Name: Kevin Watts
Age: 65
Company: TFS Dorset Ltd, trading as Kevin Watts Flooring Solutions
Job Title: Managing Director
How did you get into the flooring industry?
When I was still in school at the age of 12, I used to help a family friend, who worked in the flooring industry, at weekends for pocket money. I worked my way up from there. It helped that my brother also worked in flooring. I joined him after leaving school at age 15. I’ve been in this industry for over 50 years now!
What’s been the biggest change in the industry over the past 10 years?
Health and safety has become stricter. Now we have to wear safety gear and steel toe cap boots when laying vinyl flooring. Back in the day nobody cared about what you did, and we didn’t have these sorts of regulations; we just got on with the job, whatever the conditions.
Looking forwards, what do you think will be the biggest change in the next 10 years?
Technology is definitely advancing and will keep on doing so. I find it difficult to keep up, so my staff do that for me! But, even with all these advancements, I expect we’ll still be using similar products: levelling compounds, waterproof surface membranes, and following similar procedures in ten years’ time.
What’s the worst job you’ve been on?
I wouldn’t say I have ‘a worst job’ to be honest. Time constraints can be frustrating, but it’s always been the nature of the game. You have to finish quickly, and the clock is ticking all the time!
And what’s the best?
Nowadays I just sit in the office and sort the papers out, but I enjoyed all the jobs I did as a fitter really. The fact that we never got called back to jobs after finishing was great. The best bit was always at the end, standing back and admiring what you’ve done. I reckon that’s a thrill for every flooring contractor.
Do you have a go-to product for certain jobs?
We use a lot of Styccobond F3 for carpets, Styccobond F44 for vinyl sheets and Stopgap 700 Superflex over flexible subfloors. But our most used product is Stopgap 1200 pro. It saves us a lot of time because we don’t have to prime before application in most cases. We also use all of F. Ball’s waterproof surface membranes.
What do you like best about the job?
Back in the day I used to really like the challenge of getting a job done as efficiently as possible. Now, I mainly enjoy building relationships and interacting with different people every day, including chatting and having a laugh with customers when they come into the shop. I also have a good relationship with F. Ball tech rep, Steve Sinclair, who I call from time to time for advice.
What is your least favourite thing about the job?
It’s not easy to find people who will do a good job. Generally speaking, the quality of fitters isn’t what it used to be. Nowadays people simply go on a six-week training course and call themselves a floor layer. This is reflected in their work sometimes, especially on a Monday morning, after the weekend. Back in my day, if a fitter had the right qualifications, you could rely on them to install floorcoverings to a high standard.