Gladys House is a woman on a mission. Her business is floor covering, her mission is equity in contracting on the local, state and federal level. She started Carpet Depot Affordable Carpets, LLC with the expectation that she could be a success in her industry. 18 years later, after she decided to leave the construction industry to start her own business, she is still fighting for equal opportunity in the marketplace.
She chose floor coverings because of their ability to really beautify a room. Customers often express their surprise when they see this petite woman show up to inspect and measure their home for a job. A lot of her customers state, “If I had not seen you do this, I wouldn’t have believed that you’d done it.” They just don’t believe women can do it because they’ve never seen women installers. House states, “I’m still looking for women installers. It’s difficult to get sisters involved in floor covering installation because they don’t want to break their nails, or they don’t want to sweat their hair. They don’t want to exercise or get down on their knees and get busy with installing and pulling up covering. If its one or two rooms, I’ll just go ahead and do it myself. But a lot of male installers always have helpers.”
House’s pricing is extremely competitive because she doesn’t have a lot of overhead and limits her advertising costs so that the customer can purchase the best carpet for the best price. She does a lot of repeat business with customers and churches.
She advices customers to:
- Make sure that you have the correct measurements.
- A customer should buy carpet by the yard instead of the foot because the cost differential can be confusing.
- Make sure that you measure pass the threshold. Some people stop at the wall. If you don’t, you may be charged for additional carpeting.
When a new customer visits Carpet Depot Affordable Carpets, LLC, they may be asked the following questions:
- What you are buying the floor covering for?
- What is your color scheme?
- What type of carpet are you interested in?
- What’s on the floor now? (tile, carpeting, concrete, etc.)
Glady’s House Fighting for Her People
House has struggled with getting contracts because she is female and a minority business owner. She states, “You just have to be a warrior because a lot of times people have the misconception that because you are Black and female that you get all of the business. Wrong! It worked against me and continues to do so. You have to stir up a lot to get justice. Sometimes people begin to hold that against you, label you a rebel and a troublemaker. When actually because of the so called ‘trouble,’ I started, you are here. You are benefiting from it.”
House says, “Our people really should stop boycotting our businesses. Some people do not do it intentionally. But some do, and they boycott our businesses when they take their money to European businesses. We used to support each other, so that’s an issue. Our people need to seek out minority business owners.” She suggests that the read local African American newspapers, journals, and magazines to find out where they are located. Supporting African American businesses keeps us in business and helps our communities thrive.
Carpet Depot is located on 3621 Hurley Street, Houston, TX 77093. House can be reached by telephone at 713-742-6995 or by email at gcarpetdepot@aol.com or Gladys.house@ymail.com. Her hours of operation are Tuesday through Friday, 11:00 am to 6:00 pm and Saturday 8:00 am to Noon.
