The Huddle - Episode 125 - The Importance of Continuing Education in the Flooring Industry

In this episode of The Huddle, Daniel and Jose are joined by special guest Mark Herakovic to discuss why continuing education is essential in the flooring industry. With new technologies, techniques, and trends constantly emerging, staying informed and up-to-date can set you apart as an installer or business owner.

The Huddle was created by Paul Stuart of Stuart & Associates and Go Carrera, alongside Jose and Daniel Gonzalez from Preferred Flooring. Aimed at helping you maintain forward progress in your flooring career, they cover topics from personal and business growth, to installation tips & tricks and everything in-between.

Want to be a guest on The Huddle? Email thehuddleforwardprogress@gmail.com today!

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https://www.preferredflooringmi.com
https://www.stuartandassociates.com

hey we got mark back we lost you for a second yeah I got a phone call from my warehouse guy

so all good now yeah all right hey what's up everyone

welcome to the Huddle your weekly Playbook where I tell my brother that I can still hear myself in his

microphone stop talking loud I'm talking

normal uh Paul's not here he had some emergency stuff to do with uh one of the

project that he's on so it's just us today Mark not a problem I'm sure I

could rattle on enough oh that's I figured that much that's why I invited

you good that no uh cuz uh we we didn't want to

do the the same topic that we were going to do because PA kind of runs the the blueco collar Cruise right so I

was like Hey the last time we talked uh well I seen you on Facebook you were talking about trying to get

everyone from the the training organizations so that way you can talk to them

about just in general like who is even out there I think right

trying to get a list together yeah I was um writing an article for the CFI

magazine uh I'll probably give it the Beth also at floor Trends and

installation um about the need for trainings but also to list what's out

there so guys have an idea of what's actually out there um to make it easier on them to

find all that information right because I mean how are you going to get trained if you don't

know what's out there right exactly and it's not even just like all your

organizations like uh CFI n wfas uh the ntca uh but the free stuff the

manufacturers off offer also yeah and that's what I was going to kind of get at too it's like when we talk about

education it's not just going to a certification or anything education comes in many forms right and you

already mentioned a couple of the magazines you I mean you talk about just educating yourself from those it's

better than not reading anything and thinking that you know everything yeah

yeah my wife yells at me all the time I'm on my phone all the time but it's

I'm reading those magazines and you know articles and everything related to our

industry um you know she thinks I'm into it too much but it's what makes you

professional you know that is what it is what makes you a professional it's also what separates you when you when you

care about what you do and you care about just you just care period you're gonna investigate you're G to find

something that you like like an article you're gonna read it and then you're gonna come up with your own uh ideas

from that article or from somebody's information yeah does relate yeah because a lot of the people

who do know me and you know when we go to uh trainings or uh the conventions or

anything like that you know you're always going to have questions you know

and with the you know products and materials and everything rapidly

changing you got to have questions and who are you going to ask you know it's

you know and that's where all these trainings do come in handy you know it just elevates you and you know the

industry in itself right and even as like uh we're in sales too right so as a salesperson

anytime there's an issue that comes up I can actually go and just talk to these

reps and be like hey this is kind of what's happening what should I be

doing yeah and and that's the other thing I'm trying to get to also in this

article is you got to get to know your reps you know because you could call the

800 number to a tech department or whatever for a manufacturer you'll be lucky to get a call in a couple of days

and by then it's too late you know knowing your reps they're going to get information

for you a lot quicker yeah a couple days how about a couple weeks got a phone call into I'll

just I don't know if I should throw them under the bus or not but uh a German company who hasn't returned phone call

or email really yeah yeah because I I I and

that's what I did last weekend I put out um you know I messaged uh a bunch of the

organizations and the people I know um it's like hey I'm doing

this questionnaire you know five questions of what they offer and you

know when it's available or can they just call up and you know schedule something and I'm still waiting on those

responses you know it's like you want us to do these trainings

but you're not getting back to people quick enough and you know with the podcast like the Huddle and everything

um just you know doing the research yourself you know it's going to make it

a little easier to have it out there in print where it's a little more accessible than trying to contact

someone you know that's already you know trying to contact the manufacturer sometimes your reps are

real busy or whatever you know you don't get a call back or they forget to call you back at least this will be in one

one or two spots in a couple magazines where um you know you'll have something

to reference back to and have the you know an email link or something like that to make it a little bit

easier you had mentioned about uh researching yourself so um I'm one who

likes to do that right and the benefit of that is now you're just don't have someone talking at you or telling you

you're absorbing it interpreting it yourself you're going to retain it a lot easier U not only that is if you do

research and then still need help from a rep now you're at least on the same page and speaking the same language or or

closer to um and that helps uh come up with a solution a lot faster than uh

than just calling them say hey I got this floor is going bad I got this product is not working well what's the

locking mechanism or what adhesive are using uh whatever they sent yeah you know yeah that that doesn't help them

answer a question you know no and that's the thing I'm I'm self-taught in my

career and I I I do stuff pick things up you know everybody has their failures as

they're starting out and everything and you learn from that but you do your research because yeah you don't want to

have to Shell out the money to replace something or repair something you know

but you got to do that research so that doesn't happen again you know and if if

you don't know the the correct product to use you could be like um okay I'm

going to use this specific adhesive for this product well it might not be the

for the correct application if you don't know their products and get trained on how to use

their products correctly they're not going to be able not even getting trained right he just

educating yourself and knowing that hey uh so story Chris Koo texted me the other

day and he's like hey I'm doing some of this sheet vinyl they sent this adhesive I don't think it's the right

stuff so I'm like yeah you're right it's not the right stuff it should be this

and he's like all right I'm going to go and tell them and then they came back and said no talk to the salespeople they

said it's the right stuff and he's like man I'm just I don't know what to do so he I was like dude just contact the

manufacturer and see what's up and sure enough they said that I mean down to the material that he was installing and

wasn't the right stuff for the application so it's it's just doing the the research like that

like knowing enough education to know that hey something ain't right it starts

with one thing and then it kind of just balloons to everything else and then you're just essentially protecting

yourself and making sure that you're not going to have project failures yeah

uh same kind of same instance last Saturday you know Saturday morning and I

was just sitting drinking my coffee and I got a call from a guy out in Texas cuz he saw I just did the uh lob bakle uh

training and uh he called me up he's like well we're using this product but we're having an

issue I'm like well it sounds like you didn't follow directions correctly or

use the correct you know he used their moisture

barrier but then was using a different leveler over the top of it and he didn't

use the correct primer for it you know so he called me you know and I had an answer for him but yeah I called I I I

called my rep and The Tech Guy um just to verify before I gave that information

out I didn't want to give them the wrong information you know but that's where it

good to know your reps or your field tech or you know even the guys who work in the in the lab in the tech department

or something is because then they can give you that correct information you know and then you know he was able to go

ahead redo everything and not have an issue from that point you know so it's

trainings isn't just about learning the information it's also building those

relationships with those companies you know and you're going to be more

confident as an installer also instead of you know like me I have questions all

the time you know I I do trainings I know a lot of the information but it's

more of is this correct you know it's it knowing

that you don't know everything right and like you said the technology changes so much that it could change from one pale

to the other and you don't know until you start reading into it yeah and and that's the most aggravating thing is you

know the old saying I've done it this way 30 years with no problems you can't

say that because just in the past two years look at the the changes in adhesives and the multiple different

kinds of adhesives that are out there you know whether it's a urethane base

waterborne Ms technology um an acrylic uh you know

there's so many different products out there you got to keep up on it you know and mate is

correct right sometimes their correct answer is I don't know but I'll find out and get back to

you yeah yeah and and a homeowner is going to be a lot more um understanding

and have a lot more confidence in their installer um when you do say something

like that or it's like well I've never run across this let me contact this person or whatever you know

because a lot of homeowners are seeing what's done on on like HG TV watching YouTube videos which are that's a whole

another conversation right there right and then they get mad when you don't just go in there and get their stuff

done in a half hour because that's how long their show is yeah they Bas it off that commercial where the guy just rolls

out a floating floor and the couch levitates and lands back on it right and

then once you once you do start getting that education and then knowing your reps it at least on the commercial side

it it helps out a lot because sometimes they'll just be like give me their information it's a hands-off approach

just like I'll say hey they want they're asking about this I told them that and

they're still not really grasping the idea you can contact them and then they

go through everything for them and sometimes even go to you know to job sites and stuff like that to to handle

it where you don't have to even do anything and I mean that's more time for you to do something else and that's

what's nice about a lot of the manufacturer trainings too um they're

not just like either at their at their Factory or at a distributor or anything

a lot of your reps will go to job sites they won't do the work for you but they

will make sure you are set up and doing it correctly and they will have they're also there to answer those

questions while you're doing it um I've seen a big over the past couple of years

I've definitely seen um a huge availability be in uh a lot of your

technical sales reps and everything for companies being out more on job sites

than they are doing uh the counter days at the distributors or doing just the

trainings at a factory or something like that um which I think is better because

now you're hands on using their product and learning it um as opposed to just

sitting there watching them use the product and just telling you about the product because you got to have the feel

for each product you know it's not just oh I have the I have the knowledge on

how to do this but there's a feel to it at least in my mind there you know

like the when I did that training in Cincinnati uh three weeks ago you know

it was the adhesive side and also the um stains and finishes and you know know

you were Hands-On sanding and everything and all these guys are sitting there putting headphones in you know to do the

sanding I'm like you got to hear that machine you got to feel that machine so

I don't understand how they're doing it you know with with headphones in where

you got to be able to hear that machine to make sure it's running correctly you know is it creating the chatter in the

floor you know is something clogged or you know there's a feel and a sound that

you gota you know get to and it's the same as on the adhesive side when you're spreading

adhesive you know there's a feel to each different adhesive you know so you know and that's

where a lot of these Hands-On trainings and everything come into play I

think I get I get exactly what you're saying about that the hear the feeli right so it's not hear about hearing it

it's more about learning it you're learning what is a regular normal sound if it's operating efficiently versus is

when it starts to uh get clogged or you know the RPMs are going up or low or

maybe you're losing power somewhere I I get I get that aspect um and to go Backtrack on the the Reps getting out

more you're absolutely right like they have almost all the answers for every

question you might have from a technical standpoint and application standpoint

yeah and I will say that like uh the first time I had a rep come out and get

down and dirty with us on a night job uh was was Jared from udine and that dude

that was the I never expected it and not only that our sales rep was there too which was awesome

like I mean I wasn't looking at it like free labor I was looking I asked as many

questions like yeah and that's that's the thing

I've noticed too is like even going to do the trainings or whatever people

don't ask questions it's like they're afraid to yeah or and that's why you know during a lot

of those education sessions at the uh convention or at trainings or whatever I

will ask questions I'll ask a difficult question I'll ask a question I already know the answer to 100 he that's what he

does all the time he's like I already like like you were saying right I already know the answer to this but I'm going to ask it anyways because it was a

question that you had at one point and you know someone else has that question and every like even when I do the

trainings it's like does anyone have any questions and everyone is like no and then sometimes they'll approach you

later on and it's like hey and then they'll ask a question it's like man like just if you would just ask it in

front of everyone no one's going to be like I can't believe you're asking that question it's like someone else has that

question too well yeah because like at that last one I did you know I I was asking my questions

I already knew all the answers to it and we took a break and uh one guy came

up to me he's like dude I wouldn't have even thought of asking those questions I was like to me they seemed

like pretty basic yeah simple questions but you know you got other guys who have

been doing it 15 20 years according to them that they're like I wouldn't have

even thought of asking that and that's why I ask him you know and it's especially at con ition or whatever you

know everybody's like you know always stared at me like you got any questions mark and I'm not trying to start

arguments or anything it's just more of a clarification you know and that's what's

good with you know especially attending conventions it's not just the networking

but now you can get clarification of instructions from the manufacturers

themselves you know because there is a disconnect between what we're told

by a manufacturer rep and what's actually listed in their instructions and I was actually just having a a

discussion yesterday about a post I made on one of the forums about H

joints and I'm like it's it's a weak spot it creates a weak spot in a floor

yes and this guy kept arguing with me he's like well it's listed in their

instructions and like they show the picture of you know staggers and stuff and they have H joints in there and

stair steps and stuff like that so just to clarify my stance on it I messaged a

manufacturer uh head of the technical department for one of the manufacturer and I I I took a screenshot

of his answer and I posted it and the guy was still arguing with me I was like this is straight from the manufacturer

yeah it's so so and I think that that's the confusion too right like um because this has come up in one of the certification classes that we did and it

was um it is an approved install but it's not a preferred install like and there's

reasons why like like you just said the the the integrity and the strength of the Locking mechanisms is compromised

because now you're creating more linear weak points instead of it being yeah and

from the answer that I've got that I got from uh this particular rep was um it

creates a lot more stress on those joints when you is because you figure

you got this movement now it gives it a direct line straight across and it does

it does create a lot more stress in that specific area so it is going to end up

creating gaps in the floor and it's going to start to fail um just the same with uh stair steps it creates a fault

line where it's putting stress on that pattern um as opposed to a random

stagger whether it's a floating Flor a a uh nailed down hardwood something like

that not only is it more aesthetically pleasing having a random p uh stagger

but it actually Keys it and locks it in better and Tighter now you're not just relying on a locking system now you have

the full board itself acting as a locking system as opposed to just that that

small Locking System all right and um so so if some people don't understand that

aspect you got to look at it like like I try to find something to compare it to right like a control joint there's a

reason why they they go and they strategically cut at the columns instead of letting it crack everywhere right

it's strategic and um I know that the H joints lining them up like that

essentially is the same concept as a control joint in my eyes I mean that's the way to explain it to someone it's

like there that's an intentional weak spot you don't want to do that you can avoid that doing the

install that's where they brought up the uh the tile look like floating lvp the

tile look and my thought on that is and I haven't discussed it with any reps or

anything like that but at least on the tile those are a wider board you know you're looking at 12 18 16 inches wide

by two foot uh in some instances anymore they're three foot um but that wider plank or

that wider board it's going to dissipate some of that energy a little bit more but I think what that does then too is

it could create some of that cing that you know everybody says it's moisture but I think it's pressure you know where

a lot of that movement happening in a wider board dissipates more towards the center

causing your edges to kind of curl up a little bit again that's you know that's just my

thought education kind of uh backfires a little bit right because we know enough

to start making our own assumptions but then we don't know the actual cause of

it and then you get just kind of got to rely on what the manufacturer tells you and this is where a lot of the

installers will have push back right well they're saying that it's failing because of this when think it's this

but dependent inspectors out there too right and that's where um educating

yourself and going to these events helps out because you can actually talk to

these inspectors you talk to these manufacturers you talk to these Tech guys and then you get stories where I

mean I talked to them where they said that they were they had

failures because in the middle of you know they they sell

and it was a click together plank they were selling a bunch of it and then they switched

manufacturers or they switched not the manufacturers but the locking mechanism so they went from one to the other

without even telling anyone without telling any of the tech reps or anything

and I was like man they didn't even update the the installation instructions or nothing he said Daniel nothing I

didn't know anything no one knew anything and it wasn't until they started having issues is when they found

out yeah yeah and you you run into that quite often but that's where you know

the education part as an installer come into

play you know because a lot of these everybody always complains about drop lock uh lvps or laminet or whatever

they're actually really good I'll complain about them too well thing is they're really good and strong you know

but it's only as good it doesn't matter if it's the i4f the uh valinge or the UN

The unilin unic Click system you know if your floor is not within proper

tolerance they're all going to fail you know and that is it right there

where education is going to come in because you know we everybody knows 316

in 10t radius or whatever 8 in and 6 foot 8 foot whatever it whatever it is

you know but doing the trainings you're actually Hands-On doing it then you know

you're you're tested on it you're doing it yourself not just being told this is

what it needs to be now you have an idea how it needs to be done and what proper

steps to take to do that and what's acceptable and what's not acceptable and what's going going to be your best

course of action for the application um you know so you know and

and that's that's the one thing I get tired of is you know everyone I'm tired

of the complaining from everyone you know it's like why failed this inspection because they said it's in

solar area they're full of crap well dude deal with it you screwed

up because you don't know what you didn't do it correctly that's where the educ comes in and the

education is there and I've heard it from all the certification boards the training sessions uh manufacturers

themselves you know it that they're getting a lot more involved over the

past few years so they don't want you to fail

they don't want to have the installer show out the money for these Replacements they want to see it done

correctly and that's where the training and the education comes into play right

and that like I said you know in the beginning it's not just the training trainings that you have to go to right

there's multiple Avenues where you can get education you can educate yourself just think in terms of like the CRI 104

105 right it's right online for anyone to read they have documents out there

that are free and yet people still don't know that they're there's standards out

there that you have to follow if you're just had that conversation if you're a a commercial

installer and you don't know what you know f710 is ASM f710 then you're

already behind and I mean granted these documents you do have to pay for right

but you pay a small fee and you get access to basically any any document in

that in that one vertical Market that you need right so if you do want to know

what ASM f710 is then you have 18 you what is it 1869 2170 on all these

moistures and like there's so much information out there that all you have

to do is look for it yeah because I think the ASM I think

it's uh $60 to get access I think it's 75 now that's

and I think it's like 125 to have access to all of them for the

year uh something like that something like that I I like I said I don't know

but I mean if if you join then you have access to all of them right and I mean

and that way you have that information to go back on you know whether it's you

know especially if you're a subcontractor um and you're subing out to a store or something now you have

that information you're not just fighting with the salesman or the owner of the store it's like hey this isn't

correct and here's my backing of it you know and then once you start getting into you know more levels there's

actually softwares out there that keep track of everything for you because uh we've been using floor Cloud for a while

and we actually you can go through and there's what products are you using on this project and then you don't even

have to know like you just input the product and they keep track of it for you it's like once you're you have it in

there you start getting alerts all the time and it's like temperature humidity

Doo like these things are not inspect for this product and you can go on there and see what that product calls for yeah

and Flor Cloud's nice because it automatically updates itself uh when there's changes or

updates to products um it's a great great system I

think it's what it's it's not that bad if like for me if I was working by

myself it would be a little pricey for me but if you're a larger especially if you do a lot of commercial work um or if

you do a lot of uh new construction um and you have GRS out there wood flooring

even wood even even in the residential setting dude yes yeah for wood floors

because you you especially wood floors if you if you uh deliver your material

ahead of time like your supposed to for acclamation but say it's delivered and it's in the house and they paint it they

get all the painting done man that change moisture content real quickly

yeah a lot of people don't think about that I mean just think of in terms of getting it in there to acclimate right then you show up and start doing a bunch

of self-loving that H that that water's got to go somewhere yep yeah and you

know uh uh back to the ASM standards how many people know that there was a newm

standard uh put out there I think it was like three months ago four months ago uh

allowing testing no for uh approval of roll on moisture barriers under

lvps they actually made ANM standard about that and people just don't know

but I am going to play a Flor Cloud video right now so it is a great product and like I said we have it on a few

projectss right now and it's definitely worth its weight in gold man oh

definitely time monitoring of your jobsite conditions via desktop or mobile

device no more manual checking for temperature humidity or even dueo no

need for base stations Wi-Fi or external power sources simply scan the QR code on

the front of your sensors and you're up and running with the most accurate and Innovative sight monitoring system in

the flooring industry dispatch your Crews with confidence and reduce your climate related installation

issues floor Cloud now you know yeah so we're on a project right

now where um the it's right in the manufacturer's documents I said you have

to keep track of the ambient conditions throughout the entire project or else

basically I mean if you don't your warranty is not there right

yeah you know some people have the uh the ability like we have in our warehouse right now the the censor out

there that will shoot it back to us in here right um but that was the the the

ba the basis of floor cloud is that you don't have to visit the site you can log on and get all that information right

but anything is better than nothing but yeah the money that saves a company too

of sending a crew out there and they can't do anything because the conditions

you know that's a lot of wasted money and now you have guys complaining because they're not making any money because they're not working that day you

know so it's it it was it's a very ingenious idea right so Mark based off of uh cell

phone services or something or cellone yeah it's got its own you know SIM card and stuff in there and it shoots

everything out all by itself but you know we're we're talking about education and you said that you're selftaught so

what was your kind of uh turning point where you were like I'm going to start getting the most education that I

can uh so it's actually kind of funny because it was uh a little over two

years ago when I actually went and got certified myself um because for the longest time I

was against certifications because I I I'd run into a lot of guys that were certified and I'm like well that doesn't

seem right what you're doing you know but it it got to a point where

you know I was rounding 30 years at that time of installing

and I I I heard it pretty much throughout my career is like am I as

good as everybody says I am and do what I know is it accurate and

that's why I went and did it was more to test myself and challenge myself and

then when I actually went to that certification I learned quite a bit you

know and it it was kind of humbling when we did the the hand skills and everything like that it was pretty

humbling um but the amount of information that I didn't know um really up my game over the last

few years and but now I take that information and now I go back and talk

with all our other installers and Subs uh when I show up at the warehouse because they come to me and they ask me

hey what would you do with this well well here's why you need to do it this way you know you know it it's passing

that education on also you know and and that's why I ended up doing it you know

like you said passing it on and that's one of the things too about certification and training and getting

out there is it's one thing to be credible because you are uh you know

coined a good installer decent at a certain discipline in your area but it's another thing when it's recognized by a

commit or or national program where you're uh you have your certificate of

completion or certification that is more validated by the industry instead of the people that

you surround yourself with and uh that's a yeah it sounds weird but but it gives

you that sense of completion as well right like like it it totally did and it it really

changed my outlook on what I do and what I've spent you know my entire I I've

been doing this more than half my life now and I was getting burned out on the

install side for many many years and that kind of rejuvenated me and now it's

like okay everybody said I was good now let's be better you know it kind of gave

me that let's get more involved let's get this education out there and

and it's not I I always said it was an arrogance thing at at one point and it's

not necessarily an arrogance thing but like you said it's more of a sense of uh

accomplishment um than anything but it did kind of rejuvenate my

uh I guess it's a passion still well you talk about arrogance right and that's

what Dwayne told me he said I thought you were really arrogant when I first met you and and then I got to know you

and I realized that it wasn't that right and it's it was never meant to I was never meant to come off as arrogant

because I'm not the one that was saying that I was really good or the best at anything like you said it was everyone

else that was kind of pushing that validation on to me and then once you

realize you're like man maybe I am kind of good and then it's like uh where else can we go with this right and it's

that's why that's why you know in the in the classes for the NCT and the last one

when we met down there when you came over there to uh what's he was that in

Columbus right columus yeah uh they asked me you know why why are you doing

this why are you teaching this class and it's like man I got I got to get this stuff out of my head

because Flash cob and heat weld is that dying art and people need to know how to

do it because you're talking life and death situations sometimes if there's a bunch of stuff that's getting underneath

something something in a surgery room and all it takes is you know that being

pushed into the air and now it's in someone's body yeah the bacteria yeah

and and actually what I I when I stopped and and talked to you and sunny

there I I I love that class one because yes as you said it it is a dying skill

there's not much around it but what I liked about that class is you had two

guys from the manufacturer you had another guy who's been doing flashco for

many many years but wanted to you know uh up his skills because he had a big

job coming up plus he had some younger kids there um you know that was the

perfect scenario to push some kind of Education and Training

and right there is the perfect example of it you know cuz you have guys who

work for the manufacturer but needs to know how to actually install it a guy who's just uh you know redoing his skill

set after doing it for so many times and then the new the the younger kids you

know who there's money to be made in Flash Co now because nobody does it you

know so that was I I really enjoy people do it they just they they don't do it correctly ly

and that's where that's where things need to change right it's educating yourself and knowing you're not just

going in into the the building and throwing a floor down it's hey like this

is a really sensitive area and if this isn't right I could potentially cause

issues in someone's life and it's looking at it like that and that's what I kind of drive to people when I'm

talking to them and it's like it's not just going in and slapping something in it's talking to infection control and

knowing that you know so many deaths happen because of just sweeping and the

the air you know getting dust in the air and then then traveling through the HVAC it's knowing things like that so when

we're talking education we're not just talking about how to install the flooring we're also talking about what

are you affecting when you're going into these places I mean just look at you know in residential too you go in there

and you start sanding something and it's like that dust is going to settle somewhere

and knowing that you know everything that you do

affects someone else exactly and it that's what's funny

about you know like even on you know any of the multiple forums that are out

there you know listen to some of these guys talk and I I don't comment much or

anything but it's like man this is why we need training you know they don't

realize you know lvps and laminates were pushed for many many years as a DIY

homeowner friendly to install and everything but why are the so-called professionals having such an issue with

it that's where the training comes in handy you know it's like are you just a

y homeowner who's making money on this how about you do it correctly you're not going to have the issues that

everybody's having lately do it correctly How You Gonna know how to do it correctly unless you

do some of the trainings we got Jesus and Jor on here I do want to shout out

to Jor because this guy just got married over the weekend congratulations

bro so um you just mentioned about the DIY and I just had a conversation with a

with a client um about about a week ago week and a half ago and uh she had me on

I was in speaker phone with her and her husband and she was talking about they did she said the bathroom was just

installed not too long ago and it's failing and blah blah blah and I didn't at that point I didn't know

the husband was the one who did it so I was threw him under the bus a little bit right but not like in a bad way it's

just that we're diyers home on owners are still subject to the same standards

as their professional yes and what separates a DIY from a professional is

the fact that they are willing to educate themselves they are willing to ask the questions they are willing to

practice with material before they install it they're willing to go through all of that additional work to educate

themselves to be better for you at the end of the day and um and if you're one of the installers that just kind of you

just kind of do it as you go right you're doing yourselves any any favors you're keeping your close mind and and

and you could be better you could be more efficient they're not separating themselves from the DIY crowd correct

you know and and that's to me that's not a professional you know and and that's

where I get hypocritical sometimes is if you don't keep educating yourself

and trying to do better and keeping up with the changes in the industry to me that's not professional but yet

the hypocritical part is I will never call myself a professional I I think it changes a

little bit too much yeah I think I think the information I think that some of these homeowners actually educate

themselves better than some of these installers to be honest with you because the information is out there and they do

so much research before they get anyone in there that they already kind of know what is going on before you even

step foot in there right yes but the downfall of that also is homeowners

think they know it all then um you know because again they are watching the

YouTube videos and the and stuff like that where

there's a lot of companies out there making videos and everything and I just shake my head because they're doing

pressure sensitive adhesive over a sheet vinyl with no kind of prep or you know

they're uh spreading adhesive over all the paint and everything that's all over

the floor and drywall I'm like and there there's some of the biggest influencers out there

like on social media that are doing stuff like that and they're making a bunch of money by putting these videos

out and they're making even more money because they're getting these jobs done all super fast and people think that

they're doing a great job and it it's normalized right but that's where when

things like this happen you have to be educated enough to know that you can go

in there and say hey this is what's going on I can provide you with these documents yeah and that's where it's not

just the education of you know proper subor prep how to install a product correctly anything like that it's also

being able to talk with a homeowner uh and that's where I think you know some

other uh training needs done for a lot of contractors is being able to go in

you know you know be able to talk to a homeowner keep their mind at ease but

like I go into a job on the first day I'll look around you know couple

questions I have here or there but then it's like all right here's what I'm going to do today you know today's going

to be demo and prep here's how I'm going to prep here's what I'm going to do because we need flat we don't need level

we need flat because everybody's always like well the floor is not level doesn't need to be level I need flat you know

and then having that discussion with them it does put a lot of homeowners more at ease when you could take some of

this education that you're learning and all this information that's correct and pass that on to a

homeowner um that does put their their their mind at ease and more confident

and comfortable of having you in their house um you know because like I go into jobs where people are spending 40 50

$60,000 on a brand new floor and install you know it it does make it a

little easier for them to you know to spend that kind of money knowing that's

going to be installed correctly that's that value the value that's added to it

and the prevention and you just said something that separates I I feel it

separates us a little bit from some of the other install around now I'm saying installers because some of the other companies have all the literature

already in place right it's you are already presenting solutions for issues

or problems that haven't even arose yet right you're you're preventing because you understand what you might hit and

and you're explaining everything up front um and you're right some people it's hard to do that right because they

just look at the overall dollar amount but if yeah if they understand that

their investment is in your is is also your best interest then it's a different story they they they do accept the um

the understanding I don't want to say higher charge right because sometimes you don't even need it right it's just if I hit the scenario this is what could

happen um don't mean to scare people away but at the same time I want to be transparent right because that you're

educating them based on the education that you have right and it's like it I'm not giving you this education so you

pick me I'm giving you this education so that you know and your project doesn't fail whether you go with me or not yeah

exactly saying that that he talked to you about something last week when uh

yeah I I actually mentioned it earlier he was the one who contacted me last Saturday uh about a

product and uh yeah I I called my I called I called the rep you know and he

answered Saturday morning he was sitting at breakfast with his uh wife I was like

sorry to bother you but they answer you know know if you and that's the relationship you got to build with your

reps um you know it's I called him with a question at nine o'clock on a Saturday

morning he answered and gave me the information I needed so I could pass that on you know if I didn't know that

rep and I just happen to have his number because I met him at a a a counter day

or something they might not necessarily answer they're like I don't remember this guy or something you know sometimes

they still answer and then sometimes you have a rep that you know moves to a different position or a different

territory and then you just contact them anyways because you you've got that relationship you know they're yeah

they're they're a rep but they're a friend still right oh yeah yeah and it

it that's the importance of knowing your reps and the technical guys and

everything um is you do have that Saturday Sunday

job or something that you know you might need an answer right then and there because it is a weekend you know that

things may not be open or it's like oh did I just really screw the pooch on

this one and you know what's this going to cost me those guys can give you that

answer on how to correct that you know without having the delay in a job or

something that's going to end up costing you a lot of money and

if you're contacting your rep that means you probably already tried to do some research and you're just trying to get clarification so you are educating

yourself and that's really all we try and say and and put out there is you got to start somewhere you don't

know everything and the importance of education is knowing that you are doing

everything so that way if an inspector is called in on that project all they can do is say no everything looks good

must be our stuff yeah y if you're not learning you're lying to yourself that's

for sure oh definitely you know and that's why I hate that I've been doing

that this way for 30 years that D that drives me up a wall and not only that right it's

uh I haven't done it the same way for 30 years well and just with tooling itself

right and I mean do tools from 30 years ago still work amazing absolutely but

there's new tools out to make everything easier

so and the same thing with adhesives and things like that I mean um I was on a

project the other day and there's a there's a carpenter he was like I used to do I did flooring for like eight

years back in the day and he he used to do a bunch of sheet Vining he's like do they still do the two-part epoxy stuff

underneath all the seams and it's like man that hasn't been a thing for a while now he was like yeah you can see how

long ago it was what's that adhesive that adhesive it was Armstrong thing

right no whatever whatever be Weezy used to say all the time oh monobond

monobond I haven't heard that in a long time just maab Bond and we're

good yeah because actually when I was at convention this year during the trade show just talking with all the

manufacturers and the and the uh the tool guys and everything they are starting to listen

to installers and they're changing stuff to make it

easier and if you don't know what those changes are that they're

making like I said man you got to educate yourself on those changes you

know and they are starting to listen and they're making good Headway like some of

the new tools that Roberts come out with uh Crane's come out with some good ones

uh our good friend Ray naap man some of his stuff that's

ingenious but if I if you don't educate yourself on those new tools you're going

to do more harm to yourself than and than what they're used for you know

it's it's I just don't understand why guys aren't doing it well well it's one

of those things too where right like it it C cost us as installers more money to

do things the right way and to keep up with all the trends and the changes and that's what the manufacturers are

starting to do with the tooling is they want us to make more money so they got to put more thought into the process

what better way to get answers and better tooling than to ask the installers why aren't you using my tools

yeah they go ahead they try and make things more user friendly right and make it so

that you're you're more efficient but a lot of people just think that they're trying to make it so that way everything

is geared more towards the diyers which it kind of is because when you don't

educate yourself that basically all you are is a diyer yeah yeah and it's like I talking with

some of those reps at at the convention yeah they are tired of

denying claims because it's not installed correctly you know it's

because that ends up costing them money too you know they are dumping a ton of

money into trainings and certifications and stuff like that

and I heard one rep down at the summit back in March or February whenever uh

Sunny had that it was like we don't have

to but they're dumping more and more money and

more and more manufacturers are starting to do it because they see a need for it and you know it it's available a lot

of guys are too busy working they come home at night they're still doing estimates they're doing outdoing

measures um they're working late hours so last thing they want to do is sit on a computer so that's why I'm writing

this articles to make it easy so now you have all that information right there in one spot you know and all you have to do

then is just click a a web page link or something and it's and these you know

magazines are free subscriptions guys like CFI uh what is there there's flooring

specialist floor Trends and installation uh inst

uh ntca does some stuff uh they have their

uh was a tile letter um plus you have all the P the different podcasts you know got your you got Kyle's you got the

UHA has a few of them yeah yeah there's a floor Talk there's uh ntca I can't

remember what theirs is called um but yeah there's there's so many resources

out there it's not even necessarily just reading something you know it it's like

a lot of these guys sit there and you know make their comments and go on the flooring forums and stuff on Facebook

book take some of that time and go to one of these magazines they're online

you know they're all online go and read those articles and actually learn something instead of you know getting a

lot he's gonna make his own magazine and all is gonna it's going to be called floor hack

magazine yeah all they at work that one will

probably get r that that 100

that well there's that uh uh there's one of those forums uh

floor hacks or something like that I actually got put on it once because I was doing a bathroom at my own house

that I was renting and uh the toilet they 3/4 sub floored around the

toilet and it was old cast iron so there was an old cast iron pipe

and I'm like I don't no Plumbing I'm not raising that pipe up so I just floored

around the toilet put a transition around it it looked good but you're

looking at it all wrong that's all right you're looking at it wrong they didn't three4 subfloor around it they recessed

the toilet that's what they did pretty much because I think they did take the toilet set it on the plywood because

there was no scene they traced it they traced it I was like that's pretty

impressive you know sometimes and and that's the education thing too right like some of the education that

you get comes with experience yeah and we're not plumbers but I do know that

there are other ways and to go about adding height to the flange right they

there are a lot of other ways to do that and if yeah yeah I just know you call

somebody just call for that yeah the plumber yeah it was it was a rental so I

didn't really care they got a new floor for free so but you just you got to recess it like that but you got to bring

it back a little bit and then make sure you put a black light around the Ring of the recess that way when bacteria builds

up you see it and you know when to clean the bathroom I was just figuring so I

could see when I go to at night when I wake up in the middle of the night well

we're about at at the end of this man I I appreciate you being on today um and talking and you know I mean a lot of us

started off with our education kind of the same way you did and just there's a

point where you got to know that you don't know everything and that the information is out there and a lot of it

is at no cost right and that just pushes you into actually going out and

venturing and actually paying for some of this other education but you got to start somewhere and I mean education is

there man CRI like I said the CRI 104 4 105 is free and a lot of these carpet

guys don't even know it that it exists yeah yeah there's uh ardx theirs

is free they put you up they feed you everything uh Lobo vacle there's is free

they put you up I think a lot of the manufacturers if you just want to do their stuff a lot of it is actually free

a matter of is just getting there well a lot well that's with like your adhesives

and your finishes stains and stuff uh stuff like Mohawk and

taret if you have a bunch of issues you know if you're struggling with their

certain products um you would actually have to go through the distributor um

where you buy their product from but they'll send a rep out and do like I

talked to Phil gliden uh during our uh meeting the other day um it's like an

eight hour class and they go over all of their products on how to correctly install it and everything like

that I mean even the Distributors get on their mailing list so that way when they are having something you can go do it

and stop saying I can't do it that day because I'm I'll be working it's you

know what yeah I have to be there that day like I said it's you you have to start looking at it like I can't afford

to do this and start saying I can't afford not to do this yeah because it's it's cheaper even

if you got to pay for a training that's still cheaper than having to replace a job

well not only that it's the the value in it it's still cheaper than losing a client that could be with

you for years than losing every customer and that's the same thing with manufacturers right like offering the

training and education they don't want to keep getting respect and losing uh potential

uh contract with with A&E they'd rather stay relevant one bad installer giv a

product a bad name they remove it from their library and they move on to the next thing so yeah help help yourself

out um but yeah we should probably close this out um and I guess uh my closing statement for today would be is

um piggybacking off why Daniel said but instead of looking at it like um do it for your it's that you can't not you you

you can't afford not to do it it's just you know what do it for your clients do it for the end users do it for the

people if you're invested and you're all in then be invested be all in do it for

for the life of your business your company your family you know it's going to give you a lot more in return than

what you're ever going to pay out for the education Mark you got anything to close

this out no just appreciate you guys asking me to come on man it was a good time yeah don't get off when uh when we

end the live stream just talk for a second we always forget to say that beforehand uh if you guys found this you

know podcast helpful definitely share it around give us a like give us a dislike we don't care what you do as long as

you're interacting with us because if we're doing something that you don't like we need to know so that way we can be better just like uh the education

right it's you don't know what you don't know so let us know and uh we will see

you guys next week

The Huddle - Episode 124 - Global Flooring Trends: Insights from Across the Pond

In this special episode of The Huddle, we’re excited to welcome back Tom Cockerill from the UK to dive into Global Flooring Trends. Join Paul and Jose as they explore what’s happening in the world of flooring across the Atlantic. From innovative technologies and styles gaining popularity in the UK to trends shaping the industry globally, Tom provides a unique international perspective on where flooring is headed.

The Huddle was created by Paul Stuart of Stuart & Associates and Go Carrera, alongside Jose and Daniel Gonzalez from Preferred Flooring. Aimed at helping you maintain forward progress in your flooring career, they cover topics from personal and business growth, to installation tips & tricks and everything in-between.

Want to be a guest on The Huddle? Email thehuddleforwardprogress@gmail.com today!

Create your FREE Installer profile at https://gocarrera.com and become part of the future of the industry TODAY!
GET TRAINED! Find a list of training dates here: https://gocarrera.com/resources/training/
https://www.preferredflooringmi.com
https://www.stuartandassociates.com

what's up team welcome back to the Huddle we are your weekly Playbook to

help G you gain forward progress in your flooring career to our new viewers

welcome to the team what's up guys how's it going

today I want to introduce uh Tom cockro who has been uh on the podcast before

and uh Tom is from the UK so we are going to be talking Global flooring

Trends kind of a little bit about installation probably get into some training stuff uh just a myriad of of

topics that we go over here at the huddle with me is as usual Mr Jose Gonzalez we are void Mr Daniel today

he's again out on a job site trying to uh complete some work so yeah get some

stuff done yeah never stops Tom you ever you ever get down on your knees anymore

and put some floors in I would simply know um last time last time

was covid was 100 square meters of flooring and that that was it so

probably 100 meters in the last 10 years on my knees well lucky you uh for for our

viewers out there that didn't catch you on the first podcast uh won't you give us a introduction kind of tell us you

know how you got into flooring what you're up to today and a little bit about Tom yeah no problem um so 20 years

in the flooring industry started on my knees floor sanding then developed into

floor fitting predominantly Uh Wood hardwood um then went into um little bit

of lvt a little bit of lam PR predominantly would um and then fast

forward to now we run a business consultancy um training provider uh for

the flooring industry so we train um anything from contractors to one man in

all lady in a van uh all the way up to multi7 figure retailers um predominantly

or only really on the business side of things so we don't cover installation um

anything of that nature um um it's all to do with the business side um and then

from there the training we offer mentorship and additional training and then we work on predom on my side of the

business we work with some of the manufacturers to deliver bigger projects that's similar to mentoring but but not

quite we we get them from A to B so that that's us in a in a couple of sentences

if that Mak nice so do you do um when you're doing business training you got any us uh company you work with or is it

all in the UK all UK all UK we've just done a course today that's why I'm a

little bit star eyed um for everybody out there it's nine o'clock for Tom it's 3 o'clock for us it's four o'clock for

Jose so Tom's on the back side of a long day so yeah we we've had flowing

contractors with us for two days um today was day two um so we've been right

in the thick of it all day um and day two is sales marketing acquisition

things like that and that's my my piece so yesterday I didn't do as much but today was was mine so hence why nine

o'clock I'm smoked so what is um what is the uh the primary experience level of

uh of companies or individuals that that are taking the courses you offer how do you mean so the what would

you mean by the experience experience do we have a new businesses starting up do you have people who have been in the

business for a while that are getting the Consulting is it a wide range

literally every single variety we had um on the course today on yesterday we had

someone that had worked for a shop for a couple of years and then set up on their own so they're in their first year

trading and then we had commercial contractors that have been in the business 44 years um one of them so it

big variety you know um multi-team um commercial and then just single

operative out on the T fitting carpet so complete there isn't a niche flowing

contractor as long as they're either in a retail environment or on the knees um

the cost covers it so it's you don't discriminate you appreciate I got

it yeah so yeah it's um it really does cover um the basics the higher level all

the way up to the higher level so people get completely different items and we're always really deep dive into that you

know what is the biggest take HS they're getting and they're all completely different completely different for the

companies over um here in the US that do some similar things uh I'm curious what

what what do you find like most

um most of these stores like what is the

like if you had a number one thing that most of them ignore or are not like really paying attention to or where do

where do you provide the most value throughout your course obviously your whole course is valuable but is there

one thing that or a couple of things that most people are

missing so predominantly I would say of the industry um I don't cover it Sarah

covers it but the financial side so completely

comprehending your numbers from start to finish not sort of freestyling not a

little bit of guessing maybe adding some you know exact measurement of where you

are now where you might be in the future and you know and things like that exact

not sort of It's Always most of it is made up from the ground and then work up

and if there's money in the bank that's okay not done on any sort of teed measurement so that's

normally um right across from the the smaller turnovers to the bigger turnover

um a lot still don't know where they are um and it's just because there's an

education around that you know we all and where do we find this information you know it's we yeah yeah

that lines up that's I would say that's probably the number one

uh that and uh in a second place I would say is truly

valuing uh your craft like not not just getting into it cuz you worked somewhere

for a for a guy for a year and then you think you can do it so you go out on

your own you don't go and seek out any formalized standardized training or

anything just go out and start putting stuff in those are probably two biggest problems that get that need solved over

here because hey if guys don't know that they're making a profit or not and you

don't know where you're numbers are you don't know you know any Baseline of Break Even

for your for your business then that's a problem I mean that's you you literally

don't have a business you're kind of doing a hobby if you don't know that stuff yeah you're just second yeah and

then secondly is um truly valuing the uh

uh some type of uh standardized uh in station standards

seeking out the craft you know trying to be the best that you can absolutely be

uh trying to obviously change that here but that's interesting I wanted to ask you that and see if it lined up so we

are going to jump into a couple of product topics I was curious you know we

have the title Global flooring Trends I was curious what's rocking over there in the UK what do you guys uh primarily

still you know in stalling both maybe residential if you have any uh Insight in the commercial world uh Jose does

some residential over here in the US side uh I do all commercial so I can I

was going to kind of compare where what what what's trending I was so I've got

three different elements this one is selfish one is trendy and then I'll

cover commercial as well so okay I'll go I'll go with the selfish one first selfish one being uh hardwood um because

that's my background that's my passion still get excited about even though it may be a little bit sad about Timber

floring um and over the years the um especially since covid the price has

gone significantly up transport is up um so it became a point where it it really

got expensive when lvt lvp was up um also coming into the market so that

seemed a better option what I'm now seeing that manufacturers have lowered the price of Entry a little bit and

there seems to be a little bit more of a buzz around wood it may be me because I did feel like there was a dip and I feel

like we're at the end of that dip and we're coming back out and people are really s we're seeing the carpet guys

saying I want to learn more about wood I need wood in my retail store a little

bit more excited about it so I'm seeing that um I see it firsthand so that's a

selfish piece um the main thing that I think is getting other people excited is

the um lvt that's got the basket weave Chevron um we would call them Victorian

tiles so very small intricate tiles and replicating something in the Victorian

time and things like that and the manufacturers are bringing out better and better replications of this sort of

real Specialty Flooring um and that seems to be a buzz that's the trendy um

and then probably could deep dive much more into these so please feel free to dig back into them um commercial side

people seem to be start on the environmental piece of you know saving

the whales and saving the the the um plastic straws and all of this they want

to start the journey but then they end up where actually looks like and we'll

end up possibly with a different hardwood or an lvt or something like that but they start we saving the whales

and it's yeah and and that's what the Architects and the designers seem to want him to speak about but then we work

back and then then look at price and product and look secondary so that's a

an overview so you guys can outow maybe something at me with any of those point but that's my overview of what I feel

2024 is produced in the UK I I would say on on the commercial

side uh your lvt they have gotten a little bit fancier with uh I would call

it with um some designer friendly uh product lines that that um

bring some of that Chevron patterns and and different patterns into uh the lvt

and they they seem to be pretty much Limitless with their ability to create imagery so um lvt is still just a

juggernaut in the commercial uh atmosphere along with carpet tole on the uh the other side in

in um commercial is there's a lot of

products that are coming out that are environmentally friendly that actually

uh Shaws come out with one here uh that is an lvt that's in Cradle to cradle

Cradle to grave and um has a good price point because like

you said what typically happens is we get designers or Architects that are really gung-ho about the green uh you

know products but you know you get you get into the pricing and before you know it it's 35 40% higher and they start

asking for Value engineering ideas and before you know it they're they're just using good oldfashioned lvt so here the

last month or two we've been shown multiple products at my uh

office um that are environmentally friendly PVC free uh good imagery good

good testing all that stuff so that's starting to hit the market it not quite so much in 24 but I can see it going

haywire in 25 so that's the commercial side I don't do enough residential to uh other than

tile to really have a opinion but I know does what are your what are your thoughts Jose um how does it compare

well so far spot on with the commercial right everybody want something that appears to be custom and one-of aind for

their facilities their their hospitals their schools so there's there is a lot of custom high-end work going on in the

commercial world and everything is modular unless like you said unless value engineering is in play then you

start getting like some broad looms and some yeah some lower end uh wear layers

and materials but um for the residential side you know honestly where where I'm

at in our location is hit or miss right it depends on the age of the demographic uh the older um demographic is still

wanting some of that uh nostalgic feeling I mean there's no more carpet around toilets I will say that like

thank God that's that's going that's going away and if they request it we we explain to them the implications that

that come along with that um but uh you know for for a while there it was um it

was a laminate but then you know that shifted over to the rigid core spcs were

getting very popular because of of uh the the we didn't have to put an

expansion every so many square feet right so spc's got popular but then that

is actually fading fading out now and it's more spcs and uh items like that um

the DIY uh thing is kind of fading away a little bit because of all the failures

that everybody is seeing um and I think that's where the spcs and the drop block systems came into play um well they were

they were positioned in the market and I don't know I'd love to hear your opinion or how it worked over in the UK but they

were all the DIY products were positioned as like you don't have to know anything to put this down you don't

have to have any like it the it the we did a podcast where we got on Tik Tok

and looked at some of these things and it was hilarious they they did very good at their marketing they were very very

good at their marketing yeah they just made it like the the stay-at-home mom can put it in you know and and Truth is

is you still have to have the floor prepped correctly and all these things and I I um uh so I think that that

caused a lot of the failures um you know both

mainly in residential but even a little bit in commercial where uh property managers were starting to do some of

their own stuff because they thought that it was no problem it's just carpati how how hard can it be so do you have

did you guys experience that same thing over there exactly the exactly the same where the the Die Hard installers sort

of tried it and then avoided it and realized you may as well just you know most of the real spe well the normal

contractors are sticking and everything down with the lvt um so then when they see in the DIY Market you've got

something know fully waterprof can supposedly fit together as well as a 12

mil laminate um you know go over an unlevel subf and then when it gets to it it fall you know it just snaps and comes

apart yeah yeah um so yeah it's very quickly seems to have swerved and possibly even

I haven't seen it but there was talk more of um either a lot thicker sort of up to 14 mil versions and then also back

to a a laminate to Swerve back into that DIY easy click easy install if the

subflow isn't quite right it'll take it um I did see on a on a flooring display

in a in a in a showroom H and it said suitable like it was on the um point of sale and it said

product is suitable for unlevel subf flaws and just that just didn't resonate

I'm thinking how you've never heard those two things

put together in the same sentence they didn't have a picture of it because they had a transition every third piece every

third row there was a transition that's what they didn't tell you um so going back to that conversation so I we just

had a a potential client call and I went out measured and she was talking me on her phone next to her husband and she's

like well you know we did the DIY thing but now since all of that failed we wanted to call a professional to install

it and I was like oh yeah you know they advertise as DIY unfortunately the

homeowners are still subject to the same standards as a professional and if you don't know those standards or you don't

abide by them and something goes wrong um the there's no coverage um so I mean

I wasn't trying to sell anything but I was just explaining and yeah but I'm glad well you should try to sell because

many many diyers they they don't understand the fact is is read the

install instructions I guarantee you the somewhere it's going to have ANM standard somewhere uh which is the

American testing uh testing of standard measurements or whatever um you know

it's going to have these standards that you got to know uh you know whether it's f710 or 1869 for moisture and all these

things and then on top of that when when you both you both mentioned moisture

proof uh or waterproof yeah waterproof that is such a misleading way to sell something

that is not truly I mean yeah if you spill a cup of water in the middle of the slat of the the properly installed

tile it's it's probably not going to cause you a problem if you get it around

the edges and underneath of it you got yourself an issue and um anyway that's

funny same same same kind of uh challenges no matter where you go yeah

well I think failure is failure no matter what right a a bad installation in in the US is still be a bad

installation in the UK I don't think that that really separates us from them I think U well but they have different

products I was talking to uh Johnny which is u a associate with Tom and and

Sarah and and they have like flat weaves

and things and we have flat weaves but it sounds like you could get certified in just flatweaves and stay busy almost

yeah yeah there is guys that are just simply Car Guys there's people that simply just wood guys just sanding guys

um and there's very very few that can do most items I probably know two or three

contractors across the country that have got a skill set in multiple different fields so you know we're not um the VT

guys tend to stick with a carpet and then the wood um tend to stay together

um and both there is some crossover but that's they seem to be the the channels

but yeah you can um I I know people that um look at the sizes and Naturals um and

do more of that so and then you've got the I'm not going to call them

enthusiastic diyers but the handy men that can do the laminates um but don't

do any stick down you know they so it's they're not really they're few far

between what I would see but they definitely exist do do you guys have uh

so like over here if you're in the natural fiber that's where you live in flatweaves as well like they don't those

guys are usually you know natural fiber Cil and seag grasses and or saw grass or

whatever you know that's a whole different world from me but they kind of the train is kind of formatted that way um as well

but uh so yeah it's it's funny when I was talking to Johnny how it it seemed

like you know there's such it's more Niche even you know what I mean it's

more Niche over there I over here you gotta have you gotta do more than just

carpet to stay alive and lvt and carpet guys they do tend to um that that is

kind of where if you're a good carpet ler you probably know how to do lvt or vice versa so interesting it is I like I

like the the idea that people are still taking the Artistry portion of the

industry a little more serious somewhere um and the way you explained it that's how I interpreted it so I'm just gonna

leave it like that if it's not like that nobody tell me please I just want to appreciate that for a moment so tell Tom do you guys have you

were talking about kind of that Victorian um did you say

Victorian tiles very small tiles soang and pattern flaw that type of very

very intricate patterns in your lvts yes oh really and they replicate old

Victorian Georgian UK house tows that you would have found in the hallway

predominantly um so yes really sort of nice tile effect

um that's what it is it's very very small like Mosaic tiles basically is is

that in the in the sort of Victorian that seems to really sort of K quite an

expensive but it's still not any of the same prices doing in tile um so it's a modern twist and they're just getting

better and better and better um but they probably retail around 100 pound square

meter I would say um plus your install which tends to be more but but the

finished result is something completely different yeah yeah

yeah really cool I just uh I I think your Victorian era is probably way

fancier than ours so well I I'd never heard of course I'm not in the residential world but um

we you know I've seen some of the uh medallions that are like preut together

they water they just basically water jet the stuff out and it's kind of preut together together and you just put it

together like a puzzle out so I've seen some of the Medallion stuff but um not

where there's any uh overall floor like designed to

the individual lvt that the installer puts in himself I mean it's just kind it's a

medallion in a box and you slap it together and put it together you know cut into it basically

so they brought out um like boed edges that have got complete Curves in sort of 90 Dee curves so you not how so it looks

like they've bent the lvt around the staircase or around a curved wall um you

know that's one piece um but then it's cut in I mean I I wouldn't even know where to start to install it but it's

but the the lvt guys you know it's getting more and more intricate and the

borders seem to be the things that really sort of set things off um

I see the point of sale of it a lot but it again it's the point of sale in the showroom works much better actually on

the floor on the deck um because you can show the borders and things like that on a sample board doesn't quite do it

justice yeah yeah how do you guys are are there um additional skill sets

needed with that or is it literally like kind of putting things together if you're a good lvt guy or they able to do

this without any additional training I think a lot of people are willing to give it a goal because

they've done the borders they've done the sort of detail strips and it's just a little step up from that but there is

training providers that will Deep dive three days just into design work um so

yeah you you can do there's multiple courses in the UK you could you know if you want to really focus on the design

work that you would go and sit to to but it's definitely not mandatory and it's

definitely not something you would get asked in a retail environment have you sat the C it's more to get that skill

set up to say you know to just like anything just get that your level of skill set up

so um so yeah there there is there is multiple training cses for it gotcha now

um awesome do um is there a big need for continued education in the training

there both on the business side and uh the installation side like uh do do more

people lean towards um consulting or uh receiving Consulting and then educating

themselves forther discipline we're the only training provider for business in the UK there is

no one else um you can go and do generic business training um but there is no one that focuses only on the floring

industry um so we're kept busy enough thankfully um but I definitely have seen

a huge increase in the last three three or four years of manufacturer training other training providers setting up um

when I was out on the tools you know you were lucky to get training maybe once every three or five

years with something and it would be a I don't know like um more like a not even

a club but like you know an accreditation you needed to do some commercial work to to do Sports flaws or

things to to do okay operations and that you needed the badge that was approved by the um manufacturer now you could

ring up 10 UK manufacturers tomorrow and say

I'd really like to bring the guys down to do some training um and they would do it they would take out to dinner they

would show you the products and really give you um yes it's a sales ploy to get

you to buy more of that product but it's based on education so they're not going to try and sell you anything what

they're going to show you is the technology behind their product and then you can do your own due diligence and

choose the best suppliers but the education they're doing is is by real guys that have been on the knees um

so and I think it's completely underutilized um where yes the sales

reps the area sales managers are trying to get people on these training they're free um but I think the contractors

should be taking time out of their day their month to do a couple of these because I've done quite a few and every

time I've learned something new um and I've got an alterior motive because I'll go and try them and then recommend them

to my clients and things why don't you take you guys on this but I want to go and sit because I won't refer it if I've

not done it myself but every time I've been to a different one there's something else I thought that was worth

coming for you know these are two and three hour um Journeys to go it's not huge maybe

compared to the state you know going right across the one side the other but you know most of these are in reach two

to three hours of people in the UK um so yeah so it's we we we no no but and

manufacturer yes we talk about this all the time

how how often we we find that people do not take

trainings and there are some free ones from similar situation where you got uh

manufacturers that will do it but again you got days off

travel hotel and and not producing seems to be the biggest thing so having a

merit-based or accredited based um uh reward system uh which is what go

Carrera and the hammer in which we're doing some kind of uh overhauling on all

this but that's where that all comes from is like really good guys that have

good Hammer ratings uh or good scores um should should get paid more and they

should be able to display to the end user why they're worth more and that

that might solve that problem of taking off a day or two because it does have a

future reward Bo in you being able to get more money from the marketplace yeah and

that's there's no way of that in in the UK where you could have done every course and you could have someone that's

done no courses and never been to any sort of education and they could be expected to be paid the same maybe well

and and how would the anybody know like how's the end user know you got you and

me standing next to each other I've never taken a course in my life but I worked for this guy for six months and

think I know what I'm doing and you've taken every course there is and have the certifications and you even got a

certification badge on your van unfortunately the enduser or the purchaser often doesn't

know anything about it like that I know plenty of flooring guys that are on our Network that don't even know where to go

get certified or go get different trainings let alone a homeowner or a general contractor or somebody trying to

hire you to do a job they just don't know so how do you tell and uh so having a way to Market

yourself from a skills perspective and provable that you're a higher quality um

installer than this other guy can validate why you are 20 30 40 whatever

percent higher than him and um we're hoping that that we can with some of our

marketing and and rebranding um and and kind of a new approach at it uh really start to create

this atmosphere where the really good guys get not that when you first get in you shouldn't make money you should but

it should be tied to your skills and experience I mean a doctor is no there's

almost no other trade or skill I don't care if you're a doctor a lawyer

whatever that doesn't get paid as you get more experience and more training if you're a you know a family phys I versus

a brain surgeon we know which one makes more money uh attorneys same thing if you're

a you know intern if you're a a a um the

difference between being a a lawyer and a partner at a firm or somebody who's in

corporate a corporate attorney versus you know a family attorney a family law

like these things have levels to them and so does any trade any skill I think

and uh we're attempting to and you know we've obviously been in talks with you guys about this stuff um but in in an

attempt to get the good guys paid what they're worth and have homeowners and

property managers and contractors know the difference of the the installation

they're paying for uh they may be able we we all may be able to get out of this

low bid guy gets the job kind of scenario I think it's very similar to the not not

the hammer but the the business training we do is not something revolutionary

it's not a golden key it's not a you know big bag of cash what what it is is

making you stand out from the crowd it's making you systemize your sales your marketing your recruitment um your

finances because we all start promly maybe on our knees with one person or on

our own and then we basically guess our way through the business you know yes we

if we train get do training or we learn from other people we can fast forward that but if some quite a lot of guys

literally just get a van and go okay I'm now going to make this up for the next five years and and then we wonder well

why is that company doing better and it could be down to you know um I don't

know like um passing down from family like learning from people that have done it but if you haven't got anyone to

learn from it it's so that coupled with accreditation would you know would get

you let's say a startup business from zero to five years if you worked let's

say your Hammer rating up but then also took the education on the business side um because I remember when you would

first set up you would charge a reasonable rate to win the work because

you feel your your standard is well I'm just learning so I'll just charge this but if if you changed your mindset to a

fiveyear 10e mindset at at year one the cash will start to come in a lot quicker

um and that's it most of the gap between the guys that are earning or not his mindset not quite a lot of the time not

skill set I mean yes fair enough sometimes it is definitely skill set yeah but quite a lot of the time it is

literally there they're getting in their own way that they're incredible installers but they're still charging

what they charge through years ago and yeah it just doesn't make well it does make sense but it's but they get stuck

on this wheel of like just continuously doing the same thing but getting the same results that's why that that you

got to know how to Market yourself and bring your skills out into the to the

Forefront whether it's your marketing skills your business skills your installation skills and be able to pred

present that hey I am I am a better option than the other guy and we have

the same thing that happens all the time guys just they literally it's like two

two guys talk to talk uh over the weekend and jump in a van on Monday and

say we're lnl floor covering

installation give us work and they don't set up a company they don't have a bank account they don't know how um you know

the the the rules for insurance like all the these things and you they just fumble one thing after another until

they figure it out you could Short change this learning curve by getting

with companies like yourself and short shorten the learning curve down to where

you're operating in a high level and that's what that's what I really get excited about when I start thinking

about you know whether it's accreditation and training or business uh teachings is you can it will pay for

itself guys like you can shorten this this learning curve down much shorter if

you get properly trained on both business and the the technical skill I just I just want to just want to butt in

and add to your um your scenario you just explained Paul is you just explained exactly how preferred flooring

got started yeah got got got let go on a Monday Daniel got let go on a Tuesday we

had a van on a Wednesday had our first project on a Friday like like that you just explained it to a tea like

uh what do we gotta do and how many pitfalls did you fall into very very

many yeah very many it wasn't that much different for myself yeah

like I was a installer that decided to go out and give it a go and um I did a

few things different than most installers I paid my I opened a company and I paid myself a salary every week

every bit that made I made over my salary went to the bank account and

that's how I built the business up an actual business uh but not everybody

does that in fact most installers I know they take a job they have no idea if

they're going to make money on it they do the job they pay their help and then

they hope that there's some money left over at the end of the day and if there is great if there's not they gripe that

the market doesn't pay enough you know as opposed to what you're talking about

Tom is like actually setting yourself apart so that you can clearly identify

so that your customer can clearly identify why you're worth more money uh if you're charging the same today as you

did three years ago there then you there's another way there's a better way

and you should you should search that out that's my opinion that's pretty spot on and I I

think if it could be accredited I think it could probably one give this call

more or the commercial more um you have to do it with Gas and

Electric in the UK so why you know why not do it with floring um but even on even a smaller scale which I think um

was a real sort of real take on for me we do very similar training for the last

three or four years and then we did some uh pre-qualification on the telephone so

a client rings in to your shop or to you or while you're out in the van and most

people just pick the phone up and just and and just answer it like a normal um

and what we actually did was we did 40 minutes training H but what I did was we

uh one of our clients led the training and what she was a um husband and wife

team so she ran the office and he went out installing um and so she would answer the phone take a couple of

details go out with some carpet books in her car and and then say choose your

samples and then they would then do a quote and that was it that was the system because what else do you do but

in four year Well since then she's been working with those and took other training um even like from different

business training and she's formalized this complete structure how to on aor

how to work out if the client really is that client for you Shaw's value on the

phone shows interest in the client and probably only goes out to 60% of the

people that have called through um sometimes gives prices over the phone if she thinks it's relevant but now all of

the work she is doing is at this higher level her husbands over the moon because all the clients pay really quick there

never any confusion about product choice or anything like that and it's just so

simple she uses a prompt sheet on every single call that's it so it's again

there's no golden key no magical wand it's a prompt sheet um and that's every

single and this is just residential install um so if there could be like you know if just fling contractors went

through that training that's a tiny 45 minute one hour training but it

literally could change your financial position uh it's change hers it's change of people within our Network that have

done it and the thing that's great is she led the training not me H we discussed it beforeand

the key key birs but but she now is impacting others by a simple piece of

paper so it it we don't need to change the world I think we just need to change a little bit more education rather than

freestyling it um and guessing um because guessing doesn't work all the time I think well and like you started

off it's it's a it's a type of pre-qualification yeah you're you're

pre-qualifying your customer and if you as a premium installer would do that and

just don't take the clients that are not willing to pay for a little uh you know for the extra work or the extra um not

even extra the the the premium type installation where with a company or

with a flooring installer who is going to be there in six months that's another big problem like that plagues I would

say the industry's um visual from like we don't

have the best Optics because people you know an installer will do a job and in

six months he's nowhere to be found not it doesn't have the same number doesn't have the same van doesn't have the same

business name may not even be around at all or if he is he may not be under the

same name or like it's just and and a lot of that comes from just not getting

proper business training on because that's what you're doing you're starting a business even if you're just

installing you're starting a business so understanding your metrics and then really being a professional at what you

are you're a technician a lot of times in the beginning be a pro at being that

you know and take pride in it and uh I think the more we can push as an

industry towards that the the more the healthier the industry gets and I like the the way you you

formatted all that too because what she did was she stumbled Upon a structure that vetted like you said uh prequal or

vetted her client and it slowly as as she went down her sheet is slowly put

them into a category client no client and that was I like

that is you just get better clients is that the bottom line Tom she got better clients she just gets better clients she

just gets better and better clients and she's even gone even one step to the out of comfort zone asking questions such as

have you received any other quot quotes for this job and that's not not so bad

um and that's so that's the first piece of it but then the second piece of what

are you looking to get from me that the others haven't given you like questions like that at the first you know

brilliant sales question but who you know which cont contractors ask that type of question you know so at that

point Mrs Jones would be saying well the first guy didn't turn up to come and look around the second guy didn't even

price the job and the third guy came back with a price for something exorbitant like 10,000 and didn't ask me

any good questions so she said so if I can come within your budget with the right product are we going to be you

know we should be a work together absolutely and she's never met this person so she's getting really sort of

building Rapport and it's not St she's using her personality her sort of

professionalism none of it staged um she just has the prompt sheet so she doesn't forget um and then she also has the

technical side and things like that so she can refer back to the sheet and it's every single call one piece of paper um

and it's worked multiple times for other people but I think it was just great that we deep dived in it on on a zoom

like this with all of our clients across country and it was like everyone's took something from I've took something from

this St yeah well that's a that's a beauty of a training and you mention mened it

earlier is you're probably going to learn something a lot of the other

stigma around uh flooring guys is like they think they already know it and I always tell this story we have a uh two

guys uh that have subbed from us for a long time one of them's now uh out of the

industry but him and his brother they were called the McDaniel uh Brothers one of them still works for us but they had

been doing carpet for a lot of years and we we ended up having a course here in

uh witto and they went to R1 R1 R2 and

then C1 uh so three courses with CFI and

these guys have been doing it for a lot of years but they were the same type they learned from their uncle and thought they both of them came back

raving about how much they learn all these little tricks and and ways to not

have to go back and ways that would make the client happier and just all these

little details and that was a technical training so um yeah I I I'm blown away

when I go to to a course of any sort you're always probably going to learn

something I was gon to say I don't think I've done a course that I've not Come Away with something I really don't think

I've done any and I've done multiple um installer um education business mindset

um emotional every single type of training I've done I don't think I've ever come away and

thought no um you some of it you know may have not been relevant but I still came away with something and thought I'm

going to I'm going to use that so it's yeah it's I yeah I think I'm sure they do

exist but I not ever experienced and I've done lots of training so yeah the roller coaster you just talked about

sometimes that all happens in the same day on the same project yeah it sure

does well we're already nearing our time and as a reminder for the audience Tom is uh

pushing 9:30 probably at this point what time is it there Tom almost 10 almost 10

nearly 10 nearly 10 nearly 10 okay well we're gonna cut it a little bit short today um and thank thank you Tom for

joining us it's always it's always awesome to kind of get you on and and

and hear your guys' mind uh mindset about the industry because not only are

are did did you come from the flooring technical side you guys run a training

program um if that ever gets uh fully online where some us people can uh

partake make sure to let us know because I think that would be amazing absolutely we we can certainly

do things on Zoom we do a lot on Zoom but most of our trains in person at training center both said we do a mini

ones all the time so yeah it's we' love how can uh everybody find that

um there's nothing available I mean the website cockren co.co.com

reached out to us and said look I'm I'm struggling with this I'm sure we could probably help you know or or certainly

invite them into a group environment where we've got other contractors that um and that's what we're kind of doing

probably focusing next year is bringing our high level clients that have been through all the trend to help others

because there's only one me and one of Sarah so the more the more people we can

impact more families we can impact that's what we're there trying to do so you know well if anybody in the audience

if you if this is resonating uh you know let us know and we can definitely get you hooked up with

Tom uh it's cockal uh c c k r i l l yeah

c c e r i l l okay e r i l l and then

okay Co okay cockroll and co.uk right.

co.uk do co.uk all right so hook up with those uh

I'm in contact with cockroll and uh Sarah and I talk to Tom every once in a

while I think I talk to your wife more often but uh we can get you guys hooked up if you want to look into their

trainings one thing I would say is you're you you you you never know what

you might learn from somebody across the pond about how you guys might do a business just a little bit different

than we do that could be a really big benefit so if anybody uh just reach out

to me Paulo cara.com and uh or you can uh reach out to Jose

he'll get in touch with us anybody uh Rand says uh I always say if I'm the

smartest person in the room I'm in the wrong room that's particularly true for you I'm just kidding

buddy all right Tom hey thanks for joining us today man it's a pleasure and thank you for staying up and and uh

having a great conversation Jose thanks again for always being here my man and

uh with that we will uh catch you the next time you're on the Huddle thanks

everyone all right thanks guys peace

The Huddle - Episode 123 - Managing Time and Resources Effectively on Installations

In this episode of The Huddle, Paul, Daniel, and Jose dive into the essentials of managing your time and resources effectively in the flooring industry. From prioritizing tasks to optimizing your workflow, they share practical strategies to help you make the most of your day and get the best results with the resources you have. Whether you’re running a flooring business or working as an installer, these tips are key to boosting productivity and reducing stress.

The Huddle was created by Paul Stuart of Stuart & Associates and Go Carrera, alongside Jose and Daniel Gonzalez from Preferred Flooring. Aimed at helping you maintain forward progress in your flooring career, they cover topics from personal and business growth, to installation tips & tricks and everything in-between.

Want to be a guest on The Huddle? Email thehuddleforwardprogress@gmail.com today!

Create your FREE Installer profile at https://gocarrera.com and become part of the future of the industry TODAY!
GET TRAINED! Find a list of training dates here: https://gocarrera.com/resources/training/
https://www.preferredflooringmi.com
https://www.stuartandassociates.com

what's up team welcome back to the Huddle or your weekly Playbook to help you gain forward progress in your

flooring career for our new viewers welcome to the team today I am joined with a blank

screen and hopefully Jose Gonzalez uh Daniel is out on a job site and

hopefully he can join as well we're talking about managing your time and

resources for installation this has been um you know

one of the key factors I think in uh a lot of of different installer success

and um the best installer subcontracting Crews that we have here are really uh

really really good at this um across the industry I know that one of the things

that that uh you know comes from go carrera's

clients is the uh the desire for the the the crew leader to be able to manage his

time and resources including the employees that he has um to you know

best serve the overall uh customer which is you know whoever we're we're all

doing the project for so Mr Jose are you around my man I am can you guys hear me

at all I can I can hear you wonderfully I can't see you yeah just uh I think my

camera just wants to malfunction today I've I've already reset my computer like three times um it just to turn on so but if

you can hear me that's fine I don't have a face for a for TV anyway I was I was hoping

um I could uh throw a avatar of your face on on the screen

but I can't so we'll we'll live with your uh with your name and and uh the

blank screen knowing that you're in the background listening so happy election

day everybody I hope everybody got out and voted and and voiced their uh you

know cast their vote and and vo their their support for whichever candidate

you guys are going for and your any local um elections going on as well I

got voted uh voting done earlier so should

be hopefully a um a smooth evening but uh I don't know I I'm

I'm a bit concerned that either direction it's G to be a little bit crazy

so I don't think it matters you're right either way the this ele so many people

against one another Jose would it be possible for you to join from your phone I

wonder for um that might be better than having a blank

screen yep all right I'm gonna I'm gonna disconnect here and I'll join on my phone

okay well right now you guys got me uh where trying to get Jose uh geared back

in and Daniel's out on job site so today again we're going to be talking about managing your time and resources on

installation so uh get active in the chat and uh let me know what you you

guys' secrets are out there as I said early on um our best

Crews um are the ones who manage their time and resources the best and there's

no better way to to do that than having floor Cloud on your project so when you

are uh you know wondering if the job site's ready for you or the company that

you may be working for maybe you yourself have floor Cloud uh you can you

know uh know what the job site conditions are ahead of time uh so right

now while we're waiting on Jose let's discover how floor Cloud can transport your project side conditions right to

your fingertips you can increase both profitability and efficiency with floor Cloud Let's uh

let's take a watch of the floor Cloud video here abl realtime monitoring of your job

site conditions via desktop or mobile device no more manual checking for

temperature humidity or even dupoint no need for base stations Wi-Fi or external

power sources simply scan the QR code on the front of your sensors and you're up and running with the most accurate and

Innovative sight monitoring system in the flooring industry dispatch your Crews with confidence and reduce your

climate related installation issues floor Cloud now you

know yeah another thing I'll tell you about floor Cloud that's really pretty cool is if you load up into Flor Cloud

whatever products you're installing it'll give you alerts when uh the site

conditions do not match that particular ular product as we all know there's different flooring products that have different sight condition requirements

and having floor Cloud on there with your products loaded in will give you

the uh alert if the site condition is out of spec for that particular product

so it's a really big timesaver um you know like us a lot of our projects are

hours away and being able to get the site conditions from four hours away and not have to send somebody out is a real

game changer and if you uh connect your Wagner moisture meters to the uh device

then you can even get your moisture readings from there so Jose has joined us what's up I love the shirt brother oh

yeah represent all day well it's election day and we are

here talking about maximizing our time and resources on

installations one of the uh things I I talked about while you were off uh not

on was how much uh we appreciate the crews that really you know manage their

employees manage their their tools their they always seem to have what is needed

for the job now go career helps with that because they know ahead of time what the job requirements are they don't

come into the the shop that morning and get their work order and find out what they're doing they've known for quite

some time what the uh requirements of that job is so there's Mr

Daniel looks like he's in a van yes sir can you hear me all right

all right uh yeah we can hear you great and it's perfect timing for you to be in

this situation because we're talking about managing time and resources uh on our installations and I was just telling

Jose how for us the Cru When We Get slow we're in a little bit of a slower time

right now but when we get slow it's those Crews that really do good at this

that always stay busy with us they never seem to have a slow time even though we do they never recognize it because it's

the crews that are less um capable in this Arena because we want you know the

guys who manage their Crews and their employees and their their equipment correctly they always just seem to like

I said have the the right tools on the on the truck and uh you know able to to

the job site in a timely manner and take care of the project so you know it's it's funny because I just had a

conversation with um a custom builder today about about this about this

subject he was like man you just you're making my life so easy right now and I

really appreciate it and I would I look forward to doing more work with you um and I was like well well buddy like

we're just getting started man don't be putting that on me yet and he started laughing and uh um and you know he just

asked a bunch of questions and and said look it's um it's been my experience that you know

I am starting labor only than doing what we're doing now it I've experienced more

success and built better Relationships by taking stuff off of someone else's plate absorbing it

handling it and then just reporting back I make their job easier they appreciate

me more when they appreciate you more you get more steady workflow um on the

installation side and that was that was the conversation in a nutshell and um he

just appreciated the the communication as well yeah I I think communication is

part of that what what is your um you know Daniel you've been out and about

and working out in the in the field but you guys also subw work when you when you need to what's what's kind of the

key um takeaways from for you guys that you can share that really allow you to

you know have that comfortability level when you're working with

subcontractors uh essentially just babysitting them a little bit at first making

sure and it it is just telling them hey we need more communication hey we need

pictures every day

yeah so do you guys um when when you're talking when when a sub is or when a

crew I'll just say a crew when a crew is showing up to your job site um managing

their people their their installers or their their employees how important is

that oh that's super important dude like the last thing you want to do is uh

regardless if it's your in-house crew or a a a trade contractor that you hired to

help out the last thing you want to do is is is go in and start micromanaging

their responsibilities or even even if that's what you're used to doing you

don't want to be that guy that goes in there and tries to micromanage somebody else's company um you know

it's as much as we could appreciate someone who takes care of everything and

makes life easier I'm sure they can appreciate and when I say they I refer to us back in the day too is we can

appreciate someone who isn't micromanaging what we're doing either it's a a trust uh you got to trust the

whole process right every I trust every everybody and everything until until I I have a reason

not to that's a good point a lot of guy a lot of Crews they want they they

really need you to to give them that leeway to operate the job I mean legally

you're you have to give them that leway to operate the job and do their job but

um you know the ones that really tend to have uh all the questions like you know

there's a there's a lot of guys that they'll get a work order from and then when they have questions they

we'll still have a face-to-face meeting on site prior to the installation starting to make sure that layouts are

all talk through any floor prep stuff anything that's got to do with that job

and we super appreciate when there's when a work order is accepted by somebody but they don't have all the

information that they reach out to us and ask us a lot of times we try to do

that and make sure that you know our managers are responsible for providing good information but sometimes it takes

that installer's eye looking at the job and like hey but what about this oh hey I noticed that the LBT is 5 millimeter

and your sheet vinyls three are we putting a transition there we leveling it up that kind those kinds of questions

man that those are that's managing that information that's part of managing the job as a as a crew leader as an

installer back to to the the crews too because

we've always been the ones that are like we need this information like so that way we know how to plan uh and and be

efficient at the project when the reality is that a lot of guys tell us

even today that they just show up and then get a work order and they're surprised with whatever they're doing

that day which is not how things should be rain yeah I was uh menting earlier I

think you may have been on Daniel that you know that's one of the things we really appreciate when we use go career

is the fact that you know our guys typically we publish the work order and it's accepted weeks uh at least days

ahead of time and gives them a chance to check up you know look at the drawings

look at the documents any installation instructions we've put on there and

really uh let you you know they reach out to us and ask us those questions and

that that's ideal is to get all those questions answered ahead of time uh you

know make sure that everybody's comfortable with the project scope another key uh key thing is knowledge

knowing that you know I know that when we talk about managing resources and time but knowledge of how construction

works and knowledge about hey they get in there and they notice you know

different trades in the way or what have you um that can be a real pain in the old

rear end for both the installation crew as well as the company that's uh the

flooring company and sometimes obviously the installation crew is the flooring company um but neither Direction like

having that knowledge of what um sequence of construction should be you

know what I mean you go in you got lights but you don't have any HVAC on if

you don't have floor Cloud on your job and you don't know that well the installer had better know that and

report that back to you so that you know they're not installing outside sight conditions what's up hor hey thanks for

joining brother yeah and then you know some of the um the knowledge of the

process in construction period um you know that the experience it comes over with time um but then you can also get

some literature together and you you can kind of set expectations when you're discussing a

project you can ask some of those questions to be proactive or or listed in um your proposal your quote however

your relationship is with with whomever you work with um you know like we as

when we were labor only we still had our own set of terms um that we submitted with with a labor numbers and in those

set of terms depending on what we were installing had specific it they weren't requests right we weren't being

demanding either we were you almost have to be in some cases though they were

they were necessary it it was they were necessary items so I don't want to say they were requests that you know and we

weren't being pushy but they were definitely necessary um for that project or for

that specific material in order for it to uh perform properly and for us to install it

properly yeah yeah another another uh key key point to that i' I made in

the past when I was installing I was pretty eff I was fast but I wasn't fast

because I could spread glue faster than the other guy or because I could cut in faster because I knew how to you know

pattern scribe faster you know what I mean it was because I set the job up in

a way that allowed me to go from step to step to step in a very efficient manner

and you know know you you are the one in control of that as the guy on site you're you know you're setting up things

talking to other trades is another key Point having a good relationship if

anybody's on here that uh does commercial projects I mean residential

as well especially new builds but commercial it's it's imperative that you

get to know the other trades uh if you work in the same kind of municipality all the time you kind of get to know the

guys anyway because you're always on job sites with them but um getting to know the other trades and being able to work

with them a little bit because the gc's these days expect I think they

expect more of that than they ever have you know there they want you to kind of

coordinate with the other trades um and it's super effective for you to get what

you need to be a highly efficient and thus profitable uh installer

and you know the generals uh are also trying to keep certain groups together

um once they find a group of people that communicate well with one another work well with one another and they you know

like you said those relationships are created yeah that creates a Synergy on the job site you know if you're working

with you know the same drywalling company the same electricians the the same

HVAC uh like you get used to working with with guys you know what to expect

out of their crew you know that you know you know that GC knows you know how to communicate together and they're more

likely to to to use you even if you're not the low guy they make more hands off

hands off approach yeah and um well just like you said earlier your your customer

of you make their life easier if you make can make your client's life easier

you're going to be uh you're going to be successful no matter what level of this flooring whether you're uh you provide

and sell flooring and and installation or if you're just a flooring uh

installer or you're just a cells of materials I mean either way no matter

where you're at in the the uh sequence of that of that uh process the fact is

is if you make your client's life more uh you know just simpler um it's I mean

we've lost jobs because I've had managers in the past where I'd get a call from GC and he's like hey man I

like you but your manager is making my life hell he just he makes every everything's an

argument you know that guy's no longer with us that's that's the

truth and I think everybody goes through that depending on personality everybody goes through that that stage right where

you know as a floor guy you need the floor to do the floor and everybody always seems to want to be in the area that you're working when you're trying

to be the most duct that you could be well we take up a bunch of space yeah we

do we do we we we um we we command real estate on the project and um

unfortunately it's the way it has to be for us to get certain things done but

there is certain materials we can work with where we can part it out without putting us in a bad spot but at the same

time that shouldn't be the expectation um you know and I think the frustration kicks in

uh and I know it has kicked in with me when it's a repetitive question hey can you only do this much today can you only

do this much today right like I can do a th000 square feet the same amount of time it takes me to do 700 square feet

except for the reward is a lot different like I'm I I I want to make more you

know every day I'm I'm well and you want to make their job get done you know you

want to get project completed too so it's not just about you you you I mean it's it's a benefit to everybody

involved if you can get in and get the project done the faster you can turn it over the better faster we can get paid

and then we can get that money and then once you like working with other trades

majority like a lot I was on a project yesterday where

the electrician just called me and he's like hey where are you guys going to be at so that way you know my guy I know

where my I can put my guys and it's like that's the kind of relationships you have to build like long term so that way

you just skip the middleman and just communicate with each other yeah and

that's that's honestly that's that's um you know communication we talk about a

lot on the Huddle is how important communication is and building the relationship is part of communicating

you know what I mean like you got to take step one first and that's communica and then you can build that relationship

with each other now you're on another level when you can look across the room at somebody

else and just do a couple nods sh shrug your shoulders and you guys are on the same page and you both give each other

the thumbs up and just go to work like yeah that's the that's the kind of work relationship I want to have that those

are those are good ones that's when the beauty happens when the magic happens you know I think uh another part of

managing your resources you can't you know we just got to the money and that's the next part is managing that part

um managing your money and resources and one of the other things I would say

about a lot of the good Subs is they invest in themselves not just in training and education which we talk

about a lot but also in their equipment and their their tools and their vehicle

and vehicles sometimes uh you know some of our subs are a little bit bigger and

they have several vehicles that are all wrapped in their name and you know they're they're uh they look very

professional and they they invest or manage that

resource maybe your number one resource at the end of a job is the money you make and managing that um it can be

tricky we know I know for a fact through experience that it's one of the uh

toughest things to do is manage that resource uh but reinvesting back into yourself back into your company back

into your employees back into your equipment and uh making yourself that much more um valuable but also efficient

yeah efficient that so that that's what it is right like and some some of the things that you mentioned too are are

are purchases that when you're not generating the revenue that you'd like to generate in order to invest in some

of that that you can't see the benefit uh but this I'll just give a flat out scenario real life scenario and how we

got to a point where we're just like we're just gonna buy brand new vehicles if we were buying used vehicles dumping

money into them the amount of money that we were putting into our vehicles to maintain them on a monthly basis on

average we could have probably bought a couple brand new vehicles at the end of a year or two years if you look at it

and it was just like like you know but there's things that you got to build up to get to that

point um but the money and the resource part like you're right that that is that

is kind of that dance that you have to find you gotta you got to find your sweet spot on pricing you got to find

your sweet spot on production on efficiency you got to find all these sweet spots for for it to to look really

good at the end of a quarter um or be acceptable at the end of a quarter I mean so some quarters don't look really

good but then the next quarter is when that overflow comes in and like oh there it is there it is I thought I lost you

but no you're there you're there I see you yeah and understanding some of that

too well a lot of people think just just charging more charging what you're worth

well first off you have to really know what you're worth and that's that can be

subjective but efficiency is a Sure Fire weight

quality like understanding being educated in the flooring that you're doing and then being efficient at that

at that product uh or those products that series of products uh that is where

from an installer standpoint when I installed on a daily basis that's where I made the most money was understanding

the the processes the the sequences on the job site as

well as knowing what I'm do I was doing you know um I didn't always know what I

was doing and and so I had a good comparison um you know for for a

while it wasn't as profitable I mean the bottom line is you buy a new piece of equipment that makes you uh that you

know how to use well that increases your efficiency increases your profit you can get a job that would have taken you two

days to do you can get it done in a day and demo machines are a good example of

that they're they're a lifesaver you know we got yeah we got a big tile demo

coming up and I'll tell you what like it would have taken days on days on days to

remove 3,000 feet of tile uh you know we're g to probably get that done in a

day and a half and it would took in a week or more who knew who knows you know and how many other pieces of equipment

and uh that we would have needed on jobsite now we'll just have one chip and Hammer and

demo the main demo machine and you know some shovels and wheelbarrows and knock

it out of the park yeah the the demo machines are work wores that um until you get one and you utilize it

you don't really understand what you've been missing as far as getting your time back on a project um unless you unless

you find someone with one and you hire it out and you do understand uh it's one of those Investments that are hard to

pull the trigger at first but once you do you're like I'm so dumb I should have did

this just look at the YMCA the YMCA project we're on right now like if we

didn't have the ride on machines like all of our guys probably would have quit on

us right here that that's a great example there

because yeah what I mean that's a good point to bring up as well is like the the wear and tear that you save on uh

other people's you know on your employees bodies or your own body from from uh using equipment do you guys have

an automatic welder yes sir H how is that for you

guys uh on some of the projects that we have that have a lot of scen that works

out great but majority of the time long run obviously well even like um doing Nora

right because it's only four foot and if you got one room with like

15 seams in it it it's already worth it yeah yeah and then and then the length of the

seene right like trying to stay cons like say you only have two seams but they're 120 foot you know and then you

have five cross seams for five head seams to do right the head seams are fine but you go do them long seams 100

and something 100 plus feet I could tell you what like staying consistent through

that whole thing and the same pitch the same speed all by hand is it impossible

no after that one seam I tell you you're taking a break you're doing all of this and then you're gonna go and and do a

pass and like oh gotta retouch that gotta retouch that that's why I brought it up is um a a lot of the crews that do

our Terror Flex in our in like our athletic you know multi-purpose rooms and stuff they use automatic welders

because not not necessarily is it that much faster really

um the the but you save you just save your body that at the end of the day an

eight hour day of welding um man the consistency and the the the wear and

tear on the guy is is night and day yeah I I um so you talking about uh Teraflex

right in all the sports floor they have that that super high Sheen finish or the finish that will it's very finicky it's

gonna burn if you're just tilted the wrong way yeah the consistency you can create with

the right robot you put it it's not a set it and forget it like we make jokes about just

turn it on turn the light off walk away come back right like with self lover and the robots it just doeses it itself I

just set it in the room I come back and everything's welding make jokes like that

but just the it just looks perfect when you're

done like if you do everything right and you're prepping and taking that time and you invest in the right the right

accessories to go with that tool man it's just you don't have to go back I love it

yeah yeah it's it's uh it's a real game changer when you find those those little

pieces of tools and going the opposite direction from a from a um uh automatic welder we bought I in

fact I bought four of them the small welders 90 degree oh my goodness when

you're doing a ton of Cove seams oh yeah inside outside corners those just having

the smaller welder in your hand it's amazing the difference that it

makes and it just it's a smaller tool and it actually welds a little slower but it's so much more um

favorable to yeah to doing it you don't have to rush yourself out yeah this one

right did you get the turbo tools yeah this one right here was a gift from

Ray it's a butane it's a butane

welder I don't know how efficient it is the idea is cool but just to have one that's this small um and and portable

say I don't have no power say something happen I got a little repair to do yeah

I'm still calling D to do it or you do have power but the dog on closest Outlets 100 foot away and you ain't got

a 100 foot cord yeah yeah all those types of things so

uh you know we got tools education and knowhow

you know tools and equipment rein employees we talked about you know uh

managing their time and resources because they're going to go where you tell them to go and how you know kind of

Follow Your guidelines so what other resources because you know we talked

about money and I think that's the at the end of the day we're all doing this to make an income to make a living and

at the end of the day when you have that resource spending it

wisely um you know I'm no tax accountant I don't want to act like I'm a business

coach or anything like that but I'll tell you taking care of your taxes as a

installer and taking care of your employees making sure that everybody's paid and that your your taxes are

covered those are very important things that um anybody on here watching you

know don't skip that over a lot of installers I I know many many good

installers have gotten caught up on that not manag tell you I wasn't guilty of that back in the day I'd be lying right

so that I think I think that's a matter of uh approaching approaching uh some your finances with responsibility right

like understand what should be priority or what is priority

because even though you put it at something like that on the back burner and it seems okay right in the long

run because remember the government can go back a lot further than you can so

you don't want to put yourself in a situation where you owe uh bad cxes and

then penalties and then late fees and then interests right yeah it's all

gonna it's all gonna build up so take take care of that resource lastly and

this this you know the the we we hit on so much of this stuff that uh it's why

this is a very icient podcast um but the your time so one of the things that I

got into uh doing was Chad Holmes International which was a business coach

I followed in when I first got into business but he talked really heavily

about having a you know a to-do list but it was it was called a D6 and I still do

it today and it's I I write down I have a master list and write down the six

most important things I need to do that day you know at the office and that's what keeps me reminded what I need to be

doing next because whether you're out in the field or you know it could your D6 might look

a little bit different but just realizing the most important things and don't forget family and all

that and yeah you're right so I didn't take any classes like that and but I do

have lists upon lists and I do have big lists that filter down through smaller

lists to help help me manage my task at a glance now I might not be as good as

you or Daniel at taking care of that and knocking that out because I do get distracted rather easily right like soon

as I get a phone call about an issue or a phone call about something you know I I I do tend to get a little sidetracked

with that um and try to fit some of that information in before I lose it lose it

um but fortunately for for for me I have my computer so we have uh a teams that we

use Microsoft teams and then I just got good oldfashioned you know little notepads um for my daily tests and

reminders and items like it's one of the things install-wise that I didn't do

very often or very well but just remembering uh hey I've got to touch up

this or touch up that once I you kind of start doing that then you don't forget these things and when you're in that

part of the school you know for example and you got some base that you need to

finish up or some you know it's just these things that you forget about on job sites and and of course I'm very

skewed commercially because as you can tell in the background we're a commercial flooring company um but it it

works no matter what you're doing you know remembering that you know there's been several times I'm sure you guys

have experienced this on job sites where the mill work or the the the case work was not in yet everything else is done

in the room all the Bas base it and you gotta go back and base the casework well

remembering to do that when you're on that wing of that job and being efficient with that just comes from

managing your time well and uh you know those it's those types of things that I

appreciate about really good installers good Subs that we have and it's also what I wish I would have been better at

when I was installing and uh you know to when when I was installing full-time before

preferred flooring um I did make it a habit of I carried a journal like you know those old journals um the the

composition notebooks I carried those around all the time and like I wrote

down what I did every day I was never asked to do that I did it for me for my

record so that way I could learn um so I could learn my my I wanted to

know where I where I was not efficient at is what it was and I wanted to compare you know my February to my to my

um November if I'm working with the same material out to see if I were if I was

progressing if I was getting better um so that's why I did that umal Walter makes a comment here about

quality control including punch list and that's that's what I'm talking about like it's and sometimes it's not real

punch list items it's like the example I gave earlier is not really a punch list

I didn't it's not a faulty install it's just something you got to get back and do but yeah writing those things down

you know tile guys uh one of our tile guys that is really good like he'll when

he writes up his own punch list he's he he's in effect reminding himself hey when I when I go to mix another uh

especially with epoxy grout when I go to mix another uh uh unit of epoxy grat a

couple I got a couple of voids over in this room over here and he he knows that you know what I mean it it's not like

you leave the job and that becomes a a punch list item he just takes care of it because he

remembers uh to write it down and to follow up and do that and it's like that's that's that

is when you start talking about being efficient on

I'm just getting to the shop we heard Chuck so we just wanted to hear what he had to say we thought he

oh we're trying to ease drop yeah yeah

um you're right about that that that's one of those uh that's one of those things where if some people just have it

like that they just understand they know their limitations and they understand that they need to write it down as a

reminder and then it becomes habit and once becomes well just as better free up that free up that head space to to work

on being doing what you're doing and and and you just go back and it's written

down and you can go back and and this goes epoxy grout was the example I gave

earlier but it doesn't matter you could have a a seam that needs um you know

reworked on a on on um a heat weld or something like that and it's best to do

that when you're heat welding and so you know all these types of things they there sequences to it and it's just

about managing your time effectively so you know you gota you'll end up being a

master at it if you worked at it so that's what I would you know implore

everybody to do you know work on your time management it gets a lot easier and you

know me me being the person I am uh you know my my my kids are 11 eight and

seven they have notebooks do they use them yet no but they have them there and I tell them hey write down what you did

every day when you remember write down what you did today write down what you learned you know I'm not asking you to

keep a journal of your life and your feelings write down hey today I went to school I did I did math uh you know I

broke my shoelace you know what I calculus right just just write down what you did because I wanted for them I

wanted to be second nature to have a notebook and understand the importance of note taking yeah

well that's all I got for you guys today what you guys got anything else to uh any words of wisdom as we close this uh

episode of the huddle out words of wisdom um you know what I don't really have any

words of wisdom but I will say where I fall short on would be time management so if you guys can find a way or if you

guys know ways of time management that is useful and kind of universal for everybody that D6 that Paul was talking

about right he me that could yeah we can hear you uh that would would help out

and I I did I wrote that I wrote that down and I I written that down like three or four times already when fall

said it I think it's just a matter of uh put it on the the other

notebook yeah I have a master I I have a master list of things that everything

from looking at a budget for the company to to buying a

new piece of equipment to a a bid that has to be done I mean it's

all kinds of things that are on that Master list and I just transfer them I look at that and I say what's most

important today and that's what I try to try to put you know for that day and

it's not always perfect but it's covered with microphone stuff right now but

these are my lists that I work off of there's my master that I use it's nothing fancy right but then I also have

a duplicate of that on the computer I like what Justin says here he says think ahead until you're convin till you

convince yourself that you're predicting the future and and Walter says you

know Walter says uh you know job notes that you were talking about taking was

critical if there's a failure or a problem so all that stuff you wrote down you know that's another good point and

take pictures of everything yeah yeah yeah you're ahead SCH do not take a

break or a long lunch stay ahead what are breaks people take breaks still what

does that mean that thing it's that thing that your body does when you work too [Laughter]

much all right guys well um I appreciate you guys uh thank you to everybody

that's on uh live if you catch us on YouTube give us a like a subscribe a

comment thumbs up thumbs down as the guys like to say whichever direction and

um we like and appreciate them all industry part of getting involved in the industry uh is and this is uh maybe a

little bit biased is getting involved in the Huddle uh we like to go to uh conventions and things and the stuff we

learn from you guys is what we take back to uh powers to be a lot of times and um

it's just part of what we we want to know what the struggles are out there in the community in the installer community

and be able to uh pass those along so uh we appreciate all of our fans we appreciate appreciate all of the uh

comments and hopefully if you catch us on Facebook or or any of our shorts give

us a give us a little love and we will uh replying to Nate I usually eat every

other day to save time what that's called

fasting so no it's like I already ate yesterday why do I need to eat today it's ridiculous

yeah that's um all right

fellas we'll catch you guys next week and uh hope you guys have a great

evening and we'll we'll talk to you later see you all right bye

The Huddle - Episode 122 - Turning Off-Peak Times Into Learning Opportunities

In this episode of The Huddle, Daniel and Jose are joined by special guests John Steier and Jorge Orta to discuss how flooring professionals can make the most of the slower winter season. From training programs to skill-building opportunities, they dive into ways to turn off-peak times into a period of growth and learning. Discover the top available training options for the rest of the year and hear practical advice on how to invest in your education during downtime. Don’t let the slow season slow you down!

The Huddle was created by Paul Stuart of Stuart & Associates and Go Carrera, alongside Jose and Daniel Gonzalez from Preferred Flooring. Aimed at helping you maintain forward progress in your flooring career, they cover topics from personal and business growth, to installation tips & tricks and everything in-between.

Want to be a guest on The Huddle? Email thehuddleforwardprogress@gmail.com today!

Create your FREE Installer profile at https://gocarrera.com and become part of the future of the industry TODAY!
GET TRAINED! Find a list of training dates here: https://gocarrera.com/resources/training/
https://www.preferredflooringmi.com
https://www.stuartandassociates.com

hey everyone how's it going welcome to the Huddle Paul usually does this and again uh I don't have anything written

down so I don't know exactly what he says and every time he's not here it throws us way

off but we're here today to to just talk we have some special

guests that might be uh popping in having some technical difficulties but hey at least we're here

here he goes right here one of them I got on the

Wi-Fi he got on the Wi-Fi I was gonna go out my van and I

came in and I'm like uh is there any way I can just use your WiFi because it ain't gonna work that seems to be the

thing to do nowadays everybody's almost everybody's got Wi-Fi available and seems that the cell

signals don't really hold anymore no not especially with like anything stre I can

stream music uh but I'm trying to like even like watch Netflix stream Netflix

somewhere that's not really a great location it just don't

work no well we're glad you're here man this is uh Mr John Styer aka the Florin

nator for people that don't know I think everyone knows you on these groups though if they don't they should by now

may they should I mean where have you been living under a rock right I mean earlier what were you live for like

three hours or something 50 it was like 56 minutes here's the and here's the

bedroom I just finished earlier guys yeah we we were we were watching I went

on Facebook and I said I was like he's live right now working on steps now working on

those are the worst man steps are the worst they're also very gratifying though when you're done yeah yeah I I I

enjoy working with them for the simple fact they tie they make everything finished right like a good set of steps

espec you're working residential it's like the first thing you learn to do really is put a set of steps on but it's

also one of the most important things you do when when you're on a when you're on a project because again it ties the

whole project together your steps look like crap it just kind of makes everything look like crap yeah the same

way in uh commercial right everyone typically starts on bass but if the Basse looks like crap everything else

looks like crap it gives them it gives people um oh I I put this on screen I'll

send I'll send you a link in a second like it it makes everyone just

take a look at things and be like hey this don't look right so let me kind of inspect everything else yep yeah well

how many times have you guys you know gone in and and uh I get a kick out of the beaste that um uh you know I I love

when I look at a corner and it's perfect 90 nice and tight but once you notice

one of those that's not like that everything everything you

know every you're right it's just it it jumps out at you you just your brain

just starts looking for similar items or things out of place oh I appreciate you joining us on

short notice today we we did pull an audible today and change we had to change the episode so I I think it's a

great topic because uh I had a whole bunch of crap on my head and I was talking about it when I went live but I

I thought another chance to share some more of my um I call them my deep my

deep carpet thoughts you know on your deep deep carpet thoughts yeah I need to carry a notebook around with me like you

do Jose and start writing this [ __ ] down like I gotta write stuff down because of

ADHD it just leads to other things right like it's helpful in more ways than one yeah yeah but I I uh

um what I was you know it's always like how do we reach how do we get education on the

Forefront and for me it's it's it's about teaching you know the trade teaching how to do it teaching how to

install the material and you know it's it's you know we've got trade

organizations we now have the Floor Covering Education Foundation and you know we have I mean all over

Facebook all over YouTube you can't not see an ad on somebody that wants to make

your business better too right like oh my goodness yeah all you know uh

basically follow this Playbook and you're going to have great success and uh so then you know here I'm always

thinking like gez you know us in the carpet I should say the Floor Covering

Community when we want to get our word out of we want to help we got so much

noise to go up against you know what what do we do to put our message out

there and uh it hit me today I'm like yeah why aren't we why aren't uh you

seeing more training done with with the Facebook groups you know that was that was a

question asked and it's not that I would say I want to spam people and have them

you know hey I'd give you this you know 15 minutes session and then now come to a class it's more like no I mean I I I

think you could I think you can legitimately do a one hour session on a Facebook live and I'll just use I'm on a

carpet job so we could probably use carpet seams and we could cover uh

conventional cool uh seam iron seam ceiling

um the cool Glide right and and you break that up into multiple different

sessions right like today it's just going to be this and you know that's that's you think about it in terms of VI

the videos online that's what they do anyways right they make things a certain amount of time because it engages people

it it makes it makes it so that way their interest is there the whole time and then you're just like all right we'll take on tackle something else the

next time yeah yeah and so I I kind of thought that would be a great way engage

because videos I think really are I mean I I would rather watch a video on how to

learn to do something then try to read a 40 page manual on it right oh yeah

nobody nobody's I mean I just don't think these instructions you know I mean

sometimes you almost have to be uh uh you need a master's degree in language

to even understand what what it's what they're trying to say a lot of that too is is how does an individual interpret

what they read right can they absorb it can they interpret it can they retain it right and and um Everybody learns that

at different rates and and when there's you know one person writing it is almost

robotic that one way does not apply to everybody else and the videos that you

put like you're talking through it and then you're like oh hold on let me let me do this oh and then you you pause for

like it's real time and you know it gives people time to process but when you're explaining it you you don't you

and I and Daniel we don't explain it the way it says it in a book right we're going through it we're going step by

step and experience like and I remember one time when I did it like this I did try this and it didn't really work you

know and yeah that helps a lot well I sure yeah people love I I I love it I'm

sure everybody else loves it they love when you share something and it's genuine you know you're there's not a

back angle to it that you're trying to you know scam them out of something or or set them up for failure when it's a

genuine yeah that's exactly right like hey for 15 years I did this wrong and

then somebody showed me the correct way my life has been so easy there's no reason for you guys to do it that other

way please do it this way you know um and I I I think those might be you know

uh with being involved in CFI now and having that strong passion for like how

do we get out there you know um just hosting an event putting a flyer out

there isn't going to cut it anymore and that that goes for everybody so what can we do to to make this to where you know

we're sought after but we're also getting good information out there that that actually helps uh you know I'm

biased here I'll say CFI but how do we get that good information that makes us at CFI look good and and a lot of it is

through the the videos that are kind of already out there I think you know uh floors by Southern Boys has some

fantastic videos I you know his videos were some of the first first ones I've ever watched like because he he was

engaging it was a real person real time it wasn't cut and chopped up he I mean a

little bit right but as he got better it got like that but it was real time real progress 45

minutes of trial and error let's just say it that way even though it was less error but he's like explaining the whole

thing so what are what are your guys' thoughts with that too because like

versus uh a a 13 or 15 minute video of just somebody holding a camera as

opposed to that you know expensive over edited you know it really looks

good um video uh I mean what are your guys's

thoughts on that I mean is isn't even necessary to put those videos out anymore um yes and no right because

you're going to have the audience for both of them but like you were saying it engages people so people are seeing it

in real time they're they're with you from the time you start and then say you run into an issue and it's not like oh

let me just cut this and then come back when something happens it's like oh we ran into this what are we going to do to

fix it and in certification is like um with the nfct that's kind of what I do

I'm like you guys there's there's going to be mess ups you're gonna end up burning seams you're G to end up burning

Corners I said the the fact of the matter is is this is real word scenario we don't

have any more vinyl job site you have to make that pass in order to to get

certified so what are we going to do to make it pass and then it's like you can ask me

questions and you like a few gonna hold your hand through it it's like hey you

just messed that up that means you got to you gotta double booted or something right it it this is real word scenarios

we don't have any more material what are we going to do now yeah yeah 100% um you know I I do want

to say something about what you said though about the the video versus like that big edited one yeah uh when I when

I watch a one that's like an hour long on a specific item like just you know like a DIY something or I'm learning how

to do something I do tend to fast forward through the edited videos to the points that I need to get to but when

it's like a live video and someone's recording the process and there is no edit I am more engaged in that through

that entire video than I am off of one that is structured through and through um I don't know if that even makes sense

or if anybody else is like that but I will fast forward to all the points I need in the structured video but the

other one I'm I'm getting personality I'm getting I'm getting good feedback I'm getting oh well see what I just did

there yeah don't do that don't do that let me show you what not to do and then Walter here says you know there is not a

textbook standard for our industry for consistent consistency in teaching and I don't think it's just our industry I

think that's just teaching in general enal because you can have everything you know given to you and then each teacher

is going to teach a different way especially knowing that they didn't learn all learn the

same way so they had different teachers and that just kind of gets passed on and you kind of just mimic what you were taught right so you probably find

that that favorite teacher that you had and you're like I'm kind of going to mimic them so I mean that's the same all

the way around that is uh uh that is a 100% I would say with trades to how we

are are teaching teaching um trade is

through our past experience with it you know I I I find myself a lot when I'm uh

teaching or explaining is I'm relating to a lot of my experience of what I had

so if you have a teacher that had a lot of bad experiences

probably gonna they're going to relate to a lot of those those maybe those negative to where if the experiences

were better um for that teacher probably gonna come across and and think about

going through high school you know what teachers did you like you know probably the ones that tended to have a better

attitude towards you could relate to you as a person but then whatever even even

though the the the topic was nothing that you cared about they were still able to to make it um enjoyable for you

so engaging they were engaging right like um if you got a room full of 20 people they're all there to learn

they're all gonna expect different things but they're all gonna find different items funny the humor is

g to be different the deliver is going to be different and and I think it's uh

someone who is teaching who can relate to everyone even if they don't at first but

they make the time to go through and and and find you know one relation with with everybody as far as uh or one thing in

common uh that's those are those are the best teachers and then like you talk about going to

school those are the the ones that resonated with me the most were the ones

that didn't take anything um because they expected more out of me and

until I realized that right myself they were hard on me but once I did realize that and I did I I I did execute to

their expectations as well then then everything was a lot better yeah Mario's

on here he was actually supposed to join us today but he can't figure out his sound like his microphone wasn't even

registering on the software get a new phone Mario time for

a new phone and then since we are talking about um you know in the slow

time what you can do invest in yourself invest in some training but Elena says

that installers don't invest because they see no reward on the financial

side and then they will put other installers down before they they support

them right and you you see that all the time on the groups where people just get on on there to talk crap and um I've

gone as far as I just like to start private messaging for the mo for the

most part instead of like commenting because some is going to try and discredit me right away and typically

that it's someone that just doesn't like me because I'm me which is fine whatever I don't care if you like me or not I go

on there and act like somebody else and make comments to Daniel I'm gonna do that now because I

like St guys I I truthfully I I make post get reactions sometimes and it's

not it's not to not to bring negativity but it's just you know kind of like it's

social media but I think Daniel made a great point you know for those of us

that want to make things better when you see that post and it's a blatant like oh

boy that's bad like how many times have we seen pictures and they're and they're showing the 35 fans sitting trying to

trying to dry out a floor the glue so they can get on it and you've got all the hate coming that's a great scenario

right there that's a PM private message all day hey like dude like hey I just just wanted you to know I'm not going to

post this and call you out but I think that's just the inherit nature of social

media is it makes it to where we can do that and you're never

really I mean we we joke because we say all people get all butt hurt all the time about stuff but like and and it's

usually the generation above us that's talking about my generation oh you guys get all butt always always dude they're

the ones that'll post something stupid dude get torn up and then they're just done they won't even get back on

Facebook you know what because there is there is a a point when you reach a certain age where you just don't really

give a [ __ ] what you say I'm just gonna say this because this how I feel right now let me not think about it just do it

what's up H H welcome what's up everybody how's everybody doing today doing doing good brother you can

you'all hear me yeah we can hear you great awesome awesome yeah man uh good

stuff here on the video stuff uh I know I had talked to John uh in Dalton and we

had talked about videos man how important videos are uh for people because some people just learn off of

visualization what they can see they don't like you were saying they don't read a 40 page book you know uh but yeah

that's super awesome videos I think are are are a way to grasp people's

attention and uh just let them know what we're doing you know it might be something different that they haven't

seen and that's gonna push him to to want to maybe take some training right

you know you just made a really good point by the way how many people a like

if you don't if you think about like this how many people still look for a picture on a menu to order their

food versus looking looking at a menu and just ordering like that like I that

I look at the picture dude if the picture don't look good no like unless I know what it is I love I love our

Mexican restaurant but I can't pronounce a lot of the stuff on it so yes I am

that I'm like that looks just point at the menu this this right here that's what I want yeah yeah I like the Asian

restaurants I want uh the number 15 extra spicy yeah so the the other part

of Elena's statement that she made is they don't see a Financial reward right for going through a certification which

is why they don't do it so uh the thing that I tell people is it's it's not like

it's gonna it's night and day right you have to what are you going to do to Market it and I put it in terms of just

a doctor going through college you know they go out through all that schooling and then you have all types of doctors

you specialize in stuff how are you going to Market it a doctor doesn't just open up their own shop and then be like

all right all the customers come rolling in no it's all about marketing how are you going to Market Market what you just went and got and let people know that

hey this is this is me I'm getting trained I'm worth it because of this and

it to it takes a long time for people to see that worth but I mean we got clients now where it's like they'll they'll text

me after the project and they're they're like it's just a blessing every time we have you guys on our job site and it

took a long time to get to that point but people know now that you know we don't just go out and work and then go

home it's it's a constant reinvestment in our education we have to remember too that

you know it's not just unique to the flooring installers oh you certified and

you're going to get more money I mean there is every other trade you have to

you know to to be an electrician you know you've got to reach certain levels of education and you're not

automatically paid more right away you're just you're available for those

uh promotions and and and the thing is is with them that education is a

requirement so my buddy owns an electric like a electric outfit over here and his

guys have to go once a week on their own time too it's not even during work so you got to go on your own time and go to

school make sure you're doing it because if you don't then you're not gonna you're you'll never move up yeah one

thing I wish that you'd see more of and I know uh um Kyle Haden with four

covering the Floor Covering or floor Academy podcast was really focusing on is making

uh because we're predominantly subcontractors making us smarter in business because uh just like you said

Daniel it's about marketing not only your certification but just marketing yourself making

yourself uh more valuable and how do how do you do that well you you've got to

actually look at yourself like a business and not a job one that that's just that's it um if you are working out

of stores and that's all you want to do that's fine too there's I don't think there's anything about you know um at

least in my area I know what some of these guys are getting paid now it's way better than what it used to be you know

and they're it's because they're bringing attention to the things they're reading on these Facebook groups that they're seeing that oh man there's not a

whole lot of carpet installers why am I still installing carpet for next to nothing you know they're learning how to

say no and that is part of the the education is that we need to teach how

to you know you need education is going to help you realize that you are a

valuable person you know quicker than just going to work every day getting

around people that can that are like-minded that can motivate you are going to make you see things way

different and challenge yourself for the better they'll help you see things different I think is what it is because

they have experiences that you didn't all these things are just you know another tool right another tool to add

to your toolbox what are you going to do with it and uh you know we we partner with with many people and one of our

partners is actually floor cloud and uh we've been using Flor Cloud pretty extensively on these these projects that

we've been on and they've been amazing uh I'm going to play a short video here to show you guys something about floor

cloud realtime monitoring of your job site

conditions via desktop or mobile device no more manual checking for temperature

humidity or even dupoint no need for base stations Wi-Fi or external power

sources simply scan the QR code on the front of your sensors and you're up and running with the most accurate and

Innovative sight monitoring system in the flooring industry dispatch your Crews with confidence and reduce your

climate related installation issues floor Cloud now you know and now you know and that's how

that's what I tell the gc's on the job sites it's like hey you got to turn this temperature up hey you got to get a

dehumidifier in there sometimes they don't understand to what what um specs their contract States

either right so so not just teaching your crew you're teaching other people too Walter's in here um

and I I love this engagement because he says as an industry too many trainings and certifications aren't legit right

I'll pop this on screen while I'm reading it so those that don't know the

inner workings don't always know the good ones so I mean how how are we going to

tell do we actually have to go through these things or is it based on just what what you're

hearing how would you that's a great that's a I mean that's a I think I

always go anybody there's I mean there's nothing stopping anybody from going out

um and and teaching and and saying I want to open up the school of carpet

excellence and teaching how to install carpet not write that down we don't yeah

we don't we don't have we don't have like this book this big Bible standard

that we got to obey and hey guess what you might be good enough you can it's America you can get paid for it you know

if you could pull it off pull it off uh I mean Walter makes a great point

there but uh his his other main point is nothing is

credentialing and accredited to differentiate but there are some accredited programs that are starting to

roll out right now so this is not necessarily true um right now because of what's

going on and the thing is is that a lot of the the bigger certifying entities

have their hand in these ones that are becoming accredited right and and and that

process is a little bit lengthy too right like it's got to get approved by the board it's got to go to a university

that's reputable that could accredited the training program has got to have the right curriculum It's gotta you know

there's a lot to it um at FC's uh you know their Apprentice

program they can put in through it it's it's recognized in in throughout theout the nation as an accredited program and

it uses ctef CFI uh nwfa it's using all these

standards that they have that they have written uh to teach the class and

they're popping up everywhere Right add to his first comment I'm sorry hold is

um you know and and which which ones to to each their own if you have three

people go to three different trainings a b and c right each person is going to gain something different from program a

program B program C they're going to find successes in three different areas they're not you know so how do you how

do you rate them if even if in the accredit if a a training is accredited

how do you rate it in terms of a successful or legitimate training do you rate it on the success of the people who

have taken the certification passed and done well or do you rate it on

the the the amount of failures or lack of failures after they've taken the

class but not necessarily the dollar amount that they're making afterwards right like how how do you do

that it's gonna take time too because if these programs are barely rolling out

how much time till you can actually say hey this is a successful rate or a

failure right is as long as those metrics are tracked you know it's only a matter of time he says

so Kevin and Corey both said what's up guys what's up and then he says that

standards and accreditation are different which yes there I love that language right there that is a way

better way to explain that right and then so when you start

getting into you know accreditation and stuff like that going through the schools making sure everything is

legit and I think the issue with just standards are is not even many

installers know that there's standards out there that they're supposed to be following look at look at I I'll give

you guys a great example A lot of these ASM with moisture come on man I would say the

majority of us have no clue you you guys probably do because of of the world you

live in but I I read stuff weekly that just blows my mind that I'm supposed to

know about vinyl T and moisture and well Concrete in general just concrete yeah

what it is is come on and I gotta be responsible for all

this like you try to take two steps forward but you're taking four steps back exactly that's the way I feel

sometimes I'm like man I didn't know that and now that I know that I'm like ah just makes it more

complicated I'm like I'm seeking to carpet if you read just read the manufacturer specifications right a lot

of the resilient is to say hey guys you got have to followm f710 and then guys

just read that and they're like okay and then you you get a group of guys together and you're like Hey guys does

anyone know what ASM f710 is and no one raises their hand and it's like you guys

this is like beginner stuff here this is what everything is based on yeah so Justin

wants to know how we feel about install but install a great program they don't

let us into it because we are not Union which is totally fine you know how about

how about they make it public they make it available to the public and then then they will be able to grade it I can't I can't rate something I don't know that

how it works but if if there's a basis in which they have the install base off of right like all the training entities

and they kind of put everything together and made their own system um tell me what systems they use to create theirs

and then I'll let you know I like it yeah I I've met a couple of the Union

guys uh they're all good dudes they're cool dudes you know yeah same very

knowled we we went to one of the um locally here yeah we went and checked it

out and and yeah we understand right but like had I known about the union and all

that years ago before I had kids before you know I was married then maybe things would be different right now but

unfortunately we live in a part of the state where where there's a divide there is no Union on our side of the state I

don't have a use for it and there's plenty of work without having to to be part of a union and and not only that

the people on the other side of the state are kind of saying that the the unions are struggling a little bit

so yeah there there is a struggle and and probably more more so maybe in the flooring industry right because Le let's

let's be clear a lot of our friends are in the flooring industry so we hear some things um but you know without the proof

we don't know um I just uh I guess I don't know enough about what program install has to to to

say it for sure but if it's a great program and it's proven please patent it share it make the world

a better place to back up to Walter's question about you know who's who and what's what that is a tough question but

I guess if we're looking at what's going on right now we can see the the organizations and what they're doing and

what they're put out and when you're having support from the inspection

Community with your organization you're having support with the manufacturing

community and you're having support from the installation Community I would say that's a success I would say if you

belong to any organization that is that's receiving those three things or

you're getting input from those three things then you I I think you should be able to hold your head up pretty high

and say look it's not a one-sided conversation we're here we've got man ufacturers giving us input we have

inspectors giving us input we have these people over here telling us that we know nothing about concrete giving us their

input I mean there's just so much that that that there is out there but if you're able to uh educate in a way that

appeases kind of all those I think you're doing great well it's less lumps on the road too you know because

everybody I mean at this point everybody's doing their part uh on all sides uh less claims more knowledge

uh you know it just makes the machine run a lot smoother um so yeah people should if people don't think they should

take advantage of it any kind of training I mean anything from a simple sewing class with a couple old ladies

you know it'll help you out anything um right it helps me I do stuff like that

so right here Corey says uh you know quick question when a manufacturer has a

certified training for installing their product how does that specified training affect prior training for like products

or is that even an issue and I think uh Walter kind of answered it right here a

little bit too right the difference in certification is that it's for their products only compared to the General

Flooring industry certification but you have to start looking at things like I can

take just talking about sheet vinyl right because we we love resilience so

just talking about sheet vinyl I can take what I learned from this sheep vinyl manufacturer and kind of translate

it everywhere it's just just the specifics that you have to worry about so what adhesive am I using what what

things like that it's nothing like super huge sometimes but it's just the little

things like that so you can actually transfer that over to more than just one manufacturer and I think that's what

these training entities kind of that's where the value is because you're not just learning one you're like it's a

broad knowledge so you can translate these things over multiple manufacturers

but you always have to refer to manufacturer specifications right because if you try and do it just like I

showed you and then something is different with that adhesive then that automatically makes that installation

wrong yeah that's the warranty right yeah like materials like materials might

go down the same path as far as the process and dos and don'ts but they're just like materials that's where the

manufacturer specs come into play where it's manufacturer specific so that way

if there is something a little bit different if they did add something a little bit different into their material

um you're prepared for that by by reading their literature or referencing their literature versus the general

literature of a type of product the nuances guys yeah it really

is that's I mean that's what training understanding that you you guys

I think uh Daniel you hit it best is you know let's let's P we'll say Armstrong

resilient wrote this whenever and then tarat took a little bit of it they kind

of liked it they tweaked it a little bit to make their own and we as installers have to be able to distinguish between

the two of those or the or however many different products we work with and and when we're just talking training on

installation techniques that's all it is is a technique right there's many techniques to get the same end result

and you just have to take EV all the information and you make it your own because I do things different than Jose

does and he does things different than Crystal does but if you put us all in

three separate rooms we do all we all do our own room that end result is going to

be almost indistinguishable right you you're going to go in there and just it's just going to be like oh preferred

flooring was in here that's it it's not and that's how it should be and that's because of that what what Walter had

said the standard that's the difference between a standard or just a certification or a training right like

yeah yeah the equation's just a little different for everybody right and the

same instance too like we hit this horad and I have been talking like over the weekend and at the end of last week

about a product like I could have gave you know we got a referral from him all

the way from Texas all the way over here wherever he's at whoever called him he referred us and I'm help the gentleman

and there's some installers that walked away from a product and I kind of know what path we should

go down for it right but I couldn't find the right information and he was gracious enough to send me some video

and some screenshots of some literature that helped clear clarify everything because the rep wasn't getting back to

me the sales rep or the tech rep um uh it I could have just went in and banged

it out and acted like I knew exactly what I was doing and that's where that networking aspect comes in right like

you you need to have this network of people that you can lean on because you don't know everything and that's one

thing that like if you think you do right now you don't and remember earlier

when I was talking about having haters and I don't care what you think about me there's guys that put stuff like this

apparently looks like my mother made love to a garden gome and I think that is hilarious so I'm gonna put that that

is hilarious because his dad does look like a garden gnome and then he said uh

Daniel goes to the bar and orders a glass of warm milk actually I don't like warm milk I prefer cold milk but thank

you with ice milk with ice ice in it Paul the hater hey that's fine I'm

pretty sure that his real name's not Paul but we we get the gist so Kevin says not not a bad idea to check with

the flooring and glue manufacturer before moving forward with any job so much changes so rapidly make sure you

get the most updated data sheets and there's stories like this where online it has something and then on the bucket

it has something El it's just like which one do I follow yeah that's Paul Paul Stewart's got the best story about that

one where one said install with this side up the other one said this side down

and he's confused and had to make a phone call and they said yep it's updated on the website but not the

product my girlfriend is a jar of peanut butter I'm just gonna I'll stop now I'll

let him just keep on talk yeah but getting back to that product that Jose and I talked about I had to

reach out to other people as well so Charlene Collins David Hunt I mean uh I try to reach out to the people who have

done it way longer than I have and do it on a regular so I I I believe he has a

library of information cuz he went and he checked it out and in a matter of minutes he came back and he was like hey

man this is what I got let me know if you need anything else and dude that's some people just say every piece of

paper every year and probably put it in a book somewhere and just back because it changes right everything changes that

I know people like that and it's good it's good to have it so you know hey you know this year they had it like this and they changed it up you know this year we

got another Superstar joining us guys Mr Rin shut it off shut it off he

made it show's over that's probably the best gear ship

probably the best gear shift I've ever seen oh he's driving through New York he says yeah heading towards Pennsylvania

then back home I just I was up with Don Perkins and uh putting on a tech

certification oh yeah for last couple days and his his his wife got her Tech

certification nice yeah so so if I go in and out that I'll be like John sty and

and blame it on somebody else no he blames it on himself he blames it on his signal a millennial I can do that you're

an old man you can't do that oh I can H all right anyway so yeah it was really

you know I was really encouraged with it because uh I had you know uh we only had seven and

and uh five of them were 30 and under I had to thre it to learn

had uh probably uh uh uh one 31 so that's

nice man you're kind of breaking up a little bit Rin

yeah can you hear me now we can hear you see you now but can you see me at all yeah Jeremy

says that you need to put on your uh reading glasses if you're driving

no I'm not that old yet yeah you're only like what 150 right

now so so what do you guys got on the agenda what what's coming up that everybody

needs to know about like uh as far as well I'll sort of give you I'll sort of give you a rundown real quick and

and I don't know if that rund Down's coming guys because he's paused now I

think your I think your signal is run down but as far as like uh with with u

with CFI we got some great uh opportunities coming up in the midwest St Louis Fargo North Dakota Minnesota

Wisconsin so so right now we want to kind of know and I got I got it pulled up right here too we're kind of looking

at this this downtime right because um historically this has been around the

time where things start slowing down a little bit and gives people more opportunities to actually

get out and do something and you can't have that scarcity mindset like um I'm

not making any money right now so I'm just not going to do anything right this is actually a perfect time for you to go

out there and and do some training because when you're too busy you're like I can't do it right now because I'm

working yeah no that's a great way to that's that's actually fantastic uh advice right there because you'll never

if you're busy I it's just hard for me to convince install when they're busy to take time off work it just it all they

see is that work ahead of them and if they don't do it somebody else is gonna do it and for whatever reason they're

they're prime example is is we actually did not make it down to the CFI event because we had too much work on on our

our plate like yeah we had too much work you guys that we had deadlines that we weren't

going to make and that's just one of the things we had to do right so like I get it running a business I mean and that's

just what it is because most of the stuff you're gonna have to take off work you're going to have to travel you're going to have to spend money um and none

of that stuff installers really like doing all at one time you know right hey

Rin people are saying maybe if you turn or sunny it was actually Sunny said if you turn off your screen your camera and

just do the audio it might work better I can hear you right now might work better if you just don't do

it it's probably a better idea driving

just I would say stay off the stay off the phone if you're

driving I'm not driving that's why he has it down there no one can see it yeah

no yeah not illegal that's so it looks like uh November

November 12th there's a nfic certification in Dalton and then we have

December 9th um intro to residential carpet in St

Louis and then around that same time is the carpet residential Carpet One

certification and then we we're into next year unless something gets added but I

mean uh we're working on one she wants it a a lvp laminate in uh at at Kim's

carbet in uh North Carolina it's just me and her getting a date plugged in she'd

still like it this year um but there again it's it's uh me and her connecting

uh on what days so we still could have another one yet this year of lvp and and

laminate um then we're going to follow up with a carpet one at her place

probably uh first part of of next year so we got more into making I know we

have some in Wisconsin that's in the making y um you know that that's being

worked on so we got a lot a lot on on the agenda that we're working on and and

hopefully get out but like I said you already I heard you were saying about the nfic one uh uh that's next month and

uh it's both a train the trainer and a certification and you're going to be

theread no I'm sad I'm going to miss it I get married on the 16th so that whole week I have family coming in and Friends

uh Jus and Jose are going to be at it but they're leaving that Saturday I think uh they're flying over here

so to make the wedding well congratulations brother thanks that's right I thought you G have a dumb excuse

like having too much work to not make it no man I I was really bummed out I really wanted to go to that

one he really moved his wedding it was scheduled for during the CFI back and

his medication dude is told his told his fiance that they were moving it because

he was going to the convention that's legit too I probably I

probably would not have had a fiance after that what about um what about like you

know something we don't talk about too much on here on certification what about like or Paul does typically is a hard

surface um and you know and what about like uh codings resonance codings do we

have anybody out there that that that does any of that I mean we've been getting a lot of that across our desk as

well so if if you are just Reach Out Daniel Jose you guys doing

codings we we personally are not but but no we have a guy that that we use to

take care of all of our codings yeah but as far as like the hard surface you know and and wood nwfa has a

few classes uh from now until the end of the year looks like every

I mean we're at the tail end of October so November 5th they have something in

Missouri they just got some stuff in Tennessee coming up and then the the

CTI they got their their calendar I mean just go

to their websites and make sure you're checking on these dates and then the the nfct has

uh in alqua with uh RX some floor prep

stuff on November 6 so you know there there's plenty of stuff out there and if you have you know some stuff on codings

definitely let us know so that we can pass along the information right and which ones you are

worth taking like I I get extreme polishing systems I think I talked to them they were going to be in Vegas one of the same times we were so I was gonna

try to like overlap but our schedule was way too busy so yeah we need some R2 c2s

actually cuz we haven't seen some of those in a while I need my R2 I'm still R1 R same

yeah or we can just do a private event yeah we could do that uh but uh I

know down if I do the carpet one at at Kimmy's I I've done the carpet one there

two years ago so it's going to have our ones in our R2 so we can do both it's

called All Surface one we we could plug getting that if we don't get enough up there uh we can get you to come down

there talking about it more no that's down in North Carolina oh okay awesome

and you're saying something about Jeremy had something Daniel so a couple things first we're gonna address this one right

here why didn't John Styer compete like he said he was going

to John Styer did not make the time to get down there that's why and then he he

he wanted to make sure I seen it because he said the people want to know why John Styer wasn't in Delon last

weekend that is why you know what people who are asking that

question you just don't want him to be there his name isn't the Florin nator for no reason he gave you guys a chance

it so and and and I don't like excuses right like I'm not like but it is it is tough when you want to do a lot of

things you run your own business you know Dalton for me it's an expensive trip trip

um I know it is but uh you know they have Phoenix they got Phoenix coming up

and I it's even further I've got yeah I've got my November filled up but uh

I'll keep it on the radar because I I think it's I I think it's something that we all need to do at some point is just

get out there and and actually do it now say I will say that I don't want to do

it because then I know when I do make it to ties or something like that I will not be able to enjoy my time

there that is it's just all work all work yeah I I talk too much to to do all

that to do the competition now this next comment is legit right because Jeremy's

asking why aren't there and Rin maybe you can weigh in because you're pretty deep into this why aren't there more

scholarships for classes to help get certifications he's always been a W2 employee but not being his own boss or

being a sub he can't really afford to attend those classes um the scholarships they have

out now are geared more towards the guys that are new to the industry rather than

the guys that want to further their education that are already in the industry and and I I agree with what

he's saying that they are Geared for new people in for people taken but because

the FCF is the one that does that not CFI um uh you know because we're being

nonprofit We Can't offer scholarships to it but FCF H has to show a career

path and and so that it has to be at least the one week and more for them to

to put the money in and you'll find that

much with any uh organization that path and not just for a couple day

training right so and then he says uh Jeremy was trying to compete in Chicago

but he got hit in the face with a softball then he says uh he

realized he's one of the few W2 employees who actually takes pride and wants to build his knowledge and hand

skills but it's just his hands are tied when it comes to that financially and

then you're talking about career path and the fcef but what career path is there when you're bringing so many new

people in with not many places to put

them and that's where um if I could answer Jeremy is Jeremy able to talk to

his employer about sponsoring him to go um because there are quite a few you

know I um uh I know a lot of companies around here here that that hire young um

uh mechanics or um Machinery operators and they'll put them through school they

just have them sign like a two-year contract hey for the next two years you know I need you to work here and uh I

I'll tooling so Jeremy if you're interested uh I would have a serious conversation with your with your

employer and say Hey you know this is what I'm I'm serious about this I want to do this uh I just I can't front the

money here's what come up with a plan for him hey this is what it's going to cost me

uh you know what can I do to to make this enticing for you to want to send me to something like right and he says that

they'll have them go but sometimes they're just too busy and then the times where he does have time is when there's

no certifications going on probably yeah and then miss Perkins says that uh WiFi the

women in the Floor Covering industry has scholarships right now so tomorrow is the deadline so if you're interested in

that make sure you're you're going to get on and and see if that's something that you can

do where's Jeremy live here in Grand Rapids with us

okay they are also his employers no I'm messing with you that would have been good oh man

we're also his employers he used to be

but yeah it's it's a it's an expense so I mean they need to put CS at

Dalton hey guys I'm I'm hitting the uh po poo mountains and

that R yeah you're breaking up so thanks for for jumping on Rin we'll talk to you

next time bud thank you Rin yeah so they need a like in Dalton they should have a bunch of Cs that way

we can all go and just sleep there we don't have to have a hotel yeah you know it's cheaper but if you if

anybody the the that would be fantastic I know horge has been down there to see

that facility and anybody else that's been there I think that would be you know anybody watching this uh maybe in

wfca CFI the upper s the upper um really

look at making that into a training center you've got I mean you are right in the hub of everything down there you

have access to um all the Mills you have access to uh

materials um man I I would just I would love to see that I know it's going to come down to a lot of other things too

but you know guys that would be fantastic if if something like that could happen in the future you know

Danny you mentioned something about career path and I think that's where um you know Paul Stewart and go carer has got that Jump Start program um to help

uh individuals hopefully find placement after they take their initial classes with the fcef and and and get through

those courses that they have that that's um you know just another add-on for the career path um and then also as far as

like the the grants and all that Jeremy you know Jeremy's got a he's got a great point there right because there are grants available for um uh Corporate

America to utilize utiliz and it isn't geared and we tried to qualify for some

of we did qualify but we weren't able to use it um to its full potential because

our trainings are out of state they want in-house or instate training and there's

a lot of you know there's a lot of red tape right but maybe maybe some of these

uh the FCF and um some of these other entities have the ability to talk to

some of the grant Underwriters and figure out a way to get the verbage right on there for them to make it more

tailored to to the construction industry industry but

correct I like that yeah right like we can take a little like Daniel and I took

a 10we course on Advanced estimating or something like that I forget what it was called um um you know but that was like

one day a week or 10 weeks you know and they have some of that uh going on um

and I think a lot of those programs are still running through some type of University or the higher education programs and that's what kind of sucks

too because that that comes with um a dollar amount um and to be honest with with you man we're in the trades man the

last thing that I want is is for um a university or a college to have full authority over what education we're able

to receive and what certifications I understand that they got to give it a rating to get it accredited but you we

don't want to give them full power of of what we have right we don't well just think about it in the long run though

it's those kind of classes that actually become more affordable and you're not paying just $600 for two

days yeah and if we can get them you get them into you know the colleges and the

universities it's going to open things up to financial aid I mean because what you're saying you're 100% right you know

right now some of these programs you can go to these community colleges for for nothing you know absolutely nothing if

you're willing to do the the program and you're willing to go put the work in it do got to cost you a dime and yeah I

would love to see our trades just I I know they're do like II know they're doing stuff like that you can qualify

you can get certain amounts of money it sounds like the same thing as like Michigan right but the money has to stay

inhouse it has to go towards training you have to show The Apprentice type

program that you have in place with the training um and that's where the programs like

install have an upper leg because they have all of those docks in place and that's why they're able to flourish W

with within the uh the union and you know and you know that is that is one of the benefits to being part of the unit

they have all of that stuff they created the structure yeah well let's just face it anything anything that you know needs to

happen or should happen in the Floor Covering Community it's going to cost money and it's a lot of money right and

sunny says to check with your local labor department for a available funds they are out there and yes they are but

a lot of the the flooring installers around aren't set up to actually receive

those funds like we've been lucky enough to be set up to

actually provide all the information that they need and because when when they're when you're talking about grants

they want to know your entire business history man it's like if you don't keep track of stuff then you're just already

behind and unfortunately most of the guys that are out doing it are just

doing it and keeping receipts in a box and they're not using the right stuff right so that's kind of another hurdle

that we have to get over and I think that that's the also one of the downfalls of U you know the percentage

of 1099 versus W2 um in our industry it's yeah you know what I mean if you're

1099 you know you there you have to have all the right information in place in

order to even come close to having um a chance at a grant so and that's where

the W2 yeah like luckily we have a Daniel Daniel tracks everything and we got the programs and it's evolved into

what it is right now but it's taking us a long time to be be able to understand the importance of retaining information

and and creating a structure and that's a great Point Jose about being able to

keep track of that because that is there's a difference between you're a 1099 then you have an uh you're you're

some sort of Corporation or LLC there's just and let's face it I'm if I had to

guess most of the guys that I know are just quote unquote self-employed 1099 that's it so Proprietors so

Proprietors it's like those are you're gonna have a hard time probably showing

how you you know for grant money how you want thousands of dollars you're gonna use it so there you go Grant

Underwriters we need a program to help out 1099 individuals yeah right that's a

great that's a point though because that is the majority of of if you're

especially if you're working out of a store um yeah you're probably just showing up $199 at the end of the year

that's what it is Y and Jeremy says he wants to get more certifications so he can teach the more

people he can teach the sooner he can get off his knees and that's 100% I think uh H and I I mean I talk about it

with everyone probably but it's a matter of uh it needs to become a viable career

path in order to just be an instructor and just teach people fulltime oh I think we could have a

podcast just on that because I oh I know I am so G to be very vocal here I am so

tired of saying oh there's no money in education there's no money teaching Floor Covering that means we're doing

something wrong because all these damn colleges all these universities any

anything uh I'll even say even um uh the other trades that are doing stuff with

education the centers in which they have like I was just at one for electrical down in waterl my God it was millions

and millions of dollars okay that's real money that means so we just

the right people need to figure this out because you're right like this is if we get the right people teaching this they

need to make a career off it you should not have to install carpet and then go

every go on a weekend and then do some training I mean it's fun to do but man it's it's not something you're gonna be

able to do all the time you so that that's a good idea you know for any of you guys out there in the flooring

industry that just have some money that they want to invest into the training uh preferred flooring is willing to host a

satellite training facility for you if you provide the the location and we'll take care of the facility for you while

utilizing it for our business and anytime you need to host the training we'll make sure that that space is available since it is

yours I like it yeah so kind of reel us back in because we're running a overtime

already and I know it's hard because we got all these topics and it's just it's

just something that you like you said we could talk about this for for days oh that's a good because there's

there is some very talented um within within nwfa ctef there are some very

talented individuals within those organizations that I would love to see him just teaching full-time you know and

make a career out of it and that's what Jeremy says right here you know that's his ultimate goal is to to be teaching fulltime and that would be awesome

because that dude has has some hand skills for real and uh so I I would last week um we did we were at the NCT event

over in America's Flor Source in Columbus Ohio amazing facility this thing is ridiculous right and um you

know I get up there and I introduce myself and some of these guys you can you never

know what you're going to get because you have those guys that are like I already know everything so that's the

attitude they have but one of the the first questions that someone asked me and it was legitimate like he was like

why are you here teaching this class and I said because man I have all this knowledge in here that if it just stays

in here it's not going to do anyone any good later on in life so the more knowledge that I can pass down to

everyone make sure everyone knows what I know and knows how to do things the right way that's what I want like it's

I'm not here to just make a bunch of money because I'm a certifier right

everyone that's a certifier knows that's not the case that's not why we do it it's usually pro

bono you lose money you tend to lose money it's not like oh I could have made

2,000 bucks this week you but that's why we do it right it's because we enjoy showing people the right way to do

things you know having someone go from um we went out there and you know that

first theme that they did and it was so scorched and then fast forward three

hours later and then they're like hey I need you to come check this out because they did man they they got it and and

then they feel so proud of themselves and you you just look at it and you're like man I I can't believe that it just

takes this amount of time for someone to get this much better and then like you

build them up that's the go you build them up with all this flatlay world and

then you make them do flash cove and it tears them right back down it's like anything else you guys

right like if you guys grew up uh competitive at all and played sports or even were part of a band or anything in

school you didn't you didn't jump in band and and take first chair you didn't

jump on a baseball team and you were starting shortstop and and uh you know or starting pitcher you know what I mean

there's there's a lot of things that you didn't do unless they didn't have a choice but you had to practice you had

to go out and do work on your own and and you know and the the individuals that succeeded in all of that took it

upon themselves to take their own time to get better you know not just when they were at baseball practice not when

they were just you don't go to a game and just that's all you get you don't go to one practice and that's all you get it's continuous and and and I think that

that's where where we fall short uh not just in flooring but uh construction period that's why the the the the road

to success is seems so long to so many because they don't put in the work that is really needed yeah no

it's I don't know why some people act all hard like when they go in there thinking they know everything at the end of the at the end of the whole thing

we're probably going to be friends right because you're going to make like three four friends in the next training and

they're always going to talk to you and you're always going to talk to them and your your circle just gets bigger so you

know that whole attitude at the end of the day once people start talking about what they do and they start loving the

talk you know at the end of the day you're going to leave there and you're going to build a new friend and I I think the best the best thing about us

right because that's why we all get on so much and you go to these classes and you're open-minded because you're not

there to just teach you're there to hey if you guys know something that I don't let me know because I'm constantly

looking for for that too and and I'll tell them guys that and it's like I need

to learn from you as much as you need to learn from me so I'm looking for Victoria's Secret man

I'm looking for that secret go to class and and and ask the dumb question yes

yeah because like I told you get far asking Dum questions I told one of the guys last week I said you know they say

there's no such thing as a dumb question they're 100% is but ask it anyways because it needs to be

asked yeah maybe just don't do it in front of everybody if you really think it's

come so is there anything that we need to cover guys you guys want to do some some close outs right now we're we're at

our time we're over our time so let's just close this thing out and uh I got one thing I want to say and and I'm sure

and Jorge is on here but um guys you know if there's anything you know and I'll put my plug in for CFI I'm here for

uh um I we want to do we want to do things for the the floor industry the

floring community right so you know we need the input back so I'm on social media a lot Jorge is on social media the

Gonzalez boys are on social media let us know I mean I I'm uh I'm open-minded to

it and if you want to have a real talk I'm I'm more than happy to talk about it you know it's not just me or or or Jorge or

Jose or whoever going online and just writing a couple things I mean we want to know what we can do better and we

want to know what we're doing good too yeah or yeah bad good it's all good

feedback it's all great feedback definitely go

ahead I'm sorry what go ahead just closing it out if you have anything oh just closing it out yeah I mean just

basically hey uh go get go get your training done and and make some new

friends those friends are going to have more friends that know stuff and then just like in Jos I's CA and and our case

uh I'm going to know somebody that knows something that he needs to know and it's the triangle a triangle that's all

that's gonna a circle it's gonna circle around knowledge it's a circle it's a triangle of love no it's a circle you

know it's going to come back around and uh at some at some point you know somebody's going to know the answer to

that question and that's what we need we need the collective of Minds together that way we can make our jobs easier man

because we have hard jobs it's not easy uh so we need to make our jobs easier make everybody else's life easier too

you know less claims less this and that and just we need to run that machine nicely well oiled and and get ahead man

cuz it's a tough job you know not everybody's just leaping to this uh to

this type of trade you know slowly they're starting to get in there but you know not everybody wakes up wanting to

be a flooring installer they want to wake up being a police officer a doctor an uh an artist of some sort you know

we're we're way down here but we can do great things and that's what people don't realize you know they just walk

all over our floors every day but they don't realize that somebody actually did that and took a lot of time and sweat so

um that's all I can say as far as me yeah and then um for me um so first

uh Walter said remind everyone about the podcast and I'll let Daniel close it out with that but um I would say

um become a solutionist by trade right like um if you're not preparing for

failure you're not really preparing uh for the industry or for anything not

preparing for failure is set yourself up for Doom and by preparing for failure I mean just educate yourself right take a

class make a phone call um read a book watch a even watch a YouTube video I I anything is better

than nothing so set yourself up for Success uh be part of the solution before it becomes a problem yeah and

since you know that's what we're talking about is training in the downtime right if you do have some time right now check

out what's going on check out CFI check out nfct nwfa ctef like any of these

training entities like every training that you go to you'll learn something different you can take the same class

three times and I guarantee you'll pick up something different every single time it's just like watching a movie right like oh I didn't see that last time but

you picked it up that next time so just get out there and uh Walter says you know remind people that we're live on

here and and social media posts and stuff it's just if if you guys like what we do like

subscribe give us a thumbs down if you don't like it tell us what we can do better we're all about this criticism

man like in in everyday life that's what we strive for if we can do something better we all need to know and then uh

Sunny says the training is great but the relationships you build will be what brings you back and that is so true 100%

yep hanging hanging out with with some of these guys it you don't realize how much someone else loves the same

industry you're in until you get around a group of these guys and we've all hung out together and it's just crazy like

most of the time yeah we do we talk about flooring right but when we get into into conversations you know I'll

call H sometimes and just talk to him for a little bit or he'll call me and it's like you need that sometimes right

just we become friends we really do and it's it's a Brotherhood right but we got

sisters in there too so it's just a community of like-minded

individuals that's all we need and it's weird that it has it's weird that most of the people that I am pretty good and

have good relationships they don't live around me they live in other places so yeah anytime there's a training event or

something like that anything I want to go because I want to see my my friends that I haven't talked to in a while or

you know we might might just talk to each other on the phone but sometimes it's good to you know get a dinner somewhere breakfast something and just

catch up on on stuff you can't talk on the phone sometimes or just anything talk crap about one another just talk

crap about each other that's it [Laughter]

but we appreciate you guys thanks for for joining us and uh we'll see you on the next one thank you everyone yes

thank you for having me

The Huddle - Episode 121 - NAFCT Event 10/2024

In this special episode of The Huddle, Daniel goes live from the NAFCT Heat Weld & Flash Cove event, while Jose and Paul join in remotely to experience the latest techniques, education, and hands-on demonstrations from afar. They’re also joined by special guest Sonny Callaham to dive deeper into the insights from the event and discuss the future of heat welding and flash cove installation. Whether you're new to these skills or a seasoned installer, this episode is filled with valuable takeaways!

The Huddle was created by Paul Stuart of Stuart & Associates and Go Carrera, alongside Jose and Daniel Gonzalez from Preferred Flooring. Aimed at helping you maintain forward progress in your flooring career, they cover topics from personal and business growth, to installation tips & tricks and everything in-between.

Want to be a guest on The Huddle? Email thehuddleforwardprogress@gmail.com today!

Create your FREE Installer profile at https://gocarrera.com and become part of the future of the industry TODAY!
GET TRAINED! Find a list of training dates here: https://gocarrera.com/resources/training/
https://www.preferredflooringmi.com
https://www.stuartandassociates.com

what's up team welcome to welcome back to the Huddle where you we Playbook get

everything in your flooring career on the right path for you newcomers welcome

to the team for everybody else welcome back with

me this week and usually is Mr Daniel and Jose Gonzalez preferred flooring out

of grand rap it's Michigan also with us today is Mr Sunny

callaham hello hello we are on site for a sheet vinyl training I think it's heat

welding training I'm gonna let the guys talk a little bit more about that but uh it's an exciting day anytime you can

kind of Deep dive into training talk about the the um well obviously probably

end up talking about how this impacts our industry So Daniel Jose sunny how's

it going my man good Jose watching Daniel

work about time this dude's been out in the field

working for the last uh several weeks so you should be in good practice

Daniel uh I only did one Flash Cove job between uh I don't know it's probably

been a couple years and then I did one job and then came over here but everyone says that it looks like I know what I'm

doing so I should be fine I think one time you learned a lot yeah

just don't shake yourself no we've got a great group of guys here man uh a lot of learning going

on uh there's a couple pretty experienced guys here so that's uh that's great that way uh because I'm not

only here to teach some of these guys man if some of these guys know something that I don't I'm here to learn too and

that's what we constantly preach right it's not all about um me or us giving our knowledge away it's all about us

learning as much as we can at the same time so I'm learning here at the same time as these these guys are learning so

it's been a great time um we're actually working onto the The Flash C portion right now and uh they're they're cutting

out some some of the vinyl we just got over the the pattern scribing on the

flash Co so a wealth of of knowledge going on over here that's awesome you

know I've heard it said that if you really want to learn something teach it like driving at home that's probably

just as true in flooring as it is teaching other items you know you get down and you start teaching someone you

you almost learn little tricks yourself and teach yourself little things maybe pick something up from another guy I

think that's what's pretty awesome about our industry um is that that knowledge is

it's out there if anybody anybody on this podcast wants to get trained there

are so many people that want to pass on their knowledge and teach um I think

it's uh you know pretty special part of our industry in general and and they ask

me you know why I do this right they're like why why are you here teaching and and the answer is I'm not trying to get

Keep information like the previous generations have it's like I'm only going to be here for so long I need to

start getting some of this knowledge out of my head if I don't get it out of my head and pass on to the next person then

I really didn't do the industry a favor yeah it's one of the more honorable things you can do as an installer is

teach other people any skilled trade really I mean we're talking about flooring obviously but uh any skilled

trade I believe passing on that knowledge that's how our that's how we got where we were when installation was

really good is that we had kind of an apprenticeship uh atmosphere in flooring

and gaining that back a little bit and and getting the knowledge from guys like you and others in the industry to share

it is uh pretty special I want to uh I've got to jump off here early so I'm

gonna let Jose Daniel and sunny run the the rest of the podcast I want to come

on and thank everybody if you're catching us on any of our socials please you know comment like subscribe to us if

you catch us on YouTube later and for our live audience I I think you're in for a special treats today just kind of

getting a um inside view of of what a training um in our industry looks like

this is very specific and kind of an advanced training but um it's pretty special so I want to thank everybody for

being here sorry that I cannot uh stay the entire podcast but everybody enjoy

and uh yeah fellas you guys gonna take it from here I appreciate you guys all right Paul thanks foring on for a little

bit thanks guys all right gentlemen so so walk us through a little bit of of what we can expect today during today's

episode with uh Paul jumping off and and Daniel kind of playing both sides doing

the instructing and the podcast same time so so right now I think the the big

goal is to just give people an Insight on what happens in these trainings and how um how they run right because not

everyone actually goes to these trainings because they think something can't be learned

and we just need to get over that right away because uh I'm learning here people

that are have uh 15 20 years of experience are learning over here U one of the things that that I went over was

um the quick fix on how to uh get an inside and outside corner to look good

before your vinyl goes on because none of these jobs are perfect and people just looked at each other and

one of the guys was like that right there is worth this this class like just learning that one tidbit of information

that small idiosyncrasy that someone learns it's worth it right because we can all learn can all learn yeah 100% I

know what you're talking about already D and and yeah you're right I remember the first time that that was presented to us

and we were like what the is that easy huh something so simple that easy something that you wouldn't even think

about but then once you see it it's like that would have been the best thing to know you know 10 years ago when when I

was on this project that was that was from a a roofing aspect right from a roofing um the roofing section in a

store they asked me where I learned it and I was like man I don't even remember all I know is that we've been we put it

in practice right away and been using it ever since it was from a roofing guy wow

very nice yeah I'm looking at the comment here where Rollins said teaching make me happy couldn't agree more

couldn't agree more and you know he's probably like me you know I like doing it for selfish reasons because it makes

me feel good right I love passing along information that that I have stored in

this melan of mine that you know if I don't give it away Jer if I don't give it away now then you know who's gonna

have it right so I'm gonna just going to walk over here I'm going to switch my camera around so you guys can see get a

glimpse of what's kind of going on in the background as soon as I figure out how to do it we'll let you do your thing

and then we'll let Sunny uh kind of paint a picture of what led us to to this moment right here that sound fair

yeah works for me so we've got everyone over here um we

like I said we just went over the pattern scribing so he's over here cutting his

his piece out um showing everyone how he does

it and this this training facility is amazing man it's like look how we've got

all this room over here some tables out here if we need to over um Sunny's

actually sitting in the the presentation room where I mean we go in there and we have lunch he gives his lunch and learn

type of of stuff going on yeah we're here at America's Floor

Source in Columbus Ohio and uh honestly I've never seen another place like this

it's beautiful over here man they're so committed to we got all of our stations set up um this station right here with

all the tools is the one that we kind of congregate at and this is where um we do

the demonstrations hey this is how we do this and then they move on to okay we

learned how to do it let's go do it we have some practice welds going on over here with some circles a bunch of uh

straight lines and it's just the amount of progression in this little area from

starting on the first seam and then you get comfortable with with a straight

seam and then you start doing circles and just the quality from the first one to the last one is amazing and just that

I mean we probably this was just this morning I mean it was probably the first couple hours and people are already way

more comfortable than than when they started yesterday that's good get hands on get a

little bit more comfortable that uh and that's where being able to set yourself apart

by going to a class like this and you should be wanting to make a mistake here in front of in front of your peers right

you you want to absolutely and and I told Lear yeah that's the whole goal for for trainings like this I'm not here

telling everyone that they have to be 100% perfect on everything I said this is where you want to make a mistake I

don't want you to make a mistake on a job site I'm trying to hey let's make the mistake here let's learn how to fix

it so that way when you're out in the field you're not in a in a panic right and that's the thing like like Sunny

said earlier too it's like I'm gonna give you my number call me whenever you have any

questions that's right you want to learn something new you want to try something new this is the time to do it we we one

of the one of the more talented guys who were there is a really good installer he was trying a new tool and guess what

that last inch it went off a little bit it's like he never used that tool before now and I'm trying to talk into right

now and just make it's still one of the best tools to use yeah and then we we actually have uh Winkleman Don winlan

here from Winkleman sales um they I I tell everyone over here they take a

bunch of our money throughout the years so definitely make sure you give them a visit Donna is is going to do some

demonstrations for us um he's going to be taking off tomorrow afternoon so first thing in the morning we're going to come here and we're going to do some

demonstrations on some of his tools that way uh guys can the the biggest thing is getting using a tool now so that way you

know if you want to purchase it and use it fulltime right it's the best time

when you don't have to pay for it but you can still use that tool yeah you can listen to everybody

until you're blue in the face saying what one they like the best but you know the best tool for you is the one that

you perform the best with the one you're comfortable with um but this is a great opportunity to see some other hand tools

at work so that way you can find find out if you're comfortable or see if you like the outcome right that's that's exactly what

we were saying that everybody's got their way to do it you know and this is the time to try new things and see what

works better you make you're going to pick up something that uh Daniel does that some of the other guys they don't

do and it's going to make your bet make you better right that's what we're all here for right and I mean and I and I

told them the guys right and it's all these are our our personal tools that we use on a a daily basis on job sites and

the these guys are taking great care of them I'm really happy with uh the turnout that we have here oh yeah we we

have some tools out there today don't we this week oh yeah I mean this right here is a every that's all the stuff that I

brought say we do we we have a good mix in the class though we've got uh folks

who had never done it before we one guy this is first week we have three at

least three guys who do this for a living and they're super talented um we have some manufacturer reps we

have Don Winkleman with the tools I mean it's just a good mix that we can have these conversations about how do you do

this why do you do it that way and everyone seems to be picking up on

it that's awesome you know and when you guys are problem solving and or troubleshooting or explaining and

there's that many people there that are either for one showing a bunch of Interest or to have the experience I'd

just love to be a fly on the wall just to listen to the feedback that everybody is getting from all different facets

like someone who's been doing for 15 years versus 10 versus five and just to see the information and teachings

bouncing off one another and everyone having an aha moment I know we've said that a lot of times too but I just I

love listening to the way everyone interprets the training and the process

and and that's where the learning comes in yeah and and it's great when we get to see those aha moments but there's

even more of those aha moments that people don't communicate right they Clicks in their brain we don't even know

about that's what makes it so great when you're doing training like this because you know they're they're taking it

in 100% The Quiet One are the ones that having the everything's going click click click click oh man I want to say

this but I don't want to sound dumb hey there is sound dumb right now yeah there

is none this the time when you when you get it out because it might it might just make someone's uh final

installation one day right that well that's the thing it's if you have a question in your head that means more

than likely someone else in the class has that same question so no one's asking it no one's getting the answers

that they need and uh I told one of the gentlemen yesterday I said uh I would

say that there's no dumb question but there's absolutely some dumb questions but if you have that dumb question get

it out of your head now because we need those questions answered regardless no for sure for sure it's only classified

as a dumb question if the answer has already been given three times in three

ways no um there there's been plenty of questions here and I we try to do our

our best to to answer them and what I like best about um this group of guys is you know you you do have that range in

there and if if I'm giving an answer I'm like this is the way that we do it hey guys how do you do it that way you know

gives people options and then gives you um a way to to get your own way to it

hey I kind of want to combine these two and that's what needs to be done sometimes because like some of these

guys are like hey I want to do it the way that you do it well I was like how how how do you guys do it and they're like this way and I'm like all right it

doesn't matter which way you do it because um and I explained it in terms of you and I I say it's a we learned

together you know you started you then you taught me and then what I did was I took it and I was like all right I'm going to start doing it this way and I

said but the the main thing is is that what what's going to end upen happening is we're going to if you were in a a

room over here and I was in a room over here we would do it completely different but that end result would be almost the

exact same like you wouldn't be able to differentiate who did what room and that's really the goal right I don't

care how you do it just get it done and make it look the best that you can and

what I've been really driving home with these guys is is that it's it doesn't matter about anything other than what

the the client or end user thinks and we're trying to give them the best product that we can I think well not to mention that

every job is going to be different right you may have to use a different method to get something done and more tools you

have in your tool belt the better it's gonna go and that's why we're focusing on pattern scribing right now um there

was some newer gentleman that didn't know how to pattern scribe flatlay and that's not that wasn't going to be one

of the focuses that I wanted it to do but it's one of the focuses that we had to do in order to teach these guys the

right way to do things sometimes you you know you you get thrown a curveball and you just roll with it it's okay you guys

don't know how to do this this is what we're going to focus on today so that way later on when we're working on the

the stuff that's even harder to pattern scribe you already have an idea of what's going on well not only does it

help the people who need to learn it a little bit but it's also a quick refresher course for some of the other gentlemen who who might not have done it

in a while um I mean some of those guys you said they do it every day right so that's probably like right on their mind

but that's a great opportunity for them to chime in and give some advice and some pointers during that process too

and there you know there we like he Sunny was saying we have some manufacturer reps here that are are

taking the class and they have done they have done you know some resilient over

the years and then you get into that role and it's like sometimes you do you end up getting a little rusty or you

just want to come to the training and say hey what is the new stuff that's going on right now what is it that I

don't know and it's awesome to see these these guys here doing that and

being open to um not only new tools but new techniques and that's what it's all

about it's all about constantly learning I everyone here knows that they don't know everything and that's been made

clear by myself and and even all the other guys that have experience the best kind of class

whenever there's some great guys how many how many attendees you get for this class total 14 14 14 oh so a pretty big

pretty big uh classroom then with all their on and yeah so and one other group that we failed to mention is we have a

couple of salespeople one that's taking a class and multiple that pop in and out during the week so they can understand

what they need to do when they're bidding these jobs they go out to a job what they can talk to their customer

customer about managing their expectations I think it's great it's just it's it's really a testament to how

Jason does things here at America's world yeah and I was talking to one of the salesmen right he was like he's down

there working in the box and then uh you know we go to lunch and he was like dude this I had no idea this much went into

something that I thought was so simple it's it's a lot simpler on paper

than it is when you're getting down to the nitty-gritty um especially when you're having to flash cove at hospitals

with fixtures already hanging off the walls and you know it's a renovation and they're not moving anything anymore and

you got to start doing the belly method like upside down and that's where the pattern

scrib is going to come and and help out but there are still some instances where you are in the most awkward most

uncomfortable positions uh to get that done and where doing installer of the

year we have pictures of me laying on my belly and we just say that that's the The Flash

Coan stance right that's that's what we do crystal as well

system I have a I have a picture of my camera roll of her laying I mean spread out like

Superman excuse me that's hilarious there's sometimes there's no other alternative sometimes you just got to

figure it out but if you look at this group right now through Daniel's phone look at them all they're all engaged they're all

committed they all want to see what's going on and it's just just a great class now who else is instructing there

with you Daniel so that young man in the box works here um his name is Chris he works

for America's Floor Source and he's got some crazy hand skills he knows what

he's talking about he's been a great um helper for the uh for Daniel to teach

this class because he certainly knows what he's doing and he's teaching it the right way I see he knows how to do that

Flor guy Shuffle yeah the Flor guy Shuffle yeah yeah

yeah no he he definitely um we we've talked a few times and I was like hey um

when I was at a certification one time uh it was you know with

uh William thoron and he looked at me and just the knowledge that I had and he

was like you know what you're not going to take this class you're going to help me and uh we kind of needed some help

and I asked him and he was like yeah man I'm I'll help you with whatever you need and he's been doing a great job he has

different techniques than than we do and uh like I said I'm learning at the same time he's teaching me um just as much as

I'm hopefully teaching him yeah you talk about people with a lot of knowledge William Thorton is one and he's more

than willing to share it with you but when you talk about old school that man is old school so I've only I've only had

the pleasure of talking to him on the phone a couple times here and there about some some projects I never really

talked to him in person or or had the pleasure of working with him but great he did uh he did uh men Daniel's name a

lot and we we did a little bit of Daniel bashing hilarious Good Humor of course more more about how tall he was

but then anything else but hey look we don't talk about how tall people are around here all right tell them you know

what as long as that stack of Milwaukee isn't taller than you we're good that is probably is taller than me I cannot I

cannot confirm or deny that [Laughter]

statement so Mr Sunny what what's what what led to to this where we're at right now what what part of um the industry

struck you as this there was a hole um in the the industry needed to be filled and this is where you're at now I know

that we could go down a long road and there's a lot of different ways but I just want to know like C you know from

from installer to installer what led to this point right here and you could take your time or

shorten it up I know that's putting you on the spot but I apologize that we Paul

and I realized this before we even started in afct as a nonprofit um we saw

the shortage of people who knew how to do it quite frankly that that's what it was you know we were finding in the

larger markets there were people who would just go around and do the flash cove and heat well that's all they would

do because the the new people coming into the industry just didn't know how to do it and like anything else we just

didn't want that that art to die right we wanted to make sure that the Next Generation knew how to do it uh we did

the first class Daniel and and Mike pigeon taught the class it was in February of 2020 so what happened in

March of 2020 we all shut down so we weren't able to do it remember do it again there pretty quick but what it did

allow us to do was go through the class and make it even better now that we had done it one time you know we picked it

apart we all put her input in and we made it better and here we are

now gotcha and then so is there um I mean I kind of know some of the answers

to this but for people watching is there a progression that is expected in order to be able to take the training portion

or certification portion because it's my understanding that this is not only just a training but a certification right but

it's based around certifying individuals who have some prior experience but it's still open to others who want the

training portion as well the education portion of it well that's what makes it it's so great with the folks that we

have here because the first three days are training right we're showing people how to do it the last two days are the

people who have been doing it for years and they want to show off their skills and get certified right so the first

three days has literally taken people who haven't done it before or done very limited number of of flash code jobs and

teach them how to do it will they all necessarily be certified at the end of the week probably not but it's it's

training and certification mixed into one and we have some just coming for 3 days we have some that are just coming

for the certification it just depends on what level you are in your

experience but of 14 hopefully the turnout's pretty good man I never never

go to a class hoping that uh you know oh hopefully I'm the only one that passes no way always go take a take one of

those classes and hopefully everyone you know what hits their goal let's think about our classes not everybody passes

some people get mad about that but if everyone passed then we're not doing it right right yeah you have to make it

challenging right and that's right it's got to be challenging everyone can write a piece of paper that says you're

certified but if you don't know what you're doing that certification doesn't mean anything right essentially you're

putting your stamp on on these individuals that passed at the end of the the course and if someone's gonna

carry around your brand you want to make sure that they're carrying it around that's right in the manner in which you

uh we intended created the class yeah and intended correct yeah so we have eight folks that are going to stay for

the certification um out of the 14 so that that's a good turnout we'll get them

certified and have them go through the process and hopefully they'll be certified I should say no I think the guys that are going

to stay have a have a great chance they've been asking the right questions um they've been you know when something

doesn't look right hey can you come and look at this what should I do here and that's the biggest thing is that I like

to have my trainings be as real world as POS possible and I said I'm not in here looking for Perfection I don't want you

to go in here and be like this is a oneand done this this is we're we're

learning ask the questions I want this to be like all right I'm on a job site

um I just messed this up what am I going to do to fix this and have it pass for

the client that's really what we're looking for like if if you mess something up let's talk about it let's

go over our options um real world scenarios well that's why Paul and I

built the assemblies there's nothing Square on those things so they got to really work

around you guys tried your hardest and still failed and that's what we needed that's right we need a certification

course on how to build assemblies well you like he said real world problems right you can't you can't

have a perfectly square one and even if you guys did make it perfectly Square chances are that by the time you're ready to use it you know the the wood

products are going to warp and move and it won't be square anymore anyway that's right

they have these uh America Flor Source buckets that I'm trying to to get my hands on because they're super

sweet so I um another question for for you guys is uh through the certification

process are there is there anything that that you guys are learning that that can be adopted into the next class do you

guys feel that there are some items that the students offer that are very educational informational that that

could be incorporated into future trainings I know this is only a couple trainings in but yeah I mean we're we're

learning just as much as they are I mean we're going to take all these things that we hear and the questions that we ask and we'll incorporate it I'm sure

Daniel's ran into a lot of things is like yeah you know what I need to cover that more same with the PowerPoint same

with what we're doing for the lunch and learns just what what else can we do to make it better because you know we can

always get better just in flooring and then our training and everything else and when we got here this morning too

right that the guys are like are we going to go in the and do another presentation or anything I said no sir

I'm uh I'm mostly hands on like you got the introduction we talked about the things that we were going to work on out

here and with the the tools that we were going to work on and what we kind of expect now it's mostly handson and the

biggest thing like I said earlier is um knowing where our skill levels are at

and that's what I kind of started with um first thing yesterday morning I'm like this is who I am this is um you

know kind of my credentials and and how long I've been doing things I want to go around the room so I can gauge what

we're working with and that's kind of when I knew we were going to have to add

a little bit more than we thought we were but that's the versatility of this class is if there's people that don't

know what they're doing we're going to make sure that they know what they're doing before we send them out of here um whether they they pass or fail the

certification that that's irrelevant because they're going to get out of here knowing more than when they came yep

that's awesome and then uh you had mentioned that some of the sales team that that are popping in and out now are

they just popping in and out um sporadically or do you have any is there

any literature or any kind of guidelines that you have that is specifically Geared for them um as far as information

or or questions they might have or is they just popping in absorbing at what

point you guys are are are at the the class I think we have we have two taking the class right I know at least one here

full time I think there's two actually taking it Monday through you know Monday through Wednesday the others are just

kind of coming in and watching Daniel uh when he's doing his thing to kind of just pick up a tip here and there

because you know we can't have all the sales people in there right right got Somebody's gotta be selling something

that's right the guys that are in here you know um one of them is doing everything the other one is in here just

taking it all in because he does have some knee problems and um he said that

he was in the military he's got some knee problems he's like man if I get down on my knees I'm going to be on walking with a cane for the for a few

weeks and that's just not something that I'm trying to do and I was like I totally get that man but that he he's

been walking around he's been asking questions um the Gent yeah the gentleman

that's actually doing it um he brought his computer this morning because I mean we all know how you can get behind

really quick so he brought his computer in he was working and then once he was was got to a point where he felt he was

comfortable he was like all right I'm going to get down here and start welding some stuff now and that that's the one

that you know he was like I can't believe how much actually goes into just something that's in this little box um

now I know that when I'm selling these jobs how much labor actually goes into I

mean you're you're looking at you know a surgery room as opposed to this little box and this little box is taking you

this long to well you know 12 feet yeah I mean there's a there's a lot

of um there's a lot of different parts and pieces when it comes into getting the from start to finish on an

installation of flash Co um now from you're looking from the sales side you got to get all the components um and and

then from the installation side is you got to have all the techniques and the proper tooling the tooling is huge right

because we we came in here with all the tooling and one of the the guys was saying earlier too he was like yeah they

they don't understand how much these things actually cost and when you're only want to pay x amount for heat

welding and then he he looked at the table he was like just look at your tools there's like 20 $30,000 there and

these are the things that we have to invest in and I said yeah but you have to realize that it took a long time to

get that 20 to $30,000 worth of heat welding equipment and it didn't just

happen overnight and that's where why we have um all the tools and I tell the guys you know you can start with this

entry level stuff and work your way up just like anything else yeah it's one of

those things where you can't invest your the most money in the top dollar in something that you don't know is going

to take off for you or not um I mean you may not like that tool you may want a different tool yeah that's the biggest

thing about these trainings and having Don here using Don's tools um I come

here using my tools hey I've never used this tool before I've only heard about it this is your chance man start getting

the hang of it that's right um we got fr's new Grover here we got turbo tools

um was generous and gave us a bunch of stuff on the last class we we're using all that stuff today um we talk about

Leo one of the the manufacturer reps here was like yeah he goes over to Leo's shop and just talks to him all the time

and I'm like yeah Leo's got some great stuff man we've been using all his stuff for years and we'll never stop using

them yep I got to shake that man's hand in it doesn't mean that that's the only

tool out there that you can use um like Crane's new

groover like I I got to get a hold of Darwin because a lot of these guys here are like I love this groover and I'm

like I got just gotta let Darwin know hey man people love your groover keep on selling

it CL this this three-day class could easily be five days because it's all

about repetition it's trying the new tools what works for you what doesn't work for you um but I mean it's like

anything in life the way you get better is just keep doing it over over and and I was talking to Chris earlier and he's

he's just looking at the boxes and he was like man this is a lot to cover in five days you can like you said I said I

know and you really don't think about it in those terms because you're you're so proficient at it but to teach someone

from zero how to be Prof like somewhat proficient at it in five days is a challenge and these

guys are are up to that challenge though and they're doing a great job I can't wait to see what some of these test boots look

like yeah I'm very curious on that are you gonna are you gonna take pictures and document the process to to share

later on oh yeah I'm pretty sure everything is going to be up on ncts uh social medias and stuff like that not

too long after everything is done that's right that's good one day

you know mess something up that you'll learn real quick oh real fast like the last certification we did when we were

down in Georgia and Andy was like hey are we gonna go over repairs and I was like oh there's going to be stuff to

repair don't worry we have plenty to go over you know what I will I will say

that I will say that the the reason that that I think that that we got really good at um resilient and shine and

Welding was the amount of repairs that we came in behind installers and and ourselves to do learning how to

deconstruct reconstruct and try to put it back together that's that made us

better um at in the resilient field and only because we learned what we learned

how to mitigate that right by deconstructing some of the the failures from from ourselves and other installers

and also um we had to get better at hand skills and hand techniques and and other

outside the box thinking to um I say hide mistakes right but let's just say

mask make it look like it was an intentional design I had a great moment out here

with one of the guys e the first three inches of his seam was just completely

burnt so I'm looking at him he's down there and he starts a little bit past it

I I pointed to I said what happened there he goes well I'm having trouble with getting it in here and and starting

with it you know without burning it and sure enough he asked somebody else they came over and helped them and he figured

it out you know he screwed it up he asked the question how to fix it and I haven't seen him do it ever again right

everything else has been great and there that's you know it's those Comfort

things too like you're if you're afraid to burn yourself you're afraid to cut yourself you're afraid to do a lot of

things you're gonna you're G to be a little apprehensive on trying new techniques that's right um and I think

after a while you you become so used to the motions that become second nature

like you know the heat gun's GNA or the the welder is going to be there for a second if you can bear the heat for one

second you get there and start it against the wall with no you know instead of starting away from the wall getting that Cur like anything it is

muscle memory you learn what different uh welds and materials you're able to

manipulate before you stick it in the gun uh to go ahead and get started um you learn a lot of dos and don'ts the

the more you work with certain materials and I think that's that's where Daniels had the luxury and where

it comes in handy where he's been able to work with many many different manufacturers over and over again to

learn little shortcuts for himself here and there but then also uh meeting like

Mike pigeon and taking other classes with other people and and adopting some of their techniques and their their

information to make him a better installer as well like that's that's where you learn a lot that's where those

moments come into play yeah what one of the things they had to do today was was do a circle heat weld a circle and and

Daniel was just awesome with it he said look you're gonna burn yourself get that mindset out of the way you are gonna

burn yourself but this is what we're gonna do and you know what everyone was able to do it so yeah as long as you're

prepared I guess is this is going to hurt a little bit guys like right here this part right here you might as well

kiss it gone or you know or put some tape around it if you have just to to bear that heat a little bit more but

doing enough times you'll be okay with it yeah yeah you develop a little bit of a callous so it it's good times and I

miss uh I I miss getting down to the nitty greeny being being able to do that

fulltime um some people are like oh I don't want to be on the floor my whole life like you're right you don't right

your body can't withstand that type of abuse but at the same time it's if you learn how to do something efficient

proficient when it's your turn to teach and it's your turn to look at it from a sales perspective there's a lot of parts

that you won't miss that somebody else will and you can appreciate from start to finish the sales part and the

installation part yeah and when we get to meet those people all the time that

you know they're not going to install forever right I'll give you the perfect example Andy McWilliams we met at an

nfic event with PJ um and the day I met him I knew you know

what you're going to be a manufacturer's rep and you're going to do training and we made it happen right and he's one of

the best that's out there right now but you can just tell that people want to

share the information some people don't but the people who want to share the information and their passionate about

flooring they can make a difference right that's all we're trying to do and you talk about hand skills you know what

I what I tell people is you know I kind of liken myself to Bobby Cox right Bobby

Cox was not a great baseball player but he was a really good coach and I'm kind

of the same way I'm not going to get down on the floor and out install many people right my skills were average at

best right but I can teach anybody on how how to install the floor right I can

read a book you know but I still have experience behind it to teach people how to install the floor and when you enjoy

that there's nothing better there's nothing better well that goes to the the

point where um you know somebody had uh you could take this for what it what it is uh those who can't do teach right

yeah get the time I don't think that that's the case at all it's um you

know sometimes you can understand something from a scientific perspective you can understand it from uh start to

finish on the process but your your skill set that's required Hands-On just

can't achieve that level right but you can definitely explain it to someone who has better hand skills um and that's the

coaching perspective is someone might have the someone's abilities will supersede yours but they

might not have the the ability to absorb the the knowledge um the way you do and

if you can somehow click uh and find that common ground to help their ability

match your your knowledge man that's teaching just watching someone learn something that that you can never take

away from them and achieve it and then at a higher level than what they've done before that's that's one of those

fantastic things that you can't you walk away and you smile when when you do it for selfish reasons it makes you feel

good yeah well I tell you one one example of that and and by the way I just noticed where I can see people

chiming in so you guys have been saying hi so I I I forgive me for not answering

you but hello to everyone that's out there but I I used to wear khaki pants when I would go do demos and talking to

people I realized I couldn't do that right I had to wear jeans because there

was always that one guy in the back who would call you out and say you can't do it you can't I'd get on the floor and do

it they're like oh okay this guy knows what he's talking about he's just not a Salesman or a guy who knows nothing

about it sometimes you just got to put your money where your mouth is and that's it too and we got a couple

comments on here too um Ryman it always depends on the person you are teaching

is ready for the knowledge and you know what what I mean he's right but uh there

there's a if you if you are able to get people excited about the learning process and

help them understand that this is something that they'll take with them for the rest of their life and they can pass it on to whomever they'll be

excited they'll be ready to learn yeah even Sunny lunch and learns that we've been going you know we're eating lunch

and um he's going over presentations that he has and like I'm learning stuff

over here from Sunny to even today he was talking about adhesives like it's things that you

don't even realize that the the science behind everything and that's what I'm always going to push right there's still

salesmen that are like no our project managers handle all the science behind everything and they don't need to know

the installers don't need to know about this which is it sounds good in theory

but we're your last the installer is your last line of defense on that project they're the ones that are on the

ground running so if they don't know that hey this is what um what

moisture will will possibly look like this is what e florescence is you know

just simple things like that then they're not set up for Success we need

to know as installers the science um basically start to finish behind

everything in order to to have a successful project because if anything

goes wrong wrong we as installers know what do they say we are the professional

we're the professional yeah yep so it doesn't matter who sells the material at the end of the day the installer is like

Daniel said the the last line of defense right and and sometimes you're right sometimes a salesperson does they do

have an extensive knowledge of the science science behind a a product um

but their knowledge might stop at at X and you got to explain Y and Z to them

um and and that where uh working with um companies where

they're they're not as reluctant to listen to the installer right they listen to your information they take

their information they go back and and they put it together uh to make sense of everything and those are the people that

I want to work for um the the companies and individuals that understand like

Daniel said earlier they don't know everything and sometimes you do have to listen to the installer uh sometimes you

do have to listen to the salesperson put your heads together you know make sure you you are doing your best possible um

the best make sure you're doing your best that you could possibly do to for a successful installation um and that

might be being that that thorn in the sight of the the salesperson or the

installer and say hey this is what I'm seeing man what can we do to find out

what's going on here I'm just a little nervous that we're missing something okay yeah so so today we

talked about adhesives like Daniel said we talked about all the different types of chemistries the wet set PSAs modified

whatever you want call it well but yesterday we talked

standards Oh I thought so it it just amazes me when I talk to these groups of

people and I bring up ASM standards how little of them even know what they are much less be a member um you know I

always say that when when there's a problem on a job site and the manufacturer comes out be it adhesive

underlayment mitigation the flooring itself whatever you're going to be judged by one or three ASM standards on

day one the first thing they're going to look at ASM f710 1869 or 2170 which those two are

for moisture right and if you don't know what those documents are and how to make sure that you abide by those guides or

practice I should say and test method how you going to win right you're not going to win the game you're to lose

because you don't know the rules so every manufacturer is going to have that in their literature that you need to

abide by these standards and they'll spell it out for you and that's where you have to start looking hey if you're

reading manufacturers instructions you should be seeing these standards and you should be you know at least getting them

so you can start having an understanding of what they contain right every one are going to say ASM

f710 and people don't know what that is they just go okay I'll sweep the floor yeah so I wanna I want to break it down

for some individuals who who might not understand what that is that the ASM standards that that um sunny and Daniel

are talking about are pretty much the foundation in which the specifications are built on top of uh from these

manufacturers so let's just call it a starting point right like it this is a a

requirement in order for these specs um to to be properly adhere to the uh

product in which you're working with so like I it took me a while to understand that years ago once somebody broke it down to me and

said look this is the foundation of what these specs were built on if it doesn't pass this right here

this is this is your ground zero and and we we've built on top of that that's right this is you should pay attention

to this bottom line right here because that's GNA let you know yeah ASM f710

how to prepare a concrete substrate to receive resilient floring that should

tell you right there there's going to be a lot of information in there right what do you need to do

I'll let you know I was a copy paste King when it came down to some of that on a couple projects recently where they

were trying to have us go outside of that if you bid work it's going to say

in that bid packet to prepare the job site install according to asmf 710 and

you're bidding jobs and you don't even know what that means when when in reality if you come to a job site and

there's something that doesn't con uh conform for to ASM f710 you've got that

document to take back to the contract say look you're the one who told me to do it this way but now I don't have it

on the job right here's a change order this is what it's going to cost it's an advocate for the installer right it

helps back you up it's not just you saying no to somebody here's why right

and that that's what we've been through plenty of times where it's like they they're like hey just do this and you're like no in your contract you spelled it

out what I have to follow yep and that's that's when I touched um yesterday too

when I was like doing our introduction and I you know Daniel from preferred flooring this is what we do um a lot of

what we do is you know with with these standards and what you need to realize about the standards is that's the bare

minimum you should be doing there's always things that you you can do better and that's why our our slogan is setting

the standard one installation at a time it's we we take those standards and then we're like okay well what can we still

do better what what can we do that's on top of these standards that will make this last longer for that client that's

right it's all about adding long-term value Mr Churchill it's much more than

clean dry flat and sound there's a lot more to that's a starting point yeah exactly

I do know that we're getting pretty close to our time guys so if not if we've already exceeded it but yeah um

I'm GNA I just want yeah we can keep going forever but absolutely man this training and the

the feedback that we've gotten so far is um is great and I I'm loving

it no I think it's going really good man I appreciate you being here um if you

guys haven't seen Daniel install he's just phenomenal so and he's a great instructor so I appreciate you man no I

appreciate you Sunny for uh for putting this on and definitely America's Floor Source for for letting us use this

beautiful space and uh you know the the vendors that we have here that are Don

Winkleman you know he's he's got a bunch of tools here he's like use whatever you need um that's that's amazing uh and

then you know our our other vendors that are not necessarily here but we have tools here that that are from them wolf

turbo tools um crane thanks for generously you know giving stuff to us

um and and letting us use these tools not necessarily just for this class I mean I'm using them on job sites too so

thanks for that yeah we get the we get a demo tomorrow as a matter of fact for for a machine from Wolf so yeah Cory

Dickerson is gonna be on one of our job sites um demoing a their ride on demo

machine so thanks Wolf for for being able to do that if if you guys don't

know yeah if you guys don't know contact your reps there's plenty of sources out there where if you need something

they're more than happy to provide it um are they going to sell you a tool probably that's the whole goal yep

there's plenty of Technical Resources out there for manufacturers that you as an installer need to develop those

relationships that will make your life a lot easier Daniel Jose and myself I call

people all the time right to have those people on speed dial in your phone saves a lot of time and money and that's where

these associations come in to play right the cfis the FCI nact all these groups

you get to meet these technical based people for the manufacturer for the products that you use every day right

it's just it's it's Priceless and a huge shout out Sarah do you mind being on camera do you mind being on camera you

don't want she don't want to be on camera but she's been taking a great care of us these last Sarah's the goat

she's the best she is absolutely the best she's

shy but thank thanks guys I think uh we're going to end it there we're going to finish up today and uh get ready for

tomorrow over here and then I mean tomorrow like they thought the these last couple days were were something but

once you get into that flash fold welding it's a totally different know I can't wait to hear

about that well stay tuned on on social media we'll have more pictures and Det details and we'll keep you up to date

and hopefully we'll see you at the next class don't just follow the Huddle on social media follow nfct follow

America's Floor Source all these people are in the industry to to not only help

you be better but to help the industry be better as a whole so let's all be part of that progress if you guys like

what you hear let us know uh share it uh like it dislike it whatever you want

check out the other platforms um share that like it dislike it whatever

whatever floats your boat you have if you have anything else that you want to add or you want to hear something um as

far as content that we haven't covered please chime in let us know we're we're all ears but I think with with that

we're going to take off we really appreciate you guys' time Daniel thanks for taking time away from the class uh

to talk with us today and sunny you as well we really appreciate both you guys thanks for having me on I appreciate all

the support from the Huddle all right thanks guys we'll see you guys next time and we'll see you next Tuesday at 4 p.m.

The Huddle - Episode 120 - Blue Collar Cruise #4

All aboard for the fourth installment of Blue Collar Cruise with Paul, Daniel, and Jose! In this episode, the crew dives into the latest trends in flooring and construction, exciting innovations, and big news shaping the industry. From new technologies to upcoming projects, they’ve got everything you need to stay ahead of the curve in the blue-collar world. Whether you're a seasoned pro or just curious about what's next, this episode is packed with valuable insights!

The Huddle was created by Paul Stuart of Stuart & Associates and Go Carrera, alongside Jose and Daniel Gonzalez from Preferred Flooring. Aimed at helping you maintain forward progress in your flooring career, they cover topics from personal and business growth, to installation tips & tricks and everything in-between.

Want to be a guest on The Huddle? Email thehuddleforwardprogress@gmail.com today!

Create your FREE Installer profile at https://gocarrera.com and become part of the future of the industry TODAY!
GET TRAINED! Find a list of training dates here: https://gocarrera.com/resources/training/
https://www.preferredflooringmi.com
https://www.stuartandassociates.com

what's up team welcome back to the Huddle your weekly Playbook to get forward progress in your flooring

career I got a little feedback going but this is where you belong welcome to the

team with me today Mr Jose Lake Gonzalez and Daniel Gonzalez from

preferred flooring out of Grand Rapids Michigan this is our Blue Collar cruise

week so we're going to be cruising topics that uh are in the construction or blueco collar industries that we

thought might be a little bit entertaining and or um informative you

know wrap a little bit how you guys doing today nice to have you both on the on the back with us you know it's it's

exciting I know about time right kidding I understand I mean like

you guys are out there making it happen and that's that's what the Huddle's all about anyway so you guys are living what

we preach on here and and that's absolutely uh amazing but it doesn't

take away from the fact that the the audience and myself has missed

you thanks for having us back feel like we were on vacation for a

second all right well you guys are both in the vehicles you guys look alike I do

like the uh the uh Paul learned how to play okay so there's a little story about Paul

learning how to play Fantasy Football this is this is Mo mostly true I I was 0

and five and and Kevin was like dude come on like make some trades or do something because do something you your

your whole team is like on bye this week I said all right so I got in there did a

little magic and won I was like there's my first win look at me go Kevin now you

gota get a spreadsheet you gotta get a spreadsheet to see how that happened oh bro I would I would go nuts if I got too

involved in it I'd be I'd be doing nothing but watching ESPN trying to win win win if I get too involved I'm I'm

trying to win the thing I know a lot of guys are already that way but um I've never participated it's been fun I can't

calls from from uh different guys that that are on the uh in the league asking

for trades and well you're not doing nothing anyway why don't you give me your kicker and your quarterback and I'm

like dude come on now I might I might get back in it and look at me I think I scored 111 points this week

so this is Tanya's first was it too and she

uh she goes and follows some people that are supposed to be professionals and then they give her the wrong advice and

then she ends up getting all mad and watching her phone all day bro I Kevin

says uh told me he's like yeah I forget the which team it was but he's like he

got autod drafted and hasn't really done much but just make sure he has players and he's like undefeated so all you

professionals out there that that that think we know what to do because I actually took the draft pretty seriously

and was looking at it and doing all this making sure I had guys for the bye but then just like a GM of a real football

team I had to figure out how to handle all the injuries and all that crap so

anyway enough about fantasy football we we're going to start the blue color cruise off this

week with a little story um about how the

US how how the US construction has left the World Behind

so give you an overview the US has been really strong

in uh construction versus the rest of the world so the article cites that um

the industry has faced its share of challenges here recently with construction uh costs still sitting

close at 40% higher than February 2024 which was you know pre

pandemic but while you know other countries uh didn't like China Germany

United Kingdom South Korea um all of them are down in their uh Construction

and some of them you know that's a big part of their GDP so uh China's construction sector is

sluggish uh with declining demand due to property Market downturn uh reduced infr infrastructure

investment that's because you know uh a lot of people talked about this is that you know China really uh government

funded a ton of infrastructure so you go over there it's awesome but there's just not a lot of business happening it's

almost like a like a really nice painting uh Germany the take a look at

it looks Co yeah it's like a really nice building that doesn't have anyone in it you know what I mean or or awesome

highways but no one can afford to drive from place to place uh it's that kind of

stuff uh yeah so it says Germany which is Europe's largest uh

economy uh ALS o contracted did a deep uh a very steep drop in housing and

Commercial projects alike um looks like it's still a pessimistic outlook for

them the bottom line is uh the US had kind of a construction surge many of the

factors causing the slowdowns in other nations like Rising material cost and

economic uncertainty are still present here but some of the issues are just um

well even I guess some of the issues are even more pronounced in the us but we just kind of handled it differently uh

in 2024 it says a market survey from Turner and Townsen a global real estate

infrastructure consultancy based in the UK reported data from 91 markets and we

uh the the um us constructions spending in this

same time frame has grown more than 41% now that's interesting this is where I wanted to get to to talk about it grew

41% but construction costs are up 40% so is that growth because everything

just costs more and so because they're they're calculating this based on the dollar

amount yeah yeah yeah so so they're saying they're saying the increase in

dollars spent is growth right but growth is not dollars spent you know like how

how many new businesses are coming up dollar spent but it's not Mo it's not more square footage or more more

construction less square footage might be less square footage but more dollars spent because of the cost that's uh

that's crazy to think about it like that isn't it holy smokes yeah it seems like it seems like they they presented this

and this is from constru Ru dive uh if you guys are interested in checking out

the article but construction spending grew 41%

construction cost are up 40% over the same time frame so uh does that to me that means we

really only grew somewhere you know I mean this isn't perfect math but let's say one% so which is

still uh still growth but I I think there also the other side of that to

look at is that um in comparison with other countries their construction cost

Rose as well but they did not keep up you know what I mean their

construction growth slowed because of the uh increased cost to me it seems

like we maintained Uh current let's call it

projects out of the ground or remodels or whatever

um but just at a higher cost it's what it seems like so we're still stronger than other

countries in the world at the end of the day the other leading construction

companies of the world or construction countries of the world but so we're staying steady we're staying steady but

we're not necessarily making more money we're just staying consistent we're

we're staying busy yeah yeah seems like we're staying

at a even kill through the the that whole time frame uh but not not really

growth the way you think of growth like it's almost like you know I don't know

measuring your kid when he's in a hole and then having him stand up and me when he's not a hole and saying

yeah he grew man this um Jorge say says you know

also fuel costs and that's part of I'm sure in the calculation of the construction cost is the fuel cost but

you know if you if if um and I'm sure you do too but if you look back at at what you're spending um for the for the

business in 2018 to 2019 for a very similar project right about now I'm

pretty sure you can calculate the percentage of increase and then the loss of I don't want to say Revenue right

because it with that 40% increase and everything you're still

generating Revenue but the profit what does the profit look like on that that's

that's what I don't think they're they're really talking about they're looking at the the revenue the dollars

and cents going out they're not looking at how profitable companies are at uh

that percentage of increase yeah and we talked about this

before there's there were some major drivers on this initiatives uh like the

$1.2 trillion infrastructure investment and jobs act and then the uh you know

inflation reduction act that was 369 billion and then the 52 billion chips

act so all that was like federally funded growth uh and you know this article even

points out that that's that's played a significant role in the in the US construction industry success so

well stay it's success it depends on how you gauge success if you're uh if you're

doing it based on um if you're doing it based on

comparison so like is success in a football game is only in comparison to

the other team you know you can score three three points but if the only if the other team only scores Z doesn't

score any points you still win you know it's still a success so I think from that perspective it's a success but from

the health of the industry I'm hoping that you know at the end of the day that what this you know

kind of signals and seems like where this article's leading is that the strength of that should could carry

through when the economy uh when the construction economy kind of recovers on

privatized spending because like I said the article points out very

clearly there's there's three significant bills that have added you

know well in excess of a a trillion a half dollars to the to the construction

of you know to that construction number

so man that just burns go ahead go ahead I'm saying bring

me a little bit because the um so so when you when you said federally funded right right I think and in comparison if

I'm going to relate it to something that I did for a while you know related related to softball when we used play

ball we used to get penalized for um home runs and when we did hit too many home runs we used to have to award the

other team um runs it was called Progressive runs so if we were only

allowed two home runs or three home runs a game and we went over that the first home run gave the other team one run the

second home run gave him two runs the third home home run gave them four runs

and then it doubled every time and that's almost like when somebody says ferally funded right I think about where

are those funds coming from and how are they going to replenish that stock um so every time I hear that I think about

where is it coming from and how are they gonna get it back and and if they federally fund it today that means that

in the next the next uh two years they're going to figure out how to get that back in there so that way they can

federally fund some more to get that back in there so it almost yeah that that goes all the way into the

government the government spending thing this is that that machine is not going to be stopping if you think that we're

gonna quit quit spending this this machine is just gotten going uh there's

there's no nothing stopping the this increase in spending

we just print more dollars tax heavier uh and I mean find more things

to tax on yeah I mean but that also is what other countries are doing too so

you're you're talking about when you start comparing comparing these things you're like if the whole world's doing

it then where wh you have to have something that's going to be like the

Baseline to that brings the uh Legos down so to speak I don't know the House

of Cards down I don't know if there is anything uh even the venture Capital

money that's really invested in construction Innovation was uh about 80%

of all of that uh available funds from Venture Capital so private money 80% of

that was invested in the US and that's because you know we can be very proud as Americans

that we still are the uh Innovation capital of the world like we're the

money goes that money is particular going to go to where Innovation is being

you know where it's thriving where their money can thrive in Innovation and that's that's the I have noticed I have

noticed that the US is getting pretty good at taking products built outside of the country into the US and figuring out

better ways to to use them I'm well pretty Innovative it's been done it's been done to us

for you know decades and decades so says yeah R says the building going C

going crazy in his area big warehouse and office space setting empty sooner or

later they will have to stop yeah I don't know when they Rolland I don't know how they're going to do it that

China just keeps building uh empty buildings um I hope we don't do that I

hope we build based off demand but you just never know well we're seeing a lot

of it turned into a affordable housing yeah yeah D we just had a project here

you guys got projects there that we had a project here that was stacked for um

it was it was slated really for like condos it's a nice building downtown and it just got from my understanding uh got

approved for affordable housing today or this you know recently I should say you guys got that too yeah they're

groups over here that that's all they do is that's their specialty is going and

trying to get as much grants and government money as they can in order to build more housing because it is crazy

how much I don't know that it's necessarily a shortage but since like airbnbs and

stuff there's a lot of houses that no one lives in that they just run up same

thing with the hotels and and um you know part of that Daniel is the the census right the population they're

trying to increase population because you increase population it increases tax revenue you increase tax revenue then

you can po lower taxes in those areas um and in Michigan we have more people leaving than we have coming now and it

never used to be like that um you know one of the that's why they're like over here they're working on like they're

building a new Ampitheater and a new soccer stadium and they're allocating a

bunch of uh these taxes to to these spots to try and get more people

here I'm just trying to figure out what you're doing bro looks like he's picking up some mail we

got we got we got so we don't so you don't hear both of

us yeah the um I'll tell you the truth is a lot of this uh the way that taxes

and the influx of of um populations if they would reduce taxes

eventually that'd be nice but I've yet to see that happen it's always you know they get more people it really they just

spend more so you know at the end of the day I don't know if you guys have it there but

you know we have Bridges and things that really need some attention so some of

that um infrastructure spending is necessary it's one of the things the

interstate highways and stuff that the federal government should be taking care of but all right so on to the next topic

after we discussed um no you're good we can talk on one topic the whole time but

right government spending that's a that's a whole episode right there that's right and deep deep dive

yeah mean we do know people that we have meetings with that that's all they do is government work that's it that's it yeah

like it's it could be lucrative but you um if you can get used to if you're a

flooring company or any specialty contractor you get used to doing all that you'd have to like we do a fair

amount of government work but to we don't like the paperwork

uh or hey we we should we should do an episode on I'm try I'm trying to see

this I'm um but yeah that government work is

I mean you can get a lot of it if you specialize in it but that's the key is you really have to for it to make a big

difference um for us we've done several projects and we we have several projects

at the moment going on the Air Force spacee here but I'll tell you what the

paperwork all the regulation all the labor requirements on the jobs they have

it's been taxing to make sure I know on our manager to make sure that um I don't

know who keeps clicking these my brother is clicking buttons me that's me just

I'm trying not to do that my screen keep You're Gonna Do It um but the

um specializing in government work will will uh keep you busy and especially the

next the next foreseeable future this money's already been allocated so if you if you're doing that then you're going

to have uh you know a pretty good stream of of of projects to look at

moving on to talking about construction and Specialty kind of stuff we

have I thought it'd be interesting to talk about a a large uh company that

does specialy construction like flooring contractor specialty construction so

these guys are uh it's Apache industrial and they're one of the leading specialty

services companies in America for uh construction and maintenance so they had

originally I'll just read this it says since its Inception in 1967 Apache has evolved from a modest

single location industrial painting contractor into a leading industrial services provider with strong presence

in petrochemical energy sectors across United States of

Canada essentially they they're they evolve their services and I thought this

was interesting because we talked about this in flooring not too long ago about expanding your services to to grow your

company and they've expanded into um

softcraft Services which I'm not entirely sure what that means uh

scaffolding insulation fireproofing uh abatement uh Coatings

Linings all kinds of things so they've turned their their little business into

this pretty good s like massive company and it's all from the

commitment as their uh CEO says to delivering Superior Services and

long-term value to their clients uh understanding technology another thing we talk about a

lot on the Huddle plays a pivotal role in modern construction they we've invested in the latest Technologies to

effect uh effectively address our clients needs uh that can that goes all

the way from embracing the principle that you're only as good as your people so this comes into making sure you have

the in flooring in any business but in flooring

that means making sure you have the best uh guys and gals out there putting the flooring uh flooring products in and

providing awesome quality but anyway what do you guys think about that this company's massive Nationwide company out

of a a small single single s Painting Company in 1967 F first off I want to say good for

the the owner the yeah good for them for for finding a a need in their area and

then taking advantage of of every opportunity they came their way because that you can plan for something like

that the best you as as good as possible and and not end up like that that's

that's just like a a series of events that he was they were able to capitalize on through and through and to evolve

from from the startup to to where they're at now that's that's an amazing story I don't I don't care who you are

that's that that that used to be what the the American dream that was the American dream that I was told when I was a little kid how things could happen

and how businesses started um and now you know it's you have to have a it's

pretty inspiring it is it is it it could it still happen yeah does it still happen 100% but those are the people

that have the for and understand what what bucket they're dipping their toe in uh for for that moment right and when to

change those smart people yeah and you know they they put a

lot of emphasis on technology and people as their uh you

know as what plays into their growth they got 40 locations across North

America so that's a lot of yeah you got be well

um hold on like boxes like PO boxes or I don't think so man uh man that's

amazing yeah pretty cool pretty cool and they they're their

growth um you know like anytime you're growing uh Stephen concludes the CEO

that you know Apache is in is still in a growth uh period this year it's been

exciting and challenging at the same time so you know also that growth uh a lot of times

people forget what type of work is behind the growth um yeah the you ever

hear that saying that like you work 15 years to be an overnight success it's

because like people don't see the background work and then all of a sudden you get noticed and it's like oh this

great company what what a great job they're doing but all the hard work and

challenges of growth um and I tell you what you know with with all kinds of

changing regulations and employment stuff it's it's uh that's a hell of a

feat for them to have reached um so I thought that was pretty cool being in special contractors

ourselves hey I think um it gives you it gives you hope right like

uh how do you approach something like that what what's the next steps what do you do is it worth it um when's the

right time to make moves yeah this is this article is in construction today and you can kind of

read even deeper into where they Place their values um and the workforce

quality they've doubled down on I know that we've talked about that a lot on the Huddle here and that the quality of

the people you hire and that you train them up and all this stuff is is so Ultra important and sometimes you can

find fall behind and not quite get there uh I know the struggles of growing a

business so do you guys and so someone to do that and have the foresight to be

able to um execute on that level I mean we got two locations and it drives me

crazy yeah it kind of reminds me when we were talking to Joey AO when

we were down over in uh Detroit right and the from the carpet guys and he was

like he started you know going and selling door too and now he's got I don't know how many locations he's got

but he's got a pretty big setup down there over in Detroit now and it's just got what did they

do uh it's the the floor guys oh gotcha the carpet guys the

carpet the carpet guys I'm sorry the carpet guys think I got his hat over here somewhere yeah the carpet guys Joey Zago and um he was down at ties the last

time I think we've seen bumped into him a few other times we went down there for a train the trainer um class uh and he

hosted and that was the first time meeting him and just hearing the back story it's right people

like he take it he to he took a chance on himself as what it was and it worked

out so let's let's uh promote him a little bit if he's knocking out of the

park what did he um what did he what what's his is he a floring installer

crew be wise call the C guys so or are they a store that he's a flooring

retailer down there and he's got an entire team like when we were at his building it was

uh it was huge and he's got his own setup for training there now too so that way his guys can host um training CFI

too yeah that's that's awesome need more of

that full on St fullon store he got commercial residential but like his showroom like

his whole building is a showroom it it was it was beautiful pay your phone bill

Dwayne probably in the area where he lives no doubt he lives out in the

boonies have you guys been there we were there with you oh that's right I forgot about that we were there

we were there together yeah I've been out there a few times few few times him blowing stuff up

and and uh riding uh four-wheelers and going crazy out on Dwayne's property and

other people's Pro property around there too awesome place and he supports

education that's one of the most important things is supporting the education of our industry and um there's

a lot of movement I'm really excited about how things are starting to progress with uh jump start we're about

to add a couple hundred new jump starters uh that's going to be I just got my email this morning

yeah there's going to be a lot more uh so yeah I've got a I've got a ton of um

good news once we were getting them loaded and interviewed and I I could not

agree more with that statement right like me next week I'll be going down to

uh to America's Floor Source with the nctt and we've got I think 12 or 13

people signed up to do the heat Welden Flash Cove training down there where's

that at America's Floor Source in Columbus Ohio Columbus Ohio yeah that's uh

Goldberg's place right yeah and that's another guy that you can talk about about expanding right because I don't

even know how many places he's got I know he's got a lot like he was buying

stuff up left and right not long ago yeah yeah he's got a lot of

places um is that to anybody if someone's on the in the audience and

wants go and is in the Columbus Ohio area are they able to to join or think

that you can try nfc.com but I think the signups ended on last week Friday or

Saturday B man they'll let you in they'll let you in but there is a you have to have a prerequisite for for that

class right Daniel or is this uh uh no because it's it's a training too so you

can either you can op to do the training or a certification sweet

awesome well if if there's any of them that uh are just training and they they

uh don't have jobs get them on jump start hand them out of flyer I think we

did we send you guys a flyer too no but I'll print some and I'll take them with me though I'll look right now I was

trying to log you should have got a flyer that's got a QR code on it so uh flooring companies can hang them up in

their in their uh location and the subs that work for that

company that need help as well can hire off a jump start just the same so 21

jumpstart I love it all right well one uh sweet well you can print that off and

put it in your in your place so I was going to share a photo this came this

article comes from from wood flooring uh wood floor business article I thought it

was pretty cool to to we were talking about um we were talking about Innovation

check this out this is a I'm gonna I'm going to

kind of read this article a little bit but this was taken in 1921 and uh this gentleman had the the

picture but this is how they used to scrape floors by hand wood floors and get them prepped for uh you know to to

uh re uh refinish a floor or even a new floor and it's I guess a pretty famous

article or a pretty famous photo uh from

1921 so it says by 1930 I'm not even going to try to uh

pronounce Lewis's name there but lisis Floor Service which operated in Cleveland for 50

years uh he told the magazine that he started working for his father pushing a broom when he was eight years old I

think a lot of us have that story that we started pushing a broom when we first got into floring I don't know about

eight years old and how the labor laws would um uh go for that I even my butt

could even wipe my butt right at eight years old it's your kid it doesn't matter if it's your kid it doesn't matter how old they are just put them to

work yeah I thought it was a pretty cool uh story about how this this company

grew but it's really a testament to technology we now have machines they

have heck they got they're I've seen robotic machines that are starting to um

you know for sanding wood floors that do it on their own like that

part of the business I don't know about the application of the Finish but that part of the business is getting uh

faster probably than most uh getting uh

robotics anyway so that is the cruise for the day if I start another article we'll probably run over hopefully

everybody enjoyed some articles if you would like to see any additional

different types of Articles we have a staff that uh uh you know kind of scour

all the construction uh Publications and tries to find really

cool articles there is another one that I did not actually now I I have to do

this one I forgot about this uh I started off on um on um I've gotta find

it real quick I started off on how we kind of left the World Behind oh by the way you know uh thank goodness that long

shoran strikes over e it didn't last very long I mean I mean

they got it taken care of they got it taken care of but this article talks

about and I'm just gonna play

um I am gonna the Huddle's on at 4M Eastern every Tuesday just answering

this question oh he had another one too about keeping trainings in uh was more of a

statement training keeping them separate yeah it was it was a statement but that's why we have a three-day training

and then a two-day certification yeah I mean our the go career Hammer rating tracks all that

anyway whether it's a training or certification so it is separated but from an efficiency standpoint it makes

sense to have the training and then if you want to extend it for the certification you can

so uh that's that's my my view I'm I'm not the uh

full Authority on it but that's my opinion is that it certainly helps from an efficiency

standpoint um oh he's saying that they need to be separate organizations yeah I think his stance is

that uh there needs to be a creditation uh around certifications um him we we have a u

phone call coming up or a meeting coming up here in the near future kind of talk about what he um

is envisioning there but okay um having a a an accrediting

accrediting company or organization putting accreditation on a

certification so that it's uh you know true yeah it's a true

certification there's plenty of discussion around that and we can like get deep because one of the problems is

that we need more training and not less

and the the cash crunch on being able to train requires because installers don't

just have the money uh or at least has not seen the value and he's talking

about ANC andm standards for training and credit credentialing um but in we we already

struggle with getting installers to see the value in training and um take taking

time away from their skill that earns them money then paying a fee to get the

education um and then travel to wherever the training or certification is uh

located and with all those things that uh the industry has to deal with I think

some people are doing really good jobs um uh in in attacking this and um you

know I think Forward Motion is most appropriate and let the cream rise to the top you know if trainings and

certifications did get uh specifically certifications get credentialing around

them and the industry the installer base seen more value in them uh regardless of

cost then that's going to be where people go you know the market will tell when you start talking about cost that's

what you have to start looking at like I know we've touched on it before but my buddy owns an electrical business and

they go to the local community college for classes so they pay $800 per

semester so they can do continuous learning and they're there um I think

once or twice a week on their own time when you look at what we have now it's like the installers got to pay for 100%

of everything plus they have to travel and then you're losing

money and it's one of our certifications is is a lot of money so

if we can start getting accreditation like through colleges and stuff and it it cuts the cost down that's really the

direction that that it should go and there's there's a lot of talk about that on social media right now right well the

bottom line is SE plenty of posts yeah because it's primarily our our our labor

forces subcontract labor it's independent labor that means when you're not working

you're not getting paid it's not like working for an employee as an employee somewhere where your boss pays you to go

get trained and that is probably the largest hurdle to jump in our industry

we either have to build we've talked about this before we either have to build more value into the training and

make it clear that you get these the this certification or these you bump up

your skill level that you're going to make more money and that it's provable you either have to do that or

you're going to have to figure out how to get every sub to quit being a sub in every company to start hiring employees

now I don't know how to do that one but I do know luck if you if you format the

industry around a skill around the level of skill that you're paid based off of

your skill level uh then you you have a better chance of making it work um cred

Ving the and these types of deals to the trainings would just

um uh I agree he says it would legitimate legitimize the the um the uh

trainings but someone still has to do the grants for the financial aid and the

uh the stuff and someone if you know maybe he's uh talking about doing this

but someone has to do it you know what I mean uh we formulated our approach uh

and I you guys know everything about go careera that that approach was let's just weigh the trainings based off of

their Merit to improve the uh installers ability and then give them that credit on the on a easy to understand score

that's basically um you know a lesser training gets

lesser weight results in lesser Hammer rating MH for each each one so I mean

that system works really well uh it's in place and um we're obviously big

proponents of it but um the the fact is is that that we can't get away from is

that out of the installer base and it's over a thousand I think Ben told me La last

count of active people on the Network less I would say 80% I think is

uh pretty close are under a hammer so we have to see the value in training first

because it's obvious that a large portion of our labor force does not see the value in getting the education

they'll work for someone and I know you guys probably dealt you know witnessed this yourself but I've witnessed guys

that work for somebody for 6 eight months and they're like I want to be a sub or I'm gonna go do my own thing and I'm

like whoa yeah whoa take it take it back and not BR I know you learned how to cut

tile and put it in thin set but did you do layout did you consider grout joints

what about the substrate did you consider waterproofing did you have to do all this or did the mechanic that you're working for do all of that and

then you learned the hand skill portion there's a mind skill that comes after the hand skill I mean I learned how to

cut in C long before I knew how to lay out broadloom carpet you know so agreed

there there's a lot more to it and you're right and then even even now when we venture out

and try to make do something different or make a change or or Implement something you're always like are we

doing it right can we do it right but who can we call to ask you know how do

we what do I don't I don't want to mess up and a lot of people just don't they

just I want that that big check they don't think about how that check has

divied up and all of the all the science and experience that comes with that

person that they were working under for those eight nine months that made those projects run

smoothly um that's it's hard to

recognize what that I agree I was just gonna comment on Jesus's comment that I

think what he's saying is he sacrifices now and for delayed gratification yeah

we talked about this quite a bit you know throughout the the podcast and it's delayed gratification it's I'm going to

do this now so that way later on you're comfortable right I know I'm doing

everything right instead of having to question it and we've had guys come full circle where you know we worked at a

company together they came to work with us um a couple years later and then

they're like all right I'm going to go do my own thing and it's like they do know what they're doing but you know and

you you ask him it's like well what what happened he was like man I thought you guys were making money hand over fist

and then I started and I'm like dang all these expenses and that's what no one really prepares themselves for I think

and that's why you have guys that are on on some of these groups and they're like my this person is supposed to pay me and

they haven't paid me in two weeks and it's like yeah because that money sometimes takes that long to get well

that too it's the continued education right like it you can't only learn in your eight hours at work you can't only

learn in that 40 hour work week right if you don't apply yourself and try to to learn on your own time you're never if

you can't learn on your own time and educate yourself on your own time chances are you're not gonna be that

focused when you're getting paid from someone else to do it um you know you you obsorb

better and and apply and Implement better when you do a little bit on your own and that's the

that um you know the best of the best the best of the best in in most

Industries put in work on their own like football players I mean oh yeah if you

look at any sport the the best of the best they're not just going to training camp man you know they're going to

that's a good way to put it they're doing you know offseason workouts and working with running back coaches and

quarterback coaches and physical therapy coaches and that's their craft and our

craft is flooring and yeah it's it's been more of an uphill battle than I

ever thought it would be to get installers to really like embrace it but

eventually I believe that the Market's going to start doing that the the the

homeowners the the general contractors are going to start requiring like you

know they want to know that the guys on their job are qualified to do their job and um you know I think that's starting

to make a little bit of Headway in the industry you just see some chirpings about like if we knew how good you know

if the guy was qualified or not it would have saved us a ton of money in all this replacement and failure which you know

failure flooring failures in the US are somewhere around $3.5 billion dollars so

this is not a insignificant number I was going to show this other I was going to show this video but uh we got on this

topic and we this topic and we're gonna finish it off with this topic yeah all

right I'm wna kind of touch on this right here because he's still talking about you know that you can get the

financial aid from all these places but then that just defers back to how every

business is ran and it's all subcontractor based and I don't want to throw a number out

there but I think the vast majority of you know subcontract businesses like in

the flooring industry don't keep track of their stuff the way that they need to and in order to get one of these grants

they want to know all your history basically hey I want to know from your

Inception like where did all this money go and and another thing and I want to add to what Daniel just said too and

because we went through this um another thing is that the way that those grants are structured and the way you have to

keep submitting information in order for you to get refunded because they don't just give you money right they reimburse

you as you as you turn uh your spendings and um and a lot of it is not structured

for construction America it's structured as if you were a corporation and um even

some of the uh some of the businesses that are pretty well-run don't have all

those systems in place to to be able to to give them the information in the format that they're requesting it after

they even qualify and that would be us us as one of them and you know well that's one of the things that's that's

the hardest thing with grants and this this that approach and I'm not saying it's not a worthy approach I'm just

saying it's not the end all Beall there has to be multiple facets of attack um

because the the financial aid and the grants and all of this stuff require

somebody to track file uh for these grants and I know just working with some

of the training entities like the fcef for example you know it's not easy guys

for that to get a grant you have there's professional grant writers for a reason

like it's it can be a tough a tough go so I'm not saying it's not possible and

I know there's some training entities out there that are working with us on jumpstart right now

that um that that will sorry that comic I started

reading but there's there's um that are working with the uh Juvenile Detention

uh facilities which I think is a great outlet for all I think all trades I

don't this isn't just like yeah they're very young men and

women in juvenile programs that are being trained and florine's one of them

and kudos to those people doing that work getting out there and putting these programs together but it doesn't just

happen someone has to take the Reign and go do it right so that's why it's easy

to talk about but it's hard to implement everything because it takes so much effort to make it happen and someone's

really got to have the financial capabilities to just do something like

that you don't make a ton of money doing that like having a training that's thing like we we always we talk about working

on your business instead of in your business right and it kind of you can really see it these past few weeks when

I've been in the field because I hadn't been able to focus on any bids or anything because I've been too busy and

then we're we we are going to see a law in work where things weren't bid right and

that's just the nature of it but it's you have to be able to step out of that seat and a lot of people just don't have

that luxury yeah yeah well I'll tell you what I I've stepped back from my

flooring company uh before and it it takes you it takes a lot of of kudos to

all the flooring companies out there the owners that are able to like structure their business to run pseudo without

them and they work on the business all the time I have to kind of jump in jump out it's almost like Hopscotch

you know work on the business work in the business on the business in the business on the business in the business

but um yeah so we have closed out the the hour with our favorite topic of of

Labor and our our Industries uh crazy thing is you were like I want to just do

one more thing real quick and then this topic came up and then we spent like 25 minutes on it yeah well it's easy to

spend and we we talk it it always comes up because what we have to realize in the

audience everybody watching uh everybody at home everybody at a flooring company

or an installer watching this is you you have to realize that this is always coming up on the

Huddle in different ways and a lot of times it's spurred on by the comments

why is that it's because it's a root problem and yes uh I I I have what I

believe not just me but multiple people uh a lot of people believe is a uh

antidote but not a full-on it's not a cure um in go Carrera I believe that

that program allows individuals to thrive in their industry in in flooring

and promote themselves from within and jump starts just one of our initiatives

where it allows for both flooring installers retailers flooring compan IES

to get on look at the new recruits that are coming out of the training entities and let's get them placed in our

industry so we're about to add a lot you know a uh a a lot of um

new jump starters are are getting ready to get added to the program and jump on check them out subscribe and hire your

next Talent these guys are showing these guys and gals both are showing initiative that they want to be in

flooring so let's pick them up they're not all going to work out but you can also go on Craigslist and siphon through

30 line Cooks if you want yeah so all

right fellas as always it was a pleasure uh the blue collar Cruise uh continues

to sell the the last video I was going to share was about uh it was an

innovation topic as well and it was this company in Switzerland built a bridge

like a full-on bridge bridge for a highway that comes uh that diverts

traffic over them redoing the road underneath uh it was a pretty cool video you can check it out on uh construction

briefing.com and the topic is uh traffic avoids road

work uh thanks to a mobile construction site bridge and it's pretty cool it's a

literally like a mobile bridge I think it's like a mile along and they just

move this bridge along as they re as they redo this they just move that bridge along as they redo the road

underneath it's uh pretty cool if you're ever stuck in construction traffic you know that that that's uh that would be a

blessing here in in our area it just you just get detours but um anyway they

close the detours yeah then they close the detours Jose Lake Gonzalez thank you

for joining you weren't that late brother so it was a it was a pleasure talking to you and Daniel again and and

having you on the Huddle this is this is uh one of my favorite days so appreciate you guys appreciate the um audience if

you are catching us on Facebook comment like give us some some love there if you

catch us later on YouTube give us a like subscribe a dislike whatever you want uh

but let us know what we're doing that you love and uh where you would like to

see this go so yeah yeah love or hate us just comment and let us know what's

going on and we will uh do our best to bring you the best uh topics in our

industry from there gentlemen I will catch you guys next week and again it's

Tuesday 3 uh Central and two what is it

four o'clock Eastern yep

yep yeah he's done a lot of research I I'm really interested in chatting with him and seeing seeing what uh what what

um where he sees that you can like implement it in a big way it'd be an

interesting conversation maybe we'll have him on the Huddle and uh continue this topic I'm sure we're gonna have it

again so awesome guys well we will see you next week thanks for joining and

we'll see everybody in the audience thank you everyone until next time

The Huddle - Episode 119 - CFI/FCICA 2024 Recap

In this episode of The Huddle, Paul and Ben Walker from Go Carrera recap their experience at the CFI/FCICA 2024 convention in Orlando with the help of Jose! From the latest flooring trends to cutting-edge technologies and industry innovations, Paul and Ben share all the key takeaways from this year’s event. Whether you were there or couldn’t make it, this episode will get you up to speed on what’s shaping the flooring industry in 2024!

The Huddle was created by Paul Stuart of Stuart & Associates and Go Carrera, alongside Jose and Daniel Gonzalez from Preferred Flooring. Aimed at helping you maintain forward progress in your flooring career, they cover topics from personal and business growth, to installation tips & tricks and everything in-between.

Want to be a guest on The Huddle? Email thehuddleforwardprogress@gmail.com today!

Create your FREE Installer profile at https://gocarrera.com and become part of the future of the industry TODAY!
GET TRAINED! Find a list of training dates here: https://gocarrera.com/resources/training/
https://www.preferredflooringmi.com
https://www.stuartandassociates.com

what's up guys welcome to the Huddle we're your weekly playbook for not only

strategize on playing the game but changing it for mastering the fundamentals of the craft to

distinguishing ourselves in the marketplace we're here to give the installer a voice and ensure that you

are equipped with everything you need let's band together and Forge a new Legacy in flooring this is where you

belong welcome to the team what's up Jose and Ben what's going on sir how are you this

afternoon awesome well with me today as you know

uh Jose is back on the Huddle thank goodness good to have you back brother I

know you've been out in the field grinding Ben Walker our coo over at go Carrera and

um I'd say pretty frequent huddle um huddle uh attendee and and uh guest he

was at the CFI convention with me um this last week and so as we recap Ben

will have some some good input there how's how's your brother dude Mr Jose

how's your brother doing I think uh I think he's doing okay he's grinding out there still he's out there yeah he's out

out getting stuff done right now because said that's why we missed the event we couldn't make it we just had a little

more on our plate than than the the typical U October I would

say well I tell you what we sure missed you you guys were brought up a lot at the convention

people is so much more Jose and Daniel can't believe how much fun we're having without these guys man they should just

not come ever it was more like where are those lit up backpacks with all the messages on there it was stuff like that

everybody wondered where you were it was somebody else's opportunity to shine brother they could have uh could a took

a backpack and did it up well it was a it was a fun event I gotta say a few uh like notable things I

would say is the um the food was fantastic this year I I

don't know if it changed or what but there was a lot of comments on that uh it was a lot of really good uh seminars

and and uh trainings and I was there I mean I flew in hit the

trade show which was much bigger this year than it normally is

um I don't know if there was more people in the trade show but um it was

certainly a bigger trade show there's a lot more uh vendors so that could have made it feel like it was a little less

um you know uh packed but it was it was

pretty packed with you go there was one seminar or or version after another from

learning how to look at a set of drawings to um understanding how AI is

starting to affect I'd say starting to make some

pretty major impacts on oh yeah on uh you know bidding practices and and um to

product demos and so it was pretty cool what yeah the layout of the the layout

of the trade show was really different this year right I mean the room was a lot bigger I know there were more booze

I think there was upward close to uh 70 booths but because they had dinner in

there on what was that Tuesday night uh yeah or Wednesday trying to remember I

guess it was Wednesday uh and then the breaks and there the the trade show just went on a little bit longer and uh

uh it seemed more active there were just lot going on in the trade show I think overall attendance was something in the

uh something in the neighborhood of 360 is what is what I was told which is uh

maybe a 15% bump over last year so I think it grew both on the attendees side and it grew on the exhibitor side

also yeah I think I was I was following on social media and and there was a lot of people installers saying that it was

probably one of the best ones one of their favorites so far um and and I

think that's both for CFI and fcica since the joint venture started uh with

them I think they they're working well together um they're they're create

they're closing that Gap that communication gap right they're finding relatable interest from both sides and

and meeting in the middle and I I think that that's uh I'm always gonna say that's awesome no matter what yeah it

was good I I I enjoyed it um and particularly enjoyed hanging out and

talking to you know all the installers and and um

getting like the um their perspective on the

industry we preach it all the time about getting to to uh convention but you know

a lot of the um followup stuff that's been on social

media sense convention is that they need to make it more affordable and more accessible to installers so I thought

that'd be a a a good topic uh to of discussion today as well as as we kind

of recap um you know the the events of it

Ben what was your favorite uh event what was your favorite part of it do you have

one well as I sit there and think about it you know I definitely like the social the networking opportunities I'm I mean

I'm still building my own uh uh Circle my own you know setup my own network in

uh in the flooring industry and I appreciate each and every one of the opportunities to do that you miss the uh

uh closing ceremony because I know you had to get back for work but uh it again was good uh the room was really big uh

for it um but it it was still worthwhile and and um AIT karaoke singing that

happened before it was over that was kind of toward the end you say karoke there was karaoke for

sure yeah there was and the food was great there too uh you know I just they

had all those stations all the way around the outside of the room with different kinds of food at each one and

and the food was good from Shark finish uh you know no doubt about it um I

probably if I had to pick just one thing it's the trade show I mean since you and

I were both there and the hours were longer I mean I think we both had the opportunity to uh you know to to walk

around in addition to just working at our booth and I really uh you know like

that opportunity going to uh uh building our contacts with Federated insurance was a really big opportunity for us

there and same thing with commercial USA so uh uh I think the trade show added a

lot of value for me yeah that that was it I like the trade show there was a lot of uh

people um well you know how trade shows go it it gets pretty busy and and it was

pretty cool I liked the um I'd say my favorite like

educational portion of this was discussing estimating and listening to

other estimators talk about problems they have with drawing is the one I wanted to be

at and just being like yeah I've I've been there uh been there checking these

boxes like we're not the only ones and uh that and realizing that AI is not

too far it seems like I mean there's I I I feel like I've done a a

fairly Deep dive into some of that but not I still didn't realize how how close

it's getting um for being able to essentially take off the drawings I mean

yeah another couple years and I could see just loading a set of specs as a

first step to your to your uh uh system and then um it coming up

with the list of rfis for you to send out pre-written and you send them out what and then what goodness and uh you

know drawings and specifications and they compare and come up with the rfis and you'd review those rfis and decide

which ones you're going to send and send them on and I could see that being in the next couple years and then once

those rfis are back you'd feed the answer in to the the system and it it

would take it off uh with all the pertinent information that is provided

seems like that's going to be pretty soon um yeah Anastasia you know went into some detail on that uh from

diversify and it was it was it sounds kind of magical to be honest both both

she and Kathy did a good job at that seminar and I think that uh uh

that probably you know might have been the biggest takeaway of just how much AI is going to continue to change the

estimating portion of our of our industry it almost sounds like AI I mean

it probably already did or is in some Industries but uh taking over

the um the clerical portion of a a manager or an estimator or you know was

taking over some of some of that I think uh a lot of things are going to be

automated here pretty soon um yeah and you're going to be paying automation is going to be the same cost as a full-time

employee if not a little bit more but I think it it'll probably do more than what one employee can do without getting

a migraine well and then you got to wonder where where are you going to place your

resources um and I'm not playing on my phone I'm looking up some social posts for the that I want to bring up during

this for uh the from the convention

so but um another determine where you place

your um where you place your resources because you you won't

need uh resources and takeoff so what kind of you know it's going to change

the way that we do business it's gonna it's I think

yeah I was looking for some of those posts too but there's been so one of the posts uh from John sty he's uh a uh

awesome dude wonderful guy actually and uh brought up that there you know that

it was a successful week passionate installers around the world collectively sharing ideas

conversations and participating in uh education

there's a lot of pictures that were shared and but but to get to the Crux of

this it was basically uh CFI convention is for the

installer having a special event for the sole purpose of lifting the skill

confidence and awareness of the flooring installer moving forward I'd love to see this event grow I would encourage you to

share your thoughts and ideas about CFI with me as a member of the Advisory

Board want to know what CFI can do for you so anybody out there uh

obviously um you know the convention is built

around the installer and it's uh also intended for professional installers to

get plugged into CFI and th and those guys there's very few skills if any that

you won't find if you'll plug in um so if you're in the audience and you're watching and you're you're an installer

that really hasn't plugged in that's the first thing you want to do is plug into uh you know some of the the uh industry

organizations one of them being CFI uh and I think CFI is maybe you know

it's certainly one of the oldest and most reputable training entities but they you had an interesting Insight

earlier B kind of about that what they do really well at these conventions would you like

to well one thing I noticed is that you said off air one thing I noticed was during the

awards ceremonies I I I just felt myself really uh uh interested in and moved by

the CFI Awards I I think CFI has a has a core competency at finding the right

Awards to give finding the right people to give them to and and and making these Awards in a way that people really

respond to I think maybe some of that is Dave garden and uh you know his his

passion and his poose familiarity and his his personal style so that probably

has a lot to do with it but I just notice on on all of the CFI Awards

consistently that they just they just seem like really big deals and I I find

myself really appreciative of the people who've won these Awards because I'm just learning a lot about all they've

contributed um I think CFI is great at awarding that rewarding you know that

kind of contribution to the industry I think it's one of those things too where you know

um as flooring installers a lot of what we do I'm not saying all the time but a lot of what we do gets overlooked right

because we essentially in the day-to-day what we do is background noise um you

know um people who aren't in the trades don't necessarily pay attention to the details that and the effort that we put

in and for someone to to get right ignition in front of their peers um is

heartfelt right and it's it's not I don't think anybody in the industry that from the installation standpoint does

any of what we do for recognition we just do it because we're trying to make a living um but I think that that's why

it's probably more heartfelt or the way it feels heartfelt anyway because you know it's coming from installers uh from

installers by installers for installers I think that that's what what drives that bus and um always

um always appreciate sitting in and and hearing a backstory on on why someone was nominated or why someone won it's uh

it's always great to hear some of that because it's something that you might not know um a lot of the behind the

scenes yeah I I think the more we've brought this up before but of

all the installers on our Network at go Carrera there is a ton

that are under a 0.53 or 0.53 or under uh on a hammer

rating and that indicates just really low amount of

training um it was it it's it's abundantly clear that

that we have to get people plugged into the the into the industry installers in

general uh we have we're disconnected there's no licensing or annual thing

other than something like this uh so two really key points that kind of came out

of I'd say so Social Media stuff as well as on site is one of the um panel

discussions that I really enjoyed but it was a bit redundant from

previous discussions is how do we increase the pay of the installer um you

know how do you increase the efficiencies and make companies better

with better Crews and all of these things um how do you overall impact the

installation Community from a quality and professionalism standpoint on a large scale that was basically the the

panel discussion multiple different questions one way or the other and the there was

some good guys up there uh on the panel um you know that that uh were helping uh

um you know answer some of those questions but that has always been to me

like how do we align the in the installers goals with the company's

incentives and and vice versa so really that seems to be the biggest disconnect

because one of the biggest problems I see is

that you can't be an electrician without going and doing the the education piece

you just can't do it you have to get the certifications or the or

certificates for you to even touch a train um you know hbac system for

example to service it by by Parts anything you have to prove that you've

been certified or uh or or you're a licensed HVAC guy same thing with

electrical you don't get to go be an electrician without taking and getting

the education piece so

um the um lining the incentives with a

flooring provider of some sort whether it's a retail shop a box or whatever a

flooring contractor like you guys uh you know preferred flooring or Stewart Associates with the installers goals of

Performing and making money making money being the number one thing so how do you

align those deals together and you know the the union had a good way of doing

that um but unions are just not everywhere so there's the problem I mean you know a certain year Apprentice makes

a certain amount of money and a certain journeyman once you hit journeyman and

you keep going uh you you make a certain amount of money well most of those guys

are employee employees of an electrical company electrical contractor in floring

we have primarily we use subcontractors and so anyway that was

one and then Daniel uh you know Mr Daniel Gonzalez uh he brought up on a post he

says we got to get the cost down to make it so that the average installer can

afford it and then that created a whole kind of Whirlwind of discussion so yeah

you know do you think um I'll just kind of hit some highlights here Rand uh said

you know we agree and are always looking on ways that we can do that I I can attest that that is a goal for CFI they

they want to get it down so that more people can uh attend but there are hard cost I mean

there's food and place and the setup and like there's hard cost to it so well not

only the cost of that around that fixed cost and how you can make it more

affordable or maybe you just have some breakout sessions where you don't have food but I'd love to hear some thoughts

on how we can um lower the cost of convention because one of the things

that I think get you involved with CFI is if you go to convention you're kind of going to be going down that path of

you get sort of and then you might even expand your um Horizons to other

trainings you know what I'm saying uh you might uh as most people

know um what's up Kevin um as most people know CFI purchased nfic so now

they have the natural fiber portion uh as well in training well with that you

got you have all these opportunities to get better right and so a lot of people

when you go to that that uh convention you kind of get hooked and you start going into other trainings uh be it in

the past it would have been separately going to PJ and getting your you know some natural fiber training or you may

go to in uh you may like the tile portion of the world and decide to get with CTF and and that you know part of

the universe but once you it's like CFI convention is a big conduit for people I

think and so I think this is an awesome discussion is how do we get the price

down so that more people can show up and then how do you get the word out so that

um more installers know about it your average installer B that we talk to that

is you know just out doing the thing we're so plugged in we think other people watch and and search out

like knowledge and they don't a lot of them are just doing their thing every

day picking up materials going to a job site installing and get feeding their

family you know taking care of their responsibilities and I think that it is super easy to get you know caught up in

that when you know it's everyone's first priority and and I and so it's you have

to have some either some money or some time you know beyond doing that in order

to get involved in the industry and many many people never get to that point and you know Joan puit said we should have

CFI at his house and maybe we should maybe we shouldn't but but I think it does bring up an interesting point and

that is that uh a big part of the cost is getting there and and uh I know that

at least for the past few years this this has been in Orlando I think there's some conversation about moving moving it

around geographically as well isn't that right I think there's always discussions

about how to make it most uh attainable um I think

CFI one thing is having it in a populated area that that and and getting

the local people to go the local installers I mean you know

now there's some Geographic um pieces to that as well

like that you're down in Florida where they do a lot of tile in homes and a lot less carpet in homes and so getting in

an area where cfis where you got carpet and vinyl and and that's primarily the uh the flooring

put in those communities you know that might be uh one part of that

but cost is always going to be the thing and you have three costs you got the cost of the convention the cost of

getting there and then the cost of not working and this is the same

conversation that we have about training yes and that's that's that's the thing that that makes it hard is uh

not only do you have to have the time and the funds available to go down and

and enjoy yourself right because you're you're you're not gonna go down there just to go sit at a um a convention and

then leave and then go to your hotel room and sit around you're down there to network you're gonna spend some time

you're gonna spend a couple bucks out uh um mingling with people but at the same time what's at home what are you leaving on

the table at home what are you sacrificing at home for work um and

unfortunately that's why we didn't make it down it's we couldn't sacrifice at that time because we were just a

little still overwhelmed with you had Demand right you had demand

yeah in past years though you still had work that would have produced money you

you chose to go in lie of doing work back at your business that would have produced money

and so it's even that part even if an installer could put off you know a job

for a few days to go to it a lot of them do not see the value in

going whether it's again I think the problem with getting installers to convention is the same problem is

getting installers to trainings is the cost of getting there the cost of the class or the cost of the convention and

then the cost of not doing work I mean if you're a good installer you're producing a th000 bucks a day for

yourself and and upwards of that but I mean you know kind of if you wanted to

use a baseline number well if you're creating a, dollar of of money for

yourself in a day every day or close to it and you go take three days off where

you just that's three grand plus the cost of the convention plus the um you

know the other stuff so uh it's I I

believe it's those those things are what we got to kind of try to we really have

to figure it out what where can you get and consider this there's two options

you lower cost or you increase value so how do we value to where the installer actually

earns more that's one possibility where it's like I can't not go to this or because I'm it's

like a doctor going to getting another thing uh if they if they go get this

they're going to be able to do this XYZ procedure and make so much more money

that like you can't afford not to go so how do you do it how you either create

it to where you can't afford not to go to this um

or yes we will hey Zeus but calling them out well you got

you know you gotta get you gotta get the I think he lost his password and and we got to get it reset and go through and

the security features on go career doesn't allow us to just go get in his account which is a good thing right try

be Jose Galas holy smokes can't get anything no PayPal no nothing uh have

two events a year uh bang for the buck in education that's

possible um that that's that's adding value so you got that option you either add a ton

of value where you're like I can't afford not to go and I look at like going to fuse conference like that for

my business when I I'm a fuse member and when I go to conference it literally I

find things there that make make us more money or make us more profitable or make

us more efficient or better at hiring or whatever and so I look at like I can't

really miss this or else I'm GNA miss a a nugget or a thing that will make my

business more successful we have to have either that or you're going to have to

lower it to where it's basically free at a very populated area and do a

really good job marketing so that what what do you think which what what what type of uh of uh approach

do you think I mean what's your guys's opinions on those and am I am I missing something

is there another uh option no yeah I think you're pretty spot on is

uh trying to increase the value right but it's and I think Kevin had mentioned he

says one issue at a time right and he's and he's right can't tackle too much at one time but

it's one of those things where well what is that issue what what

is the first biggest most important issue to hit you know um the first most

the biggest issue with it all is that we are not required to carry any type of

certification qualification or anything like that so that I mean that's the biggest issue because if we were

required to do that like you said the doctors got to go back to school teachers got to go back for their masters continue

education is a is mandatory in almost every other career well and if you think

about the amount of stuff we talk about it a lot on the on the podcast about we have to be you know environmentalists we

got to be chemist we got to know site conditions and floor and the products

and all that and and speaking of of of that you know one of our sponsors Flor

Cloud helps us to get that information right at our

fingertips uh you know floor Cloud allows us to discover uh what the

job site's telling us and makes us more productive that's one of the Technologies uh that have come out and

so we've talked about adopting technology as well on this and so getting your your project site

conditions right at your fingertips will increase your efficiency and profitability with floor cloud and guess

where I found floor Cloud at a convention right so same you know that's

one of the things that uh can also help let's watch a quick video from floor

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device no more manual checking for temperature humidity or even dupoint no

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flooring industry dispatch your Crews with confidence and reduce your climate related installation issues floor Cloud

now you know yeah so now you know so having your

your that information right at your fingertips no matter how far away from your project uh you are and if you're a

flooring company being able to dispatch your Crews knowing that the job site is ready uh at least from an environmental

standpoint is huge I know you guys use it up there Daniel or you and Daniel and

you guys have had uh great success with it so look into floor Cloud um yeah so some of the feedback

here is that you know we need to change the sorry one of us uh we need to change

the location to more of a central area and it looks like there's a lot of uh of

support for that um centralized area with an airport Hub uh Dallas makes a

lot of sense to be honest with you just because it's got such a large population

that can get there and it's got a large population around it they do all flooring there that would be probably

somewhere that isn't going or can't typically get affected by a hurricane or something like that right there you go

it does not most times most times you know I really I really noticed that

there were quite a few people who drive and and uh you know clearly if you're in

Salt Lake City or Denver or or San Diego or or even Kansas City it's it's hard to

drive uh as far away as uh I'm with you on that Jus by the way no Dallas but

anyway uh uh having it in Orlando let C lets a certain number of people drive

and having it in some other places that are geographically wet would give a

different set of people an opportunity to drive and there was definitely a lot of conversation among the leadership

there and Orlando about having it in some other places you know the other thing back hold on there just a quick

second uh back to that one let let let me so one of the things that Jorge is

suggesting here is that we have all flooring installation events together and he follows that up

with uh for example if Ty is free then we would have we should also have

something at that point so people go and uh don't have to spend the money and you

B but but your Mills so I believe what he's saying is

that having convention at Ty or something like that you're already going

to one so having the a whole you know getting a part of and correct me if I'm

wrong here Jorge but having part you know CFI Convention as part of TI like

your own the whole convention being at the same time maybe even in the same

building because you know Mandalay as big as Ty is it doesn't take up the whole thing then you have the convention

you have the uh the the uh installer competition all that kind of in that

weekend um that's something to consider and we're not making any determinations I'm just throwing stuff out there and

getting our audience to throw some stuff out there because that's not a bad idea this is what everybody wants is to incre

that's part of CFI or in the installation community at all I I would say even you know whether you're with

CFI or AF or uh fcic or any of the

training entities ctef any of them if you could imagine all of them are going to be there anyway and then you have a

separate convention just f a separate part of the convention not the inst row

where it's just tools and stuff but an actual convention that's installer

focused and it'd be really nice if a lot of these training entities could get together and do some some um collab

collaboratively together on that but you know that's that's uh just another

idea uh Jesus says uh Houston Texas has more installers that need help so I'm

not sure if I've ever done a um a um survey or anything on that but I think

installers need help everywhere every every time we get new installers on the

uh application it is um it is clear that we need more

training and we've got to figure out how to do this um one interesting thought

was could some of that you know from a training perspective could you do some of that remotely uh that's been brought

up before as well Kevin says you wouldn't have uh you wouldn't have the money from vendors at

Ty true yeah like when you start digging into all this stuff like tradeoffs each

thing gets its own compensation now could you tell the vendors hey you're double doing this thing you'd spend it

anyway later on in the year this put your more focused uh efforts for

installer Focus stuff in this area over in the other convention hall with the uh

installation Community I don't know what thoughts on that

Kevin you know another thing I noticed Roberts so he knows from the the

sponsorship side you know I noticed that sorry go go

ahead well I was just gonna say one of the things I noticed that at at last week is you know with the SIM

program FC FCC has you know people getting their continuing education

credits all through the the conference that we had last week I don't know if there's any opportunity on the installer

side on the CFI side for there to be uh you know some some installer training

that could be happening at the same time that you would actually get some sort of accreditation for that may be an

opportunity to add some value to the meeting yeah and then Kevin C with the

certification right and I think that that's the hard thing too right like so you go to event

like uh the convention or ties but then you throw in a certification in there

um you eliminate the networking aspect of the convention because now you're

confined to um training class and but however if that is your sole purpose is

to get a certification or some kind of training and then you can add in the the networking opportunities after class

before class or lunchtime um you know you if if that's what you went for and

you can add that then that's another way to look at it as well um but I was gonna say when I when I interrupted you so

rudely interrupted you Ben is um I wonder if there's a metric to see um the

dollars and cents that are actually being spent from like no not necessarily the vendors but the installation side of

of somewhere at ties and to see if there's a return on that and Roi that

and and well they would you mean from the vendors or uh not necessarily the

vendors but like from the installers that are attending how much of it is focused towards attracting installers to

a product versus attracting a store or a sales company to a product well you know

that's primarily what Ty is for yes I mean you know and that's why if you did

do it a dual Convention as proposed and just my thoughts on it is you'd have to

have the installer convention like separate in a separate area um but you

know one of the um I could let me uh just hide that for

just a second uh to finish this one thought you're cool uh is one of the things is if you did do that would would

vendors see a return on investment the vendors wouldn't be there if they don't see something I can tell you that

companies they they see something we have to get that same kind of thing going with the installer like and the

attendees go why does why do people go to Ty well partially probably to get a a

couple days away where you're working but you're also connecting with industry people that you get to see once a year

uh and have some fun you're probably looking for new product lines some people are there buying like their next

year's worth of stuff you know big big retailers and such um education is a

piece of it it's always well attended um you know so we have to create that same

kind of uh thing for installers it has to prove one of the points and this goes

right with this is in this uh thread here on Facebook is that you know

essentially the cost of going is somewhere uh around what we talked about say a th000 bucks and then uh one of the

things that got brought up is you're not you're not talking about the loss of of

profit or the loss of your your production for those days um but Matt

Garcia uh chimes in and says he knows many industries that charge five to 10ks

for events like this it's all about and I'm paraphrasing so this is not a quote

but essentially uh if the k is making sure the convention has real

value for the attendee that they're going to make more for going than than

they spent on it and that's what we were talking about earlier is adding that value to where it it's yes it's costly

to go but you almost can't afford not to go

um it and you know and and value might not you might not walk away from from

the convention in in two weeks make your money back right but it's the connection that you find out there from networking

that could uh potentially save you um on not in improper installation save you

with some new tooling that you find that that speeds up the installation process over the next year um material that you

find to replace other things that you might been might have been installing uh that you're not too happy with I mean

there's a a lot of ways to get you return um on on your investment on

attending I think it's just a matter of how you want to approach it what is like we said ear what's your purpose that's

the thing that Kevin said earlier is focus on one thing at a time I think Focus focusing on one big thing at a

time like do you add value or do you make it cheaper to me you have to add value that's just my opinion feel free

to disagree with that but I think not making it CH making it cheaper is just

trying to drive it down the experience what else can be done that makes it

Irreplaceable and a must go that's adding value like what what

Dwayne said when you start talking about lowering the price and this is what you shared earlier Jose is you know a lot of

it takes so much to just set up for Ty for the installation competition that

you're they the guys that helps with the setup and I've I've talked to Dwayne during that week when they set that up

when he was really involved in that and it he's just exhausted he's he's worn

out and ready to like go home afterwards you know and so if you had a dual

convention how much more complicated would that be and Kevin brought up the same problem from the vendor perspective

so maybe that's a tough one maybe it is there again just adding

value seems to be easy not easier not easy but easier or a better value

proposition a better long-term solution than cutting cutting the cost down to nothing to make it free or cheap super

cheap well and it's one thing too it's uh you add value to it right and word gets out the value that was added um

more people are going to show interest with in turn more people are going to want to attend and if they get value out

of it on the next go around they're going to spread the word and that's I mean that's the what business 101 right

that's an organic way of of getting the attendance that that you need in order

to make it more affordable by volume versus value so I guess uh you feed it

uh uh the fuel for the the value fire and uh next you know you got more people

showing up with buckets to put it out buckets of water to put that fire out and they just make the fire bigger the

next year you know for sure with such a big percentage of the insulation Community

not going to these conventions and you know not seeking out formal training but people aren't seeing that value right or

else or else they just they have not reached a level where they can a afford to seek out that value but there's a lot

more opportunity to make more value in these meetings and make more value out of the training than there is to make it

cheaper I mean if you work super hard to make it cheaper you lower it a few bucks and that's about it and maybe you still

didn't make it more affordable for someone but if you add value to it you can you can just have a much bigger have

a much bigger impact and you know maybe one way to do that is with some training at the at the actual

conventions yeah our certification you know uh Jorge makes a good point everybody honestly everyone just needs

to make more money Work Hard Play Harder that also goes right into uh another

Facebook uh comment that says how about we uh get the average installer making

more money no installer should need financial assistance because there was some suggestion about financial

assistance to get there like if we're all running businesses and installation businesses and making uh money uh and

I've proposed and I am Shameless in proposing that you know paying installers based on their their skill

score uh based on the level of skill they they possess and then how they

provide that skill to the marketplace which is what go Carrera is all about the hammer r is all

about your years of experience your certifications your trainings from all

entities I am a huge proponent obviously that that is a mechanism in which

installers can get paid more because they're higher trained and you separate the oil and water so to speak from the 0

53s that really plague uh are I shouldn't say plague but make a large

part of a large part of the industry is is that 15year 20y year guy that's never

had any industry training that is a large portion of our installation Community we need to get that to where

the average is not you know a 045 or 053 or something Hammer rating but a 1.5 or

something and then you have a robust uh installation Community

um so I I I still believe that

what Matt says here is true how about let's figure out how to make the installer more money and uh you know

higher skill higher uh execution equals higher pay and that if we can get adopt

a format that is there by the way industry um that you're a higher skill

level with a higher execution of the the skill set equals higher pay then you get

this machine running where people want to get the industry training to increase their their rating um and if anybody had

another rating I don't care it's just if you have a way to to score the installer

that then allows them to compete based off of that score they're going to want to have a higher score I mean it's

gamification of our installation uh skills and what you're saying it works

there a universal rating scale that could be recognized by the industry worldwide that could give us a

foundation to base this on then the world would be a lot happier place

because the installers would be happier but would give you better floors yeah that's what I'm hearing that's what I'm

that's what I'm that's what I'm saying I wonder where you can get something like that where where could a

person go to find something like that man you so the there's obviously there's

always um stuff with um technology

that's new and difficult uh you have the application of the technology but you have the concept of the technology uh

use use uh use something that's been that that's that was like this

ridiculous thought and is now uh the reason we're able to sit at our

computers and talk and that's the internet in the 80s late ' 80s through the 90s people thought this was the

stupidest thing since you know ever and had no way to think outside the box and

that is the thing I feel like we're there where we we have a solution we do have ways to do this as an industry and

adopting those ways it's it's free to do so just you just adopt it and Y uh and

you don't even for anybody on here you don't have to have you don't have to do

work or have an account on go career to do that part you can have a profile only

and U so long long and short of it is increasing value um so in uh Elena says

uh enforce an industry standard that support the manufact that has the support of the

manufacturer is the only way in her eyes uh that's going to bring the installer

pay increase I agree that that is a piece of it I don't know that

it's the only way I think the consumer demanding I want to know what level of person uh of installer Mr retailer that

you're providing me they don't know they would love to know uh it's kind of like a Carfax you want to you want the Carfax

when you buy a used car now when you buy a car with experience you want the Carfax you want to know what that you

want to know what that car's been through so you can predict how it's going to behave in the future that's what the hammer rating does for the

installation community and we have talked a lot about the uh with a lot of Manufacturers

about adopting it I'm not sure what the I still cannot put my finger on what the

reluctancy is to in in the manufacturer Community I don't I don't understand it

and I don't quite know how to how to say it there is a system a free system

that will allow the installer to have a graded a a a datadriven score skill

score that then can be leveraged by them to make more money and say hey I'm worth

more money and manufacturers to adopt and say you need to uh have XYZ level uh

you need to be XYZ level of installer to install this product that's already

there um Elena says the consumer needs to see the

value in the installer we have to Market it that way we are more than installer

we are the professional 100% And in the commercial world it's it's actually more

so we've won work because of certain installers who are certified

or really really really good on our team I literally have gotten contracts

because they said hey if XYZ guys on promised on my job I'll I'll give you

the contract same so the consumer just has to be aware that there's different

levels of installer that's really the deal and um it you know becomes more and

more clear to me that we need to Market and make it clear the to the to the

homeowners that are buying products that there is a way and to demand it if every

consumer did demand a hammer rating and to know the level of the installer coming into their home to install their

floors uh it would change the industry and and force uh the the labor which is by all

accounts you go to any convention you talk to even most manufacturers and they'll tell you it's the most important

part of the the deal so how do we get uh the the the skill score the hammer

rating um to be part of everyday conversation like Ms RP or like the

ingredients and nutrition facts on a label for food how yeah that that is

that's what that needs to become more public knowledge instead of Industry

knowledge um yeah I think a marketing campaign for us uh to uh inform the the

consumer uh you know we're we're talking to the UK um people over in the UK about

licensing go carera and that's how they're going to do it they're they're just

like you you as a consumer you should know the level of of the quality of the

person coming into your home both from a skills standpoint and how they perform their work that would hold all of the

installers more accountable uh now the really good guys before I get bombarded

and jumped on here the really good guys hold themselves accountable anyway most of the people that are at CFI convention

or are on the the podcast here commenting they hold themselves

accountable I'm talking about the 0. 53s and the under one uh hammer rated people

those people they need to be held accountable to a higher level and have

an incentive package that then uh inherently incentivizes them to go um

and and and and get the industry training and increase their Hammer rating increase their skill set and

become industry uh trained installers you know Factory trained so to speak

well industry trained there you go we don't have Factory training anymore so I agree with

um Elena a ton on all these points like

you do have to have the manufacturer say we need this level it's been

talked like we beat the dead horse about um the fact that yes it needs to be

talked about or the uh the manufacturers need to have some level whether it's saying you got to be certified the

problem is then they they have to there's so many

different levels of training that are called certifications um

so you know that that's that is pro gez we ran through an hour on these two I

know I know dude uh so CFI convention was awesome for any of you that did not make it down it was really cool uh those

are two of the biggest takeaways uh that kind of came out of it was like that I

seen on social media afterwards is making it more affordable the counterargument to that is just make the

installer more money and make it more valuable if you make it more valuable

where the installer cannot can't afford not to go and they're making more money

because of it and you have a system behind all that that makes them more money as they get higher higher trained

and you add a certification to the convention some level some mix of those

items would start to create like a juggernaut in our industry it make a real change in our in our install

Community man it sounds uh it sounds really easy to the people that love what they do and look forward to to the

progression of our industry and do someone who might be starting out out there listening or someone who's been in

business for a while and doesn't see the value in the training or certification because you're doing okay you're doing just fine just imagine doing better than

just fine or doing okay can be the start of it well it's

it's um it seems like you said it seems like it's it's uh it almost seems like duh kind of

thing but getting the getting the manufacturers to jump on board any manufacturers that watch this

you guys that it blows my mind I don't understand you want your products

installed by high quality people at every convention they're talking about how much they care about the installer

well enact a mechanism that requires certain level installers for certain parts of your products that has nothing

to do with you so you're not on the hook for a um uh you know uh you know they quit

doing certifications because they the the the risk factor right like most of

the Mills don't do their own certifications anymore this is totally separate from you all you have to do is

adopt it and and start using it and um yeah it's it's tough It's a tough deal

it's it's like we're screaming from the rooftops and Elena says the difference between preaching to the C choir right

yeah I feel like that's what we we do every week is preach to the best when how do we reach the ones that really

need our help um but uh any manufacturers out there any big dogs in

the manufacturing company that want to come on the podcast and talk about this we can black your screen out you can

voice we can do a voiceover but if you want to express some some internal concerns on why this can't work from a

manufacture standpoint and why you think it won't work or if a metric you have that shows that it won't work would'

love to hear from you like is that you get Anonymous we'll put a silhouette with a question mark and we'll make you

sound like Corey from Wolf like what voice sound like the State Farm guy or

whatever whatever insurance that is but yeah let's do whatever so the the

topic would be uh Kevin says he's in so Ashlin take that down Kevin said he's in

let's get some manufacturers on here to have a real conversation about how do we

actually increase install our pay how do we um affect our installation

community in a positive manner but through what everybody believes it

happens in every other industry that we we talk about is we have grading of of

the of the labor pool and um what ideas are out there what is available now that

works and has proven to work by the way uh on the go career Network on the installers that do work on the go career

Network the higher Hammer rated guys make more money period we've processed 30ish million

dollars in payments the higher Hammer rated guys make more money by far so

that is not I I can stand behind that the data proves it um but there's if

other people have other ideas other thoughts bring them to the table like

Solutions we talk about the problem a lot but we don't dive down on a solution

and say okay this solution won't work because XYZ and start to really try to

find the root solution for the problem uh that would increase attendance at CFI

uh convention why because they're going to have a certification there I'm not saying they will I'm saying if they did

that that would be a great add-on and you would go your Hammer rating would increase you go out into the marketplace

with your calling card that has your Hammer rating on your public profile and be able to upsell your client and make

more money than an average installer that does not have uh the same uh level

of skill that you do you actually can can can can separate yourself from a skill

standpoint very clearly right in in like in writing in black and white black and

white thank you you saved me again Jose thank you it's exactly what I was trying to

say so yeah Ashlin let's start planning to try to reach out to manufacturers and

come up with the topic name uh great topic this week I feel uh we should run

it back [Laughter] next Kevin thank you so much buddy for

always uh uh lots of really good comments and uh was a lot that we didn't

click on I didn't want to I didn't want to I kept overlaying his convers or what Paul was talking about whenever he was talking and then I stopped paying

attention to what you're saying I started reading it so I just I left it that's what I was doing super interactive today super

interactive lots of good input and suggestions well uh so that is it for

the Huddle this week thank you everybody for joining us if you're catching us on Facebook comment about these couple of

topics do we you know the the here's the the bottom line make convention and

events and training cheaper or make it more valuable how do

you um how do you require a how can a manufacturer require a higher level of

installer and how do you know an installer's higher level um and and uh

let's have a great conversation about this and um we we'll run this back Kevin and have

you guys on I can't wait uh it's it's awesome everybody uh that joined us

today if you if you like I said if you're cat one of the social channels make a comment give us a like give us a

a dislike whatever you like um if you catches on uh the recording of This that

goes on uh YouTube you know like And subscribe is on there follow us give us

some love gentlemen this was an awesome podcast I enjoyed it what's up

Ben hey s just so you know Jus I've been talking to Raquel we're gonna be in touch with you in the morning and get

you straightened out yeah he did he Ben's alter ego name is

Kevin just so that just so that's out there for the whole inner webs to know

maybe one day we'll tell you guys how that came about yeah Jose Poss brother we missed him at not only

at convention but on the podcast and hopefully we can um we'll see him this next week love you guys keep up the good

fight thanks everybody for all the great comments it was a really busy podcast and love to see it and we'll catch you

guys next week give us a thumbs up thumbs down uh help us increase the audience of this show we love you all

right thanks everyone thank you

The Huddle - Episode 118 - Live from CFI/FCICA 2024

Join Paul, Daniel, Jose, and special guest Ben Walker from Go Carrera who will be joining us LIVE from this year's CFI FCICA convention to talk about what to expect this year.

The Huddle was created by Paul Stuart of Stuart & Associates and Go Carrera, alongside Jose and Daniel Gonzalez from Preferred Flooring. Aimed at helping you maintain forward progress in your flooring career, they cover topics from personal and business growth, to installation tips & tricks and everything in-between.

Want to be a guest on The Huddle? Email thehuddleforwardprogress@gmail.com today!

Create your FREE Installer profile at https://gocarrera.com and become part of the future of the industry TODAY!
GET TRAINED! Find a list of training dates here: https://gocarrera.com/resources/training/
https://www.preferredflooringmi.com
https://www.stuartandassociates.com

what's up team welcome to the Huddle

your weekly Playbook where we strategize

not only playing the game but changing

it we're here to master the fundamentals

of The Craft and distinguish ourselves

in the marketplace we're here to give

the installer a voice and ensure that

you're equipped with everything you need

let's start a new Legacy in

flooring welcome to the

Huddle on site

today uh from fcic CFI convention we got

Ben I joined him tomorrow morning but uh

Unfortunately today we're going to be

missing our our Staples uh for the

Huddle Daniel and Jose they are out on

site installing some floors I believe

and they may chime in and and

uh talk a little trash on the

on the chat we'll find out but Ben how's

it going how was your trip down well it

was a good trip I left uh at the crack

of dawn this morning uh around 6:00 a.m.

uh uh got here around 100 p.m. flights

were good uh everything actually worked

out pretty well got uh all the go

Carrera gear here with me and uh looking

forward to having a great time over the

next few days

sweet so you nobody's nobody's going to

hate the weather here that's for sure

it's uh bright sunshiny uh a little warm

but but beautiful Perfect Pool weather

uh I think probably a lot of people are

out there right now awesome well you

guys come join us uh this week at uh the

Orlando uh convention we are at oh look

at our

coh how's it

going all right hey Mr what's up brother

how you doing is going so far

everything's good uh we had our two uh

we had nfic and uni click today so we're

just finishing up with that and we got a

lot more to go as far as meetings and uh

invitations meetings are going on I

should be there but I'm here with the

Huddle because I needed to check you out

guys first things first awesome well I

saw you out at the pool or at least I

saw on social media you were out at the

pool yeah the pool's one thing that I uh

need to get on because I never take

advantage of it so uh uh you got to

unwind every once in a while and just

take a little dip for sure nice it's

good to see you we'll be I'm sure

checking in with each other for the next

few days Paul gets here tomorrow around

noon so we'll all uh uh get together

then can't wait to see you guys all

right everybody tomorrow all right we'll

see you see you

brother see there's you know action all

around uh people are getting settled in

I think uh most most people have gotten

here today like he said there's been a

couple of training sessions uh earlier

today and right now uh the board

meetings are are in progress so uh it

quieted down just a little bit uh

because of that I

think makes sense makes sense so uh what

have you had a chance to talk to anybody

a lot of times we'll grab some people

and have them join in so I'm glad Jorge

came and said hi to

everybody um have you had any

discussions about the event itself how

it's being attended that kind of uh

information so I have I've talked to

some leaders of both CF uh CFI and FC

and and I guess the general uh feeling

that that everybody's talking about is

that this partnership meeting really

works out uh uh you know this is the

second time it's happened this way and

and uh you know no one said this to me

as a policy statement but the feeling

I'm getting is that everybody's very

glad it's happening you know on one side

you got all the people who who have the

work on other side the people that that

do the work and and this meeting really

gives a chance to build those build

those kinds of relationships uh to make

our industry function better and to make

sure that it's uh you know winning and

winning for for all sides and everything

uh from the owner and the consumer you

know back to uh uh uh our own industry

and just making sure that that

installers are are getting what they

need out of the deal and that flooring

companies are making their own way too

and I think uh leaders of both

organizations seem to feel like this

meeting is instrumental and and and

making that

happen yeah I mean previous years it's

been

really uh either just CFI or FC and last

year when they came together it was I

loved it uh I really thought it was

awesome and I got a lot of good feedback

from everybody so you know it's not

surprising to me that leadership feels

that way

um go ahead I was just G to say you and

I were here last year and and we both

felt like we got just uh a lot more

value for our money than than it if it

just been one side or the other I think

it's really efficient for uh vendors to

the trade to you know to have this

opportunity to to meet up with uh uh

everybody uh in one

yeah yeah uh our our preferred flooring

Jose and Daniel won't be able to make it

this year so it's going to be a little

bit different I haven't been to a

conference without those guys in a long

time so uh but kudos to them on all

their success and moving moving

forward last year and this year uh you

know I I love the the the I I love these

things these Zips and and I know you

like them a lot too and the one they got

they gave us last year was a really good

one and uh this look at what we're

getting this year it's a a jacket

instead but it's a little bit lighter

weight I think it fits the weather uh

perfectly and it it just looks fantastic

so we're going to be looking sharp as

well that's pretty awesome yeah that

looks like a good some good golf attire

right there well if you guys are out and

about and you can make it over to uh

hang out at the convention if you've not

signed up I am sure they'll figure out a

way uh but if you're in the Orlando area

I know there's been a lot of Outreach

come by uh check it out and uh come see

is if you are planning on being at the

conven we'll be at the um at the trade

show with go Carrera there to answer any

questions uh talk about go Carrera core

as well as our newest um initiative

which is JumpStart JumpStart being a

single location where both companies and

uh subcontract installers can find good

helpers uh coming straight out of

schooling uh they've got some knowledge

they've got uh you know some desire to

be in the industry and our goal with

jump start is make that connection easy

uh allow companies and uh floring

installers to uh you know facilitate a

an interview and the hiring process and

allow you guys to get these guys put to

work and and help improve our industry

in a real way by putting uh the the

newly trained to you know help and um

we'll call them you know digital

Apprentice uh people uh getting them to

work so Ben tell me me a little bit

about the uh speaking of the trade show

that will be at tomorrow afternoon and

um how many vendors are

is

yeah when Jen zern and I were talking

earlier she really kind of focused in on

the trade show and first of all 70

vendors which is 20 more than last year

20 more wow a huge increase and uh

they've extended the trade show hours uh

both to for both tomorrow and Thursday

so there'll be more opportunities for uh

for everybody to to chat I think that

makes sense to extend the hours since

there's so many more vendors you know to

talk to so uh I think that'll be a big a

big plus uh uh tomorrow night the dinner

is in the trade show so I've been to

other trade shows where they did it that

way and I always like it because people

it it it kind of gets a little more

social a little bit less structured and

people kind of let their hair down some

and you end up having more productive

conversations uh I I think when the the

social stuff and the the work stuff is

combined like that so 70 vendors 20 more

than last year extended hours better

networking opportunities uh uh the

dinner is going to be right there in the

trade show so a lot of good stuff I like

that yeah that's pretty cool I like I

like the dinner at the trade show too uh

people tend to congregate around food

and have meaningful conversation so it's

it's pretty cool um what about a 10

how how's

attendance uh expected to be this year

the show has grown from last year 360 uh

registrant to date uh and uh uh

everybody's happy with that um good

attendance uh uh and a couple more

things that that Jen really you know uh

focused in on one is uh Shaw and Mohawk

are again the two Platinum sponsors uh

and she said just every year those guys

continue to uh extend their support and

find new ways to help make this

successful so Shaw and Mohawk have you

know really stepped up to the plate and

I know everybody in the industry

appreciates that uh

yeah you know when you talked about jump

start a while ago this is the thing that

really you know jumped out in my mind

and that is training and and uh training

is a focus here at this conference and

and more than ever and you know I'm not

sure what you think about this Paul but

to me it seems like our industry is

focused more on training and devoting

more resources to training than

certainly more than any time I've ever

known about in my what 12 years in in

the in the flooring industry and you've

got a lot more a lot longer experience

than that I'm curious if you

agree I do I think that the industry is

realizing and I won't say too late but

certainly right on time not too early

yeah like that we we've got to get some

influx and some inflow of new people and

have them people uh th those new that

new blood in the industry to get with

some of the um outgoing great installers

this industry has produced and those

Craftsmen passing on their knowledge to

the next generation is so important and

uh so I think training is a part of that

I see a lot of new like training

entities as well as uh more people

getting involved in training it's more

of a topic than I've ever uh remembered

uh it being and there's just some great

ambassadors out there for teaching the

new uh the new blood coming into the

industry and I I I can't thank the fcef

and CFI enough for kind of leading the

charge and other entities out there like

aft and Robert Varden and what they're

doing and flooring Basics with Mark

farnworth and just all these people

jumping into do something uh there's so

much that needs done that there's no

room for just one entity to handle at

all uh in my opinion we have to like

open up the floodgates uh which is what

we did with jump startart you know jump

start used to have some Shackles on it

and our new Resurgence of that is

removing all the shackles so you don't

have to be a member of go Carrera to

hire off a jump start any installer in

the industry you don't need to join go

Carrera uh you can you can get a

subscription to jump for 99 bucks a year

a year and and peruse the new blood and

hire some people get to conference I

can't say that enough I I think that uh

this this last um block of episodes

we've done on the Huddle I probably

haven't mentioned it enough on how

important it is to get involved in the

industry and get out and uh get to know

new people that's where I met many uh

good friends in this business and yeah I

would have to agree with you training

has kind of risen to the top as uh both

a topic and an initiative in the

industry you know when I was running uh

a sort of a small midsize commercial

flooring contractor for about 10

years hiring people was was the hardest

thing and hiring people who actually

worked out uh was the hardest thing and

I did not even aspire to finding new

folks with some training I I that that

was just beyond uh uh some anything I

thought that that could happen and you

know now with jump uh though we are

bringing those kinds of opportunities to

people both uh flooring companies who

hire employers or for them to

to make sure their installers who hire

employees know that you know they can

actually get people headed down the

apprenticeship path who have two five 10

weeks of basic training under their belt

so you know they've made that commitment

to their career and you also know that

that're they're not walking out there

not knowing how to R the tape measure

for example you know they've got some

basic skills that are going to give them

a a a huge Head Start uh so I I think

with jump start sort of bridging that

gap between all these new training

opportunities and with the huge number

of jobs that we know are out there and

are coming that you know jump starts

really hitting it at the right time so I

know we're going to be talking about

about jump start all week and may

haven't just kind of practicing on that

a little bit right now but I think it's

really the big step that needs to be

taken yeah I agree well and another big

step is like uh you know the existing

installers in the industry get involved

in the industry I think that's important

get involved with your local Chapters at

CFI um I know that Rand has done a lot

of work on that uh I think we we bring

that up pretty often here on the Huddle

uh but that's getting involved on a

local kind of Grassroots level with

training and sharing of ideas and then

getting to a conference uh whether it's

fcic and cfi's Conference or getting to

surfaces or any of these opportunities

to get to know some uh some other

installers um you know one of the big

things is if you're wanting to grow in

your in any anything you do any

profession the best thing you can do is

get to know people who have done what

you want to do in that profession so if

you're wanting to build a flooring

company and you're wanting to get off

your knees get around people who' have

done that I'm happy to talk to people in

fact I've mentored many uh many guys in

in this regard is if you're wanting to

start your own flooring company and kind

of get your wheels turning and get first

steps um you know I'm happy to chat with

you so as Daniel and Jose they've uh had

those same conversations and you you'll

find multiples of those people I mean

you've done it Ben as well you went

through that uh or if you're just

wanting to build one of the larger uh

labor Shops and and be a labor provider

or be a successful subcontractor many uh

people out there Jorge was on earlier

he's very successful subcontractor does

very well for himself found his Niche

and knocks it out of the park and those

are the types of caliber people you'll

get to know when you get to conference

so you know today was is really a little

bit of a shorter version I just wanted

to kind of show people uh what what uh

CFI and FC have put on um would you be

able to like just kind of give us a 360

of the atmosphere there I know it's died

down because there's a lot of board

movings but yeah so things have

definitely quieted down uh if you go up

those stairs and go to the left that's

where all the training sessions are

whole bunch of signage there at the top

of those stairs and then you know over

here you can see all the uh uh seminars

and workshops that are happening over

the next couple of days people are still

getting registered and getting all their

cool swag over at the registration desk

uh you know this is a big place I think

there's what something like eight or 9

rooms here probably and uh so 360 people

doesn't fill it up but we're sure

filling up this part of it and it's just

a little bit quieter right now because

of because of all the meetings that are

going on any uh any seminars or uh

breakout sessions or anything that come

to mind that you're kind of excited

about have you had a chance to uh look

at any of

the well you know for me uh the training

or the uh the networking sessions always

uh uh probably top of mind but you know

tomorrow for example people are going to

be uh uh learning how to install modular

products uh there's also a contract

session to uh that's one of the things

you taught me Paul that you know all

contracts are not created equal and

having an understanding of the contract

between the installer and the uh the

flooring contractor between the foreign

contractor and the GC really does make

uh understanding that and be being able

to negotiate those things effectively

changes your whole company and so

there's a seminar on that on that is

Jeff doing that

one uh yeah

so Sloan Bailey is doing it yeah okay

awesome and I met him last year and he's

clearly an expert on the subject no

question

about yeah that's another great thing

you guys get when you go to to

conferences these are trainings put on

by worldclass people that you get to

benefit whether it's contract reading

hand skills there I know there's a

various uh number of manufacturer uh

product demonstrations and and all of

this going on yeah I was just getting

ready to talk about product

demonstrations you know uh uh that's the

other element of the of the trade show

both inside the trade show and I think

in some other rooms as well but focus on

inside the trade show there's going to

be product demos going on pretty much

the whole time so you know these things

do not stay the same you know even in my

you know 12 year uh history in flooring

products have changed dramatically even

in that small amount of time and and uh

coming to these conferences really gets

you ahead of the game these

opportunities to use these new products

and to use them effectively uh uh and to

use them uh to make money well like one

like Daniel just uh chimed in probably

from the job side at the moment but uh

you know he said lots to learn and

certainly is uh and the cool thing

is that's that those are often the

Stepping Stones to take you to the next

level where you're want to be um whether

it's product knowledge or learn how to

read a contract that's one of the things

that I talk to to guys who want to get

out on their own is that you're now

falling under the flooring company's

contract that you are uh doing so when

you if you go do a project for a

flooring contract

it behooves you to ask them about the

contract and are the terms and

conditions that you as the installer are

going to fall under so uh all that kind

of stuff is just knowledge that that

invaluable and you get it for free and a

lot of these people if you were to sit

across a desk from them would charge you

$350 an hour to tell you this that's the

thing right I mean uh uh one of the ways

to really leverage your uh uh your your

training dollars or your own development

dollars is a come to conferences like

this because uh like you just said I

mean you get access to these industry

leaders and very experienced people and

you can pick their brain for free uh

instead of paying a big dollar amount uh

hourly so it's a huge way to to get the

most out of your uh uh your development

budget I think uh Additionally you know

there's uh uh estimating uh Kathy case

is uh going to be uh here on Thursday

and she'll be talking about estimating

and uh she's Cly an industry leader

there uh blueprint blueprint reading

another uh also Kathy with some Partners

so there are hand skills seminars and

training and there are also you know

estimating and administrative and office

skill uh kind of training so here uh

because of this partnership you really

you really kind of get it all yeah

that's pretty

awesome and you you were there early

enough did uh you kind of touched on it

there for a minute but you were there

probably early enough to kind of get a a

feel for the energy in the building does

it feel like uh like you said

everybody's excited for for this year's

uh

convention yeah people are people are

happy and uh uh you know I really like

to see like Jorge I I saw it on Facebook

where he was getting some pool time

yesterday and you know there is nothing

wrong with that I I think that uh who

knows who who he might have met at the

pool uh that helps him career-wise and

on top of that it gives you a chance to

to kind of slow things down a little bit

the energy is good I think people are

here to uh both to learn and to have a

good time so uh I I think it's going to

be a great few days uh with uh have a

good time part you know I'm certainly

old enough and probably a lot of our

listeners are old enough to remember

cheers and so uh uh the Thursday night

uh uh celebration dinner the whole theme

is cheers and sports bars be a whole

bunch of different you know kind of

games that you find at sports bars

people are going to be playing that and

uh and and get some cheers themed stuff

going along with it that's

cool all right well guys getting out to

uh the convention this one in particular

is very installer focused and so for the

installers that watch us on a week uh

week in and week out basis the the

getting out there is it's fun I I'd love

to meet people I'll probably go live a

few times while I'm there uh on the

huddles uh Facebook page as well as go

career's Facebook page and kind of show

you guys some stuff that's going on out

there live uh hopefully bring some of

the convention to your uh to your

fingertips and uh give you a little bit

of the experience and of course I'd love

to meet you in person so with that we're

going to cut this we're going to cut

this uh a little uh shorter than normal

and uh come out and see Ben and I at the

convention and at the trade show uh

we're going to you

know Daniel says

uh hi to everybody and he's sorry that

they are GNA Miss uh I think they're

sorry they're missing uh maybe the

Huddle as well as the convention or one

or the other to be fair these events are

really not quite the same when Daniel

and Jose are not here with with uh you

know lit up backpacks and everything

else that that they table so that will

be something we'll all Miss for sure but

uh yeah we're definitely going to miss

you

guys well hey man thank you everybody

for joining us and uh thank you to all

of our sponsors we didn't have a

sponsorship video this week but just a

special Cloud shout out to floor cloud

and wanted to

um Paul and Kevin holding down the fort

yes we will and we are still going to

miss you guys hope that uh maybe you

maybe you can jump on a few of the lives

and and uh uh get a feel that being said

everybody have a great week we'll catch

you guys next week we're committed to uh

being here bringing you uh industry news

with the blue collar Cruise uh bringing

you uh on location uh when we're at

convention and then our weekly topics

mentioning topics if you're catching us

on Facebook or Instagram or uh uh

YouTube leave us a comment about any uh

topics that you'd like for us to dive

into get deep on uh do research on we

have a a good research team that can

really find some uh you know answers to

our questions and with that being said

we'll catch you guys next week and Ben

I'll see you tomorrow around noon sir

safe travels all right thank you

The Huddle - Episode 117 - The Huddle En Español

En nuestra nueva serie "The Huddle En Español" estamos emocionados de presentar nuestros episodios en español. Esta serie está diseñada para involucrar de manera más completa a nuestra audiencia de habla hispana, permitiendo a los oyentes explorar temas relacionados con la industria del piso, consejos profesionales, y mucho más, todo en español. Sintonízanos para disfrutar del mismo excelente contenido, ahora accesible a una comunidad más amplia. Únete a nosotros mientras expandimos nuestras discusiones e ideas en el vibrante mundo de los pisos, ofreciendo una plataforma inclusiva para que todos nuestros oyentes aprendan y participen.

The Huddle fue creado por Paul Stuart de Stuart & Associates y Go Carrera, junto con José y Daniel González de Preferred Flooring. Su objetivo es ayudarte a mantener un progreso constante en tu carrera en la industria del piso, abarcando temas que van desde el crecimiento personal y empresarial hasta consejos y trucos de instalación y todo lo demás.

¿Quieres ser invitado en The Huddle? ¡Envía un correo electrónico a thehuddleforwardprogress@gmail.com hoy mismo!

Crea tu perfil de instalador GRATIS en https://gocarrera.com y sé parte del futuro de la industria HOY!
¡CAPACÍTATE! Encuentra una lista de fechas de capacitación aquí: https://gocarrera.com/resources/training/
https://www.preferredflooringmi.com
https://www.stuartandassociates.com
Podcasts
Apple
https://podcasts.apple.com/.../the-huddle/id1650798957
Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/show/4M9FzJdfB1WCVfv5A3H1sU
YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/@thehuddleforwardprogress
https://www.youtube.com/preferredflooringmi

Buenas tardes damas y caballeros Yo soy Jorge orta y gracias por sintonizarse a

the hle en español somos un libro semanal donde no solo formulamos

estrategias sobre Cómo jugar el juego sino que también lo cambiamos desde

dominar los fundamentos del oficio hasta distinguirnos en el mercado estamos aquí para darle una voz al instalador y

asegurarle de que están equipados con todo lo que necesitan forjemos un nuevo

legado estamos aquí para ayudarles Bienvenidos a d hle Cómo están el día de

hoy Ah buenas tardes Mi nombre es Jesús aquí hablamos de Houston y todo bien Jorgito

Cómo está Efren Lamas tenemos al maestro efen Lamas aquí el día de hoy Efren Lamas Junior y a Jesús García y en un

poquito va a entrar José molar y Espero que estén teniendo unas buenas tardes el

día de hoy Claro claro que sí queremos comenzar que muy bien bien bien Efren

este queremos comenzar primero en cómo están Cómo están por allá y

este si todo está bien con ustedes Ah queremos comenzar en unas cuantas

preguntitas que tenemos el día de hoy en en tocante ao Cómo ustedes decidieron

estar en este oficio verdad porque es un oficio que nosotros hamos tomado en serio Y es de todos los

días y nos dedicamos a los pisos A diario solo que me gustaría hacer unas preguntas a usted Efren si me

permite claro la primer pregunta es Quién fue la influencia en su vida Ah

Quién hizo que usted decidiera que usted quería estar en este oficio

pues era negocio de nuestra familia mi mi papá mi tío Jorge ya sabes y y pues

trabajo de familia empecé joven y pues nos gustó Y el más grande A cuántos años

comenzó a cuántos años comenzó usted dicho que desde pequeño pero

empecé que como los 1 años juntando basura

igual que todos nosotros tú Jesús A qué edad comenzaste a los 12 viejo a los 12

también Sí parece que todos estamos igual a la misma edad

y cómo cómo es que usted decidió quedarse en este oficio qué es lo que le fascinó de este oficio que dijo sabes

que yo quiero hacer esto el resto de mi vida cualquiera de los dos Oh yo puedo

dejar Queen conteste primero para darle no pu pase

él no a mí me gustó desde pequeño porque me gustó la libertad y el tipo de

trabajo que siempre ha sido de ahí siempre me gustó pues y

mirando todo lo que andaba dejando

puesto tú jesusín cuando dijiste sabes qué yo quiero quedarme en este oficio no

quiero hacer lo que hacía A lo mejor en otros tiempos quiero quedarme aquí haciendo que es qué es lo que te que

fascinó a ti dedicarte a este oficio a mí me me gustó mucho me

impresionó mucho el tipo de herramienta que se usaba para hacer las carpetas y los pisos Nunca había mirado algo es muy

tú vas a otro trabajo y es puro martillo y martillos y desarmadores taladros Aquí

no aquí es diferente usamos mucha la herramienta diferente y pues la verdad

me me gustó lo Cómo ganaba el dinero más fácil también más rápido mucho más

rápido y y es lo que me gustó mucho la la herramienta y el tipo de trabajo que

era diferente es me gustó y pues por eso me quedé Pero hay otras más cosas que a

lo mejor yo cre que va a hacer más preguntas y vamos a ir contestando poco a poco ya es por la manera que me gustó

quedarme por eso poco Gan poco más rápido el dinero y la herramienta me gustó mucho la herramienta era muy muy

diferente yo nunca había visto algo me sorprendí ya Y luego que no te no te

asustó la la kica Ah no lo que me asustó es cargar los rollos para el quinto piso

bl down rollos de 50 pies Ah en ese tiempo no teníamos unos Y fíjate que

todo a través del tiempo cambié verdad porque ahora pues ya hace unos 10 años atrás ya encontraba los dois para para

los pasillos de de hoteles pues ya tienes el dolis es de dos llantas no más y Y antes no era tenid que cargarlo o

con el ese de cuatos no más abajo es muy difícil el tiempo va cambiando la

herramienta va evolucionando también y es muy importante que estemos este al

día verdad con eso porque así nos destruyes mucho tu cuerpo uno se daña bastante con eso si no tiene uno la

herramienta correcta sí se puede hacer muy buen dinero en este oficio

y cuándo se certificaron ustedes comenzando conen a qué edad decidió

dedicarse a ser un instalador certificado sera

1998 porque yo ya había tomado una clase de Armstrong vino y me gustó y Cuando

agarré la primera de cfi en 1998 miré todo lo que no sabía Y pues de

ahí me aprendió el foco quería saber más y mejorar mis propias mi talento y de

ahí siguiendo más para adelante hasta logar el de maestro y sabes cada clase

cada grupo más y más si hayo dicho que dice no sabes lo que no sabes verdad

Porque si uno no Se involucra en esto no vas a saber qué hay más adelante en este

oficio tú Jesús A qué edad decidiste dedicarte a hacer un certificado un

instalador certificado Ah lo voy a hacer un poquito corto pero es buena historia

una buena pregunta y es muy importante para los instaladores que a lo mejor nos van a ver en vivo y lo van a ver

Reproducir el video Ah es muy importante que si ellos ya saben ahorita que hay un

lugar donde pueden aprender más donde hay un lugar donde se pueden certificar y pueden crecer su sus esqu su su manera

de trabajar diferente mucho mejor y mejorarla es ahora el tiempo porque fíjate que yo ya sabía desde el 2000

cuando yo empecé 2001 2003 2004 yo ya sabía de cfi pero yo pensé que no era

importante para mí Dije No poda hacer lo que tengo que trabajar s kickar s streamear s hacer las posturas echar

glue se poner ship vin tengo que vin y nunca me interesó ir a a a certificarme

verdad por cfi entonces a través del tiempo me hizo llegar a cfi por los

errores del trabajo que yo hacía le estoy diciendo la verdad errores Porque si tú no sabes algo que no has mirado

antes cómo hacerlo un tipo de de piso o carpeta vas a cometer un error y yo los llegué a cometer entonces a través de

tiempo yo no sabía qui me podía enseñar mejor aquí nad nadie sabía Y yo miraba que ellos hacían lo mismo los mismos

errores so en el 2000 bueno 2009 2012 me

dijeron que fuera y cuando yo hice la reservación no fui lo cancelé n más y

hasta el 2019 apenas es cuando fui 2019

fui a a cfi y me certifié con cfi Y fíjate que desde el primer día que yo

llegué a cf y llegué a mi casa y el otro día llegué a la compañía a trabajar ya no era el mismo instalador ya miraba

cada detalle Ahora hasta des Entonces hasta ahora les les les hablo de el Dr

que quede limpio ahora ya te cambia mucho te cambia mucho y cuando llegué y

después me encontré con con este en y pues Y ahí ya llegó otro cambio muy muy

mucho más grande para mí y cambió mi vida de instalador de Cómo llegar a los trabajos Pues fíjate que tardó mucho

tiempo después de 20 años para llegar a certificarme 18 algo así te imaginas

Cuántos cuántos Cuántos años no hice errores sí Cuánto cuánto tiempo perdiste verdad en en no aprender más de lo que

deberías de haber aprendido Ah y no eran errores en veces son horrores verdad

dices ahy es un horror lo que dice pero Ah yo también Necesitaba alguien que que

me enseñara y en veces no es igual a ver las instrucciones en un en un libro verdad no es igual como yendo a las

clases aprendiendo de las personas yo sé que ahorita en el momento Efren está con

un capítulo en California chapter California chapter y dime Efren qué es

lo que ustedes hacen en el chapter Cómo es que enseñan la educación que se

intitula en en es chapter en ese capítulo lo que andamos tratando de

hacer es introducir nuestro programa de parte de c

damos se cortó la línea un poquito

Efren Ah ahorita vamos a ver sien se sale

de de esa de ese congelamiento

pero vamos a

ver Bueno estamos tú y yo Jesús Bueno yo también este

nfic cfi muy importante para mí aquí estamos

otra vez gracias por estar otra vez con nosotros bueno Vamos a continuar el chapter el capítulo

nos tratamos de juntar una vez al mes siempre cambiamos la tema y son de de

dos a 4 horas Dependiendo los instaladores Cómo ponen ellos su parte también porque yo puedo hacer

demostraciones Y tratar de llamar atención Pero si ellos no ponen nada no ganan nada eso y es gratis también para

enseñarles lo que no saben o lo que haya falta ya sabes porque todos sabemos algo y como dijo los errores que hos hecho y

de ahí oj miren Okay okay Ahora sí entiendo a lo que vamos y ojalá de ahí

quieran seguir para adelante you No ya yo yo vi que estabas enseñando técnicas

de cómo hacer pegasones verdad Sims en las alfombras

Ah también como coser a mano Ah Solo que

miro que estás dando muy buena información y si uno no toma ventaja de esa información que es gratis digo yo

tengo que pagar cuando voy a las clases yo soy esa persona que no tengo a nadie alrededor como usted de maestro aquí en

esta área yo tengo que viajar super lejos para tratar de agarrar la misma

información que usted está dando gratis se imagina digo si está ahí enfrente de

usted la información no sé como personas no toman ventaja de esa educación

verdad Ah Me gustaría que aquí hubiera algo así también

dependiendo en su lugar pero no no hay nada así porque hay varios lugares sigue

Perdón enfes lugares sí hay

chapters sí no más que ahorita hay uno en California hay uno Wisconsin está el

del marva y más y más están haciendo capítulos en Colorado están haciendo uno

se ha que tiene uno allá con r Bush Ah en Kentucky so poquito a poquito la

educación se está esparciendo verdad se está comenzando a levantar capítulos para que la industria de de pisos pueda

comenzar a avanzar porque estamos teniendo muchos reclamos a diario hay reclamos en cosas que no están haciendo

los instaladores no están algo tan simple como poniéndole SIM sealer muy

importante verdad Ah es son cosas

que exactamente qué clase de SIM sealer se puede usar En qué clases de alfombras

verdad porque todas son diferentes en veces unas requieren algo diferente dependiendo en el en el s tap que uno va

a usar pero son cosas muy importantes

digo sí sí por supuesto solo

que enseñarles las diferentes razones por qué Sí y Qué adv ventaja hay de ser un

Qué es la ventaja vamos a suponer ser un instalador que está certificado en comparación a uno que no está

certificado qué dirías porque hay una diferencia en enseñarles los individuos

los instaladores cómo hacerlo pero no se han certificado verdad qué tan importante es la certificación de

cfi Don para m siempre ha sido porque yo yo puedo traigo Cómo poder verificar que

yo soy más que no más un instalador cualquiera yo soy uno que está professionally train esty entrenado

profesionalmente que tomé el tiempo para educarme bien cómo es mi trabajo Sí en veces también tiene uno

más credibilidad verdad Porque tienes esa certificación esa numeración la persona ha ido a las

clases para entrenar y ahora tiene alguna credibilidad y y lo digo por experiencia porque tuve un reclamo el

otro día en una carpet una una una alfombra y algo tan simple como Cómo saber medir

el el arco de para mí er un arco tenía un arco la yo le digo carpeta porque soy

Tex Max verdad no se dice carpeta es alfombra pero como soy texmex yo le digo carpeta Pero tenía tenía un arco tenía

un arco y y es algo tan simple en saber Cómo medir ese arco verdad qué tanto es

la tolerancia que le dan en pulgadas para poder decir sabes qué no la debo de

instalar esta alfombra verdad debo de primero hablar y ver si la tengo que

regresar si está bien con los retratos que voy a mandarles para que digan Okay

sigue te mandamos otro pedazo Yo pienso que hay una credibilidad muy grande cuando uno sabe de esas instrucciones

porque las instrucciones están ahí con los fabricantes los fabricantes van a decir Hey esto es la tolerancia que

tiene un skw un arco un bow Ah tress Edge Ah Ed tress hay muchas diferentes

cosas que pueden pasar verdad cuando llega el material y uno tiene que chequear esos esas cosas antes de

antemano cu uno desarrolla el el rol verdad Ay en veces miras algo y dices

Wow tengo que parar aquí y en veces está todo bien y en veces tiene que saber uno

Puedo trabajar con el producto bien Solo que yo pienso que es algo para para mí especialmente es algo importante

verdad sí este no y es lo bueno Esto de parte

de cfi que les enseñamos a todos los muchachos cómo protegerse contra cosas así que no más en veces uno de

instalador n más lo pone lo que caiga y no así podemos saber las tolerancias Y

qué se puede trabajar para que no nos toquen los reclamos Sí a mí me tocó uno el otro día

como les estaba diciendo y y hice todo lo que me dijeron y al final mandamos

los resultados como quiera mandaron un inspector para que chequeara para que se fijara en mi en mi trabajo ya cuando

vino el inspector dijo Bueno sabes que si está si está mal vamos a volver a mandar algo lo que yo sentí un alivio

verdad porque Wow el cliente va no quiero que el cliente tenga un producto mal quiero que tengan un un trabajo

satisfactorio y después digan sabes qué esa compañía hizo algo para darme algo

de nuevo ya estoy satisfecho verdad puedo dormir bien yo también y el cliente Ah pero son n más cositas muy pequeñas

que uno nota cuando es certificado antes cuando yo no estaba certificado pues uno

en veces uno dice sabes queé no me importa Especialmente cuando estás joven dices Ay Entras y sales voy a hacer este

trabajo de volada y voy a entrar y salir voy a hacer mi dinero pero ya cuando uno

tiene esa certificación Yo pienso que e yo pagué Dinero por esta certificación

no quiero que me vayan a llamar la atención y hablarle a ya Dave Garden o algo para que me manden la atención y

digan Hey no están haciendo el trabajo bien como debe de ser you no so uno

tiene que tomar responsabilidad en veces por estas cosas y es lo que estas certificaciones en veces hacen a uno que

sea un poquito más responsable verdad porque hay diferentes niveles de las

certificaciones Oh ahora ahora yo estoy un poquito celoso de que

están en California teniendo estas capítulos y miro los retratos de cuando

están allá Y usted está enseñando y me gustaría estar ahí con usted porque usted es un maestro y sabe Mucho más que

nosotros nosotros todavía estamos aprendiendo yo José Jesús todos estamos

aprendiendo y queremos estar en ese en ese nivel y como quiera Aún estando en ese nivel todavía hay mucho más que

aprender porque siempre va a haber productos nuevos que van a salir Ya solo que yo sé que

Ah este Jesús en particular está haciendo muy bien porque últimamente Jesús fue a

el la competición a la competición regional en Chicago Ah para ser parte de

la competición de ta qué tan difícil fue para ti Jesús esa Esa esa Cómo se llama

esa es esa competencia hiciste fue difícil o no fue difícil tenías nervios

Cómo te sentías no no Sí pues estaba un poco nervioso especialmente tenía al

famoso ahí conmigo Yo lo conocí Wisconsin un

certificado que hicimos grande con tj ahí lo conocí a él y cuando lo miré que

pensé que iba a competir dije no pues é va a ganar pens que iba a ganar viejo es buen buen instructor sabe cer

mucho Bueno este mejor pero no sí estaba un poco nervioso estaba nervioso ya

había pasado la primera ahí en en ras Last year y quedé como en segundo lugar

y esta vez fui pero después me calmé después se acercó un instructor de ahí

de los que estaban ese día y me vino y me dijo se acercó y se incó y me dijo e

estás Estás muy calmado Estás demasiado calmado estás muy relajado dijo Yo

estaba yo estaba confidente en mí mismo de todo lo que he aprendido en cfi y

nfic lo tuve que poner a prueba ahí y en t voy a poner mucho más a prueba eso y

ahí vamos a ver si me está sirviendo los certificados o lo estoy poniendo a prueba o no más Fu sacar certificados

más porque los quería tener Sí pues el nfic el nfic no es nada simple digo

cuando uno toma la clase de nfic Wow es difícil y todas las pruebas que están

poniendo en frente de ti las tienes que hacer rápido y ya debes de saber cómo hacer estas cosas verdad no es nada

fácil yo sé porque yo tomé la clase y estaba super nervioso las personas que estaban ahí estaba Ah Kevin de Roberts

estaba nate estaban estaba cómo se llama este Jonathan

Ah había muchas personas ahí que estaban instruyendo rollen estaba ahí Solo que

muchas cabezas de instrucción que estaban ahí para enseñarnos y yo me puse super

nervioso Pero al final del día estuve confidente y pasó el tiempo pasaron los

tres días y agarré mi certificación pasé con un 100 En mi en mi en mi examen

escrito y luego ya en en manos también pasé muy bien casi nadie pasa con un 100

pero digo me puse a estudiar por meses y día tras día estaba estudiando porque yo

no quería fallar en frente de estas de estas personas dije no quiero ser el más tonto ahí verdad solo que es muy serio

la clase también pues cuesta dinero y no quieres ir a fallar quieres quieres

pasar Dj muy buen instructor también PJ ar déjame decir esto una cosita hace dos

semanas dos semanas o tres creo que hiz un un saizo verdad era un cuarto de 18 por 20 y la cost era de 18 y no lo van a

querer Pero si yo lo si yo no hubiera tomado ese certificado hace tiempo hace los años atrás Ah yo creo que lo huía

seguido trabajando como antes no más r caren el SIM se iba a abrir y ahora yo

en los isos yo les digo a los clientes de hacer un s tal vez no te haga un un s bonito pero va a estar strong va a estar

fuerte que no se va a abrir Es lo que te voy a garantizar y y ya los manufactor ya saben se los clientes ya saben que se

va a ver un poco la línea pero no se va a abrir no lo vas a creer eso 17 pies me

tardé de 7 de la mañana a 7 de la noche para terminar ese cuarto Wow sí y en

veces tienes que tomar tu tiempo no puedes no puedes irte rápido en esos trabajos porque una cosita que salga mal

y tienes que comenzar otra vez de nuevo y en veces es mucho tiempo preparar un SIM otra vez de nuevo especialmente de

algo que es regular una una alfombra standard action y tienes wiltons tienes

AX miners esas son diferentes Qué es la diferencia entre las dos ustedes enseñan

la diferencia entre las dos en el capítulo cuando están allá en el en California

chapter les trato de enseñar Cómo identificar las diferentes alfombras Cómo trabajarlas diferentes para que

entiendan Porque muchos también dicen pu a los burb solamente se le echan s sealer a

regular esas no y les trato de enseñar Por qué dicen lasers deand que esto que

lo otro Porque no sell ases también como los isos también como trabajarlas a

minster esas se desfilan no más se estiran para un lado Les explico a los muchachos you know porque me han dicho e

donf por qué esta no más se estira para un lado eso debes de saber en cuanto está en tu

troca Open del plástico ya sabes cómo te vaar tu día Muchos tratan todas las

alfombras iguales y es es el problema much las

tratan igual sí Lo principal es viendo el

material Si vas a saber lo que vas a instalar y tienes las especificaciones

del material de la alfombra todos los fabricantes vas a su página te van a decir eh Si es como se instala esta

alfombra verdad van a tener especificaciones directamente en ese material en particular yo sé porque los

wilon Ay n más le cortas algo le cortas uno de los hilitos blancos verdad el

Chain Stitch ahí se lo cortas y ya valió verdad y y no la puedes en veces no más

correr un no puedes correr tu Patito aquí el pato no no en veces tienes que

cortarlo a pura pura tijerazos verdad o en veces no puedes correr el Nosotros le

hicimos el pato aquí pero hay la raza mexicana verdad le Pon sobrenombres a

todo y e tráeme el pato y que tráeme el tráeme esto y este es el pato el Row Row

Rut pero pero digo algo tan simple como teniendo diferentes diferentes cosas en

Cómo abrir ahí verdad uno tiene que tener todos los los la herramienta

específica para trabajar diferentes alfombras Ah porque no son fáciles una

son muy difíciles Perdón no lo

oí y no n más con las diferentes herramientas sino también como decía

diferentes carpet backings có saber identificar las alfombras también eso ayuda mucho a identificar cuál s vas a

usar porque hay que dijéramos un k50 y puede ser mucho pegamento para una

regular que va a ser más profile que no es necesario tanto

pegamento muchos muchachos me han dicho en esta alfombra siempre s mucha la

burbuja y no Simplemente en las barbers muchos piensan porque tienen el el el

Loop verdad que esas son las únicas que se tienen que sellar pero también las Cut piles

freses todas las diferentes alfombras Todas se les va a caer el pelito ya cuando le dan con la vacum por arriba

qué va a pasar Se va se va se van a venir pelitos como quiera y con el tiempo van a ir corriendo tienen hilitos

también igual que las otras Solo que algo que sí sé es de que la mayoría

casi el 100% de todas las alfombras se tienen que exiliar algo muy importante

verdad Y ahora no sé si ustedes van a ir a ti este año pero yo sé que yo voy a

estar ahí con Jesús porque él va a estar compitiendo no sé si van va a participar

usted Yo sé que está más cerquitas que Florida verdad en el cfi convención que

vamos a tener pero van a estar en en t también tayor verdad usted está con

tayor bueno perfecto ya vamos a ir a echarle porras al Jesús allá verlo y y

ver cómo va Ojalá que gane Jesús y hay que apoyarlo pero la semana que viene no

sé si van a estar en la convención de cfi muy bonito lugar rosen

cre res que en Orlando edes van acipar que Jesús va a ir no no

sé si usted va a participar en eso

también el domingo estar ahí Okay perfecto y qué diría Qué es lo

más instruccional para usted o qué son los beneficios de ir al cfi Convention

qué diría usted e que sería algo beneficial para una persona que no ha atendido

esa convención qué diría usted que es lo más mejor y por qué deberíamos

participar en esa en esa convención una que me gusta de eso es de

networking conocer todos porque es como familia número dos que siempre me ha

gustado todos los grupos que están ahí a L

education todo está Gear para pura educación cuando vas ahí no no más vamos

a ir a una convención No traes para escoger dónde te quieres ir a tomar unas clases todo eso es parte de eso y te

conectas con todos tus amigos de vuelta es es a family gaing En mi opinión y

educación al mismo tiempo Sí por supuesto yo la primera vez

que fui no conocía a nadie Ahí Ah Le hablé a varias personas en el

internet porque era un poquito después del covid verdad solo que tenía mucho

muchas cosas que yo quería aprender y comencé a mandarle mensajes a personas a Chris samam dije e te voy a ver ahí me

gustaría conocerte Yo sé que has ganado la competencia de T varias veces y

personas así verdad yo Brian roli y todas las personas que yo conozco dije

sabes qué los quiero conocer ahí y fue una experiencia muy bonita Porque con

brazos abiertos todos te aceptan si es como una hermand Yo pienso que es super interesante Ah

las redes que uno hace ahí networking verdad las redes son muy importantes

desde que yo fui a la convención ha conocido personas que saben mucho más que yo y me han me han levantado en mi

en mi vida personal en mi negocio en mi oficio Solo que para mí es algo muy

bonito Ah yo sé que ahí conocí a Jesús también y a José

nos conocimos Nosotros somos nos hicimos Los tres amigos porque somos los aparte de ustedes no conozco a otros hispanos

que van ahí somos los únicos de habla español Ah pero yo sé que cuando vamos tenemos un buen tiempo y no nos vemos A

lo menos que sea en video o pero yo sé que me gusta verlos a ustedes y

participar en todas las clases de Educación que tiene la convención muy bonito que

es sé que va a haber unas personas va ha personas este año que me gustaría

aprender de lo que van a tener que decir de los productos Solo que yo voy a atender la otra semana también vamos a

estar ahí espero verlos la otra semana y y sé que va a ser algo muy bonito verdad

especialmente la comida tiene muy buena comida y también me gusta la comida del Hotel Ah pero no es muy bonito el el

lugar tú Jesús qué piensas Cómo cómo te sientes tú cuando vas a la convención de

C no este la les voy a contar poquito rápido estamos cortos en tiempo pero la

primera vez que yo fui desde que llegué a cfi a certificarme yo llegué solo yo

fui solo nadie me dijo yo quería porque ya tenía errores con ciertas carpetas no todas pero con ciertas carpetas ciertas

cosas tuve que llegar así falla fuerza forzado por mí mismo porque yo quería superarme ya cuando llego a a

certificarme me encuentro a Jonathan y Way dos loquillos como yo igual so me

invitan a a la convención dice e el next va a serc una convención también dije Oh

está bien pues páseme la información y llegué solo viejo y cuando llegué por primera vez fue fue

una impresión para mí Ver todos que había pocos de manufacturers y los los de las herramientas y conocer gente

nueva y ver instaladores y estaban dando las clases la educación que estaba hablando de fren me quedé sorprendido dije de aquí

soy de aquí no me voy a mover y aquí voy a estar y gracias a Dios aquí sigo y vamos a seguir para adelante dio no

vamos a parar esto es mi mi mundo Pues de alfombras y pisos y aquí estamos de

eso vivo tengo que seguir algo mejor para que yo pueda seguir viviendo también mejor y pues es muy muy muy

grato estar ahí en cfi es esas convenciones es muy importante yo he hablado con mucha gente aquí de la

hispana pero ya sabe cómo somos los mexicanos y orgullosos o los latinos y

son cabezones no entienden ellos ya saben ellos ya saben todo no quieren saber nada más y les voy a contar esto

un poquito rápido Apenas acabo de llegar de la regional verdad gané y me vieron y esta compañía me llamó yo trabajaba para

ellos antes pero me llamaron porque gané y ahora fui darles instrucciones a 15

instaladores pero tienen muchos más y les fui a dar una poquita demostración no caban las carpetas no usan el power

stretcher te imaginas Cuántos errores no están haciendo ahora me quieren me quieren me quieren compartir las otras

tiendas que tienen Austin Dallas Luciana y no más aquí round pero dicen que me quieren sacar para afuera también so y

ojalá si ganamos el el el size lo vamos a traer para Texas y vamos a hacer un

chapter en abril eso es mi mi mi goal que quiero hacer pero vamos a hacer grande viejos ojalá primero Dios primero

Dios y mucha suerte en eso así para que pues si ganas Pues nos sacas a una cita

allá Claro pero siendo ceric siendo

certificado uno no quiere decir que lo sabe todo verdad yo también hago errores yo hago errores al diario y lo que sí s

cuando soy certificado es más fácil para para mí poder hablarle a Efren poder

hablarle a nate poder hablarle a Dave a cualquier persona que sea certificado que sepa más de que lo que yo sé y me

puede dar instrucción verdad está la está ahí cuando uno es certificado

cuando Se involucra en en en en todo lo que se ofrece por medio de estas

organizaciones es sé que cuando estás certificado puedes hacer errores como

quiera verdad pero la cosa es que tenemos a personas que nos respaldan

siempre y podemos hacerles preguntas y lo que sé es que yo cuando tengo

preguntas nunca me dicen he no te puedo contestar Ahorita no no ellos me van a

decir he sabes qué Dame una chancita déjame agarro la información así para poder este darte la información adecuada

o en veces algo tan simple como yo sé que veces le hablo a Chris sesam y me le

digo e esto y esto pasó y me dice Has leído las instrucciones del fabricante Ah sabes queé no la leí déjame voy al

leado de volar algo tan simple y luego ahí uno mismo se contesta la pregunta que tiene Solo que cuando uno no Busca

la información está mer enfrente de ti este solo que yo sé que la organización

ha sido muy buena Ah no tengo nada mal que decir porque todas las cosas que han

pasado en mi vida personal han sido cosas buenas Me me ha elevado a estar en

otro lugar también déjame decirte algo Jorgito lo que estaba diciendo de los de los errores que Ah cuando yo llego al

certificado de cfi nfic como les dije desde el primer día al otro día que llegué a trabajar yo ya no he tenido

errores ya no se han hecho errores porque ahora ya sabes que Dn las respuestas nuestros amigos ahí está e

cuando le he llamado cuando he hecho el hotel aquí el Mario esta muy grande y era trabajo muy importante lo mandamos a

traer por el glue a a lo mandamos a traer por las máquinas la herramienta que yo no tenía a Chris lo mandé a traer

porque era un máster y yo no soy un máster ya no puedes como les digo ya cuando llega su certificarte tú ya no

puedes hacer errores ya no los puedes cometer como antes ahora ya estás trabajando tú y los certificados so

Tienes toda la herramienta ahora y no puede haber errores ya cuando tú llegas a certificarte ya si lo llegas ha un

error pues yo creo que pues ya sería un problema de uno ver pero te imaginas si yo no hubiera llamado en ese hotel a

a por el club el técnico yo creo que no hubiera hecho el trabajo correcto si son

tres maestros son tres maestros los que tienes ahí porque tienen mucha sabiduría

yo tenía Yo tenía 10 trabajadores ahí conmigo pero ni uno está certificado todos tienen 30 años de instalar carpeta

arriba de 20 todos se quedaban sorprendidos cuando miraron a ch trabajando cuando me miraron trabajando a mí cuando llegó Efren con Tony llegó

Tony también te acuerdas Efren Ah con las las máquinas grandes de Los Broncos

teníamos tres máquinas Broncos ahí te imaginas y y los chavos que yo traía que

según tienen años trabajando quedaron sorprendidos pero no más no quieren invertir en su educación es lo único que

no quieren y es bien duro obligarlos también si no quieren pues pero la información Ya se las he pasado a

bastantes instaladores muchos aquí más de 5000 y ya como unos que yo creo que

unos 2000 ya ya hablé con ellos y compañías también pero ellos los quieren

tener abajo yo mi mensaje es para ellos también como les dije en saes el año pasado es un mensaje para los

contratistas compañías vendedores lo que sea dejen certificar instalador

vamos a robar lo que queremos que ellos se se certifiquen para que sean mejores y les funcione más en sus compañías

nosotros no los necesitamos y nosotros necesitamos que ellos aprendan mucho más lo que nosotros lo que yo aprendí y lo

que sigo aprendiendo porque como decía Jorge seguimos aprendiendo Ah están los de 40 años 50 años que dicen siguen

aprendiendo pero de nosotros y nosotros seguimos aprendiendo de ellos también ya s una cosa también es uno lo

puede uno lo puede verdad en el en el jale verdad Pero es en veces cómo lo

vo a arreglar porque alguien en veces tienen que traer a alguien de otro lugar y decir sabes queé si tú no lo puedes hacer muévete un lado Déjame lo arreglo

y en veces se tiene que quitar todo el material verdad Pero en veces no es cómo

hacerlo pero en veces también cómo arreglarlo cuando uno falla verdad y tiene arreglo o no tiene arreglo y luego

la inversión también hablando de la inversión en uno en estas clases uno invierte Y aunque vayas irte

una semana verdad vas a perder una semana de trabajo vas a tener que pagar hotel vas a tener que pagar la clase

carro ira avión donde vas a ir pero la cosa es que eso después se te regresa te

regresa otra vez 10 veces porque sabes que después no te van a quitar el retainer hay muchas personas que tienen

retainers en las compañías verdad y te quitan un porcentaje y ya cuando y Y aunque sean porcentajes bien chicos como

quiera si te quita en los 2000 3000 que tienes ahí 5000 y estás en cero otra vez

tienes que volver a sacar de tu cheque cada semana o cada dos semanas y te van

a sacar un porcentaje y volver a rellenarlo y en veces lo vuelves a a bajar hasta abajo pero si uno después

aprende menos errores menos reclamos y no puede seguir adelante no quemar tus

puentes porque una cosa es Sigues en el mismo lugar quemando tu puente Endo mal trabajo qué va a pasar ya no te van a

dar trabajo le van a dar trabajo a alguien más verdad van a decir esta persona no porque ya no no sabe este

material es un problema que tuve aquí últimamente esta semana me hablaron para volver a arreglar unas escaleras unos

staircase runners y la persona que los hizo n más fue no le metió

t una tecla no le metió nada No más pum pum pum con las con la kicker y meterle

stap de volada pues tenía líneas y se miraba así el material chue y me hablan es un material caro

verdad un pedazo de stant y es una pieza como de unos 1500

2000 no más no más la alfombra yo miro los retratos voy

directamente le digo Hey lo voy a quitar es una flatweave se va a destruir el material se va a

romper todo porque ya cuando le metieron grampas pues ya no puedo quitar el

material y volverlo a poner igual ual se va a tener que comprar otro pedazo y esta persona hizo dos escaleras así las

hizo rápido entrar y salir Yo entiendo que quieres hacer dinero rápido pero también tienes que tener una tener un

producto bien sí solo que ahora tengo que ir arreglarlo verdad vamos a tener

que quitar la la escalera otra vez de nuevo la alfombra y volver a hacer el surging de nuevo y volver a ponerlo

ahora eso le costó a alguien le costó a la compañía que me está contratando y le

va a costar a la persona también porque uno no sabe si tienen el retainer o no y

Alguien tiene que pagar verdad al final del día porque yo no trabajo gratis tampoco Solo que verdad es es Es muy

importante esta educación Ah vamos a

ver Tienen alguna preguntas en tocante a lo que hemos hablado el día de hoy Yo sé

que tenemos a una buena audiencia el día de hoy ellos son the hle Ah todos

nosotros nos juntamos nos unimos tenemos a muchas personas Ah yo sé que Danny Ah

nos dijo Hola Kevin tenemos a José dan dan Churchill Daniel les quiero

decir hola y muchas gracias por estar aquí el día de hoy con con

nosotros verdad porque ustedes son los que nos elevan también nos dan mucha información

Ah usted Don Efren qué piensa de todo lo que hemos hablado el día de

hoy no me ha gustado la tema eh tratando de avisarles a todos el beneficio de

agarrar un certificado para la educación que está disponible para que se puedan levantar mira como dijo Jesús mismo ya

antes como como sal los trabajos ahas educándose enseñándose diferentes cosas

Cómo se ha podido mejorar su trabajo así como tú también Jorge te has puedo enseñar la familia que ha tenido con

cuando ha hecho sus trabajos conociendo a dwayne conociendo a diferentes personas que les puedan ayudar a sacar

estos trabajos grandes al Chris s que le apoyó bastante en el hotel ya sabes

somos una familia grande que podemos seguir para adelante

sí los mejores instaladores de la nación están ahí la semana que viene en la

convención de cfi en Orlando Yo sé que los vo a ver a todos Ah unos A lo mejor van a fallar pero yo sé que van a ir a

ti en Las Vegas el año que viene y este espero verlos a todos ustedes

Ah y y este una cosa muy bonita bueno

con eso vamos a concluir a lo menos que tengan algo más que decir el día de hoy no sé si

tienen alguna experiencia que gustarían platicarnos algo algo para

instrucción Jesús algo que nos quieras decir algo este A lo mejor ustedes ya no

les voy a decir nada pero este mensaje como siempre para para la gente hispana este americana mexicanos de donde sean

vengan y certif les va a cambiar su vida su no su vida de mejor rápido pero de que les va

a cambiar su vida de instalación al otro día van a ser totalmente diferentes van a ser mucho

mejor y créamelo cré yo se los garantizo que sí y y ojalá sigan este si llegan a

certificarse no no más se certifiquen que sigan adelante y y sigan apoyando a la convención que vamos a tener de cfi

que es mucho es muy importante que cada año los materiales como decía Jorge hace rato siguen saliendo nuevos no nos vamos

a quedar con lo mismo siguen saliendo nuevos Mater de piso carpetas y pues ese es el

mensaje que que traten de venir certificarse que no sean este cabezon esa raza es cabezon no entienden di que

ya saben todo pero no yo siempre les he dicho Mira si te ponemos un test Sí digo si te ponemos un test hacer lo que

aunque tú tengas 50 años 40 años haciendo carpeta te ponemos a hacer un test lo vas a hacer mal primeramente no

lo silean ya están descalificados ahí hay errores hay muchos errores Ese es el

es la invitación que se les hace nada más que vengan a certificarse Ahí está cfi o están otras compañías que están

certificando pueden ir a donde sea el problema es que se eduquen ese sería mi mensaje para ellos es mi mensaje para

ellos porque pues tampoco podemos tenerlos obligados a un lado verdad pero ahí está la la solución la tienen en sus

manos y este mensaje Yo creo que ojalá les llegue y ojalá los amigos todos lo compartan y y y les llegue este mensaje

a ellos especialmente a las compañías que no más quieren tener sus instaladores ahí encerrados dejenos que certifiquen déjenos denle chance les va

a beneficiar a ellos también no no más al instalador a la compañía donde trabajen les va a beneficiar

bastante sí menos pérdidas es menos pérdidas verdad y y yo sé es es Es

difícil porque mira corrí si estoy mal pero yo sé que centro Centroamérica

México Centroamérica Suramérica ahora pal el T muy bien pero yo no sé de un

fabricante de alfombras que esté sur de nosotros casi todas las alfombras se hacen de de T y standard action aquí en

los Estados Unidos en Georgia tenemos muchas fabricantes en California tenemos otros unos arriba para para New York

esas áreas de allá hay una una que hace witon no me recuerdo Cuál es ahorita en el momento pero en México y en otras

partes no se usa la la alfombra se usa más pisos

cerámica Salt Solo que es raro cuando miras un

instalador que viene de ella que ya tiene esa experiencia casi esa experiencia cuando uno viene a este país

igual que mi papá verdad mi papá llegó aquí trabajó en construcción un rato y

después alguien lo invitó a hacer alfombras y dijo sabes qué me gusta este oficio porque es adentro si llueve

trabajo como quiera no más con que un lugar donde cortar verdad y sé que no me

voy a ir para la casa y voy a hacer un chequecito solo que es muy diferente cuando uno está aquí llega aquí a este

país y comienza en alfombra verdad si vas a comenzar en alfombra la única

sugerencia que yo diría es educación igual como dijo Jesús verdad edúquese

hacer algo bien en veces hay personas que yo hablo con ellos y dicen no yo no

hago dinero en la alfombra no hay dinero en eso y yo diría y ha más dinero en la alfombra en veces

que en cualquier otro piso muchas personas se fueron obp obt y yo me

recuerdo hace unos 10 15 20 años cuando salió laminado y mucha gente dejó de

hacer las alfombras y se movieron a hacer esos clases de pisos y dijeron sabes qué pues me están pagando más por

hacer esto por el pie Pues sí pero también tienes que preparar el piso verdad tienes que estar seguro que de

que esté bien derechito bien flat para que no se haga para que no se vaya a quebrar las las

este las entradas verdad muchas cosas sí solo que mucha

gente yo me recuerdo instaladores se movieron a hacer eso solo que hubo menos y menos personas dedicándose a hacer

alfombras Ah pero yo yo diría lo contrario a mí y a mi papá por ejemplo

nos ha ido muy bien en alfombra porque cuando se salieron todas esas personas a hacer algo diferente nosotros dijimos

vamos a hacer este vamos a quedarnos en las alfombras porque es para mí es más

fácil la alfombra Ah yo sé que hay unos las personas les gustan AVP obt glue

down a unas personas le gustan comercial alfombra Ah yo no tengo las personas los

empleados para tener comercial como Jesús Ah porque no más somos dos Ah mi

mi papá y yo verdad Ah y mi papá ya es grande están tiene como 63 64 años y

pues ya ya está llegando a la etapa donde Todavía es muy fuerte pero está llegando al punto donde Ay no está Yo yo

me preocupo por él porque yo no quiero que cargue algo y se vaya De por sí que ya estamos con los dolores de la espalda

verdad no quiero que se vaya a quebrar el Solo que yo sé que es muy importante

de que de que uno haga el trabajo bien Ahora ahora no se nos no se nos hizo de

que estuviera José aquí el jí José molar es muy bueno para

elpt es un cerebro él yo le hago preguntas a él le hablo en veces le digo he sabes qué tengo una pregunta de esto

y él de volada me e lo tienes que hacer así así y asá Y lamentablemente no nos

pudo acompañar el día de hoy a lo mejor no tenía buena señal pero esa es otra

persona que yo miro también que es una un individuo joven que va a crecer a ser

alguien alguien muy importante en el futuro Ah otra cosa le quiero decir gracias

También a todas las todas las fabricantes las compañías que nos ayudan

que nos apoyan Roberts nos apoya siempre con la herramienta que uno necesita para

poder hacer las clases de Educación crin también nos ayuda especialmente ustedes allá en el

capítulo del capítulo de California Yo sé que cran está ahí con usted Efren ah

Solo que le quiero pedir Muchas gracias a a a todos ellos Taylor a

gunlock muchas compañías hasta las compañías de ardex shx uzen todos ellos

tienen clases algo que no hablamos también esas compañías tienen clases gratis uno no más te tiene que aplicar

para ir ellos te te enseñan Cómo hacer todo gratis porque ellos quieren que usen el producto de ellos también Ah yo

sé que ustedes han tenido esas clases Qué opinan de esas clases de de ardex

uzen shx No sé qué está en California Pero qué opinan de esas clases que nos

enseñan Ah esas clases gratis es parte de nuestras juntas

también que hemos hecho tenemos usin que viene nos hace las clases nos Explica

cómo usar los productos de ellos porque ellos no quieren fallar tampoco tomando las clases amos Cómo

mezclar todo bien y ellos también incluso siguen usando productos

mejor sí muy bonitos productos también muy buenos para trabajar ya cuando te enseñan a cómo hacerlo es fácil pero en

veces al principio uno se se asusta dice ay necesito esto necesito lo otro pero ya después haciéndolo bien queda bien el

el el trabajo y seguimos adelante al que sigue y el que sigue el que sigue después Ah sí solo que le quiero pedir

las gracias a los dos ustedes no sé si tienen algo más que gustarían decir ah pero si no vamos a concluir el día de

hoy el podcast de The hle y les quiero dar las gracias a los dos por estar aquí

conmigo el día de hoy no parece que es todoo Saludos saludos saludos saludos a

la audiencia ahí a todos c guys happ

Keep yes

We want to Thank you for Being here And I know I will see most of you guys next we at the Convention And I

hope safe and and Will to

andate thank much today Gracias y

jes for

The Huddle - Episode 116 - Blue Collar Cruise #3

In our engaging series "Blue Collar Cruise #3," we continue to sift through the internet and publications to spotlight and debate even more controversial topics that are crucial for the blue-collar community. This episode extends our commitment to bringing to light the challenging, often overlooked issues that touch on the everyday lives and work of blue-collar professionals. By discussing these pivotal subjects, we aim to inform, empower, and inspire our listeners to think critically and advocate for meaningful changes in the industry. Tune in to hear the discussions that everyone in the blue-collar sector needs to be part of.

The Huddle was created by Paul Stuart of Stuart & Associates and Go Carrera, alongside Jose and Daniel Gonzalez from Preferred Flooring. Aimed at helping you maintain forward progress in your flooring career, they cover topics from personal and business growth, to installation tips & tricks and everything in-between.

Want to be a guest on The Huddle? Email thehuddleforwardprogress@gmail.com today!

Create your FREE Installer profile at https://gocarrera.com and become part of the future of the industry TODAY!
GET TRAINED! Find a list of training dates here: https://gocarrera.com/resources/training/
https://www.preferredflooringmi.com
https://www.stuartandassociates.com

what's up team welcome to the Huddle welcome back welcome back good to

see everybody we are going to have a little shorter version today uh I've got a

board meeting that I got to get to in um at about four o'clock so about an

hour from now um I'm on the board of a children's home and once a month we have

board meeting so that's that we are doing our third edition of the bluecar

cruise I'm gonna ask the audience for a special favor please let us know if you enjoy

this this was a test it was kind of like figuring out if you guys want to hear

industry news as we dig him up uh we put a lot of effort into finding topics and

articles out there in the industry of construction that might be interesting

to everybody and um if you guys love it we'll keep doing it and if not we will

uh not keep doing it we'll figure it out yeah so um mainly

it takes a lot of effort to uh find interesting topics that are not just you

know run-of-the-mill stuff and digging through all the websites and the uh

intro webs to find stuff so if you guys like the blue collar Cruise please make

sure to comment in the chat that you do and uh that'll give us an indication on

on um you know whether we keep uh this effort rolling forward so Mr Jose

Gonzalez is with me today out of Grand Rapids Michigan with preferred

flooring as always uh either him or his brother or both of them are on here and

uh no worries because they fill in for me when I'm gone so uh and like next week I

won't be here you guys will be carrying the show no I'm going to sales training

with Milik and up in down in Georgia so awesome gotta gotta keep that education

going man see look at that sales training it is a sales training uh

awesome so yeah it's uh you know you want to keep on The Cutting Edge and the

front line of figureing out how to provide the best for your customers so that being

said we are going to be talking about several different topics today but uh a

few of them that are really they it's pretty cool it's it's

you know as I dig through all this stuff I always find like similarities and the problems out there and labor is always

an issue um so we're going to go over some stuff at the elevator World um and and

ex explore what they're doing in training um talk about wage theft on job

sites and a little bit of uh you know

flooring the future flooring focused uh items and this this actually comes I

believe from flooring Focus Magazine and then maybe if we can get to it I I

there's a really cool one uh where Ukraine is printing 3D

houses uh as they recover from the war efforts War efforts the tragedy I should

say of the war over there um I I don't care where you land on the political

front that thing shouldn't be happening uh nuclear bombs uh this is probably my

favorite one I hope we get to it but comes right on the back side of that Ukraine thing so it's kind of untimely

so I might skip one of these not to add a lot of bad juju to the conversation

but there are companies utilizing nuclear testing and working on uh

utilizing old nuclear weaponry as um excavation

tools that's so they're they're blowing up to you know we used use Dynamite now

we're talking about using nuclear weapon and you can all uh you can kind of uh

just imagine all the uh concerns and problems around that so what's up Jorge

good to see you brother I don't understand man uh so comment again as we're getting

more people joining if you like the blueco collar Cruise if you want um

maybe some different content in it uh but we as I stated before put a lot of

effort in it and it takes a lot of time so we love doing it but uh want to make

sure it's uh it's Landing well with the audience so let us know if you're on YouTube you know tell us you like it you

don't yeah Thumb Thumbs Up thumbs down say what you want what do you want to know about what do you want to hear about I mean that really does help out a

ton yeah we do a lot of research I have other I mean there's a lot of people involved in just uh or I shouldn't say a

lot but several people involved in in uh finding these topics and uh

trying to determine whether or not they are um you know

interesting so let's just jump into the first topic the headline reads how

regulation and immigration shape the future of elevator construction now it's kind of funny

immigration uh I maybe plays less of a role in the actual article but I it's

talking about the influx of of uh

population into other areas and the fact is is we're building up a few episodes

ago of the blue collar cruise we were talking about that highrise the tallest building

in the nation going in in Oklahoma City right y that means they was there but I

I listened to it I wasn't there but I listened to it yeah we need elevators right and so uh we're elevator side of

the construction industry uh are really struggling like the rest of us and have

significant growth in fact uh their growth is projected to grow 7% I think

Year over-year from uh between the years 2020 and 2030

so uh you know we're a quarter of the way through that at the this moment maybe a

little bit further but it's that's what highlights the the urgent need for

skilled labor so I thought one of the interesting topics or parts of this was

there's companies that are now integrating uh virtual reality and

augmented reality in the apprenticeship program so you can come out of these as

a low low-level apprenticeship um before you ever start

working and that's to attract you know people love that stuff uh the younger

younger uh population loves this stuff and you know if you can learn through a

device and some some sort look all of his old folks are like that's BS but

that's the truth I mean dang I'm one of the folks now I'm one of the old folks

now bro I know I'd rather learn hands too but I'm just saying like uh my son's

plays football and I guarant I tell you he he learned most of

the like stuff the the core principles of football from freaking Madden so um

and he's a he's an excellent little you know freshman football player so that's

it builds IQ you're right right I mean through it can I see a lot of benefits

for through the augmented it and all that only because it makes training more

convenient right like if you're set up and if it's pretty basic generic like on

a laptop you can do majority on a laptop um without the augmented reality portion

where you're wearing because I'm always thinking of uh like the goggles that you're kind of IM immersing yourself

into that reality yeah that's augment I mean you're pretty much there you don't

get to actually touch it and fill it but you're pretty much there you know what I mean yeah come a

long way since uh the one thing that Nintendo had back in the day where it was only like red lines the Mario I

forget I forget the name of it but um well this is where I think you know we

can learn in the flooring world there's a lot of what we do that could be taught this way I think that you're absolutely

right and you can program scenarios into it right like yeah any scenario you want

yeah so it's that I I think that's interesting we're uh you know after reading this we being in the tech world

uh with go Carrera but on the application world with my flooring

company uh this is really interesting to me if we could get people trained faster

that's one of our core uh initiatives with go career's encourage training to

increase Hammer rating to increase job performance and so you know we'll look into it but these initiatives they say

are crucial in addressing the skill Gap and and ensuring a steady supply of

qualified workers and that's what I was just talking about getting a steady supply means you got to make it easier

uh build easier onramps um that that's what we need to

do so I thought that was real interested in the the fact of uh you know

Construction is still like the the outlook for construction is still good we still have

people we still need businesses and buildings and and uh homes uh if you're

experiencing like I am looking for a new house you realize the market doesn't

have uh the the supply that it used to and Builders are working to increase

that Supply but um as the industry of Eves and continues to evolve uh you know

I think we need to think through uh some of these Innovative

companies approach I mean seems pretty cool to me yeah I like it you know you

mentioned this thing about the elevators and you know I I can remember as far

back as me starting in construction period that there was never enough to

begin with um as is a you said we're

build America's building up right now right and you need these guys I'm looking at some of the article right here and I'm realizing you had to wait

like two months for these guys to come in and shut it down or a month for for them to come in look at the floor and

say you can't touch that or yep you can do that one it's like okay yeah and there's a lot of

Regulation around elevators so I mean it's essentially uh you know a personnel

carrier so so uh there's a lot of Regulation around that and so getting in

you know this makes me think about safety and all of these things and how augmented reality could really double

down on that I could see uh you know you could have a safety course with augmented reality and I think in those

cases it's almost like why would you do that in person anyway it's not like

you're going to drop a hammer on someone's literally on their helmet in a

safety training so everything you're going to learn is intellectual anyway

and OSHA does and they do it like OSHA 10 OSHA 30 classes or you do them online

and so why not you know add some a boost to that through augmented

reality anyway it just shows that all of us have the same problems and we're trying to

find creative ideas and and you can clearly see that a lot of people are

trying to um you know focus on the younger crowd who are very digitally

oriented so yeah that that doesn't happen to be

me I would say yeah all right well that's that topic is

brought to you through con construction today uh if you want to check it out you

know we may start leaving links and descriptions uh in the YouTube channel

uh for you guys to go really dive deep on some of these topics uh if you if you

like them so on to the next

headline well actually what do you got on that do you think that uh that I mean

you said you like it do do you think it's it can be an effective way to train I think that it's a more efficient way

to get knowledge to an individual or a crew on a specific product or just

general broad terms of that line of work before they start um you

can you can program it however you want you can consolidate uh the teaching right

like even if it's an installer an old dog and you're teaching them a new trick he's going to be able to relate a lot

quicker a lot sooner say we have someone who does a residential we're trying to transition over to commercial flooring

um you know you start with the the items that they relate to and then you then you start peppering and everything else

that you need them to understand and know and you can show them the difference explain the difference all in one shot um like this is I just picture

like I like to listen to podcasts I like to watch uh uh videos on different on

how to do different things like YouTube videos right like DIY stuff this is no different for me um I know I might be a

little bit different than most people but I would I would love to learn that way on my own time when my house is

quiet and nobody else is bothering me and my phone's not not on for work or

you know I would that would be the time that I would Dive Right into something like that um and I I mean I'm a I like

to be in a class in person I do but I also like my quiet time and I would absorb a lot more in in a a more

intimate setting like that I would say um yeah maybe maybe it's something where

it's like you personally I'd love to try it out and see you know try something

like that out and see how it can apply I mean I've done some there's a company

locally here that did some virtual walkthroughs of a project so they take

your Blueprints and turn them into a virtual walkthrough for

and that it was it felt pretty real so with the technology I I could

see it actually working I think uh pretty amazing I think that's where I'm

hopeful that that's probably where the direction everything's gonna go you know pretty soon you're GNA have the literature on installation instructions

uh accompanied with a QR code that sends you to a uh augmented or virtual reality

if you will that will give you a walkthrough on a scenario on a job site so you can can visually you can put the

words together with the visuals so you understand exactly what they're talking about so there's nothing Lost in

Translation um terminology is huge and um I was just reading some installation

instructions yesterday I'm trying to help Eduardo out and it was very open to

interpretation and I didn't like that I didn't like that I could read that three

different times and view it three different ways when all it would take is a picture or a short video to explain

exactly what they were trying to say yeah yep imagine a product if they had a

video that could be uh stream to virtual reality and you went to uh you know you

put on a headset and you were able to like see it put in all angles uh in the

room that you are going to be putting it in y you know what I mean that's pretty

cool teaching how to do a layout you know just and then you can whoever's instructing it will talk their way

through it and yeah if you're like hey the layout starts right here and you're I it's it's pretty cool it's very

futuristic in my head but it's here it is it is I'm sure that somebody's working on that somebody a lot smarter

than me is working on it right now and I'm jealous well speaking of um Labor uh our

next topic is uh talking about wage theft on job sites and this is both

directions so a quick overview here is uh you know about $35 million in 2023

alone was uh secured for back wages for over well for nearly 18,000 construction

workers here in the US so this wage theft is typically

uh unpaid overtime uh failure to pay union dues uh

misclassification of full-time employees as independent contractors and we've

talked about this a lot and I'll bet that's the biggest one if if I'm a

guessing man that's probably the biggest one out of those three um obviously this creates

challenges for the gc's and you know when sub contractors

have this problem and gc's you know they're not above everybody they're just

in the first line of of payment on projects but it doesn't necessarily mean

they they don't do some of these uh um you know problems you know or cause

some of these problems and Jorge by the way I think it was Otis who built the

Willie Wonka Chocolate Factory elevator if I'm a guessing man

anyway um so the the the the wage theft that they're

talking about is uh you know really from the employee side um at this

point now here later in the article it talks about first off how how these um

these General Contractors become unknown uh liable for these wages ultimately

from their subcontractor so in an effort to stifle that first

thing I would say you know mobile timekeeping is a thing and it's the best

way to combat this um and keep yourself legal there's also U I would assume a

good amount of false claims in here uh where people are saying they weren't uh

paid enough or paid what they think they should be paid or what have you but the

the the fact they cover recover 35 million bucks is uh you know shows

pretty substantial Miss Miss uh Miss

mismanagement and ultimately really poor leadership in the companies that are doing that kind of thing so I've been

I've been part of and Daniel too we've been part of a couple different angles on this um as an employee not 1099 as an

employee um I was on projects that you know because we don't ask right we just go do our job show up our paperwork been

approached by the the GC and he's like are you receiving your prevailing rates

like no idea what you're talking about said I'm just showing up he's like well come with me um you know and and here

in in Michigan a lot of the projects you have to have it posted on a job box like you have to have it like they're a

little extra in some places like they have everybody's breakdown the classifications of the disciplines that

you're doing U from electrician plumber to um fortunately flurrying is a little

weird because we don't always have our own um our own name right wage wage

determination right right so but yeah as and all of a sudden they went

from hey boss they just let you know like this guy approached me and you know

sometimes whether they knew it or not I don't know but we had to be compensated for that um they had to show um when

they submitted their uh the wages what do they call it um certified payroll

certified payroll yep they had to do all of that and then on the other side as a 1099 when we were um brand new as

preferred flooring we went and did work for a company they gave us some rates you know this is you know we're

obviously trying to create and generate relationships and we're you know a

couple week a week or two on this project and we got approach like all right we need to see your uh your

certified payroll we're like uh what are you talking about oh yeah this is prevailing rates we need to see you and

we call like you guys didn't even tell us like why why is there no information

on this you know and that goes for the past three projects that we were on

there we didn't we're not trying to get anybody in trouble but at that point we were in trouble so we ended up having

done yeah you got you got to know that in fact every work order that goes out from our company that's prevailing wage

we post it at if it's going to go to a subcontractor that it's prevailing wage

they must uh keep track of all their payments and and turn in their uh

certified payroll and we uh add the wage

determination into the work order as well so that it's all up and up and

clear because yeah really I don't know how a company could get away with it I mean we have to prove and we do a lot of

certified payroll projects and we have to prove that we're paying the amount or

more than even with Subs I mean the subcontractor has to make at least a

certified payroll amount so at the end of the day um you know it's it's really

important to uh to know that yeah we I at my first employer in floring we

really got more so um our wage theft was just you didn't

get paid at the end of the week and and sometimes hold five checks until it would clear so yeah interesting

yeah interestingly in this uh conversation here there's also

some uh that it takes the other side where 1099 workers are making false

claims on W for wages on projects so they'll demand you know they'll they'll

basically say that they haven't been paid when they have or they had some other agreement because there's often

times when people are subbing they don't have any proof they don't have a

contract there's a lot of flooring companies out there that don't have contracts that they're sub sign and um

you know like at Stuart Associates we have a master subcontract agreement and then list very clearly in there that

every work order you accept through go Carrera falls under that agreement and

but there's a lot of companies that don't have uh have that and that exposes

you as a flooring contractor and if you're subbing it out to people making

false claims and de or they'll demand full PL full payment upfront and

um not show up and then demand the rest of the contract uh but this verbal

agreement is the big problem and you need to put in there quality assurance stuff to prevent yeah from having to

deal with shotty work and you know substandard materials being used

but again this is as a general contractor not me as a general

contractor but the general contractors are exposed here as

well a question from Mr Kendall there why is there a prevailing wage is it because the project govern is government

funded I've heard of the highway workers being paid a prevailing wage on Highway projects um yeah prevailing wage is

really just a a governmental act called the Davis bacon act and that is uh that

was I think it was 1970 something that that act came through and it's a federal guideline for federal projects or

federally funded projects so it doesn't have to be a federal a job for the federal government but a federally

funded or um and not all federally funded uh projects have prevailing wage

but most of your true federal government projects um is a prevailing wage and

what that does is they set the prevailing wage on a job meaning you must pay these guys pay your employees

this amount for being on the job for the different classifications so we've had

projects where tile Setter makes everything anywhere from 32 bucks an hour with fringes to $69

with fringes uh we were just talking about the elevator guy and I was looking at a prevailing wage job the other day

they make a on this job that we just bid uh they're prevailing wages $100 an

hour just just just over a hundred bucks with all the fringes and benefits so and

I think the highest I've ever seen was 150 and that was for a pipe fitter right so yeah Pipe Fitters are are high up

there as well but um but yeah the the that's what

prevailing wage is and they do that to make sure that they the the federal tax

dollars going to projects is going back into the people's hands at least this is

what they say back into the workers hands and making sure that they uh that the

government uh anybody working on the government's job that there is nobody

unpaid and so they have sort of certified payroll forms have to be filled out weekly and submitted

notorized and sent in and so it's a whole thing and it's also so that way

when a union comes in and it is part of that project they it's their wages are pretty close

to well they subsidize that's a whole that's a deep deep poll there it's

always a deep hole Yeah I was just talking about that with some people the other day it's do some research because

all it is is a after you do the research is how you uh interpret it

yeah so I am going to uh I've got to get going here pretty quick so I'm gonna

spend this last five minutes talking about uh the one that is like the the

craziest one to me is the topic reads project plow share nuclear bombs used as

construction tools so early in the sometime in the 1950s after the nuclear

arms race or kind of in the the midst of it the atomic energy act launched uh

project plow share exploring the use of nuclear weapons for large large scale

Earth moving projects uh there was a project called Project Chariot

aimed to use nuclear blast to create a harbor in Cape Thompson uh Alaska Harbor

holy smoked yeah uh this ambitious plan uh

involved deating multiple thermonuclear bombs to excavate a channel and and

turning the Basin into or and turning into a basin uh with combined explosives

yield significantly this was crazy the combined explosive yield significantly

greater than that of the hirosima bomb

so yeah uh so there was a lot of enthusiasm

early on for project plowshare and project uh or the initiative plow share

and project sharot but obviously all these concerns about nuclear

fallout um you know harmful effects on distant locations

all these public health concerns H sparked WID widespread criticism from

all kinds of scientists who link the new uh who link radioactive fallout to

cancer and other diseases so obviously this was

um probably well before its time uh back then but they're they're kind of looking

at will this work they're still kind of looking at this and the uh budget cuts and all and and

the you know kind of led to the fall of project plowshare uh but there were some

successes um really yeah like project sedan and gats buy gas buy I guess is

how it's pronounced which probably still saying it wrong but it sounds cool yeah

yeah yeah I'm definitely saying it but you get the you can uh it sound it's

spelled just like it sounds gas buggy so um it's probably said completely

different uh it they did demonstrate the feasibility of using nuclear explosions

for gas field expansion uh these projects uh were

really um you know overcame

insurmountable uh which doesn't make sense if it's insurmountable but they were surmountable uh uh obstacles and so

they did have some success with some things but ultimately at the end of the day this has all kind of fell on deaf

ears I mean if we're scared of nuclear power plants I can't imagine us being as

a society real uh happy with harnessing the nuclear technology for non-military

purposes and Earth moving but I thought it was absolutely a crazy

story that I could end on and really nuts I'll be honest like you know like

think about that dude hey we're gonna excavate you your your your Harbor with

nuclear weapons well you're yeah I'm thinking like that but I'm thinking in terms of you know it's instead of hey

dude somebody walked off with our job box today I don't know where it is I know I locked it up can you imagine hey

dude somebody just yesterday I don't know I turned the lights off all the nuclear bomb morning they're gone I don't know

what to do you want me call somebody the security around that and everything yeah

I I thought that was pretty crazy I mean we've used TNT dynamite for a lot of

years uh but man

more yeah Hazard pay Ren uh probably got him more than 150 bucks an hour for

doing that I think what they did is they wrote checks to the families just in case something went

wrong um that's that's who got paid was the

families what is pronounced Kendall told me it's it's it's pronounced Gatsby well

thank you Kendall because I couldn't have figured that one out on my own I I appreciate that you know what I'm just

more impressed that Kendall knew how to use Google to figure that out so

all right guys well I really I really um

oops I keep going back and forth here I really appreciate everybody this is GNA be a as stated right when we got going

today's gonna be a little bit shorter uh a lot a bit shorter than normal we uh we

have been going crazy um with longer

episodes so this is a nice short one I do want to mention to everyone that we are um that next

week we are gonna be having the Spanish

episode hey check this out what' he say gets free tequila shots and nachos

at the CFI convention hey dude like he's gonna who's viewership we're gonna have

to step it up over here we're have to get something genius Jorge's got ideas

bro that's awesome all right guys well thanks everybody for joining us

today I know it's shorter episode I hope maybe uh you guys loved it please

remember if you're on YouTube or you're watching this live or you catch us on Facebook let us know if you like the

blue collar cruise I only got through a few topics today but uh they were all pretty cool topics I I enjoyed talking

about and I love doing this because it really gets us out of just this flooring

bubble and makes us think outside the box a little bit and so I love it um if

you love it let us know if you don't love it let us know let us know either

way please do let us know because one way or another we we would love your guidance on whether or not to continue

with the blue collar Cruise after our initial 10 episodes that we have planned so looking forward to next Tuesday uh

that I won't be here but I'm still looking forward to it Jose and Daniel are going to be your hosts next Tuesday

I'll be gone on sales training uh and maybe it's just Jose or just Daniel but

one of us will be on here you can depend on us three o'clock Central every

Tuesday One Way Or Another We're GNA make it so next week uh is the Spanish

episode hey Ashton is is is it in place of or is it uh

overtime in place of all right perfect so to be honest with you you're going to

get Jorge next week and that is absolutely fantastic that dude is a host

of the mostest the hostess that has the mostest so if you uh speak Spanish

understand Spanish or love uh you know learning new languages get on there and

uh transcribe it and learn some a new language but Jorge is going to be the host for next uh week's huddle and uh

best of luck to you guys and uh have a great day guys everybody out there love

you appreciate all the uh interaction and uh it's been a blast so

we will catch you guys the Tuesday after next for us and enjoy next week next

week's Spanish episode

The Huddle - Episode 115 - The Role of AI in Flooring Solutions

In this episode with special guest Ken Ballin (Skyro Floors, Ballin Knows Best - https://ballinknowsbest.com) we once again delve into how AI is revolutionizing the flooring industry. This episode discusses innovative platforms like Ballin Knows Best (https://ballinknowsbest.com), which leverage AI to offer predictive analytics, enhanced design simulations, and optimized material usage. We explore how AI tools can streamline operations, improve accuracy in project planning, and offer personalized recommendations for clients. Tune in to learn about the transformative impact of artificial intelligence on the flooring industry, enhancing efficiency and driving forward-thinking solutions.

The Huddle was created by Paul Stuart of Stuart & Associates and Go Carrera, alongside Jose and Daniel Gonzalez from Preferred Flooring. Aimed at helping you maintain forward progress in your flooring career, they cover topics from personal and business growth, to installation tips & tricks and everything in-between.

Want to be a guest on The Huddle? Email thehuddleforwardprogress@gmail.com today!

Create your FREE Installer profile at https://gocarrera.com and become part of the future of the industry TODAY!
GET TRAINED! Find a list of training dates here: https://gocarrera.com/resources/training/
https://www.preferredflooringmi.com
https://www.stuartandassociates.com

what's up team welcome to the Huddle we're your weekly Playbook where we not only strategize on playing the game but

changing it from mastering the fundamentals of the craft to distinguishing ourselves in the market

place we're here to give you the installer a voice and ensure you're equipped with everything you need let's

band together in forun New Legacy in flooring this is where you belong welcome to the team Mr Ken Ballin

hi guys what's guys how's everybody how's everybody doing is

it is it Ballin or Balon like like like come on so everybody knows we're still

answering that huh it is but like like I different single

time I guarantee he answers either way yeah like it's like one of them names

that you know so many people are going to mess up you can't get to well I I think I think Ballin sounds pretty

awesome I'm balling all right so welcome everybody

uh to this week's episode of the Huddle we are going to be talking about artificial intelligence again uh

AI uh augmented reality is probably one of the bigger use cases in INF floring

sales but Ken's got uh some some stuff he's been doing over the last year I

believe maybe even a little longer at this point uh that is you know leveraging AI for Education

basically um and then there's some goofy AI robots out there trying to do our job not doing

a good job but still trying to do our job so I bet their back don't hurt as

much as mine I was gonna say with me as always

is Mr Daniel and Jose Gonzalez but in two separate locations Daniel's

obviously out on a job site although I got to say it almost looks like one of them backgrounds that Zoom gives you

it's it's like perfect it's the flooring background Perfection right there it's a

great idea we should do backgrounds of job sites instead of just the office like that right that's right then you

always can then you always look like you're working for real it's AI generated right yeah

so as mentioned with us today is Ken Ballin in for another episode it's

pleasure to have you here sir hope things have been going well tell us a little bit about what you've been doing

this last though I don't know 100 episodes or 80 episodes whatever it's

been yeah so I mean you know we we started the um online uh Community B

knows best um it's based it's got AI integrated technology it's based around

AI where installers can ask questions from the job site technical questions and get answers in real time

um aside from the bot you know the the the bot is does seem to be a focal point

that everybody talks about AI is the Hot Topic um but you know the real the real focus is the community behind it and

while we do have the AI integrated into the community we also have other resources that installers can use from

you know um job postings within the industry uh resources for um

purchasing um we've got other kind of tech-based um aspects of the APT as well um where

we'll be developing our own you know social media platform for installers um a there's a a measure it

app that's part of it that um uses utilizes the the light R sensors on some

of the newer phones uh where you're waving your phone across you know the camera spans the room and it'll measure

it in real time for you uh we're developing a species checker for hardwood floors that it will you know be

able to sort between red oak White Oak Ash Maple nice so yeah a layout tool where you can

have you know let's say a floor plan and you can um enter the specs and the size

of the planks you're installing or the tiles and you can you know move it around so you can modify you know avoid

slivers in your installs and same thing with like tile shower layouts where you can take this layout you punch in the

size of the tile and your grout joint and your size of the you know the space available and you can kind of move it

around to um adjust your layout you know according to what you enter into the

app well cool so the the um the community is always a big part of

flooring especially in the installation world and providing them tools it sounds

like the measure uh that is using in the lar uh cameras is that that's what is

that iPhone only um no I mean it was orally um

iPhone only but it it will work on the newer phones the Android phones that have the light R sensor um so that that

sensor is key though like my phone doesn't have the light R sensor so doesn't work on M but um Jason my

partner is he's a he's an iPhone guy and it works on his and I think the the

newer um Samsungs and the Google phones have the Light Art now so it'll be

working in there um but yeah uh you know for us dinosaurs who don't have that

updated technology on our phone gota upgrade hey the new iPhone just got

announced so you can you know get one right now yeah I think I might stick with the

Android it does it does all the same things as the other iPhone except for it's newer

yeah all right so um getting into some AI talk I I I

realize that the bot is um you know AI driven um what kind

of it's it's obviously a really good tool for installers out field what other

aspects or applications are you seeing with that kind of Technology with you

know um whether it's AI generated you know I guess that'd be more augmented

reality almost what you were talking about where you're uh kind of laying out a wall or you're taking a picture of

your house and getting your your desired flooring kind of showing in it but uh

from the AI perspective what kind of other technology can this do this is a language model right what other dreams

do you have for this chat bot I'm sorry what was that last part I missed you like what other goals or

dreams or ideas are you you guys playing with with this chat bot so um aside from

the the actual you know the Tex thing bot itself that's on the that's integrated onto the website that you can

go to um we've actually gone ahead and I

can't believe I'm saying this like I I there was a time in my life where if I you told me these words would be coming

out of my mouth I would have laughed but we've um gone ahead and essentially cloned me and we'll be importing

importing my voice into the text you can talk to it and it's me responding to you

know your questions and everything um and that you know like so I can ask this

bot a question and you'll answer me I will answer you yes that's that's one way to get someone's to answer a phone

you put more of the that Jersey accent on it though please like just like I just want to hear more so funny enough

like I to actually talk to it for a few minutes for it to pick up my voice and you know kind of plug it into the

technology but um but yeah that that's kind of the uh you know the the next

step in the process I guess from the basic you know texting bot um but the

the idea behind that is that um you know we really want this to

be allinclusive you know we want it to be a resource for installers across the industry and um you know not every

installer is quick with you know the typing or you know being on the phone and you know plugging and you know some

are have better grammar than others some are have better vocabularies and um so

having the option to be able to just talk directly to it instead of typing um it kind of opens it up to a little more

uh usability with you know it's not just um you know it's not just going through

the entering text and receiving messages and like that uh some might feel like it's faster to just talk to it and have

it you know respond back um so it it's really my my hope is that it turns into

something that everybody wants to use and everybody will get benefits from and um you know the going back to the

community side of things I um My Hope Is that installers across the uh industry

and you know on all sides of the industry really find the benefits in in using it as a resource in their you know

day-to-day installation career that's pretty cool there I I I

know it almost seems silly that you text um or or talk into a text bot but you

know that's I've got an employee that all he does is talk to his iPhone for

every single text message everything it just you know people find it easier they

can get their point across faster so there's obviously it's being used um and

you're right sometimes you just I don't care maybe you got gloves on and you're you're cutting tile or whatever and like

texting if you can just uh talk into it could be a a potential time SA and

certainly probably get now do you hear that I guess does anybody get to catch the tone of the uh person on the other

side so as as of right now it it would be like a phone call so like I can't

hear I can hear you talking to me um but I wouldn't be able to I mean I can hear

myself talking but I I wouldn't you know like your voice sounds different to you than it does to everyone else at least

your yeah so like thing where you know you're you're not going to get be able to hear us giving the

response um but you know we would hear the the interaction

gotcha yeah so a lot of you know we talk about AI because it's you know it's kind

of one of them most popular uh it's the end thing to talk about right now in

flooring though you know it's mainly been um

the the main applications anyway have been through sensors and monitoring systems there's a uh you know there's a

company that is launching a like a a

hard hat sensor camera along with the safety vest sensor camera for all their

workers on this job site and it's for monitoring and the the AI will uh

establish like all kinds of this kind of scary but but it monitors and points out

potential safety hazards potential Savings in in

um uh time and effort it always makes me think a Demolition Man have you seen

that movie with Sylvester Stallone like you're just getting tickets when you as you walk down the street because you

said the f bomb or something you know it's kind of that it's very reminiscent

of that like you'll be walking through a job site and all of a sudden it's

like Ken Ballin said the f word or Ken Bolan doesn't have his hard hat on or

Paul Stewart didn't have his safety vest zipped up I don't know how far they'll take that but it is a real thing and

it's going to be started um I think they've already kind of started testing it uh but it they're going to be doing

that here uh on like a several job sites

and um I'm trying to find where they said the job sites were going to be I'll I'll look into that but it's kind of

crazy if you think about it that type of stuff and All Those sensors and monitors

that's really where the bulk of this uh this

Technology's been applied like you know one of our good friends over at Flor Cloud they they use sensors and and

their sensors are uh you know designed designed to um measure the ambient

temperature RH all this like your complete environment on the job site if

you have their sensor attached to your moisture testing on commercial job sites

anyway you can even get your get that reading your moisture reading from you

know Jose could have the the reading from Daniel's job site right now at a at

an instant so I'm have the rating from this job site well there you go so floor Cloud's

been a a game changer for our industry I can't think of another uh company that's

come into our industry and kind of caused uh such a wave and such a splash

uh my go career side is very jealous of that they've done such a great job of of

providing a very needed uh service to the industry I know I'm a Commercial

contractor sitting at my desk if I can get the information of a job site that's

four hours away and understand what the job site conditions are and I know

they're working on some other things to even obviously companies like that continue to improve and they're going to

continue so watch a short video ashon if you don't mind playing that about floor

clouds fulltime monitoring of your job site conditions via desktop or mobile

device no more manual check checking for temperature humidity or even dupoint no

need for base stations Wi-Fi or external power sources simply scan the QR code on

the front of your sensors and you're up and running with the most accurate and Innovative sight monitoring system in

the flooring industry dispatch your Crews with confidence and reduce your climate related installation issues

floor Cloud now you know now you know yeah one of the cool things that

floor cloud does uh is and I I don't know how much AI comes

into this but if you give uh you tell the application what products you're using on job site similar to what you

were talking about earlier um you you tell it but instead of like uh the layout stuff what it's

really going to alert you to is when the site conditions are out of spec for any

of those materials so if you have a list of your adhesives your patching materials your thin sets you know your

lvts all your products that you have on the job site it's going to tell you when those products or when the site

conditions are out of spec for those products which is a freaking

GameChanger uh when you have especially when you have you know larger commercial sites even the residential uh I'm

hearing guys uh talk about it so anyway that's that's one industry technology

that is currently like actively using Ai and sensors and all of this stuff so I'd

like to see start testing for moisture to begin with just test at

all what's that what what was that Ken I said i'

I'd rather I'd like to see installers as a whole actually start testing for

moisture you know period to start and then you know go to the upgrade with the technology we know how how hard it is

getting just tested to begin with well yeah most of the time at least

in the commercial world it's driven by the the store or the whoever's holding the contract and we have to just make

sure a lot of times we'll do the testing ourselves provide that information to

the installer that they're good to install the job that it's been moisture tested um but yeah I do do your

installers moisture test Jose Daniel yeah we yeah yeah we would um

require it we do too much resilient to not have that on our um on our agenda

yeah all of our hourlies know how to do it some of the subs just don't they just don't know so we have our install

manager you know take care of that of course if if we got a job that requires

floor Cloud you got the answer right there but you still got to set them still got to know what you're doing with them

it's probably a little bit different in have you looked into floor Cloud at all Ken and what they do and how that

applies in the residential world I don't I don't know how it would in a huge way except for on maybe a massive house but

well they have the the sensor that goes into the wood oh there you go you know for any install on a on a large scale um

I think the majority of residential installers have their you know their moisture meter their pin meter and their

scanner whatever you know maybe the um like a total check or something like that and you know they're doing their be

the best they can and they're they're being mindful of it but there's always you know upgrades to technology upgrades

to tools um there's always better options that will give better results so

you know I absolutely love the idea of being able to check your job site remotely is everybody GNA do it on every

job site I go back to my joke about getting them to test it all but yeah you

know what I think you know any any sort of um any sort of progression any step

forward is a good step you know many small time make big time I am

waiting waiting to buy my first AI my first install robot but um they are not

around yet the the most uh the the most used way with AI is stuff like what you

talked about about you know the chat Bots that's one thing uh automated

design tools that's another that's more of a big piece that's where broadloom

and and rfms and their they kind of Suite of tools uh predictive maintenance

which is kind of a cool idea to um sensors embedded into different

Machinery or different uh maintenance uh

like there's sensors you can put in wax I'm hearing that will tell you when the

wax is about to uh need to be redone or the maintenance particularly in

healthcare this sounds like nuts but if you start thinking about the application in health care and uh uh Infectious

Disease Control and things like that um that

is that is the uh let's see another one that I looked up that you know all of us

know the manufacturers are are using some of this stuff in supply chain and

inventory management although I don't know if there's a huge uh uh uh uptick

in Inventory management uh from a quality perspective I get told products

and stock and it takes like six weeks still to get it in but um but uh we got

square feet but you gotta give us like six and a half weeks yeah six to eight weeks out though how's that man it's in

Jersey I'll have Ken drive it down you know you just said something

about the the wax and all that so it almost sounds like AI in our industry is

getting ready to integrate itself with the end user and the maintenance portion of it um so it almost sounds like it's

going to be a lot easier to Cipher what the failure is right away if it's a

maintenance issue versus installation issue um well that's an interesting take

on it right yeah now now that that means that um that the gray area for warranty

for limited liability warranties right are about to be you are you are dream he's dreaming right now Jose hey Daniel

Jose is dreaming right now he just sees this day when they go he pulls up a censor he's like yeah look you guys had

you mess clear water damage on the 14th of June of last year the sensor says it

man I was I we watched it happen actually he's dreaming right now I can

see his his gears turning upstairs Ken are you guys more focused on just the installer base then or are you trying to

get into uh the end user for that reason so they can know like maintenance

information and stuff like that or even like check in and install on their job

site or something I could see a a application there where it's like hey are you supposed to you know blah blah

blah whatever they say you know um my my personal goal with you

know with the B no's best platform is to be a resource for install I want to have

this online community you know we've spent the last 10 years or so building these online communities on on Facebook

right so that we had the ability to interact with each other share pictures ask questions get help make contact with

reps and all of that is dependent on Facebook

working you know if something happens and Facebook you know goes away tomorrow

or Facebook evolves into something else um you know all this effort that we've put into building this online community

goes away and what happens to all those installers that you know need that help

on their job sites you know there there are obviously those of us who you know don't need as much assistance dayto day

but like I want to have a platform that is a resource for installers to go

through all the stages of their career from asking questions about job sites about layouts to having you know vendors

that um are you know are are partnering with us to to uh make their products

available to installers to having a an area where you know manufacturers can

post jobs for installers coming to the end of their career and looking to take that next step you know and become a rep

or become you know involved in the tech excuse me side of things um you know

just anything that we might need I'd love to see enough users to have buying power with insurance where we can have

you know get installers covered and have good coverage you know I I know that's

might be a bit of a pipe dream but you know I just see this with so much potential to help the installers and be

a resource that I didn't have when I started you know I didn't I didn't start working for somebody else I just went

out on my own and you know here in New Jersey we have no there's no sort of

Licensing for flooring or tile installers there's you know you register your business you give the state 90

bucks and you're on your own you're in people's houses putting floors down and

you know I I just wanted to be able to have that information about certifications and letting people know

that there is an industry to get involved in you're not by yourselves you know there's so much potential for us to

do good and you know yes it's integrated with AI and as technology

evolved we will you know obviously Embrace that and use that to you know

help more installers but I just think that you know the the focus on

installers for me is always been key so that's you know the subject that's close to my heart um but you know the the the

installers that feel like they're stuck subcontracting for stores you know that

that kind of strikes a nerve with me because I went through a phrase where I was a sub and you know I had all my eggs in one basket and I just want those guys

and girls to know that there's more out there and we can help you develop your business you know there are those of us

involved that's it right there you know they they have experience throughout and

you know our team of mentors especially have experience in different fields of the industry and you know they might

have certifications in this flooring category um they might have you know education in this you know other spots

that can help you know I have my Bachelor's in Business Administration with a marketing concentration from M

I'm always I'm constantly you know answering questions about business marketing and marketing in the flooring

industry and you know just to have these resources available I think huge for

install yeah I think it's good for installers to have a have the option one

of the things that is is you know you you talk about installers that got stuck

or feel like they maybe a sub stuck at a store there's also uh you know one of

the things that I think as an industry we learning and why for example what go career does is open you up to other

stores and other opportunities out there and then what you're doing is saying hey you don't have to work for stores if you

don't you know if you want to get in I mean if you're going to do big commercial work you're gonna be working for a store like it's very hard for a

sub to go get a $8 million insurance policy and and do a a u hospital but if

you're talented in that there's other you can work for other stores that

sharing of that that that just opening up the options you know go ahead I'm sorry no no no I

was just saying every everybody works differently everybody has different things that um you know fulfill them and

if you know if Joe is great installer and doesn't want to deal with owning a

business and he wants to work for somebody else and that makes him happy and his bills are paid then that's

absolutely what he should do I don't ever want anybody to think that I'm talking down um to a certain style of

installation because you know there's so many different flavors and whatever you like

whatever makes you successful you know in your everyday life is absolutely the way you should go if you enjoy subbing

and you know that does it for you that's awesome I want to help you be the best subcontractor you can be if you're

miserable of subcontracting and you want to own your own business I want to help you be the best business owner you can

be if you're looking to join a commercial crew and be part of a a union

shop that's not really my area of expertise but you know what I'm gonna find you that person that will help you be the

best you can be on that path you know we need to really focus on looking out for

each other and helping the installers as a whole and you know helping them find the right fit for them because what

works for me might not work for you and you know what makes me happy might not make you happy yeah so so you need a

side on here B knows best and then you got to have a hashtag or uh was it

forward slash I know a guy I know I like that well there's

there's a I like what you said there there's certainly Different Strokes for

different installers like the way that you you know want to go about things I

mean I want to make it clear make no you know uh mistake about it a sub is a

business like if you're subbing from companies you better have some business Acumen to you as well

but if you I think what you're talking about is if you want to go out and start supplying your own materials or kind of

working directly with uh contractors or doing your own thing that way and not

subbing from a company that you'd like to be able to be a resource for those folks be a resource yeah be a resource

for the sub that's wanting to know how to put the best sub crew together um and speaking of that I want to kick up a our

QR code for Jumpstart as a quick note here here um jump is a a new initiative

by go Carrera I say new but we've really just uh launched it uh the version two

of it here recently and this is all the new guys coming into the industry are

going on jumpstart we're working with the fcef uh working with CFI working with

you know we're I've talked to the ntca and we're going to find ways to work with all the training entities out there

so that we can all as installers companies all of us can have

a single source to be able to go to find the new guys because we've got to get these new guys to work Ken Ballin as a

as an installer needs to hire people you need to have helpers and one of the

biggest complaints we see in the industry especially on the Facebook post is how hard it is to find helpers and

that is the that is obviously a very gentle way to say it it's much more colorful than that if you get on the

different everyone everyone besides me is lazy is basically what everyone says

yeah and and doesn't show up to work or doesn't really want to be in flooring blah blah blah well these guys have went

through some level of training whether it's a 10-week course through the fcef or it's a five-week introduction through

CFI or an introduction of flooring uh aft has a two- we and a onewe course and

so these types of things that uh you know these young guys and

and men and women both are saying Hey I want to be I've I've gotten training now

I want to be hired we have to find a way to place them and hire them and that's that's what jump start does so if you're

on here and you're a company or a subcontractor that's looking for good help get on get a subscription it's

cheap as you could ever imagine it's 99 bucks for the entire year you can schedule interviews and meet with people

and hire people as many as you want and we'll also we're always uh on the watch

for uh areas that really need help and we get with the training entities about

getting some trainings put in those areas FCF let's get a college uh course

put in that area so are you familiar with the FCF Ken I know you are because I've seen your picture on

there I've been on a few other a coule

so that that is uh we're we're attemp we're our attempt is to place the

individual it's it's very cheap to get involved and hire off a jump start and

you know I I've got a real passion for trying to get people placed like like

you know all the training we do if you talk to a lot of the training entities one of their biggest heartbreaks is that

the people they're training are not getting jobs in flor in and that's what

our goal at Jump Start is so we'd love your participation your support and your help uh if you don't have anybody in

your area it's 99 bucks for an entire year so only 27 cents a day yeah

27 that's right you can support getting the new guys placed uh this helps all of

the background stuff that has to happen to get the individuals put on uh We've teamed up we're teaming up with some

some municipalities uh the state of Ohio is working with us and so through their

programs and like flooring Basics is another training entity that is bringing

um disadvantage you through the you know Juvenile Detention uh they're getting

training and then they're coming out and we're trying to catch them when they're young turn their lives around give them

a I needed a second chance when I was when I was young and uh so I got a real

heart for that to be honest with you I'm hoping that a lot of people a lot of these uh young kids get get jobs through

jump start I was also stupid well we've

we've there's a lot of us that have been in that in that realm and needed a second chance and Florence's given us

that second chance um so the uh I'd

rather I'd rather my floor I'd rather rather have my new hire pay me for training course five weeks free of work

yeah well I think that that uh you

know lot is the opposite of apprenticeship yeah good helpers and get them trained

up though get them plugged in um you know that's a big part of like our

future flooring success a big part of it is getting the new hirers hired like the

new people in our industry re hired so uh I don't know maybe we can work together Ken it's always fun when you

you get on these podcasts and you're like hey Ken's doing this thing maybe

one of the things that Ken can do uh is help help people get hired and as well

as help your any of your clients you know find the new talent coming in the

industry right all these things tie together too it's just like you know this is if if were to all work together

very fluidly I bet you this would lift the industry fairly quickly everyone can feed off of each other's programs and

feed into it and plug each others in and and it would well it takes a little time because we all what happens is we all

start these things and we we meet at conferences I know Ken and I have had a few conversations and it's been really

positive but you know you get back to work and you get to work um I think that it'll start to Jael what Ken's doing is

awesome the installers absolutely need a resource of someone uh you know that's

gonna yeah I know you you're you're closed lip about the ideas anymore but

um you know helping installers to pick the right path even um and and giving

them the resources to where they can possibly start their own business start buying materials because you have vendor

connections these kinds of things um you know I anything for entrepreneurship for

me is a positive and anything that's going to make an installer uh a better

installer uh is is another one and I think hiring the new guys getting people who want to be in floring is a is a

decent start definitely definitely oh and you know what like we we we joke around

about you know how people interact with everybody and everybody's concerned about their competition but you know I

made this comment earlier this week I said the people at the top are collaborating not competing compete

competition for the bottom theaters and that kind of sent some waves over the uh

Facebook Airwaves earlier I missed that that's that is true man very very

true I I missed that post that was uh that probably did send some some Shock

waves through you know the the the funny part is is if it's factual is when

people get offended when they should be appreciated you know facts and people get offended because

nobody likes to hear it like that I guess but that's the way you said that is absolutely true like you're right

they're collaborating not competing well why look at look at the top flooring companies in the nation they're all part

of either starnet or or fuse Alliance uh the top retailers are either part of CCA

Global or sha floring like they're all part of something they get together in annual events and they collaborate they

talk like at fuse conferen says we don't we don't if someone says hey what do you

got going on what kind of jobs you doing we're not like oh well I got this National job I'm working on no we share

all that and we we all interact and work together to try to get better you know it's funny to mention that because we it

that travels through to all the way down to installers single installers you know

every every summer every you know mid July um I host something here called we

call Jersey night and we invite anybody in the industry whether it's in Star

Wars rips you know if you're in the area you're in South Jersey M Jersey night um

you know we just we have it at a local Irish pub and we sit around and have food and drink beer and we just talk

shop and there's no you know you don't have to present you don't like we're

just sitting around like it was just a bunch of this of barbecue and you know the number of installers that what in

any other space would call themselves competition um you know here for some

reason if you're inside this circle you're just part of the network you're part of the family and you know I can

reach out if I need help or you know people have reach out to me and you know even the Reps will come out and you know

we'll talk shop with them and it's just a totally different vibe when

everybody's on the same page you know well it does it does give the better

Vibe when everybody's sitting there communicating and sharing War Stories and sharing Solutions and and and and

that's what helps the industry grow it doesn't matter what part of the industry you're in but that's that's what everyone needs everyone needs to hear

what they experience and what they've done because it's going to relate to someone who's currently going through

all of that and that's where everything that you're doing comes in handy because it's at someone's

fingertips they don't have to find uh failure in order to find that path to

success right they can no there there's around it a little bit yeah we're out

here we're looking to help like we want to see people I want to see everybody succeed I want to see every installer on

every job site never have a failure never have an obstacle they can't reach

I want them to know that we're here and we have the resources to

help yeah and getting together is important in one way or another and it

goes back to your collaboration um you know getting together and collaborating means you're talking about things that can benefit

another person and so you're telling someone good information that might help

them become uh a better flooring installer a better contractor a better

rep if reps are coming to it so that collaboration and and freedom of of

speech I would say you know like freedom of of talking where you're not feeling like you have to govern everything is

that's really cool Jersey nights well if you're in Jersey in June is it July mid

July ju mid July in Jersey stop by and and uh hook up with Ken but you know

what we have I've had reps come from across the country just for Jersey night we had Chris from came all the way here

for Jersey night we had uh the Bostic guys out from wossa come in to Jersey

night like people people travel for it man it's it's it's a special thing um I

I all I always get excited I'm glad to hear that that's that collaboration that

getting together is kind of the core of what CFI is doing with their local

chapters again trying to reignite the local chapters I shouldn't say try and Rollins doing a great job of like

placing and getting the local chapters back up and running and I think that's a you know all of those types of things

are uh going to be positive influence to the industry um you

know big big part of of what we do over at go career is just try to separate the

oil and the water and neither one is bad but you do need to know if you're working with a a really really high

quality highly certified kind of installer if you're working with a more maybe a newer guy into the industry and

um you know all of those types of deals all of this stuff is going to gel I'm not sure when uh it's it's all going to

kind of come together but uh the industry's been screaming for stuff like what you're doing Ken and what what

we're doing at go career and what you guys do all the time Daniel and Jose and getting out and training and teaching

and giving your knowledge away um I like getting on the podcast and talking to people trying to do positive stuff in

the industry and so it's pretty cool Rollin said he's got 10 up and running with more being talked with so yeah

yeah he's he's a rock star uh thank you Rand for doing that he's he's getting

them together and and I know that there's some others I know we're trying to um

witcha one CF CFI guys should be reaching out to you Rin about getting

the local chapter fired back up here too so uh what else we got guys we got about

13 minutes and we can cut her off early but if you uh if you have some really

cool stuff to talk about or not I was gonna ask if he if he's had anyone like

talk to talk to you about not trusting AI still so you know I and it it does it

does come up um but you know as as far as as far as the B's best site is

concerned and our specific technology um you know I said from the start it's a guided text so every

question that comes through we see and I can jump in and I have the ability to

like give it feedback give the bot feedback you know give it a yes or a no that's a good answer it's a bad answer

and I can respond to the user directly you know with the correct answer um but

it's a resource it's like anything else any other form of technology that we've seen you know from the initial um

introduction of the internet to you know the search engines the first you know the Yahoo the sges the Google as they

came along you know you're going to learn how to use this technology and use

it properly are there glitches are there thing like have you ever plugged in a Google Search and it didn't really give

you what you were looking for the AI search Bots do the exact same thing and

you do have to kind of you know tweak your question a little bit and you can kind of guide it to give you the right

answer but it's the more you use it the more you integrate it integrate into the

technology the easier it becomes it's like anything the first first time you use it it's going to be a little quirky

but the more you use it the more you get used to it the more you can make it useful for

you yeah one of the like just for emails I was talking

to Jose yesterday and he's like I had to put this email in there because I sounded like an a-hole and I need to we

we don't call it chat GPT we call it Chad Chad well you know and it's even with

this short am of time that we've had chat GTP um you know you find different

uses for it that you didn't really know it could do like I was um oh I was

trying to change the belt on my lawn mower over here and I don't know anything about that stuff so like I'm

going through YouTube videos and you know trying to get this and like something I couldn't find this this one

little aspect that was holding me up and um bro it's called attenion pul so I

took a picture of it I plugged it into J chat dtp and I I typed in how is the

belt supposed to fit around this one part and sure enough it spit it out

right like that and I was like huah to take that picture that I sent it

Point like it was literally my finger pointing to this part and it knew like how to help me and

like it wasn't so it wasn't just answering a question it wasn't like asking you know for the correct

terminology it was able to pick up on that silly little picture that I took

and you know I got the job done I was able to do it and it's not anything I mean I'm not going to go start a

lawnmower repair company by any means but like it got the job done it helped me and I you know I had to learn how to

kind of tweak my question to get the response that I needed you know yeah I

get cool that's I totally understand that you're right and and sometimes you said tweak your question right like you

were talking about the Google sometimes your question has to evolve right you start finding uh better terminology to

plug in through your Google searches until you just get really like well that's that's how chat GPT works I mean

you you you've got to train it a little bit before it's going to actually if you're using it for a specific manner uh

you can train it a little bit to to to talk more like you or do do

to give you the right answer even if you don't know what you're looking for you can ask and you can change how you ask

um and the same is the same as with arbot and I mean yeah it's based off of the latest GTP but I mean it's kind of

you can kind of input additional queries we'll say what to um kind of modify the

response yeah and you know I've asked chat GPT how to ask

something or what's the best prompt to use for XYZ or whatever so there's a lot

of there's a lot of uh a lot of that technology used in like information

technology like using Gathering the information in a way that's palatable to the user and um I'm a I'm a big

proponent of that kind of stuff I I uh I've saved a lot of time uh writing you

know emails or or responses legal resp responses to to different things that

come across and happens in business so yeah that it's evolving for sure and I'm

sure it's the same with your your um you know your chatbot being it's it's

learning as it goes I'm sure that as you give a right answer it's considering that right answer if it's giving the

wrong one and you have to step in that it it's learning from that stuff so it's

kind of crazy for sure for sure all right guys well we have come to the

end here Mr Daniel and Jose thanks as always for joining even out on job sites

with that beautiful background Ken thanks for joining us

again it's a it's always a pleasure to chat with you man I love think like getting in your brain a little bit and

and hearing what you got going on well careful that could be a scary place

that's that's why Daniel hasn't answered yet if he if he didn't already because been doing that right

there yeah so how much longer you got out there Daniel

forever no everything should be done as much as it can this week but then we

start um another big one next week so right back

at yeah all right well that's that's uh that's your man right there out on the

field preaching what he teaches or teaching what he preaches or whatever

way that goes practicing practicing do doing what I do doing what he do all

right guys hey it was a pleasure chatting with you guys today and for all the audience thank you for joining us

and Rolland had to run and get chicken dinner so he said have a great night guys can buy those fire bro the

rotisserie rotisserie we will chat with you guys next week every Tuesday at 3 pm

Central thanks everyone see you a

The Huddle - Episode 114 - DIY Gone Wrong

In this episode we explore the comical yet instructive world of DIY flooring projects that go hilariously off course. This episode illustrates how seemingly straightforward tasks can lead to dramatic failures without a solid grasp of the necessary materials and techniques. We uncover the pitfalls of underestimating the complexities behind flooring installation. Tune in for an entertaining look at these DIY missteps and discover why professional insight is essential for perfect, enduring results.

The Huddle was created by Paul Stuart of Stuart & Associates and Go Carrera, alongside Jose and Daniel Gonzalez from Preferred Flooring. Aimed at helping you maintain forward progress in your flooring career, they cover topics from personal and business growth, to installation tips & tricks and everything in-between.

Want to be a guest on The Huddle? Email thehuddleforwardprogress@gmail.com today!

Create your FREE Installer profile at https://gocarrera.com and become part of the future of the industry TODAY!
GET TRAINED! Find a list of training dates here: https://gocarrera.com/resources/training/
https://www.preferredflooringmi.com
https://www.stuartandassociates.com

what's up team welcome back to the Huddle we're your weekly Playbook where we not only strategize on playing the

game but changing it for mastering the fundamentals of the craft to distinguishing ourselves in the

marketplace we're here to give you the installer of voice and ensure you're equipped with everything you need so

band together with us let's start a new Legacy in Florine this is where you belong welcome to the team team speaking

of team we're a little shy on the teams today we uh it's Mr Jose Lake Gonzalez

and Paul Stewart with you here and I'm I'm the reason why we're

logging in late my bad well this episode uh kind of relies on more than

one person so I'm not going to lie I was like well we may have to postpone be the

first time we've done that in a long long time but uh so who's with us today chat us up let

us know who's out there um unfortunately Mr Daniel Gonzalez have

preferred Florine is not able to join us but it's for a good reason he's out in

the field running and gunning and trying to uh get the get the uh client taken

care of what's what's up peeps what's up horge Hey Kevin what's going on man

what's going on gentl Kevin is um with Roberts and one I I would imagine

preparing to go Musky fishing here pretty soon I just got back from a trip uh last

week from from uh Canada doing some pike fishing it was pretty

fantastic and uh musky and Pike are in the same family I don't know did you

know that Kevin I was taught that one has six sensors and one has four or

something like that on their face speaking of face there's a little pie on

some people's face today we're going to be looking at some DIY yeah fails um this makes me smile I

I want to be clear we're not just here to poop on or Uh crap on the diyers out

there uh but we're going to show some videos and and just kind of chat about

them at the end of the day it's all for fun but at the same time if you are a

DIY out there and uh you're curious on um how to

do things right uh watch this

podcast Kevin says Ready Go judge the Midwest Regional competition that's

where the pros are at right now yeah that's the one our indust

where's that at I think it's in Illinois um I don't know exactly where yeah but

um I do know that uh our friend Jeremy Glover was supposed to go there but just recently had a accident in a softball

tournament so he will no longer be able to compete at the

Regionals ah what' he do uh took a took a ball to the face oh

c are you last straight straight line drive third baseman or oh no he was just

coaching the base but I told him not to tell anybody that told him you gotta have a cool story behind that bro you

can't just get hit in the face and get bones broken and say I was I was just

not paying attention H well I took a line drive to

the shin once when I played on the construction League of softball and uh then everybody

started making fun of me because I started wearing soccer shin pads to play

cuz I was a third baseman man one line drive to the shin and I had enough yeah

I mean and I didn't grow up playing uh baseball or anything like that I could throw the ball hit the ball you know but

pretty construction League level player here yeah so so just just a wreck ball

player mean just that's it just wreck yeah that's um

it's fun until you get hit with the ball yeah no doubt so I never did

mind I was stupid though I thought a good play you were

stupid for what because I didn't I wasn't scared of the ball but then again I wore a mask

and a helmet so yeah you were a catcher or what no I was a pitcher for for pitch

and yeah I just I got geared up I wore lacrosse shinguards I

wor you're man after my own soul then oh yeah yeah I wore a mask and then a full

helmet um yeah I was uh Good Times all right well power to

the pros out there in softball and in floring uh we're going to watch a few uh

DIY videos I'm going to share and we'll just comment now let me set this up we

can pick apart everything uh but I also would like to see if we can pick out

some things they did right or that we can appreciate yeah so we'll start with

this first one uh here's how easy it is to install your

own flooring here's how easy is for you to

install flooring all by yourself in your own home that's clever hey I'm Alex I'm a diyer and my mother-in-law and I are

teaching my friends how to renovate their basement themselves as you can see we've come a long way and today we're

teaching them and you how easy it is to install H Flooring in your own home the first thing you need to know is that no

wall in your house is ever straight so the first thing you got to do is snap a straight line down the center of your room and you're going to use this as a

reference and these spacers along with some shims to make sure that that first row lines up exactly he's trying to square

every single piece of flooring you lay will slowly get more crooked and once you have that down here's how easy it is

to install H Flooring I mean just right here you can see how it just goes together like a puzzle piece they're also really easy to cut you just need to

squirt with their knife and then don't do this like I said super easy now I know what you're thinking what about the hard

cuts and this part doesn't need to scare you it's really simple just use a jigsaw even Sophie can do this she's never done

this before and look at that cut now once you hit the open field you're going to get on a roll and you're going to feel like nothing can stop you and even

these little cuts that annoyed you before are just going to be become trivial honestly I think my favorite thing about flooring is you don't need a

ton of tools to pull this off here I am using the multi-tool to make this cut you can honestly use whatever floats your boat but just crank it out and

eventually last pieces which you might have to do a little sliver cut but that's no big deal cuz once you finish

it off let me tell you you're going to feel like you're on top of the world and you just completely transform your room I mean look at where we started and look

at where we are now this B all right so Florine man was a disaster three months

ago one thing about floring is it makes a a huge difference in your your house

there's no doubt about it it doesn't matter where where you are your your home your

office yeah like you know in all the the videos

watching it I couldn't help but think I wish my my installers were this happy

putting this stuff in every person I know it's a video but every person's like hey look how easy this is and

they're putting stuff together of course a lot of you know a lot of uh rookie kind of

mistakes sure uh like you know like just going you end up

with the sliver because you didn't do anything to lay out yeah there you know what I mean so you know there's a couple

couple red flags in there that's for sure just like yeah how you gonna hurt your body ripping the carpet up like

that cut it um the layout at least he did say snap a line because nothing's

straight he did say that yep I I I thought that was good he

at least thought he at least made a true statement no wall in your house is going to be straight that's usually pretty

true you know even new homes I I don't want to bash him too too bad on there

right like it's there just a little bit more to it than that everyone it's just uh you know know that that the wood

floor like I didn't see them cleaning it like but it's a video right so they might skip that part um I was I would

have been looking at all that paint and all the the joints and well there

there's the key with uh with all this DIY is there's no one to hold responsible so it's easy to skip steps

and boy you have those same people pay somebody do it and they they

are you know what I mean like hey why aren't you catching that little crack or

what now this was a floating floor with a cork back looks somewhat similar not to say it is Shaw's core Tech I'm not

saying that whatsoever I'm just saying something similar to that um but like

Roland said he'll wait for the inspection to come his way there's been a few times I've had uh customers like

general contractors who actually kind of have some construction knowledge you know uh they'll install their own floor

and I had one I don't know it's been a couple years back but uh you know he had

major problems with it it was only because he was a GC that the store ended up replacing it for him but he had

bought the materials from a store and installed it himself and it completely failed some of it's due to stuff like

that so that one that one was pretty funny I'm gonna I'm gonna play he was he was really happy though you're you're

absolutely right like look how look how much fun they were having oh one more thing just super quick if you're going

to glue down your floor that was a floating floor I'm not sure Rand might be able to actually answer this but um

you know Paint Marker these kinds of things on the floor even on a wood floor I found

out uh can bleed through your Vinyl Products now that's a little bit

different with the floating SPC but if you are gluing down a vinyl and you have you know markers or paint and then you

put down a glue or even spray spray spray paint guys like spray paint will come through yeah the adhesive through

what plasticizer migration will draw that through the material to the surface because right to the surface I was just

on a job I suspect is the same thing it's got these circles and it's kind of orangish color and I thought I

thought did they spill iodine she's like we don't use iodine like oh okay well

that that explains why it's not a puddle look and it's like a circle look and then I've seen some other like designs

and it's always in like a circle or something it was almost like whe whether it's a flooring guy or someone else you

know was marking something out like that sounds like a sounds like they're marking out the sprinkler heads is what

that sounds like with the circle yeah we got a head right there Circle got a head right there yeah

so don't do that last thing you want is some guy uh spray

painting on your floor working its way through your flooring now again that was a floating floor so probably no no worry

but Rolland just says yep it can bleed through a vinyl floor even if it's a glue down lower Mill plank no my my

question is can it move through an SPC or a floating plank rolling uh glue down

uh I know for a fact can but uh let's go to the next let's go

to let's see this

okay oh let me I've gotta do a share here let me

share this one yeah I'm glad I'm glad you're here see Daniel this is why we need you Daniel where you at bro

yeah no idea well at least she admits she never research multiple YouTube

videos we're going to try this what I did first was vacuum all of the leftover debris from the carpet and I had no idea

if I wanted the floors horizontal or vertical but thank God I chose horizontal I don't know I just think it

looks better everything that I have here I ordered off of Amazon was great these is their peeling stick so it makes

everything 10 times easier and supposedly they're waterproof and SC I started with the closet first and what I

did was work in sections I had to cut some strips in order for it to fit lined everything up as perfectly as I could

could so that way the lines on the floor were straight and even there is a little gap between the baseboard and the floor

itself there was carpet in here it doesn't look terrible but a lot of stuff gets underneath there so I don't know

after I was done I swept everything moved her dresser back this is how it looked before I put in the flooring and this is how it looks now I think this

looks amazing and I love it don't be mad at me cuz I only did the closet I'm a mom of two okay so come back for part

three to see the results and come back for part four to see the failure okay

dude uh kudos to her for

uh for trying for setting that up that she is not a uh she had never done

floors before but couldn't tell couldn't tell couldn't tell look Pro to

me so rolland's uh answer is no it will not move through a floating floor so

there's your your answer I I suspect it as such although

maybe without completely crapping on that previous chick um and hey these V

these videos nine million times the amount of views our podcast gets so I

know I know dude dude whatever uh maybe making a ton of mistakes and and and uh

doing something fun hey same thing look she looked like she had a smile on her face the job did look better at least

for the time being um she was living her best life yeah

carpet like Jorge said an e for effort ah man hey I so she did she did

good by by putting forth effort and her Cuts did look pretty good against that trim she didn't put any shoe down um so

there's a couple scissors too dude she was using scissors come on you guys you know you know

because her hands probably from using a a utility knife I don't know um she did use a square right

did I see a square there I don't know I'll I don't know it may be better that

you use a pair of scissors if you've never laid flooring you don't want to end up cutting your finger

off yeah I don't know how long the scissors are going to last but

when when they go dull from cutting like this you can always just turn them and and just scribe on it and snap I guess

whatever works Jorge says that I feel that woman that women actually do more

DIY stuff than guys and since they're always right this is a good installation oh I agreed that was pretty

funny though I'll tell you you might want to Prime stagger your joints and um

put a a better subfloor down for one that that's yeah I mean what happens uh

for any diyers that may be watching which I doubt but if you watch this on YouTube and run across it uh because

we'll hashtag this Tik Tok maybe uh what happens is the she she at least vacuumed

I'll give her that you get the dirt out from in the in the um the crevices you know the so yeah uh

if she would have primed and staggered her joints um I I forgive the the

scissors I think you use what you can and kudos to her for getting it done um

like like Jorge said a lot of guys won't even touch stuff and so if the if the

women are in there actually giving it a shot hey yeah yeah he's got a point there um

for for anyone out there who who is listening and thinking about it though make if you read the instructions that

come along with that there's a lot of things that she didn't do that are like right on that piece of paper that's

inside in between all of that plank um and that's gonna make her break that

like the stuff already the peeling stick not my cup of tea I would

always Veer away from that personally um well but I mean you can say it straight

pilling stick is not I mean it is a DIY product um because they want to take the

trial and the adhesive out of the issue anybody can paint so you paint on a primer peel and stick it down there

there are some commercial grade peel and stick though where the system is very aggressive as long as you're following that system correctly um I I will say

that and uh those are okay yeah well uh pill and stick vinyls

I'm not a fan of I don't care I don't care if it's commercial or not now there some pill and stick carpets that I know

that you'd lose your mind but that like Collins and Aman is now tandis they're pill and stick I mean it works you use

seam weld but um jge said it's monolithic bro it was monolithic well

kudos to her for giving it a shot let's see if we I bet you she could

become a really good weekend warrior if you give her just a little bit of time a little bit of your time and education I

bet you that uh she'll get better quick you she checked two boxes yeah she was

happy doing it uh and she put in the effort

yep so check two of my boxes that I'd love my guys to

do let's check this next one out this

[Music]

[Music] he seems so happy man I love

these it's just that that looked pretty dangerous look he didn't have to use a

square

[Music] okay what's going on

[Laughter] here oh is that what those things are for

that's he is so happy put a little transition

in I mean on a wood floor

um oh my goodness well that's a guy dude you know

I'm not gonna say he did uh I'm not gonna say you're happy so it's

acceptable um so same same issues as the other one

right no primer no nothing the uh the freehand thing and that's he used the

utility knife though he he did you know and um he used one of the uh the the

foldable ones with the quick detach blade yeah I mean that's hey some of

those are made pretty well two things what was the marks on the second

run the marks I I must have missed that one I think something and he marked down

the second one and then I I wasn't real sure why why that was done but you know

if you just if you have a full plank in the back of the of your of that closet just start off with a nine incher and

then take a new piece cut it and then start start running your random yeah uh

random floor for all the kids out there are better looking floors which means

each row whatever you cut off you start with and then run to the next one as long as it's not within the your seams

do not line up within the width of the plank so if you got a seven inch plank you want your butt joints at least seven

inches apart not all seven inches apart though you got to create the not all

juster yeah yeah then you run that row and you know you you can you can do it

random other ways but um random is a good way to save

materials and Rolland said he thinks she is a on Hammer [Laughter]

installer one scissor she's one there you go hey this

uh another I another happy installer right there so there's a a check boox

for that guy for being so happy uh I would say you can undercut your door jams with a

multi-tool and get look yeah uh for the diyers use a jamsa

or don't use a jamsa use a multi-tool please yeah that's all we use now we have the big Jam saws the powerful ones

we have the old school jam saw where the blade you know you can flip it they're

dangerous they they're dangerous if you don't know what you're doing uh yes they are or if you catch a

16 penny nail uh as you're trying to undercut your jam so you know no harm no foul

with an oscillating tool like a multi-tool yeah use that set a piece of

scrap material run your multi-tool on top of it to cut your your jam and it

works in tight Corners like that closet yeah and uh chip out the little pieces

your material slide right in you can just make a little L cut you will never see it it'll be up under the jam it'll

look like the the jam was built on top of your flooring there you go I I will

say that one of the tricks that that we've learned over time is once you get the initial cut and you take your piece

out slide your template piece piece under there or your sa piece under there and then use the oscillating tool again

to get that because sometimes it it does push it down at an angle a little bit um

Square it up nice with your piece and then you can slide your cut piece in there really super

easy yeah so there's some DIY

tips for the uh for the gentleman and then he I don't know what kind of transition that was but he he was very

happy gluing that sucker down down um I wonder why it didn't start right off of

that it looked like it may it was probably uh you know the same thickness

it appeared so uh I don't know um and I know that

they do make tracks that you secure to the the floor especially Overwood that you could snap that transition right

into um that makes life a lot easier you could put the track in first and build off the track I am noticing that theying

off of it they're working off like they're working away from themselves in every video so far um so so far they're

they're not uh you know of course we all may be doing that if if the standards

change on sheep on vinyl plank to a semi or a full wet

set or yeah working on on uh this

dispersement boards or you know working off the material

pushing Jorge says when peeps do uh our DIY feel that at the end of the day they

feel happy they did their own install but they are also willing to accept failure and live with it I think for the

most part you're probably right uh I don't know about the failure they're

going to accept it more than if we go install it and they and they have a failure for sure but it's pretty

um I think it's pretty satisfying most of these jobs we're looking at we can

laugh all we want the fact is the room does look better with new yeah than it does with with uh you know

the old rusty carpet uh you know messed up floor I

would say just about every DIY is vinyl

plank I have yet to find a DIY doing sheet vinyl just yeah I'd like to see that I

would I'm I'm hoping that we run across one

uh but we'll see look at there's a [ __ ] guy right there Mr Jeremy Glover what's up

Jeremy made a little comment right there look at that Jeremy I'm not a fan of what's he

say here what he say a fan of the plastic track I'm not a fan of the plastic track system I I like the screw

down ones fair enough fair enough I'm glad you're alive

Jeremy I heard you took a softball to the Dome dude right to the

cheekbone you know what though I will say that through all the trauma he's had

it still hasn't shut him up that's a talent that's the talent you got there

that's the determination that's check mark three we watch all these videos and all the

comments and we might have an installer all right let's let's check

out this next video I'll try to keep the facial expressions to a minimal this time

well that's part of the sun okay I'm using a fi installed new

flooring in our daughter's room for under 180 bucks first we ripped out all the old slime covered carpet and the

tack strip using a pie bar and a hammer and the Builder that also put the tacking on top of the threshold so I had to cut the vinyl back straight and

scraped all the glue residual paint and texture that was left over on the concrete I used this fible floor pad

from dap to fill in all the nail holes from the tack strip it dries fast and you can just scrape it to make sure that

it's nice and level and to prep the floors I mopped it really really good and then I used a self-stick tole primer

which is a latex coating that you apply to the concrete to make sure the ties stick firmly then I found the center of

the room and laid a chalk line down so that I could start laying my tile out from the center of the room from that

line we have vinyl flooring throughout our house and love the durability but a dollar a square foot for this peeling

stick we just couldn't pass that up and the install was so easy Emily actually did most of it so make sure you're

following us for the final room reveal you're not going to want to miss it all right so I will say

um that dude did a lot of things right might not have finished

them to to the level of acceptance that that we'd like to see but man he was

definitely a lot closer yeah well he he cleaned up the uh

cleaned the floor he freaking mopped it got it all clean

patched his holes I mean he used he used that but I mean he patched the holes

scraped it so that it was level with the concrete scraped up the glue and the I

mean he he did some paint yeah I mean did some can't knock the guy on that uh the

primer right is that I'm pretty sure that's what that was he encapsulated the floor um yeah so that way I'll give I'll

give him one tip you can take your Center Line and transfer it over to your doorway so you don't have to walk and

and contaminate all your primer and then you can just lay right out of your

hallway doorway right into the room and uh you know not have to have so much

traffic on your primer but that was that's all right man I I I'll give him a on a DIY level I need to find out how I

can do this now because I think I just screwed something up I'm like okay but on a DIY level I'll give

him a I'll give him an eight yeah he did pretty good man and um I will say hopefully he waited

for the floor to dry after he bopped it hopefully he did so I would say diyers

if you're going to if you're going to put introduce moisture into the concrete like that you you have to wait for that

to disappear before you do anything else especially that primer

yeah yep I think I may have found something that we can play with

some sheep on and we'll find out yeah I don't even know what you're on right now so I'm these are all my first time

seeing it so if this is your first time seeing all yeah yeah I I I've pre- just loaded like

three or four okay yeah and then uh most of them I haven't seen before

so oops I wonder why that's doing that let me see here oh I know

why they got better music than what what uh what I got going to

their music is on par with our start music all right let's watch another one you guys got some DIYs put them on the

comments too we like to like a link to a video all right this says shout out to my roomie and the Lowe's people I don't

know what this means now I'm wondering if you lost this

St oo baby I am see you deliver I'm your

oo back that time goodbye now I'm back andh to cry oo baby

if I am time SE deliver on [Music]

your I can see signed bubbled

delivered yikes well uh

there is a sheet vinyl install

okay all right there's a lot to unpack there but there there is I want to point

out that there was another female doing it what's up dudes where's all your DIY

stuff but uh and she seemed really really happy

um she is going to be replacing that floor pretty soon with all those bubbles

yeah uh yeah so I'm

confused was she full spreading was she full spreading or or perimeter it looked

like it started as perimeter and then ended that last bit was maybe full full

spread where all the bubbles were so give her some feedback I mean um what

what could she had done next time next time do all the prep and all the cleaning before you put your vinyl down

um I would say that that looked like that didn't happen that she was like cleaning and gluing as she

went um uh how important is it to make sure you

roll the floor with some weight one hand in that that exension

one hand yeah yeah like get down on that thing and push those you know get so all

diyers out there if you're using adhesive like you H the the purpose of it is not just to have the pleasure of

spreading it the truth is is you

must you must get the adhesive and the floor to make good contact at the right

time yeah your will tell you that time maybe it's a semi wet set or a full PSA

or pressure sensitive adhesive either way you're trying to get that

floor bonded with the adhesive at the right timing yeah did look almost look

like some type of under layment that was a weird uh yeah it did too didn't it like

they put a bunch of Dependable or something or DAP in in the joints every two feet I don't know maybe what would

they were little squares of so I've ran into that in a couple places where they

built the home and and say we're going to an upper level like say they're converting an attic or something like

that and you can't get a full board up there so I've been to places where

they've had you know what I mean like that is you're

like taking it in your SUV and you ain't got room for a 4 by8 sheet and so it's all ripped smaller pieces or something

or the or the path to the room isn't big enough to make a turn with the long sheet uh I mean it's I've been to some

pretty weird installs uh you know like they used to make drywall back in the day drywall used to be two foot uh two

foot strips right and that's how you used to put it up um

but now now they got well what what what else I mean rolling

the floor was probably the reason so if she didn't depending on the flashing or

cure time of the of the of the product maybe it over maybe it wasn't a a full

PSA and it should have went in somewhat wet or poor poor substrate that was a

full PSA brother that I I there was the so you could save it heat that heat

those seams up or heat those uh bubbles up you might be able to save it a little bit make it look a little better anyway

yeah and I would say um the easiest way for me to explain here let me see if I can get this I'll

just do it do with a piece of paper a vinyl if you're you're rolling

it you're setting it down make sure that you're rolling into place and not flop

in it yeah don't pick it up and flop it that's how she got those those wrinkles in there because if if it is a PSA she

flopped it in and it touched right there that bubble is gonna be there you could try to massage it out but I would say

rolling it into place like that is a lot better than flopping it sometimes you

have to flop it make sure you have help yes very strategic and laying it in as

they say as opposed to flopping it is uh you're not putting carpet in so yeah all

right well that that was fun she see she didn't seem like she was having as good a time I must say and I don't blame

her I don't know what I don't know what these are gonna bring up dude so whatever she tried it though right like

she Vino like that you have one shot one one opportunity are we going to start

rapping are we going to Eminem right now Eminem

good so this guy at that he he does a bunch of stuff so he

was one that that uh this was the one I was going to show

a few of that uh was interesting was this one right

here which one which one am I looking at the one that's that's playing

oh [ __ ] did I Los us no can you can you I'm

I'm here oh I I shared the wrong screen that's the problem oh let me

do this hold on a second I'm gonna go find it and then I'll fix

it so through the technical difficulties thank you for sticking with us here guys as we learn how to do uh um screen

share we are deficient today yeah yeah

yeah okay I know which one it is I think and try this again

yeah now what am I doing why am I doing it like this look at that

Perfection that looks legit all right woo good job

Lauren wo good job

Lauren Lin oh please yeah put putting the laminate on

a ceiling and then nailing it it looked like she was holding it up for some glue too that that looks like a disaster to

me yeah I mean if it's actual laminate I I mean I guess if she treats it like

real wood and trim and give that room for expansion puts up some nice crown or

something like that it'll work but I sense that it's gonna fall down and hit somebody in the head we put we had a job

where we put uh engineered hardwood on a ceiling and

full glue nail assist but we we we made sure that the we were going we were

actually going with the metal studs and so we had them put every two feet a

furing strip maybe it was 18 inches a wood fur strip across okay the so that

we had something to nail assist into yeah to hold it up while the glue was

drying so we didn't like you know this was F 15 feet in the air you're trying I

mean how are you going to like hold it until the adhesive dries so it had to be a a staple assist actually it

was 716 I think engineered on a ceiling so that's the closest I've ever done to

that um we we've installed some uh uh LV lvt or plank right on the walls too

right but some manufacturers do have it listed on there that it can be used for a vertical

installation um if it doesn't say that chances are they just don't have the rate adhesive for that

application I guess that's where uh the brad nailer comes in she was shooting right through the face but hey in her

defense who in the heck's gonna see that from the ground if you're using a brad meiller so uh I don't know so you can always

fill it too I mean looking up the ceiling it's a laminate bro you put bro it l good when

it was done it looked good she's not shooting into into the right backing backer board or anything structural say

she shooting right the drywall that that Brad nail is not doing anything that's why I say that looks like a disaster

waiting to happen let's get hit somebody in the head like that stuff is I mean

that's a lot of weight up on the ceiling it looked like it was staying at the end of the video I would love her toout

happy she is happy I'd love her to shout out if that if that actually stayed these women are absolutely happy

doing this work yes and well here we only got eight minutes

left on this we we watched a few videos and got to have some fun but truth is

man kudos to everybody out there trying to do you know put put down a new floor

make your house look a little nicer kudos for jumping in and just giving it a shot I would

say to be careful that ceiling looks dangerous I'm just being honest like if

that glue those brad nails AR not going to like you were alluding to they're not going to stay not they're going to work

their way out of she Rock now she had the mindfulness to make sure she was hitting studs all right a little bit

different I mean you could also maybe angle them different ways every shot to pinch them in there create that tension

but but that's but through laminate at least it said laminate it could have been

anything but um I don't know that you're going to get a brad nail through laminate actually so it's probably more

like a click together vinyl plank on the ceiling I couldn't tell but Kudos

everybody giving it a shot the ones out there that do this for a living you could learn one thing they

people are having fun doing this job you can have fun doing your job you can enjoy what you do we don't have to have

a negative attitude about doing what we do there's a saying that says

um I don't I don't try to find passion in my work I bring passion to my

work B and right there is the key for all of us these people I I know it's fun

to do stuff you don't do all the time and you get that satisfaction that same

satisfaction they're getting is why I love floring when I'm done with something or I've finished something

that satisfaction of doing it is why I enjoy flooring so much it's what hooked

me from the very beginning and you can see why people enjoy doing this stuff

and we can too because we get paid for it on top of that so enjoy what you do

put a smile on bring your passion to work with you um and at the end of the

day uh all the diyers out there they I think that Jorge is right like they love

the satisfaction of doing something for themselves and more power to them if you do need professionals reach out to one

of your Prof you know a professional to uh do your floor and uh no better way to

know if they're professional or not and except with the go career Hammer rating

which can tell you whether or not they are actually a qualified installer uh we

are growing Leaps and Bounds the the network um but some interesting stats

out there some of these diyers might have as big as high a hammer ratings as some of the people on the network it's

incredibly insightful to take a a sample that size and see how low

trained we really are I don't think we really understand the level of um of Def

efficiency and trainings and proper education and flooring and we because we do it as a career and we get paid for we

got to make sure we're doing it right so make sure to reach out to CFI aft ntca

ctef uh the the organizations out there you can go to go career's training page and find a bunch of these organizations

and get your training get your um get your Hammer raing up bro yeah don't let

the diyers out out Hammer you yeah no doubt uh although scissors may may be a

deduction um and then shout out to jumpstart which

is uh the placement tool for the industry if any installer on here if you guys are installers this week we're

going live with jumpstart and jumpstart is at go cara.com

jumpstart you'll be able to schedule interviews and hire your next great helper hopefully the industry's next

great rate installer these guys and gals have been through some initial industry

training whether it be a 10 we five week type course uh a lot of it's

Hands-On um CFI runs a lot of it uh so I know aft does some ntca we're reaching

out to them to get some of their graduates uh through the ntca university see if we can get some of these folks um

in the ceramic tower War World on jump start as well right now it's

predominantly soft goods and you can hire somebody who's saying Hey I want to be in flooring so we are asking you to

participate with jumpstart I don't ask a lot of things I'm asking you to help the

industry get the new recruits placed and you can do so by going to go career.com

jump start so I'm gonna I'm going to go look

I'm going to see if we can get some people I mean like where else why not

where else would you hire from this we're we're so used to in our industry hiring from

uh working some customers what not much Rin some of the same hey we did put l we

did watch laminate get put on a ceiling but jump start is you know a

replacement for the way we've always done it we've always looked at our nephews and our sons and our grandsons

to get into the industry we've skipped a few generations of that the industry is filling it we're short Manpower now it's

going to get worse I know we keep saying that but it we've been on the we've been running uh the Huddle for going on two

years now and the the fact is is that the

the we can see the problem getting worse it's just it's a slow burn each year

people are retiring and we're not replacing them so what we're trying to do with jumpstart is put new recruits

out in front of uh installers new recruits out in front of flooring

companies and have you hire them they they went through some level of training they're saying I want to be in flooring

let's give them a shot let's get them recruited trained um and then Advance their work

really hard to advance their skills that's how we save this industry in my opinion

yep you gotta get gotta get outside that comfort zone right and uh I think uh we're feeling that heat right now too

because that that that Circle you said that that we're used to staying in you know that Circle can only go so

far it only lasts so long and um need to expand our Horizons over here as well we

all do I mean I'm as guilty as anybody I I created jump start a lot of what goers

created has been because of my own problems but jump start was it's clear

to me the number one problem with the industry uh this industry labor issue

the the singular like biggest Gap is placement yeah I mean where do the new

fcef graduates go to where do uh people that go through the five week initial

you know introduction to flor CFI where do they go where are they

going and if we're going to place them we have to have a mechanism to place

them help them be placed with installers with other subcontractors because they

install the most of our flooring most retailers don't hire employees and those who do have a pretty small staff of

employees and still supplement with subcontractors so if you're a sub out there the later later on this week you

can check check back anytime um uh get on go career.com

jumpstart let's say Monday of next week um and get on there schedule an interview

and let's get these folks hired yep everybody needs a place to go right and uh this is probably one of the

first times we've ever had a pool that we can look into and say all right who's in my area who's hungry who's interested

who's willing to relocate yeah for a good job you know I

mean um look if you're going the Craigslist

way and you're you're siphoning through 30 applications of cook line cooks and

people who have never touched flooring and never shown any interest but they just want out of what they are are doing

now that's one way to hire like find people who don't want to be in the situation they're in anymore I would

rather hire from people are raising their hand saying I want to be in this industry the the FCF and I know I keep

naming off the acronym companies but uh CFI AF all of them are putting in work

to recruit and train we just need to step up and get them placed put them with people right who will you know what

I'm saying if you get a new helper it's been doing uh went through a 10-week training course and you can move him

along that is no different in the way you do with your niece or nephew or if you're looking for a decent helper on

Craigslist which if you get on on Facebook and read the comments there's nobody happy with that like it's it's

this major problem so get on go career.com jumpstart and

support the industry it's our effort it's very very cheap it's 99 bucks for the entire year higher schedule

interviews 99 bucks is less than the sugar in your coffee let alone the C

it's not a coffee a day it's the sugar in your coffee a day and and you support the industry

we'll put your um we'll put your logo on our website um we have manufacturers who

are supporting us as well and what we're we're really looking at doing is opening

the floodgates of the new recruits to have them have jobs have them have a

place where they feel like they're going to get jobs so some of them have been uh

trained by Jonathan Bon some of them by Dwayne puit some of them by other people but the fact is there's plenty of

quality trainers out there that are are training I know Dave Garden does a lot

of the fcef I mean you're talking about Juggernaut daeve Garden come on yeah I mean the guy's awesome for only for only

27 cents a day you two can support the flooring industry yeah 27 cents a day I

mean it's cheap dude for that's is that even the right amount I mean

like9 divided by 365 it you know just over 2 27 cents man so round up for only

28 cents a day you could help a flooring installer who wants to create a career yeah and that's the truth these these uh

are you gonna have some you know people who don't work out of course we're all

going to have them but the key that we're trying to figure get started the the momentum we want to have happen is

people are getting placed and maybe we can give feedback to the training Community the training entities that

hey we need to add a profession uh you need to add a professionalism piece to your training because your placements

are are not staying very longer they're they're the the people hiring them are

saying they're underqualified even as a helper or something like that any of the feedback gets fed back to the entity

that can actually make the change so it'll create the metrics for them to hone their system for yield a better

outcome I mean that's yeah could said it better

myself all right brother well we are at that point yes we are the sign off well

it was a pleasure that was pretty fun I I um I know we walk the line of like crapping on people but also just kind of

talking about regular uh flooring topics and and the fact is uh the number one

lesson I can I can delve out of all that is how happy everybody was to do it and the satisfaction they get from

installing Great Floors so or installing floors I'll leave the grade off there for my Pros out there but you guys too

can be just happy and um I know that this business can be tough but um that's

that's the part we get paid for is the tough part let's put a smile on uh as we're doing it and bring our passion

with us there you go we'll see you next week my brother thanks for thank you everyone your time thank you to the

audience and the commenters I know we didn't get to all the commenters but appreciate your your uh participation

and we'll see you guys next week have a good one

The Huddle - Episode 113 - Blue Collar Cruise #2

In the next episode of our series titled Blue Collar Cruise, we continue our journey through the web and various publications to unearth and discuss more controversial topics relevant to the blue-collar community. This episode aims to provoke thought and encourage dialogue on lesser-known or often avoided issues that impact the industry. By shedding light on these critical subjects, we foster a deeper understanding and prompt a call to action among our listeners. Tune in to join the conversation and engage with the pivotal topics that everyone in the blue-collar sector should be talking about.

The Huddle was created by Paul Stuart of Stuart & Associates and Go Carrera, alongside Jose and Daniel Gonzalez from Preferred Flooring. Aimed at helping you maintain forward progress in your flooring career, they cover topics from personal and business growth, to installation tips & tricks and everything in-between.

Want to be a guest on The Huddle? Email thehuddleforwardprogress@gmail.com today!

Create your FREE Installer profile at https://gocarrera.com and become part of the future of the industry TODAY!
GET TRAINED! Find a list of training dates here: https://gocarrera.com/resources/training/
https://www.preferredflooringmi.com
https://www.stuartandassociates.com

what's up team welcome to the Huddle we're your weekly Playbook where we not only strategize on playing the game but

changing it from mastering the fundamentals of the craft to distinguishing ourselves in the

marketplace we're here to ensure the installers is is equipped with

everything you need let's band together and Forge a new Legacy in flooring this is where you belong welcome to the team

what's up guys how's it going it's good I always uh expect like

um Jose to say something you know right on the back side of that like oh there

he goes or just leave that too go my cheerleader all right well welcome

everybody uh to this week's episode of the Huddle and our second um episode of

the blue collar cruise we call it Cruise where we get on you know construction uh

oriented uh media find interesting topics and discuss them with you guys

and uh love to hear the comments and see the uh chat go crazy on some of these

things but um oops as as we are getting going what's up

there's Jose he's back man got the

so on this week's uh blue collar cruise we got a couple topics about

sustainability uh some of you guys may have had a patcraft rep come by and show

you their new products which is pretty cool if you are familiar with it talking

about expansion we hear all this bad stuff in the media every week and you

know here on the bluecar cruise we hope to bring you a little bit of sunshine in the construction world

and uh bring up you know the fact that

manufacturing construction is going through the roof

uh sharing a cool um a cool map with you that kind of

shows how uh manufacturing constructions going up and that that goes more goes

further than just manufacturing facility you know uh Daniel you guys do a job

maybe it's just a warehouse but there's always an office space in supporting uh subcontractors like here in witcho if

Spirit grows or Boeing grows what's up Jesus um well then so does a lot of the

manufacturers uh and suppliers to them uh which just has a cascading effect in

any given area you guys um you know what that's like I mean it's

not just because manufacturing is booming what what that creates is what is kind of

exciting yeah with every with every other business that that's going up and like you said at warehouse you know they

they also have a front end that has to run that that business in the front end most of the front end parts of those

types of businesses need to be comfortable in an office yep and then there's a cool bridge that

that we found a time-lapse video of uh which is kind of cool how they've built this thing we'll kind of share

that so getting started with the first

topic and this is uh sustainability topic and and the question that is posed

is can sustainability professionals help contract or save energy so first off we've heard this uh

green uh you know recycled content we had a episode about

recycling products and such um I don't know when was that Daniel like six

months ago probably yeah and this is just talking about

how the awareness uh is still increasing and

that nearly 60% of companies are striving to adopt some type of Greener

uh practices uh whether that's embracing sustainability in their manuf facturing

or using eco-friendly materials and uh designs you know one of the one of the

probably uh monkeys on contractors or Construction Industries back is when we

used to demo stuff we just demo a building and almost all the material just end up in a landfill today we're

recycling con uh concrete we're recycling there's people even recycling

the wood recycling uh metal studs and and all of that and flooring is not uh

you know void of this subject one example of this in floring is Pat

Craft's newly released resilient flooring product uh it's pretty much a

completely PVC uh free product called REM material uh it's full of

recyclable uh resilient n the cool thing is

they put the image on have you guys seen this I have not so they put the they

came in and presented to us about a week ago and they put the image directly on the backing so you don't have a backing

a film you know image film and then a wear layer you just

have the image printed on the product

and then their scratch resistant uh coating put over the top of that so it's really me minimalist in

design it looks the same it's got more of a satin finish and um it's really

cool it is 100% recyclable and uh made from polyethyl or

poly Olan sorry materials and 20% %

postc consumer recycled plastic my question to patcraft when this happened

with um when it happened uh when they came in

was performance-wise how is the product performing from a expansion retraction

and curling is the installation

sustainable so that's because we we've gone through that right when everyone you switches over to something new and

then you don't know the effects until later on yeah and I think in our other episode

we also talked about was the fact that uh you know how how easy is it to get

this material back to them to recycle so that's always a um I think

that's always a big question is it's great that it's recycled if you can return it um but patcraft has a return

Reclamation program uh where the product can be fully recycled at the end of its

lifespan so it's it's going to be essentially it would be made into

ecoworks product line um which is their recycled carpet packing so kind of cool

that Florine has I I think that's one of the attempts that Shaw's you know

leading and being uh sustainable I don't know that these I don't know these subjects

really hit home with a lot of a lot of us I'm not you know I think we should

recycle when we can but I also am not probably Mr

environmentalist you know well it's just becoming more common on job sites too especially like even when I'm going

through bid documents it says that you know the the gc's that bidding it has to have certain

dumpsters on site for everyone to recycle like you said all the way down

to even the concrete yeah so materials that can be recycled get thrown into one dumpster

and there's a trash dumpster is that right yeah and I mean they'll have a a

concrete dumpster a metal dumpster a cardboard dumpster and a trash dumpster

Y is that more common today is it continuing to get more very common

we have had that happen on a handful of jobs but uh usually it's a government work like on on mllo air force base or

something they they'll do that but uh and they'll have in the in the bid

documents too right that you have to recycle whatever you're ripping up like no if and your butts about it it's if it

costs you money they want that number in that in that contract yeah and I think that

contractors who get behind it understand that ultimately the adoption of sustainable practices isn't isn't just

about reducing their environmental impact it's about enhancing the

company's reputation and showing that it's uh driving Innovation and and trying to

find ways to make um sustainability provide some cost savings

as well I know that's one of the the big decisions for construction firms is to

invest in sustainable products and initiatives and people uh you know in a

strategic move to uh provide long-term economic as well as environmental

impact um but it's got to hit mass production everybody wants to do their

part yeah want everybody to to give them a little bit just everybody does a little

bit it all adds up but like as far as it like being common I wanted to add to that it was really breaking up on my

side but um it is very common to see them doing that but like you said it is more on the larger contractors or

government projects or state funded projects where it's built into the contract that uh the school district is

requiring that and um you know it's it's annoying when you do you on

what what's your what's your where do you guys stand on it what's your thoughts is it worth the extra time and

money that's going forward right now on uh you know and has been maybe for the

last five years more heavily I think anything that we can say from going into a landfill is a bonus to be honest with

you especially if it is recyclable why not and and all you're doing

basically passing the buck right you're you're you're charging them in order to do it because there's always going to be

some charges in there well sometimes I'll tell you that new lvt

from for me it's always like how is this going to perform you know how is the new

product going to perform past and better or equal to the previous product lines

um you know it's got to make dollar and cents uh I think so I wonder how many of

our of our audience Mr Flor Flor God is in the house uh have you guys installed

any sustainable products uh particularly if anybody's uh messed around with Pat

Craft's new REM material uh LBT it'd be interesting to know no I was looking on

the website though and it looking like um they actually planned for

um things to happen because they have a back bevel on it so that means that it's it's beveled so that way when it when it

does come together I mean the Top's going to be touching that a slight angle and with that

um that type of I mean you're talking about recycled material you don't know exactly how

that's going to do long term yet right because I mean if it's new we don't know how long they've been testing it they

may may have been testing it for a long time already but if anything environmentally happens they just have that cushion in there so if it's going

to expand and contract yeah I'm sure they most of the

manufacturers that took uh that took a beating in the first attempt at some of that sustainability stuff uh I think um

you know maybe are taking a different approach a more uh dare I say sustained

approach like get trying to get it right I tell you what it looks really like a

really nice product so

that that is uh that is a little bit in the uh environmental Zone couple new

projects that are probably worth bringing up that we found now this is Purdue University so Indiana they're

planning $239 million uh for re for construction and

renovation this came uh as a report by construction dive that Purdue has

outlined several key construction projects one of which is a uh

interdisciplinary life science research building which is on its own $160

million project uh the university got a little bit of State

support but they're also um touting this 140,000 square foot facility will uh

also uh be built in some sustainable Manner and looks like a 2026 completion

one of the uh topics that we love to cover here is just you know some of

these future projects I mean there that's nothing if you're not in Indiana

um necessarily but that's a huge project single single Source at $239

million and there's a lot of that uh which leads us into our next uh topic

which is the

um manufacturing boom so this has really been driven by what would you say Mr

Daniel uh trying to bring jobs back over here right yep there's been a big push

to get jobs back in the US plus the chip manufacturing you know all the scares of

being short of Chip manufacturing I I actually was uh fishing last

week um with a guy who used to build these types of plants for um out in um San Diego for a

big GC and he talked about how complicated a chip manufacturing plant

is but construction dive talks about the US has made significant strives in

revitalizing the uh manufacturing sector and it passed uh you know we we just

passed a 52 billion chips and science act uh that was maybe a year or two ago

uh yeah looks like August of 22 so some of these projects are coming out now and

the uh according to the White House this legislative push has driven over $ 898

billion in private investment across the country so it's it's stuff like you know

biotech uh semic uh semiconductor fabrication you could imagine all these

electrical Vehicles need electric vehicle batteries and clean energy uh so

these are kind of the underpinnings of this huge push this that's almost a

trillion dollars that's almost a trillion

dollars in in manufacturing or in in in money go

into uh us manufacturing so you know if you're if you're out there getting

trained in these uh you know being a highly trained installer you can take uh

advantage of a lot of these ESD floorings as well as most of these facilities have massive offices attached

to them or separate from them uh so you know there's going to be a lot of work for the flooring world through this as

well and I think it just bodess well to look at these positive aspects of the economy when we look at the economy

we're always told to bad on mainstream news but you know the truth is almost a

trillion bucks has went into this and the projects are starting to come out

we're talking about sensors and all this stuff uh that are you know these plants

are being made for and you know speaking of sensors one of the best sensors you

could have in your pocket as a flooring contractor is floor Cloud so floor Cloud's a proud sponsor of the Huddle

and you know their technology puts the job site readings right at your

fingertips let's watch a quick video about floor cloud and um all the benefits of having

that whether you're installer or a company run it

Ashlin fulltime monitoring of your job site conditions via desktop or mobile

device no more manual check checking for temperature humidity or even dupoint no

need for base stations Wi-Fi or external power sources simply scan the QR code on

the front of your sensors and you're up and running with the most accurate and Innovative sight monitoring system in

the flooring industry dispatch your Crews with confidence and reduce your climate related installation issues

floor Cloud now you know now you know now you know

yeah so we're gonna need that kind of Technology uh you know that FL Cloud

brings to the table anytime you do projects like this especially big ones I know you guys have

had good success with for cloud we deploying on a couple of bigger projects

we've got it on on three projects right now so even if it's like we we've already done the moisture testing and

monitored that right for for a while and then uh once it's once everything is

fine and we know you know I have my reports and stuff written up and everyone is good I go pull them out take

them to the next project so we've uh we pulled all the actual moisture tests out

but we still leave the monitor there so I can monitor the ambient conditions and

it it lets you know like on your phone this is out of spec range so that way we

can go to to the contractor and be like hey like if you want me there tomorrow you're going have to do something about

[Music] this well you guys have already used it more than we have and we are excited to

uh get our sensors and start deploying it uh I know that some of our uh some of

the training entities like aft and I believe CFI even are using it to kind of

like um monitor their their their uh training facilities and just show the

cool technology to to people so yeah get yourself a floor Cloud if you're a

flooring contractor uh get with Scott and Patrick over there at floor cloud.com and check it out it is a

savior floor Cloud seems like the commercial contractor savior uh I would

say yeah it's it probably say it definitely is a timesaver well they're not arguing so

those are the types of things with the numbers that that a big Point

too all right continuing on here with construction manufacturing boom one of

the cool things I wanted to bring up is that you know we brought up one of the

largest projects was going to be in Oklahoma City like the tallest building in the

well I don't know how Oklahoma is doing it right though they got a $620 million

norson project in Tulsa so this the Midwest area is getting some stuff

Aurora Colorado's got a $600 million Philip Morris International

facility and down in Stanford North uh Carolina there's a $530

million kaiwa Kiron uh manufacturing plant I mean that just shows you like

the the that's a those are hu those are huge numbers of commitment um you know to technology so

if you have if you're not embracing technology this goes back to several other of our podcasts if you're not

embracing technology uh this should encourage you to dip your toes in there because all

this is in support of sensors as I said um uh chip manufacturing

biotechnology electric vehicles and batteries clean energy which we touched on just a few minutes ago as well um and

and Healthcare will never stop either so I seen on there it says that you know there's uh 4.1 billion in healthcare

Manufacturing in North Carolina that's how big is that gez $4.1 billion Health

manufacturing center in Clayton North Carolina and that's where you know we we talked about

um like broadening your your horizon right and where you could if a lot of

these places that had polished concrete or epoxies or you know resonance

flooring and um we we ran into situation here at one of the battery manufacturers

where it was supposed to be rubber flooring all welded and they pulled it

from under us at the last second and switch it to

epoxy Y and there's there's ESD epoxies out there that that's what it was too

yeah and and it uh we ended up going back in there and I guess they said that after

they installed the epoxies there was bubbles six foot tall in some

areas in the epoxy in the epoxy holy moly how how is that possible

I don't know but he he that's what they said they were like this is what happened so they had to redo it they had

to redo it wow well floor prep is an important

part floor prep and uh and site conditions are an important part of uh

any flooring but it does show the uh the benefits I'll tell you when Amazon was

building all of their plants we we at our epoxy crew do all of the uh Epoxy

paint stripes out the lines yeah just that was like $100,000 worth of work and

we did it on three different Amazon projects so that's just uh opening your

horizons and and uh thinking outside the box a little bit so the chip act which

is the act that was really passed to address our concerns in America for

Semiconductor chips uh but it does State here that uh it's been a significant

Catalyst to all of this and has uh provided $ 52.7 billion for

Semiconductor research development manufacturing and Workforce

Development alongside that is a 25% uh investment tax credit for Capital

expenses in semiconductor manufacturing so we're going to be build building a lot of these semiconductor plants here

to subsidize our uh purchase of semiconductors from Taiwan

and um yeah so I thought that was interesting that you know one one thing

spurred that much growth and uh you know

goes to show you know the the economy is a little bit uh you know in question but

there's plenty of building in construction and your jobs aren't getting taken over anytime soon by AI

they got plenty of other bigger fish to fry than than us so we got a I don't

know man I seen the videos of robots doing like drywall and stuff already so yeah in very

uh very controlled spaces uh I think that it it the the problem is the site

uh they if you build offsite uh material or off-site buildings which I think would be a cool episode is to bring on a

builder that's doing the modular building you know they go they build this um we were planning in a planning

meeting with J dun on a facility a pre-bid planning meeting uh this been

quite a while back but it was talking about building parts of this

Hospital a lot of it was built offsite and then it ships to the and you just they just kind of bolted together even

some of the flooring's installed offsite and then you tie it in almost like mobile home or something so you know

we've also done a fair amount of work with a company called Redbox and they do

these uh blast resistant buildings so like uh F uh fertilizer plants and

foundaries and stuff like that they'll they'll they the office is built offsite

out of container materials it's not like they take used containers and make it

red box manufacturers containers as well but they'll take that and build it off

site the problem is the uh the technology for as far as like AI doing

your deal you could have a robot but a human still has to run that yeah um there AI as I'm talking about is like

you're just replaced with that uh robots uh you know they have the remote

controlled blasting machines and stuff like that I mean in essence Grinders

down machines now and Rollin says like all this is is great right so how is

this going to help the small mom and popop installers doing one room at a time some of them are starving right now

and I think that cuz people don't look you can't you can't just look at

one segment it is is way off just

because if are being kind

of a couple we were talking about

you know what what else can you put under in your portfolio so that way you can go out there and do something else

and it's probably um I in my opinion he's talking more

residential right or you talking about commercial doing one room jobs well even residential these these these places are

then to to boil it down to the small mom popper let's call it the retailer when

you build a new plant that that um that employ four or 5,000 people in an area

there's going to be a residential need for new new housing uh remodels

Replacements all that stuff to support that it is a cascading effect so that's

one way I would also encourage the Mom Pop to evolve a little bit and not you

know we have to to grow into new things and look at other opportunities out

there uh to to expand your business locally right now like what we're seeing

is we're not seeing a Slowdown in new construction you could you'll probably

end up seeing slow downs in remodels right but in the new construction there's still houses going up like they

can't even keep up with it plus we got apartment buildings going up like crazy like they just

sold just around here two or three golf courses and that's what their main focus

is is how many new homes or apartments can we put on these

things yeah I think that's where it helps the Mom Pop is yeah they're not going to go do the epoxy and a 200,000

square foot semiconductor plant but they're going to do the housing for the

the people who the workforce there and those are like guess what John says right here houses need to re yeah so I

remember when net apppp uh moved into our area their average job uh for their

they they were one of the Pioneers in cloud computing technology uh alongside

of um alongside Amazon I think or was

helping uh I could have that wrong but basically their average um their average

salary I can't remember how many thousands of job but their average salary job that they brought when they

moved in uh was 725 that's that's means there's a lot of

highlevel people making uh good money so you're going to have luxury housing you're G to have work uh the workforce

that's putting the stuff together at at higher wages uh demanding nicer homes or

at least nicer finishes maybe they buy a home remodel that thing I think it Spurs

a lot of stuff you know and you can't have billions of dollars run into a single facility and to um all the money

that it takes to to uh employ all the people to fill that facility and it not

have a cascading effect to the local economy so I think it's a good thing I was going to share a share just a map of

of the let me do this I'm G share a map showing the

so says on here

Bill buildings over there and hired very little people like they they brought in

their their own guys but it's still bringing people to the area so you're still looking at

Remodeling and having to change out some

flooring as as far as the jobs I I've been in some of those conversations like

locally when they're talking about you know building this and

that's like our city the first one of the first

questions they ask is how many jobs is this going to bring how much money is this going to put into the economy over

here yeah sometimes it's about local jobs being created sometimes it's about

bringing a higher population to the area as well when they do this a lot of times

a lot of the workers go to the plant from other areas uh which is welcomed as

well I mean the Mom Pop Shop uh I don't know about installer but the mom pop uh

you know um restaurant and there the if

people are moving into the area it they may not hire in the area all the time um

I think it looks like to me that rollin's talking about that they didn't uh hire very many people locally locally

yeah uh but that doesn't mean they didn't bring population with them that then spurred more uh demand for flooring

products and building materials in general but check this map

out these are semiconductor uh plants I mean

Texas Kansas has got Integra this is a big project that we're uh tracking heavy

on is Integra technology IES right here in my hometown another semiconductor

plant in Burlington Kansas and then up in Kansas City area they've got an EV

plant but look at this map you can see the up by that whole concentration right

there yeah up by you guys lots of EV plants up in

there Michigan EV plant like geez Ford Ur

uh Al what does that say alum

cells I don't even know like a dip [ __ ] I can't even read that but you know it's that but proof positive there's a ton of

semiconductor EV and and uh General manufacturing thought that map was

pretty cool showing you that all across the United States they're building these things and it's that new technology we

want to be on the Forefront we just can't have closed minds as as uh installers I think at the end of the day

there's going to be new products we need to have our eyes on I know I want to do a better job of like keeping my eyes

looking forward uh for new product lines new new installation methods Port

flooring ESD floorings uh you know epoxy coatings

I think we're going to we're we're talking about possibly starting an epoxy in-house epoxy crew and and uh focusing

on some of that poured floors um and then of course uh polished

concrete that's always a a big thing in these big manufacturing plants well

manuf are going from floor covering to

just don't have to it and then they start one day they'll start hating it again and we'll go in there

and and throw something made one cycle it's made one cycle I mean all of the

Kroger stores were were VCT or something like that and then they went to polish

concrete stained concrete and then they went back to lvt or they went to lvt

because every time somebody drops something on a stained concrete floor that has a high vinegar content which is

a lot of food uh it just you can't get rid of it it's this big splash Mark and

it's not ever going to get be gone and that vinegar eats the

stain so I I heard a story and we experienced one Walmart where they did polish

concrete because they kept having moisture problems and didn't want to mitigate and uh they had such a moisture

problem that the feet of their metal uh some of the feet on their metal started rusting and they were like oh crap we

got to do something and that's that St back to lvt now so it makes its rounds

um check this video out I'm GNA show you a timlapse video I don't know do we have

time we're we're running short I may leave that but I'll throw it up in the

uh the um see if

share this it's kind of cool these time laap time lapse

videos uh let's see if I can put this in here I'm trying to put it in the chat for everyone yeah if you want to check

out that uh that time lapse of this bridge that they

built um in buck buck Hamshire

uh 450 meter long Viaduct um or via deck was assembled in

three stages I watch a video it's pretty freaking cool um and then to the opinion

poll coming out of uh kind of uh construction dive they they put these

opinion polls up in different times and uh this one is successful mentorship is

a two-way street I thought it'd be interesting to kind of talk about this uh they call it bidirectional mentorship

and it's not just about uh not just valuable but essential for the future of

construction industry so traditionally mentorship has been

viewed as a one-way Street meaning I Mentor somebody where an executive or a

a upper level manager or something you know imparts knowledge in a junior

employee or into a um you know a new

person or or even a friend uh but approaching it where both people

learn because there's a lot I can learn from other people and I try to approach mentorship this way myself uh but it's

par they they say that having it go both ways in the construction industry where

we can learn from the younger uh col our younger colleagues as well to gain a

fresh perspective uh is particularly impactful and it shows uh the senior professionals

where they can gain that fresh perspective the construction industry is facing rapid technology advancements we

just talked about that and with all of that the younger crowd that is being

trained in these uh building Technologies how to build these big plants and stuff is and

prefabrication virtual and augmented reality and AI is taking a big step in

construction from the design and architecture standpoint so these younger professionals are more familiar with all

those Technologies and they're able to offer valuable insights to your more

seasoned um project managers or more seasoned Professionals in

construction um I think like just just looking at that like technology is huge

in that aspect right to where it's you can look at them for

guidance like professionally and then they have to look back at you and be like what else can I be

doing you know myself to to make everything better and more streamlined and that's where a lot of the technology

comes in where we can show the the older generation like look you can use go

Carrera and this is I mean this is a a conversation that my brother just had yesterday and you know they they call us

and they're like hey um we're a little slow right now can do you guys have anything and we're like yeah this is

what we use and they're like man is that really necessary and we're like yeah it is it makes everything more streamlined

like you don't it's a no-brainer the hardest part for most of technology is getting it set up initially after that

it's just keep on using it yeah there's always an adoption curve to all of it

and the the mentorship I think you know speaking of that and the adoption of

Technology ing how fast this stuff moves like John's talking about with one of

his fcef classes the truth is there's there you know we're launching new

technology as an industry um go carrera's launching new

technology um our adoption curve in our industry is going to equate to Our

Success I believe that a lot of this stuff has to do with listening to the younger guys coming out uh what do they

what are they striving for and many of them want to work the way they grew up

most of these most of the younger crowd has grown up with an iPhone or an iPad

or or a you know my four-year-old grandson knows how to go to YouTube like

literally find his video and go to YouTube and play it and then close that out and go to the next YouTube video and

there was a a teacher right and they I don't remember where I seen this but um she kind of

instead of doing lesson plan and you're like kids put everything away only pay attention to me she actually had her

lesson plan right next to just a video of whatever the kids watch on like

YouTube and stuff these days and she said that their attention span just focused right there even though they

might not have been looking at the lesson plan the whole time they did way better at the next test than they would

have if they so that that's yeah I think it's

easy for us to to say that's not the right way to to do things or that's not the right way to learn we I think we

need to be um or you know I strive to be a little bit more open-minded these days

than being uh closed-minded on things uh or say well that's not the right way to

learn that's not you know kids shouldn't be on their devices all day I agree to a

point like let's get out side and play but at the same time what industry are they going to be going into it's going

to be in those those industries that are if they're going to be successful they're going to have to understand

technology and Ai and and understand all this in 15 20 years it's going to be

drastically a different business landscape so you know all of the

companies and people who are open-minded and looking out in the future and really

considering what technologies can help connect us quicker provide efficiencies

and improve uh quality of experience for customers wherever that may be the

people and companies who are adopting that I think are are the ones who are going to not get left behind uh there's

always you know there's always casualties when change happens and I

don't know the answer to how to keep keep that from happening keep it from

having casualties but it is the unfortunate Truth at least to this point is when new things come about there's

people that don't adopt it and get left behind um and uh I'm not not sure that

you can save all those but my employ here on the on the Huddle and our our

approach has always been to at least consider the new technology EX at least

think about it give it a run uh get used to doing business in a

more Modern Way way uh whether that's reading your floor sensors from your

phone at dinner when your Crews on site getting ready to go on site like that's

a that's a huge time saer uh and it's a it's a big um you know it's a a much

better experience for the client other Industries are already doing what you're talking about floring is just or is

starting just needs a couple more kicks in the ass I agree John we're trying to

put the boots on uh just it's just hard in our industry because

it's unregulated compared to some of the these other ones and unmotivated in a

lot of ways I talked to a a good colleague that everybody would know if I said his name but I was just talking to

him on on the phone the other day and he said his efforts in in this realm in

training technology this kind of stuff uh he goes I know you know Paul with go

Carrera but it's like pushing a boulder uphill and it's a big ass Boulder and he

he's been in the industry forever and he he I don't think he can put his thumb on to why we're so resistant why are we so

resistant to new ideas and there's other industries that pick this stuff up like this and they

just you want to talk about being left behind we're the industry that gets left behind because we're so slow or I I

don't know I I don't know I but it ain't going to

keep me from still pushing the limits uh I know it doesn't keep you guys from

pushing the limits and um I think we're just going to keep keep doing what we're

doing because we believe in the cause uh uh keep trying to get better ourselves

and uh hopefully we bring a lot of people along the the journey and um my

my hope is that some other torches get lit and other people can start doing some cool stuff too uh I don't want to

rule the world I just want to get our industry moving forward um that's been

the the maybe the biggest um purpose of go Carrera is the fact is is you got to

be able to deal with people in a digital world and know who you're dealing with and that's the basis of what goera was

or is go career core is and we're just launching jumpstart next week the new

site will be live all the new students out of the fcef and CFI and everybody

that's going to be new out of the programs from flooring Basics um is

they're all going to uh be new candidates on there and updated so it's it's going to be cool if you are looking

to hire new train you know newly trained

individuals if you're an installer go to go career.com

jumpstart and uh check it out the new site will be live next uh Thursday I believe and

it'll have all the new candidates on there so uh a subscription to jumpstart is $99 per

year so if you make one Higher that's less than the sugar it costs in your

coffee every day like it's it's 99 bucks a year you may not have a um candidate

in your area but some of the candidates may be willing to relocate uh so $99 a

year is about as cheap as you can get to peruse new candidates and uh we're

hoping that everybody will uh join that wave of hiring digitally um you'll get

to see a little bit about them schedule an interview do all this good jazz and

uh you know avoid the Craigslist dumpster fire of trying to of

trying to uh you know figure out well Rin it it costs less than your your

black coffee um I don't I don't know a good comeback to that it C costs less than one of the

beans it takes to make that black coffee Andrew support the industry so

we'll put your name up or your company logo up on the website under the supporters and uh there's manufacturers

that are getting involved as well uh as a quick overarching thing to close this

out jump starts uh filling the gap of placement for the industry so as the

fcef CFI AF all these entities train new people we want them to go on to jump

start and then we'll give all of our subcontractor Network as well as all of

the uh the companies that are are member companies uh access to jum start for

that $99 a year uh so everybody's kind of jumping on board with that and you

can hire as many people as you want you can interview and hire as many people as you want for that 99 bucks hire them

all yeah take that monster so what's up

Jose back in back in the saddle he you're on my headphones he can't even

hear you he's back though oh true that all right well we've uh We've came come

to the last uh part of this uh podcast we're running out of time and which is

kind of amazing we've only talked about three different things but what I would say out of all this is

um there is going to be immense opportunity for people in

manufacturing uh in the flooring side for the flooring that support the

manufacturing uh facility office spaces and um Embrace technology guys I

I think that one of the things about the blue colar Cruise today is it's all talking about technology in some manner

so embrace it find the the companies that are being Innovative go alongside them help them out work with your ffs of

the world get involved with go Carrera uh talk with the you know preferred

flooring look at what they're doing um floor cloud like just getting involved

in get involved period it doesn't matter where it is just just get involved man it's the the

industry is not going to move forward without everyone trying to push it and if you're not trying to push it and you're one of those guys that you know

is scared of the change time to look at your mindset

because if you always did what you if you if you always do what you've always done you always get what you always got

right so that I know everyone is scared to change and it's just human nature but I mean it's

the name of the game we got to move forward we gota we got to get on it with technology and making our our jobs a lot

easier yeah that's where courage comes in and taking a leap of faith um and

there's a lot of companies and people who have done that and uh get alongside them I mean I've named some of them on

this podcast multiple multiple times you guys know I'm the founder and CEO of go

Carrera you know preferred flooring and what they've done and that they're big supporters of us and close I mean they

are the Huddle and we do this to bring this information to the Forefront uh so

like Daniel just said get involved in some manner get on the Huddle have have some communication and uh you know come

on as a guest we always appreciate our commenters every single week you guys

rock if you guys catch us on YouTube give us a like subscribe help us get the

message out there and uh we'll keep working on improving ourselves improving

our content improving our platform and we are sincere when we say we want to

change the game the intro that I fumble off often is still very true we want to

change the game and we want to strategize on being the best that we can be and bring you the tools and

techniques that we run across out in the industry that can help us all succeed so

with that I will sign off and tell everybody to have a good week and we'll catch you guys next week yeah thanks

guys we'll see you guys

The Huddle - Episode 112 - Flooring Industry Myths Busted: What You Need to Know

In this episode we tackle common myths that persist among flooring installers. From misconceptions like "you don't need to scrape up old adhesive" to "moisture testing isn't necessary," we debunk the outdated beliefs that can compromise the quality of installations. This episode emphasizes the dangers of the "it'll be ok, I've done it this way for 20 years" mindset, advocating for best practices that ensure durability and customer satisfaction. Tune in to arm yourself with the right knowledge and leave behind harmful myths.

The Huddle was created by Paul Stuart of Stuart & Associates and Go Carrera, alongside Jose and Daniel Gonzalez from Preferred Flooring. Aimed at helping you maintain forward progress in your flooring career, they cover topics from personal and business growth, to installation tips & tricks and everything in-between.

Want to be a guest on The Huddle? Email thehuddleforwardprogress@gmail.com today!

Create your FREE Installer profile at https://gocarrera.com and become part of the future of the industry TODAY!
GET TRAINED! Find a list of training dates here: https://gocarrera.com/resources/training/
https://www.preferredflooringmi.com
https://www.stuartandassociates.com

what's up team welcome to the Huddle we're your weekly Playbook where we not only strategize on playing the game but

changing it from mastering the fundamentals of the craft to distinguishing ourselves in the

marketplace we're here to give the installer a voice and ensure you're equipped with everything you need let's

band together and for a new Legacy in floring this is where you belong welcome to the

team much better much better much better sorry we're late everybody if you're on

here uh had a few technical difficulties just

a couple can see Daniel's head down right now trying to get everything him and ashin are working

their tails off to to get this thing live streamed so what's up fellas what's

going on brother how you doing how was vacation dude it was pretty

sweet it was pretty sweet we caught a bunch of fish went up to Northern saskatch went to my buddy's place called

Ena Lake Lodge boom way up uh and I tell

you what it was the first time I got to see the Northern Lights really pretty freaking crazy we

got to see him from my house this year you did I just never gotten to see them

I've been up there a couple of times to the lodge and never caught him and then the

I don't know if it was the first night or second night um it they just came through and

the pictures are crazy I bet I bet you they looked way better from where you

were at than my house anyway they were PR it was pretty crazy I'm gonna do an upload

and share some of them but uh yeah so we're going to debunk someo myths

today is that right we're going to try see uh we're gonna give our

input give our input let's establish some I'm not showing that we're live

over on my side are you showing yeah yeah showing live over here all right

well I don't know maybe platforms I don't know maybe I'm a maybe I'm a guest today because it's uh on all so socials

that show them we are live all right why can't I can't see any of my controls so

I can't see anybody chatting you have to call them out if there's anybody because I

can't I have I have zero

chat what's up well I guess Daniel do you have chat over on your side I have

everything on my side we're good all right very good that's going to be just handy dandy all right so number one

floring meth that I can think of swirls around

moisture and the KN the the the lack of the need to moisture test an old slab

and I know we went over this with um in our moisture mitigation kind of

podcast uh several weeks back but it continues the the mystery continues at

least in the general contractor's minds and I hope all of our out there who may

be dealing with this um you know a GC saying well uh the slab's 40 years old

well that's all the more need to test the dog on thing that's the thing it's it's always they say the slab's really

old it doesn't need to be tested or the slab's brand new it doesn't need to be tested it's like or this stuff's been down for 30

years and it's doing just fine yeah well best I can tell you is

follow the rules gentlemen you know we know that as flooring professionals we need to test these slabs particularly

if it's getting a moisture sensitive flooring like an lvt sheet vinyl those

kinds of products and um but I still between our

last podcast and now that has come up again you know that it's an old

slab uh it had a a resilient product on it before and why do we need to test the

the the floor so obviously if you were with us during

that podcast you know but the um the likelihood I forget who was our guest on

that do you remember Daniel Seth theck oh it was yeah was

Seth Jared Lockwood from U yep so you

know they they said it straight up but I don't remember the um the percentage but

it the likelihood of you having an intact um VAP under that yeah under that

slab even if they put one originally is

like there's no chance you know I lost was

deteriorated I had a video from uh some the the the house I moved into a few

years ago and up top in the Afters in the garage they had some plastic wrapped around some carpet like they were trying

to save it right and I went to grab it and it just like it like flaked apart

like I I could scrape the whole thing off of the carpet like it was dandruff and it was like in a bag it was like a

bag and it was just I know it was pretty thin but that just showed exactly what happens to it over time yeah and imagine

it with several tons sitting on it and moving around from the earth over 40

years so so obviously this is a loow hanging fruit as far as a myth but that

is continually brought up um I've even heard floring guys say it in the past

and I'm like dude that's not the that's not true you have you need to the crazy thing is is that they're like super

proud of it when they're like I don't I don't moisture test anything well there there's a heck of a

lot of risk and um no reason not to test it I mean you should charge for it and test it take

time I mean but that just makes them get another certification so yeah but they're so

easy go on to Wagner meters get you one uh pretty easy to get a certification there guys and um also you

know get get floor Cloud if nothing else yeah uh you know those kinds of that

that product right there will will help you with um not only the site monitoring

but you can set your moisture test and then and you know Bluetooth those two together and you can get your results

right back at your office so or on your cell phone if you're an installer that's uh following the moisture testing

so um I had one texted to me uh flooring

is easy H that's a good one brother because I think it comes from the the the one

floor that seems to be pretty easy click together but you still have to know I

mean tell me Daniel what you got to know put together click together LBT properly

I hate click together LBT like so that's one of the things that I had on the list was uh floating floors are easier are

always easier to install right but then at the same time another myth is that

they're foolproof because they're not it's a I think they're

a lot more math is involved because you're dealing with the logging mechanism as like uh a glue down plank I

can shrink it and then you know piece it in and take an eigh inch off and you'll

never notice yeah well let's talk about this a little bit more because there's several

things that I think need to be uh brought up a uh your floor this this

could be a myth on its on its we do have gravity on our side yes yeah that's

about it Nate um the

uh the myth this could be its own myth by itself which is that you don't have

to have a as much floor prep for for solid core clict together

products I can tell you that if you have ulations in your floor whether it be a

hard wood or a wood substrate or a concrete substrate what happens with a big Valley on this

product if you just Loos lay over a big old like a

big and then the the clicking mechanism breaks yeah well and you get a gap or it

starts deaminating uh all kinds of stuff I've seen it happen on Plenty of projects one

of my own uh RPM didn't you know I mean we we've changed our tune and we glue if

it's a click together floor we can't find a good alternate to uh from a style

perspective and and do a u a full glue we'll glue that sucker down we're not

we're not we're not Loos laying anything anymore and

that's and if you have depressions in your floor or high spots you still need to take care of those almost better

really because you get Hollow spots you get deflection in your floor which breaks those mechanisms just take one of

those click uh uh tongues and go like that with it see what happens you don't even need to do that just like your

finger sometimes just a fingernail yeah I tell people too when when when

hey my floor is feeling can you come and take a look at it oh this was just installed a little while ago and blah

blah blah I was like well what well who installed it well I did and then you try to explain that to them and no one ever

understands until say remember the hangers you take a metal hanger and you don't have wire cutters you just bend it

bend it bend it Until It Breaks I said that's what your locking mechanism is doing that's what happens over time on

the deflection and then they go oh just to show that that flooring is

not easy in this Regard in particular I had a general contractor uh he was a

carpenter um that moved up in the ranks and he he was uh fi ops manager for one

of my gc's he installed his own floor he had seen it 100 times and it failed

miserably uh and it was all the locking mechanism and the retailer he bought the

floor from uh telling him that it was

a um that it was uh not necessary to prep as as well

so all you guys out there any homeowners watching you're going to have to prep your floor

so it is not easy that's the most important part of all of our products is having a proper substrate so Roland my

trip was ridiculously great I caught a bunch of

fish uh the travel getting there is quite the adventure because it's far

Northern uh friends don't let friends float floors that's good uh the travel was uh

you know getting to the lodge up there is half the um half the experience and

journey uh we we take a I got a fly to to uh

Edmonton from there I jump on a a plane to uranium City I actually toured

uranium city looked that place up it's it's crazy uh went into the high school

and you can see nature just taking it's been about 30 years I've got

better facts now after doing the tour but it's about 30 40 Years of um the

environment you know just nature taking over and there's there's uh trees

growing up between the walls and the freaking uh concrete

slab like it's Vines are everywhere Moss is growing all over it if it was any of

the wood structures they've completely caved in like the old houses and stuff anyway we fly into uranium City we jump

on a float plane and fly to the lodge and then we jump on another float plane

to go to the Northwest Territories to slay some some big Old Pike I took a client with me and um general contractor

a friend of mine and he caught a 45 inch

Pike holy SM like almost 4 foot dude

second largest pike ever caught at the lodge and get get and check this out

he's never been pike fishing he's NE he's he's done some cat fishing and noodling he's a country boy I remember

the first time I went pike fishing with my uncle I was dude that dude was like shaking the boat it was just like a it

was nothing special right nothing like motorboat and I was so scared I was like

eight years old you these fish are gonna eat eat me up they tried to drop me in the water it it was actually pretty

hilarious after the fact yeah that so thanks for asking Rand it was uh it was

fantastic man just got back about an hour and a half ago already banged out a bid and now I'm here with you fine

fellas talking about floors uh the other thing about uh this whole thing uh you

know it not being easy um and the floating floors and all

this stuff is you know putting them

together getting the locking mechanism Done Right is not Elementary I've seen

so many times it just starts spreading because they didn't get it fully locked in well there's so many locking

mechanisms out there that you have to deal with now you have to know exactly what you're doing what product you're

working with what locking mechanism yeah I could tell you one that

I don't care for but that's another story yeah I won't throw any manufacturers under the under the bus

here but I but I would tell you that most of the locking mechanism stuff just

floating locking floating floors uh you really it's not just a floor prep that's

one thing and that takes a real professional to level a floor and get it actually done right then you have

expansion and retraction stuff so if you go over a 25t span you got to have a

expansion joint and many people don't do that they don't even think about it and I had an

architect spec a spec a uh floating floor in an assisted living down these

200 foot hallways oh well obviously we're going to run at the length but do

you realize that every 20 to 25 foot I'm going to have to put an expansion joint

in here and all the all the accessories uh

you know you can get them to match but nobody wants to go over a big old

hump living yeah what are we pushing there right that's the thing solution

even a floating floor in a commercial application in general it's not the best

idea right because just not a good idea like I I'm not doing it I we quit doing it we we're gonna if you gotta click

together floor we and we can't cross it to a full glue down product we'll still

glue that sucker down yeah I went and looked at a project and he was like this other company came and gave me you know

some samples and he was like these bathrooms flood all the time so I just want to do like an epoxy or something I

was like oh yeah we can do epoxy he was like this other company brought me some click together floor and I asked him

what company waterproof dude and he it was a residential company and that yeah

they told him that it'd be no big deal but yeah I mean it's waterproof that drain floods and then

man that waterproof word you know what that's one of the that's the one word that one written out that's a a a myth

and a half like um I really water resistant yes yeah water resistant is

one right but the the way that it's explained to the consumer the way that it's sold yeah sold to the consumer is

like I have to or marketed rather right marketed to the consumer there you go marketed yeah it's just I hate being the

one to explain it to them but I have to explain it to them because they have that uh they already have that in their

head that I'm buying this because it's waterproof it's it says it right here it say I'm like you're right that piece

itself is waterproof if I dip that single piece in there and I bring it out you know if as long as it's intact it's

waterproof it to to an extent but um it's not giving you a waterproof floor

like you think it's going to right and then Rollin says they let you go 60 to

80 foot without one and deflection is a floating floor's enemy and I think a lot

of people because on the notes well that kind of depends on how big the area is

Rand because it's usually uh most of them it's like 2500 square foot square

feet yeah is another thing that's and hey you got to be damn near a professional just to read the install

instructions and understand what all they're trying to uh tell you but the gapping and the the um you know

expansion retraction if you got a area that's bigger in 2500 square foot you're GNA have half inch expansion around the

perimeters so I remember seeing the specs the first time the SPC came out those specs surpris me um you know they

said I go you know 100 by 100 or whatever when it came out and I wish that the Locking mechanisms weren't so

so booty on SPC because it was pretty sweet to be able to do that but Andy

McWilliams explained it that one really good right like the thinner you go the weaker the locking mechanism is going to

be because they don't have that body there correct because I mean um when we

did the tour there they kind of showed you a microscopic view of it right and you can still see an entire void in

there so when you're already that thin and you still have a void in there it's going to be weaker but I think the the

bigger thing like he was talking about is the deflection and people not realizing that um you're supposed to

have an inch of subfloor underneath a floating floor and people just go over like the three4 inch on a regular basis

like it's no big deal not even rigid not even Goodwood right like three4 inch uh

call particle board or waffle or something like that something that already has deflection at its thickest

um and it's just not even interlocking sometimes sometimes it's a one of those

homes where they just kind of slapped something down right away or did some repairs and didn't uh they didn't put any

thought into the process no and then Nate says uh I'll put the the thing

up again the comment crawling around for a couple hours gives you a whole lot of respect for babies how do they keep on

crawling for years man ain't that the truth I don't

baby some Pro knes man I know because it's it's not

just to cushion your knee right it's it helps your back it helps so much like I

didn't understand that by not wearing knee pads it can

mess my whole body

up and today's knee pads are way better I mean pro has been around for a long time but when I first started installing

it was those hard shell just knee pad you put on the tile scratchers yeah and

they had the they had the soft shell ones too I wear the hard hard shell when

I was laying carpet because you can slide around real nice but they had the soft shell ones too for when you're

doing VCT and stuff it only took me a few times when I was uh early on the uh

install days to scratch up some nice VCT with my knee pads putting

on before I got the soft shells but yeah

nowadays when I crawl around I just usually stand up well the point here is that freaking

I'm not crawling my bad the point here is that you know

these products that are easy to put together if you take two pieces

and you put together yes that that that uh process is easy but leveling your

substrate making sure you put your poly film down or or any you know Prine

moisture barriers about the where your crawl space is to your like in residential stuff if you're going over

concrete floor which again I just glue it down with the high moisture adhesive to always you know go back to your

moisture readings and remember what uh Seth and them said which I learned uh in

that podcast was it's not just that if the the the

question about moisture mitigation is if it has a chance to get to 100 so without a vapor

barrier it will have a chance and so you should moisture mitigate that was a

whole new kind of you know whole new

uh yeah it was new to me I honestly hadn't looked at it that way I didn't know that that was the way the industry

uh you know the manufacturers uh dealt with it I thought changes changes the

way you look at it right it instead of looking at it what it is right now it's does it have the chance and that it's 95

now but your slab is 40 years old you should probably

mitigate yep that's that's the that's the recommendation the to the high

moisture adhesive right I have on here that any adhesive will work right because there's been a lot of times

where we're we when we used to be on jobs and or talking to someone and

they're like I'm just going to grab this adhesive and throw it down with this and it's like man

that's it's not what you should be doing like there's different adhesives for different things

and like then there's also different like it could be for the same product

different moisture tolerances for sure so I think that myth is busted floring

isn't easy even the easier to assemble is not

easy uh you know tile's another example everybody there's man there was so many

people I seen on social like homeowners like doing their own hard tile yeah and

they they're just using the Spin Doctors or you know a leveling system of some sort that they got from Florida core

Lowe's or Home Depot and they're like this is easy you know so easy just spot bonding it this is so easy dude it's it

is uh it's insane or they're not spot bonding and you don't realize that uh

how many Hollow floors are out there because of that product um you got to make sure your

thin set you get away with a little more if you're not going to be you know

lifting it back off that thin set you know your thin set maybe just a sco a

little bit drier than normal hell you got to have a a perfect Bond so that

when you level and pull that that tile up level with the next one that there's

legs to your thin set you know otherwise all you did is pull it off the thin set

and now you have a hollow spot and it's either it's Hollow if it's ceramic tile

it's going to break because ceramic is really not that strong porcelain tile a good 38

porcelain tile probably lasts a long time before it breaks 58 probably won't break but still Hollow still not going

to last for as long as if it was done correctly so some of these things I

we've talked about in previous podcast of Manufacturers and tool companies

trying to engineer the skill out of of uh some of the products because you know

I think it all goes back to the uh shortage and Quality Labor you know um

get enough bad floors they start trying to engineer out the failures I don't know that that's working because 23 to

22 the failure rate or the uh overall dollars in uh failures did not change uh

anything worth talking about so not folks hire a local professional

floring installer to do your project and you'll be

happy I like this one this one's for all the the gc's out there and the people who are actually in the construction is

a new concrete doesn't need prep that's brand new concrete what do you mean you

gotta skim the floor what do you mean you got to encapsulate it what do you mean you gotta grind it buff

it that's brand new yeah and you over tried it looks like a sheet of

glass and the adhesive that we need to use for this particular product has to have some

mechanical Bond you know there's any number of things that go wrong with new concrete

yeah they got a vapor barrier but the the schedules cause a lot of that problem you know again a lot of this

stuff goes back to Mo to moisture and proper preparation of a

job I mean you guys know it's like the stuff isn't it look looks easy even

carpet tile has things you need to be concerned with you know and it's about

as easy as it comes I'll never forget the first carpet

tile project that we were part of that failed this is years ago right and it was uh installing everything to spec but

all the edges started curling because of the way the material was stored and then we installed it in a very large wide

open building and everything came in and I remember them telling us hey we got the manufacturer to send us a back

Bender like what a back Bender what do you mean we got to peel it up run it

through the machine so it cups it and then then we install it again dude you

don't even have to say another word I know who the manufacturer is but don't say I'm not gonna say but don't say it

don't say it we need all you guys to support us so we're not going to call you

out though we might just saying no some point it's not g to come out in the wash

right and and I'm sure they've learned their lesson from that it was a learning learning uh moment it's got surface got

it has to do with surface tension in the

product so yeah that damn HGTV is telling these homeowners they they can

do the flooring themselves but man we were just talking about that Yeah we

actually our episode in a couple week is going to be kind of focused on this

topic itself yeah H has has caused more flooring failures

than than anybody because they the you don't get to go back and

look it it's not like they go back and they're like oh you know that house we did on the flipper flippy Flip Flip

flipper uh whatever show had to replace everything we had to replace it all you

know you don't get to see that I watch those shows and I cringe sometimes the thing about those shows too is you're

watching it and they're like they do everything in this amount of time and then you go give someone a bid and they're like I just watched this show

and they did all their flooring in like three hours what do you mean take you two days I will I will say that being on

set with Rollin a few times and learning the the ins and the outs um what those

crews are able to do with buildings in such a short amount of time

it's amazing yeah had you had somebody like

Rollin yeah he knows like you got you got Mr certified with you yeah well I'm

talking in general have a a a carpenter putting it

in or or they have the homeowner I've I've seen a show where they were doing the deal and the they were letting the

homeowner do some of the demo um and do some of the stuff like

whatever they felt like they could do and they were like oh we think we can do the tile backsplash and we think we can

do the the lvt and you know they're in there putting lvp in and trying to

figure out how to cut around door jams and it's like oh no they figured it out

they figured it out oh yeah I'm sure I'm sure I'm sure it's a beautiful floor well if you if you actually care

about your home and you want some of these products look we're not saying that it

can't be done correctly we're just saying have an actual professional installer do your floors and you got a

hell of a lot better chance of uh of it working out for you in the long run so

you know flooring ain't easy baby hey pay up you want you're account

do my taxes for free Mr accountant you know I think that's the that's the

professional version is like doing that's the original DIY right there what's that your own taxes

yeah well I'll let the pros do that and U for any accountants out there thinking

of uh doing their own floors leave it to us that is hilarious all right what's

our next myth what about um acclamation oh acclamation yeah doesn't

need to acclimate doesn't it what's what's the myth about that one Daniel what's what's you don't need to acclimate what is what do you need to

acclimate for like especially on these we were talking about like click together and stuff a lot of these are

just say just go in and throw it down no acclamation needed so why won't we just

believe them yeah that I don't know maybe Sunny can uh uh chime in here cuz he he's he's

on all these um you know kind of on the front line of a lot of these deals but

try and take an SPC or any floating floor out of a 100 degree warehouse and

go put it in a 70 degree office the same day and watch I it ain't it's not a good

scenario well and like even if it does pan out a time or two you put enough

humidity or something that's in the air like it's going to sweat in between it's

just not a good thing you should always acclimate your floor that's my opinion I don't care what it is I will say we'll

pull it into our where into our office to get it at least you're attempting right and like with us we just delivered

what like six or seven skids of lvt oh to the job site oh did are you laughing

at a comment that came through I don't yeah yeah I'm laughing that that comment right there

that's the one shy category see that's we're boys bro

that's why we're boys right there yeah thermal dynamics that is uh you can't beat

physics folks and quit getting sold these uh pipe dreams

from the manufacturers out there so yeah I think it's pretty clear that

acclamation is I mean all you got to do it it most of the products have well you

know what the other problem with all this is a lot of that has recycled content and different you never know

they don't even know how it's to react no they they they made a mix it didn't

need it I the bottom line is they don't know what's in it even because they get

different raw materials from the you know when I say raw materials recycled

materials to make these backing and these products out of and they don't even truly know what's in that you know

magical pellet dust that they buy and make their products out of

so Nate you're hired volunteer to do some

smacking he's Indian and then uh another one that I I

was looking at was uh heat welded vinyl is completely waterproof like

well there's a couple there waterproof seamless um seamless yeah it's flash coved right you you think

that it's not going to have any anywhere to get water in but that's in all in uh

who's doing it because we've been in projects before where it's like they didn't do any vertical welding

at all and these are in like areas where you can't have any bacteria growing or

harboring and it's just not good I will I will say I will add to that the way that that that

I learned and the way that Daniel was taught back in the day too like was not

right was not right let's just say that every corner had some sort of matching

silicone or [ __ ] yeah like we thought that that was the way it was supposed to be done you know you don't know what you

don't know I remember and then then learning was like what you can do that

you can I didn't know yeah well done

properly it's still a big ask for it to be completely waterproof and just mop

like you know I don't know you can always go into

a lot of these hospitals and you see where the mop line is on the the in uh intergral base it's like that far up and

they just you can just tell they're slopping whatever cleaning uh products

they want on that so maintenance doesn't matter is another

one that uh I don't know if it's a myth but it sure does um come up a lot is

like well I thought we just had to no you still have to clean your floor man epoxy grout will still get

dirty you know it may not we put grout sealer on it too though like it's supposed to stay clean why does it have

all these PE stains man like it's not supposed to do that but look I know it's PE smell it scratch it sniff

it Jack steam

mops that's good for the floor that's especially the lvp yeah it's good for the and real wood

let's run a let's run a thermodynamic product or a real wood product even uh

and let's let's just put freaking as much moisture as we

can into it yeah let's open up the pores by getting as the surface as hot as possible and then I had

a one of my floating floor uh like

disasters was about a 2500 square foot area maybe 3,000 ft it was cafeteria

walkthrough area for a corporation is in there uh you know their their food court

whatever and it was not it ended up curling and

coming apart and all the joints broke and it had nothing to do with the

product or the installation the floor was we made sure the floor was nice and level everything was right other than

today I would glue that sucker down still or talk him into a different product but the guy we went and watched

um them clean it right after the lunch rush and the guy goes back to the

like Boiler Room to get like hot water in a mop and he goes out there with a

mop and I'm talking 212 water you know dunks it in starts mopping it goes when

it hits it start bubbling it took that floor through that expansion retraction

that thermodynamic the the thermoplastic product was just it can't handle that

kind of heat and and uh it ended up curling and failing because of that obviously but um you know he was like

well just cleans it so much better yeah yeah dude you're you're

you're using boiling water it's going to clean it better you got to do proper

maintenance to your floor take care of it if you want to last long that goes from carpet to hot you know hot water

extracting it getting them oils and the dirt and the sand out of there that sits there and every time you walk on it that

sand Cuts Little Fibers if you don't have a good vacuum uh that's both residential and

Commercial more so in residential because it's a it's a cutpile uh you know

construction and it doesn't affect the loop carpets as much to death you know I

would I I would add that maintenance thing that that uh and this might be a myth in its own but to me maintenance is

probably more important than the initial installation right because maintenance can if it's a bad installation it can

kill it faster if it's a great installation it can still kill it like maintenance yeah I don't think anything

is more important than a proper installation but I would say that it that if you you can just like you said

you can kill a great project by improperly maintaining again these

marketing materials not to [ __ ] on the manufacturers out there but you know when it says on your binder in your

office no no maintenance or low maintenance it's like to the enduser

what that me I don't have to clean every day clean it or low maintenance means I

can clean it every once in a while no if you want your floor to last you got to

take care of it and um you know carpet's one of the the biggest it it just gets

matted like you know nothing it turns into like and people wear bare feet on

the carpet and those oils get in the carpet and M mixes with all that get a

uh uh what's that graphic uh um what am I trying to say like alert

to the audience it's gonna get gross uh you know all that yeah disclaimer it gets mixed in

with dead skins and and dirt and dust and just that carpet up I will say that

anywhere I see Daniel walking barefoot I make sure I put my shoes [Laughter]

on is that you don't want to walk on his oil but it's true you're not it's best

for your carpets if you do not if you wear socks at least or you do not uh walk on it with bare feet we we were

just having to he had a deal with the client that he was like there's something wrong with carpet and then he goes over there and he drags his feet

he's like you just got to vacuum it more man you got to get those fibers back up yeah like yeah and who knows how much uh

if you take a good vacuum how many fibers you're going to capture in there uh I would assume you guys aren't

selling like staple products or something like that you're probably selling continuous filament you know one

product cut you know we try not to sell anything that we wouldn't put in our house so it's um yeah he just just

needed a little bit of a a nudge in the right direction so he could understand it and why it was creating that yeah so

no M low maintenance floors do not mean no maintenance floors it means take care of them don't use steam mops like if

you'll read the the install instruction or the uh maintenance car and maintenance that is where the

manufacturers really do come clean they're like giving you not on their marketing material but how to properly

maintain the floor they cover their everything in there because they they'll that's what they point to if you're like

this is not doing well and a homeowner calls and there's a claim or you know an

end user calls and there's a claim they're they're always going to go look at them what how are you maintaining

that floor that's the first question I almost always get when we have a claim how was it properly acclimated

blah blah blah you know did you who in installed it and was it installed properly and some install um background

and then how's it being maintained yeah that I mean in their warranty documentation they have how

you're supposed to well that you need to follow their maintenance plan in their maintenance manual

so yeah so none of it's that easy so here here's one for the salesman out

there right because we've been we've dealt with this uh a few times that like

T size and roll sizes doesn't affect installation

difficulty we' had we've had it where sales people are like you're going to do this 20 foot right here and then no seam

but you got to go through this three foot door and then another

25 dude it's like are you serious dude like how we do it all the time I'm like

okay how does that job look so they're

dropping yeah they're dropping through a door a three foot doorway dropping another like it's said 25 feet right

then you have a three-foot door and then you have to drop another 25 feet through that door that's I'm exaggerating but that's

what it seems like like that's still crazy that's what my brain does crazy large large

format what do you mean you can't put that on here that the the floor goes like this

yeah as with almost everything when we start talking about install it shows you how much it matters to properly prep the

floor you almost have to be a chemist to make sure you got the right ad adhesives

that if you're going to you know have a glue down product and you know maintenance like

all these things matter and it boil normally boils down to proper

prep proper you know Le leveling the floor Moisture

Control situation so making sure you know the moisture and that's another

thing a lot of homeowners don't think they need to worry about moisture well if you have a freaking crawl space

that's only 15 in from from you know the ground level to the bottom of your wood

and you have no the the ba that crawl space is not taken care of um and

waterproofed you're going to get moisture coming up through that wood substrate and into your products so even

with wood floors you guys uh especially in older homes that have really small crawl spaces you got to worry about that

so I had a gentleman um recently actually that he did an add on to his

house and he added on over an existing sidewalk or like concrete that he had

there um for like their like back patio and I saidwell this is what I'm going to

have to do um because you're going to like I guarantee you they didn't put a

vapor barrier underneath your sidewalk and now you have all this finished wood everything's all highend looks super

nice and and I just made some recommendations and and he didn't he didn't really enjoy what I had

to say about his um ideas but most don't yeah it's just trying to protect his

investment for him man I was trying to help him out sure that's most of the most of the time when

you're trying to um uh deal with these things the you know you're you you got

to make sure you got a good project team if you're in the commercial world and that the gc's like understands that like

I'm not trying to we're not banking over here on these these issues we just soon

come in lay our product and be done and be gone man we don't want to have to

level floors mitigate moisture deal with all these things

like we just soon come in and do flooring

but six months down the road get a failure you get a problem who's getting

the first call we are so we have to bring those things up or else you

know yeah I agree Nate that's that's like 90% of it the pro I think a lot of the problem at least with retailers I've

talked to uh like retail installers is that salesmen don't do that a lot of

sales don't do it and they they just want the sell because everybody's paid

on commission or most of them and so if the store down the street will sell it

to them in a kind of I don't know maybe an unethical manner you know uh then you

got to do it well that's a a plague of of the retail world and Commercial you

know we got the Architects and things in the in the in between that at least have

some common sense to it to listen I think for the most part I'm not saying all the time but there's a lot of times

when they'll they'll actually listen to you especially if you've been around a long time and you're a good flooring contractor and got a good reputation

they'll they'll listen to you if you say hey this is the deal but going back to

your myth Daniel we got a job we're bidding right now I got to be real careful because it's in the bidding

process and everything but we have a job right now where an architect it's a big

open area and um uh oh he was about to tell a real

finish s let me finish a sentence big open area and it is

open and it's got floors going in I wonder if his computer died

it probably did well guess

uh Ash what the hell yeah we we can't put hers on there can we um no what

about some other things that that uh that new concrete doesn't need prep and

I like you know we we talked about it not needing moisture testing but when we always why do you need to do so much

prep when this is brand new concrete when you know that story that I told about um being on the job site with the

the GC and then being like it's a half inch different from me to you and you know you're only six foot away from me

dude yeah I know there's so many of that so much of that they just you know what's funny it's like it always comes

back down on the flooring installer and they don't ever want to back charge anybody else right but we have to deal

with all the problems we always have to be the uh we always got to be the the bearer of

bad news we are just the messenger at the end of the project you guys when it comes to stuff like that told you his

computer died yeah my computer totally died and it's been plugged in I kind of

worried about that at the moment so I I'm back can't get rid of me that easy although I do think that the gods are

looking out for me to keep me from saying whatever I was about to say about just gonna leave that alone said

I'm not gonna say anything El customer cut you off right C you

off someone was watching we filled it we we finished your your um because yeah because and

then we started talking about how brand new concrete doesn't need any prep because it's brand

new yeah this had to do with uh tile size and uh how how people budget things

for uh um not consider child yeah for tile size I'll just leave it at that I'm

not going any deeper I feel like I just maybe got saved for no reason at all my computer shut off so I'm just gonna shut

up on that one I I will say like uh when we did the the podcast with uh the gentleman from overseas drawing a total

blank on his name Tom Tom oh Tom cooch and and he said we just self-level every

job like yeah I'd love that I wish I wish that that was that what what

conference were we at that uh that sherox guy said the same thing he said he came over to America when he brought

sherox from Germany he's like you remember that yep that was uh fcica I

believe yeah he was like they they just like kind of rough trial everything in

with a broom and then you go in and Prime and self-level everything all the

time I'd love self-leveling if it was that way like we'd just buy pumps and

and like that' just be part of the business Pump Pump Pump It Up has anybody uh this is not a flooring

meth but has anybody used Sher knox's uh moisture like resistant not resistant

it's like it's moisture proofing like mitigation and leveling at the same time have you guys has anybody used that we

have not used that know about it for a few years and comment if You' used that

if any of our audience has used that uh comment tell me what you think I've got

a job coming up where the the concrete slab is horrendous it's a newer slab

sounds like the slab got away from the concrete guys uh but on top of that it

is testing high and I'm like well if I can kill two birds with one stone right

yeah so I'm wondering if anybody I'll get Shane out here one time so he can talk about that stuff because

that with the way he explained it like he told me about it a while he said there's some things in the works and

this is what it might be and then once it was released he was like hey come here I got I gotta tell you something

that's it's released isn't it right yeah

M I think there's if you're watching us on any of our socials let us know if you've used that product and let me know

what you uh what you think what your experience has been do we have a link to that webinar

coming up Daniel it's um FP and I'm I'm looking it up right

here I got a notification today about it that'd be a good one for people to to

sit in on that's through the FCI right yep and you don't have to be a member to

watch it you might have uh to pay a little something but it's like 25 bucks or something I don't even

know so they're going to have a webinar on it well I don't know if it's necessarily on it but uh Shane um is

going to be speaking on webinar yeah presenter is this Thursday

actually oh sweet they record those too so for

anybody who uh wants to go back and watch them in the future uh if you can't make the the FCC

webinars they record them all and you can get access to them so sweet all all right well hey we only

get through a few of the myths because we get kind of deep into it but I think what we've learned today is acclamation

is necessary flooring ain't easy and level not waterproof and it's it's not

waterproof and you better know how to floor prep if you really want to install flooring correctly right and then we

touched on it but make sure that you know how to heat well too when you're talking

about doing vinyl floors and rubber and all that because especially your inside

Corners where a lot of lot of guys try to get away with just uh uh you know

silicone or right I mean you know I'm guilty of it so I'm not dogging

nobody I'm just as guilty as anybody over the years uh but it should be welded and I know that there are some

inside Corners that are it's dog on near impossible due to other factors

but is what it is if you catch us on our uh you know YouTube Channel please give

us a like And subscribe you know let us know that you're uh enjoying the content

feel free to suggest topics that you guys want to hear topics that interest you doesn't always have to be about

flooring there's a um we have a good network of professionals if you feel like you know uh accounting we had an

accountant on before we've had you know uh personal well-being I for lack of a

better way to say it you know um uh yeah so if you got a topic it doesn't

just have to be about flooring uh let us know what you guys want to see Catch Us on one of the socials uh Facebook or

whatever uh interact episodes are like put online if there's one that catches

your eye and it's like I really want to talk to you guys on that one I'd like to be on that one just reach out man we'll get you on yeah

yep there for and then in in about a month we got the the Spanish episode

coming up too sweet yep Spanish episode's going to be great for all our

uh Spanish speaking uh you know crews out there that uh like to listen to us

ramble you can listen in uh native language when uh Jorge and I Think Jesus

Jorge for sure but they're GNA be Jose is that

right yeah Jose so yeah make sure to tune in for

that and um uh one final plug for FCC

and CFI is coming up really quick it's just in October in Orlando so we got

about a little over a month out now so if you guys don't have travel plans get them booked come down and see us come

hang out and um you know I might even get down there a day or two early I know

that CFI would really like to see some of the local Crews so if you're down in the Orlando area come on over um we're

um we're going to rock it out one other thing CFI a lot of the guys have gotten together uh is and I think this is going

to be for next year going to be doing a Fantasy Football uh league and all the

proceeds are going to sponsoring some installers to go to uh convention which

is pretty freaking cool and uh so hopefully we get a good turnout there and and and make some money and and get

to sponsor some people so just trying to get it to where everybody can get involved uh get in the industry if

nothing else uh reach out to Rolland and and start a local chapter if you're a carpet or you know a vinyl guy and start

a local CFI chapter um you know do this kind of things to get involved you can

always reach out to any of the training entities for training opportunities go to go career's website and go to

training and check out all the training options there uh we just onboarded all

of rx's stuff so you know get trained and and and and get paid man that's the

easiest way I can tell you is getting trained and proving it um you know that's where go Carrera comes in you get

your free profile on there and um you don't have to do work on the platform

but you can and get your Hammer rating and prove to your customers that you uh

Stand Out Above the Rest man so get on join join the uh join the movement you

know our our entry or intro into this podcast is true we're trying to forge a

new Legacy in flooring and that's one based on quality and getting paid what you're worth all we got to do is prove

it and then we can get paid yeah yeah and if if you uh if you have a a project

that you're really proud of make sure sure you go to uh floor trends.com and

submit your uh project to be in the installation Awards I think that that deadline is coming up pretty quick yeah

that's cool August 29th you have in to enter so

make sure you get your projects in there got nine days eight days got plenty of

time th your project about it and be about it be about it all right guys is

the pleasure as always to the audience thank you for joining us today and uh it looks like Efron's going to be joining

on the uh spanishs speaking uh episodes coming up as well so uh yeah tune in

boys and next week peace

The Huddle - Episode 111 - Installer Bucket List: Adventures Outside of Flooring

In this episode we step away from the job site to explore the exhilarating pursuits that flooring professionals enjoy in their free time. From epic travel destinations to adrenaline-pumping hobbies, this episode delves into the adventurous spirits of those in the flooring industry. Join us as we uncover the diverse and exciting ways these pros recharge and inspire themselves outside of work, proving there’s much more to them than just their craft. Tune in to hear about the remarkable escapades that enrich their lives.

The Huddle was created by Paul Stuart of Stuart & Associates and Go Carrera, alongside Jose and Daniel Gonzalez from Preferred Flooring. Aimed at helping you maintain forward progress in your flooring career, they cover topics from personal and business growth, to installation tips & tricks and everything in-between.

Want to be a guest on The Huddle? Email thehuddleforwardprogress@gmail.com today!

Create your FREE Installer profile at https://gocarrera.com and become part of the future of the industry TODAY!
GET TRAINED! Find a list of training dates here: https://gocarrera.com/resources/training/
https://www.preferredflooringmi.com
https://www.stuartandassociates.com

what's up team welcome to the Huddle you more your weekly Playbook where we not only strategize on playing the game but

changing it we're mastering the fundamentals of the craft to distinguishing ourselves in the

marketplace we're here to give the installer a leg up and ensure your voice is heard we're here for everything you

need let's band together and Forge a new Legacy in floring this is where you belong welcome to the team what's up

fellas how's it going always always just save it with that right there right like the scramble

mode and just let me just come back in and be all

calm well with me as always Mr Daniel and Jose Gonzalez have preferred flooring out of Grand Rapids Michigan if

you guys ever need a great floring installer in Grand Rapids they are the ones you need to call I'm Paul Stewart

with go career I'm the founder and CEO there and I'm also the president of Stuart Associates commercial flooring

and your humble host of the Huddle we are having just a little fun today uh we

dove into a topic last week that took us uh how long was that Daniel I think it was hour and a half almost no I think it

was like an hour and 38 minutes no I think it was I think it ended at like an hour 29 so we we we ran an hour and a half

uh respectively last last week and um it

it was what's that said it was John's fault I think it was just a fact that it

was a it's a it's one of them topics you know you start talking about the installer shortage and how to deal with

it it's one of them topics that is not an easy answer so it's not easy question

which is not going to give some easy answer I mean we we've got some complicated Solutions out there um

simple uh but complicated or I should say simple but not easy simple but not

easy yeah yeah uh you know having a job board like jumpstart which um I will be

bringing that up pretty often in this podcast because I uh it's a piece of go career but the purpose of jump is to get

our trained guys the guys that are getting trained in the industry new blood to get them placed with either a

quality subcontractor that runs a a labor shop or um independent installer

that has a fair uh fairly good Hammer rating or get them placed with the company I think uh with the that effort

is uh needed and I'm going to keep uh kind of singing that song every single

week because I think it's important that everybody knows that here in a few weeks we will

have jump start live and there'll be you know 15 20 guys on

there they're going to be newer no balls to do do it for two we don't have the

ball to do it for two hours but we're gonna wait for him to do an episode and then he can stretch it for that long we

yeah we were hoping our first two-hour episode is gonna Bean our Hispanic uh

our Spanish speaking episode so there you go Jorge you got a new bar

to jump over we did an hour and you got you got to do two hours baby um so it was just a complicated

topic with a lot of uh I think um ideas I I love the um the participation we got

and the viewership and the responses and it was awesome so you know when you guys

engage and we tend to maybe get a little long- winded today though we're just

talking installer bucket list stuff that uh I kind of when this topic

came up I I kind of thought about it like what was my installer bucket list

at one point and when I kind of checked off some of them boxes uh you know that

kind of evolves it I think it evolves like everything you do right you set you set

a goal you start going towards it and in the process of doing that you're like you know what else I also want to do

this and what if this or you get to it a lot quicker than you expect and you're like not done got

gotta get yeah and and bucket list stuff I

mean that's going to mix with us I'm assuming you guys are going to be the same but it's going to be a little bit

of a mix between business and pleasure for me you

know I got these these big things I want to do with in business and then uh these

things want to do so um for the audience out there as you

join give us some of your uh some of your bucket list so I the one that I

still have right now and I've got my assistant looking is I want to take helicopter lessons and uh become a

helicopter pilot so I I used to ride in them when I was in the military and uh

you know it's it's speed roping out of a helicopter or things like that it was um

I don't know I I fell in love with it and then I've done several uh a bunch of different tours and helicopters and and

um I feel like I've got a pretty good understanding I've done a lot of studying on it and uh how awesome would

it be to go jump in your helicopter let's just go build one build a helicopter they have those DIY

helicopters that you can build is still like 100 Grand though I think yeah all

right guys I'm I I don't have enough confidence in my mechanical

ability to build the helicopter and then get in it and fly it uh yeah that's you

know I I was looking back at some plaques on my wall and I have a plaque

from 2009 I was 40 under 40 and that is just a from the witch Business Journal

good for you man that's awesome do you know about that okay yeah so there's it's just the

you know people under 40 that are making a splashing business or whatever but um in that article I said I wanted to be a

helicopter pilot that was 2009 and I have done [ __ ] other than

read about it and watch some YouTube videos but the thing is though to be a

helicopter pilot that's a lot of like because I was I fly drones right and to do that commercially you essentially

have to get a you have to go through the same stuff as a pilot you have to not the flying

part but you have to know all the things that Pilots are supposed to know about the the atmosphere and all

that yeah you're a pilot in fact in many ways the helicopter is much more complicated to fly than an

airplane um yeah dude and so there's a particular helicopter I want to fly

called a calibri or a cab G2 it's kind of a cool

looking helicopter come on look it up yeah it's

um see if I can find

it cabri G2

baby so anyway um what do you guys still have on your bucket list I know these

are like uh this is not your typical podcast so I hope that the audience will

participate and help a brother out here with the conversation but uh like old

the old school news ones it's uh this is one of the newest

helicopters on the market from a uh I don't even know if I can share we'll see

I'm saying the uh it just popped up a bunch of pictures

boom do you see that y yeah the same one I got that's the

dog the rail uh the tail rotor has a shroud around it it's a three blade

looks like a sperm it's pretty cool man it looks cool well if you if you look at

the um if you were to look at the let me stop screen sharing if you were to look

at like you want to see a ugly helicopter Don't Shoot Me Robinson but

this is the other kind of more entrylevel helicopter is a

Robinson 40 or 22 yeah see he he did he has done a lot

of research and this one to me is an uglier oh

that's let me get a better picture it's a two

blade uh here's a flying one see

I mean check this bad dog

out you know what I mean look that's way uglier than the G2 that is actually big

old tongue on the top and motor sticking out of the back no tail rotor looks like it looks like it

was designed off of one of the characters from Angry Birds [Laughter]

all right look Mario he has he has balls so he can be on the the podcast with

horhe for two hours there you go Jorge you guys are gonna do it I think you

guys are gonna break eclipse the hour and a half you guys uh we'll get Gotta Have a good topic

because uh I can there's no way this podcast is going an hour and a half what's your uh so another bucket list uh

when I was in installer was really to travel I didn't travel much at all when I was a kid and so I really was like I

jumped on uh traveling uh crew and I was going all over I even had my pregnant uh talk talk

about tacos all day that'll get you there that's Myck T talk about tacos

like Forest Gump talks about shrimp and you'll be good get half the episode

explain different tacos I mean that's kind of uh my bucket list

for real like anywhere we anywhere we travel I want to go and get some tacos

to see what tacos taste like in different places my kids are over it

already they're like oh tacos again but that's when uh Tanya and I travel by

ourselves that's what we do is we try and find like a local place are you guys Foodies yeah you're kind of Foodies I

think I I me and my wife man we go oh we know you are bro we know you are love

eating never SE never seen someone as skinny as you eat as much as you did I

think yeah that was amazing if I didn't if I KN if I knew

that I wouldn't throw up if I ate too much I would I would have joined you but man yeah I I tried I try to find food uh

Jorge says he goes out for the best sushi spots Jorge do you actually eat

sushi like raw sushi or are you the California roll

guy California road I the crazy thing is I'm allergic to shellfish so I actually

eat the raw fish ones because I those are the only ones that I can eat I I

Love Sushi man I I'll try that my wife loves sushi so we'll go try to find a sushi spot that's that's a I don't know

it's fun to explore when you're in um other Town other places like you know

like I said I I wanted to do a a little bit of traveling and he says

raim good man all right you're a real Sushi eater then I few guys and they're

like hey I'm getting a California roll or I want the asparagus cottage cheese

or cream cheese and and something else like dude that's not real Sushi that's

like vegetables rolled up into a roll hey vegetable rolls are delicious too though I know but you know you can't

claim sush Sushi love her if you just let's let's just agree that that we all love food and we will all try

it even if Daniel didn't find out he was allergic to shellfish for a long time so

he just ate it like his whole life until one day he put two and two together no I I think it was develop allergy kind of

like the same way with you and lactose oh yeah yeah I remember that we don't

want to go into that story that was a what's going on Mr zern I do remember when came to that conclusion

though so the uh do you guys have real life bucket list

items shimi is the way to go so like um

real life bucket list items you know honestly things that you feel like you got to check off you know the bucket

list check them off before you go down my bucket list before kids was different than it is now that I have kids because

I want my children to experience everything with man so um you know I really just want to go like visit take

my kids to go visit like uh overseas like ston Hench I need to show them I I'm a geographical guy I like uh seeing

uh you like history and geography and stuff like that yeah I do I do actually and um know like the nascal lines and

the pyramids Daniel's been the Pyramids in Mexico like I like stuff like that

and that's what would be on my bucket list is um is you know like World worldwide

landmarks right something that's recognizable in the entire world not just in Michigan so I actually this past

spring break I got to check that off of my bucket list was to go to chich chinita and I've say that five times

fast I've always been like fascinated with like that the culture down there and I've always wanted to go there and

the last time Tanya and I went um we we didn't go and I was like this time we're

going we made a it was basically a full day trip out of it but really we were

only like walking around there for probably two and a half maybe three hours because it's not very big like

it's huge but they don't let you go up until it was you know declared one of the Seven Wonders of the World they let

you go inside once it was declared that everything is roped off but that was it yeah I mean but still to to go there and

definitely somebody somebody must have stumbled upon a portal in there and they close well I was going to ask you guys

hey are pyramids did the humans build them or did aliens build them dude have

you ever watched the Y files oh dude that that's a really compelling uh case

to be made that I'll go down some controversial rabbit holes with that stuff yeah

100% there's just too much to them man I don't know it's crazy well they they at

Le Le the the Egyptian pyramids uh they did this whole thing go

check it out it's a podcast called the Y files and it is it is pretty freaking

cool Mexicans both a pyramid here and in

Egypt bro he's probably right that if there's a if there's a feat to

be had my those boys will figure it out like we got to get this 2200 ton

block up that hill all right man next it's in place level we level

with our eyes we Plum with our eyes nope just little bit this way good it only

works if you li the tip of your thumb and you get the light To Shine off of it just right they'll Center it that's how

you do it to water level yeah that's so if you guys if you

guys have um what about business-wise you guys got like that's a

big bucket brother that's a big bucket what you what you want to accomplish in in business whether it's with preferred

flooring or something else or you know

like I know it'ser Finding finding the right

um finding the right process the right time just to say boom and then be able

to to do everything that we know that we have to do like the the trust Factor right being

able to find the strength to have that trust I guess is what it is gotta trust everybody around

you so you're saying a business that runs automatically is that kind of the

thought kind of runs without you that would be that would be fantastic but um

I've been trying for 20 years yeah I know man I know that's the thing is uh

you know that the people who have told me that they found success in that their success that the way they found it was

by selling it yeah well I think that's like when you go back to like the EOS right it's

or built to sell really it's it's not in the destination right because the

destination is to sell it it's in the process to get there like we're so I I

guess we're we're still all in process and that that bucket at the end of it is

to actually have something to where you can just hand it over to someone else yeah I guess a short-term bucket uh

list would be to be able to hire the right people to help the infrastructure of the business

in the office the gravitational pull was way different back then when when the pyramids were

built like that the atmosphere was all helium so everything was just way lighter

that's legit I got that from what's that movie called uh 10,000

BC oh no Carter what's that dude Carter goes to Mars so I I think we like as far

as the business bucket list we've already talked about it numerous times and I you know it was years ago when I

just said the that my main goal is just to leave the industry better than when I found it right and I think we're well on

our way to do that it just there's there's so much work to

do that it's it doesn't seem like anything's being done even though we've already progressed you know

exponentially probably but it feels like you haven't done anything because one you're still in it and you're still

trying I was just having a conversation um earlier today about that exact same

thing that we've been doing building go career since 2018 so five years and uh

really five years launched it in 2018 but really got going 2019 but you know

five six years here and it feels like we've not done much um but there's a lot

of people that would tell you differently it's just I think it's that same thing you just said there's so much

freaking things to do still that it feels like this huge mountain it's like

you Crest a little Hill and you think you're getting somewhere and then you look up and you're like oh I still got

to climb that it's it's uh I'm

hoping yeah it is just a money Hill I'm hoping that this next Blitz that we're

in right now does help a lot but you know kind of a a goal is straight up I

mean I tell people all the time I I I want to leave I want to make sure I

didn't that I have a positive impact on the industry that I'm in that I love

and takes a lot of uh people other people to make that happen you guys you

know again I'll throw out there you know CFI and FCI CA convention is coming up

make sure you're there if you're watching I want to see you there come see us come hang out um but you know

that's where we met is at one of the conferences I think it was actually surf TI yeah T but um you know it takes a it

takes a army to change something and a lot of people believing uh that something different

new can be possible um but you know ultimately trying to assist in healing

the industry or being a positive force in that um that's definitely a goal but a bucket

list like would be just that from business standpoint would be that go

careera is fully adopted and that we have this placement and like this machine running that's

bringing new people in placing new people uh giving the consumer the uh

whether that's a GC or a homeowner the ability to know who they're hiring and and the quality and and capabilities of

that person I just think that's a better world in my in my brain anyway and uh

to get a mass adoption I think it definitely make for a better experience overall right um a

more consistent experience anyway and then yeah I mean then consumers get to

pick off of you know off of the uh off of that experience whether it's the

installer or the retail shop that puts their average Hammer rating you know of all their uh subs and employees or all

their inst up and says you know we have an average Hammer of two carpet five and

whatever and homeowners to know that for that to be known like the that rating

the qualification skill score Hammer rating for that idea to be known by the people who who

pay all our bills which are the end users at the end of the day so right Eric says he wants to leave a legacy of

making people's lives easier and disruption to Market Market where people are gouged on select types of products

so if if you guys don't know Eric works with uh gunlock I believe and he's

invents tools I mean things that make our all of our Lives easier and you'll see him at these conventions and stuff

too and you can ask him questions and just don't ask him what's coming out next because he won't tell you I've

tried we need to start doing tool reviews on here and does some some tools and then we'll do a

live review hey it and do this whole we we were working on the my truck this

weekend in the warehouse um and my son came up with an idea for a tool why don't why don't they have this for that

Dad I was like Dang d ding ding invented I was like that's a great idea dude he was

like they don't have that yet it's like no it's like we gotta we got we gota we got to figure something out I don't want

to say it on here because I give too much information sometimes I guess yeah because then Eric will go make it hey

Eric I'll sell you some ideas I see your tight lip you were tight lip last podcast you

like I'd say something but I ain't gonna say it in front of you I can't here here's the reason is don't

give all your secret years over the past couple years I have openly shared some ideas and showed some information of

some things that I was doing and let's just say there's some companies out there right now that have implemented

such yeah yes yes yes after some one-on-one conversations they've implemented such and they're making

money with with it let's just say that all

right well um any what what's up personally we got

travel eating I want to be a helicopter pilot you guys better ride with me if I

get my license and by the way that's like you know know you got to get like three I think 300 hours to be able to

fly other people really yeah Solo solo hours you gotta have 10

tandem hours with an instructor then 20 I believe on your own and then you have

your private pilot's license the crazy have anybody else in your in your craft

you have to have 200 I think it's 200 hours so our the landlord of our

building is actually a pilot too and he's taking my son up in his plane he's just got

like a little two-seater and I was asking him about it and I was like you know like what kind of engine and stuff

like that he said it's no different than the engine in a vehicle it's the same thing yeah a lot of them are if it's a

piston engine then and and carburated piston engines so what you got to start

worrying about is you know freezing uh you know all this kind of

stuff never meant to give it away Eric it just it happened conation and troubl shooting sell it dude don't don't don't

give it away so continue this conversation for

59.99 I mean as far as other bucket list I don't think I ever like wanted to be a

pilot or anything um I've just the the way we grew up we didn't do much

traveling so I think that's why we we look at that like it's something that we want to do and we want our kids to

experience and you know do you have another place in

mind um I would really like to go overseas too but my wife says that is a

no-go for her because her flight limit is like 4 hours at a time and she said

that's way too long to travel that way but also I guess um my bucket list would

actually be to like move to kasum and just open up something over there and

good old Taco Stand I think something it it doesn't matter what it is right as

long as I get to like live that life because you go over there and people are like so easy going and it's almost like

to them even their work is like they they still get to live there so it's

it's not that bad because they know they're they're there they're going home they can go to the beach every day they

don't live far away from it I mean yeah I think the one of the

things about having a conversation like this is just trying to show it's important to dream a little bit like

live outside your work uh you know have have some things some goals outside of

just pure work uh pretty much we talk about work every podcast and so having

some Hobbies uh you know dreams outside of work you know living life we do this

for experiences most people say they want money they really want what money brings it which is the experience of the

new car the experience of the new house or the experience of the trip the experience of having your own Taco Stand

Down In Mexico freedom to be a vision freedom to be a and be able to implement and try some of

your ideas that's all it is that's all that money gives people is is is freedom freedom to to do as they as they

please well allows you to allows you to design shirts for your baseball teams

and Coach your kids teams and travel around doing that and you know you

guys you know it allowed like the whole point of of uh

having hobbies and things like that is just trying to get your mind off work a little bit I tend to be a workaholic a

little and so my brain like circumference around that I'd love to get better at golf I shot a 84 one time

at our at the course I play at that I'm a member of and I my kids were little my

daughter was you shot4 nine holes no it was a it hey you're not steing my

thunder bro that was that was the best game I shot and I was like I told my

kids I'm like I'm going pro this is this I had like four birdies

it was like ridiculous so I I do wish I was uh could

devote a little bit more time into that and I love shooting guns too oh shooting

guns you gotta shoot l a pew pew I like it it's F I just love the smell love the

smell like do you take your girl with you you

shoot no no don't want to give her the the the means yeah can't can't teach

them how to do that you know what's funny man is I actually got in trouble I took my mom's property I went out there and I was going over gun safety with my

family my kids my nephews and it was just a weird scenario neighbors freaked out sent the cops

over it was all good it was it was actually pretty humorous after the fact but it was uh not humorous during the

whole thing but did you get arrested did you get a gun charge okay no good you're

good yeah I'm good it was it was pretty funny those guys those guys were smoking I got to take my my uh so you guys know

I adopted three kids and I've got two boys I want to take them out

shooting and uh so I think I'm gonna take him before the Summer's up which is

coming close but I'm going to take him out to a clay clay range I I'm I'm a little skeptic because my nephew lived

with me when he was about 16 I took him out there and he swung the gun two or three times at our faces and I was like

dude give me a break like I'm gonna have to tackle you next time bro this

a was he just like hey hey yeah like come on man but yeah so shoot I like

shooting I haven't uh my wife told me the other day and I don't know if I should be worried about this but she

wants learn learn how to how to shoot so I think I think everybody should learn how to shoot man I know that that some

people just are against it but I think that that's um I think you should everyone should

know because the more you know the safer you are it sounds dumb but people don't

understand what not to do and that's where the accidents happened um that's why I did that with with the family I

wanted them to understand how it operated I do have to I do get I do owe my son a a gun I did tell him that I'd

get him a rifle 22 if he took care of his a pet gun and get him little golden get him Little

Golden Boy little gold SS baby yeah just a little little to shoot iron

sights isn't that the isn't that how you're supposed to learn well that's how I learned in the military they

didn't I didn't learn how to shoot on yeah you shot iron sights

man he's a pretty good shot already good um well another another deal like

uh you know our our support system here at the Huddle is Ashlin and you know she

wanted to point out that small trips or small experiences and you know a lot of times

that's all the time we have to get away as business owners and as installers so

you know taking that extra day off and going over the weekend planning around

maybe a holiday get you days off those are some of my funnest trips because

when day I'm not missing much work so I don't have as much stress if I take a whole week a whole week off during the

week I uh I stress I just I get all anuty of a an extended weekend right

because that's what Tanya and I do like just me and her and that's where you see

all of our like Vegas trips and stuff like that it's because sometimes like

there was a and we talked about this on the mental health episode where a lot of times it

was me always trying to include the kids and everything and then her being like no we just need some time together right

and that's what I did I was like all right let's start doing these weekends and it it actually worked out and that's all it was was and it and I we actually

didn't take any time off work we would leave after work on Friday come back on Sunday be back to work on

Monday so just you'd leave Friday yep we I like getting out like Thursday evening

go wherever it is and then I got because I'm not missing any work I'm going fishing this weekend actually to Canada

Way the heck up Northern Saskatchewan and I am going to uh take off on

Thursday 5:30 fly out and then I'm back on Tuesday morning so I do I miss Friday

and Monday with two two week weekend days uh in between there and that's

where I get the most uh relaxation anyway because I'm not away from work that long I don't know if that's me or

if it's like you were talking earlier uh Jose if it's not really trust but just

you want to make sure things are you get calls when you're in the office so you you would just in your

head you assume like I'm missing calls when I'm not in the office

it's it's always the fear of always having to play catchup is really what it is always having to play catchup missing

missing an opportunity like those are those are always my fears um says he no vacation since

2022 all work and very little play but he does go to the conventions and stuff

so seeing us is what he enjoys yeah um but I did see that he he went to a

concert a couple weeks ago I think so he didn't even invite me damn who was

it Taylor Swift but I mean even the little things

in town right cuz that's what Tanya and I do too it's like we

love comedy shows we love going to concerts and that's what draws us to Vegas is everything going on and then

even in town he uh we went and seen Boys to Men like ABC BBD that was yeah it was

great and H says he went and seen Ice Cube like dang Yeah

Boy dang that's pretty awesome when was that was that in uh Texas

Jorge you know mentioning all this work and play and stuff we got we got to remember that that one of the keys is

what you were talking about earlier Jose was you know having systems and and

processes and a way of doing things that makes life easier and that you know plays

right into the fact that you know thinking embracing the technology

that'll help you be more efficient um you know my dream with go careera is

that people are just the bottom line is people are getting the right guy on the right job and you don't have to know them 100 you know for 15 years to know

you got the right guy on the right job and to make sure that your job sites are ready you know you ought to look into

floor Cloud which is our sponsor for today's podcast floor Cloud you know

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right now so we've got a total of uh three Bay stations hooked up and

constantly monitoring and it is it's it's huge for me to be able to go to the

GC and when we talk about it and I'm like hey did you get some dehumidifiers in there yet oh no I forgot I said I

know you forgot because I'm looking at the stuff right now I'm telling you you forgot

yeah there's not there there's nothing better to save your time than to me is

technology like having that ability to get the information whether it's your site conditions or uh being able to like

go careers technology that basically gives you insight into the installers uh

background and work history and skills and abilities all these things help you

to uh you know be more efficient maybe in enjoy life a little bit better because like Ashlin

said playing catchup is better than missing out on life experiences because we only have this one life guys you know

try to enjoy some of it work hard uh when we've done our financial uh huddles

put back some money invest your money give some money away and um save

up for some of those life experiences of course the uh conventions

are always a fun time they are manyi vacation a lot of times or they were before we launched the Huddle and now we

now we pretty much work every conference but yeah I do enjoy doing

this so not it's not a it's not a hassle for for me I know just like hodad he

says that you know he does the rugs on the weekend and wall the wall during the week I mean when it when and I think

that's the thing right it's when you have a passion for it it becomes more than just a job and then you enjoy doing

it so when we're working a lot of the times it it doesn't feel like you're working it just feels like you're doing

what you need to do right it's not like I mean granted there are those times

where it's like you're so mentally exhausted from doing like working with

this certain person or architect and it's like man I just I'm product or yeah

and and that's where uh your your home life personal life bevs into work life and vice versa right

like it always the biggest the biggest thing to me is when is dealing

with how do I say this without saying a-hole like just

people who don't want the solution to happen it's almost like I've had uh

superintendent and uh gc's just want to be mad and the job's going not

perfectly as planned or something and instead of focusing on the solutions they want to remind you that three weeks

ago your guys weren't there you know and it's just

like when you get a good good GC that has good high quality superintendent

that are solution oriented and a good for in or whatever that's when I love

doing this business that's when I love just all the moving Parts it takes and

putting them all together and that's when your systems can almost run the thing but you can never take away that

human element so it's about it's about working well with others um I think uh I just experienced some of

that today with with the gentleman from who owns a a construction company

and dude came came at me he didn't come at me very like

professional but he wasn't out of whack but at the same time it's like I don't want to give you a change order I just

want to get in there and get the job done dude yeah this is this is we had a conversation I said we did have a

conversation I told you what I wasn't going to include I said it's there in the in writing right

and like even your guy told you that there was some un foreseeing that popped

up that we needed to assess and now you're getting mad at me because I'm assessing them and giving you a price so

it's okay everything was approved everything was good Ashlin is right it's

not even playing catchup it's uh a lot of the times I'll work you know the if

I'm leaving on a Friday I'm stacking as much time as I can Monday through Thursday sometimes even that previous

weekend right it's it's just all you still got things to do but you can still do it and then get some of these you

know bucket list things done hey I want to go do this this weekend so that means

this is what I got to do you don't Tak care of your bucket list eventually just going to turn into a the other kind of

list start well like like becoming a

pilot yeah yeah well that's GNA happen I I'm finding the school that has the

helicopter and I'm GNA do it guys you got it here on the Huddle you can call

me out on it in six months and see if I've gotten any close

I would say that uh you know the whole idea is take some time for you this goes

into our self-care uh episodes that we've had you know therapists on for and talking about

that um you know put some time aside for yourself your family your kids and um

you know just like you said Daniel talking about you know putting in extra hours that week before it's kind of like

banking hours so you can take you you truly take off the the time that you're gone I'd say that planning is a big part

of it for me I've got to plan it out a little bit more than I'd like to and uh

it's really it was really important when I was a sub I had to like constantly tell the the stores I worked for don't

be booking me for a job this week I'm I'm gonna be gone I won't be there so

I'm I'm gone this week that was before we had a lot of like shared calendars or you know they wrote the schedules and

notebooks and [ __ ] so yeah but you got to do it yeah the other option is like

work while you're there like when we we want to travel my daughter's in

gymnastics we went to the Bahamas while the kids were you know on their vacation schedule sleeping in I

was still waking up at the same time working then once they woke up it was all right now let's make breakfast head

out do something but I already had you know a good four or five hours in the

day already yeah well that's a good that that I you

know I was thinking this last week about changing up my schedule I my body you

know I used to be the four o'clock up go work out at the office by

6 bang out a 12 14 hour day go

home I I need eight hours and that means I'm going to bed like 8

o' and uh so I I've been thinking man how do you go to bed middle a day like

that man some some of my some of my friends have those kind of schedules like you just mentioned Daniel is like

you do some work kids get up you get to enjoy I've

never taken my kid like except for like emergencies or my wies out of town I

have never taken my kids to school not in any like fatherly way either cuz when

you're getting it thrown on you because your wife's out of town or she's sick it's not it's not like you're okay guys

let's make your breakfast it's like let's go get the H in the truck let's go

so I admire you for doing that that's really awesome I've been dropping my girls off at school their summer school

a few times um more than a few times but they love riding with Dad and uh they're

learning a lot of old school songs there you go that's good

just just today old music just today I picked up my daughter from gymnastics we

went to Blakeley and uh uh Corey from Wolf was there and

Jared from utin was there I didn't even know that they were there and I was like oh this is awesome now we don't have to

go get anything to eat let's go see what they got to eat because I was returning some stuff and then drop them off at the

house pick up my son take my son to football then back to the office it's like yeah I got to take my on the

football here pretty soon he's here somewhere well he's probably sitting on the high low that

that's that's the uh I admire you for that I I I need to you know I got three

kids still at the house and two grandkids I need to like work that into my day and not like just take them with

you bro just take them with you they love nothing like my my son he was l i he just loved going with me

like took him out a couple measures meet some people mine are old enough they're like 12 and 14 they don't like coming

here because I put them you know put them to work it's like the back and help the warehouse guys I don't care if

you're pushing a broom or loading up materials or stacking pallets go figure it out my son loves doing all that I did

um I did let my daughter uh my daughter Audrey Drive the Hilo this weekend there

you go she she's eight I told her when she was five I said when you're eight I'll teach you how to drive to Hyo damn

yeah I am a I'm a gramp Paul is Gramps I am I've got a

seven-year-old granddaughter and a four-year-old in National correct me if

I got that wrong but a grandson and we just was on vacation with them talking

about short trips ran just ran down to Branson it's only about four and a half hours away from us and hung out on the

lake did some some of that of course we ate some food and and and uh yeah it's

cool a friend of mine well a friend of my wife's Own It owns a a big house

there we air be and beat it like 10 years ago ended up the owner of it is

the bass player for Rob Zombie if you guys know Rob Zombie is the the the band

Rob Zombie and he's made a few movies too but yeah he's the bass player I think his name is uh rigs uh I forget

his first name off top of my head but yeah so we've stayed in there mic rigs M rigs yeah so we've stayed there every at

least TW once or twice a year ever since my wife and and his fiance are like

buddy buddy she even goes down there with her girlfriends and they all just go hang out so I did get away and hang

out with the grandkids this weekend and and uh it was it was really enjoyable so

I hope all you guys put some time aside you know have some personal

interests some Hobbies spend some time with family make some area rugs on the weekend

whatever crazy thing is this past weekend was T and I's 20year High School

reunion oh yeah how'd that go did you go I did

go three people uh there was probably like 10 15 of us I've never went to a

high school reunion I never went to a high school I don't know I I don't know that my high school really has them yeah

Ashlin says old yes we are old all right guys well that's going to

close us out for the day I want to thank everybody for joining us thank you to

Jose and Daniel for always being uh the Staples of this podcast you

guys rock I also want to say to our audience if you're catching Us on YouTube today no it wasn't a flooring

podcast necessarily but we know the balance of life has to happen you got to have some fun out there so if you like

any of our podcasts check us out on YouTube I think we're on Spotify and all

the podcast Google podcast I believe so wherever you're catching us give us some

love give us a like subscribe follow us uh also participate in the the um live

event every Tuesday we're live you can get on here and we we still do get you know

comments and stuff like after fact if you like I think there was comments coming through this morning even from

last week's where um we were talking about starting wages

and stuff like that which is a very controversial topic right because and everyone will agree that no they're not

where they need to be but what what are we going to do about that it's that's where it takes all of us to keep on

doing something about these things yeah so interact

with and and uh uh another reminder we're going to be at FCI CFI joint

convention in Orlando uh it's coming up October

20 third October 1 to third right October 1st to the third what is

it October 1 yeah okay and then the 22nd

is when uh the NCT is I'm going to be in Ohio

for flash Coen heat weld class I'm be I'mma

be in Florida nice all right guys well thank

you everybody thanks to our audience uh you guys rock you guys who get on here every week and and participate if you're

watching this uh recorded join us join us live give us your thoughts give us your comments and

uh let us know what you guys would like to uh have us talk about and and any uh

experts that you know about that you might want to see on the podcast uh we love having guests uh we'd have a guest

every week uh but then we wouldn't just be able to ramble in front of you either hey we like we like we like to

have some issues so we could help solve some some issues there right before they become big problems and some well the

fun thing is that we are all solution oriented and that's what makes this podcast work is we think about those

things talk through them and and our audience rocks so with that being said we will see you guys next week uh 3 P.M

Central on Tuesday 4 P.M Eastern the right time zone the good time

zone all right guys we'll catch you later

The Huddle - Episode 110 - Addressing Labor Shortages in the Flooring Industry

In this episode with special guest John Steier (Floorinator) we delve into the ongoing challenges of labor shortages and the innovative solutions being implemented to address them. This episode highlights both current efforts and necessary strategies to attract and retain skilled workers, including increased training opportunities, enhanced benefits, and outreach to younger demographics. We discuss how the industry can improve its appeal to potential employees and the importance of investing in workforce development. Tune in to learn about the proactive steps the flooring industry is taking to secure a sustainable and skilled labor force.

The Huddle was created by Paul Stuart of Stuart & Associates and Go Carrera, alongside Jose and Daniel Gonzalez from Preferred Flooring. Aimed at helping you maintain forward progress in your flooring career, they cover topics from personal and business growth, to installation tips & tricks and everything in-between.

Want to be a guest on The Huddle? Email thehuddleforwardprogress@gmail.com today!

Create your FREE Installer profile at https://gocarrera.com and become part of the future of the industry TODAY!
GET TRAINED! Find a list of training dates here: https://gocarrera.com/resources/training/
https://www.preferredflooringmi.com
https://www.stuartandassociates.com

what's up sorry a little technical difficulty what's up team welcome to the Huddle we're your weekly Playbook where

we not only strategize on playing the game but how to change it from mastering

the fundamentals to distinguishing yourself in the marketplace we're here for the installer to give you a voice

and make sure you're equipped with everything you need let's band together and Forge a new Legacy in flooring this

is where you belong welcome to the team what's up fellas how's it

going um it is going excellent uh for

the audience out there I'm Paul Stewart I'm the founder and CEO of go Carrera

and the president at Stewart and Associates commercial flooring with me as always Mr Daniel and

Jose Gonzalez that preferred flooring out of Grand Rapids Michigan what's going on guys so today we are

addressing labor shortage uh we we could do a topic on this every week probably

every single week it's always seems to be the topic but uh we

are I think we tackle this um oh two or three times a year we

tackle this um and get get ideas flowing and and discuss um not only

you know what are the problems but you know what are some solutions so I'm going to kick it off

with a couple of things um go Carrera has uh created a product

called the jumpstart and it's a job board uh what jump starts intended to do

is have an is be an outlet a conduit for all of the training entities be it CFI

aft ntca fcef all of these uh to give them a

way to board their students onto our uh

site and then provide access to that site and interviews and all this

interactive kind of thing so that when new people come in that the new people are out in front

of the people who are going to hire them so we know that most of our industry uh

the installation is is done by subcontractors or subcontract third

party independent whatever you want to call them that demographic is a

independent contractor right they're they're not employees that means that we need to give them access to hire these

people uh these new students the new blood in the industry um so I say all that GL to say

that I believe one of the greatest failures in our industry right now is

placement there's a lot of activity going on the recruitment front but then when they get out of the twoe course or

the five-week course or the 10we course or whatever uh or um you know uh out of

a some type of a entry-level course they're not getting placed um their companies are still um

looking at Craigslist or running ads on Craigslist or things like this to find

guys I hear installers all the time talk about Craigslist well Craigslist is dead

when it comes to this at the end of the day it provide you with nothing about the person or provide you no background

and that's what jumpstart is um designed to do give you some

background on the student and um allow you to hire them schedule

interviews and everything right off at the site so that is a solution that we've been talking about for a while and

it to me it is the the it's filling the this huge gap in placement so that was a

really long-winded way of asking you guys when when somebody where do you guys look for

new Talent first off and and

secondly what do you think from a placement standpoint would be important uh and what other holes do

you see because recruitment's out there as well I mean there is some efforts going on in recruitment but it's

probably not near enough to what the industry needs um so I'll go ahead and start

the as far as looking for new Talent uh you you kind of have U we got a small

circle right so we we look within the circle um you know if if we're going back to when um you know prior to us

meeting you Paul there really wasn't any other avenues for us to go besides looking on a Craigslist or at some temp

services that could potentially have a construction um Department in there but

um Word of Mouth friends of family uh you know kids of so and so kids of that

that's where the bucket we've been pulling from um has been uh is one of

those things I think it's a comfort thing right like we trust what people are telling us and we have to trust that

they're referring good people to us um that want to grow and and so referrals

friends and family and referrals and Craigs List yeah it has it worked out

yes and no yes it's work out some of them longer than others some of them shorter than others um however I do tell

I do tell friends and family that if they want to remain in the same or they want to keep the relationship as it is

now then they shouldn't come at work because that's great great

advice that's one of those things where we can separate work and friendship work

in family but sometimes they cannot but we've had a lot more practice

yeah you better you better get good at it pretty quick huh uh we we've hired

family I've not had much luck uh

friends uh a little better but not great I have found that once you hire a friend

you're probably your relationship will change um so wouldn't it wouldn't it be

great though to have the a a spot where you can and just

look for guys that have said hey I am I'm I want to be in flooring I've taken

the first level a training that you can at least tell them to grab you know a stair tool or hey grab that kicker or

mix that grout mix that thin set and understand that you know if it's a

Portland grout you got to let it slake for you know five or 10 minutes and then remix it or grab my margin trial or you

know can understand the basics um because I I just have this

intense belief that we are doing really poor in our industry of placing these

new new students and and that kind of comes from reading on Facebook a lot of

the trainers like they're and if you talk to some of them um placement they

they get students in and they graduate them but they then they don't have the resources to get them placed or the

resources to follow up with them it's like right even when we had Carlos on

here that was one of his big talking points was we can we can turn these guys out right we can get them signing up and

they like doing it and then once they're done it's like where am I supposed to go it's

there's it's it's an issue where where you guys are trying to to have somewhere

for them to actually all right this is where we're going to put them you can go here and view everything but then the

other issue we run into is the whole subcontractor mentality where a lot of

these guys are like I'm only going to run as a subcontractor I'm not going to run it as a business and that's really

not what these programs are set up for they're not set up

to here go work for this guy over here on a a

1099 yeah unfortunately well let's talk about that I mean what

what what's the solution there um I there there's two problems and then what

is the solution or at least this my my two cents on on what the problems are

opinion on the solution is maybe when people are signing up for classes maybe there should be classes specific for uh

individuals who are chasing the entrepreneur dream and want to work for themselves versus someone who wants to

work hourly maybe they should be geared towards a towards a different demographic or that specific demographic

I would say um you know are are you wanting to go out on your own right

away if so these are the pitfalls or are you wanting to take some classes and get

some education so that way you can find placement within a company's easier um

and then then obviously the logistic portion of it is um relocation issues um

you know are are you wanting to stay in your radius your area or are you willing

to move elsewhere and are you set up for that yeah so I think educating

them um educating them on the you know during

the training that there's you know two

two ways to go about this being an employee with somebody and being a a

subcontractor but out of these programs I mean I don't want them to

be maybe this is a selfish I don't think they should be nor do I want these new people going out trying to start their

own thing to me that's just as irresponsible as some guy who came to work for me worked for me for six months

and goes out and starts his own install company I had a few of my helpers do that and they failed miserably and it

doesn't do any good for the industry they'd learn no new skill because they didn't stay with somebody long enough to

learn the skills um you know we've got to get them into some type of employment

for some type of time so if you if you're a company that hires by the hour

um or by the day or whatever but you have employee installers jump starts designed to give

those companies a chance to hire and by the as employees

the um subcontract Community we initially

had a threshold where you had to be one hammer or more

uh to be honest at the beginning we had it at two hammers or more but you know

with only about 12% of the entire network being even close to two hammers

we were like well that kind of uh cuts it off right you

you lower the amount of people that can hire so we're opening it up to where any

anybody can hire the guys now I'll be honest in the future we want to minim you know put that filter requirement

back on it um but at the end of the day

you've got to get the guys placed somewhere and have some someone training

them like them coming out of training and not getting at all with a sub or a company that's certainly not helping um

I think we got to just improve put those funds into training someone and then have them leave the

industry right away and Rollin says like one of the things that we have to be working on is to get more dealers to buy

into the programs but um coming from that standpoint

it's would it be beneficial for the dealers yes but they can't see that because the only thing that I think they

see is and we've dealt with this locally is putting bodies on the floor I don't

care they don't care about the education it's just how many people can we put on the floor well that leads to another

piece really one of the biggest problem it's like we have to get hit with a sledgehammer in our industry for things

to happen I'm serious you are here's the the point is a lot of

people are not hiring these younger guys because they they feel like they're okay

they got their 58 year old out there working in another five years this will

be like there'll be no qu no opportunity

other than hiring younger New Blood hey Paul can I

hey John is hey everybody he's back hooray John has joined our call we love

to add to what you're saying there because it it is exactly that everybody

is so complacent right now and I'm going to talk through my experience with people going through training and then

putting them into placement we all love to talk about the wonderful idea of training all these people but when it

comes to uh retailers and and work rooms and all these places stepping up we need

to do a better job getting them involved in the training from day one and not

just saying here you go here's some guys to pick from well there's two things I

think that there's there's got to be some buy into to the to training in general the the and then there has to be

a mechanism that allows them to easily View and

peruse people that have joined the industry and hire make offers like get

some activity with these students even if a student comes out and gets two or three job offers and he goes away that's

still a better experience than coming out and not talking to anybody um like you got to get this

connection from training to placement and that's where jumpstart comes in and

we are doubling down as as a note to the industry we are doubling and tripling down on jumpstart we are going to make

it awesome we are pointing nearly every resource we have at go Carrera at this

this piece of the problem is placement to have a very Dynamic way of uh of a

company or an installer to get on put in your ZIP code what discipline

you do that you're looking for like I'm a carpet and resilient guy or whatever or I'm a tile guy and then view

students then you get on and you can view the students within that zip code

that area and um you know make offers like set up interviews with them right

then look at their background what what what training did they go to where are they from and then jump on an interview

with them it's a hell of a lot better than what we're doing right now and that can only improve now I also believe that

the complacency and the so meaning that

people not hiring the guys I'm I'm fearful that I throw all my

resources at this and there's still not going to get hired to be honest with you and that's that complacency Point piece

that you were talking about I mean that's a real risk I'm taking you know I mean we've been contacted you know a few

times and it's like hey this person is really interested in installing this is what they want to install can you guys

you know bring them over there it's uh they just graduated they went through

this program they don't have any money right now and then you'd have to pay for them to get there you'd have to pay for

them for a place to to live you'd have to cart them around everywhere and it's like it's just the the way that our

industry is it we're we're not set up like that to be able to just well a lot

of people coming in let's face it when a lot of people are coming in and they're well into their 20s or 30s and they're

going through this training they're there because they really do need that helping hand they need that that

Financial stability in their life and there's very few people that are really

set up few businesses that are going to be set up to handle that because you're not talking tens of thousands of dollars

you're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend on each individual to

really get somebody to go and that I see this as a big hiccup down the road you

know we can pump out all these people but if we're pumping out all these people and it's still requiring such a

huge investment on the other end how do we make that more appealing to be like okay I'm willing to drop you know or

spend this amount of money well this is this is where part of the problem is

geography right where's most of the trainings happening right where's most of the we all know like if you're in

there's the these train the trainings are siloed around part of that's because the trainers the CFI aft

ntca they go by where they get demand

for example the ntca they have a crap ton of training on the East Coast

Philly like crap tons they come to Kansas once every I mean I don't know

they can correct me on here if I'm wrong but once every six months once every year maybe they're here have you guys

world you know what I mean so if we if we had a way to understand

where the demand is where the people will hire them and that could be a

mechanism of jump too is like put in your ZIP code where you want people and if enough of those requests come in then

you could appeal to a training entity hey man you need to do a carpet training

in you know Grand Rapids there's been 15 inquiries for new installers in that

area area uh or hey ntca and ctef you need to do a course a two your twoe

training course and or maybe it's onewe training course and your ctii

certification in Grand Rapids because a lot of inquiries been coming in that area we just need to tie all the pieces

together somehow um I mean that's what I'm that's this whole launch of working

with jumpstart and you know to be to go through that um a lot of well look

what Kendall says a lot of it right now when it comes to hiring these young

people these days are they want to go to the top dollar knowing nothing and still being and still need to be trained and a

lot of times unfortunately they're not always reliable to show up for work that

is 100% true it gets better though if they did go through a training that that

is somewhat of a fact I want to add to that can you guys hear me okay a little bit

better on the mic now I think you should start you're a little echoey but you're

good all right essentially just super quick it's like the companies are worried about the

the the now the the today we've got to get our industry

looking at this problem everybody talks about it but they got to look out a little bit go ahead Jose sorry about

that so I was going to add to what Kendall said and a lot of a lot of the dollar amounts that are driving the the

people who are whether their entry level or got a little bit of experience is cost of living right so cost of living

has dictated that people don't necessarily want more money for n less

knowledge it's just that they need more money for Less knowledge right and and that's and the the fact that that's

still an issue in our industry um also exposes the fact that we are not in

charge of our pricing as much as we think right the market is dictating that

by flooding it with um I don't want I'm not trying to speak badly about anything but we're training

a lot of people with no placement so a lot of these people with no placement are trying to you know dip and dive and

Dabble and they are actually creating an issue where our our industry is valued

less because of the failure rate is higher because people are just diving in Without Really knowing and that goes

back to the issue that we're talking about is all these training entities and all these programs for all these new

people for entry level are are are we are we going about this wrong are we treating this like a combine and only

the ones that are performing at Peak Performance or learn at a higher capacity those are the ones who are

getting uh verbally drafted to all these other companies and getting these recommendations the other guys are out

there defend for themselves and that's what's causing the market to uh to do what is doing I don't think anybody's

getting I you know it doesn't seem to me that anybody's getting like truly

promoted or placed the the best way that I've seen it happen is when a company

needs training and they pull all their guys in and they hire one of the training entities to come train all

their their entire company or something like that but that that's that's the

most successful way because those people are already placed where the training

land yeah that's where the training lands the best so if you have a new two week guy you

know you they come out of that training better than what they did than what they

were beforehand Jose Jose you said it right so somebody that for whatever

reason they they find out about training for Floor Covering they put themselves through the training they take the time

to do it more than like cannot go to work for for less than

they're going to make at a a a gas station because they're they're looking for something better in their life so

they probably already have the the car payment maybe some kids maybe a house they've got all that they're they're not

going to be able to start off at such a low level and we're they're just going to fizzle out where maybe that that

vetting process needs to happen before you even come into that training or you know are you able to stay are are you

able to stay here you know we'll show you the pathway to get to where you need to but you're not going to be able to

you know realistically you're not going to be making that living wage right away

and I think that's one of the issues that I've always had with like the FCF

right it's because in all their like marketing documentation it's always you

can make x amount per year you can make $150,000 a year your first year and Be

Your Own Boss and they mark it like it's out of the gate you're going to be

making this much money and In fairness I would say they don't actually say in the

first year I don't think but they they they certainly throw those big numbers

around in your first assumption you know these what I'm yeah they're making and

and then when they go through these trainings and then you talk to them and you're like yeah I can offer you this x amount per hour and they're like where

where's this money coming from they're talking about I'm making $100,000 a year yeah that's where like there's no stair

stepping uh I think I've told you guys I know I've told Daniel and Jose about the

vision for jump start in a big way is meaning a placement but also more like a

digital apprenticeship where whoever hires them this would be my dream but

getting the industry to move behind a vision is like very tough

but my dream would be that they go onto the job board whoever hires them has to

be say one and a half hammers or hire on in the go career Network and if you do

if you check that box you can hire off the off of jump start but you can also

then fill out some easy forms and get the first five to eight weeks of that

person's pay covered by an industry Grant and therefore you're taking a risk

on someone new you have to do payroll reporting right through the right through the app which we got this

designed already which just getting the money to push that initiative through

has to have industry support but essentially anybody can be a go- career

member it's free and so then all you got to do is get your Hammer rating once you get your Hammer rating if you're a

hammer and a half or higher you get to use the job board all you want so you have the cream of the crop and then once

you've done that you can even apply to get this guy's uh uh first eight weeks

of wages covered and you just have to do a payroll report and a skill report

every single uh week that would be worth it right who would not do that what's

your thoughts on that idea John that's a that's the big idea of jump I'm gonna be the dream killer here man you lost me

that's just a lot of work but but I love okay let let let let

me find out make sure that I didn't just word salad you to death and

then you you is John yes you're a highly

Hammer rated guy you join jump you join go Carrera you got a you're over two

hammers you go to jumpstart go Carrera D jumpstart you put in your ZIP code you

find a guy you hire him you then just click a button that

says apply for wage supplementation that goes to the grant people and yes this is

complicated it's a complicated problem but that goes to the industry if the industry has put together put aside some

money to cover for a digital apprenticeship it's no different than what an apprenticeship H it's the same

way an apprenticeship happens just digitally so you've got you went and hired Daniel and you're

paying Daniel $18 an hour or $15 an hour

and you want to get his wages covered for the next eight weeks so you're not

worried how much production this guy's getting you can truly worry about the next eight weeks being on job training

and you have a two page form on your phone that you fill out about Daniel

Daniel how many hours did he work how much was he paid boom boom boom boom boom what new skills did Daniel learn

this week boom boom boom is that not worth the $680 you're going to pay him

that week if you could get that supplemented and that is a digital apprenticeship I I am all I am all for I

am all for that stuff I I really am um but again you're you're talking about

money that it's either granted or not I mean I heard you say something about the

flooring industry has money set aside to no no no I'm saying they would have to

this is a big Vision this is not something that hypo I'm sorry I thought this already something that was out

there yes no we want we we have the idea framework out at go Carrera like if this

could happen this is a way you could take a new guy place them with someone who needs them whether it's a sub or an

employ or a company and then that sub or company could get

their first eight weeks of wages supplemented so that the new guy could

be truly on the job trained for like another eight weeks intensely so yeah

anyway I it's a big idea it's not the state of does that with um their

apprenticeship with the plumbers the electricians you hire these guys you just have to have it's a wonderful

program I mean I think I heard of someone getting like 25 Grand not not too terribly long ago because I think

it's Philadelphia does the same thing or Ohio and Philadelphia yeah yes they

supplement your guys so that you can actually train them and they get through

that initial eight weeks of time frame where you don't need to worry is Daniel

producing enough on a day-to-day basis to cover the $15 an hour you're painting

all you care about at that point is getting him up to speed so at the eight weeks when your supplementation's over

that he is making you money so getting getting to that that's that's that's where it needs to get right we need to

and we need to get dealers and and retailers and workrooms behind this

because essentially they're the ones that gonna have to fill this out they're going to have to employ these people and

and you know they're going to have to do the leg work for for these individuals throughout that whole process to to make

that work yeah it's G take it would take work and you'd have to have the industry put aside some money to pay for I mean

who's going to pay for it other than the industry that needs it the most I honestly think right now uh you just

need to look into your States but a lot of state with Apprentice programs if you have Apprentice uh and and this would be

a great question for Jim and Kay with fcef but they Apprentice programs if you

follow through with them they do qualif oh there goes John excuse me you

qualify for he must got a phone of

fundings um as far as MoneyWise goes but it's

there yeah there there's a um there's a

um there's certainly systems out there's systems out there or ways of doing

things that are out there just not for our industry and it's going to take some

work it would take some work on the whoever's hiring them side to fill out the documents properly and it takes some

work on uh whoever to set up the apprenticeship stuff but you know that's

a way that you could graduate a guy through the ranks and then once he's done with that you could even have him

on a digital apprenticeship for one year uh if you'll report back and fill out

all this as the student as the installer you fill this you'll get your apprenticeship license kind of thing

then if you have an apprenticeship guy or something like that you would

know who you're hiring these are all just ideas and that's what this podcast conversation just gave me gave me a

really I don't know seems like a good idea in my head right but um since I share too much information freely and

give people a lot of great ideas I'll wait until we're off air to discuss this one sweet but um the um I I I guess uh

so Kendall put on there too and I wanted to touch base on that is how is this supposed to work with flooring subcontractors though um and I guess

that that's one of those uh one of those questions where that's the whole point

well I think you have to look at it at a at a different perspective right because even when we were 100% a flooring

subcontractor we still hired employees and paid them as employees it wasn't just I'm just going to give you this

percentage or or as you should 1099 you it was all right you're going to be working for me you're going to be

working for me and that's where we need to get in order to things move forward

so so there you go that's where I was going with that is now we're getting into the scenario where there's just a a

disconnect from owning a job versus owning a business right that's right these Subs there's a disconnect and

these Subs hire our employees like you guys did right and and I think that

that's uh and I know we talked about this uh through in some of the conventions and through our travels and

our meetings and I know that um Paul we talked about John you and I probably talked about this when we were um in The

Mastermind group uh with with Kyle is about um the the lack of education on

how to run a business on the front end and what what that requires right because a lot of people who jump into

the trade because the flooring industry isn't regulated like everybody else you can get a knife a tape measure in a van

and be like I'm an installer let's go PE let's go make some dollars right um but

the business aspect people are just don't understand they don't understand

the benefit that it could present to them they only see the dollars and cents that it cost them in the initial setup

and we were we were those people as well we were afraid right of taking a step

afraid of learning afraid of being told you but you did but you did and there's

a lot of people who don't and those people need to be working for you they

do not need to be subcontractors look I'm gonna all [ __ ] aside the worst

problems I have at my flooring company is when a subcontractor Subs my damn job to another sub and I don't know about it

it is absolutely unallowed here but I find out

they did it it's too too late there's punchless there's problems well no crap I paid you $1.75 for this huge uh uh

Early Learning Center uh on lvt and you paid somebody 65 cents what the did you

expect and then my job looks like [ __ ] it's the sub to a sub to a sub [ __ ] that

has got to quit I probably curse more in that one all other episodes

Subs need to hire the hourly hire your installers by the hour

or by the day rate something Fair that's going to pay them and that you make them

better we're never going to get better if you just hire the lowest cost guy

um and try to sub that work to him our industry is plagued with this crap and

it's worse in some areas I believe I I believe unethical is the

way to put it it's unethical I hired you to do a job based off of your we use go

Carrera solely off your go carrera's off your Hammer rating and then you sub it

to another guy unethical for sure there there's

definitely other other ways to do it right it's sometimes it's hey I can't handle this job by myself can you come

help me out it's never just hey he's paying me this will you do it for this

all right let's go yeah if you want to team up if you can partner together

that's a different story you're still on the job you're still the guy I hired I and I

know this is kind of changing the topic but I would love to hear you know more success stories because I think that's

what's going to turn people turn people's view on subcontractor vers employee is I think we need the

saturation of success stories of uh and I'm going to pick on Matt Garcia because

he's got a program he's working with where he um it's based on uh production

and and it's a reward system for his employees it's not just an hourly system and these are things that I think really

need to be heavily talked about they need to be wrote about in magazines they need to be thrown in people's face

because we need to be aware of it otherwise when we hear hourly employee we just we get that negative thought

that we're picking up you know a day labor at Home Depot and and paying him

crap wages when when really what we're meaning is we're we're trying to set a

culture create a culture a business um an environment and where people can everybody can

Thrive Yeah well yeah you got to really worry about like these the the new blood

thriving how do you get you you you know we hired for example we have a guy that

works here that went through a two we course uh it was a two-e CFI course they

had here in witto I sent two or three guys to it one of them completed it and we told them you complete this twoe

course we're hiring you as a and it worked out great if something that way

but I'm the only company in Kansas that H full service there's a tile company up

in St Mary's that hires hourly as well but full service flooring company I'm

the only flooring company in Kansas that hires hourly employees who provides health insurance Vans tools benefits

holiday pay vacation time dental insurance like we're the only ones our industry is

ran by Subs so Subs have to start hiring by the hour we started putting on our

work work orders just as last week that all work performed on this job has to be

by your direct forces because of this subbing to a sub deal we we somehow have

to get away from that if we can get away from that as an industry then and and

like I I don't know if it's how you do it because it's 1099

thing we look at it as our problem but this is a you know

multi-industry multi-state like it's it's a plague in multiple Industries all

skilled labor all skill well and even yes and

so either make it to where 1099s if you are if if the if the government I hate

government like regulation but sometimes it's needed you know if it was where

1099 can only s cannot like if you had 1099a and 1099 B meaning we sub from our

general contractor so we're in first position right so we're going to get a1099 from our general contractor that

they paid us this amount of money on this job on you know this year right

the we 10 one level of 1099 down to 1099

B but there is no 1099 C right these 1099

BS something to track the dilution of of of it so there is no keep on so it can't just keep trickling down that flight of

steps you could could literally do it down yeah Slinky effect right how about

how about you know after after a and b um if there is going to be a c right

let's not call it C let's just call it uh c.1 um in order to have a c.1 you have

to have uh some sort of Licensing that states that you have um a bracket where

you can place people under an employee blanket uh maybe that's something for it I I sat down and talked with some of uh

uh some of the the powers to be right some of the people who make some of the decisions here in Michigan and unfortunately the same answer keeps

coming is that the government doesn't want to invest the money into creating another structured program because it

will take a very long time I get it but also well I'm just saying man someone

else had told me that um since we as an industry aren't held to the same

inspection standards for occupancy for safety I mean some of our stuff is safety I will I will add to that but we

don't have to go through the inspection process like the other trades that uh Rollin had mentioned um therefore we

are an Expendable trade by by that we're not we're not licensed and I think we

talked about that before there there's no license to become a flooring company and it'll NE or a flooring installer and

they'll never be a license California

you have to have Arizona too and I talked to Kyle about it and he said it's just a joke

it's just they just want their money here goes your license that's the that's the bottom line I'm talking a true li

like an actual it's just like Nebraska it's it's a business license it's not a trade license that's all it is just the

the difference is and the reason you don't need inspections is because you we don't have the resulting damage that a

plumber has or a elri electrican you know if you if you wire a house wrong or

a building wrong you can burn the damn thing down uh if you Plum a building

wrong on the seventh floor you could have millions of dollars

of of damage whereas if you put a floor in bad on the seventh floor you're just

replacing a floor on the seventh floor what if you pour self leveler on the seventh floor and it finds a way

down I had that happen thanks for bringing up a terrible m all had thaten had

that well I had it happen at a uh in a u medical facility and it went down into

the ped's ICU so it was really terrible that experience luckily it was a empty

room or else I would have felt as bad as you could feel ours was on the fourth

floor in an electrical room that went down to every electrical room and let's

just say we were able to get everything cleaned up so it can be repainted without substantial

damage yeah well know I I kind of wanted to throw this in here on this conversation

because there's always this is this this this labor shortage 20 years ago when I

started it was the same thing you know and I'm I'm sure Paul you were prior to that and um Daniel and Jose you you

started before that too it was always talked about there's such a there's such a problem with it and and uh I've heard

a lot of you know everybody's got we we there's a million great ideas but it's a lot of it's just getting started doing

and me I live in the middle of nowhere so and I I truly mean that I had to drive to get on some WiFi so I could

jump on this call sell service is that bad but I I think we overthink how to go about even getting

started about this and I think we as installers it's just time for us to step

up and let our voices be heard everywhere that this is a career we chose to do and it's getting in front of

people and and talking about it you know it's not relying on the quote unquote

industry to talk about it at a convention and and make a big speech about it and boy we all feel good about

it but it's actually acting on it and actually doing something about it everybody's situ what what what what is

that to you John you have an audience right now this will be seen by couple of thousand if not more people uh you're

being watched by an audience right now and you'll you'll be seen by at least a couple thousand more so what what what

are some of the let's just talk what are some of the best ideas out there I don't

care what they are who they're from what are some of the best ideas out there to solve the labor shortage yeah so and and

just one more caveat I need to put Daniel and Jose's um

caveat to this qualified labor because they've said it a bunch of times I don't

know that we have a labor shortage we have a Quality Labor shortage

so what are some ideas what so I'm gonna use one I

honestly think what we need to do is is and I know you guys have talked about it

but the high schools we need to be pounding everybody needs to be pounding on their high school door to get these

these young young men and women uh before they go and decide to go be electricians be plumbers be be a

carpenter there's a lot there's a lot of talent in these schools but they have no

clue this is even a career and and for those of us that have been around for you know a year or two we hear this a

lot oh yeah yeah going to the schools going to the schools but you you're not reading about it you're not reading

about um you know state after State you know County after County oh yeah these

these schools are opening up they're bring they're putting a flooring program in I would love I would love to see next

time I log on to Facebook 20 posts 30 posts 40 posts about an installer just

randomly is like hey you know what today I called our high school talk to guidance counselor I'm gonna go in talk

to some kids about Floor Covering so you're you're right reach

reaching out to high schools as a like installers and as um flooring companies

here here's just I'm going to throw one bone in that until we solve the pro or or at

least we have to address the problem we just got through talking about because if Joe Schmo who has been doing flooring

for five years never got any formal training worked for a guy for six months

went out on his own has no idea of what he's doing wrong goes and does this there's two things if you don't have

your business set up that guidance counselor does not want that kid going

to work for you they're looking to put their kids in the best scenario where

they can actually get hired by somebody who's going to treat them well right so

that's a great way to go about it Jim Aaron here says John is a leader in the industry he's volunteering his own time

to visit high schools in his area he is a mo I wish more would follow man big so

I do think you're doing it you doing it John you are put you are putting your money where your mouth is it's not I don't you know we we we over we over

we're overthinking this do I believe The Joe Schmo that doesn't know what he's

doing is gonna be knocking on the door at the high school now he's throwing back a sixpack lighting up another

cigarette and he's on his way that doesn't that that you're talking to a different person there there is the guy watching your the

thousands of people that are gonna be watching this are not joeo I can guarantee it you know you know the the

turds in in the flooring industry are not taking time out of their day to learn more so the thousands of you that

are watching this that do care you don't have to it doesn't have to be perfect

right when you when you want to talk about what you do you know we all think that oh what if I you know I don't seal

my seam or or what if I I bring in the wrong tapping block nobody else knows

nobody else cares you just have to expose them to this and and create that

create that atmosphere in which their the learning can grow if it's gonna grow they have to get excited about they have

to see excited people about it up there yeah I'm gonna I'm gonna point this out i' I've been to a couple uh job fairs I

had gals that were going to be nurses I had guys that were going to school for

um anything other than a trade but they were putting seams together because of the excitement we had at our booth you

know when when kids walk into these when these these trade shows you know and and the guy with this fancy toolbox over

here and he's not talking he's not engaging that ain't going to show any interest in you know it's it's a whole

different way we have to go about this they have to know it's even there how do

we duplicate that so it's it's like very yeah good question right we go to we go

to the the local high schools talk to the guidance counselor right say hey I I

want to come in here and just I I just want to expose the students to a whole

industry that they may not know about in the skilled trades and there's enormous

opportunity there um then the next step is surely they're going to have some

Career Fairs and you try try to get into the career fair and then you set up a

booth and make it Hands-On is that what I heard like kind of something like that

well that's exactly what we we did this year we were fortunate enough to be invited and participate in a career day

at um the local elementary and we didn't know what we were doing we'll be I'll be

honest we did we next time we're bringing candy that's what I know now you know we brought some hands

on for the for the kiddos to uh um to get their hands on right the some LBT interlocking Plank and we had some kids

that loved it we had some kids that only wanted a pencil we we had some kids that asked a lot of questions um you know and

uh they had no idea until that day they had no idea and you know I think um it

was a shot in the dark for us but I think that the the young kids were very responsive and um they

understood there was more understanding that there was more out there than you know obviously fireman policemen all the

people that are normally you know nurses that are normally at these younger School functions but it was it was

refreshing to see how interested they actually were right they're hands on

hands on like at what what age do we have to intercept the kids to where they

lose interest in working with their hands and building with their hands because all children are creative um to

some extent right and they lose interest in that creativity and well that's that's probably the next Point once

you've created the awareness what's the next step now you got some awareness we

got to get them into like we need that's why I want to make sure CFI

doesn't you know just expands training as much as we can do uh any any word I

have with CFI at all is expand the training make it as as

as um what if there was a sponsorship after the awareness John or something

where you get four or five students there has to be some way for the training entities to pay their bills

so you get the the some awareness through through or four students want to go in you get them sponsored somehow

into a CFI five-week course that they come out and they at least know what how

to put a piece of rug on the floor uh probably shouldn't be doing it by themselves at that point but you get

what I'm saying oh yeah that that's that's ideally what you want you know look you

look at um you know this is you were talking about the hypothetical wishful thinking my wishful thinking is Shaw and

Mohawk and and engineered floors and these big Mills they all of a sudden see this and they want they want you know

their they want the the shaw Excellence Academy of floor installation you know

they want they want this out there they want you know some centers throughout the country but until people until you

know guys like us are leaving high school or or or whatever it is and and

wanting to do this right away it's going to be hard to get all those other people

really excited about it uh um to to to throw money I guess at it right and hey

I just want to um add that this to it too is uh uh manufacturers big dogs you

people out there who are listening you know this is us from the installation

side and the the retail side saying that we need to be better as an industry right but however you know we're all

small business owners here or business owners period that are discussing this and we're all Proprietors of uh we were

at one point but it is hard to pass on knowledge and to pass on excitement for

a trade that you know that we know and you manufacture know that someone can make a living on without worrying about

are we going to lose what we built or or how do we subsidize our income while

we're volunteering our time so just putting that out there you guys like John sacrifices a lot of his free time

right now now it's not just free time but it's also time that he could be spending generating revenue for his

business and a lot of people do that everything that we do and and from a volunteer perspective

is just that um and also Brian had put on there unfortunately not all uh people want to hear um or so to your way um SL

you know paren the right way but the nobody ever wants to hear that they're doing it wrong is what it is right like

that's that's that stubbornness of being set in your ways so to speak um but uh

you're right nobody wants to hear they've been doing it wrong for years however I heard it I learned it I

accepted it I moved on I got better because of it so I guess the people who don't want to hear it are the ones that

will need to push out they don't want to continue education the on think down isn't a lot of that driven

because that it seems a little bit biased to the fact that you hire

somebody who has a little bit of experience you know that guy that you

hire that at I've been doing it this way for 10 years or whatever that

guy that that that's not the guy you got to go after you got to go after the young guy and I I do gota state for CFI

I applaud uh Jim Jim brought this up as well but the local chapters are starting

to like gain momentum and Rolland is is

huge in that and just kudos to that whole thing because

the local chapters are where I think some cre some creative excitement can be

made and then those local chapters go out to the high schools that's how I I could see it being

duplicatable is through the local chapters and the guys like you said John

the the Chuck in the truck is not even going to that local chapter he's out trying to get the next Angie's List uh

person to he's just trying to go kick in a couple Apartments today so that way he

can get his case of beer and then do the same thing tomorrow well and that's where working for a beer versus a career

is like that's two separate BS of Life uh oh you just struck a fancy with

John that's the the Jose write that down put that in your

book book of what you call it not beer

jism it's just trying to Cipher the difference between th those two types of individuals is very hard right not only

just you know for us for for the consumer for a retailer whether they're hiring hourly or subcontractors it's

hard to find that divide you you have to learn the hard way because that we don't

have a proper vetting process that is specific regions or States that's that's

the thing right there like there be there needs to be some proper vetting a

b we've got to we've got to get the you the the newer guys into placement

like getting um a guy that's been around a while never really you know did

Apartments I hate to like stereotype somebody because this this is literally someone out there but you know they do a

little bit here a little bit there they and 10 years later they they they're claiming they're the best the world and

they've never had any proper training they've never really turned it into a career doubled down on their craft any

of the stuff we talk about you've got to get them when they're still going to

listen you know I joined the industry when man all I maybe tire stores are a good

recruitment spot because I got really sick of having dirty dirty hands and

that's the whole reason I could be I got paid 50 cents for an hour to go be a carpet Helper and the work was cleaner I

would rather be on a a construction site than uh than um you know out in the cold

changing tires so that's yeah but but at the end of the day I want I want I

didn't knew nothing so I couldn't say like I was all ears I wanted to hear how

how this was all done I wanted to get good um Nate says I started the apartments

I'm not [ __ ] on everybody who's started Apartments we have all laid Apartments okay we all gotta start

somewhere get back to the apartments Nate stay in the apartment we've all done Apartments uh

that's not what I'm saying what I'm what I am saying is that once we get guys into the fold and we're able to somehow

make sure they get with good people eventually um and and and make sure that

once they're with good people that they're able to advance their career how we do that how we track that that's

happening that's what your Mohawks your Shaws your EF contracts that's what they

want they are giving money to uh the fcef for example and Jim Jim has done a

great job over at FCF but they have budget constraints and all this and that that speaks to you John that we have to

get out and get our uh okay thanks thanks that that speaks to

what you said John that the installers we got to get out and and create the

awareness as well doesn't but at some point we've got to get them trained

placed and then somehow Advanced like

trained placed and advanced into becoming because not everybody is just

self motivated for that there has to be a systematic way to do it not everybody's Daniel and Jose Who Loved

figuring this stuff out eventually they got to the point where they fell in love with learning the best methods and being

the best and doing the best installs and become and the notoriety that comes along with that is is um you know a nice

payment as well you guys are known as being freaking excellent flooring

installers especially when it comes to she vinyl and resilient products you're just known for that that's a great thing

to be known for but not everybody's that self-motivated so for it's just like

when I built this company and we have 30s something employees now at Stewart and Associates I had to change from a

five person company where I could tell everybody what to do to putting systems

in place that guided everybody on what to do and to do anything big you have to

have a systematic approach I cannot run this company do this podcast run you

know go Carrera and do all this if I didn't have great employees with great systems and great processes that allow

them to do their job and grow the company whether I'm sitting here on this call or in the office or not these my

people know what to do as a industry we have to set up the systems to train Place advance

we got the train we have training entities go go Carrera is committed this

next stent here is fully committed on filling that placement role through jump

start like we are going to get that right but there has to be others we can't be the only one to be honest with

you I'd love to be the only one because that means we're just huge and blah there just has to be other ways to place

and then Advance yeah that's what it is so we're we're lacking a a solid a solid

format a plan of succession if you will right that's what we're lacking I know that so now if we shift over to like a

the way the unions formatted they do have a plan but it doesn't always entail specifically just the flooring industry

they're just required to log training hours or and I don't know the ins and out so don't quote me if I'm wrong but

you know and in order for them to fulfill that they go to where the work is at because they're part of the Union

they they they can find work if there's dry in their area they can go elsewhere find work so they can have their dues

paid but well you know the the gc's call up and uh back in the day you know I I

was talking to a general contractor uh not too long ago about go carreri he's

like yeah it's just like a digital Union he's like uh which is funny because we

call it the digital Brotherhood uh not to take off any unions out there but um

he was like you know I I used to call the union hall and I'd say I need two Journeymen and this was more in the

carpentry side of things things but he's like I need two Journeymen and two apprentices and they'd come with their

card they showed that they're a journeyman what level they of training

they've taken like all these things were logged and tracked and advanced and

so yeah it's uh so we got a pretty long-winded one here from Jim I'm just

going to read it so that way because it it doesn't say the whole thing not to open up a can of worms here but the

starting pay for an installer for a helper has to increase guys in general we all know that a professional

installer can make a very good living after a few years in the industry but starting wages are constricting us I can

provide several examples where we've been working with Workforce Development organizations the employers of the

students involved and they shared with those organizations that starting pay would be

$15 an hour and then all your work up until that point was wasted and it was

all shut down at that point and that's what working against is things like this

where we are competing in an industry where even a McDonald's is starting at a

a certain wage and stuff like that but the fact of the matter is is where are you placing these guys because we're

we're in the industry we're at and how it's set up we we have to start at these

wages because there's not enough money in it otherwise sometimes let me say

yeah go ahead the um we're working and I I mean we've talked about this

offline before where I'm doing the these bids and people are going in at my cost

so how can I pay someone a higher wage when I can't even win some of these jobs

and then what they're doing is they're going with the lowest they're not even qualified they're going with the lowest amount

look at the email I just got about one of the jobs is sorry we lost this we were not low bid like that was the

followup well that that that problem is a whole new podcast like we have talked about how

that's a terrible the low bid scenario is a terrible scenario like it it sucks

but I would say the guy that we hired after the two week CFI course uh we

started well over that uh $15 a you have to take the risk B the

the problem isn't just the starting wage if you can't sell a vision of a career

then yeah you're being compared to the McDonald's the problem is they don't have a vision for the career so just

pushing back on Jim a little bit not like disagreeing with him but it's not just the starting wage the guy we have

to advance show that there's an advancement that if you could say stop

saying hey you make uh aund and whatever or you you make the it's like hey after

year three you can you you can you know you can be at this if that's a

systematic year three three years of you know a systematic processed three years

then you could be you know your aage the average wage is 72,000 or whatever um

you said it find this vision and Define it for them so that they know because I

can tell you we have guys that make in the 80s and 90s with full health care and all that and you add all that up and

it's over a 100 well over and they are

employee installers so yes you can make a good living and make a a good

wage but you I don't know how to sell that Vision because there's so few companies that hire employee installers

two of them on here I don't I don't know about you John uh necessarily I I I've

got I've got an employee but he's he's like Apprentice yeah um but I know Jose

and Daniel hire you know do the majority of their work in house we do a large a

good portion of our work but we still have Subs we don't hate Subs I love them that's why go career is around the we

just need some accountability around them where they have metrics that they

have to abide by and they and then hiring people and advancing them is

our is somehow we have to invigorate that in the in installation community

that these the subs need to quit trying to find the easiest way to get the job done and start looking at their

installation business as a business and as a career and hiring guys to advance

them so that in five years they've got a hell of a good guy that makes good money

they make good money on him like it can work that way so Paul I I want to just

jump back because what you said I think is what is one of the most important if

not the most pair up one of these students with somebody that gives a damn

you know you can't you can't take somebody that went from a an environment where there's learning positive attitude

all this great stuff and now you've got Debbie Downer over here that they got

work with because that vision is gone it's wiped out um I I'll share my story

I I moved back when I started Floor Covering I moved back in with my parents

because I liked what I did I was and it wasn't I didn't like my pay because it sucked but I liked what I did and I saw

a vision because of the people that I was working with I saw a vision of where I could be in a couple year I knew it

was going to take a couple years but I saw that getting that across to to

someone is very difficult because you might have some age constraint when when I go back and say if you've got a car

payment a house payment and you got kids 15 bucks an hour just ain't gonna can't

it ain't gonna work yeah well that's where intercepting

Talent at the right time comes into play absolutely you know getting them young enough out of train out of the

introductory trainings where yes 15 is what you could

get at your Chipotle but you're that's about that's all you're going to get at

Chipotle you might get a few uh you know inflation style raises to uh $16 by the

time you've been there three years but in three years if you dedicate yourself to this craft you're going to make

substantially more than 15 we're that that's the part

that somehow as a industry we have to tag on to this hey it's a great you can

make a bunch of money but you also have to it's like keeping that from being what they expect and and so many um so

many of the uh the instant this instant

gratification uh it was it was mentioned by a comment earlier that stated that you know they

want all this money right out of the gate this kind of thing

well the that part there's no solving that you just got to move on to the next

guy or the next person like if they don't think that they're going if they think they're G to come out of a six

week course and make a 100,000 a year there's something off there like you know's some delusion going on

in that person's life where yeah value doesn't reflect their knowledge hey Daniel won't you read off

Jims again so before he runs he's gonna say this he's preaching to the choir

right because we talk about it all the time he's been saying it for years manufacturers should require their

products to be installed by certified installers or else the product would come with no warranty it would solve so

many problems in the industry and he'll debate it 10,000% convinced it's uh one

of the best things a manufacturer could do for themselves and the industry at large great

conversation and I think that's kind of what um we just talked about that

recently actually we've talked about it and we support we support the whole freaking idea that manufacturers should

have a level of training what the hurdles there is what's a

certification by What entity who's governing that we have online

certifications we talked about this right yeah we talked about this C

like I remember just a couple of years ago that we were we're at convention and

this whole thing broke out and CF you know all the installers want this all of

us all the good guys who got went and got certified and uh are trained we want

this because we want to keep quit competing with guys who are not okay the

problem is is it UPA is it AF is it CFI is it ntca is it uh in nwfa and if it's

n wfas Only like does cfi's hardwood course count

does their certification count does it and so which who are they gonna who are

they going to Peg as the the one that the the the winner of all that that's

problem get the word certification and the name of it to qualif qualify that's

why we created the hammer rating we're not we're not no longer going with certification we're going to start calling individuals qualified if you

don't pass this test you're not qualified instead of certified and then they can list qualified on their on the

spec and that would change a whole lot it would it would require people to actually get the ball rolling get the

processes or the systems in place for the training for the classification of installers and their talents alongside

with the hammer rating which you have now but now you have an industry following and backing it requiring it

versus just a an owner or an architect or a business business I'm obviously

biased here but a zero to five rating that takes into account all of this is

the obviously the easiest answer now I know I'm biased because I created go Carrera and I I created the hammer

rating but the hammer rating just takes it doesn't matter if it's aft or CF or CFI or whoever did it whoever it's all

aggregated into the hammer rating and if the manufacturer just say this is you

must have a hammer rating of XYZ to install our product or else it comes with no warranty they're not tying to

any entity it cost the installer nothing absolutely zero dollars to get a hammer

rating and zero dollars to do so and the industry for whatever reason it's I I

don't know I don't know the answer I I feel like I know the answer but I don't know how to get it the the sponge to

absorb the water right and and like like Justin says because he went through

install right and the way that they did it and it's just an additional warranty

right you have to if if you're trained and you're qualified you have yeah you still have

this manufacturers warranty but if you use me this warranty gets extended like

that's an installation warranty they they provide I think it's through Lords of London that it's up to $25,000

or something like that replacement warranty if you use an install certified a guy that's certified through

install problem is there which I I love install from the training aspect but

they won't train non-union installers I know well I mean there's a partnership there right like if it doesn't make

dollars they pay their dues yeah and I get it I I I do wish if there was an

install guy watching this uh at some point that they would open up their program char a

nonmember fee to do the your training or something I don't know but install has a

hell of a program and turns out some really good installers honestly um but it is just for unions and we have a vast

GE geography of the United States that are non-un so just to get back on the topic

here right the installer shortage so I I know that we've kind of extended we've gone past our our just a little time

that's what that's what happens when you have great conversation it is too but um you know so really I'm just going to Su

summarize my thoughts we're not really having an installer shortage we're having a shortage of of knowledgeable

installers processes or systems and um a

path to get from A to B for people to find success so so really we're just we're lacking we're lacking

infrastructure in our industry when some places Union or not do in fact have that

but most of that is held internally now if we look at the the big

picture if there was more requirements right off the bat then more people would

find reasons to be structured to have those Pathways and it would it would be

it would be more weird to not have them than the companies who do have them so essentially it goes back to what I said

when we were in Georgia is the race to the bottom starts at the Top If the top

doesn't have the requirements then nobody's going to try to structure anything to follow requirements that

aren't policed yeah it would be it would

be um fantastic if the manufacturers had

like I would have never had to do anything with go careera if the uh if

the manufacturer had a you must be certified and and we knew

what certification meant and it was there was some law that prevented someone from creating some uh hobo style

training and calling it a certification like all the infighting uh

and it's not just our industry but we're really bad at that um so you know and I

appreciate all the great comments about the hammer rating that Jim and and and

Jorge said it was a well thought C out very long process to come up with a

system that just took all of the information from the trainings and created a rating um at the end what if

for for just thinking out loud here I mean what if you go on Mohawk Shaw and

any any of these manufacturers and they've always got find our product right find find a

retailer find a place to buy this what if they just what if just you know they

don't have to say must use certified installer must use you know we like the I like the word qualified but along that

they also have CFI nwfa they they they list that stuff right there on the site

so not only can you buy your product that you want but you can make sure you got the right right person you know uh

to to put it in for you I think that would go a long ways if they just do that I I am going to say one thing that

probably get me in trouble with some of the manufacturers I don't think

they he's got to think about work buddy I don't think they care about this as

much as we want them to because if they have to if their product requires a

higher level quality of installer they're going to sell less product that's why they have made tried to

engineer the qual the craftsmanship product yes and Nate

you're going to sell less material if it's harder to install and so they don't

want I think that's the resistance when I've talked to these manufacturers about using the hammer I'm like I'll I'll

debate anybody on this planet if you want to come up tell me about a better system that would give you a picture of

the skill and capability of an installer what we created if there's a better way

fine I would I would love to hear it but the bottom line is the manufacturers

have to adopt it and I I have had meetings

and it's clear to me that the number one number one concern is selling the

product not that it's installed correctly or that their product looks great when it's done it's just getting

it out the door right and then Jim DS does have this you know because there

aren't enough installers in the field so that's hard for them to do there aren't enough training or the training

organizations don't have the capacity to do everything like right away but if they come out with a solid

date like then it cuts off right here but it says by one one 2030 just

throwing a date out there the installer has to be certified or qualified or whatever it's going to be right it's

they do this with other things just look at um like M and how they're doing the

the CO2 or whatever they have on all their bags and interface was doing it with

the what were they doing it

with but I don't know but I can I I agree with that whole concept zero right

by by this date we're not going to use any more carbon or whatever their goals are they they throw these dates out

there all the time and this is just something that's never thrown out

there he we're all just basically winging

it well speaking of winging it we have wung it about a half hour past time it's

been probably one of my uh one of the best podcasts of recent times it's been

I think my my daughter is gonna shoot us she's on vacation and she's like

you guys running the longest uh podcast while I'm on vacation is fitting she said it way worse than

that though I'm sure I'll hear about that when I join them tomorrow or the next day pretty sure we're gonna break the

internet with this one though like it's yeah record-breaking well everybody needs to hear it whether it's the guy

who's just starting his install you know just got in the industry two weeks ago or the guy who's been in it for 50 years

um but that's it there just everybody's got to hear it nobody ever wants to talk about it can't keep swe sweeping it

under the rug right amen no no pun intended well guys it has been a

pleasure John I'm glad you were able to join us I know you had to stop and get some Wi-Fi and I appreciate that uh

Daniel and Jose you guys are awesome man it's was a great conversation I want to thank our audience for contributing and

and commenting if you guys catch us up uh catch us on YouTube give us a like

and a subscribe or a dislike and a comment uh interact with us if you want to get some of this uh you know help us

to continue to spread the message about our industry you know interact with us

uh that's what the you know algorithmic overlords want to see so uh help help us

out a little bit there if you catch us on um any of the other platforms uh

leave a leave a like and a subscribe or whatever you know give us some love I would say it was pretty cool we some

major Nationwide recruiter re repost one of our episodes of the Huddle uh on

LinkedIn that was pretty freaking cool um so anyway keep engaging guys uh stay

true to the craft and we will see you guys next week

The Huddle - Episode 109 - Strategies for Scaling Up Your Flooring Business

In this episode we explore effective methods for expanding your flooring company responsibly and sustainably. This episode discusses the importance of strategic growth rather than growth for growths sake. We cover how to identify the right times to scale, ways to improve operational efficiencies, and techniques for enhancing customer service and satisfaction. Additionally, we look at investing in staff training and adopting innovative technologies to maintain high standards as your business grows. Tune in to discover practical strategies that can help you scale your flooring business thoughtfully and successfully.

The Huddle was created by Paul Stuart of Stuart & Associates and Go Carrera, alongside Jose and Daniel Gonzalez from Preferred Flooring. Aimed at helping you maintain forward progress in your flooring career, they cover topics from personal and business growth, to installation tips & tricks and everything in-between.

Want to be a guest on The Huddle? Email thehuddleforwardprogress@gmail.com today!

Create your FREE Installer profile at https://gocarrera.com and become part of the future of the industry TODAY!
GET TRAINED! Find a list of training dates here: https://gocarrera.com/resources/training/
https://www.preferredflooringmi.com
https://www.stuartandassociates.com

what's up team welcome to the Huddle your weekly Playbook where we strategize not only on playing the game but

changing it from mastering the fundamentals of the craft to distinguishing yourselves in the

marketplace we're here to give you the installer a voice and ensure you're

equipped with everything you need let's band together and Forge a new Legacy in flooring this is where you belong

welcome to the team everyone how's it going look at you like

a robot just getting that thing down like

that well you know You' think after about 400

episodes you get it down but uh thanks for

noticing Nobody seen hook go up sponsor our

show the chaos three seconds before you w on air

yeah help help it's all it's all part of uh doing

a podcast folks it's it takes a uh a small tribe and a lot of teamwork

between these talented folks on here that try to keep me in some type of line

but um all right well guys how's it going welcome welcome

the audience to the Huddle I'm Paul Stewart I'm the founder and CEO of go Carrera also I'm the president of Stuart

and Associates with me as always is Mr Daniel and Jose Gonzalez a preferred flooring out of Grand Rapids Michigan so

if you're up in that neck of the woods looking for some high quality commercial flooring providers both materials and

labor sometimes labor sometimes materials whatever you want these guys whatever they need whatever you need

these are your guys Michigan got a solution for that there's an app for that that's

funny what's up Jorge um so today's topic kind of flows along with some

previous topics we had about niching your business uh we also have had a

discussion about expanding your services this is about scaling your business so

this is strategies uh on scaling your business which to be clear

offering more services doesn't necessarily equate scaling and when we're talking about

scaling we want you to think about finances and and the supporting

Personnel that you're going to need if you are say a $500,000 company and you want to go to

five million that's scaling growing um you know you can grow slow

and steady keep with the keep a ahead of inflation on your growth and profit and

you can run a sustainable business you know nice sweet spot if you can find

it I guess to kick us off I was going to ask a

question when should you scale up your flooring business when meaning uh don't

are you and why those two questions you know really should be

um so I think it's worth asking yourself the question of why do you want to is it

because you uh just want a bigger business because uh I can tell you from because

bigger is better right yeah and I think that's that's sometimes the

um that's a lot of times the thought and you know we're just kind of I think a

lot of people are built that way men and women to you know you do something you

build a business it's going well and you want to grow it bigger you want to see how big you can take this

thing I have had experience where I actually made way more money with a lot less headache and less

employees not that employees are always a headache but just less employees less payroll less of everything and there was

a time when I made more money at about you know half the size and we had to

grow through that but those can be challenging times scale doesn't always equal to profit in fact if you're

scaling truly growing your business at a rapid Pace it will eat up your cash flow

so I guys wanted to talk about a few things that you got to think about and maybe we can start in the commercial

space first since we're all got experience there and then I want you

guys to talk about the residential space uh I'm a little less uh knowledgeable in that retail residential but um in the

commercial space you uh you have to really start thinking if you're going to

grow your business big uh you really have to start thinking about banking

relationships tax attorney relationships and contract attorney

relationships those three things are Paramount to you staying in

business what I heard was More Money More Problems that's what I heard

you got it Diddy may be in trouble right now but he had that

right yeah yeah he he got too much money so much money that he forgot that

he could actually create his own problems yeah he thought it grew away from the problems and they came knocking on the doorstep but it is it is there is

a lot to be said about it dude like so so you said something um when you when you're were making the introduction

about the the subject today about making more money right so let's uh you

know you get bigger and this is from our personal experience right revenue generated is greater right like you are

generating more Revenue because you could kick out more work but the profits are the thing that shrunk so that's why

the less people made more money was more profit it was there's more profitability and and keeping

things smaller and cleaner right because now you don't have to watch 50 things you're only watching you're only

watching 10 it's easier to keep track of and know when you're Los you don't have to you don't have to have as many

specialist you know what I mean like in the early days we had a PM that was also

the estimator which was also the warehouse guy that they that's that's us

right now we're you know what I mean the everything guy maintenance maintenance what's today Tuesday main maintenance on

Wednesday as you grow and you get bigger now you need an estimator maybe two

estimator that just estimate uh you may need you know we

have four or five six six project managers so you got to have specialized

people that do that specialized thing uh as you get bigger and the other thing is

as you get bigger you get bigger jobs and bigger Jobs means your the bulk of

your profit is in retainage in commercial and that is held in until the

project not until you're done but until the project is done and the owner has

paid the general contractor his retainage then he'll pay you their your

retainage and that can be I mean I've had that be well over a year you know you do a million and a

half dollar flooring project and even after we're done with our flooring it takes them six months to open the

facility another month to get through final punch list and then another three

four five months for for the GC to get paid his retainage and then you finally

get yours that means all the profit if you got 10% retainage and I tell you

what if you're netting 10% in the commercial business you're doing pretty dog on well especially if you're bigger

if you're you know netting 10% and you're smaller where you have those multiple roles in one person uh it's

it's a little bit uh a little bit easier to obtain those kind of numbers but the

as you grow and you hire employees and you're doing all these things you get Warehouse guys and then warehouse

manager with a warehouse guy and then you get another truck and you get three more trucks and you got Vans and all

this growth eats up your cash flow and when you do that fast you can

run yourself right out of business if you grow too fast so I would ask you to consider why you want to scale if you

are wanting to and if you've got a good set of systems and processes yeah

really well there you go that you can then grow to the next level uh I always

you know I've grow we've grown really fast before and we've grown steady I've

picked steady every day with been in this business since

99 I'd pick steady you know 5% over inflation growth than you know scaling

it 60% a year yeah because it's a lot easier that

way too right like because now instead of having to create uh positions to sustain that

you're slowly understanding what is needed instead of saying I gotta go grab this right now boom okay you're in

charge of this this is your spot and then you grab somebody else throw them in another in another bucket that's your bucket This is Your Bucket This is Your

Bucket when you're slowly growing you can say you know what I can split this one into two or three

buckets that's that's it right because we talked about EOS before and about the

entrepreneurial operating system and how you have to kind of start breaking down the roles

that you do into everything and then start

delegating and that's the the first step right start breaking down down everything that you do and I think

that's one of the issues with um just the installers in general is that we're

always like no one can do it as good as I can do it so that means I'm just going

to have to continue to do it but there there's if you do want to scale there's going to be a point where you you have

to say Okay I need someone to do this so that way I can focus my time on something

else well one other thing to consider what do you love to do

right a lot of us got of us we start a business and we love the installing

maybe we like selling to a customer you get to a certain size

and the problem is is that you will get drug away from doing that stuff that you

love you possibly love doing and tradeoff you're meeting with your Banker

all the time trying to keep money flowing you're trying to get project maybe you're you're trying to set up

lines of credit per project or a major line of credit for your entire company

um you're meeting with attorneys on contracts and you're trying to get through contracts all the time like you

can end up doing a whole different side of the business that you are maybe not

capable of doing at a high level right and maybe which I certainly was not I went through a a Terri terrible Growing

Pains um but that you know I'm a hardheaded nerd that kept thinking that

growth equaled you know was my my goal in life just being bigger is better

bigger is better and that's just wanted to be the biggest Nate says right here

you know because he's from Wisconsin with a dairy analogy a farmer can handle

75 cows but if he doubles the herd he only gets a 10 to 20% increase in income because the bigger herd cost

more and that that yeah that's true I mean across the board I mean the more people you pull in the more labor you

gotta dish out right labor expenses more labor hours you gotta watch I mean if you think

about it this way think about uh if you have employee installers

and they're they're good guys but we all know you may get a 10 minute little uh

rip from the time here and there uh you know we try to limit it by mobile timee

keeping and hiring right but still I've had it happen you have that happen with three

employees that's one thing right 30 minutes a day call it 30 bucks an hour you're

losing 100 bucks a day on wasted uh either way and maybe it's not even nefarious maybe it's just wasted time

cross talking too much whatever but let's say that's three employees equals 100 bucks a day you're losing take that

times 10 or 15 or 20 when you I know grow your team right now you're talking

,000 doll a day you're losing in Lost productivity or maybe stolen time I mean

it's all this stuff matters you really got to track it you know and it's kind

of like tracking your job site and there's a lot of tools out there in the world for tracking your job site but

none even compareed to flor Cloud as you guys know floor Cloud's a

great sponsor of the Huddle here and I want you to discover how floor Cloud can

transport your project side conditions right to your fingertips right there on your phone you want to talk about

increasing efficiency and profitability you can do so if you're growing your business with floor Cloud floor Cloud

will enable realtime monitoring of your job site conditions via desktop or your mobile device so if you're out on

another job site you want to know how one of your other projects site conditions are you can do it right from your mobile phone no more manual checks

for temperature humidity or Doo no need for these big base

stations uh you know or because of Wi-Fi this is all based on cellular so it's

simple you scan the front of the uh device with QR code and you're up and

running with the most accurate and Innovative site monitoring system in the flooring industry you can dispatch your

Crews with confidence now because you don't have to wonder what the site conditions are no more crews going out

turning around and coming back because job site ain't ready I'm a huge believer in floor Cloud technology the easy setup

and simple interface makes it a no-brainer guys so many of our projects are hours away we're in Kansas it could

be four hours away and still be in Kansas so being able to get a sight condition and moisture readings here at

the office is a real savings technology mov fast and being on the front line with Flor cloud is a real game

changer thank you to flor Cloud for sponsoring this episode I know you guys are big Believers and uh have mobilized

their technology so uh that's another thing staying on the Forefront of that when you grow you are now competing when

you're you have a scaled business and you're growing and you're getting bigger and bigger you're now competing with

more sophisticated companies as well I'm not trying to talk you out of growing or scaling your business I'm trying to make

you think and ask yourself the right questions so you can ensure that you

actually want to go through that yeah we we've got um florer Cloud

on one project now and it's already been huge in like because this architect is a pain

but having the you want to scale up you gotta get used to that at the fingertips

and just being like here here is the site conditions right and it it's actually nice because

the architect wants things done right so they're like okay and then they go back to the GC and they're like do something

about this then I'm not fighting it yeah yeah I mean that the not only floor

Cloud um but in technology in general I know you guys as you grew started

looking at different technology different ways to be as effic as you

could possibly be and you know as people coming into the business or you're wanting to grow your business maybe

getting into the commercial world uh you're going to need to uh you know really start investigating that kind of

stuff too so I just don't want it rose buds and and you know flowery rainbows

and stuff as when we start talking about scale when you're talking about scale in your business sounds sexy but to be

honest with you it there's if you're not properly prepared it can be a real hard

thing to do and to do so profitably I should say I know I've had my uh my uh

bruises and scratches and cuts and um so

that's what I would ask everybody if you're talking about Skilling is should you and when should you and why do you

want to I will I will add this too just for like the um the single installer who

thinks that that scaling is actually employing people and and maybe getting uh brick and mortar um you know and

trying to go that way but you know investing in yourself in making sure that you have the right equipment the

right Transportation um the right tooling the right knowledge that is one of the the

things that you can do just to help you scale up organically right like people

like to see someone investing in themselves and they notice it and uh it would help you as well so it it doesn't

necess scaling up to me doesn't necessarily mean you know getting a big going from five to 50 right it might

mean going from one to one plus some good amenities um that that is needed

and that could help you organically scale up and you might see some attention that you haven't or normally

don't see which might open up more doors and make you start thinking about taking the next next steps as

well yeah that's a that's a great point because you know know um there's plenty

of installers out there that let me say this the most profitable

guys I know in the business are the self- performers with a really good team

great equipment a small storage space or a nice shed at their house that has

their equipment and they take care of their equipment they take care of their people they have a great team of four to

four to eight guys those those guys who still get out there and do the work they

get their crews out they got their little crew leaders little they got their crew leaders they get out there

and handle a little guy and they talk on the phone a little bit but each when

when that smaller team is well oiled I know guy bluecollar millionaires man

that have done fantastically well for themselves installing floors running a

good installation business and being smart about it having high trained guys

and investing in their team both morale wise as well as uh training uh you know

skill-wise those are probably the lowest headache most profitable guys I

know I agree Hugo a tile team here in witto we we one year paid them well in

excess of a million dollars and those guys knocked out of the Park want to thank all the little peeps out

there but it's it's um there there's a great deal of of uh pride and and

frankly money to be made running a business that way I think uh I think you're right on

and and those guys are are the ones that like you said they they have a team right like they might not necessarily

have employees but they have a team of people that they're trusted or that they trust that they've acquired over the

years and they might have a team of Builders or contractors that trust them

and their team and they don't have to go out and bid they just get a phone call the best ones actually have at least the

best ones I know actually have employees it's usually a a set of brothers or a

cousin and a literally it's like those two guys

hire people by the hour make sure they're trained care about their equipment and have an accountant that

takes care of everything for them a third party they just drop everything in off once a week and like I said Alex and

Hugo that team they did well in excess of a million dollars for us one year and

they had a team of them two and three other guys and they ran it out of a

garage at their house where they kept all their equipment and they just cared about that and doing great

work building that's um that's that example of you know like some people say

becoming complacent right like being stagnant that's not stagnant that is a

very controlled very very strategic way to go about having a business model it's

no we can't do that guys we're we're still here look it we've just learned how to control this let's see if we can control this and maintain this this line

this control line uh for as long as we possibly can and then once we get to a a good point where we can invest

comfortably then we can make the next jump that's a good way to go about it I like the way that uh you put

that yeah it was an example of a couple of guys brothers that just cared about

having a good time at work they were never up like very rarely they get bent

out of shape but they always got they you know until uh they ended up kind of

going their separate ways one wanted to scale back and even get smaller and do

Residential only um and the other one wanted to stay in commercial to so they split ways from that aspect but they

they it was a amicable split and they they just decided when they were

together they just decided that we're going to have a good time the did break

up Jorge but they they are still uh they they still love one another but it was

it was just a um it's just a testimony of when you can double down they they

could scale their profit uh but they didn't have to scale their growth they could make really good profit make

really good uh you know find better ways to uh you know more efficient saws

more efficient grinding equipment this kind of thing to increase their profit

without necessarily having to do a ton more Revenue so there's two things there

that you want to think about and revenue at the end of the day revenue is pretty

but profit is what gets the you know so what keeps the doors open that's what

keeps the doors open and keeps the lights on and allows you to live the lifestyle that you

want yes sir so what else do you guys we talked about this been really a lot

about commercial you know when when you're talking to a retail um a retailer

maybe a small retailer who's wanting to grow or a you know a

residential uh installation shop wanting to grow that's more in your guys's realm of

expertise what do you guys you know obviously there's like you can open up another store across town or in another

small town outside but um what do you guys res when you're thinking

residentially right and we're focused on um just like the installer base just talking about like maybe being a a one

crew type thing and then you're trying to to to scale up and just trying to maybe sell start selling material it's

what do you got to do in order to store that material it's looking at just like getting a warehouse or um looking at

maybe inventory or something or get partnering with someone that will hold that inventory for you

uh what about quality control you know because you you know what you can do and

maybe what this other guy can do but as you start growing maybe you catch wind of some Builder starts loving you and

starts wanting to throw you all the work that they can all you can

handle how do you quality control that like you know that's one of the one of

the interesting quality control starts with you understanding your limitations

and being transparent with your clients or potential clients that's one way to start quality control don't promise

don't promise the Stars when you can't even make it to the moon you know what I'm saying just uh go you you you got to

be comfortable telling someone I'm uncomfortable with that and this is why but I can do some research

and find out if in my network I have somebody with those strengths and attributes that you're looking for and

if so then we can do work um that's that's the hardest thing to do

right because uh most uh entrepreneurs business owners or anyone trying to grow they're like yes I can yes I can and the

uh just dive in we'll figure we'll figure it out later just say yes and then we'll figure it out right like

uh we're pretty good at that but I'm not gonna go and tell someone

I'm gonna do you know the a bathroom renovation and and pretend that I am

the best that they're ever going to find at doing some custom showers and floors and patterns I'm not going to go do no

um uh no stuff like you see on tiktock or or like U what's his face does all

the time um corge on carpet well him too but on the tile side like Ken Bon

or yeah I'm not I'm not gonna promise anybody like they say that I'm gonna

go I'm GNA connect you with some other people right um now being okay saying no yeah that

that's that I think that's the first that's a hard thing to do I'll admit that it is and I went and measured a

house and the reason why she found us was actually because of the podcast and

she she was moving you know from across the country and she was like I want you to come measure this I found your

podcast you guys are certified I found you on all these sites and then she you know measured her whole house and she

was like and this is this restroom right here I want tile tile shower the whole

works but it's not going to go yet and I said I can do everything else as far as

this bathroom goes I'll put you in touch with someone that's gonna take care of

you yeah well as long as you buy the material for me she probably appreciated

that too humility goes a long way that transparency yeah humility transparency

goes a long way with with people that uh have values in common um with

the yeah so another way though is um and

shout out to some my guys you know that are nfic um you know is getting more

specialized we did talk about that in the previous podcast but when you're one of the few that can do specialized tile

work work or carpet work you can scale the not only your

Revenue but your profit for sure uh because there's just not that many

people that do it I mean even you know here in wiah like I said we're probably

six or 700,000 in the Metro and the there's a very few handful of guys that

do really specialized work like that and you get outside of that

and you have the guys that want to do carpet tole lvp and you know that's it and in the

commercial World The Flash Cove sheet vinyl heat welded stuff is a h good example of work

that is special more specialized now um back when I first started the company I

worked for had we had three or four people that could Flash Cove heat Weld

and it was a much smaller company than what we are and I only

have three crews or three people that I would

send out to do a flashco heat welded cheap Vel project so if you guys are looking to

get trained on some flash code flash cove and heat weld uh NCT is doing a

class in October over at America's Floor Source FYI

where's that up in your neck of the woods yeah it's in Ohio so how about you say it like this if you guys want to get

trained and certified by Daniel himself this is a class you're not gonna want to

miss I might go to that I don't know that makes that makes

me nervous now yeah right might have to go to that too that would be sweet to tell that's

that's a great opportunity if you are an installer that does like carpet tile lvp

and you do good floor prep you know how the floor needs to be for lvp your 2 millimeter thin stuff you know

then learning those sheet vinyl skills man I'm telling you what that is in the

commercial world that is where we are constantly I mean it's one of the

questions we ask every installer comes in to interview you ever do flash cove heat weld no dang you know because those guys

are hard to come by um yeah we've uh we've had to trust

people um to come on job sites and help out I don't say job sit come on projects

to help out when a schedule was laid in front of us that was nearly impossible you get a handful of people they say yes

we do and then you have no choice but to trust them and then next thing you know you're like I need you to get off my job

site what's up leave just leave

please yeah and if you come with you know the

receipts the certifications and the actual training show me the receipts you will I gotta take off I

gotta get my son up to the school all right my man you mean you gotta be a dad I gotta go be a dad for

daddy duties daddy duties well thanks for joining

brother and uh thank you as always for being a staple I try I

do stop stop talking already just leave

bro there he goes all right um so anyway when we when we're

all talking about scaling the business and doing those things that considering

whether or not it's time if you have your resources together and do you want the extra headache I think those are the

the big things just to consider fully before you just start jumping in and growing your business like crazy and you

turn around and you're negative in your bank account you ain't got a the line of credit you got all these like problems

and issues that you're trying to deal with and they all stem from not having enough Capital to run the company um so

stand back ask yourself is it time to grow do I want the extra headache and if I do if I believe that I'm built for

that make sure that you're getting that your personal you know development is

high up on your radar it's something you're going to have to learn to be good at if you're not already good at I had

to learn how to be a business person and I was terrible at it for so long I'm I'm

I would say I'm ashamed but at the end of the day it it it made me better but I had to learn the hard way on a lot of

stuff and it wasn't it wasn't fun I still learning you and us both brother

like yeah still learning the hard way in some things yeah so you made a good point too as far as like you

know you could do your best to to kind of uh dot your eyes cross your tee if you will

but is this my strength I guess is that like am I mentally prepared for for scaling up

and if you are for that next step where is your roof you know you go I think

that's where you know we didn't we didn't game plan at all we just kind of let it all happen and

um I think game planning might have scared us a little bit or made us

rethink our approach um and we might not have had some of the um negative

experiences as far as uh the scaling portion um but I will say like um it

always can't go back to education it always goes back to education you know that's just one of the things you got to learn about it right

uh experience and education it's the only two ways you get good at yeah so before we started doing like um

entertaining the idea of bid work um Daniel and I took a um an advanced

estimating class um we just kind of Dove right in we wanted to understand what we

were looking for on these larger commercial jobs we wanted to understand how the contracts were structured um we

wanted to understand all that so that's a one of steps that that we took in

preparation um probably one of the only steps we took in preparation for our next that's better you know that's

better than nothing at least you took a technical step um yeah I think you know

kind of like I mentioned earlier one and Roland just uh commented said first thing you need to do is look at yourself

and be ready to harder work for the first year work harder for the first year I would venture to say that

if you're starting a business that first couple years going to be the hardest you ever worked in your life to

make um first off secondly um and that shouldn't scare you away just you got to

be ready for it um and secondly you know any time you're growing a business

especially when you hit these big uh like thresholds I'd say three

million then five then 10 then 15 those big thresholds are and it can

be in smaller increments in that but it's these big next steps kind of thing

where your systems that got you to be able to do 500,000 will be obsolete to do five

million yeah it just will be and you have to be willing to consistently

educate yourself and grow and be willing to ask for help and get involved with

the industry and get to know people like the Gonzalez Brothers up there in Michigan

come and get to know some of the people that are on this podcast and uh the some of the experts we've had on here

and understand what it takes to grow your business um and see where they're

at ask them questions and you know get curious and and and grow your mindset

and your your skills and abilities from a business perspective did you see see that comment

from Nate uh being responsible here I'm G put it back up up there um being

responsible for the income of another person or a family keeps me small um

yeah yep you're you are right a lot of responsibility brother and a lot of respect to you for

recognizing that you don't want to be uncomfortable right um well on too much

to where it might affect their family it's a lot dude yeah I mean it's a lot

of pressure to make sure the payrolls met every week and that you're growing

to a sustainable level and uh that you

you know always have the cash flow coming through that you can reinvest in your company business is tough but the

number one stressor uh especially on the early days for me was making payroll 100% and it

was more than just that person's going to be mad at me that person put their faith in me

that they was going to have a job that was going to give them a weekly paycheck that would put food on their table and

that's an immense amount of stress um to have to go through

and know that if you fail you're failing them in a major way and they may not be

able to pay their rent that month because of you yeah and that's that's not

that I I'll second what you said it's admirable that you stay where you you

really love to be and if Nate obviously loves to be where he's at and do the

excellent work he does and do the trainings he does and do those things and not have to have that responsibility

of another person's livelihood on your shoulders that's a big deal it's a big

deal and not everybody should do it um not everybody um can do it or should do

it and that's not to boast those who do it is just the mere fact that not

everybody should be doing that and um you know to back to what n

said too is um you know before we hired our first employee we had it was our

goal to make sure that we had enough money in the bank to cover a Year's wages for them um and that is only

because I was and Daniel was at one point one of the people that experienced a bounce check

right right and they never come at the right time it's always the time when you need it most and it's just like I don't

ever want to tell someone that they can't eat after they worked this hard for me I don't ever want to tell someone

that I worked for a company uh my first my first company in

floring and oh sh he five

paychecks that we held we used to race luckily I had a friend that that ended

up I started my first business my first flooring company with his name was Steve and he was a PM there and he'd call me

this was when cell phones just came out and you played Snake was the biggest game on

the when you had when you when you had a text like this yeah hi hi yeah yeah um

but he'd call and tell me like like got a check and I would go get in

my car and we and as soon as you seen someone else going to their car at 10

o'clock in the morning or 2 in the afternoon everybody went to their car if

you pulled out of driveway everybody's racing to the bank I had five checks at one point uh that I held the problem I

had was the job I had before I made $4 dollar less an hour

and so I was like I'm making better money even though I'm not actually getting the money eventually they always

would clear I eventually but at one point I held five checks man and making better

that experience is also another reason why when I got into business I did Ne I

never wanted to put an employee through that now my Subs I'd talk to them hey you're a sub you're in your own business

too sometimes you know pay gets delayed Subs that's that that is the that is

what you sign up for that's the nature of the beast but uh I did not want an employee ever going without a paycheck I

think that um we've been fortunate enough to to be able to take care of our subs as well um within how wise are you

guys for what in a year of I never even thought of that dude I tell you what man

that's incredible that's really that was hard that was hard to to see money in

the bank and to say I'm broke that but it gets easier it gets

easier over time right you see you see dollars and cents in there you're just that's not really mine I mean my names

on the account the business is in our name but really that's not really mine um and that's that's how we had to go

about it I do want to that's really mature for the time frame you're talking

early days that you guys decide to do that's a business maturity that is that

is uh Next Level so Kudos that was awesome that's awesome to hear you guys

approached it that way I wish I would have man well I didn't that was the only

way it motivated us as well right like it was motivation yeah it helped

motivate us right um another thing is what you said about holding the five checks and that is that is the thing as

a as a a sub too right like when you're getting into the game and when you go from when you start your business you're

already scaling up that's already you're already taken that couple steps more than than a lot of people but you also

have to make sure that you're surrounding yourself with good reputable people who aren't going to be giving you

checks that you have to worry about for larger dollar amounts and larger

projects um and and we experienced that one as well and I mean it was bad like you said you're holding five checks it's

bad when I go pick up a check and and in front of the guy I call the bank check number blah blah blah is there enough

there to cover this like well as usual Roland may have the uh record on

certifications he certainly may have the record here he says I have 23 checks

sitting in my desk from the last company I worked for that's why I have the store I have

now as as in that was motivation like they're not cashed

and yeah did you end up cash and rolling to start your job I took it as uh or start your business I took it as that he

got fed up with yeah not getting paid and started what I want to know is is

how do you have 30 or 27 checks that you didn't cash and still able to start a business we need to get you need to

write a book bro no doubt you got you need a whole new business book because you made a

work yeah yeah yeah you know it's funny we're talking and there's a lot of comments about uh store that uh or you

know like Jorge says here back in his day as pops had to chase down his employers at the local bar bilard to try

to get their weekly pay that's crazy yeah I mean that's a

real thing the key here is you don't want to be that guy none of us you know we don't want to be those those kinds of

guys we want to propel this industry through our businesses into a new uh

Frontier like I say in the intro that's a real thing like we want to improve the industry and the way you can do it is

one company at a time doing the best business you can possibly do now we're all you know I feel it necessary to say

we're not perfect no one's perfect we make mistakes but at the end of the day doing the best work you can the best

quality you can and giv back to your to your industry through getting certified

that is a way of giving back getting your certifications you know get involved

with your local CFI chapters uh getting trained in sheet

vinyl if you're going to go down that route uh being highly trained in tile

work and gauge porcelain panels all this kind of stuff that is giv back to your industry because having the highest

quality Workforce we could possibly have will start to get us recognized again as a real trade I don't know how we ever

lost that it takes more skill to do this business I've said this a thousand times

than any other skilled trade in my opinion you don't need the hand skills that you need in flooring whether it's

in painting maybe in finished carpentry high-end finish carpentry but outside

that like painting acoustical ceilings drywall mud and taping I'm not saying

they don't take skill I'm just saying not the same level of hand skill uh electricians I mean you got to have the

knowledge but it doesn't take that you know great hand skills to strip wire

pull wire like it takes a lot of Mind skill

um if we want to bring our industry to the continue to increase our industry

standing in the construction industry at large it means us giving back and giving

back does look like us getting certified it does look like us getting educated it

does look like us running good businesses and good Crews and good people so yeah so I guess

uh that Circle that Circle of yours right keep it small and tight when you're when you're trying to scale um

I'd say that would keep things a lot simpler and ask advice ask

information um do I look anything that we're saying today on the podcast we're

we're just giving you uh information from our experiences that we're not saying this is GNA work for you this

isn't a template and a how-to guide at all right this is what what we found

worked for us and this is what we've experience experience and what didn't work for us at least the pitfalls

Yeahs if I could go back in time and tell tell our younger selves a little bit of advice it would be keep that

Circle small and tight um only Scale based off of your

strengths and if you have the right crew make sure you scale according to what

they're showing you or who they're showing you they are not what they're telling you they want to be because what

they want to be um for your crew or for your friends and your family that are joining you to help you grow a business

what they want to be is successful for themselves as well um and sometimes

you're not in that future so don't don't put all your eggs in one basket or put

all your eggs in five people's baskets and let them carry them around you gotta you gotta take them eggs back every

night and incubate them a little bit make sure they're dusted off and clean um say about that well I I uh I'm

catching what you're putting down or I'm picking up what you're putting down I think that the big thing that um in

closing here I would say is that a lot of

people uh if taking the same thought process you just had if if I was to go

back to my younger s and and say hey here's a word of advice kid it would be

find The Sweet Spot it's okay like you don't need to be the biggest uh many

times in my business I've we've been the largest flooring contractor in Kansas and in some cases with with uh the

largest in the entire Midwest and so

the the that that's all ego- driven I I would have you know I've I've scaled it

back a little bit and it's it's way harder to do that than it is to uh just

grow steady and as long as you're outpacing inflation you can kind of use

that five to 10% of uh uh post inflation number so if inflation's at growing at

five five eight% you know you need to be growing at 18 to 20% um when inflation's down you don't

have to grow as much to stay nice and profitable but I had some times in my

career in business where we had Hit The Sweet Spot and profits were really good

we had the right siiz team everybody was working together really well every very

few headaches it was like almost like magic and then there's times when every

contract felt like just clawing up a mountain with spikes man you know so I

would tell myself it's okay find The Sweet Spot and that it's okay to be there to stay there and have sustainable

growth sustainable growth that's uh yep why didn't we just say that in the first

five minutes we wouldn't need to be on here for 55 minutes well we gota we gotta fill H we

got to fill up our time too you know we gotta tag them along and drag them along so guys thank you so much for joining us

today thank you for all the comments if you're catching Us on YouTube we'd

really appreciate a like a subscribe that's what helps our Channel grow a little bit um The More We Grow the more people we

can get out to the more uh if you enjoy our message that's your way to share it

so he did send Rin did send me pictures of those uh those that's insane that is

crazy ran you're you're my hero now you were my hero

anyway but um if you catch us on any of the uh social channels give us a like leave us

a comment let us know what kind of topics you'd like us to explore in the future we'll do our best to get expert

on or give you uh a bit of our banter when it comes to that topic so we

appreciate you guys so much you have no idea our weekly uh uh participants that

are always on here you guys rock yeah you're you're the rock of this podcast and we really appreciate that so

everybody out there have a great week and we will catch you next week 3M

Central Tuesday adios [Music]

The Huddle - Episode 108 - The Ins and Outs of Moisture Control in Flooring Projects

In this episode with special guests Seth Pevarnik from Ardex (https://www.ardexamericas.com) and Jared Lockwood from Uzin (https://us.uzin.com) we delve into the crucial role of moisture management in ensuring the longevity and durability of flooring installations. This episode covers why effective moisture control is essential to prevent warping, mold, and other moisture-related issues. We provide expert insights on the best practices and techniques for assessing and mitigating moisture risks, from using moisture barriers to choosing the right materials for different environments. Tune in to learn the key strategies for maintaining the integrity of your flooring projects through proficient moisture control.

The Huddle was created by Paul Stuart of Stuart & Associates and Go Carrera, alongside Jose and Daniel Gonzalez from Preferred Flooring. Aimed at helping you maintain forward progress in your flooring career, they cover topics from personal and business growth, to installation tips & tricks and everything in-between.

Want to be a guest on The Huddle? Email thehuddleforwardprogress@gmail.com today!

Create your FREE Installer profile at https://gocarrera.com and become part of the future of the industry TODAY!
GET TRAINED! Find a list of training dates here: https://gocarrera.com/resources/training/
https://www.preferredflooringmi.com
https://www.stuartandassociates.com

what's up team welcome to the Huddle your weekly Playbook where we strategize on everything from playing the

game and mastering your fundamentals we are here to help you

distinguish yourself in the marketplace sorry I fumbled this one I think you say that quite quite

often Paul well you know it's a scripted opening and I try to change it every week but you know you know you know the

deal we're here we're still here to give the installer a voice and make sure you're equipped with everything you need

that's for sure so this week's topic is uh the ins and outs of moisture

control um I know a lot of you guys uh if you especially if you're in

commercial you're going to run across these situations so I'm really happy to

have guest Seth panar pavik and Jared Lockwood and Seth you are with uh Ardex

and and Jared you you are with usine is that right did I get that right yes all

right did I say usine right or is it I don't know the Germans pronounce iten

but yeah you can pronounce it however you want to with me as always is Mr Daniel and

Jose Gonzalez of uh preferred uh floring out of Grand Rapids Michigan migan and

um so welcome guys uh how's the week going I'm trying to wake myself up here

too good the weather's phenomenal here so the weather outside is

weather weather is good and uh thanks for thanks for having on the show today

more importantly glad you can make it how's

business no business is good for us um Summer's the you know heavy time of the the year for

us the June July August lots of school renovation and projects like

that we're just out there selling fancy dirt in a bag you know just kind of you

know how it goes fancy dirt clean recy from the playgrounds around

around here I sure hope not all right so uh I thought it'd be

interesting to get started by just talking about a few um and uh well you know what first Seth

can you give us a little uh intro on yourself a little bit about your background and then we'll go to you Jared and you guys give us a little bit

of info about you guys yeah certainly so my name is Seth bavar I'm the director of technical for

ardx I started with artx back in 1991 I was uh seven years old I I look

pretty good for my for my my early 30s um now I grew up in the in the

construction industry my my father and grandfather were General Contractors so I was a I was a gopher growing up

meaning go for this go for that yeah and um yeah I started uh started with artx

early 990s and um you know been in been in technical for for quite some time and

uh been involved in the industry quite a bit uh you know different ass

associations uh out there and uh really like to to give back uh to the industry

as much as as possible it's done uh it's been great for me to be in the industry

I feel like I I owe it back and and I like to give back as much as

possible well I know I've seen you in just about every convention I've been to so uh you do I certainly see you out and

about trying to trying to uh improve the industry and your on several uh

committees and different things like this and some boards too right I

am awesome Yep heavily involved with FC NCT it's uh able to be board member with

both of those associations and uh contribute in other other ways as well

Canadian Association nfca um asdm just to help build industry standards um the

I RC help build different inspection standards out there for our industry so just just try to help out as much as I

can sweet Jared give us a little bit of background on yourself sir well um I've

been in the flooring industry for 25 years now I guess so started around 90

99 2000 as a ceramic tile helper like

installing ceramic so um been in the industry a while I started with udine

back in 2016 when we uh when we came strong into

the Michigan market and um just been doing that ever since so I was with USG

for a short while before then um doing some moisture mitigation stuff

so so you both got great backgrounds guys this is why we um you know one of

the podcasts we try to bring on a couple of experts I I can vouge um certainly

for Seth I know him a little bit better but Jared's got a l long history and mitigation like he just said and so if

you have any questions make sure to or comments uh good

experiences uh with with with the uh different self- levelers and because

that's certainly a part of moisture mitigation when you start talking about prepping the a uh full mitigation system

for new flooring um you know give us your thoughts and we will uh talk about

them so Mr Daniel Mr Jose well let me just start off by

vouching for Jared right away he did first time we met him this

guy came up to one of our hospitals and helped us with a night project and I was like oh my God this guy's making us

grind everything why why why you know what I know why

now you know why now you know hey I gave you the why too not just the do what you

do but the why now you know and knowing is half the battle only people that are

probably 40 will know where that came from yeah GI

Joe um it was very refeshing to have someone out there with hands on and actually going through the process

instead of just uh letting us uh fail on our own right he made sure that that wasn't that wasn't in the stars for us

so we do appreciate that you know we were there till what 5:30 in the morning Jose we were there forever it was uh it

was a long long night yeah it was a long night let's mention that for a moment for all the uh installers that join us

we got a large audience that's uh typically on here watching and

and you guys as as Tech reps in the industry you actually want to hear from

those guys don't you yeah from the installers yeah the I would say the the

the wor the I wish I had five bucks every time I had somebody call up and say hey I just use your product I think

I did something wrong I could retire it's like it's called beforehand you

know yeah I think a lot of uh we we've promoted on here quite a bit about like

getting in in touch with the tech reps and getting to know the product even a

few a few days beforehand hey what am I going to run into what are some things to really think about with your product

line um in fact I just did a huge uh exterior uh Ardex with some A4 the the

new stuff brand new like I did it was A14 and X90 and x35 drainage mats I just

got through uh phase one of a a big project and you guys you know had Greg

out and and I I probably talk to him for a week ahead of that project uh every

day I wanted to know now this was brand new so I I hadn't even

really uh thought and gotten the concept through on how to put this stuff down correctly and make sure that our guys

are doing it right but it the point is guys get a get a hold of your Tech reps

ahead of time and they want to hear from you guys they're not you know they're not um shy most time when I'm at

convention or any of the the shows they actually want to hear from you guys more

often so don't don't be uh scared to reach out all right so uh hey boys can

you tell me about a moisture failure you've had um yeah recently actually recently

like within the last couple years yeah well just anytime but yeah whatever you want to bring up Daniel has more

information on that one I mean I I can only uh speculate and add to what was uh

secondhand through most of it well it's just I have a project right now I actually was talking to to Jared

earlier um you were using his system over here and the architect just wants

so much information and it's just like can you just provide me with something he's like I can get you an email she like I need

something by end of dayto day he's like my the the documents typically take 72 hours can I just shoot you an email and

it's like well something's better than nothing right but it's it's the MV the moisture

Vapor emission rate came back a little bit high in a couple areas and it's just

on the trenches where they they poured the new concrete so we're going in with

a onep part System since the RH is in check everywhere and we don't necessarily need to do the two-part

system the epoxy system save some dollars and cents all the way around so I'm switching it over

and this architect is just I don't know man well let's not go down that rabbit

hole of of of how to deal with Architects I think that deserves its own

episode no but but it's it is important to know there are different styles of products out there to address things

differently I mean you know a onep part component urethane can handle moisture up to a certain point and then the you

know an f310 epoxy can handle you know as moisture as high as you want it but

like you it's important to educate the contractors that they do have different options they don't just have to go with

an epoxy if the if the moisture is high you know you do have other options so

you know whether a high moisture adhesive or you know a uh a urethane or

or whatever other like there there are other Solutions out there you know sheet membranes that sort of thing so it just

like it every Situation's different so a lot of it is just letting people know what the options are and they can choose the best one well let's talk about I'll

tell you a quick quick one a specific one we had a um floor and and before I

tell you you know kind of identifying this this balance when you're you know

we know when we take a a moisture test it's really a snapshot of the the floor

under those conditions at that time and

so question to both of you guys after I tell my little story will be what do you recommend when it's like

Teeter tottering it it's really kind of at a certain level where you think you

can get away with this XYZ adhesive that uh says it it's let's let's say it's a

95 RH adhesive and you're you're you're right at 95

and what would you guys recommend doing there um I know circumstances change uh

my circumstance was we were below grade at a Early Learning

Center um we we had the same exact scenario we

opted for a higher moisture adhesive went with an lvt down there um it did

seem to have good drainage and different things on the building not that I'm a you know great expert on the outside of

the building or should have to be but sometimes even those things we have to consider in

flooring um but we ended up going with an lvt we sent all the information to

the architect uh we you know had everything

submitted and approved installed it and it probably

took we also considered we were in a wetter season when this happened so we

figured this is probably as kind of as high as it would get you know it would probably dry out um I don't know the

mistake but it failed it took about a year and it started failing and then it

failed drastically it was like something happened now we didn't by all reports

from the owner and the GC there was no event uh no no flooding event or a

piping a pipe breaking or what have you but it seems to me because it lasted

look great for a year and and then kind of started showing some some signs and

then man it just went to uh hell really quick so we ended up having to replace

that floor now we had full you know I mean to be honest with you the GC and the architect all stepped up and so did

the owner I said here's all the testing here's everything here's the reason we went with all this stuff it was all

approved so I can't replace it for free and uh so I got paid for the replacement

but it was a little touchy for me like it was just one of them touchy

situations like well should should should I have done something different so that was that was one scenario where

I really didn't I don't I still don't know

um if I because I don't know if there was an event and there that circumstance

kind of throws me off a little bit meaning that it lasted so long so well and then kind of failed more uh

drastically but that aside I almost wish I would have just completely mitigated

the floor and and done that anyway I think this will give us an opportunity

to talk about that but also let's go through levels you know you got

moisture uh and I'm going to name them off and any of them that I miss I'm going to turn it over to you two and we

can conversate back and forth between all of us but uh I know we have uh you

know the r Goods the uh like uh used to

be called versus Shield what's the new name of it uh garar yeah like a roll out

membrane stuff you got uh one Parts you

got high moisture adhesive actually that's in there as well some of them go

up to 100 R uh or say they do uh you also if you can correlate those with

um you know a more breathable flooring uh I feel more comfortable in those

situations in fact when we replaced we put a the highest moisture adhesive that

uh that EF Florine had and put kinetics in is what ended up uh happening down

there there and that's performed now for five years on with no no issues

whatsoever um but then we have you know the one parts and then two parts and

there's different levels in the two parts even you know it'll handle different stuff different uh levels of

vapor emissions so I'm going to turn it over to you guys on those with all those

deals all these options do you have standard kind of like playbook for the

the audience that this is kind of how we see you using or looking at these

moisture tests versus your with your projects and what to consider there and

then these are the products that you know you might consider to be the best

solution for those right what I one of the things I want to say and and and you

know I Echo what you said Paul and Jared there there are a variety of different types of materials out there and you both

have mentioned the different types the the key thing uh to keep in mind here is

that any material that has a maximum RH of less than

100% should not be should not be used in envir in an environment that it could be

exposed to 100% uh or condens liquid in some capacity and when I say that uh yeah

there there are single component roll on products that might be at a 95 or 98 uh

I we we we had products uh under our brand like that there's there's adhesives that are high RH adhesives

that are lower than 100% meaning 99 and if you look at a project that

we'll just take a building that's 40 years old something like like like the project that you were talking about Paul

you have a building that's you know multiple years old 10 20 30 40 years old you have a concrete slab on ground

um the likelihood of having an intact Vapor retarder underneath that concrete slab is slim to none if one was ever

used in the first place and even though you test for moisture today and it's 95%

RH today um it doesn't mean that at some

point in the future it can't be higher than that so I suspect in that that application that you were referencing

Paul that you know you were you are at you know moisture tolerances during

installation but it was a slab on ground probably no Vapor retarder that was intact and at some point in the future

whether it it was the rainy season you know the heavy snow that's coming off

winter and you're melting and you have all this water uh you get to the point where you have excessive moisture the

point where you're exceeding the performance of that material in that

application so you could take that same similar product that maybe have 99 or a

95 or a 98 maximum and if it's new concrete that has an intact Vapor

retarder or it's new concrete that's on an elevated deck um with no other

sources of moisture and you're reading 98 today that would mean that next month

you're going to re read 97 and the month after that you'll read 96 because that elevated moisture right

now is just going to continue to go down over time if that makes sense that makes a lot of

sense the way you said that too is uh for everyone out there the way he said it to was if you think that it's

susceptible to more moisture at some point in time chances are just to go a little bit One Step Above and Beyond

what what you were thinking yeah yeah yeah and like our approach is very similar like it's

anytime that there there could be a failure of the of the vapor barrier or

like those older buildings just treat it like it's an open slab I mean it's you're you're going to treat it like the

vapor can freely come in and come out and that just means everything like you have to treat it like it's a 100 you

just you just do yeah so but in that specific uh instance you brought up Paul

like you know you also have to look at the limitation of what the Floor Covering is too so like you you you

could have an adhesive that goes 95 98 99% if you but if you're putting down a 90% Floor Covering you're going to end

up with dimensional instability warping all sorts of issues with your floor covering long and the adhesive is Gonna

Keep it stuck but it's gonna it's gonna look like junk so absolutely and I and I'll just add to that Jared uh there's

two terms that I use when we're talking about all these different uh remediation systems and high RH adhesive so when you

really look at an adhesive the adhesive is tolerating that moisture and and if

you have a floor covering that that is you know a lower maximum RH with that

adhesive only tolerating the moisture then that floor Co covering becomes susceptible to moisture whereas a

mitigation system you know such as an epoxy or the urethane that you mentioned

Jared you know those are those are remediating the moisture you know so adhesives generally speaking High R

adhesives I don't want to include every everyone out there every adhesive out there but a majority of your high RH

adhesives just tolerate the the moisture and where mitigation systems actually

remediate I I like that distinction I do like that you guys bring brought that up

the difference between tolerating and and you know it's called mitigation so

moisture mitigation or remediation of that uh problem actually blocking that

uh moisture vapor from coming through yeah and I say that most most

floor coverings you know are going to have a lower tolerance than some of these high moisture adhesives that are on the market and you know it seems like

industrywide people have been overselling the high moisture adhesives without a proven track record so it's

one of those things where it's just like okay let's let's slow down a minute here

and make sure we we walk through all the details of the project and the limitations for everything involved in

your system right and I think that some of the flooring manufacturers have also

um started like in their SPC instead of giving limits for the actual flooring

they just say for the the moisture it's refer to whatever adhesive you're using

they don't even give you that information outright

anymore well you know so so much had to

happen so quickly on moisture if you think about it you know once we lost solvents and things and our adhesives

and I installed back then so uh I know what it's like to have those adhesives

and not shoot we didn't we didn't care I mean you you had

you know uh you that that is I think why so many

people especially building owners they're like well I had VCT down from the 70s and I'm just putting VCT right

back down why is it ain't different and and you got to walk them through this whole uh education process of why we

don't why our adhesives are not near as durable as they used to be from a

moisture standpoint and uh what it means to have water soluble soluble adhesive

and why we have that and all this but um yeah it's it's it had to progress

quickly and then the the mitigation systems you know they were so high cost for owners and stuff

so then manufact started working on the adhesive side of course those always are

progressing to get better but from a flooring contractor and installer

standpoint it appeared to me that you know mitigation systems came out pretty

quickly and and different ways of solving some of the problems but you know

um you know a coaster product that we used to use a lot of and kind of an

early brand you know it's going to cost you $8 a square foot for to put that

down and uh a lot of times it was more than the flooring system and

so the then then we started getting the high moisture adhesives and such and

like you said some of them seem like they were maybe build uh um or promoted

in um I don't know uh if it's it wasn't necessarily I

don't think purposely dishonest I don't want to say that but I I mean maybe oversold is the best way but the problem

for us installers and what the point I'm trying to get to here is we had to

absorb a ton of crap I mean manufacturers had to deal with it but

you had to deal with it in your Silo of being a manufacturer and then flooring in sters and contractors were getting it

from every rep about all these products you had to absorb so much so

quickly there's no no wonder that there's still moisture failures it seems

like most of them can be solved uh and there's a product out there to solve them but uh that seems to

be toning down people are getting more educated on all the products and and so that seems to be but there was this bell

curve of like even though the products were there wrong products were being used or or what have you because it was

frankly it was a lot of information to try to just absorb as a flooring contractor in the early days of figuring

all this out no you're right I mean you go back uh you know 30 and 40 years it's

not like you know specifically you know cutback adhesive was designed to be a you know moisture tolerant uh adhesive

with VC but the reality is it just performed very well you know VCT with cutback in high moisture conditions did

very well you had a lot of solvent adhesives way back when and when the switch was made um you know to get away

from all the nasty chemicals and you get into a lot of water all the waterborne adhesives there were tons of growing

pains uh you know back in the early days you go back 30 years ago a lot of growing pains with the water born

adhesiv but the technologies have have come so far uh with mitigation systems

and with the high adhesives and I just go back to um there there's different

products for different fits just really understand the project and then the

limitations of whatever product you're considering so that we're using the right product uh for the right

application so we had a few com sorry we had a few

comments about do Point can you guys address

dupoint yeah I mean a dupoint uh is uh

is when your job conditions allow you know condensed moisture to to occur I

mean you you let's let's uh I take it we all like beer you know you get h a nice

Frosty mug uh and you got some cold beer and you got warm moist air in the in the

room and you got condensation happening on the outside of the glass it's that you're hitting

dupoint um if you're yeah so it's important for

flooring contractors out there I think the point that our uh listeners are

driving at here is that you can have Mo your moisture testing but if you do

not uh consider ambient conditions as well yeah which is where our partner uh

here on the Huddle floor Cloud comes in to Great advantage to everybody is

checking your due points and and your your site conditions because if you don't if your do points or your your

your ambient conditions uh are going to cause uh a a a condensation factor to

happen um it on even if your Rh is

correct it it can condensate on top and not affect that RH uh reading that you

had you know the week before what have you so uh you know Jason's been a guest

on here before and and he's he's uh his Jason Ramsey and he's he's an inspector

and one of the things that he's been real um well I say Jason Ramsey but also

Jason Canton over at M brought it up as well that you know dupoint is a important factor in all this um probably

very specifically when you start getting into into your uh your areas of you know

high humidity uh uh climate so right and then you know Chad talking

about Builders not wanting to do anything on top of concrete because they say that there's a a vapory tier

underneath and they don't want to spend more money when I mean all these testing all this testing is there for a reason

right that's why we do all this testing plus the ambient conditions so that way

we know the entire system you got have to look at everything and that's where we always say that flooring installers

essentially need to be scientists sometimes right yeah we need to know a lot about everything and if you're not

that's when you get the these guys that are like I've been and we say it time and time again I've been doing it this

way for 20 years yeah that's like as soon as someone tells me that I'm like okay this

is not going to be a good conversation yeah I mean if there's no climate oh like if there's no climate

control in in the building like your D Point's going to vary constantly so it's

like you know your site conditions are very important part of the whole system

right I mean it's going to affect your I mean your flooring materials need to acclimate like your acrylic primers

won't set up there's just there's just a a laundry list of things that happen when you know your your conditions

aren't controlled so monitoring those is very key well I've ran across process um

a particular problem with a uh project

that the the school had their multi a school uh client of ours had their

multi-use facility it was a a separate facility from the school as a rural

school they built a like a gymnasium but it was multi-use and we put down a you know a

athletic flooring and it got some Bubbles and then we pull it up and you

can see visible uh the visible moisture on the concrete but we RH tested and it

was okay I was like what the hell's going on oh well come to find out they were

turning off and this is a school district thing and I think they're getting past this

but this is a rural School District this was just this in the last 12 months they're turning off the uh their

their building control system every they left it off all

summer and then they they turn it off on the weekends even in the winter because they're just trying to

save on these electric on their you know their bills and I get it but that is that destroys our products uh

anymore add to that scenario there's a a school recently where uh you know tons

of renovations have happened over the years some of the school has HVAC some of it does not some of the HVAC is

shared by opening up the fire doors and blowing a fan down the corridor and you

know and this renovation had a lot of resilient Rubber and some foro and we

couldn't explain it to them enough that something was not going to go right for

them because of that well we left the doors open all all night so that way it could all uh be the same temperature for

you in the morning go okay well thank you I mean Frank Frankly this this condensation and dpoint problem can

cause a problem even if you have a mitigation system down um and you don't

have a high level a high moisture adhesive on top of it uh even in that

case you can still have a problem but uh if you have a you know if you mitigate the floor and you're like okay now I can

just use the manufacturers recommended adhesive for this product and it's a 85

RH even though I had 99 everywhere uh previously and I had

high Vapor emissions I mitigated I'm good well if they're going to have a dupoint issue or building control issue

it can still cause a this condensation problem so I don't want to go down that for so as our only topic but it sure has

uh it got brought up I think it was a good thing to get brought up and um and

like J Jason says right here he's seen problems with integral moisture mitigation products and I think what

he's talking is like ad mixtures and stuff oh ad mixtures and and topal stuff

yeah I mean Jared actually talked about this like this was probably going to be something that was going to get brought

up because we were on a project that it was a whole issue with the the ad

mixture and them not I mean it wasn't even with the the mo it ended up being an issue with the

moisture after everything was done but during this time it was just about why do we have to pay for a blot

yeah yeah and it's with the with the ad mixtures it's just like for decades right the flooring

industry has designed their products to utilize the capillary structure of the concrete for its installation and when

you put a product in that densifies that concrete and tries to cut

off that capillary structure things just don't work the same way so it's just

like you have to carefully think about the process with the ad mixtures there's even new ones coming out like Nano

silicates which you know we've had some projects where those work just fine and

other projects where those have popped up as an issue and they're not even like a silic ad mixture they're just like

they're Nan silica yeah yeah yeah the the um to topically

applied at placement uh products that are Nano Silas and not a silicate but a

silic AIC but yeah they function they're not a reactive but they but they do

densify the same sort of way and cut off the capillary structures it's like they can yeah they fill the capillary

structure and and just to make it clear to everybody I

mean we need me adhesive isn't duct tape I mean it's it's a mechanical Bond once

it it dries you're trying to get a mechanical Bond into the pore structure

and um so it's important to have that

but then it does cause problems and so yeah even even if the adhesive

is uh some adhesives are suitable for non-absorbing surfaces but the the thing

about using you know a densifier whether it's a silic or silica you know changes

the density of the concrete you know the mechanic may think it's regular old concrete as he knows it uses the same

square Notch trial uses the same 15minute open time and the moisture from

the waterborne adhesive has nowhere to go and then there's an issue it may require a smaller Notch trial it may

require a longer open time uh to get the moisture out but you got to check with

your manufacturer and their their recommendations for the application yeah again it's just another dog on softball

well fast ball to swing at is it's another thing that flooring contractors have to

discuss and um and and figure out whether or not I mean if it's going to

be used at the end of the day if an ad mixture res use we usually find that out later I mean I love it when we find out

early where we can either start to plan with all the parties that are going to be involved but often they know that you

know the flooring manufacturer recommendation is no ad mixture and they're going to have a fight so usually

it's one of these things where that salesman selling to the uh the uh

concrete company sells it to the GC and it's it's

a done deal before we ever know it and then we find out later uh hopefully in

some cases we we have found out after our floor's done and we're like we've had the lamination deals come

to find out it was the ad mixure we didn't even know it was there had no

idea so of course your Vapor emissions tests come back just

fine I think the the one reason we found out on the project that I was that I was

talking about was because we asked for the the moisture testing results and they were like oh we didn't need to

because this ad mixture is in there that's what started the conversation with everything

yeah one in there it's fine

yeah go ahead sorry Jose I one of the the the bids that I'm working on right now because there's a lot of information

that's not in there um I think I I I included with uh they must provide um a

copy of the moisture test I also included in there that if there were any

AD mixtures added to the concrete then we need to know 20 days prior to our arrival um like just added that in there

like an hour and a half ago I just feel uneasy about some of the literature that was in this bid and I just felt

compelled to put that in there for safety your larger projects you got to I I feel like we need to do a better job

at my flooring company of of just that to be honest with you it's unfortunate

that we got to take all this on I mean I remember the business years ago it was just not we didn't have to have all

these considerations so um I we need to make more money in the flooring industry

because you got to be scientist and like you said chemists and and uh applicators

and make sure the right products in the right area uh but that that's uh you

know that's always the consideration uh on these larger projects because they want to see the easy button for that that led me to the

question I was going to ask was is there a silver bullet with high moisture concrete a a

high a high moist moisture uh

project I don't know I don't know if I'm totally understand your question Paul sorry is there a silver bullet solution

if there's high moisture like is a is one of the mitigation systems that's to

solve every time or should we always consider all of the different options

I know it's a tough tough question to answer but like if you have a new person

in flooring that is and I don't mean a new person but someone starting we're

we're in this phase I just read an article about how many flooring companies are possibly up for sale

you're going to have new ownership coming through gentlemen in the next five to 10 years because a lot of people

are cycling out a lot of baby boomers are leaving their businesses that so my

my question is with these newer people and some of them are not necessarily in flooring that have have are going to be

buying these businesses or stepping into these businesses my question is is there

a one solution uh and you know is it mitigate

the floor if you just don't know the best thing to do is do this and you shouldn't have any

problems I mean I'll I'll say this um I I've always taken the approach that I

evaluate a given project you know with a contractor look at what the needs are

for the contractor we make a recommendation you know based on the needs um I I'll say this also that there

I've I've worked with different hospital organizations where you know they will

use epoxy mitigation always whether it's needed or not because to them that was an

insurance policy for I have a client just like that Wesley Medical Center and it's it's an

artx product that they're just like nope we put mitigation under everything now they got bit hard enough uh that that's

that's the deal yeah the tough thing here is I I can't say that that epoxy

even though there there's a tremendous amount of experience in the industry multiple manufacturers with epoxy for

you know for decades that doesn't necessarily mean epoxy's the One-Stop shop and that's the

fix all I mean you can get into situations where we have um an ASR

situation alkal silica reaction which is you have excessive moisture but you have

a reactive aggregate in there and putting a mitigation system is not going to correct issues that will occur in

that situation and you can also sometimes get into these osmotic situations where we we have a water

source and we have salts from the concrete and we have a some sort of semi-permeable membrane at the surface

of the concrete which could be the pore structure that no matter what you put down uh epoxy mitigation system

resilient flooring terazo uh you end up with a you end up

with a failure an osmotic blister because of the the condition that's there

so I I don't want to say that there's just a one one product fixes

everything uh by any means I mean you get into those situations with ASR and

that's like the concrete has cancer because you have this reactive aggregate in there and what do you do with cancer

you cut the cancer out you know nobody wants to hear it but you got to cut the concrete out and you know and start

over no and those the NRS it's

like the the near surface like the epoxy moisture mitigation just causes that

reaction right I mean you trap the moisture in there it causes the chemical reaction and you know it's it's like

yeah you just have you get blistering and you just have to cut it out there's just no there's no plan B for it right

there's no yeah it's right remove only and the epoxy is it's a factor in there

but uh like removal is the only option so yeah you make a good point it's like

the the epoxy by mediating the moisture you know ends up uh creating a situation

where the ASR can happen you know the fix to that situation if they're if the

client's okay with it is leave it as as concrete and let the moisture Just Breathe Right out into the air if we

don't have liquid alkaline water sitting at the surface to react with the

aggregate the reaction doesn't happen so if the moisture can just evaporate out of the concrete and never have a

condensed alkaline liquid situation there then the the ASR the na nsar doesn't occur okay so tell

us the test what what um series of testing uh you know

between the uh Vapor emissions uh you know and Rh and pH testing what what

what's a good indicator that that's uh present wait that what's present well

how do you know you're have that scenario or is it

a yeah yeah so so you have you have an aggregate that that is in the concrete

that should not be in there there there are ASM tests that that qualify

Aggregates it might be c33 I can't remember offand here but but um there

there are reactive Aggregates out there that should not go into concrete um you know we and I'm sure usine does the same

thing they have to have their Aggregates tested and confirm that they're not a reactive aggregate that they're using in their material um but they these

Aggregates slip in on occasion and if there's no if there's no moisture uh

there's no liquid moisture with with high alkaline liquid moisture then that reaction never

occurs but to to to go to try to test to see if there's reactive aggregate in

concrete I mean it's a hit and miss thing I mean you could take a core sample and and and find a reactive

Aggregate and you could go two inches over and and not find a reactive aggregate they're not supposed to be

there in the first place but they on occasion slip in yeah the times I've

seen it it actually it's spotty across the floor it's just like some places

have some of that Aggregate and the rest of the slab is fine so you could you could have the slab

95% correct but have a literally it's just like a cancer problem where it's

you have you could have a hundred different areas in a 10,000 squ foot building that all have to get repaired

whereas the rest of the slab is fine and they could all be concentrated together or they could be further apart and it's

just incorrect aggregate impure aggregate that comes through from the querry and ends up in the mix so like

the testing for it most of the time it happens retroactively where we have a problem we get osmotic blisters and we

pull up the the moisture mitigation normally and underneath there's a white crusty filmm and uh react reactions

that's taking place at the surface and that's normally how we identify it it's all retroactively because doing samples

you you gotta learn from from the problem like there's no way to test for

it yeah normally you discover it when the problem when you start and this is good education for me I've never had

this happen to me so I I'm a bit unfamiliar with it to be honest with you so thank you for for uh bringing that up

and and I guess I'm really glad I asked the question is there a one a silver

bullet CA because I I I have not had that so it made me curious if if there's

some combination of the testing methods that would uh expose that problem and uh it's

obviously there's not you just kind to kind of have the failure and then find the solution

so um we kind of started this out and we're running a little short on time but I wanted to kind of just go what you

know the the different steps and have you guys give us a chance starting from

a you know a lower level to a higher level moisture reading on both your guys

products line product lines what what is your solution for like hey I'm a little

concerned it's um uh you know it's a 90 RH floor or 92 RH and just one other

thing is these have a 3% um variation factor in your Rh test

so I mean like we don't have to consider enough these these things could and that

could be up or down so um uh what What's your low to kind of high uh there's no

um no specific project here I'm just curious uh to have you guys give you a chance to start from kind of

your bottom product up and uh what your strong you know your your

mitigation uh solution for you know a 25 MVR or something yeah go ahead jar yeah

s from the bottom so typically how we would approach it was I mean you would we

would recommend the uh the f2170 RH testing over you know a calcium

chloride test just because that's a more predictive test so we would prefer that type of reading as

opposed to the calcium chloride um so like you would get your results of the

testing first so that would be the number one thing and then once you have that results you start asking a question

you're say a is it an open slab situation if it's an open slab situation we need to treat it like it's 100% RH

slab so we would recommend you go up to you know an an f3010 right epoxy

moisture mitigation for us that would be p460 that's uh that's our kind of our gold standard for

moisture mitigation up to 100% our age up to um 14 pH so that you know for most

situations you know that's going to be the first question we ask is it an open slab and then once you know if it's a

new slab where we're just waiting on the moisture to go down then we'll start looking at something like a urethane

where you know you can go up to it can go up to 95% RH typically with two code

application so that'd be something like a P4 414 um but you know there are other

Solutions out there like sheet membranes can also go up to 100 those are those are good for like applications where you

also have moisture problems but you have like oil issues in your slab or

something where you know you're not going to have heavy rolling loads you could use something like an RR 185 sheet membrane but you know and when you start

getting into the sheet membrane category of products you you open up a whole another list of concerns like

condensation under it and mold growth and is you know ventilated Cove Base and

there's a whole lot of other details that you start getting into when you're trapping the moisture in a sheet membrane basically you get a cavity

underneath it right so like typically we're not leaning hard on like a sheet

membrane application as as a fix for things uh you know we tend to like

default back to like the epoxy p460 would be kind of the the final goto because we

know it works in most situations

awesome Seth yeah from from our standpoint um we have the the brand

Henry adhesives and we certainly have high RH adhesives under the Henry brand

647 695 they're acrylic types um but we qualify the installation

of those adhesives so being that they have you know a 9 9% r that means if

they're ever in a situation where it gets to 100 then you know the performance the

adhesive is you know off the table at that point so the application uh the job app or I should

say the the the the the the the project itself has to be qualified in that if

we're at 95 96 97 98 99 it has to be a condition where we can't get to 100% or

condensed liquid so when I say that uh we're talking about like new construction where we have uh concrete

that's on a pan above grade or maybe it's a intact Vapor Barrier underneath

we know that today we have a high R of 96 97 98 99 but we know that next month

it's going to be lower and the month after that it's going to be lower and it's forever going to be in a going down

situation you know if that slab was an existing 10 year old 20 30y old uh slab

that's on ground and we have elevation elevated uh RH readings then we know

that that is not mix water that is causing that high high R the concrete is

too old at that point for it to be mixed water so it has to be another source and it's probably from the ground because

there's no Vapor retarder because the slab is so old so I would never use an adhesive in that situation because even

though the the readings today might be okay at some point in the future you know we could get up to condensed liquid

underneath there and then you know the adhesive isn't going to perform anymore so in that situation we want to go with

a remediation material and we have we have two remediation materials uh we

have a two component epoxy that that meets the ASM f310 it's called MC

rapid um you know permeability of uh below 0.1 perms when tested in

accordance withm e96 so that's one option and then our other option is a is

a waterborne material two coat system uh called vb100 that that also

has a permeability of below 0.1 perms when tested in accordance with e96 so um

you know both of those materials could be used in a situation where we could be at 100% our

age so if we have no Vapor retarder underneath the concrete slab and the building's 20 years old I'm not going to

use an adhesive for that use a medication system like VB 100 or

mcer wow I gotta say that some of that's eye opening even uh to a veteran here

that that uh you know some of those uh terms that you guys used where it's if

there's the possibility for it to go to 100% RH you should still probably go to

a mitigation system and not a tolerance system uh yeah that's that's good

info all right man well that hour flew pretty dug on quick I want to uh thank

you guys for joining us today and sharing your knowledge with the audience

and thank you to our audience for all the participation that was awesome and we really appreciate everybody uh coming

and uh participating here at the on the Hub if you don't catch us live get on

YouTube uh check us out there check us out on any of the podcasting uh sites if

you catch us on Facebook or Instagram or uh you know Spotify or whatever make

sure to like it subscribe give us a thumbs up I guess you can give us a thumbs down if you want and uh but any

interaction give us some comments on on your uh on your thoughts I want to I

want to tell you that was was really educational I I think you know I sat here at the end of that and we have a a

training program a platform at our uh at our flooring company and this is going into our M I'm putting this uh video in

our mitigation uh you know our our uh we have a a uh site condition folder in our

training platform and this is going in there and the mitigation because uh I learned some stuff I know my PMS who uh

maybe uh came from different Industries in construction are going to learn a lot off this so thank you guys for your

knowledge yeah I know you were kind of looking for that uh one product fixes

all right but I think that's what this last project I did because I had to do an alternate for moisture mitigation and

I just went with all right we're going with the top dog and then after all the testing came back I'm like hey there's

an option to save some money here yeah yeah

all right well thank you guys hey thank you Jose and Daniel again thank you

every single week for being Rock gentleman you guys are appreciate that

and to our audience we're GNA sign out now thank you catch us on uh next

Tuesday same time 3 pm Central and uh we'll have another uh great episode for

you guys so thank you guys we love you and catch us on next week's episode all

right thanks everyone

The Huddle - Episode 107 - Expanding Your Services

In this episode we explore the benefits of broadening the range of services offered by your flooring business. This episode discusses how diversification can open up new revenue streams, attract a broader clientele, and differentiate your business in a competitive market. By adding services such as custom designs, eco-friendly options, or restoration services, you can meet more of your customers' needs and enhance your business's growth potential. Tune in to discover how expanding your service offerings can lead to greater business success and customer satisfaction.

The Huddle was created by Paul Stuart of Stuart & Associates and Go Carrera, alongside Jose and Daniel Gonzalez from Preferred Flooring. Aimed at helping you maintain forward progress in your flooring career, they cover topics from personal and business growth, to installation tips & tricks and everything in-between.

Want to be a guest on The Huddle? Email thehuddleforwardprogress@gmail.com today!

Create your FREE Installer profile at https://gocarrera.com and become part of the future of the industry TODAY!
GET TRAINED! Find a list of training dates here: https://gocarrera.com/resources/training/
https://www.preferredflooringmi.com
https://www.stuartandassociates.com

hey what's up everyone welcome to the Huddle Paul isn't here to do the intro again so we have to say this yet again

because he's the best at it and we can't even even we can't even try to come close to how good he is at it so we're

just not even going to attempt it welcome everybody to the Huddle your weekly updates of other stuff that Paul

usually says and he Wings it pretty good thanks for joining us today we have

Daniel and Jose with preferred flooring oh wait as always there got you

Paul So today we're going to be uh discussing expanding your services I know a couple weeks ago we talked about

you know focusing on on one and you

know niching down right and how can you focus and become good at that and

really that's what we did and made our name in the resilient side of things but

I think the fact of the matter is is that if we only did resilient uh we were just talking about this before we went

live here is we'd be sitting around for six months out of the year because uh

although yes we are pretty good at it and it's what we like to do it's not

always you know it's not always there so what can we do in order to to stay

afloat and and keep our guys busy and and still

keep on moving so I mean not only that we didn't even in

start in resiling we started in carpet really yeah carpet and vinyl base man

some broadloom and that was uh what we started I just found something that very few

people did and decided to attack that um that was all and Daniel's right

there's a there's a lot of a lot of downtime flooring is seasonal we found out long ago that

flooring is seasonal different types of flooring are seasonal uh in the commercial industry let's let's get that straight commercial wise this is us

talking about that I and and and and I do know now that it applies somewhat to

residential but commercially speaking um you got Seasons right you

have uh let's start with the flooring season you have school season you have Hospital season you have

uh uh industrial season like there are are times of the year when

um these places kind of ramp up and you you know you have your the fiscal year um where a lot of places are ending uh

and but June 30th something like that and they're trying to Bury Bury funds uh

School season is got to keep the budgets right yeah School season is

um during summer break you know you have very small Windows of opportunity to get

a lot of work done um but that's that goes back to what we

started talking about and uh she had mentioned uh what Paul note had said and

I don't recall what that was Daniel about uh um making sure that you get get

training right and and set budgets for yourself when you're looking at expand

in your services um just talking about I mean I've talked to guys that were like

hey I'm going to start concrete polishing and it's like okay you know

that that'd be pretty good are you going to be taking some classes because that's something that

not you can't just go out there and think that you can polish concrete you

know there there's guys that are very good at it and you got to learn from some of these guys and there's classes

for it but not only that you're looking at equipment I mean the the guys that do

our concrete polish and their their equipment is ridiculous I mean they're they they drive around with two grinders

that you know upwards of $30,000 and that's just for the grinder that's not the vacuums that's not the the

generators so it's like how much are you going to actually spend to try and get

started expanding your services and concrete polishing

probably I mean could it be one of those absolutely but you're going to have to start small are you going to start just

doing concrete polishing in garages right in basement something like that

but because you're not going to be doing these huge jobs where it takes hundreds of thousands of dollars

worth of tooling to go in there and do right off the bat so it definitely Paul

is right you got to set your budgets and make sure that you're you're setting yourself up for success by getting the

training right we're all about training on the Huddle so there's no surprise there but yeah you have to get

training educating yourself um to what steps you need is very important and uh

you know you mentioned the buffers like or the Grinders I'm sorry the grinders at $30,000 for one unit and that's on a

very small scale um that's not a it's not a very large uh unit at all and I

think uh long ago when uh I back in my day when I first started doing flooring

um there was a a place down the street from where our office is actually located now called uh Bay Area interiors

and I remember they were doing terazzo they were the only company doing terazzo on this side of the state for a while

there and I remember asking him hey do you want to learn how to do this you we can teach you we can teach you and I was

like uh uh maybe um they like yeah first first you're going to have to get

$100,000 worth of equipment just to start uh yeah nope sorry I'm not I'm not

at that level not right now I was just I was just working with a with a sub at

that time and I remember them trying to sell us on that uh back when the mall was being built and no one around was

doing it I mean you look at the airports and it's very prevalent in airports I talked

I was at a meeting a few weeks ago um and met the the guy that does the

buying for the airports and that's what he was talking about he was like that was his first question to me oh you do

floring do you do do terazzo I said Noe you want terazzo you have a choice of either and then he did he named two

companies I said that's all you got he said yeah I know I said and that's all

you're GNA get unless you go out of state he said there's one more company over by Detroit that does it but other

than that yeah that's there's two companies in Michigan three companies in Michigan and

then that that's basically all you get for trazzle but I mean it is very labor intensive

so not not just that it's the equipment right and the knowhow it's probably very

easy to mess up so just make sure you're you're staying within your budget and

know what you're getting into when it comes to expanding so now that we we

talk about that I mean there's other things that you can expand into so if you are doing carpet which a lot of

people start with you want to get into the resilient side um a lot of guys are

are scared to do it because it is you know we talk about it all the time it's one cut you're done if you cut that 30

foot piece of vinyl short guess what there is no fixing that like you can with carpet

so there is um training out there for it and uh I just seen rodon bush from CFI

posted a couple trainings today that are happening over I I think in uh his area

of Kentucky or something like that and uh the NCT um we're going to be down at

America's Floor Source in October for some heat Weld and Flash Cove stuff so

the training is out there make sure you're you're taking advantage of it this is how you can do it and get your

foot in the door without come come use our equipment come

get your hands on it you know and and see if you can actually see if you even

like it before you start doing it because the last thing you want to do is accept the job and then try and scr

around for all this these tools and and and just go out there and start messing

stuff up right away I mean that's kind of what what we did but we weren't the ones in charge at the time it was uh the

guys that were getting the the projects for us that we worked under at like um

so do you think that you can do this um I'm I'm sure I can do whatever you guys

got uh have you done it before nope are you scared nope just give me some

literature I'll figure it out um but you know you gotta you got to give yourself

a chance to be hands on before you you get thrown out there and I think that's where this is coming from is um you know

don't don't limit yourself to one to one Niche right like if you're good at one

thing chances are you're good or great at another as well and it's just a matter of going to some of uh

educational classes trainings U certifications or just going and hanging out with a group of floor nerds and

getting your hands on something that you typically don't touch just as to to get a feel for it well that that's the other

thing too right is hanging out with and going to these events that that's going to be where you can talk

about things and where you can meet people that are very good at something that you may want to do or job that you

want to take on uh Jim Jimmy called me up and was like hey I got this foro

thing going on asking me a bunch of questions and then when it came down to it he was like Hey I still don't feel

comfortable can you come down and help me out and I did I went down there and helped him out for a day it's because he

put himself out there man he he's a great guy you know we hang out at the events all the time and it's like of

course you know he's a he's a fellow CFI guy um nfic so hey when when your

brother's in need you go help them out and I know that one day uh if if we're ever in that position he'll come and

return the favor and it's all about that networking aspect of things and knowing that hey I might want to get into this

so let me go hang out with the people that are into it already yeah and it's um I know maybe I

was a little bit of a different person too like whenever I wanted to learn something new I really honestly this is

my Approach I offered my assistance for free an evening or a weekend to go learn

something new and it I knew that um I knew that I was just going to be

there asking a bunch of questions and I was going to end up being a gopher but that's totally fine I don't I don't care

I absorb things fairly quickly and I wanted I wanted to see if if something

was in in in my in my if I could understand it if it

was going to be in the realm of something I wanted to try or or do or invest my time in um and and that that

applies to more than just flooring right it applies a large variety of things um

not saying you guys have to do that but you know if uh if someone around you is good at something and and they're

willing to bring you on and show you and you're willing to go learn for eight hours U just by being a helper go do it

and do whatever you can to get a little piece of that knowledge information to see if it's something that you would

like to pursue yeah and there's been plenty of guys that have reached out to us and it's like can I just come help

you guys out for a day or two and it's like man if again if we did sheet vinyl

every single day it'd be no problem like yeah come out here come and help us out but to have the schedules align and for

everything to match up perfectly is is so hard that I can't just be like you know what come help out because it's

like man it could be two three months from now where we'll be have a sheet vinyl project and then even then it's

you know a bathroom yeah like like the one we're doing this week yeah just I mean very

small and then scheduling wise what just happened something happened can't be

there now for a little bit so um scramble mode fill the fill the schedule

um I'm just wondering like um so so I can we can only me Daniel whatever we

can only talk to the area over here there's there's a lot of guys around uh in our local area that um do gravitate

towards one discipline um and they they do team up with other installers to

adopt another discipline um because that's a lot of what

uh the projects entail are more than just one type of flooring um

and I think that's a great way to go about it that's a great way to find out if you'll have a um have a liking to

another discipline but um it's also another way way to avoid learning if you

invite someone to help you out with a project and you're like that's yours over there do not cross this line this

is mine over here uh be uncomfortable for a little bit go help out ask some

questions and vice versa uh to the person who's going to help um I mean

there's a there's a reason why there's multiple materials on on a single project right

and and if you can offer if you can offer more than one discipline to a client they would rather

deal with one person than multiple people it does make things a lot easier um on the back end uh but if not totally

understand um and if you're one of those people that are comfortable offering a service that you have no no knowledge on

man you better keep your fingers crossed and good luck um I will will give you that little

bit of advice right because even going from commercial to residential or

residential to commercial it's completely different world I mean

we know residential guys that will only do Residential and you know commercial guys that will only do commercial

because residentially you that's where you make your money and then you go to Commercial and you're like how can you

even make money here and that's what commercial guys say about residential it's like it's a comfort thing and um you

know I we keep talking about in installations and and Hands-On stuff but you know you're um you could always

expand your services in the industry to to Beyond just being an installer um you

know there's if you're good at something you can go help train you can I mean is is

it is there a lot of money to be made in that probably not the best money but how about we say not yet because that's

something that needs to be talked about in the industry too is that needs to be

something to where you can make a living at training once you can't be your knees

anymore because there's too many guys out there that are great at what they do that are great at teaching that that

should be a career path that people should be able to look at and be like yes I do want to train I mean look at

what John styr is doing that dude is ridiculous when it comes to what he's doing with training right now I mean if

he were to make as much money installing and just focus on training how many

people he could have coming up in the industry would that that's really what we need so how can

we how can we expand not just services but the industry to accept that that's

what we need in here so we can have that option as well that is a a great and

valid point onto that you know you um that's a teach a guy how to fish uh type

scenario right Styer is teaching a lot of individuals how to fish that's for

sure they're going to be feeding a lot of families that's that's worth uh that's worth this waiting gold in my

opinion Kevin says he was always told it's better to be a master of one than a

hack of many back then it was much different time for flooring and the crazy thing is is that I thought it was

different back then where a lot of guys did everything and did it well I mean look

at just like for instance John Namba where he's got certifications and basically anything that you could do he

can he can do ceramic he can do wood he can do carpet what whatever you want to do he can do it right and that's really

how I thought guys back in the day were it's like I'm going to do everything and I'm gonna do it well I think it was a a trade-off too

right like um back in the day they they probably helped a lot with the other ones but there was a trade-off is um

people stayed in their lanes and they understood that there was a lot of work for everyone um and and they worked well

together nowadays it's everybody's competition we're training our Replacements and you know what hell yeah

I want to train a replacement if you're crawling around why why wouldn't you want to someone to take your place on

the floor if you have other uh opportunities and you're strong at something else train your replacement

find some growth um and you know and and everybody's scared of people leaving

their them and going and working for other companies and you know what it's okay that's going to happen regardless

um you know and if they're not a fit for you they they will leave if you're not a fit for them then you leave uh it's just

that's just the way of the world man it's the same way every every career every every job every whatever you want

to look at is like that just uh right we got a comment on uh Instagram they said the correct trained guy will help

increase profits for their employers or themselves and yeah like you you got to

train them so that way you you can't hold anyone hostage right

yeah they're they're going to do whatever they want to do and we we've we've kind of seen people come

full circle a couple times and it's like it's the same thing every single

time when they're like I had to go see what what was out there

and you know right now I'm kind of kicking myself because what could have

been if I would have stayed but it's like man sometimes you got to go see what's out there and you were at a point

where you were like hey I can do this myself and that means that 100% go do it

like I don't think there's been many people that have left um us where it's

like I hate this guy or anything like that it's like if you're gonna go do it go do it

like if you're gonna go be all in go be all in right we we understand everybody's got a family um everybody's

got um dreams everybody's got goals um just just know that there's a lot of

behind the scenes that even we're still learning um that go on for being a

business owner yeah we're still learning 100% we still you know take classes to

learn how to do some things we're in you know um not necessarily like we we did

masterminds with Kyle Haden uh we we're we're in programs with that we learn

through our local chamber and some of the organizations over here where it's like no I'm not you know I'm not 100% at

what I do I'm I still need some help and that's how it always should be throughout your career you should always

be asking for help because there's always something that you can do better if it gets too easy and you don't need any help then you should probably find

something else to do and hand that off um

that's and I think besides like um

training which is a huge one that's something that you can look into because

we're we're definitely lacking a lot of people that that want to get out there and like you said it's not lucrative and

you're not going to make a bunch of money but you do meet a lot of cool people yeah all the time every

day um what other what other um things in

the industry what other um I don't say Services what other careers have kind of popped up that that you didn't know

about Daniel since we started getting really involved I'm looking

at just like moisture

testing um since we got certified for moisture testing like if you haven't thought

about it start thinking about it way what's that I gota redo Mine by the way

oh yeah they have you can redo it at um you can redo it online but if you wanted

to wait you can do it at CFI convention I think there's an amount

amount of time that you have to do it in between though so you got to see when it expired and then yep so but I mean just

just moisture testing in general the the amount of if you really went all

in and just pushed out there that you did moisture testing and went to all these gc's and was like this is a

service that I offer everyone needs it whether they want to believe they do or not everyone does um you get your name

on that list I we get call I got calls

from a job in Ohio and then you you throw out pricing and it is it's not

cheap because that that travel time right but I mean we've I've done a couple jobs for a

contract I don't remember if they were out of of state or if they were in state just on the other side I think they were

over by Detroit somewhere but like doing um big chain stores we're talking you

know 20,000 square feet and they're like we need you to go do some moisture testing I shoot them out of price

they're like all right go do it I'm in and out in two days and I mean it's it's a good chunk of

money that can be made it and I'm doing everything myself it's not like I have you know a couple guys there or anything

I mean helps don't get WR come a long way on that too I mean there's other like you just mentioned the east side of

the state which when we talk about that we're talking the two and a half hour drive minimum um there's there's a lot

of collaboration going on between uh different manufacturers and their teaming up to make things a lot easier

um in the flooring industry too and just happens to be uh one of those one of

those people one of those companies here Flor Cloud 100%

floor cloud is uh actually we just put it on one of our projects and it's doing

a great job I'm able to go to the GC and the architect and say hey man we're monitoring things in real time and this

is what's going on and you have to get these numbers down or else these products are gonna fail and to have um a

credential behind your name that's like like I'm not just doing this to tell you this is what's happening like I'm trying

to make some extra money no I'm trying to tell you these things so I don't have to do anything extra and things aren't

going to fail you know essentially protecting their best interest the

client's best interest the the flooring company's best best interest

um that's one thing you can you can spiral into that people go I'm only gonna do moisture testing I'm only going

to do recently it went and got uh took inspection um class um with nfct um a

few weeks ago down in Georgia for for a week um I mean it's just things like

that because I know that you know getting older and you can't be in denial right

it's it'll be nice to have options as

your career progresses right and and that goes with the discipline and what you what you know little or a lot about

for installation and what you know about uh running a business what you know about

uh helping a business um people management there's a lot of different

things to to think about but honestly man like if you are going to think about something moisture

testing is one of those things that you should be thinking about right now and especially partnering with Flor Cloud

I'm actually going to go ahead and play their video right now because they're they're 100% they're

great realtime monitoring of your job site conditions via desktop or mobile

device no more manual checking for temperature humidity or even dupoint no

need for base stations wifi or external power sources simply scan the QR code on

the front of your sensors and you're up and running with the most accurate and Innovative sight monitoring system in

the flooring industry dispatcher Crews with confidence and reduce your climate

related installation issues floor Cloud now you know now you

know and uh over here on Instagram they're they're saying that it doesn't have to be just specialized training for

certifications they feel that uh everyone needs to be trained on fundamentals and

specifications and when I was in you know one of my first certifications

that's kind of what I was saying it's and I I'll never forget I just talked to him the other day it was

William thoron with um tarat Sports and you know just going into it

and a lot of it was the certification and he he kept on going over things and

he's like you know it it had to do with concrete moisture testing and all this stuff and

he was like but you guys don't need to know about this but you guys don't need to know about this it's like 100% we need to know about this man it's like

we're the ones that are on the ground we need to know about all of this and I think that's the issue is that people

think that you're just a flooring installer you don't need to know about any of this when really we're the ones

that need to know about everything so we're one of those areas where we're just

undervalued and they don't I don't want to say they

right like listen you should know about everything you should know as much as as you possibly can about whatever career

you you choose about every aspect that you want to know about um anytime that

uh a lack of information can hurt you you should

know but getting back on the topic of inspecting you know I've been to um and

especially with the NCT you know Paul's an inspector so I've talked to him quite a bit and he's so he's talked to me and

has talked about you know going that route when it comes to expanding Services too and you know even Chad

bookie is a a local inspector here he was a flooring installer and now his focus is on inspecting

and that's something that you can do too and you're actually kind of ahead already um from

what I've gathered because you just took that inspection certification and you kind of knew a lot of the things that

were going on it's just a matter of how do you put everything together after you're done inspecting right right so

you know and and I'll be honest like um whenever I'm going to a class or going to training certification I'm always a

little like what are we what are we talking about what are we studying do I have do I need to study any literature

right because I'm not I don't do it every day anymore I'm not on the floor every day and I don't know what I'm

missing um I don't know if I'll miss anything but I was uh I'm always a

little nervous going there and went down there and it's just like they started talking and videos and and all the

information everything was like click click click and I was like oh oh okay

yeah guess I have been doing this long enough to retain some

information now after you you went through that class do you think that it's feasible for

someone like pretty new to go through it and come out like knowing what to do or

should they be in it for a while I would

is feasible from a a document standpoint right like they have all the

questions uh or all the answers to all the questions listed somewhere in someplace but if if you have a little if

you have some knowledge on how to navigate through the industry that's going to help you out way more than a a

textbook I mean you have you don't want to say this is what I do this is what I specialize in but

you're going to need six months to write a report right because you don't know the information

that's that's where that's going to be and that's one of those things that we talked about too right it's when you're

talking about expanding your services make sure you're expanding not only

into like these things but making sure that you know how to use a

computer I will say I will say it gets easier I mean

even uh Andy McWilliams uh went from installing to a technical role and he

was like the the hardest part is learning how to use a computer learning all the programs and you know how to put

documents together so I mean that is down the line it it's gonna have to

happen you only got so many miles on your knees guys so what what are you going to do to to offset this thing

I wish there more people interacting today because I would like to know their thoughts on that like um you know where

have they found success and I'll go to uh to Ken Balon right like's good at what he does but he's also spun off he

done a couple things of his own that that um you know we don't know how it is but hopefully it turns out to be very

lucrative for him right um he's sharing information sharing knowledge um and you know there's uh

there's other installers that are out there doing their thing for social media they're getting a lot of

uh a following I would say and they're showing off their work and and now they're also um advertising for for

tooling companies and and and all that and I don't know how much of that is pro bono how much of it is is uh being

reimbursed but it just goes to show that if you find something that you're good

at there are other ways to use that one thing or to use your brain and your skill set to make more money in more

than one Avenue right look at Reuben from uh Flores by Southern bories right that dude has his own like store on his

website now he's going around that dude is now he's setting up his uh his canopy

that he's got with his logos everywhere and showing people you know advocating for training yeah see I mean there's a

lot of different things you don't always have to be the first uh that's for sure it's just uh add to what's already

there but I definitely uh wouldn't recommend just going out

there and again just try to start something that you have no idea about do

your research don't just go out there and I'm just G to like I said go start

some polished concrete and I had to have a conversation with that person it's like I don't think you understand the

amount of stress that you're going to put yourself under I can I can give a quick rundown

on expectations of it but I can't give instructions on it right I only know

what I know because I it's the limited I know from from what it's

supposed to fit what it's supposed to look like when it's done how it's supposed to be and how it looks at from the literature standpoint but I can't

give you step-by-step process on what you're supposed to do but that's what they have YouTube for right yeah yeah

whatever jesusa said he's got signal from the storms in Houston didn't even

uh realize that the the storms were that bad over there hopefully everybody's all right

down there yeah hopefully you're good man let us know uh if you need

anything I don't I don't really know what else to

add to to that I mean everybody's got to find their their own Niche everybody's got to find out what else they're good

at if they're trying to expand to something well yeah but I mean just just like people ask us like why don't we do ceramic right

why don't we expand into ceramic and my answer is I'm already good at what I do

and we've already expanded our services to include other things like we're already good at carpet we're already

good at resilient ceramic is another Beast wood is another Beast I'm I don't

want to be an all-encompassing that just gives you um areas where you can partner up with

people there's somebody out there that's got the years of experience and training and certifications required to do a

phenomenal job for you with you however you want to look at it um you know

and if they're expanding they want to learn what you what you know then help them out and I'm sure they'll help you out yeah and like it don't have to be

anything huge what what we're talking about is you can get in in Spectre kit and I know Chad said that he drives

around in a Tesla so he doesn't you don't need anything super huge or you know a huge amount of

tools or anything uh when I go do moisture testing it's basically in a box in a few boxes that I

can fit in the back of my truck and they look pretty cool because

they're all Milwaukee boxes not bias or anything like that but pretty sweet setup packout

Nation but definitely uh it's always worth researching expanding what what

you're going to what you want to expand into before you actually do it ask people questions come to us ask us

questions um to be honest with you we've probably got 20 $30,000 worth of heat

welding equipment did that all that happen overnight no that took years and years

to collect yeah I dude I still remember the first time we we bought that thing we went we were so excited we went both

to the same job and did a three-foot door seam one three-foot door seam with

the he because we're just excited to have it I think that that's the thing U when

you're finding out how what to expand into if you're excited about it chances are you're going to do whatever you can

to make make sure you have all the right information training and tooling for it so find something to be excited about

don't just jump into it because someone tells you you have to dive into it because you know you

want to and start doing mockups that's what we did to teach ourselves when we

just think about um when we first got the sports floor groover we were in the in the garage on some

underlayment what are we going to do in order to to learn how to use this thing let's let's go use it y notice he said

in a garage that was legit I mean we started in the garage

so now we just have a bigger

garage but definitely uh reach out we wish Paul were could be here he he

definitely can uh lead a conversation and ask questions he's he's way better at it than we are we're definitely uh

just co-hosts yeah just just Co

so uh we appreciate you guys for uh for joining us all the time if you have any questions reach out um if you like the

content you know give us a like a subscribe share please um if you don't like us

still give us a like subscribe share share with everybody else and tell everybody hey look at this I don't like

yeah share it with everyone be like never listen to these guyss for me please everybody these guys have no idea

what they're talking about I mean sometimes maybe we don't

but they don't know yet so share it so uh we'll see you guys uh next week

and we appreciate everything you guys uh do for the for the show and we can't

wait to to keep on going if there's anything you guys want to talk about or know about or bring up I know that

there's a a link or an email address uh that you guys can use to contact right

there the aut forward progress gmail.com go ahead and use that I mean we always

want to know what subjects are on your mind what are you guys experiencing right now um

you know that's goes across the the US not just here in Michigan we want to

know what is going on in the flooring [Music]

world and until next time see you

The Huddle - Episode 105 - The Benefits of Specializing in Niche Flooring Markets

In this episode, with special guest Dwayne Pruitt from Pruitt Flooring (https://pruitt-flooring.com), we explore how focusing your skills on a specific niche can significantly benefit your flooring career. Specialization allows you to become an expert in a particular area, setting you apart from competitors and increasing your value to customers seeking specialized knowledge and expertise. This episode discusses the advantages of niching down, such as higher demand, the ability to command better pricing, and greater customer satisfaction. Tune in to discover how targeting a niche market can enhance your reputation and business growth.

The Huddle was created by Paul Stuart of Stuart & Associates and Go Carrera, alongside Jose and Daniel Gonzalez from Preferred Flooring. Aimed at helping you maintain forward progress in your flooring career, they cover topics from personal and business growth, to installation tips & tricks and everything in-between.

Want to be a guest on The Huddle? Email thehuddleforwardprogress@gmail.com today!

Create your FREE Installer profile at https://gocarrera.com and become part of the future of the industry TODAY!
GET TRAINED! Find a list of training dates here: https://gocarrera.com/resources/training/
https://www.preferredflooringmi.com
https://www.stuartandassociates.com

what's up team welcome to the Huddle we're your weekly Playbook where we not only strategize on playing the game but

changing it from mastering the fundamentals of the craft to distinguishing ourselves in the marketplace we're here to give the

installer a voice and ensure you're equipped with everything you need let's band together and Forge a new Legacy in

flooring this is where you belong welcome to the team what's up fellas what's going on welcome to the team

hello with me as always Mr Daniel and Jose Gonzalez of preferred floring and

Grand Rapids Michigan and we got a special guest here in studio today Mr

Dwayne puit often talked about now you can see Mr D

Wayne D Wayne good to be here today's topic we're be talking about Niche and

down in in uh a flooring discipline that uh and what the benefits of that

are um and mostly the benefits of doing that as a young installer or or new to

the industry uh kind of how to approach the flooring business uh oftentimes

we've seen guys go into the flooring business and flooring has a lot of it's

it's like going to school there's a lot of subjects and there's really four main disciplines but there's there's even

more than this you got a you you got carpet resilient which even in resilient

you got multiples what's up Jorge um we got hardwood ceramic towel

but you really you got epoxy floring you got you know polished concrete polish concrete you got all kinds of stuff I

mean in resilient you got vinyl base and M Works base and all these other uh

disciplines uh within them uh we call them subdisciplines at go Carrera but the point is I've seen too many guys try

to take on uh new people to the industry try to take on a white swath of flooring

and each one have their own intricacies and and details and so what I implore

you to do is pick one drive deep get good and then go wide and we we have

some some uh subject matter in that um

Arena I mean Daniel and Jose we have puit on here who

uh did the same thing I myself was a resilient and sheet vinyl guy more

than anything uh but Daniel Jose you guys jumped into it and and are well

known if I was to say what do you known for it's your sheet vinyl and it's our sheing skills and your resilient work

right yep I would have to agree and the benefit of doing

that I know you guys do more you do all almost all flooring now so what was the

benefit of going that direction uh I think the the benefit just started when we when we were told

that there wasn't very many people around that did it and did it well and so the benefit came to trying to get a

skill set so that way we can start trying to to say that's what we specialize in right so the benefit was

so we can get more of that work and we worked for other companies at the time um so I guess Technic it made us more

valuable to those companies um which in turn made that skill set valuable to us

when when we went on our own yeah and you you do end up Dwayne is

known for wearing flashy jeans from the Buckle he is you need to quit looking at

my pants he stares at your butt Dwayne that's why he

knows but the truth is is that um you guys got known for it too I mean it's

it's it's also one of those deals where you can you get sought after for doing

that particular thing when you're known for doing that thing and when you get

really really good and you drill down on it and you're not doing you know some ceramic here a little bit of carpet

there some lvt there and like this wide SWAT it's almost like how handyman

approached the flooring industry what I implore you is that Prof professionals approach it to get really good at one of

the disciplines and then start to apply the knowledge from this one because they're certainly

crossover from resilient to carpet or carpet to resilient and um or tile and

hardwood guys a lot of times you'll see those two trades cross over or really good resilient guys doing hardwood or

vice versa but get really good at something uh Jorge is on with us as

usual and you know he's very specific in what he does and he's done very well and

he's known for what he does so I wanted to ask you Dwayne um first off tell us a

little bit about you I know you're pretty well known in the industry everybody loves you but we'd like to

know a little bit about how did you get started and what was you what did you

drive deep on so when I started out you know as 19 years old first generation

just looking for a job out of high school and they hired me uh from the church said hey you want to learn how to

lay carpet and turns out he laid carpet he did vinyl he did it all and and

honestly I hated the days we did ceramic any it just did not speak to me

I mean I did it it was my job but you know the hands cracked out dried out I

just you know the ceramic never spoke to me and I just always look forward to the days that I knew we were laying carpet I

like how he said that the ceramic never spoke to me it just didn't I I just hated it I

dreaded the days that we were doing some sort of piew work you know obviously lvp and laminate at that time 1988 wasn't

popular but the sheet vinyl was there we did it a little bit not a whole lot I

knew it was tough to deal with had to be a lot more careful I'm I'm not known for a real careful guy but you a lot it's a

lot easier to put a patch in carpet than it is some sheet V I'll tell you that much absolutely and I just you know now

looking into the carpet and different fabrics and everything we have now it still just speaks to me and and I think

Paul would attest in this area I'm known as one of the best carpet guys you're

that that's the point that's one of the reasons I wanted you on today is the fact that when when we were I've known

you for probably 15 or going on 20 years um when we would have a big carpet job

that at a hotel with a Hospitality piece or a wool piece or we always called you

we it was always like let's get PR on this you know and you'd give me [ __ ] because we wouldn't give you the easy

carpet telet his reputation his reputation even

brought him over here to Kazoo to do a theater right like yeah and he didn't even call us to come say hi or

anything he did call he actually came to my kid oh he didn't call me though he came

to my kids ball game that day come on now that's right had to borrow a couple tools there that we needed but and

that's absolutely true you know it I fell into the carpet part and and I it

just spoke to me a little more and then when I kind of started going on my own and I was only 19 years old I think 20

and I got the opportunity to go a guy I was working for George ju Lan of carpet

4 I was working on my 1988 Monte Carlo and they deliver

carpet but he said hey there's these guys that are have a different way of seing up carpet and would you like to go

to the seminar I was like absolutely let's go learn something and honestly I went cocky as could be as most

installers and uh the guys walked in one of them looked like Mario and I was like

who is that like from Mario Brothers Mario Brothers Ed BR he's not he's not

oh that's that's a Luigi I was gonna say he's not a plumber well Mario's a

plumber so anyway but uh and next thing you know a guy named Jim Walker walked in you know wearing his three-piece suit

at that time and this was this has got to be 8990 was really early on and we

you know just like everybody else I learned using a straight edge and cut all my seams and these guys showed me a

row finder and a row cutter the first time and it just blew me away and I sat there I mean at launch I bugged them

after class I kept playing with it they kept let me use it went bought one and it turned out no

matter where I went and I moved around quite a bit back then everywhere from Vegas to Missouri Arkansas Kansas no

matter where I went using that rinder and rad cutter made me the best in the

area wow and it wouldn't take long before I was that first installer that

they would call on especially for the hard stuff and that just you know transpired just just learn how to run a

row and how to run a row and and because nobody was doing it and that was a big Niche for me to no matter where I

went it provided opportunities well it certainly allowed

you to to uh get get the commercial work

because you can't there's not a lot of commercial that you could straight edge so I I started out in carpet but fell in

love uh it spoke to me sheet vinyl I like the fact I liked

kind of like what you you said Jose that there was not a lot of people that did it that's what I actually liked about it

was like there was just very few people a lot of guys will try carpet you know

what I'm saying there's just guys are scared to try sheet vinyl you know what

I mean like if a she vinyl job comes up even around even today if you're not trained in it the guys are like well I

don't really do sheep VY if it's carpet they're like yeah I'll

it's because it's one of those things that they know if if they don't do it right something's they're they're GNA be

paying for something yeah you can't stick a patch in because you you or or

you know once you ruin a sheet good product

it's ruined oh you ruin that 30 foot cut guess what you need another 30 foot cut

and you better figure out where that yeah I love that that I love the pressure of it and I love the fact there

was very few people that would do it and back then it didn't it paid well

compared to the other floorings but it got it's one of the highest paying like

the biggest increases if you look back 10 years to now the increases and and

payout is the the greatest one is she vinyl it is and because more and more

people less and less people are getting trained in it more and more people are

um you know do want to just they learn lvt or

lvp and they say they're a resilient guy and but they won't touch shivon you know

they'll do the LV just like so many people will do lvp or lvt or carpti and

that's the bulk of the industry and commercial but they won't touch the sheet bottle and so it's still one of

those deals where it's it's a it's a I would say still a very uh nice niche to

be in and I love doing it when I did it um the the beauty of being done with the

sheep on a floor it's hard to match but you probably got the same thing out of a a pattern match Casino carpet because

you did a casino for me oh I love that stuff we do a lot of casinos stuff matching that pattern uh even

residentially matching those patterns I just posted here recently a a plaid job we did where we matched the pattern

going up the stairs to the floor that that stuff is where where it's at for me you know um sorry that vinyl's still

hard and ugly so not a big fan of you got that bead going every six foot across it it just still doesn't speak to

me but you know got start somewhere though right pretty soon before you know it you'll be able to do she Vino bro you

gotta give you know what I I still know some good buddies that uh some of Pao guys I call them to to have them go do

it for me so yeah yeah it's not that we run from it but I definitely don't search it

out yeah that's what we started was the carpet too so like I will add to that is

um what you had said about resilient about sheet vinyl Paul is the one shot and what Daniel said the one time you

get one shot you know we're we're pretty competitive so we like that idea like

oh testing me you're testing me I'm testing myself and that's the same thing that let us that's what led us to that

is the the high-end commercial pattern match and all the custom work and it was like what is next right like we do this

fairly well what is next and that was next on the agenda um and it actually made us better carpet installers because

of the fine details uh but that's Daniel took the the resilient part and ran with

it yeah he did and the baby sister did too yeah and then when Jeremy says uh a

little bit ago the floor prep Kings that's where you get that's what what you have to be when you're dealing with

res resilient too it's like a lot of people don't realize that the the reason

why we price resilient or sheep vinyl in particular way we do is

because four days I'm prepping one day I'm installing like it it's crazy the

amount of of prep work that goes into something like that because you'll be able to see every little thing

underneath there most of your commercial vinyls are 080 gauged yep yeah what yeah

it's like it's very can't hide anything he you can't drop a eyelash under it bro

drop a eyelash you'll see it speaking to the floor prep you know you're 100% read on that and a few years ago you know CFI

decided to come out with the book and come out with the class and they said which one of you know who all wants to

be involved in this and I jumped at it and I was incredibly selfish for the reasons why I jumped at it is I wanted

to learn what I didn't know and wow I found out how much I didn't know really

quick so you know that's another Niche you can get into is just floor prep just floor prep but the issue with that

though is is that the guys like us that are will be like well I don't know what

they did so how am I supposed to warranty my stuff on that yeah yeah absolutely yeah it's tough I mean you

can uh especially if you get into big poor projects where you're you're

pouring uh you know big big sherox pores or big yeah latr pores pumping that kind

of stuff those guys are very specialized they got pumps like some of those are huge I'm not talking B where somebody

like you are coming in to install it I'm getting calls to where this thing's two and a half inches out would you please

come up to Northern Kansas and and and level this out for us and and we can do that now and then it also leads to a to

another either tow lvp or or different job but it was really nice to learn

through that that certification that I did with CFI that wow I'm doing it right now you know

before then it was you know whatever we had in the truck we threw it in a bucket and we mixed it up yeah mixing it with a

tri it wasn't that creating the the volcano on the floor and mixing it that

way yes I've been there done that we've seen plenty of guys do the volcano

mixing method and uh if you're if you're patching a single uh nail hole that

might work but when you're prepping an actual floor that that goes across discipline

so I'm glad you brought that up you got the you know you went and got particular training through CFI I remember when um

I sent guys to you to get trained and see CFI trained for I think it was R1

and C1 what a what a uh difference they came out with they had that same thing that

you were talking about they had this attitude when they walked in like they were it was you know like they you

couldn't teach them they were good installers I mean the McDaniel boys are good installers great guys too I like

those guys awesome dudes and Dennis and those guys went there but when they left

they came out and they were like I had no idea yeah and I've said that on this

podcast a hundred times if I've said it once but just watching guys go in that

think they know something and you probably do you know enough to get it on the floor but I I think for our

profession to be Advanced we have to con care about

the longterm the person the customer the client that's have to walk on that floor long term if you care about them you

need to be doing it to last 10 or 15 years not look good for your warranty

warranty period one year like you want to care about the customers La who's

going to be on that floor long term um I preach that at our company I preach that

to our installers that you got to care about the end user who's going to be using that floor for years and years and

years right anding them when you look into even you know more specialized

training like through the manufacturers um I'm tarat Sports certified so I automatically have to

pass on a two-year warranty right off the bat like it's in the paperwork so

the the the gc's might only require that one year still but myself I'm I have to

extend that another year just because I'm certified and and through

affiliations too is they they back you on on the warranty right like they they are they do that because now you have

that knowledge base you have that skill set to comfortably offer that as long as

all all the all the ducts have were in a row and everything was set and laid down properly um as your knowledge and your

skill set uh and what you've learned and your education tells you how to do it um

teaches you how to be a a better installer it also teaches you how to be

more assertive for the requirements needed for that specific Niche that you

have you know one of the things I've I've learned most through Mo most of the trainings I've been through is process

and efficiency learn that that you don't that's why we are always promoting

training whether if you're going to get into carpet and resilient and get get CFI certified or go aft and get get with

those guys and get certified or get trained at the very

least understand what you're doing and get trained in what you're doing um the

the key to me is that you will learn

um we you will learn that the the efficiencies that you uh that

you get out of those trainings will make you more money it it always does every guy that I've talked to that goes

through training of some sort or they get certified in a certain flooring or what have you they they always come out

with I wish I'd have known this 10 years ago or whatever the time frame so if you're new and you've been flirting with

flooring a little bit uh I implore you to get Factory trained or industry

trained in the in the uh business and you'll you'll pick up efficiencies and

you'll pick up skill sets going to make more money and and let you let you be like way or these guys as as a CFI

trainer and now an AF trainer every trainning we go to everybody comes I I wouldn't say everybody but the majority

of guys come in cocky is can all be and they it always starts out that way

there's always a small chip as Jeremy just said and I was Jeremy and Jose's

trainer when see if I started fighting I wasn't cocky though that was back

Jeremy was cocky enough for both of you sure was you know what you walked away learning something I can tell he

learned it and that attitude change and as we're doing those certifications those attitudes always change which that

should speak to all the installers out there just because you think you may know it all and you've been doing it a

certain way for 30 years doesn't mean times haven't changed and and I implore all installers get out there get some

sort of certification I especially if you're going to be doing a commercial know that uh cfi's got like their

commercial um uh carpet trainings the the reason I say that is commercial you

need to understand the adhesives your trial notches how much glue your your

your um putting down supposed to be putting down I remember when I first

started man we would take a a a a tri and literally the saw we wouldn't even

use the Lacher we just used the um the the saw you B it's

hacksaw it's it's a hacksaw with a round blade on it the chainsaw that's a chainsaw sharpener it it was a round

blade I for a chainsaw blade sharpener you notches in everything that's

actually a good idea in a pinch well I mean you have trial but the the better

way is to make sure you got the proper trial and understand why you need V Notch why you need U Notch why you may

need these different types of notches it comes even more in handy if you get or

important I should say if you get into the ceramic tile side of things you get in the ceramic tile side of things and

understanding why you need Square V Moon uh there are certain notches for your gauge porcelain panels back buttering

all this stuff the this is all the knowledge you get from going through like for ceramic to B ctef and going

through and getting CTI Sur certified so proper

equipment is one of the main things that you'll also get out of training and

understanding that um you know like I just said not

not using a a raila to to cut you notches in your trials uh having the

proper equipment and understanding your site conditions all of these things that

go in with commercial work really understanding your moisture readings of your concrete these are this is what it

takes to be a flooring professional and and I should mention that one of our sponsors is floor cloud and you want to

talk about a awesome way to know your site conditions you should have floor

Cloud if you're an installer I I know that in one of the previous episodes it was asked would this work in residential

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site conditions and Flor Cloud you know I know that that you guys use it we

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we'll even play you a little video if one of the uh huge backup people can do that

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your time driving 30 minutes just to find out that the HVAC is not on so plug

for floor Cloud absolutely and just just to add to that we've got one set up in the school here in witto everybody on

here and probably watching knows how technology challenge I am easiest system

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is the temperature and everything right there in the school and I can so simply take okay uh you know scan the QR code

on the front of the sensor and it you set it up right from there it Le it's

like a wizard it just walks you right through setting it up and then put your sensor on on a um a you know a wall

somewhere and it uses cellular so you don't even have to have a Wi-Fi connection or anything like that so you

don't need some Wi-Fi pod if you ain't using floor Cloud uh you should look into them Flor cloud.com

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Cloud now you know well there you go we can let the video speak for itself all right so

um as we're talking about nich and down in flooring there's a a couple of things

there's some trainings going on um the

uh there's trainings going on here in Witchita that you can attend

um and I want to spend some time talking about the uh the competition coming up

because you want to talk about Niche some of these got this is all about Niche so there's going to be some some

trainings coming up here in Witchita that aft puts on um that is some carpet

seaming courses I believe it's in July go to uh their website and you can check

it out more oh it's coming up pretty quick coming up pretty quick

11 yep and we are fully

100% um down with trainings uh

period so kick up the um kick up the the

uh ins comp coming up

yeah so this is something really cool uh the installer of the Year competition at

Ty this is in um Las Vegas uh every year

it's in January and this is the result of guys Niche and down they this this

competition is no joke I'm gonna have Dwayne talk about a little bit he's been involved with it over the years and he's

got a one of his installers that went through it and competed um baby sister

competed I say baby sister it's

Crystal so uh it's okay man it's okay she everybody knows who you're talking

about yeah but Pro can you tell us a little bit about your experience and Zach and some

of the benefits and beauty that I mean I I've been to those competitions every

year and there's something pretty damn special to be involved with man it's a

great thing and just for my perspective of it um was a deal where I'm gonna go

on just a little bit on this cut me off if I need to but how it worked out for us was you know I was going out there

working with CFI set it's a ton of work to set up that stuff out there in Vegas

and so uh myself Jonathan Ven and uh they would always see if IID say hey

bring a couple of your guys out to help us get this stuff done so we went out there and we're working we're setting up

the competition Zach was with us and we had a this the first year I think baby sister um or Crystal ended up competing

as well and we had to set up all these boots well a couple of people dropped out and so they didn't want a couple

empty boots and so they like you know first Robert's like well Dwayne Jonathan you're gonna have to compete and I can't

repeat what Jonathan said but I said Mr ven I don't think I'm ready for that I'm

Rusty you know I can't I can't really step up and do that right now because I don't install every day anymore and you

know it's kind of if you don't use it every day you lose a little bit bit of it so anyway that said um he looked over

at Zach and said you want to do it and by the way Zach had just put in probably 40 45 hours in about four days three

days I don't you guys are insane you know what I'll do it and he jumped up

you know said he said he was willing and um went in and he competed and he and he did very well he had none of his own

tools nothing we borrowed stuff from Here There and Everywhere just to get it done I'll never forget you know I asked

him that first night I like man how you doing you know you doing all right with this he goes and his answer was just

awesome it's just another another day of work boss same crap you always taught us

and that's all it was it was just that easy to him it wasn't until later I realized that all the trainings and

everything I've done and all the teaching I've done on these guys because Zach's been with me since he was 17

18 and it was just those trainings that was able to let him compete on a level

like that yeah and that was just trainings that I've passed down let alone trainings

that he's gotten that I provided to him so that all said he competed he did well

and now he's hooked and I don't think he's gonna quit until he wins it he do you do you know what place he

took almost second the last two three years so he's he's so close dude he's so

close like he's always on track and it's always I'm always watching and then there's always like that you know these installers have to adjust on a fly right

and if it's one thing that throws you off it could mess you up and yeah if you like to

compete like if we're competitive dudes oh and we all have the ego like we are I

should just say installers because Crystal's competitive as hell uh if

you're a competitive installer you should try you don't you don't like there's you you go to a

regional and you qualify for the event uh that's pretty much how runs today so

get get involved get trained get with the uh you know training entities and

and engage with them get to conference CFI uh fcic fcica sorry up in October I

believe it is we'll be there come see us uh go carrer have a booth at that um

come check us out we can help you uh get in touch with the uh people to uh

compete in January even if there's if there's any uh regionals left by that

time but the point is man getting involved is what I read from Dwayne from

you guys I think I think there's a lot of guys or a lot of people that are

apprehensive about doing it right because they they're like yeah I'm good but I don't know if I'm that good but I

was I was that way baby sister was that way and it's like tell us a little bit about that Journey with with Crystal so

I actually kind of pushed her into it right because she she she really is like

and I we it's kind of like imposture syndrome right where you get to a certain level and

then people start becoming like your fans like all right they know her and

all this right and it's she's like I don't understand why people like me so much and it's like you don't have to

understand you just have to roll with it so it's kind of like it yeah and I and I told her I said I'm just we're just I'm

going to sign you up and you're going to do it and whatever happens happens like I know how good you are we trained you

so I know you're going to do things the right way she said no a lot guys like

she said no for months like because then we had a year off because of Co a year

off because of Co so she said no like I'm not doing it uh yes you are I'm not doing it yes you are you you know

something on this you know this whole thing is about Niche you know go into the niche that you've done you all are

installers you're all cocky as can be we all are it's your Niche go into what you know and don't go into it as I gotta

prove myself I'm not failure if for loose go in they're ready to learn something new yeah see where you're at

put yourself up against the best yeah and it was like that when when I was doing it too right you're looking at the other booth and you're like that looks

way better than mine I'm gonna ask him how he did that and I did Roy Lewis Roy Lewis says it the best when he says iron

sharpens iron yeah it's G to make you better when you go against the best and

and that's really what you're going to get out of it there's prizes there's all that and there's ego trip but you're going to come out a better installing a

better person for train for and talking to you know even Zach when he was in

there too it was the same way he was like man this you know this person's stuff looks so much better and they did

it this way and I did it that way and I probably should have did it you know a totally different way than either of us

did it to make it right but it's like man what's done is done already you only got a certain amount of time in there

and you just have to start moving on thousand of those conversations I promise you yeah well you run with the

best you know like you said you you learn and then once you learn you come

back the next year a little bit better and then next year a little bit better um and Jimmy says he wants the belt

get's gonna compete this year or next year rather Jimmy you gonna

compete to to quote to Kevin don't talk about it be about it

yeah baby don't talk about it be about

why is so bad go get it so here's the deal um again we say it every week uh I

sound like a broken record but I enjoy uh sounding that way I reckon is is get

involved in the industry get to the conferences get to cfi's Convention

coming up with uh joint with FCC in October get to Ty get in the competition

get around people we'll be there um are you going to Ty do you think you'll be

there there's a great possibility it'd be awesome to see you go uh I know you've been a staple there so I hope you

go um I'll see you there Dwayne I hope you I really do I'm rooming with you

Jose okay I got plenty of space so guys what as we wind down here

my my biggest message is always like if we if we Niche down you get really good into something then you can broaden your

horizons and it does play into the other disciplines really well I've seen that

work hundreds of times for good installers um what is

do you have the same opinion do you have an alternate opinion about that no we're

I'm I have I'm opinionated about everything right but I think that uh if I asked if you if you have a niche and

you want to learn something right and I'm not GNA say like carpati or just a standard like a square format LV lvp or

lvt or VCT or something like that right find something that is harder than the

standard to do get good at that and then what it's going to do it's going to shed the light on a lot of the other things a

lot of the other disciplines it's going to help educate you on that as well other the the ones that are already

fairly simple to do are going to become no-brainers right like now you have a niche you're specializing in something

that separates you from the crowd they get you requested right like it gets you requested but now you still have all the

other ones that you already know how to do to fall back on but now you're going to be more efficient proficient you're going to understand the science behind

it a little bit more and I wrote down that note I put a there is a certain path to being better

at more types of flooring and it's specializing in one first and then branching off from that um yes and I

will say no matter how good we got at uh at resilient when we went back and took

our first subfloor uh substrate certification class we realized that we might have learned how to do things out

of order uh and just like oh ding ding ding the light goes off you're like

that's why this failed that's why that don't work that's why this works like that it's just like dang that's one

course or one one thing I think everybody should go through a training or a certification or or whatever at

least a training and in in that subfloor prep it's Paramount and important on all

flooring and the more particular flooring you get into the more particular it gets so yeah we all know

carpet's a little bit more forgiving on the floor prep from a visual standpoint but proper installation of it it's

really not right so install it properly Jose is on point with specialty install

H specialty skill Amen to to speak to that and Jose is completely right and

your as well get find that first thing that you're good at what speaks to you

what you enjoy doing hone in on that get really good at that we we've done that

at Pro floring we've done that and it's opened up so many other doors to the floor prep to demo to you just did a

waterproofing deal we we just did a waterproofing deal I was scared to death to do 3,000 feet of waterproofing I

would have never taken out if you're going to take on something new get that training team up with the people that

can do it I I tell all my customers you know you you called me because you know I'm really good at carpet you want me to

do this lvp you want me to do this hardwood I'm G to tell you I'm going to get some subs that way better at it than I am don't expect out of me what I do

for you for carpet to do the same for hardwood C and I tell the rely on some

other people for that I tell our clients the same thing right when I go on some of these pre-bid walks and and stuff

like that and I'm like they're like you guys do this right and I said look we're really good at what we do and I find

other people that are really good at what they do and those are who I bring in I'm not just gonna you know bring in

anyone and they're like good I said that's probably what you're running into a lot right now because they just bid

bid bid bid bid and then can't find anyone here I'm just going to give it to anyone said we don't operate that way so

that's why a lot of times you know I'll pass on a bid when I don't have that solid person there for me already yeah

well and if you you can be that the the point here is to the audience is you can

be that person you can get the that gets the call from the flooring company that

does you know we all know it most of us sub out all of our work if not a lot of

it uh we probably are 70% we have in-house employee hourly installers as

well and I know you guys do is up there in Michigan but Across the Nation most of the flooring's installed by Subs

Dwayne's been a sub for me for you know going on 20 years as we spoke he's done

like the awesome carpet work that we've been proud to team up with him on the the the

point is I wouldn't I wasn't confident in doing it my my guys weren't confident

in doing it so we got the specialty guide to do it so that's you can be in that position that's the whole point

well and a big thing too on that yeah if you got that Niche and you're that specialty guy you get those phone calls

and let's face it not everything goes 100% perfect right yeah I'll never forget the guy that taught me that we

want every job to go great but when there's a problem that's when you really shine so you're going to get those other

calls I get those calls for the lvp the I get calls for heat Weld and I've called you Jose come to Kansas I still

get those calls not just because I'm a great carpet guy but they know I'm gonna stand behind whatever it is I do it's

because of your reputation know you'll take care of them absolutely that Niche will build your

reputation yeah and you're not going to run and hide when there's a problem I like that the it build your reputation

it will and and it's all encompassing too right it's not just it's not just one type of flooring when you build a

reputation like that it's all encompassing right they know that you're the best they might not know what you're really good at but they know that your

name is is their partnered up next to you know great installer great at what

they do and and that's that's the benefit of of getting a niche you do get you do get

the give at carpet but he's only going to warranty is carpet he's going to say the heck with you if something goes bad

on an lvp they know I'm still going to be there because now we're talking about character that Niche has built my

character y all right guys so we have uh beat the

niche out of this conversation and uh but I do think it's

it's valuable if you're getting into floring a lot of these our podcasts are meant to reach out to new upcoming young

installers who want to be in this industry maybe want to talk to some old dudes that have done it some wrong ways

and figured out some right ways and and hire people now and we figured out what

works and whether it's Stewart and Associates or go Carrera over the time I

can want this would hurt a lot of guy anytime I say it on like one of the um

flooring groups you get a bunch of uh butt hurt people people when I say I

would bet on a floring installer that's certified or highly trained every single

time I have hired in tile installers carpet installers all over this nation

and the ones that are certified or highly trained and it shows through on their Hammer rating I've always had a a

much higher likelihood like way higher likelihood for it to turn out right oh

yeah boy so thanks everybody for joining us today if you're not on go career get on

go career and um I appreciate your guys' input I I I love how you guys built your

business uh I still love how you guys are curious and trying to always get

better well that's same with me that's what you got to do and that's that's what we did right we we kind of

hyperfocused on one thing and then in a couple weeks we'll actually be talking about expanding your service right

because it's it's great to focus but you also have to have those things to fill in you certainly want to expand I just

don't want you to come out like a shotgun come out like a rifle and then and then and then you know spread your

wings and um like we've said this whole thing you're going to build a great

reputation a good good relationships with people who you work for and

ultimately it ends in a better uh better scenario and more money for you so all

right guys well thank you for joining it's been a great episode um I love DNE

thanks for being on video because we know how much you love it yeah I've always said I got a face for radio and a

voice for not radio well I appreciate you coming on I

I uh I I love your path and how you built built uh Pro flooring up and you

know anytime we have work this is your guy for carpet if you're in the midwest

I'm telling you uh reach out to him and and uh like you said he now offers and

has for several years offered more services than just that so if you're in MA Michigan you reach out to these guys

if you're in canas you reach out to me and PR and we'll take care of you outside that guys thank you for the

episode it's been awesome we'll catch you next week see