CTEF Blog - About Tile Education and Installer Certification

What makes the Coverings Installation Design Showcase (IDS) stand out is how it pairs installation expertise with design brilliance. Especially when it comes to combining tile with a tiny house which needs to not only function, but also bring to life a specific design concept. 

When it comes to the Luxe Cottage of Coverings 2018, Brittney Ferren from The Johnson Studio at Cooper Carry conceived the design. She collaborated with Visalia Ceramic Tile for the installation.

>> Visalia Ceramic Tile Installs Luxe Cottage at Coverings18

We caught up with Brittney to learn more about the design side of this project.

Another Five Star Contractor company returned to the Installation Design Showcase at Coverings 2018: Visalia Ceramic Tile, Inc. The company collaborated with Brittney Ferren of The Johnson Studio at Cooper Carry to complete the Luxe Cottage using tile products from Ceramics of Italy.

We caught up with Sam Bruce to get the low down on the 2018 installation.

Did you have a chance to witness the first ever CTI Challenge? It took place during Coverings 2018 in the Installation Experience space, pitting two intensely passionate Certified Tile Installer teams to complete an ambitious installation over three days. The installation had to meet tile industry standards and guidelines.  

Here's a recap.

The Coverings 2018 tiny house version of the Installation Design Showcase featured a new installation team from DW Sanders Tile & Stone Contracting which collaborated with Jeffrey Bruce Baker Designs on the Smart Modern Living tiny house.

Owner Woody Sanders is not only himself a Certified Tile Installer (#1295) and his company an NTCA Five Star Contractor, but he is also a CTEF Regional Evaluator.

We caught up with Woody to learn more about his experience participating in the Installation Design Showcase.

The tiny house version of the Installation Design Showcase returned to Coverings 2018 and so did J&R Tile which focused on installing gauged porcelain tile panels in addition to glass tile.

If you missed their 2017 installation, you can learn more about it in J&R Tile's Erin Albrecht Talks Tile in a Tiny House.

We caught up again with Eric Albrecht to get the low down on the 2018 installation which the J&R Tile team completed in association with Rita Carson Guest of Carson Guest Interior Design.

If you're already committed to delivering the best quality and customer service, how can you strengthen your reputation? In the case of Brekhus Tile & Stone, the solution was simple: ensure that as many installer employees and subcontractors as possible become Certified Tile Installers, and apply to the National Tile Contractors Association (NTCA) to become a part of the Five Star Contractor program.

According to Steve Brace CTI #1152, becoming a Certified Tile Installer has delivered value not just to his customers, but also to his business.

Steve is next in the CTEF Blog series about Qualified Labor based on an article in TileLetter.com titled "Certification translates directly to increased business, fees and knowledge about details of the trade."

Have you noticed the new CTEF logo? It's in two different flavors that both prominently feature the words "Qualified Labor, Certification and Tile Industry Recognized."

These words recognize that the CTEF installer certification programs (i.e., CTI and ACT) are tile industry recognized and define a tile installer with those designations as being ‘Qualified Labor.’

Let's explore in more detail.

Virginia Tile's Brent Stoller is a serial Certified Tile Installer (CTI) program hands-on testing host. In fact, he has hosted more tests in a single location than anyone else in the entire United States. He also regularly hosts Advanced Certifications for Tile Installers (ACT) evaluations in the Virginia Tile facility in Kansas City, KS. As you can imagine, we're grateful for all that Brent and Virginia Tile have done to promote these programs along with finding the installers to take the tests. 

Brent is also actively involved in CTEF as a Board Member.

We recently caught up with him to learn more about his background and his intense commitment to the CTI program.

What do you do on weekends? In the case of the installers pictured above, they gathered to take the CTEF Certified Tile Installer (CTI) hands-on tile installation evaluation test at Daltile in San Antonio, Texas.