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Aurora May 6, 2007 -- Back in the early 1990s, the idea that people would pay big bucks for a fancy garage floor wasn't the easiest sell. But Gus Schuberth stuck with it. Today, he helms his company from his new 34,000 square foot headquarters in Aurora, his brand has become a standard in the regional housing industry, and he has begun reaching for national domination with new locations out of state. Called Floorguard, the company produces and applies a proprietary blend of coatings that make concrete garage floors shine like a kitchen counter (albeit one with a lot of texture for the sake of traction).
They've also expanded their services to include a comprehensive system of wall brackets and shelving, building the company into a one-stop shop for homeowners looking to make their garages as tidy as any other room. Schuberth arrived at his entrepreneurial breakthrough when he was struggling to make ends meet with a small carpet cleaning business he had started in his 20s. His largest client was a video rental chain that one day asked him if he would take an extra contract to seal the concrete floor of a large warehouse. He'd never done a job like that, he laughed, but "we were young and aggressive. If they had asked us to build a space shuttle, we would have said yes." Jumping at that opportunity proved a turning point in Schuberth's life. He discovered that, unlike in the carpet-cleaning industry, competition was scarce for putting a high-quality finish on concrete -- and that competition dropped to non-existent for the residential market. Betting that homeowners would pay for the service if they realized how clean and attractive their garage floor could look, Schuberth incorporated Floorguard in 1994 with the help of his girlfriend (now wife) Pamela. Getting an entirely new thing off the ground wasn't easy, the couple laughed, remembering their early days of running the business from their studio apartment and storing drums of product in a truck outside. Winning their first customers was tough, they said. "We had to educate people in the beginning, because nobody knew what it was." Over time, however, word-of-mouth widened the client list dramatically. "The women loved it because it looked beautiful," Pamela Schuberth said, "and the men loved it because of the functionality." Gus Schuberth said he kept sales growing through sheer tenacity. "I had tunnel vision," he said, and a round-the-clock work ethic. Being obsessed with quality didn't hurt, either. "We don't alter our procedures," he said, even if customers request that some corners be cut on jobs that usually start around $1,600. "We either do it the right way or someone else can do it." After becoming dissatisfied with the durability of coatings available on the market, Schuberth worked with polymer manufacturers to come up with a blend that could withstand virtually any abuse a garage is likely to see. The resulting coating is also solvent-free, making it environmentally friendly and odor-free during application. With 17 employees, the company outgrew its leased space in North Aurora last year and purchased its new office and warehouse in the new Bell-Gale industrial park just off downtown Aurora. The next step, Schuberth said, is to expand the franchising operation from current locations in South Carolina, Delaware and Pennsylvania. "Our five-year goal is 60 franchises," he said.
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