The National Tile Contractors Association (NTCA) has announced Columbia River Tile & Stone as the first company to complete the new NTCA Five-Star Accreditation process. Additionally, two existing NTCA Five-Star Members—Heritage Marble & Tile and D.W. Sanders Tile & Stone Contracting—have completed the accreditation requirements.
Since 2008, the NTCA Five-Star Contractor Program has established high standards and requirements for its elite members who demonstrate exceptional craftsmanship and business practices for tile and stone installation contractors. Recently, NTCA has added an accreditation requirement for these members, demonstrating their commitment to advancing the professionalism of the tile and stone industry while providing third-party accreditation.
“This is very important if you want to be specified in labor qualifications, and necessary if we wish to have credibility with general contractors and project owners,” said Bart Bettiga, NTCA executive director. “It assures the qualification if anyone questions the program, and also assures the process was fair and impartial in approval or denial.”
Becky Serbin, NTCA education and curriculum director, explained, “Since we enhanced the application process to give a much bigger view of a company overall, we only thought it fair that everyone go through the application process [again], instead of grandfathering in companies that had a much simpler application process. Otherwise, it is still the same NTCA Five-Star Contractor program but with a new enhanced application process and third-party evaluation of the application.”
Existing NTCA Five-Star Contractor members have through the end of 2024 to reapply.
“We are very excited to be a part of this amazing program,” stated Jeff Occhipinti, owner of Columbia River Tile & Stone. Dirk Sullivan of NTCA Five-Star Contractor Hawthorne Tile in nearby Portland, Ore., urged Occhipinti to join.
Occhipinti added, “As a Five Star Accredited Company, we are proud to uphold the highest standards while working towards the advancement of our company and our trade. Being a part of this program represents our commitment to education, industry standards and best practices. Additionally, we are looking forward to learning from other members and continuing to grow as a business. We feel truly blessed to be a part of such an amazing program.”
Added Martin Brookes, president of Heritage Marble & Tile, “My previous NTCA Five-Star Contractor membership allowed me to promote my company in a category of excellence. I look forward to the benefits of being an NTCA Five-Star Contractor, and the rewards that manufacturers and distributors recognize within this elite group of accredited tile contractors.”
For more information on the NTCA Five-Star Contractor program, visit https://www.tile-assn.com/page/ntca-five-star-accreditation.
