What Makes Al Havner & Sons Hardwood Flooring Stand Out
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About Al Havner & Sons Hardwood Flooring
We’ve been in the building industry for thirty-one years, and our specialty lies in borders, medallions, inlays, herringbone, dark stain colors, hand scraping floors, not the machine bought stuff but the real deal.
We have worked in some of the most splendid stately homes around Metro Detroit area, our largest being a mansion on Pine Lake that was 32,000 square feet. Some notable names we have worked for include Edsel Ford II and the Taubmans.
Our geographic area of operation is very different from most other hardwood companies. We are based in Michigan but have been called to do jobs in as far away as Texas and Tennessee. We have also completed a few projects in Bay Harbor in Northern Mi, Traverse City, Harbor Springs, and other areas. Our motto has always been no job is too far if the money and fishing are excellent.
Right now our company is in a state of growth not only in size but in the techniques we use to refinish your floors. When it comes to equipment, our founder’s son Justin is always buying the latest topnotch sanding tools. We are now at the point where we can't think of any way we could get floors any flatter and smoother, but if they come out with a new method, Justin will learn it.
The Al Havner & Sons Hardwood Flooring Difference
Our client base consists mainly of young couples buying their first home, and often they invest in small bungalows in some of the hipper neighborhoods. These are our bread and butter jobs which keep the flow of our business constant.
What sets us apart from the rest of our competitors would be that we offer our customers some of the most experienced flooring mechanics in the area who will be using the best materials the industry has to offer. One of the main pillars of our company is Justin who is an incredibly talented floor man. Justin’s forte lies in his attention to detail and his love of the craft.
As a company, our primary strengths are our punctuality and the fact that our word is like gold. We also never turn down a job that we know is going to be a rough one that all others have turned down.
Throughout the years in this field, we have always put ourselves in our customers’ shoes and asked: “why would they hire us?” Our answer is always the same: we want the highest quality wood available, the best floor finishes on our floor and want clean, neat, sober men working in our homes. We would want to hire someone who will treat us and our house with respect, and do the job they promised. All of this is especially hard to find in a hardwood flooring contractor nowadays.
One of our most significant achievements has been restoring the Col. Frank J. Hecker House at 5510 Woodward Ave in Detroit, designed by architect Louis Kamper who also designed the Book-Cadillac Hotel, the Book Tower, Broderick Tower and the Water Board Building.
When we took on the job, the marquetry work in the floors was astounding, but the floor was in shambles, as was the rest of the building. We were tasked with repairing all this fancy marquetry work. It took quite a while to find the right materials and duplicate the work of these old-world craftsmen, but we did it, and it looked as elegant as it did the day they finished it in 1892. People from the older generations might remember the building as being the Smiley Brothers piano building, which is now the office for the Law Firm of Charfoos & Christensen, P.C.
All our hard work over the years paid off when we won the National Wood Flooring Association’s Wood Floor of the Year contest. We won Floor of the Year in two different categories the same year. The Floor of the Year is like the Superbowl for hardwood contractors.
Our dream for the future of Al Havner & Sons Hardwood Flooring is to remain on top of our game and to be able to serve the Metro Detroit area with an honest day’s work at affordable rates. We also want to open another branch of Al Havner & Sons Hardwood Flooring in the Greater Knoxville Tennessee area.
The one thing that breaks our heart is when we are called in to tear out hardwood, only to replace it with an exotic wood that came from a rainforest. Thankfully this is not as popular as it was in the 90’s. These days, the consumer is more aware of the rainforest problems and is easily swayed by us when they ask for one of the products from those regions. We merely let them know that they can save a tree in the rainforest if they use a domestic hardwood that is exceedingly sustainable.
For all that we have received over the years, we believe we must give back to society. However, after hearing stories over the years about how some organizations pay their leaders crazy sums of money and next to nothing gets to the people who need it our founder Al Havner decided to do charitable things on his own where he knew 100% of his money would be used on those in need.
He single-handedly spent an entire winter taking care of a large group of homeless in a giant circus tent, fed them every night, went door to door in his neighborhood asking for warm clothes. He kept the heaters full of fuel and made sure that they had their basic needs covered. They invited him to spend the night to see what it was like and he agreed even though he already had a fair idea of what it would be like in the tent. It just happened to be a record-setting cold night, and he was forced to leave.
Back when Al started, he swore to himself that if his business ever did well, no one would go hungry or be cold if he could help it because he has experienced it. Al's generosity remains at the heart of our company.
At Al Havner & Sons Hardwood Flooring, we also take great pride in the fact that many young men have been trained by us to perfect the craft of flooring have used us a stepping stone to become exceptionally successful competition. We have always welcomed competition that has come from within, knowing that they learned all the ins and outs of the industry from us. We are never upset because someone wanted to branch off on their own, in most cases, we would go the extra step and send jobs their way or loan them equipment if needed.
To learn more about all that we do at Al Havner & Sons Hardwood Flooring, please click here. If you have any questions about how we can help you, we’d love to hear from you. Please contact us here.