Publisher’s Note

The Call That Stood Out: Ordering Coatings Online — and Finding James Hicks

I shopped the same kinds of products from several coating suppliers. Price and shipping mattered. Service is what I want to tell you about — and why Epoxy Warehouse’s James Hicks earned a spotlight in this issue.

EpoxyMagazine.com · First Person

Before EpoxyMagazine.com was a website full of articles, it was a working curiosity: what happens when you actually order from the companies this trade lives on? I didn’t want a brochure version of the industry. I wanted the version you get on a Tuesday when you need a clear answer about a product and how to put it down right.

So I did something simple and a little stubborn. I reached out to several online coating suppliers about comparable products — same category of materials, same kind of job questions. I wasn’t hunting for a villain. I was comparing the experience the way a contractor or serious installer does: Can I get what I need? Do they know what they’re talking about? Will they still be helpful when the question gets specific?

Fair warning, and I mean it: Customer service was not the only way I rated anyone. Shipping, product quality, packaging, clarity of tech data, and follow-through all count. Some of those suppliers did excellent work in other ways — and EpoxyMagazine.com will highlight those strengths in other issues. This story is about one thing that stuck out so clearly I felt I should share it.

What I was looking for

Anyone who has bought resinous floor products online knows the gap between a product page and a finished slab. The cans don’t install themselves. Recoat windows, moisture concerns, topcoat choices, and “will this system actually work for my conditions?” are where good suppliers earn trust — or lose it.

I asked real questions. Not gotchas. The kind you’d ask before you commit money and a weekend (or a crew’s week) to a floor.

Where James Hicks separated himself

Across those conversations, James Hicks at Epoxy Warehouse USA (Cape Coral, Florida) stood out on customer service in a way that wasn’t subtle.

He didn’t just point me at a SKU. He walked through the products and — just as important — the best way to apply them. When I asked follow-ups, he stayed with the conversation. He explained. He anticipated the next question. He treated the call like a jobsite briefing, not a sales sprint.

When I compared the time he gave me to the next-best supplier I spoke with, James spent more than twice as long helping me understand the products and the application. That wasn’t fluff. It was useful minutes.

In this trade, time on the phone with someone who has actually lived installs is rare. Hicks’s public reputation is built on installer experience as much as warehouse inventory. My experience matched that story: he went above and beyond, and he made the materials make sense.

Why I’m publishing this now

EpoxyMagazine.com is not here to crown a single “winner” of every category and call it a day. The industry is bigger than one warehouse and one metric. Other companies I ordered from or spoke with did things well — some excellently — and those notes belong in future features where they fit: shipping reliability, training, product depth, regional strengths, and more.

But when something is this obvious, burying it would be dishonest. Outstanding customer service — patient product education and application guidance — is part of how good floors get made. James Hicks delivered that. I thought our readers, especially anyone shopping coatings online for the first time or the hundredth, deserved to hear it.

If you’re evaluating suppliers, don’t stop at price per gallon. Ask a hard question. See who stays on the line. See who teaches. That’s one scorecard among several — and on that scorecard, this call stood out.