“Someday.”
“Yup, that’s what he would say every time to me and Mike would bring it up,” David Contraguerro recalled. ‘”Someday.’ ‘Someday.’ ‘Someday.’ We heard it a lot because we brought it up a lot.”
That’s what Michael Sr., founder of the Carpet Showcase once located at the corner of 35th and Jacob Street in South Wheeling, would utter each time when the boys would mention their expansion plan for the family business.
“That conversation took more than just one day. I think it was more of a 10-year talk,” Mike Jr. said. “It was a process; that’s for sure, but no matter what, he always would end those conversations with, ‘Someday.’ And ‘someday’ is always a day, right? So, with that mentality, we knew it would come … someday.”
“I just think he wanted us to stay focused on the task at hand because he knew expansion was inevitable when we got to be old enough,” David recalled. “Before we built the Flooring Center building, everything we had was scattered throughout a few blocks in South Wheeling. That’s why, when it was time to go to the bank, he was on board and ready for the change. He knew it was necessary, and he was ready when the time came. Plus, he really didn’t have a choice.”
He consults from time to time, Michael Sr. does, and he visits the new showroom so he can stay up to date with the flooring industry.
“Our father put his time in as far as the business is concerned, so he can do whatever he wants,” David said. “He started when he was 22, years ago, and there were days when he would be in the showroom most of the day, and then he would go to a bunch of homes to size up jobs and offer estimates. Those nights he wouldn’t get home until 9 p.m.
“He’s still very much part of the business, too, because we bounce ideas off of him, and we call him in to consult from time to time,” he said. “He still is the master for sure.”
Wall to Wall
Carpet once depicted luxury because it provided comfort; and if it was plush?
Big bucks.
“Carpet may have been number one back in the day,” Mike Jr. said, “But that is really far from the case these days. Carpet is at the bottom these days.”
The flooring industry has experienced constant change since the 1960s with new materials like vinyl, linoleum, and laminate hardwood. These days, though?
“The most popular piece of flooring today is the waterproof, snap-and-lock, plank,” David said. “Hands down. It’s a hard surface that is designed to look like wood or tile, but it’s a plastic material that is basically indestructible. Again, hands down, we sell that product much more than any other.
“Hardwood has lost all of its popularity, and carpet and tile are way down the list, too,” he said. “There are so many other products that have replaced the others, the traditional ones that our father grew up with, because of the new plastics the industry has come out with over the last decade. Plus, people don’t want to mess with as much maintenance as they used to. Now, they just want to look at it, and that’s it.”
The Flooring Center measures 10,000 square feet so the current diversity in flooring materials can be under one roof, but also so the company’s additional available services can be highlighted.
“I guess we had the ‘go big or go home’ mentality when we designed it,” joked Mike Jr. “In all seriousness, a lot of the materials we handle are pretty big, and, in all honesty, we’ve run out of room in the place, and we’re planning to add on to it in the near future. We have included so much in our showroom for our customers and it’s really something they have enjoyed.
“To make room for the entire building and to make room for the expansion, we have purchased a total of seven parcels,” he said. “And since we expanded, we’re now doing a lot of national work and a lot of work in Pittsburgh these days. We are growing, and that’s why we have had to look at expansion.”
Home Sweet Home
Two things happen six days per week.
8 a.m. – Crews load up for the day’s work.
9 a.m. – The showroom’s doors are opened.
Beyond that, David said, it’s anyone’s guess.
“There is no such thing as a ‘common day’ when it comes to what we do because there are so many ups and downs in this business,” he explained. “We do get there around 8 a.m. every morning, and that’s when our guys start coming in so we get all of the jobs together and then send them out. From there, anything could happen. That may sound like a negative, but it’s not. It’s just the flooring business.
“The showroom usually is really busy from the moment we open until the moment we close,” David said. “Since we’re had the new location, we’ve been much more visible than before, and it’s really worked out very well. We are very pleased.”
Another reason the job changes on a daily basis is that the customers do.
“It’s a pretty cool business because it allows you to constantly meet new people because there are always new projects,” Mike Jr. said. “We still do a lot of residential work, but the amount of commercial business has really grown since we moved into the new building. We are able to have more product on hand, and when that’s the case, it makes the decision easier for the people with the projects they want to be done as soon as possible.
“But the residential jobs are really important to us because we know how important they are to the customer,” he insisted. “It’s about where they live, and we understand that completely.”
