A Job Well Done

American Carpet One took the recent step of certifying its flooring installers both as a means of meeting the highest industry standards as well as giving its customers the best installation quality and service available.

Certified Floorcovering Installers (CFI) is an international nonprofit organization put in place in the early 1990s to train and certify installers with the end goal of assisting customers with making sure that the installers working on their projects are indeed qualified. According to American Carpet One installation manager Larry Marvel, installers working at the company need to pass both written and performance tests in order to gain CFI certification, and must display honesty and integrity while also knowing their trade.

“A customer using a CFI installer can be assured that they’ve already been approved and tested by their peers in the trade and that the installation in their home or business is done right the first time,” said Marvel. “These installers have to be experts in seam construction, power stretching, trimming, pattern alignment and a lot of other skills that it takes to install carpet in a customer’s home.”

All journeymen carpet installers at the company were recently certified by CFI — a first for the industry in Hawaii. They joined a select group of a little more than 40,000 CFI installers nationwide who are certified to install a wide array of products and floor coverings to meet industry standards. These certified installers are identified by the CFI seals on both their uniforms and work vehicles.

“If there is a problem with work done by a CFI-certified installer, then their certificate is immediately pulled if the problem is justified,” Marvel said. “There is complete accountability within the industry when it comes to these certified installers. It’s what has been needed throughout all our trades over the years that goes a step further than obtaining contractors licenses.

“It sets the standard for all other carpet installers to follow,” Marvel added. “What’s going to happen in our industry is that manufacturers are going to require not only a licensed contractor but also a CFI installer to put in their products. The manufactures and CFI work together to make sure that the carpet is installed right the first time and that customers get what they pay for.”

As American Carpet One celebrates its 30th anniversary as a locally owned and operated full-service home floor and design center, the company benefits from its involvement with the Carpet One cooperative, which is the seventh largest cooperative in the world and includes roughly 1,500 other locally owned and operated stores across the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Guam. According to American Carpet One, collectively last year, the cooperative generated more than $3.8 billion in floor covering purchases, and the resulting savings are passed on to the customers.

contact // 447-2751
web // www.AmericanCarpetOne.com