The last day of my first four-day NWFA Principles of Wood Flooring school was all about finishing (see my posts about Days 1 and 2 and Day 3).
And because you need to let the floor rest between coats, there was plenty of time to chat with my panel mates and instructor. We’d gotten to know each other during the week, so it was nice that on the last day we could share business cards and laughs.
My group was unlike any school group I’ve been paired with. Everyone held everyone else accountable for doing the task right. The constant encouragement helped each guy take the drill seriously and get better with each hit on the nailer or pass on a big machine.
In fact, I saw the same support in all the other groups. Students did not wait for an instructor to come to the aid of whoever was struggling behind the buffer. They themselves stepped up and offered their advice.
It all made for an experience that wasn’t top-down, instructor-pupil, but a more egalitarian one where everyone was simultaneously student and teacher.
So I thought I’d let you know a bit about who was on my panel. We’ll start with this guy—Wilson Lam.
Lam and I were the only guys on our panel who are strictly pencil pushers in our day jobs. Lam is an office clerk (a drone, he jokes) for the Vancouver, British Columbia-based Qualiwood Enterprises. It’s a tiny import business that distributes engineered and laminate flooring throughout British Columbia and Alberta, Canada.
His boss and a coworker had been to previous NWFA schools, so Lam was thrilled to get the opportunity.
It seems that companies often keep sending people to NWFA training once they’ve been bit with the school bug. The Master’s Craft sent a good number of its employees to this school. I had two of them on my panel. This is Arsid Panxhi.
Panxhi is from Albania. He came to America in 2013 and lived in Dallas before moving to Arkansas with his wife, who found a job teaching there. Panxhi is in sales for The Master’s Craft, but he’s athletic and easily maneuvered his way around the panel.
He was attracted to the wood industry because he loves the outdoors and wanted to spend his life working with a natural material.
The second guy on my panel from The Master’s Craft was Bryan Gillet.
I learned on the last day that Gillet was an actor and singer in musicals out of college. The charisma is palpable, just look at that photo.
Gillet is 41 years old and, after quitting acting, spent 20 years working as a mechanic for Saturn and General Motors.
He’s doing sales with The Master’s Craft, but he’ll also be working on machines, he says.
The school is a way for Gillett and Panxhi to learn what their customers are dealing with and give smart answers to any questions that arise.
The lone contractor on our panel was John Neuman, owner of Neuman Construction in Sioux Falls, S.D.
Neuman started in the remodeling and roofing business in 1990 before focusing exclusively on roofing for a while. He soon became the go-to guy for the South Dakota Small Business Association, and he also started doing projects for the Veterans Administration and Federal Courthouse.
He’s beginning to do more and more residential work, including remodeling and putting in floors.
While the day spent learning the basics of installation was helpful for Neuman, it was the sanding and finishing that really got his attention.
Neuman said his company contracts the sanding and finishing work to other businesses, but he came here to learn enough to end that.
So I asked him at the end of the school if he’d still be contracting that work out?
“Not anymore,” he said.
It was great to rub shoulders with these guys and share stories. Certainly go to wood flooring school for the knowledge. You will come out knowing far more than you expect, even if you’ve been doing floors for a while. But don’t overlook another key aspect of the schools—getting to know fellow wood flooring professionals across the country.
These are the guys who have been in the entry-level school trenches with you, and the relationships built here will only become more valuable as you start sticking your head up and charging toward greater success.
From left: Me, Bryan Gillet, John Neuman, Arsid Panxhi, Wilson Lam. Splayed at bottom: Instructor Mark Mukosiej
