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Wood canvas

A family-owned company in the region brings unique hardwood flooring and staircase solutions to residential and commercial spaces.

There is a classic elegance to hardwoods. Its timeless appearance, durability, and functional performance add warmth and style to a home. While the applications of hardwoods are endless, it is often found in hand-crafted furnishings, rich trim around the perimeter of the interior spaces, flooring, and staircases.

Delivering innovative and distinctive solutions for clients in custom hardwood flooring and stairs is a specialty RT Baldwin, a West Michigan-based company, has been providing for more than 20 years.

Located in the greater Grand Rapids area—a region with a rich history in fine wood products—RT Baldwin strives to provide residential and commercial clients with high-quality hardwood flooring and staircase options for their respective projects.

The family-owned and operated company offers a variety of services, ranging from raw material or pre-finish installation, sanding, finishing, and refinishing of hardwood floors; to the construction, furnishing, custom carving handrails, and installation of staircases.

Lance Baldwin, owner of RT Baldwin, said the company has also started to offer different options for hardwood floors and staircases, such as wire brushing, hand scraping, unique colors and finishes, maintenance oil finishes, and custom curved or straight designs for staircases.

“We are trying to keep that unique edge,” said Baldwin. “As a company, I do think we try very hard to make every customer happy. We are very clean, very neat, and very respectful of the home. We have a staff of 14 and every one treats the project like their own home. They take pride in what they are doing there.”

Baldwin noted in their line of work, the team is often the first subcontractor onsite when a residential project is still a “white box” and has the opportunity to start making the house feel like the client’s home. The addition of rich hardwood flooring or a beautiful staircase has the ability to imbue the space with a sense of warmth and personality. Baldwin said while it is not as easily interchanged as furniture, flooring and staircases are similar to the furnishings of a home in the sense that they are pieces with a visible width, look, or texture.

“You notice it,” said Baldwin. “It’s a staple of the home.”

RT Baldwin was officially established around the mid-1990s near Higgins Lake and opened a second branch in the greater Grand Rapids area in 2002. The company was consolidated to its Hudsonville location a few years later, but continues to service builders, designers, and customers in the northern central area in the state.

“My mother and father started the company as a side business. They were both inquiring about a hardwood floor around Higgins Lake,” said Baldwin. “They contacted our local Amish group out of Gladwin, found raw material, and ended up installing, sanding, finishing, and learning how to do it on their own.”

Once development in the residential area began to take off in earnest a couple years later, installing wood floors became a family endeavor. By the turn of the millennium, Baldwin became a majority owner of the company.

RT Baldwin works with a number of designers and builders in the region, such as: Falcon Custom Homes, Scott Christopher Homes, and BDR Custom Homes.

GLBD

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