Kevin Covlin

Kevin Covlin spent most of his life contributing to the evolvement of the finer details of installing, sanding, staining and finishing MFMA maple flooring. His start was doing fine woodworking and finishing on a Chicago North Shore property in Winnetka, Illinois which developed into hand cut inlays, parquets and stained or painted heritage floor designs. A grandson of Richard Basement, Tom Blakeman, suggested a partnership called Wood Floors Unlimited of Illinois. One of the original hand built riding sanders was modified and duplicated to offer fine finishing to gym floor contractors for high profile gym floors. By 1997, Kevin sold his residential business and subcontracted large sanding and finishing work from contractors representing every MFMA Manufacturer as FLR Sanders. In the late 1990’s every MFMA Manufacturer had a floor sanded and finished by Kevin in their company brochure.
In 2000, Kevin moved away from markets served by his gym floor contracting friends from whom he had garnered a wealth of knowledge and started working directly with customers through FLR Sanders, Inc. He incorporated an in-house art department within the company which helped introduce many of the painting, fading, and staining concepts now prevalent in the gym floor market. In 2013, the World Food Prize project in the former Des Moines library garnered FLR Sanders the 2013 Masters Award from the Master Builders of Iowa through Neuman. The 10,000 square feet of hand cut hardwoods including MFMA maple and other specialty inlays, staining and finishing also attained LEED Platinum status, a major accomplishment for a historic building. The Minnesota Educational Facilities Management Professionals posthumously awarded FLR Sanders, Inc. the 2014 Outstanding Business Member Contributor Award in recognition of outstanding dedication and commitment to educational facilities management.
Kevin worked hard, played hard, always with a loud voice, hearty laugh and his heart on his sleeve. His enthusiasm for making every floor just a little better than the last one was shared with employees and recognized by many. He lost his life in an airplane accident in 2013 departing the Princeton airport bound for hunting in North Dakota.