Phoenix—The title of 2023’s memorable Fuse Alliance conference was “Unleashed,” so it was only fitting that the group raise the ante with “Fuse on Fire,” the theme and rally cry for this year’s record-breaking event.
“We’re thrilled to see the passion and involvement of our members reflected in this year’s conference theme,” said Geoff Gordon, executive director of Fuse Alliance, a member-owned organization of professional commercial floor covering contractors. “With more than 500 people in attendance and nearly 60% network growth since 2020, Fuse is undeniably on fire. It’s by far and away the biggest crowd we’ve ever had.”
The dramatic increase in attendance, according to Gordon, was buoyed in part by an uptick in new blood. “I think we have about 30 new member companies here,” he told FCNews. “In four years we went from 105 to 171 companies representing 250 locations; we never thought we’d have growth like that. We literally added eight members over the last three weeks, and most of those companies are here at convention.”
Commercial flooring contractors like Joel Bonstell, sales and marketing manager for River City Flooring, Hudsonville, Mich., attested to both the energy and level of participation in this year’s event. “We have been going to the Fuse conferences for several years now, and the feedback from this year was that it was one of the best ever,” he said. “The location, the new members and the presentations were all top notch. We talked with several new members and all of them were extremely kind and looking forward to learning more.”
More importantly, according to Gordon, the group is trending younger and becoming much more diverse as it expands its footprint. “We’re now up to 19 women-owned companies in the organization,” he said. “Five years ago, we probably had three or four. We’re very proud where this group is going, and we’re still talking to quite a few other companies that want to join.”
The reasons commercial flooring contractors are looking to join Fuse, whose members collectively generate roughly $2.3 billion in sales, are numerous. First and foremost is the camaraderie. “I think the word has gotten out that this is an organization that really cares about their members, and they all work together for the good of the whole,” Gordon explained. “When helping other contractors in the network, none of our members hold back anything. They know they can ask any question and not get an answer like: ‘Well, we can’t share that.’”
It’s that openness and willingness to share “war” stories and best practices that draw members to convention. “You can learn what other contractors are doing in their market to see if it works in your area,” Brian Boek, co-owner of Christian Brothers Flooring & Interiors, Lakeside, Calif., told FCNews. “It’s non competitive, so members don’t mind sharing information.”
Ditto for John Finch, president of Seattle, Wash.-based Legacy Group, and River City Flooring’s Bonstell. “We, as members, get the most out of talking with each other about best practices and challenges we face every day,” Finch noted. In that same vein, Bonstell said, “Connecting with other members, suppliers and industry experts has led to valuable relationships for River City Flooring. Here we can bounce ideas and best practices off of each other in real time, which is invaluable. In the past, we have utilized Fuse’s forums to get in-depth information from experts; discussed flooring issues and successes with manufacturers top personnel; and more recently even used other Fuse members for large installations. For a small business, being a part of Fuse gives us the support for much larger opportunities.”
That sentiment is not only shared by contractor attendees but also by many Fuse vendors. “The suppliers are really happy to be here,” Gordon noted. “In some of the other cases, the vendors may be there because they’re obligated, but it feels like they really love being part of Fuse. The suppliers really feel they have a good connection with us, and that’s super important.”
Whether it’s the group’s loyal vendor partners or the end-user clients they serve, Gordon said it’s all about providing high-touch service. “We look at it as having two customers: the general contractor/end user we’re installing for and our supplier partners. The suppliers write a lot of specs; they often have closer relationships with end-users and designers, so we want to be their best partners. They need us and we need them. It would never be to our advantage to ever be adversarial with them. We’ll never take those relationships for granted.”
Fuse Alliance management values that supplier relationship so much so that it often consults vendors when it comes to adding potential contractor members to the network. “We’re careful who we add to the network because we don’t want to add somebody that the suppliers don’t like,” Gordon said. “We want to make sure we hear the suppliers say: ‘Yeah, [those contractors] are good people.’”
Survival mode
It’s that spirit of cooperation that allowed Fuse Alliance to navigate through some turbulent waters. In illustration, Gordon recalled the challenges the group overcame since the start of the pandemic. “The theme of this year’s event really speaks to what we, as a group, went through during a very difficult time,” he told attendees during opening remarks. “Our 2020 spring conference in Palm Springs took place just as the pandemic was taking hold in the U.S. During that time we didn’t know what to do on the jobsite; we didn’t know what to do in the offices. So we started doing these weekly calls, and I think the true value of the network really came out. We all survived the pandemic and here we are four years later, stronger than ever.”
After clearing major hurdles over the course of the past four years, Fuse is setting its sights on identifying opportunities for members to grow their business. While it’s safe to say that certain end-use markets are faring much better than others post-pandemic, Gordon remains optimistic.
“Healthcare, which is a big part of our membership, is still very good—and so is education/school business. When it comes to corporate/office, our view is a little different from the suppliers. We feel it’s better than maybe what we’re hearing from the vendors. It’s clearly not what it was pre-pandemic, but it’s not terrible, either. Even if they’re bringing people back three days a week, they’re doing renovating and changing their offices around. And that’s good for us.”
Same applies to retail, which, according to Gordon, “hasn’t been that bad. A significant amount of retail is polished concrete, and we have members that offer that service. That’s the other piece of it that nobody really talks about. You have all your standard flooring, then you have polished concrete, which is still a significant business, and that’s good.”
Another bellwether end-use market in question is the multifamily sector, which has seen double-digit declines in the past two years. However, the silver lining, Gordon noted, may lie in multifamily/multi-use projects already in the pipeline that are restarting. “Just look at all the construction cranes here in downtown Phoenix—that’s all multifamily. I’ve been to a lot of cities just like this one. In a lot of them, probably most of the ones here, the flooring hasn’t even been put in yet. So, that segment is still good.”
Moreover, the revenue outlook for Fuse Alliance members, by and large, is still trending positive. “Last year we finished up 8% as a group, and we’re budgeting for a 5% increase in members sales this year,” Gordon said. “Most of the suppliers are figuring the year is going to be flat or down, but we don’t see it that way. We have good backlogs, which are carrying us along. We think ’24 is going to be fine.”
(Look for more coverage of the 2024 Fuse conference in future editions of FCNews as well as on our social media channels.)
