MEMBER SPOTLIGHT –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– “We sold our big house so I could stop traveling, and find a little work around here until things got better,” Rogers said. “And then we rebuilt a house right next to the old house on six acres, since we loved this area.” As a solo contractor, Rogers was attracted to the technical sup- port and vouchers that the NTCA offered. Plus, he said, “Robb is a good salesman. Vouchers help out with supplies and 24-hour support is important when I need help and a question answered.” His local setting materials rep also offers great technical support, but the “vouchers, the Handbook and hav- ing technical support there when I needed” made it easy for him to decide to join. The satisfaction Rogers gets from his work keeps him going, earn- ing a living doing something he enjoys. “I love to go into a place and it’s nothing but a room with sheetrock and when I walk out, it looks fantastic and ready to move into,” he said. “And to watch the smiles on [my customers’] faces and hear what they say even before we are done.” His four decades of experience also provide a unique perspective over how things have changed. “Nothing now is like it was then,” he said. “We made our own grout and floated mud floors...we hardly used any thinset. It’s totally differ- ent now, but I get the same result. I think it has changed for the bet- ter. It’s safer, it’s neater and cleaner and you can get more done than we did in the old days.” And, he pointed, out, “Showers used to fail all the time. Now I can do 100 showers – and they don’t fail. Showers are changed for the better, and so is the education about how products work.” Hexagonal and plank tile combine for an arresting and beautiful floor Rogers works on a mural for a Price Chopper deli in Kansas City that is about a football field long and ten feet high. 72 TileLetter | May 2018