If Ray Hale comes into the room with his eyes downcast, don’t be surprised: flooring is his business, and with more than 20 years in the field, it’s likely that he put in the floor you’re standing on.

“He’s totally committed to his work,” said his wife Jessica. “Sometimes I feel like it’s a mistress.”

In business since 1979, Hale initially came from upstate New York on a visit, but the Good Land got to him and he’s here to stay.

Jessica, a childhood friend whom he recently married, has been out here for about a year, and is working the office end of the business: keeping things organized, handling appointments and customers, and basically helping keep Ray’s head clear so he can be the artisan he wants to be.

“I just started doing it and I really liked it,” he said.

Years later, he’s still the expert at almost any type of flooring, from hardwood to stone and ceramic to floating floors. He installed carpets until a few years ago when the work was just too strenuous. And he still loves his job.

Not one to toot his own horn much, Hale gets clients and business by way of the Yellow Pages and word-of-mouth but, said Jessica, the quality of work speaks for itself. So experienced is he that he can tell what needs to be done and rarely does the price change between the estimate and finished job.

“One of the few times we charge extra,” she said, “is if we encounter an unforeseen problem while he’s taking up the old floor.”

In fact, Hale’s been known to put in whatever time and effort it takes to get the job done right, even if it means going a little out of the way.

Hopefully he’ll have time between clients to put the floors in his own newly purchased home in western Goleta, while Jessica gets used to the new neighborhood.

“The neighbors are so friendly. They come over and introduce themselves,” she said. “I like Goleta.”