This week the guys break down their experiences from TISE 2024, from new developments in the industry, to seeing some old faces and meeting new ones.

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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.

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are we live what's up huddle crew what's

Up's all right guys very excited to see so we're gonna be uh yeah yeah I gotta

flirt with the uh with the new intro but um thanks for joining us today we're

going to come out of the gate with asking you to uh give us a like And subscribe wherever you're watching this

and um you know join us in the comments give us some some feedback today we're

going to be talking about Ty uh every time we we uh go to Ty you

know there's an episode before an episode after and you we we like to kind of build it up and then and then break

it down so Ty was freaking pretty awesome this year uh me and me and the

crew got got some uh extra special media passes so we were we were able to get

around and do our podcast multiple times I hope you guys enjoyed the overtimes uh that was extremely fun I

enjoyed this a t a ton and um it's why we do it every single week and so you

know last week I don't know how many hours we were on screen but it was a blast so a lot we were on screen a

lot on screen we were walking somewhere to be on screen it's like hey Daniel when are we going live oh right now now

okay now okay so guys what's uh you guys got back

okay acclimated back into life what's uh what's your biggest what's your biggest

takeaway from from the uh show co co I knew it our boy came back with

the old vid I got the co yeah he I'm pretty sure I got it from the yeah I'm

pretty sure I got it from the person that was sitting behind me on the plane because they were hacking up

and then and then me as a big brother I jinxed them I'm like yeah Daniel's gonna get sick they're just

like dang that ain't nice I know but I said it to only the

people I was sitting by I didn't really think it was gonna happen but it did and there you go you

jiny so what did you guys think of the um of the show

overall so uh very bus busier didn't it didn't seem like there was a hell of a

more people there there that was um that was a thing I I I feel like there was

more the installer base was larger than than normal um but I also feel like

there were there were more um Distributors there there were more there was just a lot more to see a lot more to

they were wall to wall this time that was crazy they didn't have any any of the areas uh sectioned off or anything

so they're back to full capacity yeah that was aive got our steps in that's for sure

yeah oh my goodness 100% oh my I don't even know how many steps how many steps there was from one

side of the other but I know that we were on opposite sides every

time so has warming up his food while he's watching my man Jorge so hey that

you know speaking of that the installation um awareness part of the

show was what kind of stood out to me there was freaking uh way more speakers on on the install

side of things um at wo made it back it was it was I made it down there too I

didn't get to catch up with him I brought him some uh some apparel for the next day but we got so busy it was so

hard for me to to to make time just to catch up yeah so the the installer uh the

installation kind of theme was was um more prevalent there was a lot of you

know speakers and speeches um and sessions about the

installation uh in various different ways about installation in general in

various different ways um one thing in particular that kept coming up was the

valuing of your labor uh I did a my talk was on that and then we witnessed uh one

of the panels was like very similar themed and then so you know having that

type of awareness if you're watching and you're an installer I think it it should show you that our largest show is

starting to kind of put some eyes on this um not just on the issues but also

on the awareness of how important it is to value your labor uh we got to have a

fun time with Paul trener says it's uh three4 of

a mile in the end well I walked that about four times so oh man

we were running back and forth stage yeah we go to the insulation competition oh we have to go back over here to do

this uh live thing in like 20 minutes let's walk all the way back yeah yeah

you know what next year though we're uh someone should just bring a whole box of helies and just sell helies there for

people who have to go back and forth yeah yeah it's definitely Mario says his legs

hurt he was a blast too that's the first time that I've gotten to talk to to Mario and that's one of the benefits we

always talk about on the show here is getting out there and getting to meet new people and getting to hang out with

your friends um I know Mario over social uh but I never really got to spend any

personal time with him and that was really cool he's a good dude if you've seen his work on um online you know he

does great you know great install and uh he talked about the importance of

getting certified and that was the other thing that I noticed was yeah how many installers that are certified you know

and a lot of them were not certified for a long time and then they got certified and they had these aha moments about how

much stuff they had been doing wrong and I think that that was part of the takeaway too and like you said about

that panel right it wasn't the talk wasn't supposed to be geared towards dollars and cents but

more towards the value of training and certification which also equates to

potentially more dollars and cents depending on how you uh you Market yourself and and and what you do and um

I think that that's where that panel kind of went off into left field a little bit but um it it does all boil

down to the same thing you got to have a way to it doesn't matter if you're on go Carrera

or if you're out on your own you're not on go Carrera the truth is is you know certifications matter that's what helps

with raising your Hammer rating uh it's also you know if if you can utilize your

CFI card to show you're a certified installer those types of things um you

know a lot of installers were talking about how they use those and leverage those things for those those assets uh

for you know better work uh higher paying jobs all this kind of stuff but

what comes out most is the pride you know the pride of knowing you're doing it the right way um one of I've said

this several times on the Huddle but one of the biggest things when we did a survey of installers and asked

non-certified guys why are you not certified the number one answer was we don't know how and the number two answer

was why would I get I already know we we had you know we had how many many guys

uh on stage talking about they had that same attitude and then they figured out

when they finally decided whether it was through a local chapter of CFI or one of

their buddies um you know uh convinced them to to to get involved and get

certified whatever but once they did they realized how much stuff they really didn't know that is a common theme we've

had guys at our company that we sent through certification that had the same thing that we helped go through

certification and they thought they knew everything you know it's they'd been doing it for 15 20 years and then they

go to a class and they're like they get you know a couple of certifications and they realize like damn I've been doing

certain things wrong this whole time and I it's a common thing I always hear it so I'll shut down anybody who says well

I'm I'm so good I don't need certification yeah well I've I've got too much proof from other guys that said

the same thing as you that have same for us they they changed

their tone once they got certified yeah I don't think we acted like we knew everything or said we knew everything I

knew that we knew quite a bit but there you still learn way more and it just

like oh w we were doing it like what yeah we've been doing it wrong but even uh if you look at when when that panel

you were talking about when Jesus was up there he openly admitted that he was

installing for 20 years the wrong way and he was like he got trained and he was just like I've

been doing it the wrong way this whole time and uh that's humility man that's

that goes a long way especially when when when you're willing to sit up there

in front of you know your peers like that and say I thought I knew until I found out I

didn't know well it's hard to deny it once you kind of come across it so I'm just it's the same thing my same Ploy

every week it just came through uh I should say our same employ every week is

go get certified find get involved with the different uh training entities and

go get certified uh we got some screenshots of this is one of the panels with Jorge and

and Jesus and Dave Garden John N J Jen zern that empty seat right there

that empty seat right there Dave really played into that one he was like and this empty seat right here is safe for

you yeah up here I think it's true you know you can get up there and and um but

I don't think many installers care about that it's usually about like what can I do how does this improve my my uh plot

in Life or how does it improve my my status or how does it improve my family

and all those guys talked about that you know I think Jen and um John Namba Jen

zern and John Namba did the kind of brought that out the best is

like it's more than just like we're John said it straight up we're here to make

money and that is what we're here to do I'm not in business to not make money folks right the flooring company you

work for is there to make money uh the installer that's working for you if you're a flooring contractor is there to

make money everybody needs to respect that and understand the best way you can do that is by being highly ra

now however you want to break that up whether it's on go career or whether it's like you know being highly

certified or highly rated on Google whatever the the the better reputation

the better skill you have those two things are the biggest uh you know

that's going to be the biggest driver of how much money you can can create for yourself and for your family so it gives

you it gives you Firepower for negotiations right like if you set yourself a part and and there's just it

just gives you that Firepower um it it creates uh I don't want to say a

persona but it it creates a a category that you can claim all your own um for

whatever for however many projects you have listed or if someone says oh that's a really difficult project you know the

only person I can think of that we can trust to do that it's going to be Mr Stewart you know Paul's goingon to be

the only one that we can trust I know that he's trained in and that that discipline I know that he's certified

and I know he's put in the work um and that's really what it does yeah so it was a pleasure to kind

of hear some of that another cool thing uh I noticed is the dang tile panels are

getting even bigger I think you know we I'm not they are slab I mean we we've

installed plenty of of you know 5 foot by 10 foot tiles but I seen eight by

12s o I didn't pull out a measuring tape but there was an 8 by 12 piece of

quarter inch gauged porcelain panel there so wow uh you know and the coffee

was good there Rollin at least in the media room it wasn't too bad we got to hang out with

Rollin too and go to a restaurant and uh yeah hey and I want to I'm sure we all

Echo this I want to give a special shout out to Rand for putting that dinner together thank you sir and and um

bringing all the installers together it was a fun night we got to eat at what was that place called it's his

his if I can get this Robert herine um Public House public yeah in the Tropic

Daniel just told me that it was uh closing down too so that's that's a bummer I mean as good I'm glad I was

able to experience it before that happened but yeah that was uh it was excellent

but yeah thank you Roland for putting that together and bringing bringing all the different uh people together and all

the installers hanging out and breaking bread and having good talks and I know

that uh there's a lot of familiar faces there so it was cool to catch up I think there's probably 30 people there or more

or more probably more yeah I know I finally got to meet some people face to face this this go around

even though my time is limited but that it was funny sitting across and then you recognize the voice and I was like Matt

yeah there there it is that's one of the there's a few people missing there but

there was you know who I met uh the Solace what's what's their first name um

Tina and James yeah that I got to hang out with them a little bit that was a really those really nice people oh my

God awesome people yeah so that's why you go to convention is to hang out with some people get to know some other uh

installers at different places United States I feel like when you know people like me it was uh Tina and James they

weren't able to get tickets to the show Knox event and good thing broke down

because we started walking the other way and I said we already checked in just let's go and they just followed me right

up there so sorry Dynamite it's it's only two people I

promise don't get him Thomas Daniel was uh Daniel was selling

tickets by the elevator SC scalp and Skyfall tickets

that was another fun event we um we went to was uh the Skyfall event what a view

yeah I'm this view right here man it was crazy that is that's an actual picture

taken from a phone yeah that was awesome man that's amazing it was a it

was a blessing to be there hanging out got to chat with like I said Eduardo and

and uh what was the name again James Solace

yeah yep yeah yeah him and his wife they were they were great and by the way if you're watching uh chop wood and carry

water the book that they recommended I've I've read uh since since I met them

at Skyfall great book great book recommend it to everybody chop wood

carry water uh so anyway that's um that's kind

of some of the stuff that happened Ty we also uh walked around there was a lot of

um really great new faces from a manufacturer

standpoint as usual you'll see a ton of lvt uh carpet hardwood tile but there

was more lvt manufacturers than you can shake a stick

at there was so many manufacturers I've never even heard of before it was crazy crazy yeah yeah I felt the same way and

I I don't know I would encourage everybody to vet manufactures before you

start getting their stuff make sure you know know the product know the

dimensional stability of the product and selling but uh there was a lot of really

cool looking stuff I I don't know the quality of the uh or the stability of it

none of us want to install something and then go back and be able to stick nickels in between it but um there there

was certainly some really cool looking uh new products and we got our steps

like this right here I mean there's that flooring right there on the left and then you know the backpack on the

right yeah baby that was Danel about the whole trip

right there running around from one place to another yes sir and and everyone loved

the backpacks I got stopped plenty of times just to ask about him you know that the U the cheesiest thing the

cheesiest thing that that we did was uh we put uh the 360 camera on my mom's Cadillac that she was driving around

yeah Mom's in the background there it was cool to meet your mom and hang out with her she's sure proud of you guys

yeah thanks everybody for treating her like family that's that's uh that's fantastic just kind of with open arms I know that uh she's a hard person not to

like right away because she's just so out there but um she she she does she she did good man worried about how busy

it was going to be but she called that Amigo or whatever it was her

Cadillac running into people so do you guys have any um uh

interactions with anybody that uh that kind of um you know is

memorable any particular interactions I only got uh I've got a couple but um you

know those types I stopped by I was able to stop by prony and talk to them to them for a while and it's actually um I

like it because it's a installer you know it he was an installer he created

prony out of necessity and now they've become you know to the size that they are and it's actually his daughter is

taken over and she's going to be the the the person in charge pretty soon

here uh she said she doesn't know how soon because you know it's hard for any of us to let go of what we built but

yeah um from what she said that you know they've got a bunch of ideas on how to

bring new products to Market and and stuff like that so I'm I'm looking forward to what they got to

offer and you know I gave her an idea too right there like boom here's an idea walk away mic drop can't say it can't

say it out loud um I fin got to meet some of metri

Square team in person the people that are actually helping me out all the time um did you get to meet

Steve I met him a couple times already but uh the guy who's been working with

me personally uh Brian Brian D is that that his name yeah that's the guy like

it made eye contact and we both knew right away hey that's the one that always

complains who me yeah that's the guy that always calls and said how come you guys can't do this

yet well that's just in your nature there Jose like you know give up give up

some ideas for someone you want to run with it I know I know what am I gonna do with the ideas anyway so man got too

many of them yeah I had a uh you know just all

the different interactions with several manufacturers and the different associations uh but kind kind of what

stood out to me was was the over and it sounds redundant but over at the

installation um uh competition when I was over there and

chatting with uh different people and and got to meet um what does he go by

his name's William but we got to meet a five Hammer uh rated installer on go

Carrera and there they very few uh there's only three or four of several

thousand you're absolutely right I forgot about Jerry it goes by Jerry yeah

and I forget his last name but yeah I found him on Facebook already too and and what a small world dude like you're

right and I talked to him and then we found out that we actually worked for the same company you know different

times but holy smokes and then he's just saying some things I'm like well why

would people do that he's like that's what I say we were like say it was so weird it was surreal to to have a a

mindset that kind of matched yours and it was a little creepy yeah he was so humble dude that's what I noticed was

for he didn't want any of the recognition yeah anything like that he

was just such a humble guy but at the end of the day he's one out of just a

couple in the entire uh you know go Carrera base right now

that is uh five Hammers and I'm G see if I can he showed me some of his work too

because that's what I wanted to see I like one I don't know I just when you when you find out somebody is is good at

what they do from their peers I want to see their work and I want to ask them how they how they did that what is your

process right like make me better make me better just give me some

information let see if I could load that up and show you he's he was cool we

talked for a lot longer than um than I

anticipated let me see if I can pull up here it is see if I can pull up this

picture yeah see if I can share it now I'm not sure I don't share a ton

but let's see uh let's see if I

can no I'm not good enough I'll figure it out guys anyway that was a pretty

cool conversation because he was talking like you at the end of the day he he didn't care he just wanted to know

everything he could so he could do the best quality work he could possibly do and be sought after uh from a install

standpoint and he's a very successful dude and uh it was cool to get to know him a little

bit I felt bad because the conversation that I had with him kept him away from his wife and she was ready to go she's

very proud of what he's done uh which is cool I think that is um you know one of

the things I took from that for sure was he don't he he he doesn't like to boast

but man she is super proud of him and as she should be we're sending we'll be sending him some of our uh some of our

gear to see if he can uh maybe get some pictures and throw them up on social for

everybody but yeah it was that and uh I got to talk to a couple of the industry

uh you know I'd say leaders who are trying to solve some of these you know

complicated issues we talk about around um around uh labor and installers and

and one of the things uh that was really cool was talking to um Shaw I got to

yeah there we go Jerry mcnight William Jerry

mcnight yep that's so cool five Hammer man

that's that's a big thing man yeah good for fantastic so

yeah all right so uh everybody made it back what's what's up

Jose is that Jesus can't can't forget

Paul thanks buddy we tried to make it to a lot of different different things guys they was

just going left and right and back and forth and we had to take breaks and stuff so yeah and get set up but we did

our best yeah so I hope everybody enjoyed the content from the show we

we've shot a lot we're releasing as As It Gets Ready I think some of it's been shot out there there's two yeah there's

two of them out there right now so we got and then the ties the live at ties

that that we did are on YouTube already and um podcast platforms what what' you

guys think of the belts for installer of the Year those are pretty

cool great touch yeah I asked Paul I was like Hey man can I Paul trer I was like

hey can I borrow that for a second he says no way no not until they uh award you know hand

it out I was like okay we'll we'll do our best there's the belts there's your two winners James and

Hassan were they both from Golden Coast flooring uh no

okay no the other guy that was from where Hassan was from didn't win gotcha oh you know what that was

Hugo well congrats to those guys for uh winning they had some major competition

if you've never been to the installation competition there it's there's a regional qualifier and then they get up

to Vegas to compete and it is not an easy feat um a

lot of these things are um you know a a

very complicated pattern multiple different materials even in the lvt they

had click they had uh the Chevron glue down and you had to do the hering bone

chevron pattern with your glue down you had to field cut all that stuff and put it all together and make all your your

uh had a s an oval in the middle you had to so I didn't see anybody scribing but

but 100% custom work that's all cust it was pretty cool to watch you know what

um brings up a good point here he says what really got me is when JY zern talked about how big box stores affect

us and when uh they when they advertise free installations I brought that up in

my uh in my speech as well is like first off we

know like the public should know that this stuff isn't free but why that

gimmick works I don't get it and to me it's it's a it's a gimmick sorry if I

piss off any uh Lowe's or Home Depot people out there but God it's so

frustrating to see that to me it just devalues what we do uh from an

installation professional standpoint she said it she said it correctly when she said you don't ever hear plumbers say

free installation electricians say free installation yeah you know you're paying for it like why hide it right but it's

the same gimmick as $9.99 or $10 you know what I mean it's perception so

there's something to it but she I think I think Jorge hit or you hit the nail on

the head on Jorge's comment is it's you know the people we're competing with as

an industry to get skilled labor they don't do that stuff they don't say you know electricians Free Labor you know or

plumbers Free Labor or HVAC people free labor no free roof install free drywall

it's like they don't do that and for some reason we do that and we believe that that's a a good way to go the the

box stores do anyway I don't I don't see that as much on the retail and good on you retailers for you know the the

speech I gave was retailers leveraging their labor to sell more saying we have

the best it will cost you a little more but you know we're not going to be back in six months to restretch your carpet

you know right that kind of stuff is like sell using the quality of your of

your labor not sell devaluing your labor it's like two completely polar opposite

ideals well it's it's the um the long-term value versus upfront cost

that's that's what it is so you're playing playing for the long game not the short game um you know one thing

that I I I didn't think about till a few minutes ago was What stood out is that uh Paul and I had an opportunity to meet

two other podcasters from the UK and sucks it sucks to say this but to hear

that they have these same problems that we have here in the

states I mean it's good hear yeah it's good to hear it but it sucks that this

issue that we have and we're facing it's not just us it's sounds like it's Universal and it's just like holy smokes

are you serious um and yeah we're gonna be doing a joint podcast with those guys

uh I think that'll be cool one of the ideas I I can't remember who who brought it up was like they're going to bring

one of their Master guys and we'll get one of our Master guys on and um let them chat see what the

different approaches to installation is and uh you know over the pond they do

some stuff different than we do here uh you know if you've ever watched Thomas with shero's um speak he talks about

when he first came to the US from I believe it was Germany um and uh

they self-level everything over there yeah and over here so all the conr yeah

all the concrete over there is just broom finished and then you go in and you self- level it and then over here

we're trying to finish it to a finished floor to finish substrate to accept

flooring and uh it's two totally different approaches and he he was blown away with our approach over here in the

US uh but that's also why you know some of the buildings over there last

for centuries and buildings over here last for decades and and and the amount

of red tape the difference uh as far as how our rules and and the products that

we have are regulated compared to over there too but I don't know the science

behind it or the reasoning behind it besides that somebody's making money off of regulating that

so well sure uh but if they if if it's a

better result you know yeah I'm all for it cool well uh we're

ending the I'm getting close to the end here um of the podcast the quick TI uh

recap we met some really cool people had some fun got to meet some people that we

know uh like you said uh got Kyle in the background got to know him a little bit

that was pretty fun yeah it was nice he any sister baby sister's up there

giving a speech she is that was that was Fearless

yeah and um yeah that was a good talk what is what are you doing there

Daniel I'm just showing all you got so many no it looked like you were throwing something in one of them

pictures probably Shane oh this I was recording oh okay I

gotta yeah the woman's conference was a good one too yes dudes can get in there

I think at least I was able to yeah we got in there we just sit in the back and try to stay lowke barely we barely got

in just sit in the back and stay lowkey it was fun though um like I said

the installation competition was a blast getting getting around and getting to hang out with

everybody Kevin and Robert look look Roberto right

there he was done guys I had a I had a a

a just a blast hanging out with you guys all week and um I hope that next year

more uh of our audience will get out got to meet some of you guys and it was like

I said it was a it was a fun time so come out enjoy the time get to know some

people and improve your skills uh again if you like to content and you like us

kind of going live in different locations when we're you know at a show or something we're going to be going to

the summit at the end of uh February I think it's the 22nd and 23rd which is down in Dalton Georgia we'll shoot shoot

from there and um you know if you like that kind of stuff you know give us a like

And subscribe it helps us to get out there a little bit more uh don't forget to give us some uh you know comments on

what you do and don't like about um the Huddle we are open to suggestions and if

you got a topic on your mind that you'd like to uh have us discuss live and

maybe even have you on here uh you know throw it in the comments and let us know

yeah don't be shy speak up here we go and if you guys anybody out there hasn't

made it to ties man make it uh put it on your bucket list come in increase your Social Capital man yeah come see is at

uh at the summit we'll be at the you know CFI FCI convention coming up in the

fall I believe it's in October uh so there's a few more shows that we'll be at so come join us with that gent got

else yeah baby we'll go out to dinner or something we did that with a lot of people oh my goodness I ate more food

that last week then I can remember you'll never forget d Tha Fong though right no that was a wonderful spot I

Gotta Give It Up to Daniel Gonzalez for his food selections yeah it was absolutely awesome my mom did say that

place he took me it was mah My mom did say that hey that Paul guy can really

throw that food down it's like oh I don't ever eat like

this I don't Paul and Kevin Kevin yeah oh Ben Ben got renamed Kevin

R coo over at go Carrera got renamed Kevin the on the trip so if you see him say what's

up all right guys you ready to break this thing off yes sir yes sir all right

guys see you next week all right see

[Music] you