Atlanta—At press time, FCNews learned that The Home Depot has signed definitive agreements to purchase three of the industry’s largest flooring contractors as the retail giant begins its push into the new home construction market. “Our target is the $12 billion of flooring material and services annually consumed in new home construction,” said Jim Stoddart, division president of Home Depot Supply. Initially, Home Depot is purchasing Floors, Inc., Arvada Hard-wood Floor Co. and Floorworks for an undisclosed price. The principals of each contractor have agreed to stay on in their leadership roles following the transaction. Industry sources estimate their combined annual sales are between $150 and $200 million. When complete, the deals will make Home Depot the largest supplier of flooring to the residential construction market.

In terms of their respective markets, Floors, Inc., serves builders primarily in the Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. markets, but also is very active in the Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio; Louisville, Ky., and central New Jersey regions. Arvada serves Denver and other metropolitan areas of Colorado, while Floor-works handles Phoenix and other metropolitan areas of Arizona. All operate showrooms and coordinate the complete supply chain through finished product installation. All told, the companies have established “solid working relationships” with 17 of the top 20 home builders in the United States. “Each company is a leader in providing the turnkey flooring solutions top home builders are seeking,” Stoddart explained. “They each manage the complete new home flooring process, from helping the home builders’ customers make flooring design choices to scheduling and overseeing the installa tion of flooring for entire housing developments.

“This is a remarkable team of professionals who have built a solid business based upon customer service and support,” he added. “They have established a reputation for highly reliable, high quality services and we are delighted the leaders of all three companies will remain on board.” These include Al Shields and Brian Whitehead of Floors, Inc., Jack and Wendall Cook of Floorworks and Willie Northrop and Craig Schoepke of Arvada. In a combined statement read by Shields, the contractors said, “We are thrilled to be joining the Home Depot family. We believe it is the perfect partner to help us expand and improve our growing operations. Together, we have the potential to bring even higher levels of service and capabilities to our customer base.” Stoddart noted Home Depot plans to build upon the solid reputations the three contractors have built. To that end, Mark Fikse, currently Home Depot’s vice president of strategic business development, has been named president of the combined businesses. He will report to Stoddart. “These three companies will provide the foundation to support future growth,” Stoddart concluded.