CFA Membership is Not Just a Badge, Says President

CFA President Alan McEwan focuses on the full range of CFA membership benefits and encourages members to take advantage of them.

“For some, being able to display the logo on their vehicles, stationery and marketing materials, and the association with professionalism that comes with this, is enough to justify the cost of membership. To ensure that CFA membership carries a reassuring level of credibility for your customers, prospective members are reviewed to ensure that companies are active in the contract flooring industry, financially stable and have the correct insurances. We also ask for examples of recent jobs and references, and members must abide by the CFA code of conduct. Those that don’t, risk having membership revoked.

“This means people searching for a flooring contractor and seeing the CFA logo can be confident that the companies listed have been subject to some due diligence and vetted based on them delivering a quality service. After all, the CFA’s tag line is ‘Quality by Association.’

“Professions such as electricians and gas installers are subject to hard regulation through schemes, including NICEIC or Gas Safe. In safety critical industries, it is a way of showing that an organisation meets industry-agreed standards and criteria. It can be argued that the CFA offers soft regulation for the flooring industry driven by the industry through the CFA. Certain organisations, including some local authorities, won’t use flooring contractors unless they are CFA members. Members are featured on the online directory of the CFA’s website, which gets up to 2,500 hits a month, and this has been shown to increase business for many contractors.

“For many though, there are probably several benefits of which they’re not aware, or they aren’t realising them.

“Help with training is probably the most used service, with discounts available to members on training courses held at FITA’s training centres in Loughborough and Kirkcaldy. Training courses are available for all levels of experience and across all aspects of floorlaying, and the centres are able to help in the delivery of NVQ courses, so now people can get a Level 2 NVQ Diploma in Floorcovering Occupations (Construction) through On-Site Assessment (OSAT) with the help of FITA.

“Beyond this, the CFA has a lot of resources available to help with the business side of things. With more red tape and legislation being one of the growing issues affecting many businesses, the impact it has on smaller businesses is proportionally much greater.

“The CFA can offer much needed help in this area, with business support helplines for things such as contracts and legal issues, employment law, health and safety, tax, marketing, and adjudication, all of which can be accessed free of charge by members.

“There is a free dispute resolution service – including a site inspection and report – to assist members and their clients in negotiating a resolution to installation-related complaints. Through the CFA, members can also get access to specialist insurance services and can get discounts on DBS checks, which are often required for working in places such as schools and colleges. We’re also able to provide free credit checks on companies, so contractors can weigh up the risk of extending credit to prospective clients before carrying out any work.

“The CFA can even help with ‘mundane’, but necessary paperwork, having available ready-made templates for standard legal or regulatory statements, such as terms and conditions, general and moisture-specific disclaimer letters, and other policies increasingly required by larger companies and public sector organisations.

“Members also have a platform to contribute to industry standards and regulations. The CFA itself is a member of Build UK, which represents over 11,500 contractors throughout the UK, across all sectors of the construction industry. This gives us a voice in shaping regulatory and policy decisions right up to government level, affecting things like health and safety, fair payment practices and other issues affecting contractors.

“The CFA communicates benefits to members when they join and on a regular basis via monthly email updates, the Members’ Area of the website, committees, networking meetings and, of course, social media.

“The CFA is there for its members, and it’s the members who shape how the association operates and what services it provides, so if you have any suggestions for things we could offer, or if you think we could improve any of the services we currently provide, let us know.

“Being a CFA member offers more than you might think. If you’re not a member, it’s worth considering – why not?”

Call 0115 9411126, email info@cfa.org.uk or visit www.cfa.org.uk to find more information and sign up as a CFA member.