This blog is a summary and partial transcript of our video where we take you through a typical day at our Nashville location with store manager Jeremi Gill.
At Real Wood Floors we make great efforts to customize our services for every customer type. We know each of our clients are unique and have individual needs. For designers, we make sure to have product current in trend. For builders, real estate investors, and homeowners we’re always providing high value floor products , quick delivery, responsive customer service and more, with our aim for every customer to completely love their floor, from selecting the color to moving in.
In the video we highlight a typical day in Nashville where manager Jeremi Gill meets with designers, a builder, a real estate investor, and a couple who recently built a home.
The day begins at the showroom with manager Jeremi Gill.
JEREMI: “We believe everyone should love where they live.”
Jeremi began working with RWF in 2018 and is now the manager of the Nashville showroom and the middle Tennessee market.
Jeremi hops onto his computer and takes a look at his calendar which includes a full day, beginning with a design team meeting.
JEREMI: “We understand that designers work with a lot of clients on numerous jobs at the same time. We prioritize staying on trend while at the same time we always have timeless and classic collections that have been selling well for decades.”
Meeting with Modern Remains, a Nashville design group.
Jeremi’s first meeting is with the design firm, Modern Remains, comprised of Lauren Moore, Betsy Trabue, and Evan Millard.
LAUREN: “Within Modern Remains, all three of us are very different. We have different personal aesthetics, but at the end of the day, we are client-focused and able to figure out the right questions to ask to understand what will make this project different and then come together in a collaborative way.”
BETSY: “Wood flooring and architectural materials are one reason why a lot of clients come to us. They know our aesthetic is more architectural. We take great pride in selecting the perfect surfaces and designs and putting a lot of thought and effort into what we come up with for them. There is really no limit to what you can do with beautiful wood flooring.”
EVAN: “Wood flooring helps to set a tone for a space. It’s often a building block for design. Working with Real Wood Floors has been a really great experience. Vendor relationships are a key component to a successful project, and Real Wood Floors excels, beside product knowledge, they also really excel in communication. When I’ve reached out to someone in the Nashville market with a specific question, they always come back with more of a global perspective. It’s great to see all of the customization options whether it be for treads and risers or air vents; it’s a one-stop shop for projects.”
Builder, Daryl Walney, talks about the draw of engineered floors in the Nashville market.
Later that morning, Jeremi meets with Daryl Walny, a partner at Carbine & Associates, a Nashville custom home builder. Carbine & Associates builds 25-30 homes a year with prices ranging from $800,000 to $1.5 million. Walny remarks that it’s currently challenging to be a custom home builder in Nashville because of the huge demand for homes, given the tremendous uptick in the city’s growth in the last five years.
About ten years ago, Carbine & Associates was unsatisfied with their wood flooring manufacturer. They often experienced product problems after installation which led to warranty issues and general frustrations for everyone involved. Carbine & Associates knew they couldn’t continue to put flooring in a home and stand behind the product, so they started looking for alternatives to traditional sand-and-finish floors. Through that search, they discovered Real Wood Floors.
DARYL: “When I bring homeowners into the room to show them the Real Wood Floors’ [engineered-flooring] samples, not one of them has walked out and said they wanted sand-and-finished flooring anymore. We deal with a lot of suppliers and a lot of contractors, and I don’t know of anyone out there that we have the relationship with that we have with Real Wood. When you have reps that call you back, get you samples, get the information you need—it makes a tremendous difference.”
Carbine & Associates has to stay ahead of design trends, so in turn the flooring company has to be forward thinking and offer products that both designers and clients will love. And that’s what he feels like they get from Real Wood Floors.
DARYL: “We have a product line we can offer to our very low end and to our very high end clientele with one company. One of the parts of Real Wood Floors I love is their missions they are in. To take the time to give back to the communities they are working in, and their adoption program helping school kids [in Asia] building playgrounds—to me, that’s what life is all about.”
For restoration projects, customers get a quick turnaround on flooring.
JEREMI: “We frequently get calls from restoration companies, where their customers need to come in and pick out a floor immediately. Often, some kind of damage happened at their house, and they are out of their normal living situation until their floors can get fixed. In some cases, we’ve had customers come in on Monday, and by Friday the floors have been installed and their house was back to normal. When those customers come in, to help them make a quick decision on those floors, we are always happy to send them home with big or little sample boards that they can put down at their house and see how the samples look under their own lighting.”
An advantage at the Nashville store and other Real Wood showrooms is the ability for staff to look up flooring inventory and immediately relate those details to customers. They can know within minutes if the flooring they want is in stock and when it can be delivered, so their lives can get back to normal.
JEREMI: “We know that for restoration jobs, the company is working on a fixed budget. We have great products that you can plug in at every price point.”
Real estate investor, Courtney McCoy, uses our engineered flooring and praises a fast timeline with Real Wood.
Courtney McCoy, of Forward Motion Properties, has worked in Nashville since 2016. He has always wanted to put nice floors in the houses he’s purchased but wasn’t sure at first if his budget could afford it. He looked at Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Lumber Liquidators until finally he talked to Real Wood Floors, and knew he could work within the price points he was given.
In addition to pricing options, Courtney has been impressed with Jeremi and the Nashville team who have gone the extra mile.
COURTNEY: “We needed some glue for the floors in a basement, and Jeremi brought the glue to the facility. And that was amazing. I wasn’t expecting that at all. Same with the individual’s product knowledge—knowing where I should use the floor, or don’t put it in here because of moisture. And when you think overall about the project, I can’t have my hands in on everything. I know I’m not an expert in floors. Having a team of people who are experts makes my life easier.”
Courtney talks about the Nashville market.
COURTNEY: “When you move into the $350,000 to $400,000 price range for houses, you don’t want to put laminate floors in a property like that. We have to think about, as investors, will a better product bring higher value? And in this case, it does. If I try to sell a $400,000 house with laminate floors or LVP (luxury vinyl plank), I probably won’t get 400,000 for it. But if I put in a really nice, engineered wood product or a really nice solid wood product, I’m going to get that 400,000.”
In the real estate business, things move fast.
COURTNEY: “You have this timeline like I want to get this house done in ninety days. In working with Real Wood Floors, Jeremi lets me know—this product is going to take one week to arrive in the warehouse or it could take four or five days, or maybe we already have some somewhere, and we can get it to you in a couple of days.”
For Courtney to know that upfront allows him to plan a timeline and also not be stressed about its delivery.
The Ferguson family falls in love with our floors and our mission while visiting a home show in Nashville.
Jeremi’s final meeting of the day is with Curt and Meagan Ferguson who own a three-level home outside of Nashville. Before the house design was finished, they attended a home show to get some ideas. They knew they wanted a farmhouse style to be theirs forever home with hardwood floors. As they toured the home show, one of their last stops was flooring, where they discovered Real Wood Floors and talked with a representative.
MEAGAN: “We loved the floors, we loved the product, and loved the story of the company. So as we went back and did more research on the company and looked at the floors more, it was probably the first set decision we made in the whole building process. We knew that whatever we did, that was going to be something that was going to be in our house. When we found out more about the mission, it ignited that flame even more we knew we wanted these floors in our home because we wanted to support this company. It wasn’t just flooring anymore; it was a bigger purpose of the global impact they were making. And they weren’t just talking about it; they were actually going overseas to other countries and helping children. It really struck a chord with us that not only were we getting a great product but we were supporting a great company.”
The day is complete, it’s good to remember Real Wood Floor’s true mission and purpose.
JEREMI: “At the end of a long day, it’s good to remember why it is we’re doing what we’re doing —the purpose why Real Wood Floors exists, why the employees get up and do what we do every single day. That is to fund adoptions and work towards a world or a day every kid has a home.”
Please visit our website to learn more about our collections or about our mission to find every child a home.