Cover Me
The Team at Brothers Floor Covering Looks Back on 70 Years of Local Service
Writer / Renee Larr
Photographer / Michael Durr
Its almost unheard of for a business to put in 70 years of service to the local community. The team at family-owned Brothers Floor Covering consists of trusted flooring experts with ties to the Indianapolis area for 70 years. The company was founded in 1952 by Clark Brothers.
In 1959, current President Greg Hills father, Gene Hill, started working for the company. By around 1963, Clark Brothers passed away and his wife, Ina Brothers, took over the company, partnering with Gene.
When my father got involved, he wanted to grow the wood flooring portion of the business, Greg says. Although we offer many other products, were still mostly known for our wood flooring.
Brothers Floor Covering offers high-quality flooring products including carpeting, hardwood, laminate, luxury vinyl, waterproof options, area rugs, glass tile, natural stone, and vinyl. The company boasts an extensive local online flooring catalog for local homeowners.
Greg, who serves as president, says the business is more than just family owned. Its family operated too. Jessica Hill, Gregs daughter, serves as a sales associate and is the first person a guest encounters when visiting the showroom.
I love helping customers find the perfect flooring that meets the needs of the lifestyle of their home, Jessica says. I get to see the customers style when they bring in paint swatches, cabinet doors, countertops, inspiration photos, etcetera. Every product is beautiful in its own way. Often I work with some of the same popular colors and products, but the finished product is unique in its home every time. I love to pull it all together for them to create the look they want to achieve, whether it be a traditional style, contemporary, Scandinavian or modern farmhouse.
Gregs son, Andrew Hill, is the companys sales manager. While Chuck McKeny isnt a family member, hes worked with the company for more than 40 years as an estimator.
We try our best to remember each customer by name and what they order, Greg says. Were not in the business of order taking. Were in the business of finding lifelong customers. We want to make people feel like part of our family when they come in for flooring. Were a small business. There are four of us here, but weve been able to generate a lot of business.
Services include shop at home, flooring installation, hardwood refinishing, area-rug binding, free in-home measurement, furniture removal and carpet disposal. Shop-at-home services began before the COVID-19 pandemic, but saw a surge in the last few years.
We purchased a vehicle to introduce our shop-at-home service about 30 days before COVID really started affecting everyone, Jessica says. Weve been fortunate its taken off as well as it has. Customers will call, and instead of coming in the showroom, well take samples to them so they can see what they look like in their own home.
In his 40 years of experience, Greg has seen many flooring trends come and go. He says he has seen flooring evolve from raw wood, which needed to be installed, sanded and finished, to include multiple pre-finished flooring manufacturers. He says luxury vinyl is a relatively new style that is currently dominating the market.
The tight-knit trio loves working together and even lives on the same street in their hometown of Lebanon. Jessica says the family knows how to separate their personal lives from their business lives, but will often sit around the dinner table discussing the days work.
The business has been located in Broad Ripple for its storied history, but the family says they outgrew their current space. Theyre planning to move to a 9,000-square-foot facility on the northwest side by the end of 2022. The new space will allow the company to offer even more high-quality products to their clients.
We are sad to leave the Broad Ripple area, but excited to expand our services to new clientele while still catering to our existing Broad Ripple customers, Jessica says. We will be only a short distance north. We hope that our loyal customers will still come to Brothers for their flooring needs.
Greg plans to retire some time in the future, with Andrew taking over the role of president. The company will remain a family business, with Jessica staying as a sales associate.
Brothers Floor Covering is located at 5352 North Tacoma Avenue in Indianapolis. For more information, call 317-593-5755 or visit brothers-floorcovering.com.
