may not be. Spending a little more money (a few extra dollars more a month) may save them money and a lot of grief. At other times, if you have done a bit of study, you may be able to save those extra dollars. Remember, quality is not based on price alone.
The Blame Game
Luxury vinyl, sheet vinyl, laminated wood, carpet, hardwood, or any other products can fail. The unhappy consumer often places blame on the dealer. In turn, the dealer will likely blame the problem on the floor covering manufacturer. The manufacturer might blame the problem on their supplier, such as a mill or fiber manufacturer, who in turn places the blame back on the retailer, consumer, or installer. The blame game is a vicious circle. Everyone is being blamed, and no one is taking responsibility.
Caveat Emptor “Floor Covering Buyer Beware”
Purchasing a car, carpet or other floor covering. The word is caveat emptor – let the buyer beware. The phrase caveat emptor arises from the fact that buyers often have less information about the good or service they are purchasing, while the seller has more information.
The seller may hide defects in goods or service from the buyer, thus, the buyer should beware. This is called information asymmetry, a term that refers to when one party in a transaction is in possession of more information than the other.
A Bit of Shared Knowledge
I have spent over half a century in the floor covering industry as a dealer, contractor, consultant, and inspector. I have analyzed thousands of installations to determine what caused the floors’ premature failure or loss in appearance.
The performance exhibited by a product is regularly consistent with the characteristics of its construction. This usually means the failed product was not properly specified or selected for the installation environment.
Flooring failure often results from the lack of proper care. The reason may be lack of knowledge or neglect. Improper selection and care are avoidable situations that may require a little study on the part of the end-user.
Key Points
- Importance of Proper Floor Covering Selection: Choosing the right floor covering enhances function, value, and comfort, while improper selection can lead to dissatisfaction and poor performance.
- Preparing for a Floor Covering Purchase: Consumers should educate themselves and ask knowledgeable salespeople, avoiding pushy sales tactics to make informed decisions and avoid costly mistakes.
- The Blame Game in Flooring Failures: When flooring fails, blame often shifts between dealers, manufacturers, and installers, perpetuating a cycle where no one accepts full responsibility.
- Lessons from Industry Experience: Long-term industry experience shows that proper product selection, care, and knowledge are crucial, emphasizing that quality endures beyond price.
As a youth, my father James H. Weinheimer, had been in the floor covering business since 1934. He often quoted the saying, “Price is soon forgotten, but quality still remains. A saying as true today as it was years ago.
Continue to Part 2: Mastering Floor Covering Styles
