PLATTEVILLE, Wis. — A 70-year-old Platteville flooring company can boast of a third generation of ownership and an endorsement from a College Basketball Hall of Famer.

K&K Floors was co-founded by Clayton Kliebenstein and Don Kitto in 1954. Kliebenstein bought out his partner in 1976 and turned the firm over to his son, Jeff Kliebenstein, in the late 1980s. Michael Kliebenstein, Jeff’s son, became the owner of the firm in 2020, while Jeff continues to work at the business.

“Growing up, I always wanted to be a cop or a firefighter — something like that,” said Michael, 33. “But as I got older, keeping the business in the family grew on me.”

Clayton Kliebenstein died in 2009 at age 84. He had worked at an area funeral home that also sold flooring before establishing K&K Floors with Kitto.

Kitto’s departure from the firm 48 years ago marked Jeff’s arrival.

“In 1976 is when I started helping (at the firm),” said 66-year-old Jeff. “That’s when I graduated from high school. When (Clayton) bought the (original) partnership out, he didn’t have anybody but himself (at the firm). He needed a little help. That’s how I got into it. I liked the idea of working here.”

Jeff purchased the firm from Clayton in about 1989.

“He retired,” Jeff said. “He would stick around (the business) here and there (after 1989), but he didn’t really work here after he retired.”

One of Clayton’s flooring jobs made an impression on a legendary figure in Wisconsin sports. Bo Ryan launched his hall-of-fame head coaching career at University of Wisconsin-Platteville in 1984.

“When Bo first got the job here for the Pioneers, it was a quick transition (moving to Platteville) — he needed some flooring done really fast, and my grandpa made it work,” Michael said.

“(Clayton) bent over backwards to get it done,” Jeff said.

Fast-forward several decades, and Michael ran into Ryan at a Platteville-area golf tournament.

“My dad told me to ask (Ryan) about (Clayton) if I ran into him at the golf course and I was lucky enough that I was able to,” Michael said. “(Ryan) said, ‘Oh I know your grandpa.’ He still remembered my grandpa Clayton. That was about seven or eight years ago, and I was in my early 20s. I thought that was pretty cool.”

K&K Floors offers a variety of flooring types, including carpet, carpet tile, hardwood, laminate, tile and vinyl, from about a half-dozen featured product lines. The business has three full-time employees — Jeff, Michael and Carol Kliebenstein. The wife of Jeff and mother of Michael, Carol handles the bookkeeping for the firm.

“We also have installers, who are subcontractors, who help us,” Jeff said.

Michael helped at the business as a kid.

“When I first started working full time it was in 2011,” Michael said. “My dad’s helper (Craig Meyer) — his right-hand man for 25 years — got out of flooring (in 2011).”

That left Jeff facing a similar situation to the one his father faced — a two-man flooring company was down to one man.

That’s when Michael joined the company full time.

“My dad never forced it on me — he let me decide what I wanted to do,” Michael said. “He didn’t try to talk me out of it, but he did want me to know what I was getting into because (the flooring business) is so hard on your body.”

Michael’s decision followed a brief work experience elsewhere.

“(Jeff) made him take a job somewhere else for a little bit just so he would know what it was like,” Carol said.

“I worked at Stop-N-Go (in Platteville) for seven or eight months, then my dad’s helper retired, so I started working (at K&K Floors),” Michael said. “I definitely had a lot of learning to do. My dad was really patient with me.”

Jeff said he doesn’t think the business would have continued if Michael hadn’t joined the firm as its third generation.

“I don’t know of anybody who would have bought the business,” Jeff said. “(Flooring) is a very strenuous job. It’s hard on the whole body.”

K&K Floors serves the surrounding tri-state area, usually only traveling within an hour’s drive of Platteville for jobs.

“Sometimes, when it (involves) people we have done a lot of work for and they move, we will travel a little bit farther,” Michael said.

Jeff said finding help to install flooring can be a challenge. The firm also felt the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic-related supply chain disruptions.

“Mostly with hardwood flooring,” Michael said of the disruptions. “Most of the carpet is made in Georgia, so it wasn’t too hard to get.”

The firm must adjust to increasing freight costs, too.

K&K Floors has occupied its 3,500-square-foot facility on Big Jack Road for about 40 years. The firm was located in two different buildings in downtown Platteville before moving to its current location. The firm stores some inventory at its facility.

“We stock quite a bit of carpet (in our inventory),” Michael said.

Jeff said hard-surface flooring can be obtained within a week or 10 days.

As for the future, Michael expects to continue operating the firm into the coming decades.

“And I just had a kid — he’s 8 months old — so maybe there will be a fourth generation,” Michael said.