The Huddle Podcast

Training is essential to the future of flooring, but how do we make it easier to find, access, and track? This week on The Huddle, Ben from TradeTap joins the crew to talk all things training, workforce development, and the role education plays in strengthening the flooring industry. We'll dive into the challenges surrounding training accessibility, the importance of continued education, and how T...

When a flooring installation fails, who's responsible, how is it determined, and what can the industry learn from it? In this episode of The Huddle, Daniel and Jose Gonzalez are joined by Kevin Keefe, Dave Garden, Scott Bohaker, Andy McWilliams, and Kenneth Jones for an insightful conversation about flooring failures, inspections, and claims. The crew dives into the role inspectors play in the flo...

The skilled labor shortage is one of the most talked-about challenges in the trades. But what if we've been focusing so much on finding new workers that we've overlooked why so many don't stay? The conversation has always centered on attracting younger generations, expanding training opportunities, and getting more people interested in skilled trades careers. Those efforts matter, but bringing peo...

Selling flooring is one thing. Understanding what a customer actually needs is another. Too often, the conversation starts and ends with the product. What color do they want? What's their budget? How quickly can it be installed? But a successful flooring project involves much more than choosing the right material. It requires understanding the space, asking the right questions, identifying potenti...

There are lessons you can only learn after years on the job. There are also things experience alone may never teach you. In the flooring industry, experience has always carried weight, and for good reason. Time in the field builds instincts, problem-solving skills, and knowledge that can't always be replicated in a classroom. But as products, standards, installation methods, and technology continu...

Managing a crew is hard. Managing customers, schedules, jobsites, and a growing business can be even harder. But sometimes the person creating the biggest challenge is the one looking back at you. It’s easy to recognize someone else’s bad habits. It’s harder to confront your own. Poor time management, procrastination, lack of organization, avoiding difficult conversations, or simply taking on too...

Teaching someone how to install flooring is important. But if we want people to stay in this industry, learning the technical side of the trade can't be where their development ends. A career needs somewhere to go. It needs opportunities to improve, people willing to mentor, clear ways to build credibility, and a reason to keep investing in yourself year after year. Without that path, we may be te...

Cuando algo sale mal en un proyecto de pisos, es fácil mirar primero la instalación. Pero algunos de los errores más costosos ocurren mucho antes de que el instalador comience a trabajar. Una mala comunicación, un alcance poco claro, expectativas que nunca debieron establecerse o decisiones tomadas sin considerar las condiciones reales del proyecto pueden generar problemas que afectan a todos los...

When something goes wrong on a flooring project, the installation is often the first place people look. But some of the most expensive mistakes happen before the installer ever gets to work. A bad estimate. An unclear scope. A promise that never should have been made. Poor communication between the office and the field. Hiring the wrong person or failing to catch a problem early enough. These deci...

The flooring industry has plenty of opinions. What it needs more of are people willing to invest their time in someone else's growth. There is an incredible amount of knowledge held by the installers, contractors, business owners, trainers, and industry professionals who have spent decades learning this trade. That experience is valuable, but its real impact comes from what happens when it's share...

Most contractors have at least one job they knew, somewhere in the back of their mind, they probably shouldn't have taken. Maybe the expectations were unrealistic from the beginning. Maybe the scope kept changing, the numbers weren't right, or the red flags started showing up before the work ever did. Sometimes you take the job anyway, and those are often the projects that teach you the most. In t...

Winning the job because you had the lowest number can feel like a victory. But what did it actually cost you? In this episode of The Huddle, Paul, Daniel, and Jose dig into the pressure to compete on price in the flooring industry and what happens when being “the cheapest” becomes the strategy. Lower margins can affect everything from the time available to do the work right to the ability to inves...

Comfort feels safe, but it can also keep an industry stuck. In this episode of The Huddle, Paul, Daniel, and Jose take a hard look at whether flooring has become too comfortable with the way things have always been done. The conversation digs into where old habits still hold the trade back, how resistance to change shows up in business and installation, and why progress requires more than just tal...

In the trades, experience matters. But experience alone doesn't earn respect. Long before someone knows your résumé, they notice how you carry yourself. They notice whether you show up on time, keep your word, ask thoughtful questions, own your mistakes, and treat people with respect. Those habits often leave a bigger impression than years of experience ever could. In this episode of The Huddle, P...

The flooring industry has never stood still, but the pace of change is accelerating. Advancements in technology, evolving customer expectations, workforce shortages, and new approaches to training are already reshaping the way companies operate. While no one can predict exactly what the next decade will bring, one thing is certain: the businesses that embrace change will be in the best position to...

For many business owners in the trades, stepping away from work is easier said than done. There is always another call to return, another estimate to finish, another crew waiting on an answer, or another problem that only one person seems able to solve. Over time, being the person everyone depends on can turn into something much heavier. It can create burnout, slow growth, and make the business ha...

Over time, each moment in your career become your reputation—and eventually, your legacy. This week on The Huddle, Daniel and Jose have an honest conversation about what it means to build a name people trust. They discuss how craftsmanship extends beyond technical skill, why professionalism matters even when no one is watching, and how every interaction contributes to the reputation you carry thro...

The flooring industry isn't short on technology. The real question is whether it's solving problems or simply creating more things to learn. This week on The Huddle, Paul, Daniel, and Jose are joined by James from Measure Square to talk about the tools that are changing the way contractors estimate, communicate, and manage projects. The conversation goes beyond software demos and marketing buzzwor...

Some of the best opportunities for growth in the flooring industry may come from looking beyond flooring itself. In this episode of The Huddle en Español, host Jorge Orta is joined by professionals from the tile industry for a conversation about what different trades can learn from one another. Building on the discussion from last week's English episode, the group explores the value of collaborati...

TSome of the best conversations happen when the audience joins in. This week's episode of The Huddle turned into exactly that. What started as a discussion about what the flooring industry can learn from other trades quickly became a lively exchange of ideas, experiences, and opinions from viewers across the industry. The energy was high, the comments were rolling in, and the conversation touched...

There's a unique kind of credibility that comes from having done the job yourself. The best leaders in the trades often started in the field. They've worked through difficult installations, dealt with unhappy customers, managed jobsite challenges, and learned firsthand what it takes to get the work done. That experience can become a tremendous asset in leadership, but it doesn't automatically make...

Most leaders don't struggle with conflict because they lack the answers. They struggle because difficult conversations are uncomfortable. The challenge is that problems rarely solve themselves. A missed expectation, a performance issue, a disagreement between team members, or a customer concern can seem manageable in the moment. Left unaddressed, those same issues often grow into frustration, rese...

Most business owners know exactly where their revenue is coming from. The harder question is, do you know where your profit is going? This week on The Huddle, Daniel and Jose dig into the hidden issues that slowly drain profitability from flooring businesses. Rarely is it one catastrophic mistake. More often, it's a collection of small inefficiencies that compound over time. A callback here. Mater...

Sometimes the biggest thing hurting your business isn’t what you see, it’s what quietly slips through the cracks. This week on The Huddle, Paul, Daniel, and Jose break down the hidden “profit leaks” that slowly drain money, time, and efficiency from flooring businesses every day. From callbacks and poor communication to wasted material, underpricing, and disorganized systems, the guys dig into the...

This week on The Huddle, Paul and Jose lead a real and honest conversation about the challenge of growing a business without losing yourself, your relationships, or your family in the process. While Daniel joined in through the comments, this episode focused heavily on the realities many business owners in the trades quietly carry every day. From long hours and constant pressure to missed time at...