A flooring chief executive officer sets how the company's install capacity is split among home builders, store install programs, commercial general contractors and homeowners, and how far it leans on any one of them. The CEO also picks the installer labor model and the senior team, and gives the owners or board a straight account of results.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, specialty trade contractors · BLS, May 2025
Annual pay: 10th percentile $69,930, middle half $100,570 to $283,340, 90th percentile $386,670. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, specialty trade contractors.
Reports to
Owner or board
Department
Executive Leadership
Schedule
40 to 50 hours, frequent travel · Office hours most weeks, frequent trips to builders, stores and trade events, and on call in critical business periods
Also called
President · President and CEO · Flooring company president · Managing owner
This role is responsible for setting and implementing the strategic direction of the company while leading initiatives that win flooring contracts and ensure profitability. The CEO will drive business growth, manage key partnerships, and uphold the highest standards of operational excellence in the home services industry.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Define and execute the company’s overall strategic vision and long-term business objectives.
Lead the pursuit of high-value flooring contracts and establish relationships with key clients and stakeholders.
Oversee financial performance to ensure strong profitability and sustained business growth.
Manage executive leadership and guide cross-functional teams to achieve operational excellence.
Represent the company in industry events, board meetings, and key negotiations.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Conduct daily executive meetings to review performance metrics and strategic initiatives.
Engage with clients, prospective customers, and industry partners to expand the company’s market presence.
Analyze market trends and competitor activities to adapt strategies proactively.
Monitor project progress and financial reports, ensuring alignment with company goals.
Oversee routine communications with the board and senior management regarding operational updates.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Revenue Growth: Achieve a minimum 10% year-over-year increase.
New Contract Acquisition: Increase new flooring contracts by at least 15% annually.
Gross Profit Margin: Maintain a gross margin above 20%.
Customer Satisfaction Rating: Attain and sustain a customer rating of over 4.8 stars.
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Finance, or a related field; MBA preferred.
Minimum of 10 years of executive-level experience with demonstrable leadership success.
Strong strategic planning and business development skills, with a proven track record in securing large contracts.
Excellent financial acumen and experience managing multi-million-dollar budgets.
Superior interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to inspire and lead diverse teams.
6. Preferred Experience
Extensive experience in the home services industry, particularly within flooring installation or related sectors.
Successful history of winning competitive bids and negotiating contracts in a complex business environment.
Demonstrated ability to build and maintain strategic partnerships and industry networks.
Experience with process improvement and change management initiatives.
7. Physical Requirements
Ability to work primarily in an office setting with occasional visits to job sites.
Ability to sit for extended periods during meetings and strategy sessions.
Occasionally required to travel and perform light lifting of materials up to 10 lbs during site visits.
Adequate vision and hearing to interact effectively with teams and managed personnel.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Regular office hours with typical expectations of 40-50 hours per week.
Frequent travel to client sites, industry conferences, and company events.
Occasional extended hours and on-call responsibilities during critical business periods.
Collaborative work environment that values open communication and innovation.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Salary range: $150,000 - $250,000 USD annually, commensurate with experience and performance.
Performance-based bonuses and potential equity options.
Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance plans.
401(k) plan with company matching contributions and additional fringe benefits.
10. Company Culture and Overview
Our company is committed to fostering a collaborative and inclusive work environment where innovation and excellence drive success. We believe in investing in our team, supporting professional growth, and maintaining transparent communication at all levels. We celebrate achievements, encourage creative problem-solving, and strive to be a leader in the home services industry. This is an incredible opportunity for a visionary leader looking to make a significant impact and drive strategic growth.
11. How to Apply
If you meet the above criteria and want to be part of a growth-oriented company focused on customer satisfaction, please send your resume to [INSERT EMAIL HERE] or apply online at [INSERT WEBSITE LINK HERE].
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A flooring crew arrives late in someone else's project: a builder's house, a store's sale, a general contractor's building or a homeowner's remodel. Who that someone is shapes almost every call at the top.
Builder buyers pick their floors in a design studio
Many production builders let home buyers choose upgraded floors from samples. Some builders run their own design center and stock it with your boards and upgrade prices. Others send buyers to a studio the flooring company runs. A studio means rent, sample boards and design staff, and every buyer's picks have to reach the measure and the order without a mistake. The CEO decides which builders are worth a studio and who in the company owns it.
A store's install program brings jobs, not customers
When a flooring store or home center hires you to install what it sold, the store owns the customer, sets the install price and grades your crews with its own surveys. That volume can fill weekdays without a sales team. It can also end with one phone call, and the customers leave with it. The CEO caps the share of the calendar any program gets and keeps the company's own leads growing beside it.
Builder demand shows up in permit data
Floors go into a new house late in the build, so a drop in permits takes months to reach a flooring company's calendar. That lag is warning time. The Building Permits Survey from the Census Bureau reports permit counts each month by county and by city or town. A CEO who watches the counties where the company's builders work can move sales toward remodel and commercial work before crews run out of houses. Source: U.S. Census Bureau: Building Permits Survey.
Square-foot pay doesn't settle who's a subcontractor
How a crew is paid is one fact among many. The IRS looks at three kinds of evidence: control over the work, control over the money side, and the relationship itself. A company that tells crews when to show up and how to lay the floor, supplies the trim and adhesive, and keeps the same crews year after year has facts pointing toward employees. The CEO picks the model with a lawyer who checks every state the crews work in. Source: IRS: Independent contractor (self-employed) or employee?.
How much flooring chief executive officers make
The closest BLS group for flooring chief executive officers is chief executives. Chief executives who work for specialty trade contractors earned a median of $169,170 a year ($81.33 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s below the $213,990 median for chief executives in all industries. About 3,830 of the 204,350 chief executives in that survey work for specialty trade contractors.
Base pay in the template comes with performance bonuses and a chance at equity. The range opens a bit below the BLS median here and tops out before the upper quarter, so build the stretch into the bonus, tied to gross margin and new builder or commercial accounts.
Specialty trade contractors
$169,170$169,170 median Middle half $100,570–$283,340 10th–90th $69,930–$386,670
All industries
$213,990$213,990 median Middle half $129,540–$356,200 10th–90th $75,700–$507,730
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Specialty trade contractors
$69,930
$100,570
$169,170
$283,340
$386,670
All industries
$75,700
$129,540
$213,990
$356,200
$507,730
BLS doesn’t publish pay for chief executives at building finishing contractors on their own, so these figures cover specialty trade contractors. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
The pay line in the template above is an example from our Role Blueprint. Set yours from these figures and what local companies pay.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Has led a company that earned most of its revenue from repeat trade accounts, such as builders or stores
Reads margin by channel and by floor type, not only for the whole company
Has negotiated builder pricing by house plan, or a retailer's install agreement
Has chosen between payroll installers and contract crews with legal advice
Has built a leadership team of a COO, a CFO and branch managers
Teach these on the job
Your builders, their house plans and the floors in each standard package
What each store program pays per job and how it rates your crews
Your main product lines and the distributors behind them
Your claim history by product, crew and customer type
Which commercial general contractors send you bid invitations
A flooring CEO reads monthly results split four ways, into builder, store program, commercial and homeowner work, along with backlog by builder community and the CFO's cash forecast. Give candidates that split in the first interview, since someone from commercial flooring and someone from builder work will picture very different jobs.
Two of the 6 questions we'd ask, and what a strong answer sounds like. Ask every candidate the same questions, and rate each answer on your own before you compare notes.
Situational · Retail install programs
A national home improvement retailer offers your company steady work as a local installer. How do you decide?
A strong answer: Weighs thin margins and payment terms against steady volume, quality control, how much the business would depend on one customer, and crew capacity.
Behavioral · Exiting what doesn't work
Tell me about a product line, supplier or customer program you dropped, and why.
A strong answer: Explains the data that showed it wasn't working, how they exited without hurting customers, and what they watch for now.
Set these with the owners after a year of results split by channel. A builder slowdown can sink revenue growth in a year the CEO ran well.
Revenue Growth
Compare each channel's revenue with the matching quarter a year back, with builder backlog beside it. Growth that rests on one builder's busy phase reads very differently from gains across store, commercial and homeowner work.
New Contract Acquisition
Count a new builder community, store program or general contractor only once it sends repeat work, not after one trial job. Note who brought each one in and which floor types it buys.
Gross Profit Margin
Margin by channel, set against the prices each builder and store program will pay. When one channel's margin keeps sliding, the CEO reprices it, shrinks it or changes how it is staffed.
Customer Satisfaction Rating
Company review ratings each quarter, with each store program's crew scores beside them. The CEO's question is which channel is slipping, and whether crews, scheduling or product is behind it.
Career path
Project managerTakes builder and commercial jobs from the first measure to the last punch item, and sees what each really costs.
General managerRuns a branch's sales, installs and margin for every kind of customer.
Chief operating officerBuilds the company's crew standards, claim process and safety system.
Chief executive officerChooses the customer mix, the installer labor model and the leaders.
Owner or investorBuys into this company or another flooring contractor as the founders step back.
Should a flooring company follow a builder into a new city?
Only if the builder's work there can carry a warehouse, installers and a manager, and the builder will commit to a phase or two in writing. Ask which other flooring subs they use in that market. Price the move on the houses you're promised, not the ones you hope for, and line up local installers before you sign a lease.
How much does a flooring chief executive officer make?
Chief executives who work for specialty trade contractors earned a median of $169,170 a year ($81.33 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $100,570 and $283,340 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and bonus terms.
How should a flooring CEO handle maker price increases on builder contracts?
Settle it before signing. Builders want one price per house plan for a whole phase, while flooring makers send price increase letters on their own schedule. Agree in writing how long the price holds and what reopens it, such as a maker's increase with notice, or tie the price to a named product list. Without that, the company absorbs every increase until the phase ends.
Is commercial work a good add for a residential flooring company?
It can fill the months when builder work slows, but it runs differently. Commercial jobs are bid to an architect's spec, often use carpet tile, sheet vinyl or rubber, and need submittals and closeout papers before the last payment. Put a project manager who has run commercial flooring jobs in charge from the first bid, and report those jobs' results apart from residential work.
How should an ad describe the CEO template's lifting and vision lines?
As tasks. The lifting line means carrying a sample board or a small case of samples on a site visit, up to the template's 10 pounds. The vision and hearing line means reading reports and contracts, and following talk in meetings, on calls and at noisy job sites. Keep the template's wording, list those tasks under it, and say whom a candidate can ask about accommodation.
