Better Life Technology, LLC

The Situation — Three winters ago, Brett Sneed walked into his Kansas City home from the garage, tracking winter slush all over his wife's new white carpeting. Needless to say, she was not pleased. To rectify the situation, Brett spent the next two months searching for some type of garage floor covering—one that would protect the concrete from the dirt, grime, and oil that coats the floor of most garages. He also wanted a product he could easily wash, but came up empty handed. Brett spent the next 6 months creating the perfect garage floor protection product. The most important objective was to control liquids and debris that fall from vehicles. He designed and patented a unique channeling system that can do just that. In addition, he created a product that is both functional and beautiful. His new product is compatible with acids and alkalis in concrete to last for years without breaking down yet can be installed in just minutes without requiring adhesives. After his discoveries, he approached his father, Don Sneed, with his creation, and they began to brainstorm. Together, they invented the Parking Pad—a mat and floor covering made of polyvinyl. The Parking Pad covers a garage floor, trapping dirt and other garage filth, and is slip-resistant. The Sneeds molded grooves into the soft material to channel liquid debris out of the door, controlling the flow and keeping the rest of the garage from getting soaked. The product led to their father-son company—Better Life Technology. The Challenge — The Parking Pad was a completely new concept in floor coverings. Its predecessor in covering and protecting garage floors was epoxy paint, a method quite different from the inexpensive, easy to install Parking Pad. "According to manufacturers (of epoxy paint), this labor-intensive process takes consumers 16 days to do properly, and believe me, virtually no one does it right, resulting in the epoxy coming up onto car tires within months," said Don Sneed, now president of BLT. "Our product lets consumers transform their garage floor into something truly beautiful in minutes, and it will last for years, protecting new floors and making old floors look new." Because it hadn't been done before, the Sneeds faced some doubt from investors and even friends. Once they eventually got the capital to open BLT and began manufacturing the Pad, they hit another wall: the most popular mat sizes are 8 ft x 20 ft, 9 ft x 20 ft and 10ft x 22 ft, much too bulky for most retail floor space. And, with a down-sizing economy, new products were increasingly difficult to place with mass retailers. The Strategy — BLT approached a buyer for one of the "big box" store chains who suggested placing the first shipments of Parking Pads in stores in the snowey, wintery areas of the country. They sold like hot cakes and soon the word spread to other retailers. The product was in hot demand, and BLT has become the world's largest manufacturer of garage floor cover-protector mats.

Mailing Address:

9812 Pflumm Road
Lenexa, KS 66215

Phone Number:

913-894-0403

Website:

http://www.bltllc.com