Strategic Exchange: The big picture may be unclear, but the flooring industry is moving ahead – May 2026

By Kemp Harr

It’s been nine weeks since the U.S. and Israel started bombing Iran, and, at this point, hopes for an early resolution are starting to wane. The stock market took a dip and then recovered, but the consumer sentiment index remains low (49.8) due to elevated gas prices and ongoing inflation. The housing market is still paralyzed, and our nation’s 250th birthday is right around the corner. 

Meanwhile, in the flooring industry, the cycle of shows continues. Right before Easter, the tile industry met out in Las Vegas at the Coverings show, and many had sticker shock, seeing how expensive it was to meet there versus Orlando. It will be at least six years before Coverings returns to Vegas. Granted, it did attract more design professionals from California, and that is one of the catalysts for shifting the venue on a routine basis.

Once again, I’d like to point out that the tile industry’s North American trade association, Tile Council of North America (TCNA), is all buttoned up and gave a great overview of trends and business conditions. As we are recapping in this issue’s Annual Report, ceramic tile is taking share in the flooring business and is only down 0.8% in an overall market that is down 3%. Every other flooring category is down more. By volume, 72% of what’s sold in the U.S. is imported, so there is room for growth with domestic producers—many of which are based in Tennessee.

Three weeks after Coverings, the wood flooring industry held its annual meeting in Orlando at the National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA) Expo. This show is much smaller, attracting a little over 2,000 people, and most of the attendees are wood flooring contractors with sawdust running through their veins. That business is down around 3% in dollars on a year-over-year basis, but unit volume is down closer to 8%. We were happy to learn at the show that the wood brands that advertise in Floor Focus are outperforming those that advertise somewhere else or not at all. The NWFA trade association doesn’t have a mechanism for tracking shifts in revenue by its member companies, which makes this annual report an important barometer for business conditions.

RECAP OF STARNET ANNUAL MEETING

I just returned from Starnet’s annual meeting in north Miami. There is clearly a generational shift going on within the organization, the largest group of commercial flooring contractors in North America. When I made the rounds during the opening reception on the first night, to visit my old friends, I felt old. Physiologically, I don’t feel any older—though I have to admit my pace for a 5K run is slower, and the skin on my neck is starting to loosen up—but the number of new faces in the crowd was eye-opening. Twenty-five years ago, when I first attended Starnet, I was the young guy. Many of the past chairmen, like Harold Chapman and Randy Weis, don’t even come anymore. 

Skip Mancini of B.T. Mancini Co. was honored with a well-deserved standing ovation as he “timed out,” having served 26 years on the board of directors. Many of the healthy family-run shareholder businesses are in various phases of transitioning to the next generation. Garrett Ulfig with Master Craft Floors is so far along that his dad, Dan, doesn’t even come anymore. Josh Friedman with DFS Floors and Travis Cloud with M. Frank Higgins are fully integrated, but their fathers, Richard and Steve, respectively, are also still very active, as well. 

Starnet is still wrestling with the dynamic between maintaining scale and core purpose. Two of its biggest members are Diverzify and Artisan Design Group, two national organizations, the first of which is owned by private equity and the second of which is a division of Lowe’s. Both of these organizations have deep pockets and, in some cases, compete with the smaller members. One of Starnet’s core purposes is to support its vendor partners, but these two members are big enough to cut their own deals with suppliers—some of which aren’t part of the group. Stay tuned as we continue to monitor whether scale trumps purpose. 

One of the news items from this year’s meeting was the addition of family-owned Laticrete as a core Starnet vendor. Listen to my interview with Starnet CEO Mark Bischoff for more details. 

Steve Cloud, co-owner of M. Frank Higgins, continues to serve as chairman of Starnet, and his Connecticut-based business was doing very well. One of Higgins’ core strengths, which is paying off, is continuing to build relationships with the design community. I invite you to listen to my interview with Steve. 

If I had to characterize the Starnet meeting in one word, it would be “optimism.” The shareholder’s backlog is solid, and the outlook for continued growth is positive. 

HOW IMPORTANT IS TRUST?

The theme for the keynote message at Starnet’s meeting was trust. Author David Horsager spoke for an hour on how important establishing trust is to the success of your business and your personal relationships. In the end, you are the sum of your life’s decisions. n

For comments on this column, email kemp@floorfocus.com.