Start a Flake Floor Business

(Disclaimer: I am assuming that if you are reading this, you already have some working knowledge of working with concrete or flooring installations, and are ready to take on the responsibilities that come along with owning your own company. If that describes you, read on!)

1. Learn State Guidelines

Make a few phone calls to find out if concrete companies in your state are required to be licensed and bonded. Comply with your state’s guidelines.

2. Start Your Business Right

Visit the Small Business Administration Website where they walk you through the beginning steps essential to starting a new business. https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/10-stepsstart-your-business. Pay attention to each step and don’t skip any.

3. Look into Insurance

Make sure you carry adequate liability insurance. Sometimes, mistakes happen. Having liability insurance gives you the peace of mind of knowing that a single mistake won’t put you out of business.

4. Surround yourself with professionals.

Stay in your lane. In other words, if you aren’t a bookkeeper, don’t try to manage your financials all by yourself. Especially around tax time, you will be very happy that you had the forethought to set your business up with a bookkeeper you can trust. The same applies to web design and marketing professionals. (See #5)

5. Decide on a name, have a logo designed, and print business cards.

Set up your Social Media (Facebook & Instagram at a minimum) and make sure you have at least a simple website. First thing someone will do when they hear about your company is go look you up online. They are gong to expect to find a Facebook Business Page and an easily navigated website. We recommend Aaron Brown of Malama Online Marketing for your online presence needs. https://www.webmalama.com. Aaron and his team can help you with logo design, creating your website and managing your SEO to optimize the chances that your customers can find you easily online.

6. Locate your vendors.

You will need equipment to go with your Industry Coatings materials. Make sure you choose vendors who will help you answer questions and give you guidance and a great price. Don’t buy at first. Start by renting what you need. It will save you money that you will need initially for other things. But set a goal for how you will begin to acquire your own equipment and in what order. (As you do your jobs, you will quickly learn which equipment is most important to own and in what order.). As you take each job, set aside a previously-determined amount out of that job to go into a savings account. This will be how you acquire your equipment, one piece at a time.

7. Complete at least one training with Industry Coatings.

You can travel to one of our classes on the beautiful Gulf Coast of Alabama or you can arrange for Jim to travel to you and have him work with you on an actual job that you have lined up.

8. Make sure you have what it takes to do the actual physical labor:

1. Be Humble Enough to Learn What You Don’t Know and Ask Questions
2. Be willing to sweat. If you live in any warm climate, be willing to sweat ALOT.
3. Be willing to do physical work in a variety of conditions (heat or cold, rain or shine)
4. It is manual labor. Be ok with that. Even if you plan to hire employees, it is critically important to you, as the owner, know how to do each and every step of the job. It will help you in training new employees, but it will also earn you the respect of the people you hire. And in a pinch, if someone calls in sick, you can pony up and fill in and still finish the job on time.
5. You need to be in generally good health and in adequate physical condition. You need to be able to easily lift 50 – 100 pounds on a daily basis.
6. You must have good Attention to Detail and be able to FINISH STRONG. (This means, go back to every job, clean up – even outside of the work area where stray chips might have fallen, doublecheck every element of the job and correct any errors before you turn it back over to the owner.)
7. To reiterate, FIX all errors and mistakes. If you get paint on a wall, take responsibility for it, tell the owner, and then Fix it! Your word of mouth reputation will be your single most important asset. Always take responsibility for anything that doesn’t go as planned and your honesty and transparency will be rewarded by the trust your clients put in you. People refer their friends to people that they trust and that did a good job.
8. Be able to supervise other people. A typical garage takes two people to complete. This is a business where you will need at least one employee that you can trust. If you go after larger, commercial jobs, you will need multiple workers. A 20,000 sq ft job can be completed by 5-6 people (and understand they will ALL sleep well every night during that job).
9. You must be Organized. Be able to keep up with your materials (Especially with your ordering – Let us help you with that! Juggling multiple jobs at multiple sites, and planning ahead for the future.)
10. Be comfortable Networking! In today’s age, it still matters who you know. If you are interested in pursuing landing a job doing every garage floor in a new subdivision, you have got to get to know the builders in your area. You never know where your next referral will come from. So, be yourself (and on your best behavior) everywhere you go. And make sure that friends, family, and work acquaintances know what you do for a living. Don’t hide your talents!
11. Be Flexible! The weather does not care about your work schedule. Make sure you set adequate expectations with your clients so that they know and are patient with potential delays that are out of your control.
12. When you are Ready, GET STARTED! You may need to give a deep discount on your first couple of jobs (or trade services or do your brother-in-law’s garage) until you have a few great looking gallery pictures to show other potential clients. But, after the first couple, it’s full price time. Be comfortable charging people for your work. Contracts in this kind of business will be your friend (talk to your attorney to help you set up your specific contracts). It will be particularly important that you have clients sign off on changes to the original job and also sign off on the completed job as acceptable.