Training plays a significant role in the flooring industry as it reduces the risk and cost implications of replacing products installed incorrectly, says interior flooring supplier and installer Kevin Bates Albert Carpets (KBAC) Flooring senior contracts manager Ian Duncan.

The material cost on average is 70% to 75% of the total flooring cost.

Duncan states that training ensures the installation of products is compliant with various manufacturers’ specifications. It improves the efficiency of installation and quality of the finished product produced. He adds that it also improves floor installers’ skill sets and, ultimately increase the quantity and quality of floor fitters entering the flooring industry.

However, floor installers are empowered through training to understand the correct tools required for fitting floors. With this, Duncan emphasises that it is important for fitters to know tools required as many fitters use old fashioned tools, which leads to bad quality of fitting.

Meanwhile, he says that a lot of manufacturers offer product-specific training courses specialising in the technicalities of its various product offerings. However, there has been a significant step taken towards creating formalised training with the formation of the Flooring Industry Training Association (Fita) – an industry body where all players can come together to improve and formalise training for floor fitters.

Celebrating Success

KBAC reported earlier this year that next year in April, it will be celebrating its fiftieth anniversary of operations, with three new key executive appointments in place to steer the flooring giant on the next phase of a remarkably successful journey.

The flooring group has appointed Brandon Park as the CEO, Ashleigh Keefer as the CFO and Etienne Louw as the MD.

KBAC has branches in Johannesburg and Cape Town that have supplied and installed flooring for dozens of acclaimed corporate headquarters as well as thousands of residential premises in South Africa and beyond its borders. KBAC holds distribution rights for some of the world’s most popular flooring brands.

The company is a member of Master Builders Association (MBA) North as well as MBA Western Cape, and a founding member of Fita.

Projects

KBAC has recently completed the flooring project at Africa’s largest diversified financial services group Absa’s bank call centre, in Auckland Park, where it refurbished the centre’s flooring in two months.

JSE-listed infrastructure group Aveng Trencon Joint Venture and South African black economic-empowerment law firm ENSafrica in Sandton were also refurbished in just a month. KBAC installed 2 500 m2 Interface carpet tiles and 7 700 m2 of the Vanguard Collection Tweed flooring to complete the two projects.

KBAC will soon be commencing with its Phase 2 refurbishment of the Absa call centre flooring in Auckland Park.