On-site Advice and Training

When you’re out on a job, what you want most is the reassurance that the products you’re using won’t fail. At BAL not only can you trust our quality product, we back this up with complete product support on the phone, online and on the road.

BAL’s Training and Technical Support Team cover the whole of the UK and work with our Area and Regional Sales Manager to offer practical knowledge and on-site advice and training.

If you’ve experienced a problem on your installation, you can trust BAL to offer dependable solutions and remedies.  What’s more, we’ll even send samples away for independent analysis at our laboratories to find the cause of the problem.

So if you’re looking for training and support on the job, call our Support Team today.



 

Our Training and Technical Support Team

Lewis Lupton - National Training Manager

Lewis joined BAL in 2012 after an extensive career as a tiler, first joining the industry in 1996 at a family-run plastering business with specialism in wall and floor tiling. Lewis is a qualified assessor and also holds a Certificate of Education allowing him to teach adults in tiling techniques.
TEL - 07970450192

Dave Rowley - North West

Dave has over 27 years’ experience in tiling, having joined the industry upon leaving school and gaining a City & Guilds Advanced Craft qualification in wall and floor tiling through an apprenticeship. He is also Lead Judge for the wall and floor tiling section of SkillBuild, the national construction competition for apprentices run by the CITB. He is a TTA Board Member and Chairman of the Training Committee. TEL - 07971 171 264

Lino Ciriaco - South West and South Wales

Lino has been with the company for more than 15 years and has more than 30 years’ experience in the tiling industry having begun his career in the tiles department of Gardiners Home Improvement Centre. He rose to Merchandising Manager at Tileflair before moving to BAL as a PST in 2000.
TEL - 07970450214

James Hailstones - Scotland

James has more than 25 years’ experience in the industry having first worked as an Apprentice Tile Fixer for his father. James ran his own wall and floor tiling business for more than 14 years before joining BAL as a Product Support Technician in August 2008.
TEL - 07970450200

Vince Ruffini - South East

Vince began his tiling career at the age of 17 when he joined his father’s bathroom renovation business. After gaining his City & Guilds qualification in Wall & Floor Tiling at the Skills Centre he moved on to teach the Level 2 course himself. As a former TTA Committee Member Vince was instrumental in creating an Experienced Worker Route (EWR) course to allow experienced fixers to gain qualifications through a fast-track program, before joining our sister company ARDEX in 2016.
TEL: 07736 638536

David Hilton - Central and North Wales

Qualifying at South Birmingham College, David has over 25 years of extensive experience running his own tiling company including subcontracting for prestigious companies such as Fired Earth and Jackfield Tile Restoration, with projects all over the country.

David always maintained CPD a crucial aspect of his business and to keep abreast of current fixing techniques and innovations continued to attend courses held at suppliers such as BAL. He returned to SBC on a part-time basis where he assisted in delivering NVQ tiling courses, therefore he is well placed to promote the benefits of continued learning and development.

TEL: 07970450205

Matthew Mowforth - East Midlands

After leaving school in 1988, aged 16, Matthew originally wanted to become a chef but, having helped out his father, a floorlayer, on weekends, he knew flooring was the job for him.

Having spent 2 years as a YTS apprentice, Matthew went on to work with his father for various companies all over the UK in subfloor preparation and the application of soft floor finishes, such as sheet vinyl flooring, carpet, and carpet tiles to name a few.

This was until 1997, when there became an opportunity for Matthew to become a General Manager for Yorkshire Flooring in Hull. Matthew stayed there for 4 years before being approached to set up a new flooring company, called Fullmarsh Flooring.

Matthew was employed there until 2007 before going back to being self-employed in 2011, after he saw an opportunity to grow his own company working within the retail and care home sector. Matthew did his until September 2022, before joining the ARDEX team.

Gary Haigh - North East

Gary started in the flooring industry with an apprenticeship in 1990 at 16 years of age, straight out of school. He spent four years learning commercial flooring, including cap and coved flooring and industrial vinyl, before moving on to another company installing carpet and LVT as well as the previous floorcoverings. Gary went self-employed in 2004 fitting mainly LVT, before he started attending manufacturers’ courses soon after to upskill, soon becoming an Amtico and Karndean approved installer.

In 2016, Gary did a Floorskills LVT Level 1 course before completing his Level 2 in LVT installation. In 2019 he entered the European LVT fitter of the year competition and really enjoyed it, in the process getting a passion for training.

On the back of the competition, he got asked to become an installer trainer for Floorskills training centre and a part-time technical advisor for Moduleo, a leading LVT manufacturer, before joining ARDEX in 2022.

Bradley Cutts - East Anglia and North London

In 2012, Bradley joined ARDEX straight from school as a Laboratory Technician. His role began in quality control and research and development where he completed an NVQ Level 3 in Laboratory Associated Technologies.

Whilst working in the laboratories at our head office in the UK, Bradley was heavily involved in the testing of our flooring adhesives range.

After taking a year off to travel in 2018, Bradley returned to ARDEX and made the move into the Technical Services Department in 2020.

In late 2021, Bradley then took on the challenge of becoming the Technical Support Manager for North London & East Anglia.