Handle Your Business

Ted Bankert answers the door at his East Berlin home with bleary eyes and a weary smile, worn from the previous night’s work and tired of an uncooperative propane floor buffer.

“It works most of the time … until it doesn’t,” he sighs, before his wit allows an observation.

“Kinda like me,” Bankert says, laughing.

After 14 years of owning T&W Floor Care with his wife, Wendy, Bankert values an enduring sense of humor to ameliorate a trying business environment. And perhaps copious amounts of caffeine to help him bear his nocturnal work schedule?

“Not anymore,” Bankert answers, with weight concerns leading him to lose the once staple of soda. Instead, willpower and an aim for otherworldly comparisons keep Bankert on task.

SMITH “I’m kinda like the magical shoe cobbling elves,” Bankert starts, before making sense of the cartoon comparison.

“People leave work for the night,” and Bankert arrives to ply his trade, his “magic,” by cleaning floors until they shine.

“Like glass,” Bankert adds.

As well, a greater calling came from a very satisfied customer, who offered a heavenly review.

“One customer called us The Shining Floor Gods,” Bankert recalls, a tagline he advertises on his work van.

Bankert’s omnipotence in shiny floor care offerings of “strip and wax” and “mop and buff” also include carpet cleaning.

“Most residential jobs are carpet cleanings,” Bankert says, though he succinctly reasons why he prefers commercial and industrial customers.

“They pay more,” he reveals and usually require weekly cleanings while residential customers sometimes schedule cleaning years apart.

“Although,” Bankert begins, “residential customers are more timely in paying” for services than many commercial clients. Bankert fumes as he talks about one and two-month payment schedules that crash his cash flow.

“I have bills and helpers to pay, materials to buy … .” A swig of tea stops Bankert’s likely long recitation and seemingly softens his angst.

“It just makes it difficult,” to operate the business when revenues are down 50 percent from a few years ago, though he thinks there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

“And I don’t think it’s a train,” Bankert adds.

His business is in a gradual upturn, though he can’t say the same for quotes he’s providing to interested people.

“My prices today are the same as they’ve been for several years,” Bankert reveals, blaming competition and cost-conscious customers for this pricing stagnation.

“Unfortunately,” Bankert starts, “the cost of doing business continues to rise,” which squeezes tight margins. Bankert, though, details a few practices that help uncoil these constrictions.

“I buy supplies from large home improvement stores,” which offer appreciable savings compared to smaller distributors. Does he regret not dealing with these local cleaning supply businesses?

“I don’t like that the economy forces such decisions,” Bankert responds before continuing, “but I don’t have the luxury” to help others without regard to the bottom line.

As well, Bankert doesn’t keep a large inventory of supplies, instead preferring to let large “box” stores pay to keep stock. “And I definitely don’t feel bad about that,” Bankert adds, chuckling.

The constant turnover of helpers, though, isn’t amusing. Regrettably, Bankert’s “best helper ever,” 16-year-old daughter Nicole, can’t assist during the week owed to her scholastic endeavors which continually keeps Bankert looking for suitable help. Bankert gives a simple reason why it’s a constant struggle.

“I work goofy hours and it takes a toll on normal people,” Bankert says, aware of his self-deprecation.

He continues, “Yes, I tend to amuse people, have a good time” and try to laugh, even at work, even though “there may be reasons to cry.”

Bankert says that his pride in his work and operating his own business are main motivators to continue forward, even when the economy causes him uncertainty in how to best proceed.

“Oh,” he adds, “and the chance that I’ll drop over, cleaning floors, doing what I love.”

The interview ends as Bankert needs to get his son, Ryan, off the school bus. It remains unclear if he was serious or joking about the “dropping over” remark.

IF YOU GO

What: T&W Floor Care

Where: East Berlin

Owners: Wendy and Ted Bankert

Years in Business: 14

Call: 632-4560

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