Editor’s Note:The Chronicle is working to assist local businesses suffering from the effects of the COVID-19 virus spread and associated government orders to close or limit commerce. There will be a feature on a local business in each edition of The Chronicle and at chronline.com moving forward. To be considered, email reporter Eric Trent at etrent@chronline.com. Additionally, The Chronicle will continue to offer its coverage of the coronavirus and its effects across the community, state and nation free outside of our paywall at chronline.com.
It didn’t take Ron Swena long to find his calling. After working for a hardwood flooring company and learning the trade for five years, Swena wanted to start off on his own, independently. He wanted to be his own boss.
So he saved his money for years to buy equipment and then started Ron’s Hardwood Floors & Co. in 1990. The transition from employee to business owner was about as smooth as could be.
“There’s obviously things you don’t see coming from, like requirements, but it was pretty much what I expected,” Swena said.
The company started out of a small workshop, with Swena as the owner and lone employee, and has since grown to five employees, a retail showroom, shop and storage compound. Ron’s Hardwood Floors & Co. serves Lewis, Thurston, Cowlitz, Grays Harbor and Pacific counties.
When Swena started the business, all it offered, for the most part, was refinishing hardwood flooring. It’s all he had the capacity to do at the time. Now, the company installs, sands and finishes custom hardwood flooring. It even has worked in pre-finished flooring the past eight years.
Swena touts his work as visually impressive and and long-lasting; a big reason how his company established itself in the community. He uses his showroom to showcase both pre-finished and traditional, solid hardwood floors that are finished on-site. The company even offers some luxury vinyl planks. Swena doesn’t subcontract anything as he and his employees do all the work; something they take pride in, he said.
The most common job the company performs, by far, is repairing and refinishing old floors. Next would be custom hardwood finishes, while growing the pre-finished side of the business, which accounts for about 30 percent of the business. Typical hardwood floor installations are completed with red oak and that are about 1/4 inch thick.
The pandemic has affected the business, mostly early on when COVID-19 first hit. Swen was forced to shut down for March, April and the beginning of May after not being listed as an essential business by the state. Since then, business has been pretty good.
“Surprisingly, it’s bounced back to pretty much normal,” Swen said.
The company typically stays busy most of the year, except during the winter months. Fortunately, when the pandemic hit in March, Swena was already booked out with clients through the end of June. Only two or three clients decided to hold off until after the pandemic ended and haven’t returned yet.
“But everybody else, once we were back in business, they all came back on our schedule,” Swena said. “It made a period of time where we were like way too busy. Probably what benefited my business more is because I’m always busy anyway.”
Ron’s Hardwood Floors & Co. is located at 1817 S. Market Blvd., Suite A, in Chehalis. The store is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
“All my employees and everybody who works here strives to be professional and do the highest quality of work possible,” Swena said. “We pride ourselves in being a custom floor company, and we translate that into the pre-finished side. We have a lot of options we can do because of the skills my employees have.”
More Information on Ron’s Hardwood Floors & Co.
Owner: Ron Swena
Location: 1817 S. Market Blvd., Suite A, Chehalis
Phone: 360-748-4906
Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday
Website: rons-hardwood-floors.com
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Reporter Eric Trent can be reached at etrent@chronline.com. Visit chronline.com/business for more coverage of local businesses.
