In starting his company in 2004, CEO and cofounder David Moeller put two decades’ worth of experience in the commercial flooring industry to work. That experience, along with the connections he developed, have his Eagan-based Inside Edge Commercial Interior Services growing fast. Inside Edge, which posted $18.8 million in revenue last year, is projecting $24 million in 2007.

Inside Edge provides flooring installation and maintenance to a number of big-box retail chains, including Best Buy and Dick’s Sporting Goods. Inside Edge handles the process from initial estimate to final delivery and installation, while letting its clients buy materials directly from the manufacturer. Moeller says that this allows Inside Edge to offer both lower prices and better service than most flooring installers. Usually, a retail store can either buy directly from the manufacturer to reduce costs and accept less in the way of service as a tradeoff, or it can hire a contractor to get more comprehensive service and pay a markup on materials.

“The Best Buys of the world want to buy products directly whenever they can,” Moeller says. “At DuPont, I would buy all of Best Buy’s flooring products for them, but I never touched the products or warehoused them.” Moeller was a flooring salesman and manager for DuPont’s Minneapolis branch when he and five other former DuPonters started Inside Edge. “I tried to take the good things they did and make them better,” Moeller says. “The keys were my past relationships with clients, and the name recognition my partners and I had as individuals. That gave us some credibility.”

Inside Edge uses a centralized IT system that integrates a customized estimating program and a private plan-transmission network to streamline the design and ordering process. The company’s network of contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers keeps transport costs down.

Moeller says carpeting that would cost a client $60,000 under a traditional dealer purchase structure would cost closer to $54,000 under Inside Edge’s direct-purchasing model. Tile and border  materials that might have totaled up to $90,000 would cost the client closer to $75,000 or $80,000—even including Inside Edge’s fees.

“Our idea of a better mousetrap was to provide better, more direct service,” Moeller says. “We don’t make money on materials. It’s the efficiency of the service that does it.”