At The International Surface Event (TISE), we had an insightful conversation with Nate Bowen, instructor, Michigan Statewide Carpenters and Millwrights Training Programs, and Pat Noonan, business representative, Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America. Our discussion covered their perspectives on the event, the critical role of proper installation training, and their ongoing efforts to advance the Installation Standards and Training Alliance (INSTALL). 

Bowen was a flooring installer for over 25 years and is now involved in training at the union carpenters apprenticeship school in Detroit, Michigan. He is also a math instructor, teaching basic math for carpentry. Through INSTALL and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters (UBC) he teaches infection control risk assessment. This is imperative for those who work in hospital settings, assisted living and medical centers.  

“I always loved instructing apprentices when I was in the field, and now I get to do it every day all day long,” said Bowen.  

Noonan’s role ranges from educating students on the benefits of joining a union trade organization to advocating for union skilled labor on jobs and fighting area wages to answering the phone for members in his office. 

“Part of the networking we do here is talking with people who maybe don't understand what the union or INSTALL program is about,” said Noona. “We tell them, you're working in a market where they're paying you by the foot, by the square yard. In our market, it's hourly with benefits. Everybody wants a living wage with benefits.” 

The following are excerpts of our conversation, which you can listen to in its entirety below. 

Floor Trends & Installation: Nate, what is so important about flooring installation training? 

Nate Bowen: We don't want failure, right? The way that I look at the training here is we're all this dynamic group. We have the manufacturers. We have the installers. The contractors, obviously, are great partners. Contractors back home that pay for union labor, pay for trained labor because we want to get the job right. 

The first time I start my class, my class is off with what I call a general skills class. I show them slides of tools. They get tools in their hands—very basic, but then I get into prep right away. Clean substrate, no contaminants, right? 

If we don't teach them, hey, I can put this carpet down, this temporary carpet like you have here. It looks great, but it's not going to last more than a week. We have to install a product that lasts. That way we get return customers, and we keep working, right? That's where the training comes in. So, we start with substrate prep all the way up to the final installation. 

Pat mentioned earlier about this networking that we have amongst ourselves as INSTALL certified instructors. If I have an issue or a new product come to town, we have a forum once a month amongst the INSTALL instructors. I know the business reps have that same forum as well. We meet separately. We call it a forum, but it's a Zoom meeting. There's some things that are done in Michigan that aren't maybe done in other parts of the country and so on and so forth. We have that [forum] with INSTALL where I can get the answers I need and the help that I need to give this training. So, training is everything. 

Pat Noonan: The training starts with the floor prep. We're not talking residential, obviously. We're talking more commercial. You can have the best looking carpet or the best looking LVT, sheet vinyl, whatever you want, but if you don't have good prep and you don't have a good installer, that job can look [bad].  

There are areas in parts of this country where you'll see every 12 foot a binder bar on top of the carpet because they didn't know how to make a carpet seam, so they just put a flat piece of metal over it and call it a day. Training with our manufacturers and our mills is so important. Like he said, we have Maxxon, we have MAPEI and Schönox and Ardex. All of them have been to our training center numerous times, working with our apprentices on the latest and greatest. 

We just did a charity job with Schönox where I had 15 students. Seven of them had never done a pour. They had spot patched but never dumped a bucket of patch and they were able to do it. To me, that's what it's all about. We're training them about real life too. We're giving them real life situations and that is so important. 

Floor Trends & Installation: Pat, why is it so important to educate people on what union organizations, like INSTALL, offer?

Noonan: It's so important because they have to know that in Detroit, Michigan, Chicago, Illinois, St. Louis, Kansas City, New York and Canada, we're all training in the same aspects. So, Mohawk comes to us and says, hey, we've got this new LVT and it's got this, this and graphite chips or whatever in it and we need to show you how to install it. Well, they're not only teaching me or him or the person in Canada, they're teaching all of us. They'll have all the instructors possibly go somewhere [to train]. Our instructors are constantly going, whether it's here, to Las Vegas, or to other training centers to learn about the latest and greatest. 

When I come to this show or Neocon, there are some of the greatest products you'll see here today in flooring. The coolest looking carpet, the coolest looking LVTs. But if you don't have somebody that knows what they're doing, it's going to look like crud. 

Floor Trends & Installation: Nate, tell me about your involvement with INSTALL.

Bowen: My involvement in INSTALL is as an instructor. My job in my area [is] to certify. They have a resilient test which involves pattern scribing, linoleum millwork base direct scribing, homogeneous vinyl or any kind of PVC product. We also do some vinyl plank and then we go to the carpet. So, we have three certifications. We have a substrate prep [certification] as well. That's the resilient one that I spoke on. Then, the carpet one is stretching. We do some steps and glue down the border, and the substrate prep is ramping, skim coating and pour. 

We meet once a month online to discuss everything new. But I want to piggyback on what Pat brought up. The International Training center here, what does that mean? They not only bring out our members, but also as an instructor, I come out about seven, eight weeks a year and I continue my education because of all these new products that we talked about. We don't want to be left behind. As an instructor, I'm not out in the field anymore. I really value this instruction that I'm getting so I can take it back home. But we're constantly honing our skills as well. New materials, old materials. How do we instruct it? How do we say it? How do we do it? Do we do a PowerPoint? Let's come up with a new hands on way to teach things. 

I was just out here two weeks ago at our training center which is here in Las Vegas, and we are also receiving instructional training or workforce education from Penn State University. We have a partnership with Penn State University. They've actually taken their workforce education program and made it for us. I did another class on assessments—how to give an assessment, whether it's a written assessment or some kind of activity assessment. So, I'm not only getting trained on cutting a seam, it’s also making me better as an instructor—how to speak to people. You gotta learn how to talk to people, how to communicate with others. So, it's constant education for the instructors as well.

Floor Trends & Installation: Pat, tell me about your involvement with INSTALL.

Noonan: I had my half brother was or is a salesman at a company in Chicago. So, growing up, I wanted to be like him. I got into the program, went through the entire apprenticeship, worked for a fantastic company. I realized that there was no way I could sell for that company because [there was] a little conflict of personalities. The opportunity came up at the local in Chicago. I actually applied and didn't get the job. But it was good for me that I lost it the first time because I was able to get more active and mature and grow and learn more about what the brotherhood is all about. A few years later, I ran against a couple other guys and girls, got the job and have loved it ever since. 

My role in INSTALL is whatever they need, basically. Here I can go up to a booth and start talking to somebody from New Jersey and go, hey, you ever hear about INSTALL? And they say, no. We talk and here's my card. If you want to learn more about INSTALL New Jersey, I can point you in the right direction. David Gross is our international rep, and he covers everything. He texted me this morning because he heard I had talked to somebody last night about something and he wanted to know more information about it. We're always in constant communication, whether it's the manufacturers or the contractors. 

Floor Trends & Installation: What should people know about INSTALL? What are the benefits? Why should they choose union? 

Bowen: Why should they choose union? Why shouldn't they, right? If you want to have the best training, I think, in the world, you want good pay, fair pay. You want people like Pat and Steve McCool in Michigan to back you up when you have a safety issue, when you have an issue with your employer, doesn't happen too often, but being a union member gives you a little bit more protection. We care about your safety. We don't want you on a job that's not safe. Then, it also means those benefits. My family's getting a little older now, but when I was a union apprentice and we got pregnant. Just to have health care to cover those bills; even if you have insurance covers it—how much it costs. Now I've got health care, right? And now I've got a retirement. I've got two retirements where I'm at. I've got an annuity and I've got a pension that I get to pull from when it's time for me to retire. What is that age? 62 years old. If I want to go early, I can go at 55 years old in our area. 

We all, union or non union, love our trade. We want to be good at our trade. I have a lot of friends that are non-union floor layers, very highly skilled. But what do you get from the union? You get that constant training; you get those benefits; you get that retirement; and you get to enjoy life and you're not at a shop still having to lay flooring at 75. 

Noonan: The reason that I believe you would want to be involved with the INSTALL program is the education and the continuing education. You can be that 75-year-old installer if you really choose to be and you can still stay on top of what products are out there because our education, I can't speak for around the country, but typically it's free for our members. In Chicago, it's $25. The day you graduate your class, you get your $25 back. So all it is is a deposit. So, I can at 75, heaven forbid, I'm still in it, I can learn about the newest, latest drywall. I can learn about the newest, latest, greatest heat welding. Technology and products are always changing. 

[With] the union, you can learn everything. So, if you lose a certain market, like in Chicago where we had problems in ‘07/’08 with residential, those men and women had to go into commercial to work. A lot of them were able to go to school and instead of learning strictly tackless, which is most housing, they were able to learn how to do glue down. They were able to learn how to do flash cove. Hopefully, every market has a living wage with benefits. And it's so important when you're a young man and woman, you may not think about it when you don't have children or a spouse, but once you get that and start realizing what it costs for health care to have that baby, to have your kids tonsils removed, health care is huge. You may not think about it at 21, but by 25 or 28 when you're married, you're going to be like, thank God I have that.