Why use a CFI Installer?

When bad flooring happens to good people . . .

We've all seen bad flooring before - strange bubbles in a kitchen floor, gaps in hardwood flooring waiting to catch the heel of a shoe, mysterious ripples in carpet made of lawyers' dreams, mismatched carpet patterns zigging and zagging out of control down a hotel hallway . . .

Carpet ripples of doom	A sad, sad, buckled parquet floor

Ahem, none of the above were installed by CFI installers.

Actually, we don't know who installed them, or where they are now. Chances are, the customer who paid for flooring installation and got these tragedies instead probably has no idea where the installer is, either, and that's just not acceptable.

For more flooring horrors, visit our

Gallery of Regrettable Floorcovering Installations

a rotating carousel of failed floors that were put in by installers who probably seemed like a good bargain at the time.

According to the Department of Labor

About 42 percent of carpet, floor, and tile installers and finishers are self-employed.
Most workers learn on the job.

There are no educational requirements to becoming a floorcovering installer. Most learn their trade by informal apprenticeship to family members or co-workers, without any standardized training, and with minimal, if any, education and training on safety. Their knowledge of installation techniques is limited to whatever the guy who trains them knows.

Okay, we cited a statistic from the Department of Labor. What does that really mean for you?

Anyone can call themselves a "flooring installer". In most states, it is not a licensed profession. Without proof of training and certification of skills by experts, you have no idea whether an installer knows what they doing or not until AFTER they install your floor. Without certification and proof of their skills, your installer might turn out to have worked on a flooring installation maybe once or twice (with another installer who knows what they are doing) and decided they are ready to try their hand at doing it themself. That makes your floor an experiment. Ouch!

What is required of the Installer to receive CFI Certification?
To become certified by CFI the installer must apply for membership and demonstrate their skills with professional, expert installer trainers in rigorous, hands-on training workshops. CFI installers are shown exactly how to install flooring the right way, and each installers gets personal, direct training from our team of experts. To see what is involved with certification, check out the CFI certification levels. While there are written exams and business forms to learn, the most important thing for you to know is that your CFI installer has done the type of installation you need in front of a scrutinizing training team and has proven they know what they are doing.

What is required of the Installer to receive CFI Certification?

To become certified by CFI the installer must apply for membership and demonstrate their skills with professional, expert installer trainers in rigorous, hands-on training workshops. CFI installers are shown exactly how to install flooring the right way, and each installers gets personal, direct training from our team of experts. To see what is involved with certification, check out the CFI certification levels.

While there are written exams and business forms to learn, the most important thing for you to know is that your CFI installer has done the type of installation you need in front of a scrutinizing training team and has proven they know what they are doing.

Does the Installer sign an agreement?
Certified CFI Installers will sign an Agreement Agrees to provide a minimum one-year labor guarantee Responds to recalls as soon as possible, preferably within 72 hours. Adheres to Manufacturer’s Guidelines, CRI 104-105 Standards and CFI Requirements CFI Installers are committed to excellence in their professional skills AND in their customer service.

At CFI we pretty much live for training installers to do the job right. It's the reason we exist.

CFI installers know what they are doing, they constantly strive to improve their techniques and learn new ones, and take a genuine pride in their work and customer service.