Q1
and maintenance industry was with Service Master in the 1970s, cleaning upholstery, soft furnishing, carpets and hard floors.
Q2
How did you get into the flooring industry?
From Service Master I went on to become the residential caretaker for Hammersmith & Fulham Council for 18 years. Whilst there, I set up a specialist cleaning team who were responsible for graffiti removal, the application of coatings and the stripping and re- polishing of all vinyl floors. On my days off I’d work for chemical stone cleaning specialist, Delta Research, Italy. Here, I expanded my knowledge on natural stone and the appropriate chemicals to use on different stone types, both internally and externally.
In 2014, I joined Thomann-Hanry as Head of Specialist Stone Care – a division that includes a dedicated team of experts who specialise in cleaning, treating and maintaining interior stone to the highest of standards.
Q3
What do you think are the positives and
negatives of the flooring trade? The positive is that people are now starting to realise the importance of using professionals for their floor care. It really is a matter of ‘you get what you pay for.’
Unfortunately, the negatives are that there are many cowboys in this industry attempting to clean floors despite having no training or experience. Consequently, the wrong processes are used which causes severe damage to floors.
Q4
If you could hire any one person to be part of your
team, who would it be and why? I’d hire Peter Bull, who I worked with at Hammersmith and Fulham council. He occasionally works for us on weekends
48 | 10 QUESTIONS
10 QUESTIONS WITH… Q7
Each month we ask a flooring industry professional 10 Questions. This month,
we chatted to Kevin Hooper, Head of Specialist Stone Care a subsidiary of the Thomann-Hanry group.
What was your first job? My first role in the cleaning
If you could have a dinner party with any
three people, dead or alive, who
would they be and why? I’d have to invite my two music icons, Frankie Valli and Lionel Richie. I just love their music which I listened to in the 70s and still dance to today. Then I would need an excellent chef like Gordon Ramsay to cook the food. I would love to have a dispute with him as I think I could give him a real run for his money!
Q8
What do you think the future holds for
the flooring industry? I’m excited about the future for the flooring industry. There is a constant influx of new innovations, my personal favourite being a man-made stone which is almost on par with natural stone. Over time, natural stone will always wear and age unless you are stringent with a maintenance care plan. Man-made stone doesn’t need the ongoing maintenance in the same way.
as and when we need him for specific projects. His knowledge of cleaning is vast and I’ve seen first-hand how hard-working, dedicated and reliable he is, which is so important to a successful business.
Q5
What’s the best advice you could
give to someone new coming
into the industry? Get as much knowledge as you can, take on as much training as possible and be honest, trustworthy and presentable at all times.
Q6
If you could invent any product what would it
be and why? A product which protects all polished stone from etching and staining without any further treatment.
Q9
What would you like to see in a future issue of
Tomorrow’s Contract Floors? I’d love to see the British Institute of Cleaning Science (BICS) playing a bigger part in the stone industry. Not enough people are trained properly in caring for natural stone which is becoming more and more of a problem today.
Q10
Jake Sinna, VP of International Sales
at National Flooring Equipment, asked: What do you think companies can do to raise the
profile of the flooring industry? Companies should be providing the correct training to their staff on how to care for stone flooring.
Check out next month’s issue to see what Kevin asked our next industry professional…
www.thomann-hanry.co.uk www.tomorrowscontractfloors.com
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