Three of the nation’s leading contract flooring organizations have joined together to tackle the most complicated and challenging topics that face our industry—availability of skilled labor, training and recruitment, and flooring failures.
By addressing these critical issues, these industry leaders believe that innovation in the recruitment and training of the skilled labor pool is the key to preventing failures as well as ensuring the demand for qualified flooring installers are met.
As an industry professional myself and having experienced both of these issues first hand, I could not agree more.
The industry is much like a puzzle and all of the pieces are there. Training through organizations like CFI, CTEF, and WFCA—as well as manufacturing training courses—are affordable and accessible. The issue we find is that independent installers must see the value of being certified—that the certification must be worth the paper it’s written on.
By heavily incentivizing installers to invest in themselves and their business, our work at Go Carrera has been centered around creating an atmosphere that fosters the relationship between manufacturers, certifiers, flooring contractors, and the installation professional. We’re working to give all parties a voice while focusing on quality, training, as well as evangelizing the benefits of building a competent installer network—something that benefits all involved.
As we visit many of the flooring shows and conferences like Coverings, Surfaces, NeoCon, CFI, and many more, I’m constantly reminded that there was an installer somewhere that helped make all this beautiful flooring a reality. The story has to start with them.
