Competence comes with certification
Over the past year, the number-one problem I hear about time and again in our industry is about the shortage of competent flooring installers.
Lee Senter, CFCRA president
It does not matter if we are talking about carpet, hardwood, laminate or vinyl planks. The second most common worry in our industry is that our installers are getting older and there are just not enough young people taking up the vacated positions as our current installers retire.
Last year at the FCITS inspectors conference I was listening to Robert Varden of the Certified Flooring Installers (CFI) describe their same dilemma. He went on to explain that the CFI had a plan. They would build training facilities, many of them, and they would teach the young people how to successfully and properly install flooring. It was a 10-year plan. So they built the facilities. The problem is, they cannot fill the classes. It looks like the installer shortage crisis is not going to be solved anytime soon in the USA. We in Canada are in the same boat, except we do not even have a plan.
The CFCRA is committed to providing the education this industry needs. One of our board members, Mark Aydin, is committed to tackling this problem and finding some solutions. We want to make a plan and we hope we can get some help and input from the readers here.
We are reaching out to our manufacturing and distributor friends to arrange training to the installers of our industry. To be frank, not only do we need an entire new generation of new installers, we need many of the current crop of installers to improve their skills and understand the products better.
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