Being a flooring installer for 33 years, Mike Emmers has had to be on his knees a lot of the time. But, he still loves doing the work and seeing the happy faces of satisfied customers.

On Oct. 26, Mike Emmers will be starting his 34th year of installing flooring ­- carpet, vinyl, wood plank and even ceramic tile.

“I have been at this work for 33 years now,” he says. “But it is not what I first thought I would be doing as my career.”

No, when Emmers was a young man and had graduated from Le Center High School in 1982, he planned on attending Mankato State University and going into law enforcement.

“I worked for six years at Winco in Le Center, and that convinced me I did not want to work in a factory,” he says. “I had some friends who were deputies, so I thought about getting into law enforcement.”

His ultimate goal was to become a State Highway Patrolman.

But, he got side tracked.

“I was helping out a former girlfriend who was having some remodeling done,” Emmers explains. “I started talking to the guy doing the flooring, and it turns out he had been going to go into law enforcement and had wanted to become a state trooper, too, just like me.”

The guy said he had taken over his uncle’s flooring business instead, and explained it was more money, better hours and more time off than being in law enforcement.

And, easier to get into, with less schooling needed.

Emmers was intrigued and found a 10-week course in flooring installation offered at a vo-tech school in Austin, which is now a community college.

“I learned how to install carpet, vinyl flooring, laminate (now plank) flooring and more,” he explains. “I also took another two week course on ceramic tile work.”

He found out it was pretty easy to find work in the flooring business. He worked for stores in Northfield, Rochester and Hudson, Wisconsin, spending a lot of time on the road. He eventually quit all that travel in 1999.

Emmers even got involved in ownership and management of a flooring business.

“It was Carpet Castle in Le Center, and its owners were Bob and Mark McMillen,” Emmers explains. “I went into partnership with them. They owned another store near the Twin Cities area, too.”

Emmers explains that despite having no business experience, he helped build that business up. But, it came with a price.

“I was doing managing work, working with customers, installing, and a lot else,” he says. “The business was growing dramatically. But it got to be overwhelming, and it really cut into my family time.”

So, after three and a half years, Emmers decided to quit, sold out his interest, and went back to just doing installing. That was in 2003.

He went back to doing installation of flooring in a variety of places. That included a three month stint at the Grand Teton Lodge, installing flooring which included slate and ceramic tile around their hot tubs and mud baths.

In 2005, Emmers met his future wife, Mandy. They were married eight years ago and have three children between them; Mike’s sons Chase and Mike Jr., and Mandy’s daughter, Kali.

“Mandy was from this area,” Emmers says. “Which is what brought me here. We live in the country, kind of between Rake, Iowa, Frost and Elmore.”

Then, in September of 2008, Emmers started working with Matt Armon of Armon Decorating. The key word is “with” and not “for.”

“I am an independent contractor,” Emmers says. “So Matt hires me to do flooring installation for Armon Decorating. However, I am not an employee of Armon’s.”

Emmers says the two, he and Matt, have a very good working relationship.

“I guess it has been 13, 14 years, of doing installation work for Matt,” Emmers says. “That is the longest time I have worked with anyone.”

Emmers says there are not very many installers in the Faribault County area, just two others besides him, that he knows of.

“I am pretty fussy and very particular in the work that I do,” Emmers says. “I really want the customer to be happy with the finished product.”

Some jobs are a little more complicated than others, but Emmers says he always enjoys seeing the final result.

The same is true at his home. Working on his house is one of Emmers’ hobbies.

“I enjoy doing remodeling, plumbing, electrical work,” he says. As well as installing flooring, probably.

His advice is that while it is fine to ‘do-it-yourself’ if you know what you are doing, it is sometimes going to turn out a lot better if you let a professional do it.

And, with 33 years of experience under his belt, Mike Emmers should know. He is truly a professional at installing all kinds of flooring.

The Winnebago Economic Development Authority (EDA) held its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 5, at 5 p.m. ...

Copyright © Faribault County Register | https://www.faribaultcountyregister.com | 125 N. Main St., Blue Earth, MN 56013 | 507-526-7324