Customer First Flooring Done Right: Meet Jason Trim, Owner of BPS Southeast

Meet the Host: Jason Trim, Owner of BPS Southeast

The right floor starts long before the first plank is laid. Jason Trim joins us to share how years in installation, property maintenance, and showroom leadership shaped a customer-first way of working that puts your needs ahead of brand noise. We walk through a simple system to choose materials that fit real life: value lines that stretch a budget without cutting corners, performance options for pets and rentals, design-forward picks that elevate a room, and luxury woods and wools for homes where touch and tone matter.

We go deeper than samples on a wall. Jason breaks down how to read a jobsite, from subfloor flatness to moisture control on concrete, and why proper leveling, barriers, and NWFA-aligned steps are non-negotiable if you want a floor that won’t cup, gap, or fail a warranty. He’s candid about pricing too: the best install is rarely the cheapest, because professional prep and proven materials pay for themselves by preventing costly callbacks. You’ll hear real-world use cases for spec homes, restaurants, busy families, and forever homes so you can map your situation to the right solution.

Care is part of the plan. We tackle the cleaning myths that ruin finishes and carpet backings, how to maintain oiled wood without sanding, and which “miracle” products to avoid. Above all, we focus on relationships over transactions—spending the time to understand your budget, timeline, and traffic patterns so you can walk into your home and feel certain you made the right call. If you’ve ever stood in a showroom overwhelmed by choices, this conversation gives you the questions, standards, and confidence to choose well.

Enjoyed the conversation? Subscribe, share with a friend who’s remodeling, and leave a quick review telling us your biggest flooring challenge so we can answer it next.

To learn more about BPS Southeast Flooring visit:
https://www.BPSSoutheast.com
BPS Southeast Flooring 
Servicing Rutherford, Polk, Henderson and Cleveland County 
828-532-2141 

Transcript

Welcome And Show Overview

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the BPS Southeast Flooring Podcast, where beautiful spaces start from the ground up. Hosted by Jason Trent, owner of BPS Southeast, serving homeowners, businesses, interior designers, remodelers, and flippers across Western North Carolina and upstate South Carolina. From luxury vinyl and hardwood to carpet and tile, if it goes underfoot, we've got you covered. Expect practical tips, money-saving insights, and the occasional bad dad joint. Because around here, it's flooring for everyone. Let's roll without the bubbles.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Enjoying the cool weather. Hopefully this winter we'll actually see some snow around here.

Jason’s Path Into Flooring

SPEAKER_02 0:58

I think I think we might. I think we might. I think there's a good chance of it according to the Foamers Almanac. So over the years, Jason, at BPS, you've you've you know grown quite a business and a and a big following. Um there. How you know unfortunately, you know, some of our listeners may not be familiar with your first full journey. So let's just take it from the top. Could you share a little bit about your background, about your company and what you did?

From Maintenance Tech To Store Operations

Taking Over A Showroom And Growing

Customer-First Product Families Explained

SPEAKER_01 1:26

So BPS Southeast Flooring is a flooring company which also includes tile. So any of the finished surfaces from flooring to walls, it's partial from not doing sheetrock work. So coming out of high school, I did help some friends of mine that were doing flooring on the side. So I got introduced to doing carpet, which I really enjoyed doing the installation process and learning to do the measurements and figuring the jobs and doing the installations, the cleanup, and learning all the ins and outs. Um, did that as a part-time job. So later on, when my full-time job came to an end and someone needed me for the actually those skills in property maintenance in a property maintenance management company, I took the opportunity to go work with them and do more installation work. So I got to do a lot more carpet installations, did some tile installations, learned a few things about other flooring products, and then also while working there, picked up painting, sheetrock, texturing, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, different things that go along with property management. So just becoming a maintenance technician over time. Because you can only remodel so many units after a while, you got to start maintaining them. So after working with the companies, the management companies buy and sell each other semi-frequently. Someone will buy a property, improve it, sell it off to someone else, make a profit. So after one of these sales, the team that were on the property didn't move with the sale. So it came to a point of wanting to start working on my own. So I there was a gentleman that had a flooring store in Greenville, South Carolina that I was acquainted with that I got to go help at the same time. I was trying to start up my own business of cleaning flooring. So I worked with him during the day and helped do measurements, meet with customers, learn more about the market and what was available, and went to shows and different things, got even more familiar with the industry itself. Got to meet more installers, and then after a while, their store ended up closing just with some discrepancies between the salespeople and the owner and different things. So I took over the showroom property, so all the displays and everything, and brought them to the area that I was in, and then continued on with the cleaning, but then also started promoting the sales of the flooring and different things. And after a couple years of doing that, there was a program that came available. Um it's a program that allowed customers to come into a store to shop by product qualities instead of just trying to sell a brand name. So when you come in the store, they introduce a product line called Newton, which is like your value line. So people who don't have a lot of money but need a really good product. So they introduce what they call Newton, then Proximity Mills, which is a performance line. So it's all based on really good looks, but high performance. So durability being more of a concern for the customer. And then DOMA as their stylish, kind of on-trend looks, still good performance. And then their Paradiso line, which is more their luxury high-end, not necessarily performance qualities you're looking for because you're running into more high-end woods and wools and different things, but they're good high-end quality products, but more expensive luxury looks. So they created a concept for customers to be able to come into a store and help them shop according to what their needs are, not necessarily being this is a great product, you really need this in your house type thing. It was the concept of the customer's needs are priority over just a brand name trying to push a product that you like to make money on. And I really like the concept of having the customer first and having product lines and things to help them find what fits their needs instead of just you want wood flooring, here's wood flooring. Well, what kind of wood flooring do you need? What's your price range? What how much durability do you need? And getting to know what their basically the qualifications of the products. Do you need durability? Are you flipping the house? Are you is this your forever home? Is this a temporary five, 10 year? Then you'll sell it, try to get something bigger with a larger family size growing. Understanding what their needs are, so it's not it's not always gonna be a straight up, oh, you just need this product. This is the best product on the market. This is the best waterproof flooring on the market. Everybody's gonna have the same sales points. It's the it's my job to help the customer find the product that fits their needs.

SPEAKER_02 6:39

Very good. Now, man, you you've been in this business uh at least, you know, peripherally for a very long how long altogether have you been in the uh, you know, dealing with with flooring.

Needs Over Brands And Budget Fit

SPEAKER_01 6:50

Off and on, probably for 10, 15 years. I mean, doing the property maintenance, I was probably installing for a few years and then running the store, working with the sales side of things probably another eight, 10 years. So it's been off and on different things. In that, I've taken training classes with the NWFA National Wood Flooring Association, learning more about products, installation guidelines for people to follow to make sure installation doesn't fail. Taking training classes of learning more about the products, so I can recommend job site issues of if we're gonna install it on this floor, we got to do this, this, and this. Your warranty will be voided if we do these processes, and just helping the customers understand the overall process. Because I'm not doing the installations, I'm working with installers that work with me, they're contractors that this is their business, but it's also my job when I'm presenting that job to them of giving them everything they need of the guidelines of we're doing a concrete subfloor, we need to we need to do some leveling to make sure the floor is flat for a hard surface, we need a moisture barrier applied so we don't have any cupping down the road, giving them all the things they need and also explaining to the customer what those things are so they understand that I may not be the most inexpensive installation. I'm not necessarily gonna be the cheapest guy, but in the end, I'm gonna give you an installation that will last and I'm not coming back to fix it, it's not gonna fail. I'm gonna sell quality products to them that I'm not questioning a year or two down the road something gapping or coming apart or having a factory defect because I'm selling a product that's inexpensive but also cheap.

SPEAKER_02 8:44

Right. Well, I think your experience, I mean, obviously, you've uh started out in the installation part of the business, so you you you know what you're doing and you know what to expect from your folks too, as well. I would, I would, I would think.

Training, Standards, And Doing It Right

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Yeah, and there's a lot of things I still don't know. I'm always at, I mean, I always look to people who are in the industry longer than I have. I mean, there are men that I've met that are second and third generation in this industry, and I really appreciate their expertise so that I can call them and say, hey, this is what I'm running into. What would you suggest just to make sure that we're doing this right? And I'll tell them what I'm planning on doing, and they'll say, Yeah, that's good, or you may want to think about this as well, just to make sure we're not missing anything. So it's a it's been really good finding people that are like-minded that really want quality for their customers, really want that expertise that you're not paying just for an installation, you're paying for that year of expertise and that time to spend to make sure that your job's done properly.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

And from a need space, you're making sure they're they're getting the right product for for what they need, right? For their their situation.

Why Quality Costs And Lasts

SPEAKER_01 9:58

Yeah, and that's one reason our showroom is as large as it is because we try to carry a variety of options for our customers. So it's it's like hardwood flooring. We have flooring that you could put in. It'd be a good contractor flip home where they're building spec homes, put in a product. We have wood flooring that can be installed in restaurants and commercial locations that's hard as a laminate flooring and it's waterproof. So if that's the application that you need, we have that. We also have wood flooring that's more of a luxury, it's an oil finished product that basically you once you put it in, you would never have to sand the floors. You just need to clean it and re-oil it to keep that lustrous look on it. But customers need to know this is not just put it in done. There's going to be some maintenance, there's going to be some long-term care. So making sure the customers understand what they're getting. And I'm always here to help them. I mean, if you have a cleaning question, please call. I mean, I because I do have a background in cleaning, I do try to help customers. Like, like I have a spot on this, what do I need to use? And then telling them, use this and this, do not use these products. Because so many times people just run online or run looking at something, and you don't know what the person's experience is online or what their background is necessarily when you're just reading information, unless you actually look into that particular author or into their background. If you're looking at a video, you can say, Hey, can you give me some background on you that to know that you really know what you're talking about? Because you can do damage if you use the wrong stuff, right? Oh, yeah, you can make wood floors look horrible. You can you can use a spotter, leave some cleaning products in your carpet, and then later on your carpet falls apart because those cleaning products have damaged the adhesive in the backing of the carpet. So there's a lot of things that you can play tub side chemistry with and do some serious damage.

SPEAKER_02 11:59

Absolutely. Wow. Well, Jason, that's quite a story. Um, as far as it sounds like you work all the time, uh literally. Uh, but if you do have any downtime, what do you like to do for fun?

Learning From Industry Veterans

SPEAKER_01 12:13

Spend time with my boys. I got two teenagers that really like to play sports and just spend time with their friends and do projects and do things with them and teach them things that I know that they're wanting to learn. So just spending time with my family is the biggest thing. Plus, we have two 65-pound dogs and then an eight-pound Yorkie or a six-pound Yorkie and two cats. So between my boys, my dogs, my pets, and just keeping the house together, general home maintenance, it's a lot there. Absolutely. How old are your boys? Right now they are 15 in driver's ed. Oh boy. Oh boy. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 12:57

Well, you're getting ready to get into driving age. Wow. Well, make sure you give us a heads up on here so we can. If we're in Brotherford, we can we can watch out. So um, obviously, super busy, uh, got a lot going on. Time with family, always the best answer, by the way. Um, in your own words, you know, what's your higher why? Why, why are you why did you choose this industry and and what's your ultimate uh reason for doing it?

Matching Products To Real Use Cases

Cleaning Guidance And Common Mistakes

SPEAKER_01 13:27

Help people understand why they need help. Because a lot of people go to a box store or go to easy access, high-volume sale products that there's really not someone there to help them walk through the process and explain to him the details of there may be okay products for him there. There may, I mean, I've had people go to Florida Cor, find some beautiful tile, put it in, no problems with it. But they had a good tile installer. You but there's certain products that you can buy at a boxer that, yes, they would probably work, and if it fits your budget, that's fine. But also help explaining to them the differences of the quality of a product because there's two things I always look for. People are looking for durability, performance. We're gonna provide that. But why is my product more expensive? Explaining that to the customer, helping them walk through that. I mean, you can shop around. I don't advertise to have everything you need. I have everything that you could, I offer everything that you could use in your home, but I may not have the color and the style that you want. It's just not not possible to have a store big enough to have everything. But sometimes I've had customers just come and they just need someone to sit with them, spend the time with them to walk them through. This is what I want to do. What do you have? Why would this product be better than this one? What do you think about this if I put this here and just that one-on-one time with them to explain them and walk them through the process? Because a lot of people is like, I am so sorry I took up your time. I'm like, no, this is this is what I'm here for is to help you. I enjoy helping people. I look at you're spending 15 up to who knows up to 40 to 60,000 on flooring and tile for your home. You need to be able to walk in your home and love it every time you look at it and have that conviction that you made the right choice, you spent the right time with someone that helped you make a decision that you will not regret, that you will enjoy what you have, it will perform the way you were told it's gonna perform, and that investment will last you so you're not coming back. You you will refer me because I my reputation's on the line. My personal convictions that I am going to take care of you and treat you like my family and treat you like I would treat any of my best friends to help them. I'm gonna treat every customer like that because in the end, I want you to be a client that will come back to me with questions. I want you to have people say, hey, I this person took care of me. He's a great person to work with, and I want those referrals because I'm building it on relationship, not just to make a sale.

SPEAKER_02 16:29

Absolutely. Love it. Customer comes first, always. Love it, love it. Well, Jason, customer's not always right, but customers come first. They come first. There you go. Good to clarify that. I love it. And you have the right, I love that you said you love you have the right to love what you what you the floor you put in. So thanks for what you do, Jason. Um, we'll catch you in the next episode where we'll we'll dig into some frequently asked questions about flooring and all the things that you guys do. Sounds good. All right. Have a fantastic rest of the day. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 17:05

That's today's step in the right direction from the BPS Southeast Flooring Podcast. Ready to finally love what you're standing on? Call Jason for a free estimate at 828-532-2141 or visit bpssoutheast.com. Luxury vinyl, hardwood, carpet, tile, flooring for everyone. Thanks for listening. And remember, great rooms don't just happen, they're installed.