FEATURE


A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A CARPET FITTER


Rick Horan, a carpet fitter from Cheshire, has been in the industry for over two decades, and gives Tomorrow’s Flooring an exclusive insight on his daily business, as part of a new regular feature.


because they are good fitters, but they’d be in for such a big culture shock, as in, how much they would have to do in a day to earn the same money. That’s the difference. [Working for a firm] they get their pension, their van to drive around, their Diesel paid, it’s all done.


For those that have been laying floors for as long as Rick has, at least 20 years, then you’ll know that things have changed in the industry. Jobs don’t come quite as easy anymore, and you really do need to be truly skilled. But what exactly is different?


“In the old days, there were so many shops, but not many fitters, so the fitters would do the rounds from one shop to the next one,” explains Rick. “Obviously now it’s a lot harder because those were the times when there was a lot of big firms around that had in-house fitters whereas now there is only one major retailer firm – and they have only got two teams working there!”


He believes that this has caused many fitters to become “old school” and would struggle if they had to leave the safety of their firm.


“They could do the work 24


“For example, they may be given a job to do a few rooms; so they may do the lounge and then go grab some lunch. I prefer new builds, and normally a three- storey house will have a hallway, downstairs loo, kitchen diner, stairs, lounge, possible the bedrooms, and that’s all got to be done in a day, by two of us. And it’s got to be spotless when you leave. That’s the standard.”


This standard has come into place over years of trying to get more for your money, making fitters get more done in less time. And learning is a big part of this process, as Rick explains.


“The thing I always tell young lads when they work for me, there’s no wrong way to fit a carpet: As long as when the customer walks in, it looks perfect. Fitters who say ‘you fit like this and that’s the only way to do it’ don’t know what they’re talking about.


“You’ve got to go to your suppliers and talk to them


all the time to keep up to speed. Sometimes it’s good to work for one or two companies, ‘cause one company will do something different to the other. But because you work with both of them, you really get to see which products are the best.


“You’re always learning. I’ve been a fitter for over 20 years and I can guarantee that by the end of the week I will learn something else. You’ll be on a job with a couple of other fitters, walking around you’ll see him do something, and you’ll think, ‘That’s good, that’s quicker’. Then again, it works the other way as well and you’ll think, ‘What the hell is he doing that for?’”


As well as learning on the job, training is a big part of a fitter’s potential career, and is something that Rick describes as a “real gripe” of his.


“There’s not enough opportunity to train,” said Rick. “The companies that do it, the money they want is stupid, but they’re the only ones who do it. And apart from the basic courses in wood flooring and so on, that they offer in college, carpet fitting is the only trade on a site where you have to have absolutely no qualifications whatsoever. Because there isn’t one. I don’t know why!


“It takes between two and three years to get anywhere near fully trained. I can have someone fitting carpet in 4-6 months but to learn every single product, from your carpets to your vinyls, then your different glues. It’s just endless. It is also finding the jobs to train them up.”


But even though times have been difficult for everyone lately, and although jobs are dwindling in much of the UK, Rick thoroughly loves his chosen career.


“One thing [I like about my job] is I get to see all aspects of life from the doley to the billionaire. You get past that front door which no one else does, so you get to meet all sorts of people. And you get to see the different aspects of human life as well.


“I always say to people, decorators hate us, because a decorator will spend two or three weeks decorating a lounge, and the mum will come in and think, ‘yeah it’s okay’. We’ll come in, fit the carpets, and 20 minutes later she’ll say, ‘Wow it looks so nice!’ so you get a lot of pride in your work.


“It’s a hard job but you get a good reward out of it and it is one of those jobs where you can make a living of it or you can make a lot of money out of it and it’s up to you.


“You get out what you put in.” www.tomorrowsflooring.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52