I just attended a three-day NWFA class on the installation of prefinished flooring in New York City. These classes can be a lot of fun and a great learning experience. Most of us work in a vacuum. By that I mean we work within our own little groups of personal and professional associations. There is a tendency to decide that there is one way to do the work, and those habits become deeply ingrained. These classes are a wonderful opportunity to meet new people, learn some new things, experiment with new techniques, and try some different equipment and tools away from our normal cast of characters. We can also make mistakes without any bad financial outcome. The major limitation is the short time horizon.
This particular class is the first NWFA hands-on training event that I have attended in the last 10+ years, and it was a great deal of fun, with many learning opportunities. Daniel Boone (a real wood flooring contractor from Jacksonville, Fla.) was the lead instructor. If you have never been to one of Daniel's schools, you owe it to yourself to do it at least once. The corny jokes and skills that Daniel uses don't get old. As charismatic and skilled as Daniel is, the real star of this event was the host, The New York District Council of Carpenters, Labor Technical College's floor covering instructor, Ron Zimmerman.
This is the Carpenters' Union training school in New York City, which is a permanent facility that is similar in size to the typical urban community college. But the similarity ends at the front door. Ron Zimmerman runs the Floor Covering Department, which has jurisdiction over wood floors. There are classrooms, demonstration and work areas dedicated to the installation of wood floors. For union carpenters who want to learn the skills required to work for wood flooring contractors, training is available that is structured to teach the skills and tools of the trade for wood flooring. Knowledge and hands-on is a powerful combination. But we all know that you don't have a relationship with an organization. It is the people who answer the phone, do the work, and make things happen that we have to deal with.
Ron provides a great deal of support to run these classes in NYC in a manner that is comparable with the training provided in St. Louis at NWFA headquarters, although on a slightly smaller scale. This training partnership between NWFA and The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America is delivering a high-quality learning environment for anyone willing to take advantage of the opportunity. There is another class scheduled for August 3-5, with a few spaces still available, so be there or be square.
