10 QUESTIONS WITH…
Each month, we ask a flooring industry professional 10 Questions. This month, we chatted to Gavin Whiley, MD, Havwoods Accessories Ltd
Q1 Q2 Q3
Q4
What was your first job? I suppose I’ve been ‘working’ at Havwoods since
I could walk but I was sent out from high school to get a ‘proper’ job outside the family as a car mechanic for two years. I loved it!
How did you get into the industry? No prizes for guessing the answer to that! My
grandpa was a timber importer and my dad was a joiner so wood’s in our blood. I spent most of my childhood playing with power tools and wood flooring.
What do you think are the positives and negatives of the flooring trade?
There are some fantastic people and companies in the industry, and although fashions do change, hardwood floors have enjoyed over 1,000 years of use in this country and no sign of slowing down any time soon. Negatives would have to be the price-driven market that seems to be in a race to the bottom devaluing great brands and products in the process.
If you could hire any one person to be part of your team, who would it be
and why? Good employees are hard to find, and short of finding a cloning machine, an ideal candidate would be a passionate creative questioner that asks ‘why?’
Q5 Q6
What’s the best advice you could give to someone new coming into the industry?
Ask questions, be loyal, push boundaries and be punctual.
If you could invent any product what would it be and why?
An adhesive that levels, provides a true damp-proof membrane including sound reduction plus allows monitoring of site conditions remotely. Oh, and delivers itself to sites via an inbuilt bucket drone.
Q7 Q8
If you could have a dinner party with any three people, dead or alive, who would
they be and why? Winston Churchill, Maggie Thatcher and my late Grandpa Henry. I wouldn’t get a word in edgeways and could sit back and enjoy the meal, watch the fun and hopefully learn something in the process.
What do you think the future holds for flooring design?
We are seeing a strong push towards sustainability and environmental consciousness from consumers. Going green has long since ceased to be a fad and fast becoming a prominent necessity.
48 | 10 QUESTIONS Q9
What would you like to see in a future issue of Tomorrow’s Contract Floors?
More case studies, there’s nothing like learning from others’ success or mistakes.
Q10
Richard Harris, Marketing Manager, F. Ball and Co. Ltd. asked: What
effect do you think Brexit will have on the contract
flooring industry after 29th March 2019? Thanks Richard, a nice easy one to answer….the million dollar question!
I think we may see some consumer confidence issues but as long as we can keep a level of stability in the markets, including a positive narrative from the leaders of industry, and not bad-mouthing the economy, I don’t see it having a huge impact initially. Taking into account the possibility of some labour issues caused my less immigration and reduction in imported foreign labour, I would hope to see a new surge of British apprentices going into the industry.
There are concerns that a hard Brexit will see further price increases to imported goods but all that means is now is the time for the British flooring industry to export and show what we are capable of on the world stage.
www.havwoodsaccessories.com
Check out next month’s issue to see what Gavin asked our next industry professional…
www.tomorrowscontractfloors.com
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