By Reginald Tucker Dealers and distributors most familiar with BHW Floors (formerly Bamboo Hardwoods) remember a time in the not-too distant past when the company specialized in predominantly one category: bamboo flooring. Fast forward to today and the company has not only rebranded, but it has also expanded its product offering to reflect today’s trends in hard surface.
“At one time, everybody knew us as a bamboo company, but our product lines have evolved,” said Jason Grant, vice president. “Now we’re able to offer customers SPC products, waterproof SPC/wood hybrids and wide-plank hardwood.”
As a relatively new entrant in some of these highly competitive categories, BHW Floors focuses on developing products that stand out from the pack. As Grant explained: “With the hybrid products and wide-plank wood floors we’re doing some creative things like high-end-looking reactive stains. And in SPC we’re working on some tile products that have a unique grout line instead of the typical deep, painted bevel. These are some of the things that make us unique.”
Stocking distributors who carry BHW Floors’ full product offering can attest to the appeal of the expanded offering. Case in point is Austell, Ga.-based R.A. Siegel, a BHW Floors customer of nearly eight years. “Right now, we carry both their SPC lines (Sawatch and Evolution) and their wood/SPC hybrid (Harmony),” said Clint Haselhorst, vice president of sales and marketing for the distributor. “And we just launched their engineered hardwood line, Valor, which comes in the wider/longer format featuring a 4mm veneer.”
Moreover, BHW Floors’ expanded offering provides R.A. Siegel with a suite of products they can market at different tiers. It’s all designed to help retailers hit all the key price points. “For example, Sawatch is one of our least expensive offerings in a 20-mil SPC, while the Harmony and Valor are positioned at the mid to upper end for the other wood categories,” Haselhorst explained. “Harmony, the SPC line with the wood veneer, is a step-up product from where our base would normally be. We get the upgrade sales with this line because there’s not a lot of wood/SPC hybrid products out there.”
Another benefit that Atlanta-based BHW Floors offers stateside distributors is consistent supply—something that is hard to come by in this day and age where backlogs of imported shipments are commonplace. “We’re really blessed to have them right here in Atlanta with us, so it makes it easy,” Haselhorst noted. “In the world where everything has to be container-programmed it’s nice to have a domestic supplier that has good inventory and great customer service.”
BHW Floors is able to provide all this and still keep costs in line. “One of the best things about the Harmony line, for instance, is you can offer the customer a nice, wide width product and still be competitive or less expensive than the traditional wood of the same caliber,” Haselhorst added. “They can be really aggressive on price.”
Many of these advantages and benefits are made possible, according to BHW Floors, through its alliance with its supplier parent company. “One of the things that’s key to working with us is that we are owned by our manufacturer,” Grant said. “We’re not just an importer like most companies; we are actually the source.”
Operating under that set-up has allowed BHW Floors to continue developing products and programs that have a better opportunity for success in a distributor’s local market. “A big part of our businesses is our private-label brands that we offer to distributors,” Grant said. “We really take a more hands-on approach in working with our distributor partners to help them deal with a lot of issues they face.”
