Dalton—The World Floor Covering Association’s (WFCA) Certified Flooring Installer (CFI) program will now offer testing, credentialing and credit recognition for graduates of the Floor Covering Education Foundation’s (FCEF) “Basic Floor Covering Installation” program (BFCI) offered throughout its network of technical colleges and schools.
CFI will develop and offer standardized testing materials and guidelines for graduates of this program that the school’s qualified course instructors can administer. This test will include both written and hand-skills test components that will evaluate the student’s knowledge and abilities at the installation helper level. CFI will issue the credential of “Flooring Technician I” to students who successfully complete the “Basic Floor Covering Installation” course and pass both portions of the exam.
This credential will signify the student is qualified in basic floor covering knowledge and is ready to enter the workforce as a flooring installation helper or assistant in any flooring product category.
“The Flooring Technician I certification will accelerate students’ career paths and build a pipeline of skilled installers,” said Steve Abernathy, chief operating officer, WFCA. “WFCA is a founding sponsor of FCEF and, through CFI, has worked closely with the FCEF to cultivate the BFCI technical college program and is excited to assist the FCEF with developing and deploying an industry-recognized credential for these graduates.”
For those students who wish to immediately continue their education and receive CFI certification, CFI will also recognize this credential as follows:
- Students holding this credential will be credited with the first two (2) weeks of CFI’s five-week residential carpet certification course, which leads to a CFI R1 Certification.
- Students holding this credential will be credited with one (1) week of CFI’s four-week residential resilient certification course, which leads to a CFI Residential Resilient Certification.
- Students may enter either of the above two programs immediately upon receiving the Flooring Technician I credential.
For those who go to work immediately after completion of the BFCI program and complete their certification at a later date, CFI will recognize this credential as follows:
- Students holding this credential will be credited with six months of the work experience requirement of any of CFI’s certification programs. Most of these certification programs currently require 24 months of work experience prior to certification testing eligibility thereby shortening the work experience requirement to only eighteen months.