Nearly two decades of experience with Rotar’s home-based Inter Tile
Originally from Moldova, Tony Rotar recently began a home-based tile installation business, Inter Tile Inc., bringing a unique eye and nearly 20 years of custom design work experience to Farragut.
Rotar specializes in custom high-end tile projects with an unusually artistic flair, utilizing porcelain, ceramic and natural stone and marble among other mediums. He recently started his home-based business less than a month after he and his family moved to Town from Portland, Oregon. There, he had worked on his own for 11 years in his chosen field.
Completed projects show careful consideration of space and tile placement, with many reflecting mosaic artwork, rather than just simply flooring and wall coverings.
Rotar said he takes great care with and pride in his work and developed an excellent reputation with continuous work, primarily through word of mouth among his Portland clientele.
“When I am done with the job, even I like it,” he said. “I spend extra days, if necessary, and I do what I would want to do for my house.”
He began learning his trade in 2000 when he still lived in his home country of Moldova, which borders the Ukraine and Romania. His father and grandfather were homebuilders, and Rotar, along with four of his seven brothers, decided to pursue some type of trade in home construction.
He moved to Portland in 2002 and eventually joined his brother, Vio Rotar, who was in the construction business, where he continued working in tile installation. He eventually went out on his own after Vio moved in 2005 to Knoxville, where their parents also lived.
While business was very good in Portland, Rotar said he and his wife, Daria, had not planned to follow his family, but both began feeling a pull toward Knoxville about a year ago.
“God told us to move here. In many ways, it was not a good time to move — business was good. But we knew we needed to move and to obey our Lord,”
he said. “God wants to teach us something here, and we trust him in His mercy to show us what that is.
That faith brought them to a home in Kingsgate, which they purchased sight unseen. Rotar’s brother and a sister-in-law scoped out the property while the family remained in Portland.
“My brother called and said, ‘This is your house,’ and I believe it is the house God wanted us to have,” Rotar said.
The Rotars and their six children came from Portland in time to close on the house July 12, but did not even see it until the paperwork was signed.
Rotar said he believes the Lord is calling him to evangelize sometime in the future, perhaps even back to his own village, where he said “there are no Christians.”
But, for now, he is looking toward the Lord’s guidance in Farragut as he spreads the word about Inter Tile.
He worked with showrooms and many builders in Portland, and his projects were displayed regularly in the local Parade of Homes and showhomes.
Rotar gives estimates and consultations free of change and will help clients pick out materials, often offering his own thoughts about choices, patterns and placement.
It is a trait that has served his clients well. “I will give my ideas and (many times), they would choose them. I will just tell them what I am thinking, and give my opinion,” Rotar said.
“I am enjoying what I am doing,” he continued. “I like custom work — it is not just basic (work). I touch every tile, and when I am done, even I am satisfied.”
Rotar does not yet have a website, but can be reached by calling 503-819-5762.
