Kansas City, Mo.—While many in the industry still look at installation as flooring’s biggest problem, it may be that the mechanics—the individuals most responsible for the customer’s ultimate satisfaction and happiness—are the ones trying to better themselves more than any other group. Realizing the importance of manufacturers, distributors, retailers and installers working together as one to produce a quality product, installers from around the world gathered here for four days of education and camaraderie at the International Certified Floorcovering Installers Association’s (CFI) ninth annual convention.

‘United We Stand’ was the theme of the convention, which served not only to symbolize a patriotic feeling of uniting people in the aftermath of 9/11, but a call to the industry to improve things by working together as an association, an industry and as a country. “The theme of the show is obviously to bring everyone together,” said Jim Walker, CFI’s CEO. “But what we mean by ‘United We Stand’ is everyone in the flooring industry, not just installers and retailers, we want everybody to stop segmenting the industry. We don’t want to hear, ‘Well, I’m an installer so I’m just responsible for this,’ or ‘I’m a retailer, I’m only responsible for that.’ “We would like to see everyone take responsibility for the industry collectively,” he explained. “Part of that responsibility, we believe, is knowing about the other sections of the industry other than the one you are invested in. If you are an installer, don’t make excuses for or condemn what a salesperson does, and vice versa. We have to present a united front to the consumer.”

Another unifying aspect of the show was CFI’s entrance in the hard surface arena. With the industry becoming more involved in providing a full range of hard surface products to the consumer, CFI wants to see its installer members take advantage of this movement by joining with other associations in order to learn about additional opportunities. While nothing had been consummated at press time, CFI has been in discussion with both the National Wood Flooring Association ( NWFA) and Ceramic Tile Education Foundation (CTEF) to work together. The goal is to get CFI installers more educated on wood and ceramic products, Walker noted, as well as introducing the wood and ceramic tile segments to more qualified expert installers.

“It would be a two-fold situation,” he said. “One is clout in numbers. This is one way to increase our numbers and have manufacturers see that. The other thing has to do with the change in the industry. There are going to be many carpet installers who want to learn about the other flooring surfaces and how to install them. Many don’t know how to go about doing it. They aren’t confident enough to take a job involving wood. But, through the training offered by these associations, we hope to increase opportunities for the installer.” Walker noted, CFI would not be dictating curriculum to any group, as it would rather let the experts in the hard surfaces segments do the training. “All we want is a branded name displayed, CFI, and then under that to have the NWFA as well as vinyl and ceramic tile. There has been a lot of interest in this, but so far we have consummated nothing. We are just talking and exploring at this time. There is a sincere interest among the different parties. I haven’t sensed a feeling of, ‘How is this going to affect just my organization?’”

While Walker noted some in CFI may not want to get involved in surfaces other than soft, the organization wants to give all its members the chance to earn more money when they may have otherwise faced downtime not working at any job. “Just because you may not be interested in working with other surfaces at this time doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be interested in and know what is going on in the industry.” Chris Davis, CEO of the World Floor Covering Association ( WFCA), agreed with Walker. “With carpet mills like Shaw Industries and Mohawk Industries getting more involved in providing wood flooring and ceramic tile, it’s to the benefit of the installers that CFI get involved in hard surfaces.

Combine this with the fact more and more retailers are increasingly adding hard surfaces, like wood, to their product mix, it only behooves the installers to get more involved in this area.” Ed Korczak, executive director of the NWFA said, “I don’t care what kind of training you call it, as long as the people do it right. Many of these installers work for retailers who have prefinished wood flooring products in their stores and they are starting to install it. We may as well teach them the right way to do it. It’s the way the industry is going right now. When vinyl sales starting dipping, Pergo was there first and people got into that. It’s only natural wood would be next.” As Dave Gobis, executive director of the CTEF told CFI’s members, “there are opportunities in ceramic tile. The growth in the flooring industry today is in ceramic. Approximately 65% to 70% of tile sold in the U.S. is being used in residential applications and we provide more than 20 courses for installers and industry professionals from all areas to learn about our business. The basis of everything we do is knowledge as we believe learning about other types of floor covering is like earning multiple degrees.”

“This group, the CFI, is about customer satisfaction not about skyrocketing prices,” said Bob Gillespie, CFI’s immediate past president. “We know there are customers out there who want to spend their money on floor covering. We just need to convince them, as an industry, they are going to get what they pay for. We knew when we started CFI that the emphasis had to first be on carpet. But, in our vision down the line, we would like to see wood installers, laminate people and ceramic people all come under our umbrella or wear our logo. “What we are finding when we go to certifications is that many mechanics across the country were already well versed in these other flooring types because it was another way for them to make money,” he added. “They couldn’t stay busy just installing carpet all the time.”

Andrew Aufiero, CFI’s newly elected vice president, agreed with Gillespie and said, “When I started, the industry was 85% carpet installations, a little ceramic and a lot of vinyl. Today there is a lot of laminate, ceramic and hardwood and the carpet sales have dropped off. So to be a more well rounded organization, you need to get into different fields. Not that we were trying to be exclusive before, but you’ve must start somewhere so start with what you know. “By bringing in people from the hardwood and ceramic tile segments as that is their area of expertise,” he explained, “we are going to learn from them and they are going to learn from us.”

Many CFI members talk of having an attitude change when first getting involved with the group. Tim Zdybek of Tim’s Carpet Service in Toledo, Ohio, who was attending his third CFI convention, was thinking about leaving the business just a few years ago. “I was at a point in my career where I had it with this business,” he recalled. “But the attitude change caused by getting involved with CFI has really turned things around for me. CFI has helped me market myself to a point where, in addition to my own business, I am now an instructor with Orcon, I’ve done work with Mohawk, I have a position with Capitol Adhesives and I am a regional certifier with CFI. Having a chance to talk with some of the technical people that CFI’s associate members sent to the show makes the convention well worth the trip. It has really opened doors for me.” Jon Namba, CFI’s newly elected president and technical director of WFCA, concluded, “We’ve got problems out there but we at CFI are trying to correct them. We are trying to raise the bar and be recognized as professional craftsmen.”