60 second interview: Richard Argyle from 4 Floor Fittings

Name: Richard Argyle

Age: 43

Company: 4 Floor Fittings

Job Title: Flooring Installer

How did you get into the flooring industry?

It was purely fluke! I installed my own laminate flooring at home, and my friends saw it and asked me to do theirs too. After I finished a job for one of my friends, it was spotted by a carpet fitter, who asked me to join their company.

What’s been the biggest change in the industry over the past 10 years?

There’s been a huge swing in people choosing hard flooring over carpet and laminate. I sensed a shift to LVT, and I wanted to make sure I was part of the change, so I took a course in it. Before I knew it, everyone was asking for LVT flooring. I rarely do any laminate or carpet floors anymore.

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

I think everyone is going to be doing whatever they can to be greener. The flooring industry uses a lot of plastic packaging for things like laminate flooring. From what I’ve heard, there is going to be heavier taxes on companies who are using a lot of plastics for their products.

Many products I use now are environmentally friendly and use cardboard packaging. Even though it costs more, people are willing to pay the premium to reduce their impact on the environment.

I think products like Stopgap 1500 are years ahead of their time because no plastic bottles are needed, meaning the industry is producing less plastic and the waste that comes with it.

What’s the worst job you’ve been on?

It was a bungalow conversion. They wanted LVT flooring throughout the whole of the ground floor and the newly added first floor. The bedroom upstairs was massive, about 100m², the biggest I’ve ever seen. The previous contractors had latexed directly over chipboard, and it all ended up cracking at the joints. The whole floor had to be completely repaired but once it was, I came back and fitted the LVTs, and it looked really good.

And what’s the best?

There was a job I was on recently, which consisted of a hallway, toilet and kitchen. The tricky part was the hallway, as there was an angled wall which was only a foot long, meaning the room wasn’t squared off. It was quite a tight space, and if the flooring was fitted a certain way it would have made the area feel very small. It came out looking fantastic and the customer was very happy.

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

I really like Stopgap 300! Just five minutes ago I used some for a job that I was on.

What do you like best about the job?

I love latexing. In the last four weeks I’ve done nine flats in Cambridge using about seven pallets of latex. I was working with my son, and we mixed about 300 bags using just two buckets and a drill.

There was another job in Hounslow, where an old Debenhams was being converted. I was working with my brothers and we covered a 2,200m² area using 570 bags of latex, all hand mixed, in four and a half days.

What is your least favourite thing about the job?

Disorganisation. I don’t like getting to a job and when I arrive it’s completely different from what I’ve been told to expect. A good example is when you’ve been told you’ll have an empty space to work in and you go by yourself only to realise that there’s furniture that needs to be moved before you can start the job.