The Floor Covering Leadership Council (FCLC), a coalition of flooring associations formed in 2015 to address challenges in the industry, has voted to disband. The vote was unanimous and is effective immediately.
The decision comes three months after the formation of the Floor Covering Education Foundation (FCEF), an organization spearheaded by the World Floor Covering Association (WFCA) and dedicated to recruiting, placing and retaining flooring installers, as well as creating scholarships for training. WFCA, which had been a part of FCLC, set up FCEF as an industry-wide initiative and also pledged $1 million toward addressing the installer shortage crisis.
“With the formation of the new Floor Covering Education Foundation (FCEF), there is not a reason for the FCLC to exist,” former FCLC Secretary Kim Oderkirk said in a statement.
In 2018, FCLC commissioned an independent research firm to conduct a study to quantify the scope and severity of the lack of installers in the flooring industry. The FCLC owned the research from the study and in an act of goodwill and best wishes for the FCEF to succeed, entrusted the research to them, FCLC stated.
Aside from WFCA, other members of FCLC included American Floorcovering Alliance; International Certified Flooring Installers Associations; Floor Covering Installation Contractors Association; North American Association of Floor Covering Distributors; National Institute of Certified Floorcoverings Inspectors; and National Tile Contractors Association.
