Murphy Dykes enjoys a fast-paced life

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And that’s if traffic conditions were perfect, weather didn’t slow his pace, and he didn’t stop at any of those eight stores, but drove fiercely on.

Okay, it’s not likely he would make it in two hours.

Add in his daily commute from his home in Hillsboro, multiple by six for the number of days Peek’s is open weekly, and the miles really add up.

But distance is relative.

Before marrying, moving to Texas, and joining Peek’s, Dykes oversaw 175 installation crews working jobs from South Carolina to New York for a national remodeling company.

Before that, he owned and operated his own flooring business near Baltimore, MD for almost 25 years.

“I had no plans to stay in flooring when I came to Texas,” Dykes says.

Now, the general manager of Peek’s stores and warehouses is closing in on eight-and-a-half years on the job.

Competition is cutthroat in the flooring business in Dallas, notes Dykes.

“We cater to small business. Our jobs range from small to maybe three or four weeks long. We prefer the smaller commercial jobs because we find we have more control of the quality of the project,” he says.

Spare time is rare, but when work is finished, he enjoys attending auctions, a throwback to the antique business he and his sons had in Maryland.

“That never gets out of your blood,” he says. Apparently, neither does flooring, his livelihood for about 35 years.

Peek’s Carpet and Tile has stores in Frisco, Richardson, Plano, McKinney, Lewisville and three Dallas locations. –mh

©2010 Construction News, Ltd.