TRAVERSE CITY -- In this week's Made with Michigan Hands, we discover a company that got it's start about three decades ago through barn salvaging and boat building.
Rick Paid, owner of Rare Earth Hardwoods has turned his hard work into a successful business with clients such as Bill Gates and even former Presidents.
Paid said, "There are people that live in Traverse City that live on this road here, probably don't know who we are or what we do. We're well known in the flooring industry. We're the guys that they call when they can't find it anywhere else."
So, what exactly does Rare Earth Hardwoods do?
Paid said, "The backbone of our company's been specialty hardwood flooring. Nationally, we're probably special because there's not, there aren't a lot of people that do what we do. It's a real niche market."
But it's not just the finished products that are different, even the raw materials are exotic.
Paid said, "10 years ago, I started, in Brazil, where a lot of our woods come from, I actually bought a piece of land, two pieces of land, a huge piece of forest, virgin forest, which is our preserve, about 2,000 acres."
Rick says the selection is another thing that sets them apart.
Paid said, "There could probably be 100 maybe 120 different species of hardwoods in our warehouse. It's unusual,yeah, I mean, a typical domestic flooring company, or, we're not really a specifically a flooring company, but anybody who manufactures flooring is going to have probably five, maybe."
The clearing projects that provide a lot of their trees from Brazil make the operations as eco-friendly as possible.
They keep a greenhouse where they attempt to cultivate everything that was harvested and re-plant it.
