In our straw poles with dealers across the country carpet still comes in as the floor covering of choice, despite the growth and popularity of hard surfaces.

Carpet is also an excellent value for rental property and for installation in a home being groomed to sell.

Wood is beginning to make a stronger showing in the commercial market but, by its nature, wood lends itself to use in specific areas. Laminate, on the other hand, is showing up more in commercial- small areas like break rooms.

In residential, hard surface has made great strides. Residentially, hard surface still owns most of the main floor- kitchens, family rooms, bathrooms and so on. Carpet is still the product of choice for bedrooms.

As a result of the growth of hard surfaces, area rugs have grown with them, as most consumers who buy hard surface flooring buy rugs. If you don't sell area rugs you're missing the boat on additional sales and profits.

The builder market is still in shambles but residential remodeling does exists. The longer people sit home, curb their activities and save money the more attractive sprucing up their house looks.

On average, residential carpet sales are still off from 10% to 30%. Commercial sales are now following suit with many seeing downturns around 20%. There are still pockets of demand but prices are being negotiated more intently.

Carpet tile is still strong with some mills seeing very little slowdown. Increases are coming from cannibalized broadloom sales in markets such as hospitality. Modular carpet is the industry's most engineered product typically delivering the highest performance. It installs quickly and normally doesn't create problems. It has become highly stylized, allowing for a great deal of creativity.

The smaller the marketing area the better business is. Nearly every small town retailer I have spoken with is doing well- some are even with last year; some are actually ahead. If the builder market was not upside down in these places and industry was not badly affected, business is still good. This fact is true coast to coast.

My feeling is with consumers saving upwards of 5% of their income and businesses not spending along with banks not lending, we may be looking at a water balloon starting to leak. When it does, we'll see a "cautious" demand to catch up on projects put on hold.

As for claims, we are seeing an increase in commercial with mills denying there is ever a problem with their products. Now is the time to stay educated, and few retailers are taking advantage of the various sources available.

There are a multitude of product innovations coming- from high performance fibers to technologically advanced and greener backings to extraordinary installations systems. Carpet is changing dramatically and you'll have to keep up with it.

Now is also the time for your service to shine. The more inviting your store, the more you care about your customer and the higher the degree of service you deliver overall will be a big advantage. Times will never be the same and change is occurring as we speak but there are be opportunities for those who seek and see them.

A staggering statistic you may never had thought but can feel good about is, every single home and building in existence needs the products you sell.

I want to dedicate this column to Carl Williams, who many of you may have known. I considered Carl a good friend. He trained the majority of industry inspectors, prolifically published books that will be a resource for years to come and dedicated his life's work to the flooring industry.