Maxwell Hardwood Flooring*

Maxwell Floors Competition, Leads Hardwood Resurgence

Hardwood flooring has been making a comeback in recent years and Maxwell Hardwood Flooring of Monticello is one of the companies leading the movement.

Thomas V. Maxwell, president and owner, says that about 15 years ago hardwood flooring made up less than 1 percent of all flooring materials. Now it’s up to nearly 9 percent.

Maxwell Flooring, founded in 1992 with 33 employees, now has 115 workers. Maxwell says his goal is to double the company in the next three to five years. He’s looking to add another production line next year that will add 30-40 workers. The company has been experiencing an average annual growth rate of 20-25 percent.

This comes in spite of the intense competition in the hardwood flooring industry that has developed as more companies jumped into it with the surge in the market.

“It takes a lot of hard work,” Maxwell says. “I have to attribute the success of the company to the people who work here. They continue to produce more and produce it safely.

“We have a great in-depth training program. There are classes of some sort every day for all employees.” Management classes run about an hour, while sub-leadership classes may run about 30 minutes. Classes in knot optimizers or grading hardwood may only take 15 minutes or so at the end of each day.

“I believe every worker has something to contribute to the success of the company,” Maxwell says. It takes great patience and having an interest in the people who work for you, he adds.

Maxwell recalls those early years, saying that nearly every night, sometimes to as late as 10 p.m., he and some of the workers would sit around to review costs and production, how the money was being spent and how they could do it better. “It was a struggle. This is a very competitive, labor intensive field. But we finally got to making money.”

The company manufactures 3/4-inch, 1 1/2-inch, 2 1/4-inch and 3 1/4- inch tongue and groove solid hardwood flooring.