Is LVP Replacing Hardwood? Why Recoat Demand Is Still There

Yes, most new floors are LVP

People ask this on a lot of calls: aren't they putting LVP in everything now? They are right. Most new flooring sold right now is LVP, and a lot of new construction uses it to keep costs down.

Asking about demand is the right instinct. Whether there is enough work near you is the most important thing to check before you pick any business model.

But a recoat business does not depend on new floor sales. It is built around wood: the wood floors that already exist in millions of homes, plus the nicer new homes that still put in hardwood. LVP going into a new subdivision does not take a single existing wood floor away. And LVP can be a job too: the finish FloorIt uses goes on LVP after a light scuff, one coat, with a test spot first. That works well for rentals at turnover.

The wood floors already out there

A National Wood Flooring Association consumer study found about 52% of U.S. homeowners say they have wood floors. That is about 45 million homes.

Every one of those floors wears down where people live. People walk the same path down the hall, through the kitchen and across the living room. Rugs shift, chairs slide, dogs run. Over time the top coat wears through in those lanes and the floor starts to look dull and patchy.

If you assume a floor gets a fresh coat about once every 3 to 5 years, that works out to about 9 to 15 million homes due for a recoat each year. The video shows its sources on screen, so you can check them.

Older homes, and wood hiding under carpet

Homes keep getting older too. About half of American homes were built before 1980, and many of those still have hardwood. That gives you a large group of older homes that need exactly this kind of service.

Some of that wood is hiding under carpet. A lot of homeowners pull up old carpet, find a wood floor underneath, decide they cannot do anything with it, and put carpet or a big rug right back down. A flooring contractor told FloorIt he had covered up hundreds of perfectly good wood floors that only needed to be brought back to life.

If you clean carpets, move furniture or work inside homes in any way, you have probably seen this yourself. Every one of those floors is a possible job.

Hardwood lives in the nicer homes

Hardwood usually goes into higher-end homes. LVP is often the choice when a builder is trying to keep costs low. That means hardwood owners tend to be people who paid more for their floors and want to protect what they paid for.

About 79% of homeowners and investors say wood adds value to a home. People getting ready to sell also want the floors fixed, because nobody wants to list a home with a big, blotchy worn spot in the middle of the living room. Investors and flippers want the same.

For a recoat business, that is a good group of customers to work with. They care about how the home looks, they understand that wood is worth looking after, and they are already used to paying for quality.

Most homeowners have never heard of a recoat

When a wood floor looks bad, most homeowners think of two fixes. Option A is replace it, which is for more severe cases. Option B is sand it down and refinish it. A recoat is option C: cheaper, faster and lighter, with a result that looks close to new. Most people do not know it exists.

That gap is the opening. FloorIt's ads show homeowners near you that the third option is there. One ad in the video opens with "Stop overpaying to refinish your hardwood floors," then explains that most floors do not need sanding, because the wood is fine and only the top coat is worn out.

That simple message is why the ads bring in leads. Homeowners, investors and sellers all want the floor to look good again. Most of them have only ever been told they have to sand it.

• Recoat vs. refinish: which a floor needs

Run the numbers for your city

• Divide the population by about 2.5 people per home: about 80,000 households
• About 65% own their home, or use your state's rate: about 52,000 owned homes
• About 52% have wood floors: about 27,000 homes with wood
• Divide by 4, assuming each floor gets a fresh coat about once every 4 years: about 6,800 homes due each year

You can do the math before your call. Here is the example from the video, a city of 200,000 people. Each number can change by city. A city full of apartment buildings, like parts of New York, will have a different wood floor rate than a city of houses like Dallas.

• How to read the demand calculator

What those numbers mean for you

About 6,800 homes a year in a city of 200,000 is a lot of floors. Your goal is not to win all of them. It is to bring a steady share of them into your customer base, month after month.

You can look up your own population and your state's ownership rate in a few minutes. Then ask how many of those homes you would need each month to hit your goal. For most people, it is a very small slice.

Floors that are not a recoat still count

Not every wood floor can be recoated. Deep gouges, pet or water stains and cupping boards need more than a fresh top coat. FloorIt teaches you to spot those yourself, starting from the photos the homeowner sends, so you do not have to rely on anyone else to make the call.

Those homeowners are still your customers. You can send the full sand and refinish to a subcontractor and still make money. Then you save them in your CRM, and when the floor comes due for a recoat a few years later, you are the one who calls.

This takes away one of the biggest worries people have: what if half the floors do not qualify? The ones that qualify become recoat jobs. The ones that do not become subcontracted jobs and future recoat customers.

Where your first jobs come from

If you already run a home service company, carpet cleaning, window cleaning, moving or something else, you have probably walked past a lot of hardwood. A quick cash play, a message to your old leads asking who has wood floors, is often the first source of jobs. Those jobs cost almost nothing to win.

If you are coming from a job instead, you do not need a customer list. Your first 50 leads come from ads FloorIt runs, aimed at homeowners who already have hardwood.

Either way, the honest answer to the LVP question is the one in the video: if there were no demand for hardwood recoats, FloorIt would not be in this business.

• Check the demand in your area

Common questions

Is LVP replacing hardwood floors? In new flooring sales, mostly yes. But about 45 million U.S. homes already have wood floors, and those floors still wear and still need a fresh coat. LVP can be recoated too, after a test spot.

How many homes have hardwood floors? About 52% of U.S. homeowners say they have wood floors in a National Wood Flooring Association study. That is about 45 million homes.

How do I estimate recoat demand in my city? Divide the population by 2.5 for households, multiply by your ownership rate, then by about 52% for homes with wood, then divide by 4, assuming a fresh coat about once every 4 years. A city of 200,000 works out to about 6,800 homes due a year.

What if a floor is too damaged for a recoat? You can send the sand and refinish to a subcontractor and still make money, then keep the homeowner in your CRM for a recoat later.