Originally formed in 1979, the NICF (or National Institute of Carpet and Floorlayers) aims to promote excellence across seven different domestic floorcoverings through increased awareness and understanding of the relevant British Standards and ultimately to provide quality assured workmanship to the public. The NICF is headed by an elected council, whose president rotates on a fixed-term basis. Last year, longtime member and Master Fitter Jason Draper was elected President of the NICF, and he kindly took some time out of his busy schedule to speak with us and discuss what he’s been up to!
Jason got into flooring over 20 years ago, starting his career with the very basics! “When I was 15, I worked in a local carpet shop as a weekend lad, making teas, sorting out the work for the fitters, and from there things progressed.” He went from working as a subcontractor to a full flooring contractor, fitting domestically and then moving to commercial work. Eventually, he decided he wanted to concentrate primarily on high-end domestic work, and as part of this focus on quality, decided to join the NICF around 9 years ago.
Jason was elected NICF President last year at the NICF AGM, held at the Museum of Carpet in Kidderminster. Along with his colleague Dan Jones, elected Vice-President, Jason will serve a two-year term throughout 2025-2026, leading Council meetings four times a year while helping address any issues that arise throughout his tenure. The process that saw Jason elected was slightly more convoluted than usual, he tells us, with the previous Vice-President – who was tipped to become President for the 2025-2026 period – stepping down before election, leaving something of a leadership vacuum. Part of the council already at this point, Jason says he was encouraged to go for the top role by fellow members, and their confidence in him was clearly well-placed!
All about quality
According to Jason, the biggest benefit of the NICF is that it provides a “support network” for fitters, retailers and anyone else in the domestic flooring trade. “As a fitter, you can join the NICF, you can use that logo and it gives you credibility with customers that there’s some accountability behind your work.” In those instances where customers are unhappy with a fitter’s work for whatever reason, rather than relying on he-said-she-said negotiations, fitters can direct that customer to the NICF, which is able to mediate based on British Standards, resolving disputes fairly. “On the other side,” he points out, “there’s lots of perks to being a member – discounts on clothing, on tools, with some of the manufacturer members too.” Overall, he concludes, the organisation’s goal is to boost the profile of the industry while raising fitting and quality standards throughout.
One area where this is particularly relevant, Jason points out, is the ongoing skills shortage affecting not just flooring, but trades across the board. “We’ve got good apprenticeship schemes in the industry and there’s a good number of young people coming through into the trade.” As he points out though, simply having young people go through apprenticeship schemes isn’t enough on its own to plug the gap – there’s a big difference between an apprentice and an established floor fitter: “So it’s not just enough to chuck 100 guys on an apprenticeship and hope that fixes things!”
As such, the NICF works closely with its commercial sector counterpart, the CFA, on a joint initiative the organisations set up back in 1998, the Flooring Industry Training Association (FITA). FITA has two training locations, one in Loughborough and the other in Kirkcaldy, which offer some 24 courses across multiple flooring types and levels for both the domestic and commercial fitters. According to Jason, the centre expanded massively post-COVID and is now one of the key tools for the industry to address the skills shortage head-on. Beyond the NICF’s direct influence there, its focus on quality and raising standards has certainly been taken seriously by the rest of the industry, with manufacturers like F. Ball, Uzin and Bostik (among many others) offering several training courses of their own.
Of course, it’s the independence of the NICF that makes its emphasis on training so important, offering authoritative guidance without any leeway for accusations of specific manufacturer bias or leniency. For their relationship with end customers, this kind of validation is invaluable for fitters. Jason believes the issue is now less to do with the availability of training resources, and more to do with reticence about attending courses. “Sometimes people are a little bit sheepish about going on training courses, and I think that’s probably the main issue – but the training is there,” he points out.
As both an NICF Master Fitter and a FITA instructor (on top of his duties as NICF President!) Jason knows a thing or two about quality flooring installation: “I think it’s always about those small details. It’s knowing how a small change to what you’re doing can make a big impact on the final job and the longevity of that job.” That secondary aspect – of focusing not only on making the carpet look good immediately, but ensuring it remains properly fixed throughout its entire lifecycle – is one thing that separates a good fitter from a great one, Jason says. “It’s about having that thought in mind that the customer bought this flooring and it’s got a 15, 20-year guarantee on it, so you should be looking to fit it so it can last that whole period.”
Making preparations
Perhaps the most important single event on the industry’s calendar is The Flooring Show in Harrogate (taking place later this month) and for the NICF this is especially true. Not only is the organisation hosting a stand in Hall B adjacent to the FITA Demo Zone where you will find Jason’s fellow Council member Craig Emery on hand to discuss the NICF and the benefits of membership for fitters, retailers and manufacturers, it’s also hosting the Grand Finals of the Fitter of the Year competition in Hall Q. This year, the contest is focusing specifically on the ever-growing category of LVT, with the semi-finalists having been pared down to a group of just five earlier this year at The InstallerSHOW.
Although he isn’t involved in the judging, Jason was a finalist in the awards in 2016, and is particularly excited about this year’s finals. “It’s a fantastic competition every year,” he says. “The guys who judge it are brilliant, and it’s a great achievement for everyone who’s reached the finals. To be there, trying to fit while being watched by everyone and judged by industry experts – you couldn’t get much more pressure, so hats off to them!”
On the shift from carpet to LVT for this year’s contest, Jason emphasises that the NICF has no agenda when it comes to promoting one type of flooring over another (it should be noted that from 2021, the competition has alternated between carpet and LVT each year). “The NICF definitely won’t promote any specific type of flooring,” he says. “Personally, when I’m doing jobs, it’s what’s practical for the customer – you fit what they want.”
More broadly, Jason says, The Flooring Show is key for building and maintaining community in the industry. “It’s just as, if not more important than ever,” he says. Not only will many manufacturers use it as a springboard for introducing, promoting and demonstrating new products, fitters attend the show in droves each year. As the show starts during the weekend, installers can attend the show without even taking a day off, which makes it a very low-risk opportunity for networking and learning about new products. “It’s just a great way to meet people, and you know, there’s probably not enough of that nowadays,” Jason says. “Everyone’s so busy on their phones!”
Community building
One of the key events during Jason’s tenure so far has been the closure of the Carpet Foundation, announced in May of this year. Founded back in 1998, the foundation was set up to generically promote carpet to UK consumers in the face of smooth flooring’s meteoric rise. Manufacturers and retailers rallied behind the cause and the foundation became the de facto trade association for those groups. With its closure this year, the NICF realised there would now be a group of companies that no longer had a trade body representing and advocating for them.
“It was brought up at a council meeting and we set up a small marketing campaign to address those companies that were affected,” Jason explains. “We put that offer out there and since then a few new retailer members have joined the association.” Being a part of this process, alongside his other duties, has been “so good to see”.
In talking to him, it’s clear that Jason’s primary motivation as NICF President is to foster a positive community in the flooring industry at every level, from fitters to retailers to manufacturers. The work he’s already put into this goal has been impressive – we look forward to seeing what he achieves in the second half of his term!
www.nicfltd.org.uk