With $4 Billion in annual sales, Starnet is a powerful force in the contract flooring industry. The commercial contract installation members partner with architects, designers, property managers and building owners to create world-class interiors.

As our members navigate the fluctuations in market demand by segment, we are seeing an increased interest in the Starnet Floor Care program. The interest level increases when the product and installation volume (P&I) moderates and members begin to have an appetite to explore alternative revenue streams. In addition, the floor care business creates access to end-user relationships and opportunities to solve claim inquiries for our Starnet Preferred Vendor Partners.

The network of Starnet Floor Care members offer specialized cleaning, maintenance, and repair for various flooring types, from carpet to concrete, tile, and vinyl. These member organizations excel in turning lackluster spaces into commercial interior excellence, all with a focus on safety and sustainability. Over the years, the members have seen that adding a Starnet Floor Care division has allowed them to supplement their P&I business with a steady revenue stream from maintenance agreements. The floor care business also provides access to new clients who may have had installation work done by other firms. Some of the members are so focused on the floor care business that they do not offer products and installation to clients, referring those opportunities to other Starnet members.

Over the last few decades, more opportunities for commercial flooring maintenance are being created by general market trends. These trends support our strategy for capturing lifetime commercial clients with Starnet Floor Care resources.

Real Estate Trends – Owned vs Leased

In the past, businesses owned and maintained their facilities. Employees managed the building and grounds in most end use segments. Today the market has changed dramatically. Most businesses lease their space and they rarely employ associates to maintain the buildings and grounds. Labor resources are relatively expensive for most businesses and anything that is not directly associated with revenue generation, serving clients, or regulatory compliance is outsourced.

These trends have dramatically impacted the commercial floor care industry. Ongoing maintenance of flooring rarely follows manufacturer recommendations in frequency or process because of the general outsourcing trend. Most end users’ contract agreements are for janitorial services, which are very different expectations than the commercial flooring manufacturer’s recommendations for the best results.

This had led to many instances of unnecessary claims and tense communication between frustrated facility managers, the Starnet flooring contractors, and manufacturers. These situations are challenging for the industry as a poor experience by an end user with commercial flooring stifles long-term spending and enthusiasm for interior design investment.

Soft Surface Textile Flooring

On the soft surface products, trends in textile flooring have much more variation in fiber type, tufting patterns and loop heights to get stunning visuals. To maintain the fresh look of textile flooring, more attention beyond vacuuming is necessary for ongoing maintenance and deep cleaning.

Machines with counter rotating brushes and innovative new chemistry have proven to be far more effective than traditional hot water extraction equipment. Another benefit to the counter rotating brush equipment for textile flooring is a dramatic reduction in water use. Starnet Floor Care members who use low moisture foam chemistry and the counter rotating brush equipment like the Fast Foamer technology reduce water usage by around 85% and do not have to dump soiled solution into the wastewater stream.

In contrast, traditional hot water extracting equipment uses more energy, at least one gallon of water per minute in use, and all that soiled water is put into a drain at some point. Another benefit is protecting all the gains manufacturers have made in reducing water consumption in their operations. Why market your sustainability in manufacturing when your recommended hot water extraction maintenance methods waste at least one gallon of clean water every minute in use?   

Proliferation of Surfaces in Commercial Environments

The hottest commercial products specified today include flexible LVT, carpet tile, ceramic, and rubber flooring. All those categories are used widely on the same projects in commercial environments. Varied surface textures are one challenge for ongoing maintenance, but to comply with the warranty guidelines for the manufacturers, each requires a different chemistry.

For hard surfaces, the traditional floor machines, cleaning pads, and a single chemistry are long gone. The mop and bucket are no longer practical and effective tools. Each surface has a unique recommendation for chemistry and effective rinsing of soil solution is key to acceptable results. The Starnet Floor Care teams have moved to “brush first” methods and the use of specialized rinse and vacuum machines to recover soiled solution from the floor surfaces.

Texture Everywhere

The common challenge for effective maintenance of all commercial flooring products is the surface texture. Only homogeneous sheet flooring, VCT, and some variations of traditional resilient tile solutions are smooth surface. All these products have minor market share compared to the dominant categories trending today. Heterogeneous flooring incorporates many variations of micro-textures and continue to plague the industry with complaints for residual soiling. Nylon scrubbing pads, commonly used by janitorial firms, glide over the high spots in these floors. This leaves soil residue in the texture and makes for unhappy end users. Starnet Floor Care members utilize “brush first” methods, which have the advantage of dealing with all the surface variations and texture in LVT, rubber, and ceramic/grout.

The visual expectations for clients built over decades of VCT and level loop nylon carpet use in offices, schools and retail stores have shaped the expectations for alternative flooring products that may be used for the first time by clients in coming years. We will have a wave of trending alternative flooring materials mixed on every project. They will be judged by clients as missing expectations, resulting in a high volume of unnecessary claims to manufacturers. The manufacturers will not view “missing expectations” for visual appeal and maintenance as legitimate claims from the market. The flooring contractor will be stuck in the middle, especially if they do not operate a Starnet Floor Care division.

The client opportunity and marketing potential around more frequent professional maintenance is tremendous. Flooring contractors must invest time and energy into the market, setting expectations and collaborating with stakeholders to achieve the best appearance outcomes. Timing is everything, and the market may start to slow down enough to make time invested in business development and education in Floor Care expansion lucrative. The opportunity for service innovation and the ongoing maintenance of products in the industry is massive.