Page 6 - Flooring Contractor Historical

F E A T U RE D A R T ICL E

This is the history

of FCICA as remembered

by Fred Acton

n the 1970s, there was a flooring association formed called
The National Association of Floor Covering Installers
(Acton Flooring joined in 1970). I am not totally sure of why
Ithe origination failed but it lost members and the support
of industry. There were a few die-hard members of NAFCI that
moved to an Interior Design and Rug Cleaners association. This
would have been in the early 80s; there was a huge void in the
industry between the installers and manufacturers with little to
no communications between the two.
In 1982, the president of the Carpet and Rug Institute Ron Van
Geldren asked a few flooring contractors from across the country
to meet in Chicago. Members at that meeting included Ron Van
Geldren and Ned Hopper from CRI, Tor Meberg (New York), time FCICA was formed it was an organization of commercial
Dave Merkling (Chicago), Jim Dipelesi (New York), Bill Paterson and residential contractors. Without the help of Ned Hopper, Ron
(California), Jim McAbee (North Carolina) Ken Tveter (New Van Gelderen from CRI and Tor Meberg, there would not be an
Jersey) and Fred Acton (Alabama). After about a 6-hour meeting FCICA.
and a lot of discussion about the organization’s name, we settled Our first convention was in Newport Beach California; we
on FCICA and each contractor agreed to contribute $1,000 each to had a good attendance from both the installation community
start the process of incorporating. From the flooring contractors’ and the manufacturers. The adhesive industry was also well-
side of the table Tor Meberg was the driving force in helping put represented at all of our conventions. There was an agenda set at
all of the parts together. The board of directors was formed to that convention to work with industry leaders to form guidelines
help guide and direct the origination, and with the help of Ron for installation of carpet that later became known as CRI 104
and Ned, by-laws were adopted with a mission statement. At the standards for the installation of commercial carpet. After 18
months of work, the standards were approved by the industry.
Then the committee worked on The Standards for Installation of
Residential Carpet (CRI 105) and after long industry wide debates
they were accepted. The board also formed a committee for
membership and education. The education committee held 3 one-
week training classes a year for several years with Dave Merkling
as chairman of the educational committee.
After five years the board of directors, with the encouragement
of CRI, made the decision to hire a full time Executive Director
and the first director of FCICA was Rob Woodard.
Over the past 35 years the association has had it financial
problems as other associations have, but membership and
participation from contractor members and associate members
have kept the association vital to the industry. 
- Fred Acton

6 The Flooring Contractor Magazine Special Edition 2020