DECEMBER 2014 n NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE

Ridgefield, NJ—Founded in 2010, RQ Floors is a relative

newcomer to the manufacturing industry. However,

founder Leon Shekhets applied his 27 years of manufac-

turing experience to the company, and has all but perfected the

art. Rapid, consistent growth has brought RQ Floors to the fore-

front of custom Hardwood flooring manufacturers in the

Northeastern United States.

The company originally started out with a product line including

just Rift and Quartered Oaks as their main lumber species, but in

2012 the line was expanded to include plain-sawn Walnut, Red

and White Oak, Maple and Cherry.

“ ‘Small’ is no longer one of the first words that come to mind

when someone asks me to describe RQ. We’re producing rough-

ly 150,000 square feet of final material on a monthly average,”

Shekhets said.

RQ’s product line is split into three groups. First off, RQ offers

plank flooring, available in five specially sourced domestic

species, all from the Appalachian region of North America—Red

and White Oak, Walnut, Cherry and Maple. RQ purchases

approximately 3 million board feet annually, with availability rang-

ing from 1-foot to 8-foot standard lengths, and custom orders

ranging up to 12-foot lengths. Widths are available in 2-1/4 to 9-

inch with cuts available in Rift and Quartered, rift only, quartered

RQ FLOORS Manufactures High-End Floorsand Values High-Quality Customer RelationshipsBy Joshua Smith

The RQ Founding Family—Founder, Leon Shekhets, with his wife,Elina, and daughter, Vera.

A glance at some of the raw material at RQ Floors.

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DECEMBER 2014 n NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE

Please turn to page 57

The RQ labor team

A look at a parquet block assembly.Mateusz Maczuga and Jan Maczuga, the company’s father-son team.Jan is General Manager, and his son, Mateusz, joined RQ in 2013, tyingin the message—RQ is Family.

RQ Floors uses all German machinery in its manufacturing. Moisturecontent is kept at six to eight percent and material is stored in a com-pany warehouse.

only, and plain sawn. Lumber is purchased in proprietary grades,

which include both FAS and No. 1 Common.

RQ’s second product consists of the custom design parquet

flooring, Herringbone and French Herringbone, as well as bor-

ders, all handcrafted by the experts within the RQ Mill. With a cus-

tom mill, the company can work with customers to fit their unique

desirability.

Shekhets adds, “For our third product, we are incredibly excit-

ed to share that, in January 2015, we will launch our newest addi-

tion—Cross Banded Flooring. We did our homework and worked

diligently to invent a new approach to define a balanced

Hardwood floor.”

Already the company has taken lead on high-end projects such

as renovations within the iconic 740 Park Avenue building in

Manhattan, NY. Eric Nelson, an account manager on the team,

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DECEMBER 2014 n NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE

keep up with demand since the market opened back up.

RQ Floors uses all German machinery in its manufacturing.

Moisture content is kept at six to eight percent and material is

stored in a company warehouse. An option to vacuum seal the

product also ensures moisture content of the manufactured prod-

uct during transportation and storage, which eliminates the need

for acclimation time on-site.

The team emphasized its current focus on marketing, with

ideas brewing and ready to take off early next year.

“I think 2015 is going to be an exciting year for us. We’re get-

ting our ducks in a row for the moment, and we are grateful for

the opportunity to share a few exciting moments with our highly

supportive network,” Vera Shekhets said.

Beyond just the physical products they offer, though, all mem-

bers of the RQ Floors family like to highlight the amount of work

they put into maintaining the focus of “human” in the company.

They don’t look at customers as a number, but as members of the

family. That family, of course, includes all company employees.

Vera remarked, “We like to grow and nurture our relationships

both on the internal and external levels. We function as ‘one

cohesive working unit’–my elementary school’s motto, which I

have applied many times throughout my life. Every single rela-

tionship is very special to us, and we like to remind them of it as

often as possible.”

For more information, call 201-654-3587 or visit

www.rqfloorscorp.com. n

RQ Floors manufactures custom Hardwood flooring (shown here) fromSelect and Better White Oak, 3-1/4”, in up to 8-foot lengths.

RQ FLOORS continued from page 21

remarked that this is “a high-end address with historic parquet

floors. We had a client who bought out the entire floor of his exist-

ing apartment and expanded it for a more spacious feel. We had

to do a match of the existing floors, even with the weathering and

the gouging. We were able to match it completely, down to the

color.”

Shekhets founded the corporation alongside wife of 27 years,

Elina, who serves as company treasurer. The couple’s daughter,

Vera Shekhets, recently joined as the director of public relations

and marketing. The family of three emigrated from Kiev, Ukraine,

in 1995, coming to this country as refugees.

While RQ does focus on constantly improving its line, Vera

likes to emphasize the company’s versatility. “While it’s important

to hone in on those niche products, we try not to limit our creativ-

ity,” she explained. “We can’t meet every single demand, but we

definitely try and we like having our own design team. It’s exciting

for them to have something special to work on. And if it’s some-

thing that’s puzzling to us, then we like to take a step back and

come up with a unique approach.”

Of the various positions Leon Shekhets has held within the for-

est products industry, he also dabbled in wholesale distribution

before starting RQ Floors. It has given him the industry experi-

ence necessary to lead the company to a 50 percent growth in

gross sales year-over-year since it’s founding. With an average

raw material inventory of 200,000 board feet, and a finished

inventory of 300,000 square feet, the company has been able to

Larry Pisaryuk, account manager, Nancy Hanrahan, customer liaison,and Eric Nelson, account manager.

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