Fitter of the Year - Carpet - 2022 – The Finals
We are pleased to announce that the winner of this year's competition is Dan Evans.
Fitter of the Year - Carpet - 2022 Final
The grand final of the Fitter Of The Year 2022 – Carpet competition took place at The Flooring Show in Harrogate and as always the competition attracted a lot of attention. The final would normally have taken place over two days (the Sunday and Monday) but due to the funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II it was decided quite last minute to condense the final down into one day. As a result, the stair and landing element of the challenge had to be taken out which meant that the platforms were relatively straight forward. The raised platform was a stretch fit installation with a join and the lower double stick platform had to contain a border. This section of the platform was also the freestyle segment where the finalists could show off their skills.
The Judge's Challenge this year was to produce a cake from the carpets previously supplied to each finalist and this section was won by Sam Sanders who won £100 Amazon voucher. Sam had this to say about the event: "I really enjoyed my experience in the competition and was happy to walk away the judges challenge where we were asked to make a carpet cake using the carpets and colours provided. I had the opportunity to meet some great people within the trade. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable experience."
The final as a whole was won by Dan Evans who walked away with £2000 cash as well as a bounty of tools and prizes donated by the sponsors. Dan was relieved as this was his fourth final and he produced an almost faultless platform so well done to him and all the finalists whose efforts once again exceeded expectations and who coped so well with the revised format at such very short notice. Dan had this to say about taking part: "What a tremendous experience it has been to be involved with the competition again. I thoroughly enjoyed taking part and competing against like-minded installers. After many tries I finally got the win and can't thank the sponsors enough for the fantastic prizes and prize money I received. The competition has enabled me to meet many new people, expand my networking within the trade and is great for acquiring new business. I'd recommend entering to anyone, being a part of the competition is an incredible achievement and has been a great test of skill."
View the 2022 Final photo gallery
Feedback from another finalist was also very positive about the experience, Ryan Hughes told us: "I had a blast at fitter of the year, you meet like-minded people that strive to do things to the highest standards and also at the end of it all make new friends! I'd recommend anyone to enter its definitely worth pushing yourself and also get to promote that you have been and done it."
Ian James in his role as Head Judge and Compere at the finals said: "As head judge in the competition the finalists never fail to amaze me with what they can produce and it's a pleasure to be part of it".
We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in this year's competition: the judges, Ocean Media for their continued support at the exhibition and Alex Butler, Event Director of The Flooring Show, who presented the prizes at the awards ceremony; our sponsors without whom we couldn't run the event, and also Brian King who this year worked solely on the competition stand to provide the live feed through the UK Flooring TV channel.
Congratulations to Dan for winning and well done again to all the finalists, the standard of skills was tremendous.
The Finalists
Hi I'm Darren Ash from Malvern. When I started carpet fitting 40 years ago whilst still trying to figure out what my dream job would be I never once believed 40 years later I would be running my own successful carpet company and be a 5-time finalist of the competition I had heard of as a young man. My father who was an amazing fitter and always instilled in me to be proud of my work and offer the best service possible. Therefore, I found myself partaking in training and fitting assessments in which I met great people and characters, many of which have become great friends. Now I find myself back at Harrogate and would like to thank the organisers for their efforts to allow everyone to showcase their skills. Well done and good luck to all who have taken part. Total respect to John Whale. RIP Peter Whale.
I have worked in the flooring trade for over 18 years. I started out working alongside family members and soon realised that this was what I wanted to pursue as my career. I now run my own successful business where I install and restore all different kinds of floor coverings, especially enjoying the challenge of bespoke designs, ensuring that customer specifications are met and fitted to the very highest level. I attended my first FITA Course in 2008 where I then got a taste for further training. It opened my mind to new and different ways of accomplishing my trade in the best way possible. I pride myself on keeping up to date with current standards with ongoing training. I am looking forward to competing at Harrogate for the fourth time and am thrilled to have this opportunity once again. I look forward to competing against like-minded, highly skilled fitters.
Dan Evans
I am absolutely over the moon and honoured to be in FOTY carpet competition finals. I started in this industry in 2005 working with my dad who I sadly lost this year. I have always enjoyed my trade and take pride in giving my customers the best service that I can. This is the second time that I have entered the competition and in 2019 I managed to reach the semi-finals. I have gone on to pass my master installers assessment in textile floor coverings. I am so happy to have reached the final this time. I would not be where I am without the support & encouragement from my amazing family and friends, they are always pushing me forward to excel in what I do. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the organisers and sponsors for making this competition possible and I am looking forward to competing and catching up with the other finalists.
I am absolutely delighted to have reached the final of CFOTY again. I love this competition and everything it does for the trade bringing fitters together from all over the UK. I'm hoping the experience I gained in 2019 will make everything a bit more familiar this time. It was a big learning curve for me personally as I'm more used to the day-to-day work which is totally different to competition work. It's very rewarding from a personal point of view. My dad will be there watching again just to add some extra pressure, he's the man who got me into the trade 33 years ago . In my spare time I like climbing mountains in the Scottish Highlands a new found passion and if I'm not on the hills you'll find me on a golf course. Good Luck to everyone.
I'm Sam Sanders from Hull. I started working in the trade with my dad at a young age. Since then I've always been encouraged to attend various training courses and expand my skills further, which has helped me keep up with continuous development of the trade. This has led me to meeting and working with some great and inspiring people in the industry. I currently run my own flooring and binding businesses alongside my wife, where we put quality and creativity as our number one priority. Being part of this competition is my next step in my career and look forward to getting involved and meeting people with the same passion and interests. Thank you to everybody for their continued support and good luck to all the finalists.
We would like to take the opprotunity here to thank our remaining semi-finalists who didn't make the final, but who took part and playing a valued role in the 2022 competition.
