HJ Martin and Son

Company history

The company began in 1931, with Henry John Martin and his wife Margaret selling flooring and tile out of the family’s garage on the near west side of Green Bay. In 1959, the Martins moved the company to its first commercial location in Green Bay. In 1948, their son Patrick Henry Martin, a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and former First Lieutenant in the Army Air Corps, joined the business. In 1956, he and his wife, Mary Ellen, purchased the business from his father’s estate, marking the second generation of family ownership in the business. In 1959, Patrick Henry Martin moved the business to its current location in Wisconsin. He also changed the company name to HJ Martin and Son.

By the 1960, the company added commercial divisions from its original focus on flooring and tile. During this period in the company’s history, the focus was on serving local retail stores through its commercial division and using its showroom to serve local homeowners.

In 1978, and after graduating from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, third-generation owner Edward N. Martin became involved in the company. He was named president of the company in November 1978, later purchasing the company with his wife, Terri Martin, in 1996 after the death of Patrick Henry Martin. Edward Martin focused on company growth and added new company divisions. This opened up new opportunities to work with larger businesses, such as Green Bay-based retailer Shopko. Due to continued expansion and company growth, the company also created dedicated warehouse space in 1979.

In 1985, the company completed its first project for the Green Bay Packers. HJ Martin and Son provided the glass and glazing, flooring and drywall for the addition of skyboxes to Lambeau Field.

Due to this growth during the 1990s, the company established a distribution center in its original warehouse space, which provided more than four times the previous storage and operation space. In 1998, the company also expanded its reach into national retail chains, adding Target as a customer.

HJ Martin and Son continued its expansion during the 2000s, including a dedicated glass and glazing facility across the street from its headquarters and a dedicated showroom in Neenah, Wisconsin.

The company remains a privately held business, and in 2009, David Martin joined the business after graduating from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He represents the fourth generation of the family to be directly involved in the business operations.

In 2012, HJ Martin and Son added polished concrete to its services. In 2015, the company expanded to include operable partitions.

On January 1, 2016, the company acquired White Enterprises, which added Tate access flooring to the company's product line. Access flooring is also known as raised flooring, and is used in certain business applications, such as for data centers.

Current work

While HJ Martin and Son initially established itself as a retail flooring and tile company to consumers in Northeast Wisconsin, the company also has developed itself as a supplier and contractor to the national retail industry.

The company continues to work regularly with national retail clients such as Best Buy, Target, JC Penney, Burlington Stores, Walmart, Shopko, and Menards. While the company focuses on retail clients, HJ Martin and Son also works in a variety other industries. The company has also completed numerous projects with Festival Foods, a Wisconsin-based grocery store chain. In 2015, HJ Martin and Son also worked on the first Wisconsin location of Nordstrom in Milwaukee.

Additionally, HJ Martin and Son maintains a long working relationship with the Green Bay Packers for improvements to Lambeau Field. Notable projects include the Lambeau Field Atrium glass wall, the largest glass project HJ Martin and Son has completed to date.

Industry ranking and activities

in 2016, HJ Martin and Son was ranked 34th in US Glass magazine's listing of Top 50 contract glaziers. and also ranked among the Top 50 contractors in Walls and Ceilings magazine. HJ Martin and Son appeared for the first time on US Glass magazine’s annual listing of Top 50 top contract glaziers in 2015, ranking 32nd nationally. The company was also ranked 36th in Glass Magazine's Top Glaziers for 2015.

In 2016, Engineering News-Record named the company as 32nd top specialty contractor nationally and seventh in Wisconsin. HJ Martin and Son was named as 179th in the Top 600 Specialty Contractors by Engineering News-Record in late 2015. In 2014, HJ Martin and Son was ranked 14th on Engineering News-Record’s list of Top 20 Contractors in Glazing and Curtainwall, as well as making its first appearance on the ENR Top Specialty Contractors, ranking as the 165th largest specialty contractor in the country. HJ Martin and Son also made the ENR list of Top 20 firms in Glazing and Curtain Wall, ranking 14th nationally and first in Wisconsin in 2014.

The company was ranked 38th on Floor Covering Weekly’s annual listing of the nation’s top 50 flooring retailers in 2016 and 31st in 2014.

In 2016, HJ Martin and Son received a 2016 Build Wisconsin Award for its work as a specialty contractor on the Schreiber Foods Home Office and Global Technology Center in Green Bay as well as two additional awards for Specialty Contractor-Exterior Finishes for the corporate headquarters of the International Dairy Company and Specialty Contractor-Interior Finishes for the Fox Valley Hematology & Oncology Center. HJ Martin and Son received similar awards in 2012 and 2014.

In 2016, HJ Martin and Son received the Silver Starnet Environmental Stewardship Award for its work with Carpet Recovery America, a non-profit organization focused on providing recycling and re-use of post-consumer carpet and for its efforts in donating used cell phones. The previous year, HJ Martin and Son received a bronze 2015 Starnet Environmental Stewardship Award and the bronze award in the Education category from the international commercial flooring partnership organization.

In 2015, HJ Martin and Son was named a Newsmaker of the Year by the Daily Reporter, a Wisconsin trade magazine focused on building, construction, real estate, and transportation in the state. The company was also named as the 2015 Retailer Award for the Midwest by Floor Trends Magazine.

HJ Martin and Son is a member of the United States Green Building Council.

Charity work

In 2016, HJ Martin and Son began working with Cellcom's Green Gifts Program. The company donated 118 used cell phones plus cases and accessories to the program, which are then recycled with the proceeds used to fund local grants for environmentally sustainable projects in the community.`

HJ Martin and Son started collaborating with educators at West De Pere High School to offer educational opportunities for high schoolers interested in exploring the flooring trades.

In 2015, the home of David Martin was used by local interior designers as the showcase home in the Designers for Hope event to benefit House of Hope. The company also provided materials and labor for the renovation of a new multi-purpose space, Backstage at the Meyer, which is part of Green Bay's historic Meyer Theatre.

HJ Martin and Son supports Building for America's Bravest, an organization that builds smart homes for catastrophically injured military personnel and first responders. In keeping with the company's initiative to help veterans, in November 2015, HJ Martin was part of The Jerry Project, a collaborative project that helped construct a home for a Vietnam veteran in Wisconsin.

The company was the 2015 title sponsor for Touchdowns for Hope, a charity that supports House of Hope, a Green Bay-based shelter for homeless, pregnant and parenting women between the ages of 18 and 24 (parenting youth), and their children. HJ Martin was also a lead sponsor of the 2015 Hard Hats & Heels event, benefiting the The Greater Green Bay and Greater Fox Cities Area Habitat for Humanity affiliates and featuring Green Bay Packers wide receiver Jordy Nelson as the keynote speaker.

HJ Martin and Son works with the Packers Heritage Trail; in 2013, the company sponsored a bronze sculpture of Green Bay Packer Paul Hornung, which was installed in the Packers Heritage Trail Plaza.

HJ Martin and Son has also been involved with the International Children's Fund, an organization focused on the needs of children in Africa. HJ Martin and Son has donated two containers of flooring products – 13,480 square feet—to ICF’s construction projects in Liberia and Sierra Leone.