Best Practices: GP Flooring Solutions – Dec 2025

By Jessica Chevalier

With a background in marketing communications and sales as well as a master’s in leadership and management, Abby Reinhard was on the hunt to acquire a business to which she could apply her skill set and propel the entity toward greater success. She was agnostic about the industry with confidence she could master the knowledge and skills needed when the right opportunity presented itself. In January 2015, Reinhard acquired GP Flooring Solutions, based in Gates, New York (just outside Rochester) and immersed herself in the world of commercial flooring.

UP & RUNNING

Reinhard purchased GP Flooring Solutions from George Hage. In fact, GP Flooring was Hage’s second flooring business. The entrepreneur had sold his first to Shaw when it vertically integrated in the mid-’90s. Reinhard overlapped with Hage for six months, during which time she had what she calls a “crash course in flooring.” After that, Hage was peripherally involved for another six months.

Following her acquisition, Reinhard “worked bit by bit to integrate technology and best practices to gain efficiencies in the company,” she recalls. These included a customer resource management (CRM) platform, an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and workflow software, as well as take-off and estimating software. In addition, Reinhard’s team created an app to streamline day-to-day communication.

“We have been scaling up since I bought the business and continue to do that,” says Reinhard. “Every year, we are updating how we function operationally and adding new team members.” In the past 11 years, GP Flooring’s staff has grown ten-fold: from seven to 70.

In addition, GP has broadened its scope. When Reinhard bought GP Flooring, it was primarily installing carpet and vinyl in the education and government sectors. The operation today is much more expansive. Whereas it originally subbed out resinous flooring work, it now has an in-house division. It has also expanded its ceramic operations.

Reinhard has also widened the business’ segment reach. It now operates in every commercial segment, including multifamily, where it had very little work before.

Territory-wise, GP Flooring Solutions has long served Rochester, Buffalo and New York City. Under Reinhard’s leadership, it added Syracuse. The operation has office and warehouse space in both Buffalo and New York City.

Ultimately, Reinhard’s goal for GP was to “become experts and confidently do projects of any and all flooring types.”

This dedication to excellence is clearly paying off, as the business is consistently acknowledged for its merit. In 2025, GP Flooring Solutions was included on the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies. In addition, it was named one of the Best Places to Work in Construction for 2025 and one of top companies to work for in New York by the New York State Council of the Society for Human Resource Management, Best Companies Group and Rochester Business Journal. Also, last month, GP Flooring ranked number eight among the Top 100 fastest-growing privately owned companies headquartered in the Greater Rochester region, as recognized by the Chamber of Commerce. Reinhard characterizes these acknowledgements, particularly those that speak to GP’s employment culture, as “meaningful.”

In addition, two of the company’s employees, project manager Sara Antonio and project executive for NYC Emma Reed, were honored as 2025 Emerging Leaders by Floor Focus.

FINDING THE RIGHT FIT

Having grown its ranks so rapidly, GP Flooring Solutions has gotten a lot of practice with hiring and training. Reinhard hires for culture. After purchasing the business, she drew up the company’s values and uses these as a guideline when bringing new folks aboard.

Once hired, GP Flooring’s new employees work through a learning management system that the business has customized to improve onboarding and training. This outlines standard operating procedure and more. In addition, new hires work one-on-one with existing employees.

“Nothing replaces learning on the job,” says Reinhard, “doing the work with seasoned colleagues who care about your professional development.”

GP Flooring’s installers are a combination of in-house and sub-contracted. “We are a great place to work and a great partner to work with, so that is helpful for any company that needs to attract talent. It starts with your core values and how you treat others and prioritize relationships,” says Reinhard.

All GP Flooring’s installers work with carpet, LVT and VCT. “There is a subset that excel with sheet goods and have the skill to do heat welding and flash cove. And there is subset that excels with ceramic and porcelain,” explains Reinhard. Resinous installers focus on that and polished concrete solely.

HIGH STANDARDS

“We bring a high level of professionalism to everything we do, including effective problem-solving and communication,” reports Reinhard. “In addition to technical expertise and workmanship, our use of technology helps us deliver that professionalism and quality.

“We have strong relationships across the board with the major suppliers in the industry, and strengthening those relationships is important. We are really fortunate to have so many high-quality partners at the local, regional and national level as suppliers. This industry has attracted and cultivated great people on the supplier side. And we’ve had a lot of longevity in our supplier-side relationships.”

GP Flooring Solutions is a Fuse member. When asked to join, Reinhard was “very happy” and has served as a board member and board advisor for the organization. She reports that Fuse involvement has helped her company strengthen relationships with suppliers and access to training from suppliers to stay atop the latest developments.

“I’m obsessed with learning, and joining Fuse was awesome because we could access formal training and develop with peers across the country and in Canada,” the entrepreneur says. “We are always learning from one another because the business is fluid, and as a business grows, you need to shift.”

Reinhard recalls reaching out to Flooring Resources’ COO and president George Spanske just before the pandemic and asking, “How do I know when I need to hire a CFO?” Having connections that can answer such questions, as Spanske did, prove invaluable to a business owner in expansion mode.

The greatest challenge Reinhard faces “depends on the day,” she says. “Every year is different. During Covid, there was so much instability with price escalation and the supply chain. This year, the uncertainty in the market has slowed projects down, so I am working with my sales team to do what we can to get more opportunities in the sales funnel. We focus on what’s in our control-writing as many proposals and closing as many deals as we can. Other years, we have been growing so quickly that I have to focus on operations and delivery of work.”

Looking ahead, Reinhard wants to maintain GP Flooring Solutions’ status as a great place to work. “I want the business to make a difference in the lives of our team members, and I want to learn, grow and improve,” she says. “I set revenue targets for one year, three years and ten years, and I outline what needs to be in place operationally to hit those goals. But those aren’t the goals that I feel an attachment to so much as making sure that we are learning, growing, improving and being a great place to work with happy, productive team members.”

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