The math, step by step
80,000
Homes
52,000
Owner-occupied
About 27,000
With wood floors
About 6,800
Come due each year
- 1
Count the homes
Divide the population by 2.5 people per home. 200,000 people is 80,000 homes
- 2
Keep the owners
Multiply by 60% to 70%. At 65%, that is 52,000 owner-occupied homes
- 3
Keep the wood floors
Multiply by 52% (NWFA). That is about 27,000 homes
- 4
Find who is due
Divide by 4, since we assume a floor gets a fresh coat about every 4 years. That is about 6,800 homes a year
We count owner-occupied homes because owners are the ones who pay to fix up their floors. The 52% figure comes from the National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA). We assume a floor gets a fresh coat about every 4 years. That is an assumption for this estimate, not advice to homeowners.
Run it for your town
Look up the population of your city and the towns around it. Divide by 2.5, multiply by 0.65, multiply by 0.52, and divide by 4. That is your rough number of homes a year whose wood floors come due.
Check the demand in your area with our demand tool. It is stricter than the quick math above, on purpose. It counts only owner-occupied homes from the U.S. Census for every ZIP code near you. It assumes only 35% of them have wood floors, then shows what those homes are worth at one $2,500 recoat each. It uses the lower wood floor figure on purpose, and that smaller count is the one we would rather you plan around.
What the number tells you, and what it does not
It's a ceiling, not a sales forecast. Not every home that is due will hire someone this year. Some owners will wait, some will pick a full refinish, and many have never heard of a recoat. Leads aren't sold jobs.
But you only need a small share. Two jobs a week is about 104 jobs a year. In a 200,000-person area, that's about 1.5% of the roughly 6,800 homes that come due each year. That is an example, not a promise.
Other things that shape demand
- Home values. Owners of higher-value homes tend to care more about their floors
- The age of the housing. Many older neighborhoods have wood floors
- How many people already offer recoats or refinishing near you
- How many homes sell each year, since sellers want floors ready to list
How FloorIt checks your area
Before your call, we look at your area: the number of owner-occupied homes, home values and the age of the housing. We take one partner per area, so if yours is open and the numbers work, it becomes yours alone.
If the demand isn't there, we'll tell you. A partner in an area that can't support the business doesn't do well, and that's bad for both of us.