Buildings have walls, ceilings and floors, and similarities abound. We all grapple with some of the same issues, such as deflection limits to minimizing cracks in our finishes. Dealing with engineers on deflection limits can be challenging. Engineers know structural integrity and design to ensure safety but they may not understand the nuances of materials and best practices to reduce cracking in brittle finishes that go beyond mere deflection. I have found it doesn’t matter if it is walls, floors or ceilings, engineers seem to take offense to comments regarding vibrations or internal stresses as an insult. I have learned to make it clear that I am not questioning the integrity of the engineering design or safety of the structure. Wall, ceiling and floor contractors share issues of trade stacking, overzealous inspections, compressing work schedules and risk shifting. It is tough to grow market-share, let alone survive in a world that seems to just get more and more low price driven.
My flooring group may have figured out a good way to weed out many of the bad actors in contracting. The first rule is to agree that competition is good. It inspires us to be better and keeps us moving forward and America seems to agree. A world-wide study surveyed various countries on risk taking and attitudes on competition. On the question of, “Do you like competition?” The “yes” answers were: Americans (77-82 percent), EU citizens (55-65 percent) Chinese (65-69 percent). So, apparently, it is in our nature to compete.