Each month we ask a flooring industry professional 10 Questions. This month, we chatted to Tim Gaukroger, Managing Director, Dalhaus Dalsouple Rubber Flooring.
Q1 Q2
aged 14. I remember wanting to earn my own money from early on.
How did you get into the flooring industry?
My first job out of college was with Hothfield Carpets, a small independent manufacturer in Yorkshire.
It was in
quality control, which is a pretty good place to start. I moved into sales with Tuca, who made carpet tiles, then switched to resilient floors. After a brief stint sourcing flooring for the film and TV industry, I started my own specialist rubber flooring business, originally called Dalsouple.
Q3 Q4
What do you think are the positives and
negatives of the flooring trade? The positives are that, while people have a bit of leeway in how much furniture they buy, everybody needs flooring! One negative is that rubber floors don’t need changing often enough.
If you could hire any one person to be part of your
team, who would it be and why? James Dyson who is a brilliant inventor with a track record in cleaning floors.
Q5
What’s the best advice you could
give to someone new coming
into the industry? If you are setting up in business, always aim to build long-term relationships. Not just with customers but with suppliers too. A trusted supplier can be a major asset if you are unexpectedly up against a deadline, for example.
Q6
If you could invent any product what would it
be and why? A flooring teleporter that would take floors directly to the installation without
38 | 10 QUESTIONS
10 QUESTIONS WITH… Q7
What was your first job? Stacking shelves in Asda,
Q8
What do you think the future holds for
the flooring industry? Well, we have just launched a new range of smooth rubber tiles, for one thing! Recruitment is getting tougher all the time, especially for experienced sales people. I hope we can find ways of attracting good people to the sector.
Q9
What would you like to see in a future issue of
Tomorrow’s Contract Floors? Pretty much what you do now - lots of news and industry opinion, plus well illustrated case studies. The April issue covered 13th
century tiling in a
medieval abbey, and a Mayfair boutique – that’s pretty diverse for a flooring magazine!
Q10
Dan Foskett, Managing Director
at Connection Flooring, asked: What is the most challenging part of working within the
flooring industry and why? I sometimes think that the industry is getting bogged down in testing, standards and certification. For many specifiers it has just become a box- ticking exercise, it would be good to see that simplified.
www.dalhaus.co.uk
Check out next month’s issue to see what Tim asked our next industry professional…
www.tomorrowscontractfloors.com the need for a transport company!
If you could have a dinner party with any
three people, dead or alive,
who would they be and why? Keith Floyd , a great cook and a great drinker; James Hunt for the motor racing stories; and Jeremy Clarkson. We wouldn’t get bored!
Cleeve Abbey - English Heritage - TCF April 2016
Cleeve Abbey - English Heritage - TCF April 2016
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