60-Second Interview: Luke Hall, Crusader Carpets

Name: Luke Hall 

Company: Crusader Carpets 

Job title: Sales Manager

How did you get into the flooring industry? 

I trained to be a secondary school teacher which turned out to be the biggest mistake! When I’d finished with that career, I asked my dad, Ron, if he had any jobs going and things went from there.  

When he left school, he went straight into carpet fitting, and eventually, in 1983, set up the family business with my uncle. I’d help out when I was younger and then through my student years, so I already had some experience. My grandad was a fitter too, so it runs in the family.

What’s been the biggest change in the industry over the years? 

When I came on full time 12 years ago, wool carpet dominated the market. Now, LVT has taken off, especially in domestic jobs. Years ago, new build houses were wall to wall in carpet (except the kitchen and bathroom). Whereas these days, we’ll be doing the whole ground floor in LVT.   

It feels like it’s unstoppable. Herringbone is all over the place, though I’d say we’re now seeing more customers wanting different designs, something a bit more ‘arty’.   

Carpets will always have their place, but gone are the days of having carpets everywhere, including bathrooms!  

Looking forwards, what do you think will be the biggest industry change in the next five to 10 years?  

Definitely more colour. Grey has been dominant for some time, but colour is starting to come back into the home. Customers are also looking for modern patterns and contemporary design, so I think we’ll be seeing more of that.  

I also think we’ll be seeing more synthetic carpets due to them being hardwearing and recyclable. Wool might be biodegradable, but if it has a polypropylene backing it has to be removed and recycled separately. 

What’s the best job you’ve been on? 

Ten years ago, our work was about a 50:50 split between domestic and commercial, but now it’s much more domestic. Though, we recently did a job at a pirate shop at a theme park using F. Ball products – that was a good job to work on. 

And what’s the worst? 

We had a client who wanted seagrass installed and it was a nightmare; no one likes fitting it.  

Then, five years later they reordered it again, but of course the quality was worse than before, and we just had to explain that the manufacturer said it was an acceptable standard for the product.  

Quality control generally seems to be less than what it used to be. Some manufacturers still have good attention to detail, but those numbers are starting to dwindle. 

Do you have a go-to product for certain jobs? 

Our warehouse is full of F. Ball yellow tubs!   

Stopgap 1200 is our go-to screed [smoothing compound] – all the fitters love it. We’ve been offered cheaper alternatives from our distributor, but no one likes change, and F. Ball products are reliable.   

We also like the service F. Ball offers. The Technical Service Department really know their stuff, and there’s always someone’s mobile we can ring if we need a site visit, which fortunately doesn’t happen too often.  

What do you like best about the job? 

Getting paid! Seriously, the flooring industry is informal; everyone gets left to their own devices and is trusted to get their job done. There are no meetings about targets here. If you do your best, then it won’t come to a head and that’s how most people would prefer to work.