Floor Focus

Interview by Kemp Harr As president and owner of Universal Metro, a Los Angeles-based commercial flooring contractor, Dave Triepke has built a leadership philosophy centered on people, purpose and perseverance. But the foundation of that approach began long before he entered the flooring business.

Contract Furnishings Mart currently operates 20 locations across Washington, Oregon and Arizona. By Meg Scarbrough Customers aren’t just walking into flooring stores looking for floors anymore. Increasingly, they arrive carrying larger renovation plans with them—new cabinets, countertop samples, bathroom remodel ideas or entire-home projects that stretch well beyond floorcovering.

Patcraft’s Modular Form carpet tile is shown in an upscale corporate setting. Introduction by Darius Helm Statistics by Market Insights 2025 proved to be another challenging year, beset by tariff volatility, international tensions and elevated inflation and interest rates. Some commercial segments were notably strong, while others were soft. Total commercial flooring revenues, including mainstreet, were down slightly to $6.618 billion, while specified sales were up a hair to $4.968 billion.

J+J Flooring’s Obsidian carpet tile was installed at an apartment development in Washington, D.C. Photo by Ron Blunt Studio. By Darius Helm 1. SHAW COMMERCIAL Estimated 2025 U.S. Specified Carpet Sales: $809 million Shaw’s specified businesses, Shaw Contract and Patcraft, had a solid 2025, with a slight gain in marketshare and total specified carpet sales of an estimated $809 million. Both divisions had healthy carpet tile activity.

Gerflor’s Mipolam Symbioz homogenous sheet flooring was specified for Connecticut Children’s Hospital. Photo by Halkin Mason Photography. By Jessica Chevalier The total commercial hard surface flooring market, including mainstreet, inched up 3% to $3.317 billion in 2025. Many interviewees described the year as uneven and volatile, with the strength of some segments offsetting softness in others.

Natural Choice from AHF Products’ Bruce brand. By Meg Scarbrough For years, flooring innovation often followed a familiar formula: new visuals, larger formats, tougher wearlayers and incremental performance improvements. Those developments continue, but manufacturers are increasingly looking beyond traditional product upgrades to solve different challenges.

AHF’s MedinPure homogenous sheet in the color At the Pool. By Meg Scarbrough and Darius Helm It’s taken a couple of decades of trial and error, but over the last few years, flooring producers have started coming out with PVC-free alternatives to traditional vinyl flooring that look like they might be here to stay.

By Kemp Harr It’s time for a reality check on the state of the business as the conflict in Iran drags on. It’s true that we’ve seen prolonged periods with mortgage rates in the mid-6% range in the past, but when you couple the high cost of borrowing with inflated housing prices and reduced disposable income due to higher food and fuel costs, you end up with consumers who are choosing to sit tight on any major housing investments.

GBBN selected engineered hardwood from Shaw Contract’s Resurgence Oak collection for the entryway of the Ronald McDonald House Charities in Dayton, Ohio. By Katie Coulson Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) provides a place for families to stay when medical situations arise that require them to remain close to their children.

Chuck Bode and his children. By Chuck Bode You may be familiar with the quote by Benjamin Franklin, said to have been uttered during the signing of the Declaration of Independence, “We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall hang separately.” This quote was meant to rally the reluctant colonies to action.