Who’s Driving This Bus? (April 2007)

So what does this made-for-Comedy-Central scenario have to do with the stone industry? What if you woke up one morning and found the carpet industry was in charge of the standards in the stone world? Impossible, you say? Well … yes and no.
About two years ago, I was informed that the IICRC (Institute for Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification) was starting to certify marble- and stone-cleaning/restoration technicians and inspectors. It was like a Lennox Lewis left hook to my forehead.
The IICRC had long been known as a certifying body for carpet cleaning and fire, flood and disaster restoration. Now, a consumer-recognized organization was taking on the stone business – the crown jewel of the covering industry.
Essentially, carpet cleaners were now going to tell stone-restoration professionals the difference between the buckwheat and the bullshy. Whether they knew the difference or not, they had the edge with the consumers’ respect for their professionalism in the carpet industry that they’ve built for more than 30 years. And, we all know how the end users of stone view stone restoration and care professionals as glorified janitors.
This wasn’t welcome news to me and other die-hard stone people who have long promoted certification and education within the restoration trade.
Enter the diplomats. It turns out that the IICRC was not the Evil Empire that they first appeared to be. Interesting enough, they sent out a number of envoys to make strategic alliances with the masters of the Stone Nation.
The first historic meeting of these two worlds came in 2005, when StonExpo and the ISSA (International Sanitation Supply Association)/Interclean shows were held simultaneously in Las Vegas. I was there when the big wigs of the stone army met a high-ranking officer of the IICRC stone division. A pleasant accord to reach a truce was agreed upon, and talks were to continue.
Let’s move on to Coverings 2006 in Orlando, Fla. This time, the IICRC sent two peaceful diplomats to further align the two industries. The way for peace was set in stone (pun intended) and solidified at the Marble Institute of America (MIA) Gala. (People say that parties don’t promote business; I say you’re not working them properly.)
Now it was the stone industry’s move. Three highly respected stone professionals were sent to get a feel for this upstart carpet industry organization’s workings, and to see what all they wanted from us.
What we found out was amazing. It turned out that they didn’t want to drive the bus. They were willing to provide the vehicle, but they wanted professional drivers to plan the route and command the vessel, as they’d done previously for the wood industry.
The IICRC had become masters at gaining the consumer’s confidence and had the vehicle to get where everyone wanted to go. They’d done the paperwork, and had ANSI and ASTM backing and support. What they needed were experienced guides.
How impressive is their experience? They aren’t snowed by the charlatans of the industry; they have an extensive process to ensure that the industry doesn’t become watered-down. They ensure that manufacturers who only want to lead their people back to their factory don’t get keys to the bus. They truly want to educate people and do it right.
Sure, the stone industry can do it themselves. Sure, we don’t need help; but there’s the rub. By the time we master the certification and weeding-out process to the degree that the IICRC has, they can master the stone-restoration end and we still won’t have the customer awareness that they’ve achieved in the last 30+ years without costing a lot of money.
So here is the deal (or steal) of the century: They give us the vehicle, and we give them the experience of how to drive it. Together we can achieve more quicker than if we were to both try to compete.
The pinnacle of professionalism in this organization came when I was in Houston getting my required certifications. In order to be an approved teacher for the MSI (Marble Stone Inspector) certification, I had to take an ISSI (Introduction to Substrate and Subfloor Inspection – everything with these people is an acronym) course.
To teach this course alone, the approved school brought in a past president of the ICRI (International Concrete Repair Institute), Peter Craig; a current representative of the APA (American Plywood Association); a flooring-manufacturer representative with more than 30 years of experience; and several other industry experts from the various disciplines of construction (several of whom needed this course to teach their segment for the IICRC).
It was a joy to have all of these top people sitting around the table on a Friday night for a dinner at the home of Claudia Lezell, the school’s owner. Everyone always says that it would be nice to get all the industries together to work together for a better tomorrow; the IICRC is apparently doing this now.
This isn’t the story of a blind person driving the bus; it’s more like a bus manufacturer giving the vehicles to transportation companies and allowing them to hire the drivers.
The answer to the question of who’s driving your individual motor coach then is left up to each and every one of us. We can choose to allow whoever steps up, or we can make a concentrated effort to man the position with the best our industry has to offer.
Do you have a chauffeur’s license?
Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.
A quick final note: In reference to my column “The Non-Customer” in the November 2006 Stone Business, we went to mediation on Feb. 21, and won the case against the contractor that tried to renegotiate after the job was done. The judge told them that we were being more than fair with them – and if they didn’t agree to settle that day, they’d lose in court and end up paying more in court costs and late fees.
Tom McNall is founder and owner of Great Northern Stone Care, a Huron Park, Ontario-based stone-cleaning and -restoration company servicing all of southern Ontario. He also serves as the director of training, technical assistance, and operational support for Stone Restoration Services, a division of Stone Shop International. Tom also offers corporate and private consultations, serves as a trainer for the Marble Institute of America, and is also on the organization’s board of directors. He can be reached at tom@greatnorthernstone.com