Introducing St. Louis' First Certified Tile Installers!

When Joel and Barbara Tully first encountered the CTEF (Ceramic Tile Education Foundation) certification program at the Total Solutions conference in Naples, Joel was pretty excited.  He saw a legitimate certification as a huge boon for our industry.  Trends in Tile strives to sell permanent flooring.  Our customers' installations are intended to last a lifetime – in high-traffic areas, outdoors, under water – and our methods are therefore more technical than many.  In our opinion, every failed installation is bad for our industry. 

St. Louis has historically been pretty progressive when it comes to training.  In 1989 the Carpenter’s Local 1310 added ceramic tile training to their 4-year training program for carpet, vinyl, and wood.  To complete the program, the men and women receive training in all four categories, and must achieve a level of proficiency in two.  Joel was fairly active with this group when they were establishing the ceramic curriculum – less so now that they’re rolling.  We see the CTEF certification as a welcome extension – sort of going from a Bachelor’s Degree to a Masters. 

We feel this certification program is a huge advantage for our contractors, in that they can assert their competence in marketing themselves to their customers in a quantifiable manner.  Trends in Tile has always prided itself in living up to its’ name – bringing the latest tiles and technologies to our market.  So we asked ourselves, why not be first to bring this advantage to our contractors as well?

This certification is a huge advantage for the installer.  In an uncertain economy, when many are not working regularly, it gives them credibility when presenting themselves to prospective employers.  Should they ever decide to relocate to another area, they take that credibility with them. 

After a good deal of planning and carpentry work, Trends in Tile hosted a group of 18 installers who voluntarily tested for CTI Certification. The test was developed to identify the professional installer who has reached a level of proficiency to independently & consistently produce a sound tile installation that displays good workmanship. The certification process consists of two parts:

 

A hands-on test in which installers must demonstrate their ability to execute a complex layout & proper installation

A written technical proficiency exam covering accepted industry standards

 

Although this was the first time in St. Louis, CTEF launched the Certification Program in 2008 to provide a means for good, knowledgeable installers to verify their skills and promote themselves to potential clients.

Scott Carothers, CTEF Executive Director, administered the rigorous exam and was impressed by the skill and enthusiasm of the participants.

We are all very proud that these installers challenged themselves.  With an average failure rate of 21%, we are thrilled to report that all of our participants passed the certification process.

Special thanks go to National Gypsum, Laticrete International, Raimondi Tools, Gundlach Tools, Schluter Systems, Noble Company, & Primo Tools.  They were very generous in helping us defray costs by supplying materials and tools.  In addition, we would like to thank Walt Stivers, Ben Bruce and Chad Matthews for the display of their carpentry skills building the modules.

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