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Officials from Lees Carpet, a division of Mohawk, Kahrs and more featured at INSTALL info session

6/21/2007

More than 100 members of the local floor covering industry gathered at the training center of INSTALL Local 1823 in May learn about the benefits that union floor covering brings to a quality installation.

Featured speakers were Kurt Topp, senior vice president from Lees Carpet, a division of Mohawk, Chuck Antonucci, vice president of Kahrs International, and Chris Drummond, vice president of Bentley Prince Street. These men each spoke to the group about the importance of qualified floor covering installers – the kind that can only be supplied via union training.

Topp stressed in his presentation the importance that quality installation plays in the life cycle of a project: from specification to installation. Antonucci reinforced the need for qualifed installers. Drummond hammered home the concept that only through partnering with a group such as INSTALL Local 1823 can manufacturers be assured that their products wouldn’t end up like those on the screen.

Local 1823, which is heavily involved in the UBC’s international INSTALL program, hosted the event. Local 1823 Business Agent Patrick McGinley partnered with key signatory contractors such as Chip Grimes and Charlie Wills from Facility Services Group to assemble the diverse audience and heavy-hitting guest speakers.

Those in attendance included representatives from several major manufacturers, such as Lees, Mohawk, Shaw, Mannington, Drytek, Stanley Stephens, ROPPE, Derr, Karastan and more. Facility managers from around the region also attended, as did many signatory contractors.

INSTALL, the International Standards and Training Alliance, is an alliance of mills, manufacturers, contractors and the floor covering arm of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America. INSTALL is the flooring industry’s only four-year, industry-endorsed training, marketing and certification program in North America. More than 43 major mills and manufacturers endorse and support the INSTALL program, because they know their products will be installed correctly when an INSTALL professional completes the work. These partners help steer the INSTALL curriculum so that what’s taught to INSTALL professionals reflects directly to what is needed on the job site.

INSTALL Local 1823 is the local affiliate of the international INSTALL program.

At the event, attendees also viewed live demonstrations of the rigorous certification program that INSTALL Local 1823 mechanics must pass to prove their competence.

“That certification is then used by business representatives to sway local facility managers to specify that only INSTALL certified mechanics may install their project’s flooring. That, in turn, produces more work for our members,” McGinley said.

Already, several dozen buildings in the Philadelphia area are using the INSTALL specification, McGinley added.