THROUGH the Quick-Step Master Installer programme, The Academy for Excellence in Flooring says it’s the UK’s only training centre to provide access to a lifetime manufacturer-backed warranty on workmanship.

For many homeowners considering an investment floor, the worry isn’t the product itself but who they’ll get to install it. As an unregulated industry, it’s a minefield of recommendations, online reviews, and trader websites.

‘Many...

Alin Cristescu, founder of London-based Fin Wood, and whose family has been in the wood industry for three generations, talks to CFJ in the first of a two-part profile.
By ADAM BERNSTEIN

SOME come to flooring by accident having had no experience or connection with the sector. But others do have a longstanding connection, whether they’ve joined the family business or have worked with some of the products used to make great floors – wood being a...

DRAGON’s Den sees many entrepreneurs fired up to present their latest ground-breaking gizmo that’s new, simple, profitable, and that, they hope, will change everyone’s lives overnight.

Sadly, many of these ‘innovations’ are not new, are no better than existing alternatives, are often over-valued, and result in the entrepreneur going away empty handed.

Which is why I am asking you a very simple question. Is NEW always better?

Take marketing...

Barry recaps on our industry’s experience of remote working and explores how subcontractors can use software tools to enable efficient remote working, while not compromising on project delivery.

DURING 2020, I saw loads of subcontractors putting sticking plasters on existing processes and systems that were not designed for remote working, with the desperate aim of simply keeping projects and cashflow moving during the Covid pandemic.

At the...