Good Neighbor Podcast: TN-WNC-SWVA

EP#349: Choosing The Right Floors For Every Home And Budget With BPS Southeast Flooring

• Skip Mauney & Jason Trim • Episode 349

Share episode

Ever wondered why some floors gap, buckle, or underperform while others stay flawless for years? We sit down with Jason Trim, owner of BPS Southeast Flooring in Rutherford County, to unpack the choices that truly matter: materials, installation quality, and how to match flooring to your life, not just your Pinterest board. Jason walks us through a 5,000-square-foot showroom of luxury vinyl, laminate, carpet, hardwood, and tile, explaining how each option behaves under pets, kids, moisture, and heavy foot traffic.

We dig into the myth of the “same product, cheaper” from big-box stores and explore why manufacturing specs, locking systems, wear layers, and core materials make or break performance. Jason breaks down carpet fibers—polyester for budget-friendly comfort, nylon for long-term resilience, and wool for heirloom quality—and highlights durable hard-surface choices like waterproof hardwood and porcelain tile. He also stresses the value of working with one accountable team from selection to installation, so the warranty, craftsmanship, and support stay under one roof.

If you’re planning a single-room refresh or a whole-home remodel, you’ll get practical tips on budget strategy, financing options that reduce compromise, and digital tools like a room visualizer and sample ordering to streamline decisions. We share the right questions to ask—about subfloors, underlayments, scratch resistance, and maintenance—so you invest once and enjoy the results for years. Ready to choose floors that fit your home and your habits? Listen now, subscribe for more local business wisdom, and leave a review with your top flooring question so we can answer it on a future show.

SPEAKER_01:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Money.

SPEAKER_00:

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. So I am very excited today to have a very special guest in the studio with us for the first time. And I'm sure you will be as well because today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Mr. Jason Trim, who is with BPS Southeast Flooring. Jason, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00:

We're like I said, we're very excited to have you and to learn all about uh BPS Southeast Flooring. So if you don't mind, why don't you kick us off by telling us about your business?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, we're located in western North Carolina in small town Ruthton in Rutherford County. And our showroom is about roughly 5,000 square feet where it's separated between luxury vinyl, laminate, carpet, hardwood, and tile is our predominant products that we carry in the showroom.

SPEAKER_00:

Very good. Now you said in a small town in Rutherford County?

SPEAKER_02:

Rutherford County in Ruthington. So it's about an hour south of Asheville, about an hour of Greenville, South Carolina, and about an hour and 15 minutes west of Charlotte.

SPEAKER_00:

So you're you're in the big city of Rough Rufton, as we say from Shelby. I'm I'm a Shelby guy.

SPEAKER_02:

So it's Roughton if you actually lived here. R U F T O.

SPEAKER_00:

That's right. That's right. Very good. Very familiar. So um Jason, what tell us about your journey? How did uh how did you get started in the flooring business?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh it started helping out when I got out of high school. I thought it was pretty fun doing carpet installations, and then after I got out of community college, uh started doing property maintenance in Spartanburg, and they were doing remodels there. So I would do carpet, uh a little bit of tile, different installations. And then once I got out of the property maintenance business, started my own company cleaning flooring and other types of cleaning, but they didn't take off real well. So I started working for a flooring company in Greenville. When they folded, I took their stuff and brought it here to Roughton and just kind of expanded it from there.

SPEAKER_00:

Very good. So you you've been in the in the flooring business for a while, just not necessarily this same company the whole time.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I mean, this company is my own, so I've enjoyed I enjoy helping people select the right flooring for the right purposes. So when people come in, the questions are going to be how do you want to perform? How much do you need to spend, and help them to get the right product because there's so many different you have entry-level price points for those who don't can't afford a lot but want something with good value. You need some that, okay, we have a big family, lots of animals, so you need something that performs really well, or you get some people that are like, we want something really pretty and unique, so we have products that are more of their style and luxury type products. So we try to cover all the basis of what everybody's looking for in some sort of fashion.

SPEAKER_00:

In some way, very good. Well, I'm sure there are some misconceptions or myths in the flooring business. Can any come to mind?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh the biggest thing is that well, I can get this cheaper at Lowe's, or that I can go to Floor and Decor and buy something. I'm like, it's not the same material in the sense of it's not manufactured the same way, there's different quality levels of flooring, and it is a type of product that you tend to get what you pay for. So if you spend more money, you can tend to get a little better quality and performance product. And you hate to you hate to say when you go into someone's house and like I have a gap in my floor that planks in. You take your foot and you kick it together. Where'd you get it? Lowe's, that's what I figured. I mean, it's just one of those. I've had to click flooring down in my showroom for four years, and I've never had a gap, never had a separate. And it's just the quality of the products. You spend good money, you're gonna get good products. You just have to know exactly what you want, and then we try to find the right product within that budget. And if you can't, we do offer financing up to 10 years. So wow, it's up to a hundred thousand dollars for 10 years. So if flooring can be an expensive project, I mean, anywhere between a cheap single room, okay, we might spend a thousand, fifteen hundred dollars, or you may, if you're doing a whole home, you can go up to forty-fifty thousand dollars real quick if you want something really nice.

SPEAKER_00:

So in a nutshell, cheaper isn't necessarily better.

SPEAKER_02:

No, it's really not, and and you have to understand going to it's like paint. If you want paint, go to a paint store. If you want plumbing parts, you go to a plumbing store. If you want electrical, good quality lighting fixtures, you're gonna go to an electrical store. It's the same thing with flooring. If you want good flooring, you go to a flooring store. The box stores are gonna carry a lot of the same products, but it's like going to the Walmart version of construction. There's great products at Walmart, but it's I mean, if you tour down a KitchenAid mixer at Walmart and the KitchenAid mixer at Macy's, they're gonna be two different things inside of it. So it's the same thing with flooring. The quality of the products, the quality of the installation, and then we also you're dealing with one store that you're dealing with all the installers from one group, that you can ask the questions of how long have you worked with these people? What's your quality? And you can get to know where when you're box stores, you're like, Well, who's your constellation crit? I don't know, it's whoever they sub out to, or whoever's gonna take the contract. You lose that personal connection when you're dealing with bigger stores and bigger corporate situations than your local flooring store or your local installers.

SPEAKER_00:

I agree. And that applies in just about every product. Uh excuse me. Now, who are your uh target customers for flooring and how do you how do you reach them?

SPEAKER_02:

Target customers are pretty much anybody who wants who wants up to update or new construction. So people who need to update their flooring that have like had their flooring down for 10, 20, 30 years, want something new, or they've had a moved into the area, we want to update our flooring before we move in the house, or even new construction, having customers come in. I'll spend an hour, two hours, three hours with people and just walk them through of what products do we have? What's the difference between this product? Why will this perform differently than this product? What about carpet, nylon, polyester, wool, going into the details of explaining all the differences in what you're paying for? Because everything there's different levels of quality and there's different levels of cost. So you want to explain of if you want something that lasts 10-15 years, you may want a polyester carpet. If you're wanting 20 to 25 years, maybe a good quality nylon. Or if you're looking for something that you could pass down to your children, maybe go with wool if you can afford it. I mean, it's going through and taking that time with each customer and learning the products and then explaining to them the differences so they know where to invest their money the right way.

SPEAKER_00:

Very good. Very good. Well, you're obviously a very busy guy running, and uh the and you, I guess you're the owner and operator of Southeast Flooring BPS.

SPEAKER_02:

Right now, I'm the owner and operator, so I I'm here most of the time. Occasionally I have to run out, measure flooring, or go check on the job site. So I might put a number in the window to call me if you need to get in or take a look at something. But I try to be here most of the time, and even here on Saturdays, and I've taken appointments on evenings if you can't get during the day because people move into the area, they're here for a short amount of time, or they're out of town looking at a house they have second to house in the area. Just call, make an appointment. We can set up a time after hours, and we can take that time to walk you through and you can look at things, and even then you can go on the website and you can order samples off the website. You can use the room visualizer on the website, so you can do a lot of shopping just from your smart devices, your tablets, or your smartphones.

SPEAKER_00:

Virtually, absolutely. Well, like I said, you're a very busy guy, apparently. Uh, if there is time outside of work, what do you like to do for fun?

SPEAKER_02:

Spend time on my children. I got two teenage boys getting ready to turn 15, getting taking their driver's ed. So I'm getting ready to begin to let them drive my truck. And we have three dogs at home, and my wife and my my family live together. I enjoy cooking, so there's always something going on at home, and there's always something to do, whether it's play softball with the boys or basketball or just throw balls with the dog and spend time with the family.

SPEAKER_00:

Good answer. Always the best answer, especially if your wife watches the podcast. I'm kidding. Good answer, very good answer. So um if Jason, if you could think of one thing that you would like our listeners to remember about you and about BPS Southeast Florida, what would that be?

SPEAKER_02:

I would encourage them to, if they're looking for flooring in Western North Carolina, take a look at the website. If they have questions to call and take the time to research the products that they're looking for. I'm happy to answer questions. I mean, I've had people reach out, just ask general cleaning questions or construction questions. I don't carry everything that every other store has. If I don't have it, there may be another store that has it. And I encourage people just to shop around and look and try to find the right product for them. And I'm glad to help them with that. I mean, we have really unique products, including like waterproof hardwood flooring. I mean, we have porcelain tile that other stores don't carry. I mean, it's the idea of the store was to create an environment and a selection that you'll find only here. But if you can't find something here, you can go somewhere else and find different products.

SPEAKER_00:

Very good. Good thing to remember. And uh you touched on this earlier, but if any of our listeners, viewers are looking for a floor to do an update or they're building a house or and and they have a need and would like to learn more, uh, tell us how how we can do that.

SPEAKER_02:

They can go to the website first. If they want to just scroll through, we have an online digital catalog that shows the majority of the products that we have in the store, plus the sample ordering and room visualization. They can reach out to me through the website by contacting me there, or they can, if they want to call me directly, they can call my mobile. Uh it's 828-2890553, or they can call the office number that's listed on the website. I'm also listed on Google Maps and most of the other places. So, my information, there's pictures of finished jobs, there's lots of blog information on the website. So try to educate the customers on different things, and I'm happy to answer questions. I mean, that's what I'm here for in the store is helping to educate the customer to the right product that they need and that they want, so they get the right product, and they they what they expect the floor to do is what it will do. It's getting the performance out of it, what they get the right product, and not get something that I spent so much money and now I got to replace it. Well, you didn't take the time to get the right product. I mean, it's important you're investing thousands of dollars. Your money is important to you, and it's important to me that you spend it in the right way.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, Jason, I can't tell you how much I really appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to hang out with us and tell us all about you and about BPS Southeast Flooring and all the wonderful things that you guys are doing there and the products that you have, and uh wish you, your family, and uh your your business all the best moving forward.

SPEAKER_02:

I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. Maybe we can have you back sometime.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, that'd be great. Anytime we can, if you want and full up some questions that people may shoot at you about finding more information, and then we do cover small commercial as well, so we like to help small businesses and offices if they're looking for flooring, just as much as we like to help residential.

SPEAKER_00:

Very good. Jason, thanks again. We really do appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNP Tri-Dash Cities.com. That's GNP Tri Dash Cities.com or call four two three seven one nine five eight seven three.