Dur?A?Flex Inc., a leading manufacturer of commercial, industrial and institutional seamless, resinous floor systems, celebrates 50 years in business in March. Dur?A?Flex Inc. opened its doors for business on March 4, 1966, with a team of 5 people and a humble 1,600 square-foot store front. Beginning as both a resinous flooring manufacturer and installation company, it focused on Connecticut’s residential flooring market and the business quickly found its footing.
Over the next few years Dur?A?Flex expanded its offerings by producing decorative colored quartz, a key addition to its thriving epoxy product line. With its expanded product line and continued growth the decision was made to step away from the installation side of the business to focus solely on manufacturing and sales to flooring contractors.
Throughout the 1980s the customer base continued to expand, servicing flooring contractors up and down the East Coast. Also during this period came new leadership when a 10-year veteran of Dur?A?Flex, Bob Smith, purchased the company from the Andreski family in 1986. The 1990s saw continued product line expansion with the addition of the Cryl?A?Flex, a fast?curing methyl methacrylate line with a one?hour, 100 percent cure time.
Now well into the 21st century, Dur?A?Flex continues to gain momentum with the release of innovative, high-performance floor systems such as the cementicious urethane system Poly?Crete which was a game changer for the food processing industry, Hybri?Flex hybrid floor systems and, most recently, Accelera Fast?Track Flooring Systems offering end?users a “floor in a day.” Peter V. Ferris, president and chief operating officer notes that, “Our constant push for innovative new products, like Accelera, is what drives our business. We really do live and breathe our tag line of ‘Innovation from the Floor Up.’ We’ve also pushed to be innovative in other areas of our business such as creating a Business Development Team, expanding Technical Service into Applicator Development and Training programs, along with opening additional distribution centers in California and Illinois to offer customers faster transit times. Continuous improvement is vital to our success.”
“Dur?A?Flex has grown and evolved over its many decades but one thing has always remained constant, our commitment to our customers,” remarks Bob Smith. “Some of our earliest customers from the 1970s and 1980s are still installing Dur?A?Flex floors to this day, albeit they are now second-generation businesses. What makes Dur?A?Flex unique is that family aspect ? that we cultivated relationships with the first generation and have maintained and strengthened those relationships as the businesses have transitioned to the next generation. Dur?A?Flex stands by its customer from the inception of a project through to completion and we do that through a multitude of channels. From the Sales Manager’s guidance on the correct system for the application, no?charge custom colors and samples for Architectural approval, to same?day shipping and pick?up through any of our three locations ? we strive to make working with Dur?A?Flex an effortless process for our
customers. We’ve always considered our customers a top priority and we thank them for their many years of business and look forward to the next 50 years!”
Named one of the “Best Places to Work in CT” five times by the Hartford Business Journal?sponsored awards program, Dur?A?Flex Inc. is a privately held, leading manufacturer of quality epoxy, urethane, methyl methacrylate and colored aggregates offering a complete line of high performance polymer flooring and wall systems. The versatile seamless applications provide improved safety, minimal downtime and easy maintenance to all industries.
