Name: Andy Elsdon
Age: 41
Company: Andy’s Flooring Studio
Job Title: Managing Director
How did you get into the flooring industry?
I was fed up of working in factories – packaging boxes, over and over, having to do the same routine every day. Age 19, you want a bit more excitement in your life, so I took myself to the job centre to see what opportunities they had and managed to secure an apprenticeship in the trade.
After working for someone else for many years and learning the trade, sadly, I lost my mum to cancer and my employer wasn’t the most supportive, so I quit. It wasn’t long before I had people coming to me directly with jobs, and I’ve been working flat out ever since.
What’s been the biggest change in the industry over the past 10 years?
The variety of floorcoverings has changed a lot of the years. It used to be carpet, vinyl, and laminate, and that was your lot. Now there’s LVT, safety flooring, and lots more to work with. We do all aspects of flooring and it’s been great to learn new things and have new products to work with.
Looking forwards, what do you think will be the biggest change in the next 10 years?
A shortage of fitters; there’s few youngsters coming through anymore. I would say to anyone interested in learning a skill, perhaps someone who’s working in a factory and not enjoying it: come and try flooring. Definitely persevere with it; it’s tough, especially the first few years when you’re learning, but it’s a great career to have and it can, like in my case, take you all over the world.
What’s the best job you’ve been on?
Cruise liners – it’s chaos, but great fun. They’re definitely challenging but it’s great to have the variety. I’ve been to Alaska twice, Miami, The Bahamas, Canada – there’s not a lot of careers which take you to so many places.
And what’s the worst?
The first cruise liner job that I did nearly killed me! It was the first job back after I’d fallen off a roof and had been off work for 18 months. It was three weeks long, and I vowed never to do one again. Six years later, I’m still doing them.
Do you have a go-to product for certain jobs?
We use lots of F. Ball products: we use Stopgap 1200 Pro a lot; if we need to turn around a project in a short space of time, Stopgap Fast Track 30 is brought in for the job; plus, waterproof surface membranes, adhesives, and of course, the marine-certified products. F. Ball really looks after us, especially our Tech Rep, Lee Crofts – I’ve been away on cruise liner jobs and messaged him for his advice and he’s come back pretty swiftly.
What do you like best about the job?
The variety of it and the people you get to meet. I’ve been doing it for over 20 years now, and it’s just as enjoyable now as it was when I started. We’re soon to be training some apprentices in flooring skills, which I’m really looking forward to.
What is your least favourite thing about the job?
Uplifting. Just because of the sheer mess it makes.