Proven approaches to finding qualified labor

The well-documented lack of qualified installers has resulted in wide-ranging implications across the industry. These include delays in project completions or, in worst-case scenarios, costly callbacks due to inexperienced installers on the jobsite. While several industry associations continue to make strides in key areas such as recruitment and training, the shortage of qualified, skilled help—particularly in demanding, specialized fields such as ceramic tile—continues to hamper progress on the labor front.

But this is an industry that’s both creative and resolute when it comes to overcoming challenges. Following are some proven strategies that tile contractors, specialty flooring retailers and hiring managers have found to be very effective in the search for qualified labor.

Insist on certifications

Brad Trostrud, president of Trostrud Mosaic & Tile Co., Wood Dale, Ill., has been in business for more than 40 years. And you don’t get to that level without safeguarding your reputation. So, when it comes to finding qualified installers, he doesn’t take any unnecessary chances.

“We’re fortunate in that we only hire union accredited tile setters and tile finishers,” he said. As opposed to randomly accepting walk-ins, Trostrud carefully selects his labor from those who have attended structured and accredited training programs facilitated by his local union—an organization comprising both bricklayers and tile setters. “They run a training center, which is its own devoted building just to teaching our crafts. They will take somebody potentially off the street and run them through that program, and then once they get to a certain point, they’re allowed to work at half scale. As their hours go up, their pay goes up until they become full scale. That’s the labor pool I pick from.”

Another tried-and-true way to make sure you hire only skilled, certified tile setters for a project is to consult established industry association directories, experts say. Erin Albrecht, owner of J&R Tile, San Antonio, Texas, highly recommends visiting CTEF.org, the official website for the Ceramic Tile Education Foundation, to locate experienced installers in a given area. “There you can type in your ZIP code and see all the certified installers near your area to contact and people that employ them,” she said. “You can see their credentials and determine their skill level.” (The website for the National Wood Flooring Association also allows visitors to search for trained, certified installers by state or ZIP code.)

Before you pull the trigger, though, you want to make sure they’re covered—insurance-wise. “It’s critical that the installer be bonded and insured, because many times that is not the case in the tile industry,” Albrecht added.

Trust but verify

Once you’ve seen their project portfolio and reviewed their certifications, it’s time to have a deeper discussion to get a better overall profile of the job candidate. That’s the approach that Woody Sanders, owner of Marietta, Ga.-based DW Sanders Tile & Stone Contracting, takes when sizing up applicants. While CTI certification is certainly a prerequisite for candidates that apply for a position as a tile setter with his firm, it’s not a trump card.

“At the minimum they should be certified tile installers through CTEF, but if they’re not, that doesn’t necessarily disqualify them,” he said. “In some cases, not all, union installers tend to stagnate in a specific role. If you put all your eggs in one basket, that makes you very limited. As an employer, I can’t build the job around what your skill set is. I need your skill set to match my job.”

Sanders practices what he preaches. He has at least four ACDs, as do most of the tile setters who work for him. “You might bring on a guy who knows mud work, but he might not know everything else involved in prep,” he explained. “He must also know foam, waterproofing, shower pans, etc.”

The same principle applies to splashy portfolios that applicants might present during the interview or walk-in. “I’ve had applicants come in and say, ‘Hey, here’s my portfolio.’ It’s akin to social media—nobody’s showing you anything, really. They’re just saying, ‘Oh, look!’ I can tell from a picture of an installation that you know how to keep tiles straight, but I really don’t know if you fully understand layout and design.”

Avoid the fraudsters

Scammers come in all shapes and sizes. Unfortunately, that extends to the flooring industry where swindlers have made a career of duping business owners into paying bogus claims. It has created a bit of a cottage industry for scammers who know how desperate some installation companies are for skilled workers. That’s why savvy tile contractors always check an applicant’s background for excessive worker’s comp claims.

It’s a lesson that Trostrud learned a little too late. “We had a guy who was actually a son of an old trainer of the union and he was unpacking pile, lifting like 4-pound sheets of tile, and he goes, ‘Oh, man. Something happened to my neck.’ Well that turned into a big lawsuit and an operation, and the insurance company that handles our policy identified this guy as a habitual claim. She had a 3-inch-thick file on him.”

Now Trostrud checks with the requisite agencies online to ferret out what he calls the “bad apples.” He also performs deep background checks to see if there’s a history with a particular candidate. “I will call the training center and ask them particular questions about somebody I might potentially hire. I will ask them where they’ve worked and why they left. You want to make sure you’re not picking up a hand grenade that’s going to blow up on you.”

Get ‘em on loan

If you’re not able to secure a permanent, full-time crew, there are other steps contractors and retailers can take when the need for labor arises. On a limited basis, Trostrud will allow other contractors to borrow his crews in a pinch.

“During the pandemic, my company and five or six other contractors discovered that if we’re really open and honest with each other, we could both help ourselves and we could help our union employees. I would make a phone call to my competition and say, ‘Hey. Do you need any extra labor?’ I could lend these guys out under the premise that when I need them back, there’s no bullshit. They come back. So that’s worked out extremely well for the guys and for us.”

If you can’t find them, train them

CarpetsPlus ColorTile of Wyoming, based in the city of Thayne, has somewhat of a “farm system” when it comes to developing installation talent. “We are training new installers by finding younger guys who are energetic to work,” said Eric Buehler, president. “We are pairing them up with more experienced people so they can gain the necessary experience. I have always believed that the best way to learn anything is through experience.”

DW Sanders Tile & Stone Contracting also invests in training new setters—but only those who show potential. “We’ll have a fresh hire spend their first week here in the office because we put them through about three days of safety training and two days of vocabulary training,” Sanders said. “During the first six months, all they’re trying to learn is basic skills of cutting a tile, mixing materials, measuring water—those type of the basic skill sets.”

It’s a formula that has worked well for Sanders. After 30 years in the business, he said his most senior employee has been with the company for 28 years, with the junior-most worked employed for nine years.

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