Cecilia Grinham is the CFO and business development manager with Deerfoot Carpet and Flooring

Take a look at your feet. Chances are they’re resting on carpet or some type of flooring. Maybe it’s ceramic tile, hardwood, vinyl, or laminate. When you start to think about it, the choice of flooring is almost enough to make your head spin. And that’s something Cecilia Grinham can totally relate to.

Grinham was born in Calgary but spent the past 22 years working in Nanaimo, B.C. as an accountant. In 2010, she moved back to Calgary to start working at the family business: Deerfoot Carpet and Flooring. “My biggest challenge was learning the flooring industry,” she jokes. “I can put numbers together easily but to learn the actual flooring products and how this industry works was a challenge.”

Deerfoot Carpet and Flooring has been operating in Calgary for more than 17 years. During that time, the company has provided flooring to more than 20,000 homeowners, businesses and contractors with 85 per cent of that business coming from referrals or repeat customers. “We make sure at the end of the day that the customer is happy,” says Grinham.

One of the ways that Deerfoot Carpet and Flooring makes sure its customers are happy is providing complete floor covering service, including installation. This is what separates them from the big box flooring suppliers of the world who have general – not specialized – staff who sell flooring.

”Going into customer’s homes, and in many cases, completely disrupting their home environment is a very big deal to people,” says Grinham.” Because we have specialized staff, we are able to coordinate jobs from beginning to end, with the least disruption, resulting in a successful project. Big box stores are not equipped to handle these uniquely personal situations.”

As Deerfoot Carpet and Flooring’s CFO and Business Development Manager, Grinham handles the organization’s financial statements and tax returns, as well as business development and human resources. One of the first things Grinham did when she started work was look around for a benefit plan and health coverage for the company’s employees.      

“I went around and got quotes and the Chamber turned out to have the best deal,” Grinham says.  “If you get the Chamber health care benefit plan, it's almost like getting your Chamber membership for free – as a kind of bonus!”

But Grinham believes that Chamber membership has other benefits, as well.  “There is so much potential,” she says. “I’d like the Chamber to be a place where the plumbers and painters can show up and they will get business.”

Learn more at DeerfootCarpet.com