What defines a legacy? To many, a legacy is defined as something which is passed on and continues to do so long into the future. In that case, you could define the history of Master Craft Floors as being very much an ongoing legacy. Master Craft Floors is a full-service commercial floor covering dealer that prides itself on being a one-stop-shop. From flooring installation, in-house interior design, estimation, project management and even floor care and maintenance, they strive to exceed their customer’s needs from start to finish. Celebrating 50 years in business this year, the company has experienced an exponential amount of growth throughout its business lifecycle and continues to invest in new services and products.
Founded by Eugene “Gene” Ulfig and his wife Eleanor “El” Ulfig in 1974, the company was then passed down to their son Dan Ulfig in 1985. By hiring more staff and field personnel, the business continued to grow and is now run by director James “Jim” Judd.
With extensive product knowledge of all flooring types and applications, Master Craft Floors are truly masters in the field. The business offers a range of services including carpet, resilient, ceramic tile, epoxy coatings, and polished concrete to name a few. The company also have their own in-house design, which is done by Jim’s wife, Julie Judd.
Hollywood Casino at Greektown, Detroit, MI The Shinola Hotel, Detroit, MI
Master Craft Floors has an extensive catalogue of work to be proud of, completing several significant projects along the way which include major stadiums and casinos. This began in the mid-2000’s when Detroit added three casinos to the downtown skyline. Master Craft Floors was the most qualified local contractor and incredibly, it was awarded two of these projects simultaneously, the Motor City Casino (now Hollywood Casino at Greektown) and MGM Grand – Detroit projects.
With this gaming experience and the encouragement of partners and clients alike, Master Craft ventured into Nevada. After some exploratory work traveling back and forth as work demanded, Master Craft opened officially in January of 2010 with an office, warehouse space & full-time staff in the region.
Jim has been with Master Craft Floors since 1994. In this time, he has witnessed multiple projects come to fruition, but there are some standouts that spring to mind for him.
“We’re wrapping up a project right now in Detroit called the JLA. It’s where the old Joe Louis Arena was and where our Detroit Redwings have played for years. It’s a 26-story residential unit skyscraper and we did 1000’s and 1000’s of feet of flooring throughout that building. “The craftsmanship is just amazing. I sent some pictures back to the office the other day of the lobby and the wall panels we did with the tile and stone in it. It’s cutting edge, and it will be one of those places that I proudly tell everyone, we did that.”
Another project Jim is proud of is the Raiders Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, where Master Craft Floors satellite office can be found —the headquarters is located in Plymouth, Michigan, but Master Craft Floors also cater to businesses worldwide.
Operating from different locations allows Master Craft Floors to complete projects in various locations. Whether it is the T-Mobile arena in Las Vegas or the Huntington Place (formerly TCF Center/Cobo Hall) in downtown Detroit, Master Craft Floors is willing and able to input its expertise into numerous projects simultaneously. Unsurprisingly, the scope of work varies for each project. For example, the Detroit Metro Airport project involved installing both the flooring in the terminal and rubber tile in the pedestrian walkways of the parking garages. However, occasionally a project comes along that allows the company to really excel. The Shinola Hotel in downtown Detroit, for instance, allowed it to showcase a different set of skills altogether. To build the Shinola Hotel, five existing buildings with different levels of elevation had their walls torn down and merged. Master Craft Floors did solid hardwood flooring — mostly custom cut — and poured concrete, inlaid solid brass strips and polished it. Although this job was completed five years ago, Master Craft Floors are currently back at the Shinola Hotel resurfacing the wood floors in the hotel rooms.
Creating and maintain relationships is important to the team at Master Craft Floors and especially important to Jim. Building relationships and trust with clients is important for every business, but Master Craft Floors also tries to build and strengthen its internal relationships. Julie mentions the importance of knowledge and training in house, and how Master Craft Floors invest so much into its employees to provide the client with better results.
“Master Craft is unique in that we don’t farm out our labour which ultimately works out better for the client because the quality of labour is so much higher. Our entire installation team is comprised of direct employees of the company. Jim, our warehouse manager Rob, and I are consistently doing the latest and greatest training in the for both our installation team and also for our in-house personnel, so that we’re totally current and up to date on the latest trends in installation and products.
“Our installers are real craftsmen and continually educated on the latest installation training – especially when specific to healthcare and ICRA (Infection Control Risk Assessment). We have been historically — and we are still —strong with resilient floors and that’s a more technical install, including welding, flash coving, things like that. Our guys and girls — we have women on our installation team too — are fully versed in ICRA standards.”
Master Craft claims that one thing it does better than anyone else is occupied spaces, and it has the evidence to prove it. Whatever the job, all staff are trained in best practices in health care, infectious control, rescue, risk assessment and blood borne pathogens. Master Craft staff can set up containment to ensure no one becomes infected when they are in occupied space.
Another area unique to Master Craft is the ripping up of old carpet/floor covering and installing new flooring quickly and precisely, which comes in particularly handy for its casino work. The business has invested in fabricating equipment that can pick up slot bases with the machines on them and move them out of the way. This allows for customer carpets to be installed with machines returned to the floor with limited downtime.
Huntington Place, Detroit, MI
By developing this equipment, it has helped master Craft Floors to strengthen its relationships within the casino industry. Clients have less downtime to worry about and Master Craft can provide a more efficient service. This is important to Jim as he has mentioned multiple times throughout the interview that “the clients come first”.
With such a successful career to date, what is next for Master Craft Floors? Its current plans right now are for the company to engage more in artificial intelligence to help with streamlining the software. Jim also has a goal to keep profit margins up and within the next 15 years reach 60 million. With a growth mindset and dedicated leadership, you wouldn’t bet against it hitting these targets comfortably. “I’ve always lived by failure is not an option. So, one way or another, we’re going to get it done and be successful with a happy client at the end of the day. And every day, I still live that. One thing that Dan has instilled in me is for this company to endure. “My goal is to make the company endure, for all of our employees to make a good living, and to also have some fun along the way.”
