“In the winter times it’s too cold to cut tile, as most of our jobs here are remodels, so we cut everything outside,” says the owner of Elite Floors.
A tile saw runs on water. When the temperature drops, that water freezes, and the saw stops being any use. For a crew that does its cutting outdoors, cold weather used to mean the work dried up.
That was a real problem for a company built on tile. “All of my guys specialize in tile installation,” he says. “That’s our bread and butter.”
The fix had nothing to do with the saw. “We kind of started taking on remodels to have work in the winter,” he says. Indoor work kept the crew busy when it was too cold to cut tile, and the remodels never went away. “And now we’re basically doing just remodels full time.”
The owner has been setting tile since he was about 12 years old, working alongside his brother in Seattle. He has run the work under different business names over the years. By his recollection, Elite Floors opened in 2021, though he allows he may not have the date exactly right.
It is his business, with no partners. About 10 people work for him, some on the payroll and some subcontractors who work only for Elite Floors. The crew also works for a lot of big construction companies.
He does not describe a training program. He describes a standard and hires around it. “Say you’re going to do something, do it,” he says. As for the crew: “We just pick people that were raised that way.”
The company’s site now puts kitchen, bathroom and whole-house remodels alongside the flooring and tile, with work in and around Lexington, including Nicholasville, Georgetown, Richmond and Versailles.
He has no grand plan for where the company goes next. “We do it well,” he says. “So that’s what we’ll do.” The tile still gets cut outside.