San Antonio Construction News • OCT 2020
Page 3
Flooring San Antonio
When one door opens
The Commercial Surfaces team Bottom L-R: Kurt Fielden, Emmy Walter and Rommy Cubillo. Top L-R: Emily Robles, Milo Cubillo, RJ Cubillo, Bethann Walter, Raul Valadez and Tony Valadez.
Hull Door Leadership L-R: Owners John & Valerie Hull and General Manager Jay Adams
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n 2001, four flooring professionals put their expertise to work to form a flooring company of their own. Specializing in commercial flooring, they named their new company, Commercial Surfaces Inc. Just a few short months after starting up their new company, the unforgettable happened. It was 9/11. “Of course, we thought what a great time to start a new business. It’s kind of like everything right now with COVID. Everything just stopped,” says Commercial Surfaces President, Kurt Fielden. It was slow at first for the new commercial flooring company. They ran their operation lean and warehoused out of the freight lines. Little by little the company got bigger and bigger. Today, two of the original four partners have retired leaving Fielden and Rommy Cubillo of the original team. Raul Valadez has since joined the Commercial Surfaces team and is in line to be the next partner and oversees the company’s medical division. “Being in business almost 20 years, we have a lot of loyal customers. That has kind of kept us going. The customers that we have, we have had for 30 years. These are businesses we served before we were Commercial Surfaces,” Fielden says. “All of us have been in the business longer than the company’s 20 years. I think most of us are each at 35-40 years a piece. “We take a lot of pride in our labor,” says Valadez. “Everybody compares their labor to ours. A lot of our guys are second and third generation installers.”
“We are known for quality installation. Our installers have been with us. They are all kind of getting up in age too because there is no training or schools for installation. They’ve learned it from their fathers and uncles. It is kind of a trade passed down from generation to generation,” adds Cubillo. “We get a lot of projects even if we are not low bidder because they want the installation to be correct and don’t want to worry about it,” Fielden adds. Commercial Surfaces offers a wide range of materials for all types of commercial flooring needs. The company’s vast knowledge base and expertise help their clients get the right product for the right performance in the right application, consulting with architects, general contractors, interior designers, building owners and property managers from idea to installation. “We assist clients in determining the right type of floorcovering for their application with regard to budget, performance and aesthetic issues,” says Fielden. Commercial Surfaces Inc. serves all of San Antonio and its surrounding areas to include Boerne, Hondo, Seguin, Floresville, New Braunfels, San Marcos and on occasion, Austin. “We try to stay in an area where we can service our customers’ projects. Our target is a zero punch list. A lot of times we will run a punch list before our clients run a punch list, so we are not on their punch list,” says Valadez. Commercial Surfaces Inc. is a flooring supplier and contractor in San Antonio. -cmw
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ince 1996, Hull Door LLC has been serving San Antonio contractors. The commercial door, frame and hardware supplier strives to provide quick service for mostly finish-out and tenant finish-out projects. “We do hospitality projects and hospitals, but most of what we do is office finish-outs and highrise condominiums,” says Jay Adams, Hull Door General Manager. According to Adams, who started with Hull Door in 2008, the door and hardware industry has changed some over the past 20 years. “99.9 percent of the time, packaged door frames and hardware are now supplied to the contractor. Before they would buy hardware from one supplier, doors from one, frames from another. Over the last 15 years it has really evolved with the contractors who are using one supplier for all Division 8 material for a particular project. This cuts down on a lot of problems
because you are only dealing with one person, rather than tracking down three different suppliers if there is a problem or issue with a project,” Adams adds. Additionally, Adams says more electronic and electrified hardware is going on jobs. With the onset of COVID, more and more projects are adding automatic operators to reduce the amount of personal contact. “The doors are automatically opening. If they don’t want to go that route, they are going with other hardware in which you can use your foot to open. People are being more touchless. I think you are going to see a lot more of that right now to really cut down on germ transfer.” Hull Door continues to service their core based customers, going where they need them to go. Providing the best customer service, the quickest response for fast-pace projects continues to be Hull’s main objective. “We strive every year to exceed what we did the year before and try to grow our customers. We have customers that have been with us for 25 years, since we opened. That’s a testament right there. When you have the same customers coming back for that long that means you are doing something right. We are looking for new customers as well. Hull Door LLC is a division 8 supplier in San AntoThe team behind Hull Door LLC. nio. -cmw
