Commercial flooring contractors gathered in Nashville, Tennessee, for Starnet Worldwide Commercial Flooring's fall meeting, where leaders shared noteworthy growth metrics and optimistic projections despite economic headwinds.
Starnet has 173 members in 430 locations across the U.S. and Canada reporting $4.2 billion in annual sales. Starnet President and CEO Mark Bischoff shared that the group proposed over 182,000 projects and secured 80,000 projects in 2023, with a median project of $28,340. Top segments include corporate, healthcare, multifamily, K-12, and college and university projects.
Starnet member Lara Rassette, vice president and general manager of Image Flooring, reports that the Lenexa, Kansas, market has seen growth in healthcare and education, and collaboration with vendor partners has helped the company win many bids in 2024.
“This year has been incredible for Image Flooring,” Rassette said. “We will end this year double where we were for 2023. We are anticipating ’25 to be steady, not quite as huge growth as ’24, but we're still going to have a good, solid year.”
While flooring and geographical trends change—and the industry consolidates through mergers and acquisitions— Bischoff attributes Starnet’s growth to members diversifying their businesses and building a common framework that promotes longevity.
“Our members are doing a lot of non-flooring projects because their clients want us to do more and more services,” he said. “It’s okay to be a disruptor—we pride ourselves on being a sales multiplier and a broad and deep market for all of our supporting manufacturers.”
Members said that collaboration has helped them work through business disruptions, such as economic downturns, recruitment challenges, and supply chain issues.
“Our current projections for 2025 look strong,” said Zach Brown, president of NFI Enterprises in Auburn, Washington, which does commercial and residential interior finishes. The company added floor care services, focusing on a repetitive schedule of maintenance services.
“We have added to our sales team in 2024, building a good backlog into 2025,” Brown said. “As we grow, we will look into other markets for floor care, but we anticipate focusing on corporate and government contracts through 2025.”
Looking ahead, many members have solid backlogs that will keep them busy through the first part of 2025. Business will pick up in the second half of 2025 and continue into 2025.
“We need to get past the election and have another reduction in the prime interest rate to see much economic activity,” said Starnet Board Chair Steven Cloud, co-owner of Connecticut-based M. Frank Higgins. “As a Starnet member, most of us have developed our businesses as solutionists with great customer service. This type of business will fare better than those based on price alone.”
Starnet’s fall meeting is designed to include education, and members always leave with actionable items for their businesses. This year, members heard from Robert Varden, owner of Advanced Flooring Technology, a flooring installation training entity in Rockwall, Texas, who unveiled the organization’s Advanced Commercial Carpet Certification. Kristin Wesby, supplier development executive at Sourcewell, shared how members can partner with the service cooperative to win education and government projects. Other highlights included a session on managing insurance, planning successful transitions, and job site safety.
“Along with the educational opportunities, we did need to deal with Mannington’s departure,” Cloud said. “We had many opportunities for membership to discuss this issue with the board and reflect on the impact to the co-op and to themselves. The result was very productive as we focused on the remaining vendors and their offerings."
Two new vendors, retaining wall supplier MDC Interior Solutions and Icon Industries, a supplier of temporary surface protection projects, visited during the trade show to learn what they could offer the group.
