Where The Deals Are In 2024
When I was asked to write this blog I read the topic “discounted hardwood in 2024” and my eye immediately caught the 2024 part!
There is an old Chinese curse that says “May you live in interesting times.” From a money standpoint, this may be the most “interesting” time of our generation. Costs are up, availability is down, quality is fleeting, sentiment is….well….you know.
But hasn’t this been applicable before? Back in the 80s we experienced all of this and more. I have always felt like any change is an opportunity, and this economy is no different.
Discount Flooring Isn’t A Mystery To Us
At ReallyCheapFloors.com we are flexible. Always looking for a deal, we sometimes may have half of our warehouses filled with inventory from manufacturers that we have never dealt with. Just yesterday I received news that a major flooring supplier here in the US has sold all of their assets to a company that we do a great deal of business with. The supplier has been in bankruptcy and the court decided to start selling stuff. While I hate it for the owners, investors, and employees of the bankrupt company, it is opportunities like this that have made us one of the leading liquidators of flooring in the United States.
I write about this to set up my 3 Reasons to shop discounted hardwood in 2024.
- Save money!
- Better Quality
- Instant Availability
- And a bonus, Save more money!
Save Money With Hardwood Flooring Deals
Saving money is always a target, at least it is for me. But I haven’t always been that way. Back in 2009 when the bottom fell out of the market we just had a small local flooring business.. It was full service, and the recession hit us hard. I lost everything material that I had and was forced to start over. What a blessing that was! Not only was it a great opportunity to make some necessary changes to my priority list but it allowed me to start ReallyCheapFloors.com. I had found that there were lots and lots of people that would now be willing to put a lower quality hardwood floor in their house. Or use a color that they hadn’t considered due to it being half-price.
As true liquidators, we seldom select the floors that we want so you can shop for discount hardwood in 2024. What we do is work with our suppliers, all manufacturers with facilities in the United States, and help them move whatever they need rid of. Let me see if I can do a better job explaining that.
Do you know that when a butcher buys a cow he pays the same price for all of it? Prime rib, roasts, ground beef….it all costs the same. But of course, he doesn’t sell all of it at the same price. Nope. He sells the assorted cuts based on supply and demand. Certainly, he will lose money on the ground beef but he counts on the steaks to cover the difference.
Lumber and hardwood flooring work much the same way. My suppliers all buy their lumber in the form of a tree, so they have a mix similar to the butcher, just different.
We are all familiar with the different cuts that the butcher offers, and many of us are choosing to grill sirloins instead of ribeyes right now. They may not be quite as tender or flavorful, but at the end of the meal, our tummy is just as full!
There are several attributes that affect the value and marketability of lumber but we will focus on the criteria used for hardwood flooring. The 3 most common are width, species and grade.
Grades & Widths – Features Of Discount Hardwood in 2024
Let’s talk about a floor’s grade first, and how the flooring is graded. Color and board length are very important to the grading process. Natural defects also factor into grading such as season checks, worm holes, and knots.
Many years ago the vast majority of flooring was sold in a Natural finish. Sometimes we would sell a floor as dark as Gunstock but almost never anything any darker. Many boards come with dark coloring due to heartwood or mineral content., so these boards were downgraded to Cabin grade. For the last several years the really dark stained floors have been popular so the manufacturers were able to turn those boards that were previously a lower grade into a more expensive product. The natural defects should not affect the functionality of the finished floor as any boards that are not useable should be thrown away during the grading process. But remember not to confuse functionality with perfection. All floors regardless of grade or manufacturer can contain a few unusable boards.
Board length is another important grading criterion. The higher grades of floors will have a longer average board length. That is because part of the grading process is removing, or cutting, any characteristics that lower the grade. For instance, if the grader sees a 10-foot-long board with a small knot right in the middle he will cut the board into 3 pieces. Two of the boards will be 54 inches long and be included in the higher grade while the shorter board will go into the Cabin box. Keep in mind that both grades came from the same tree, received the same milling, and were finished with the exact same aluminum oxide finish. Yet, depending on the width, the higher grade may sell for $8-10 sq ft while we sell the cabin grade for under $3.
The Cabin Grade Secret
Why do more dealers not offer the Cabin grade? Because there is very little of it. Cabin grade typically makes up less than 3% of production.
Width also contributes to the cost of a floor. Wider boards are worth more than skinny boards. Why? Because it is more difficult to get a wide board with high grading than it is to get a thinner board. We can cut out a defect and change the length of a board with no reduction in value, but it is not possible to put different widths in a box!
The manufacturer that gets the highest grade of wood out of a tree makes the most money. Our largest supplier, Somerset Hardwood Flooring, is known for having the highest quality floors in the industry. We are proud to partner with them. The downside (to them) of their high quality is the larger amount of flooring they grade out and toss into our cabin grade. Yay for us and our customers!
So now you are wondering how we can sell Cabin grade AND offer higher quality? Well, we don’t. What I meant was that we also offer floors besides Cabin grade. Occasionally our suppliers will discontinue a floor. Or get too much of something. Or even have a minor defect in the manufacturing process like gloss level. Can you believe that when a batch has a color or gloss difference from the master sample that it gets downgraded and sent to…..us! All of our partners send us overstocks, seconds, and discontinued goods that allow us to offer great value on higher-end floors.
Another problem that many shoppers are experiencing right now is availability. With the exception of some of our first quality offerings, most of our inventory is ready to ship as soon as you buy it. In many cases, your pallet of hardwood flooring will go out the same day! Why not? We have it. You need it. Let us get your discounted flooring in 2024 and not worry about supply chain problems!
Species is another option that can have an effect on the price of hardwood flooring. For instance, Hickory is typically the most expensive domestic species in wood flooring. But not right now!
We just made a great deal with our partners at Bruce Hardwood flooring to take a huge amount of 2 1/4" strip and 3 1/4" plank from their warehouses each month. With this special program we are able to offer the plank in 2 colors, Natural and the darker Prairie for only $2.99 square foot. That is the beast deal on a first quality solid hardwood floor in the USA. And we have it in the more desirable Hickory. The 2 1/4 strip is an even better buy at $2.49 sq ft.
How Does One Stay Under Budget & Save Money?
And lastly, for the bonus round, Saving Money again!
I know what it is like to build or remodel a house. Budgeting and staying the budget are a beast. With prices going up like they are, and so many products not being available, a budget is more a wish list than a set of rules. Now, more than ever, we should all be flexible and responsible. Consider shopping at ReallyCheapFloors for your prefinished hardwood and Luxury Vinyl Plank flooring purchases. Our salespeople have all been with us for a very long time, and are very familiar with what is in our boxes. And they know how to represent that to you. If you live within a day’s drive of our warehouses, come over and see what we have. Let us save you a pile of money. Because the chances are you need that money for something else!
