August 23, 2016—John Baugh, Managing Director with Stifel Nicolaus, and Kemp Harr discuss market dynamics affecting the performance of the publicly traded floorcovering producers. Listen to the interview for more details on Mohawk, Armstrong and Interface as well as John's view on Home Depot and Lowe's.
August 17, 2016—Santo Torcivia, an economist with Market Insights, LLC, and Kemp Harr discuss the balance of flooring business between the independent retailers and the home centers. Listen to the interview to hear more about this, plus some interesting statistics about import levels in certain flooring segments.
August 12, 2016—Brad Harvey, a labor attorney with Miller & Martin, and Kemp Harr discuss the overtime pay changes for salaried employees that go into effect December 1, 2016. Listen to the interview to hear more about the changes by the Department of Labor to the Fair Labor Standards Act which doubles the threshold of pay for exempt employees who can be classified as Executive, Administrative or Professional.
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August 9, 2016—Scott Humphrey, CEO with the WFCA, and Kemp Harr discuss the highlights of last week's flooring installation summit held in Dallas just prior to the annual CFI convention. Listen to the interview for more details and to hear who is charged with following up on the ideas generated at the meeting.
August 8, 2016—John Rietveldt, CEO with Innovations 4 Flooring, and Kemp Harr discuss the firm's recent court case victory in defending its TripleLock patent in the Netherlands. Listen to the interview to hear more about the company, the patent and what effect this decision will have on the U.S. flooring market.
August 4, 2016—Neil Poland, President of Mullican Flooring, and Kemp Harr discuss Mullican's five year growth plans which include a $15 million investment to expand their Johnson City production and create 200 more jobs. Listen to the interview to hear more about this and current conditions in the hardwood flooring business.
August 3, 2016—Celia Lehrman, deputy content director for Consumer Reports, and Kemp Harr discuss Consumer Reports' process for selecting and testing the flooring products that the magazine rates on an annual basis. Listen to the interview to hear more about how they select and source the products and how they come up with their ratings.
July 29, 2016—Brandon Kersey and Gary Hollowell, brand manger and VP of sales and marketing (respectively), and Kemp Harr discuss the strategy and products behind Engineered Floors' foray into the mainstreet commercial carpet market. Listen to the interview to hear more about how this move is a natural next step as part of the integration of Engineered Floors and J+J Flooring Group.
July 27, 2016—Lee Tucker, Founder of the Floor Educational Guild, and Kemp Harr discuss the educational curriculum Lee is pulling together to augment the FloorTek show in October. Listen to the interview for more details. Go to www.flooringinspectorsguild.org for more specifics on the classes and times offered.
July 25, 2016— Dave Munson, owner of Floor to Ceiling in Mankato, MN and Chairman of the Board of Preferred Brands, and Kemp Harr, discuss Dave's background as a second generation flooring dealer and the decision that Preferred Brands made to transition the Floor To Ceiling franchise business over to the Floors & More umbrella. Listen to the interview for more details plus hear more about the inaugural Floors & More meeting held last week in Minneapolis, MN.