Viking Concrete Floors Exceeding Client Expectations

In his early career days, Jeremy Rowe started in the financial services business where he worked with four different insurance agencies before leaving the industry in 2009 – he decided it was time for a new career path. After a brief hiatus, Rowe chose to go into flooring. He had enjoyed doing this kind of work around the house for his wife, and he knew he wanted to work with his hands.

Along with a business partner, Rowe started Viking Concrete Floors in 2010. Today, the  growing company has 11 employees and three business partners.

Viking Concrete Floors, in Prairieville, Louisiana, has done close to 2 million square feet of installations covering a 225-mile radius in most of Louisiana, and parts of Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama. They are the number one buyer of epoxy from their manufacturing company, H&C. The company has more experience than anyone else in this area, and it brings in over a million in revenue annually.

In Jeremy Rowe’s free time, this father of three likes to go skiing, fishing, and hunting.

Where did the idea to start Viking Concrete Floors come from?

I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do once I got out of the financial services business. I wanted to do something where I wasn’t stuck in an office all day, and I wanted to work with my hands. After a while, I realized that doing stained concrete flooring was something that I enjoyed doing. I’d done this kind of work before around the house for my wife. So I found myself a business partner, and we started the company.

What types of individuals are successful in the trades?

People with a solid work ethic because of what we do. Whenever we have somebody new start working for us, their first day at work usually blows their mind – and they come to work the next day talking about how bad everything hurts. They need a strong work ethic to get used to it, and to not mind getting dirty.

What’s your ideal company culture like?

Everybody at Viking Concrete Floors is required to have a personality. We’re always joking and laughing, and everybody gets along well. It makes for a much more pleasant work environment for everyone.

What is one of your greatest accomplishments over the past year?

The biggest accomplishment of the past year has definitely been to get multiple crews on the road. As the owner, I make it out to every installation. But also as the owner, I am not needed at the job site 100% of the time. Now that we have multiple crews doing installations, we are able to be that much more productive.

What can you tell me about Viking Concrete Floors’ plans for growth?

We are in the process of setting up a second installation crew for the Baton Rouge area so that it won’t be my crew on every installation. We have an employee who has been working with us for about four years, and he will be leading an installation crew as of June 2019. Once that’s set up, we’ll be setting up a third one for the New Orleans area. We then plan to set up another for the eastern part of Texas, and the Lake Charles and Louisiana area. In 2020, we will be opening a branch in Tampa, Florida. Right now, the plan is that there will be four locations in Florida and three locations in Texas.

How does Viking Concrete Floors deliver exceptional customer satisfaction?

I am very particular with how our product turns out. If I’m not satisfied with how it looks when it’s finished, we redo it. When I’m done with the job, I want to be able to call that customer back at any point in the future because I have a potential customer in the same general area that would like to look at one of my installations. I want to be able to call that former customer and ask if the prospective customer can come by and see what we were able to do for their home. That’s the way we want every installation to be. The quality of the end product is the most important thing for us – period.

What are the most important personal satisfactions as an entrepreneur?

At the end of the day, knowing that the job was done right. That’s my personal satisfaction.

Can you tell us what sets Viking Concrete Floors apart from other local flooring companies?

I would say that what sets us apart from other flooring companies is the amount of experience. We’re around 2 million square feet of epoxy installations, and I don’t know of any other company that is remotely close to that. If you can imagine all of the hundreds of things that could go wrong with what we do, we know we’ve experienced all of them so we know how to fix them.  In fact, our manufacturer will sometimes run into problems and call us trying to figure out solutions.

How is the industry affected by the economy?

It’s just like any other industry. When the economy is down, people don’t have money to spend on flooring. We don’t sell a product that somebody has to have. However, when the economy is up, that’s when people have extra money to spend on redoing their floors.

What is the ideal experience for a customer/client?

Number one, the contracting industry as a whole has a terrible reputation for not showing up on time at taking way longer than they were supposed to. So, we pride ourselves on being the exact opposite. We have never had to delay a start date since the day we started. We’ve never had to call a client and tell them we can’t start on the day we agreed on because we’re still finishing up our other project.

Number two, we almost always finish earlier than expected so that we can exceed client expectations. For example, we usually budget three days for an installation, and if we’re able to get it done by the second day then the customer is always pleased.

Can you share some career advice to others?

For someone looking to get into the flooring industry, you have to be physically fit. You will need a high pain tolerance and be willing to work very long hours.

As far as starting a flooring company, make sure you have savings ready so you can afford to purchase all of the right tools and equipment. We see it often with new companies, where they’re here today and gone tomorrow because we’re the ones called to repair the work that wasn’t done correctly. We see it almost every week, and it’s always because they didn’t have the right equipment or knowledge to do it. So, number one, you need to have a good deal of experience, preferably as an employee first instead of going into it blind. Number two, you  need to have the money to invest in the company.

And last but not least, regardless of what your career is, invest for your future. For more information, visit Viking Concrete Floors’ Facebook page.