Interviewed by Michael Nelson and Derek Foster • Article written directly from the recorded transcript using AI, editor-reviewed by Taylor Stone, and subject-verified.

Most people don’t expect a third-generation trades company to operate like a tech startup, but Daniella Devine, President and CEO of Peacock Floors in San Francisco, CA, has successfully merged the two.

His When Daniella officially took the reins of her family’s 45-year-old flooring business last September, she quickly realized that keeping the doors open meant rolling up her sleeves and bringing the company’s old systems into the present.

Navigating the Shift from Legacy to Startup

Peacock Floors has deep roots in San Francisco, starting back in the 1960s when Daniella’s grandfather, who came to the city from Egypt, sold oriental rugs out of a garage in the Sunset district. Her father, Marty, later steered the business toward government property management, landing long-term repair and maintenance contracts with local institutions. When Daniella stepped in as owner, she faced a tough reality: those big contracts meant waiting months to get paid, which put real strain on cash flow.

To keep the business moving, she teamed up with a former Google employee and launched a new kind of marketing campaign, using AI to reach private commercial clients who pay deposits up front. Carrying on her father’s legacy without his daily guidance hasn’t been easy, but Daniella knew she had to shift the company’s focus to survive. As she put it, “It’s retention of the margin, retention of the accounts, retention of the manpower in the staff”.

Deploying AI for Bidding and Client Education

Doing business in the Bay Area means keeping up with clients who are just as tech-savvy as the companies around them. Daniella has woven artificial intelligence into nearly every part of Peacock Floors, moving from old-school estimating to a cloud-based system that keeps the team connected. Now, when the phone rings, project management tasks kick off automatically, and sales calls are transcribed so the team can learn and improve. Daniella even uses AI to sift through massive bid documents, quickly spotting what matters most for compliance and bonding. When clients want the nitty-gritty details, she’s ready with custom-branded spec sheets that help her team stand out and win more private projects.

Building a Transparent Trade Culture

Bringing new technology into the business also changed the day-to-day feel inside Peacock Floors’ 16,000-square-foot space. Where her father once ran things with just a handful of journeymen, Daniella has built a lively, diverse team, even bringing on a general manager with big-company experience. The warehouse is now filled with music—funk, reggae, and Aretha Franklin—thanks to her 22-year-old warehouse manager.

Daniella believes in transparency, so every week she shares the company’s sales numbers and profit margins with her staff, helping everyone feel invested in the business’s success. She’s focused on commercial tenant improvements and repair work, steering clear of new construction. As she put it, “I want your tenant improvements. I want your repair and maintenance. I will come and do a 100-square-foot conference room”.​

Daniella isn’t stopping at flooring. Since most flooring clients don’t need repeat work very often, she’s looking to partner with long-established commercial cleaning companies, hoping to eventually acquire one and offer services that keep clients coming back. She and her partner are also growing their self-serve car wash business, landing contracts with city fleets. By treating her family’s business as something that can keep evolving, Daniella is building for the long haul. Even with the pressure of putting her own home and retirement on the line to buy the company, she’s stayed steady. “My only way out is through,” she said.