“Still Climbing Out” is the theme of the 7th annual blogfest, which brings together bloggers from around the globe to write about the importance of bathrooms in the customer experience. Their posts come from a wide range of perspectives that include sociology, marketing, research, psychology, environmental, customer experience, and design.
We have always been North Carolina folks – our parents are ‘from here’, we grew up here, we will probably always live here, and 98% of our business has been in the Tarheel State. In the past several years, however, we’ve been fortunate to be involved in the tile industry on a national level. We’ve attended national conferences, written for industry trade journals, and even worked on joint projects with tile contractors from other states. As we travel and talk with our peers the general consensus is that we are still climbing out of the debris that has been the construction industry for the past several years.
However, from our vantage point, the best of the industry seems to be climbing out together- not scraping and clawing but building upon and encouraging. Many throughout our nation want to focus on what divides us, but, for the most part, quality tile contractors seem to be concentrating on what we can do as a group to help the industry collectively. Certainly we compete on projects from time-to-time and we often prefer our own way of doing things, but the general belief is that when individual companies are better trained, better equipped, better managed, and working toward common goals, then all of us succeed. Perhaps our nation can return to that ideal in coming days as well…
In our industry we’ve seen unprecedented cooperation as trade and labor tile organizations have worked together to develop specifications that will help designers, architects, and consumers more carefully select tile installers; manufacturers have worked jointly to agree on common standards for the ‘green’ characteristics of their tile products; tile installers and distributors have begun having trade conferences jointly to offer even more learning opportunities; and tile contractors from all over the US now meet as one Five Star and Trowel of Excellence group to share ideas, promote excellence, and continue to drive the industry forward.
As the fatigue factor lessens from the endurance test of the past few years, we are hopeful that this common spirit flourishes even more. Perhaps it’s been the desperation of our shared economic crisis that has pushed us to think collectively, but the result has been an encouraging lift to our spirits. Challenging climbs still await to be sure, but a moment of appreciation that we are still here to climb another day is in order.
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| Name | Twitter Username | Blog Name | Blog URL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Susan Abbott | susanabbott | theIdeaStudio | http://www.theideastudio.ca |
| Laurence Borel | blogtillyoudrop | blog till you drop | http://www.laurenceborel.com |
| Bill Buyok | AventeTile | Avente Tile Talk | http://www.aventetiletalk.com/ |
| Jeanne Byington | jmbyington | The Importance of Earnest Service | blog.jmbyington.com |
| Nora DePalma | steamtherapy | The Mr. Steam SteamTherapy Blog | http://blog.mrsteam.com/ |
| Mr. Steam | noradepalma | OR-DP POV | http://www.oreilly-depalma.com/blog |
| Stacy Garcia | kbtribechat | kbtribe | http://kbtribe.wordpress.com |
| Diane Kazan | dkazan | Public Bathroom Blog | http://thekazan.blogspot.com |
| Arpi Nalbandian | Arpi_Nalb | Avente Tile Talk | http://www.aventetiletalk.com/ |
| Victoria & Shelley Redshaw & Pond | scarletopus | Scarlet Opus Trends Blog | http://www.scarletopus.com |
| Sandy Renshaw | sandyrenshaw | Purple Wren | purplewren.com |
| Bruce D. Sanders | rimtailing | RIMtailing | http://rimtailing.blogspot.com/ |
| Paige Smith | none | Tile tips from installation professionals | https://neusetile.wordpress.com/ |
| Todd Vendituoli | TALV58 | Thebuildingblox | http://www.thebuildingblox.com/ |
| Shannon Vogel | cyswebsites | From the Floors Up | http://fromthefloorsup.com |
| CB Whittemore | cbwhittemore | Content Talks Business Blog | http://simplemarketingnow.com/content-talks-business-blog/ |
| Irene Williams | crossvilleinc | Elevate Your Space | http://elevateyourspace.wordpress.com/ |
| Linda Wright | skiptotheloo | Skip to the Loo! | http://lindaloo.com/ |
Neuse Tile Service 