Imagine finding perfectly executed carpet seams from students just weeks into their training. That's exactly what Greg Loeffler of Pierce Flooring witnessed after supporting a 10-week installation program transforming the flooring industry. 

Floor Covering Education Foundation (FCEF) hosted a 'Purpose, Progress, and Possibilities' session at The International Surface Event, where retailers from Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, and Montana shared their solutions to the installer shortage crisis—revealing how new training pathways are not just filling jobs, but advancing their businesses in ways previously thought impossible.

The testimonials by the flooring dealers provided insight into their level of involvement, what they have learned, the skill level achieved by the students upon completion of the program, and the benefits of having access to a stream of highly skilled helpers to replenish their installer crews.  

Alabama 

In September 2023, the FCEF announced the awarding of a federal grant to fund installation training programs in colleges across Alabama over the course of three years. Drake State Community & Technical College in Huntsville was one of those colleges. It took about a year to get the program up and running. In the fall of 2024, five students graduated from Alabama’s first Flooring Installation Technician course.  

Roy Lewis, owner of Eagle Floorcovering Supplies and Eagle Interiors, taught the course. Lewis is a highly-skilled, award-winning, certified flooring installer and retail store owner. Of this experience, Lewis said it opened his eyes to the education needs of the installation helpers and apprentices as well as the number of women who are interested in flooring installation as a career. Three of the five students were women; two, of which, are military veterans—another demographic for whom the FCEF is building career pathways.  

Georgia 

Atlanta Flooring Design Centers, based in Atlanta, Georgia, has been advocating for the basic installation program since its inception. They’ve supported the program at Atlanta Technical College and Chattanooga State Community College’s (CSCC) Construction Career Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  

Nik Burdette, general manager of Atlanta Flooring Design Centers, has spent a lot of time with the program students over the years. “The students that I’ve talked to and the diversity in the classes is just phenomenal,” he said. However, his concerns surround how to capitalize on the training and transfer it to the real world, considering the bulk of the Atlanta area workforce consists of subcontractors. 

Ultimately, he feels the installation program is a step in the right direction. “If we can develop the program for training the [subcontractors], perhaps we can get support on the manufacturing side,” he said. His hope is that the manufacturers will see the value in the training and the value of having trained installers to install their products with the warranties dependent upon a certified installer.  

He envisions a path where retailers like Atlanta Flooring Design hire the program graduates, placing them in sales positions or in the field where they work with installers for six months to a year. At that point, they are then eligible to begin an apprenticeship with a lead installer. According to Burdette, they have interviewed several graduates for both positions. 

Iowa 

Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo is the location of the first 10-week basic installation training program in Iowa. John Steier, owner, Steier Flooring, came on board to help get the program established and teach weeks eight and nine, covering floor prep and underlayment installation prior to tile installation. Four of six students graduated from the course in fall 2023. The second student cohort kicked off in February 2024. Charity Adeoti, along with six other students, graduated in April. 

Adeoti moved from Chicago to North Dakota but made arrangements to attend the class in Waterloo where she met Steier. Entering the course, Adeoti possessed several years of flooring installation experience.  

Steier said of Adeoti as a student, “I wish we could replicate her; she was the one I gravitated toward because she beat me to the classroom often, showing me that she was motivated. When you have an individual like that—a high producer—you can just see that in them.”  

Steier stayed in touch with her following graduation, and the calls turned into hour-long conversations filled with questions about flooring installation and career advice. Now, the two meet once a month for a mentoring session via FaceTime where Adeoti shows up armed with a list of questions, concerning topics like licensure for subcontracting and how to approach retailers.  

“She’s getting into a position where she’s going to be the one looking to hire someone, and everything I’ve told her is getting passed on,” he said. “But what can we do in our community to make sure that those coming in are taking off from the top of our shoulders and skyrocketing?”  

Montana 

When Chad Swift, owner of Floors & More Abbey Carpets in Great Falls, Montana, took over the family flooring business, he noticed that the current pool of installers refused to hire helpers. This was mostly due to a lack of skill, transportation and reliability, he said. When Swift learned of the basic installation program, he and another Montana retailer Pierce Flooring, collaborated to get the program implemented in Great Falls College Montana State University. 

Six students attended the 10-week course in the Fall of 2024 and graduated in December. According to Swift, two of the graduates work for him; two were placed with an area contractor; and one is now an in-house employee for Pierce Flooring. But it wasn’t easy.  

“We learned a few lessons; the first class we took a loss, and we just did it for the amount of the scholarship,” Swift said.  

Greg Loeffler, COO of Pierce Flooring, was blown away by the hand skills the students demonstrated during the carpet course. They were tasked with seaming two pieces of patterned low-cut pile carpet.  

“We're thinking, ‘Oh, this isn't going to go well,’” Loeffler said. “I walked in there to that classroom when they had these carpets on the floor seamed together, and you couldn't find the seams. These guys are a few weeks into this, and with the right training and the right tools they were putting seams together you couldn't see.” 

The student Pierce Flooring hired out of the graduates has parents who work for the retailer. He made the decision to pursue flooring installation as a career at only 18 years old. According to Loeffler, the student was able to secure scholarships for the course so there was very little out of pocket, and Pierce Flooring supplied him with a company vehicle to drive to and from the class—a three-hour drive.  

Loeffler admits that following graduation, the student was not quite ready to dive into installation independently, so he started by doing deliveries, working in the warehouse, helping with service work and going out with installers when needed.  

“A couple of the installers are veteran subs that have been with us for 20, 30, 40 years,” Loeffler said. “The really good ones, they recognized that the young man had a lot of talent and a lot of energy. So, they were willing to take him on their crew, and for every hour he works with them, they're offsetting $20 an hour. He’s still our employee under our umbrella, got our benefits, but his education is being furthered by these veteran subcontractors that are substantially offsetting our cost. After a couple of years, I hope that we have a 20- or 21-year-old that's ready to hit the ground running.” 

The other part of the installer equation is continuing to invest in the current installer pool through education and certification courses. Swift said he sends his tenured installers to Certified Flooring Installer (CFI) courses, and now that he has an avenue for new installers and lead installers. "Ninety percent of my stress is gone,” he said.

According to Swift, the key is to provide a pathway for your installers and treat them as another professional on your team.  

Regarding the basic installation program, Swift emphasized the tremendous value of the comprehensive curriculum, which he considers the program's most essential component. While his company could have contributed many resources to support the program, developing such an extensive curriculum independently would have been impossible. He stressed that continued industry support for the Floor Covering Education Foundation remains crucial for maintaining this forward momentum.

He reports that six more students will go through the 10-week course, starting in March, and they have plans to expand the program to Billings and Butte, Montana. Additionally, Swift noted that the college administrator shared that the basic installation program was the easiest program she has ever implemented.  

The Bottom Line 

While everyone’s approach to the basic installation training program differed, one thing remains the same—the support needed to keep up the momentum is crucial for success, requiring manufacturers, retailers, distributors, contractors and installers alike.  

“It takes everybody in this room at every level to make this program work,” said Loeffler. “I love to see the manufacturer, the vendor partners here, the support we get from the manufacturers and the vendors is absolutely critical, but it's just as critical that we have support at the local level.” 

According to Loeffler, Pierce Flooring—a family-owned, high-volume operation in Montana—faces a critical barrier to growth. Despite its robust business foundation, the company cannot expand further due to the persistent shortage of skilled installers needed to complete additional work.

“We had to take the footage we were already doing and figure out how to make more money on it,” he said. “So, [vendors] if you want to see the numbers on your spreadsheets go up, we have to have the installation capacity to make that happen. We won't just hire guys out of the bar or jail. We want quality. We have to be part of the solution, and we have to help; we have to support, and we have to spend money, but everyone in here has to do the same thing, or this isn't going to work.”