Page 31 - CFJ_Feb26

CONTRACTOR PROFILE

WASTE NOT WANT NOT

PART THREE | The final instalment in our profile of Graham Burdett of Cromer Carpets in Norfolk
RAHAM Burdett, as we’ve seen, has So, as he tells, the widest width he they’ll pass the message up. I go to the
Gbeen in flooring man and boy. And can work with in a hotel kitchen is 2m - trade shows and speak to staff, but even
even though he’s 68, he’s shown no the ideal width. ‘All the manufacturers’ there I don’t really meet anybody at the
interest in retiring from his company in machines are 2m wide. And it’s ideal – 2m top. I don’t ever get to meet decision-
Norfolk, Cromer Carpets. is perfect. But they make the same stuff making people, and I’d love to have a
But while we noted Graham’s for bathrooms on the same machines as conversation about this with them.’
experience of business in the first part for the hotel kitchens and behind bars in Thankfully Burdett’s not lost business
of this story, he has a real problem with pubs… they have never had a two and half because of this situation saying, ‘we
one part of the trade – waste. And try as metre or three metre machine … and I’m always get the job, we don’t lose any
he might, he’s meeting dead ends when absolutely certain it could be done.’ business, and we charge for the waste
trying to find a solution. But if manufacturers became more material’.
The problem is very simple. When flexible in their offerings – say they But what really irks Burdett is this
Burdett fits wet-room safety floors, he’s gave him a range of widths, they’d win problem is unique to this type of wet-
having to order far more material than his business forever. As he says, ‘if any room flooring as ‘everything else comes
he needs, with a sizeable chunk being manufacturer offers me a range that multi-width’.
discarded. comes in two, two and a half or three He details in other areas that ‘some
Why? Because as he outlines, most metre widths, I wouldn’t show other rival manufacturers offer widths of 1m, 12-
wet-rooms are more than 2m wide. The products - I’d leave them on the van. I’d foot Westex, 4m, 15 foot, and 5m. They
problem is the material – the flooring – is go to customers and say, ‘this is a multi- do five different widths. Then there’s the
2m in width and that’s not enough. width range, this is a set of colours you old-fashioned Imperial widths and the
Says Burdett: ‘Only one in 100 wet- can have, and you won’t have a joint’.’ modern metric width… there’s various
rooms, I’d say roughly, in north Norfolk, is He’s certain they’d pick from that range cut down widths in the carpet. And vinyls
under 1.8m wide. Most of them are 2, 2.2 without real regard for colour as they come two, three, and four and there’s one
by 2.7m or maybe two and a half by 3m.’ only ever choose a neutral colour which book with 5m which is handy sometimes.’
He continues: ‘When you go to see matches the tiles and suchlike. It’s no stretch of the imagination
these lovely people, who’ve spent quite The amount of wastage created by to realise Burdett is keen on being
a few thousand pounds having a wet Burdett would diminish and he could sustainable and is taking steps to do
room created - and they’re quite well to then lay flooring in one piece, saving an better by the planet. Cutting out flooring
do - they really don’t like it when I explain hour’s fitting time, the need to weld a wastage is one change, but in other areas
the flooring has to have a welded seam in joint, and importantly, the need to explain he says ‘we’re doing as much as we can.
it which will be a slightly different colour to customers why they must have an We send the poles back that carpets
and different texture.’ unsightly joint. come on. And the foam has gone from the
Burdett gives an example: ‘If I’ve got a Burdett isn’t bothered if the back of carpets’.
room at 2.75 by 2m, I’ve got to order a manufacturers charged more for these Sadly, he reports there’s little that can
3m section to do the curls at either end wider sections: ‘They could charge more be done with used carpet – ‘when they’ve
and order another 3m bit. I’m wasting for it because I’m not wasting any. They been down 10 or 20 years, in even a
over a third of it, just chucking it away might sell a standard roll at one price, but beautifully clean, lovely house, it’s still
because the customer wants one joint in they might charge 25% more for the two
a straight line.’ and a half or three-metre-wide roll.’ dirty. We have to bin it’.
Cromer Carpets doesn’t presently
He adds a contrasting situation - a hotel And he says this because the price of
with a kitchen where customers don’t the flooring isn’t price critical – ‘when the operate any electric vehicles, but Burdett
care about the joints – ‘if you have a pub, floor is the last thing to go down’. He adds says ‘the next one might be - we’ve got a
you’ll know all about the joints behind the that his charges for a typical wet-room 4,000sq ft south facing flat roof and we’re
bar.’ However, he says that the average are between £500-750. going to have solar panels on the roof
person in the street who’s never seen And the bonus for the manufacturers, with electric charging points, so the solar
joints before would be irritated. as he sees it, would be first mover brand panels will charge up a van’.
And with regard to a hotel kitchen, for loyalty – ‘even if others caught up and Ultimately
which Burdett uses an easy example of a provided wider rolls, I would still prefer Burdett is hoping his waste story might
room that measures 8x8m, he’d get vinyl the original manufacturer because they get a response from manufacturers. As
in lengths of 8.5m so it curls at either end. had helped me.’ he reiterates, ‘if they made it wider, we’d
‘You do two runs of two x 8.5m. You lay it It really grates on Burdett that he’s order less material and there’d be less
out, fold it back on the top, put glue down, totally failed to get his message over to waste, and we’d be greener. That’s the
then lay the vinyl into the glue. Then you manufacturers. As he outlines, they seem one, two, three of customer satisfaction
fold the other half back and put that in to live in a gated world ‘I can’t get in to.’ and it would be easier for me to sell’. 
the glue.’ He adds: ‘I speak to the reps and they say www.cromercarpets.com

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