NTCA Five-Star friendships lay groundwork for business partnership sponsored by BUSINESS TIP There are many benefits to being a contractor member of NTCA. If you are wondering what they are, take a look at the May TileLetter Benefits Box to see them all in one fell swoop. There are additional paybacks to being one of the elite contractor members known as NTCA Five-Star Contractors. This group has a rigor- ous set of requirements to join, but enjoys special perks such as manu- facturer discounts, special regional training opportunities and atten- dance at the annual NTCA Five-Star Summer meeting. At the summer meeting they are privy to top-notch speakers, presentations and demos on technical and business aspects of their business, and ample chance to network with fellow Five-Stars to share best practices. Sometimes, partnerships grow out of membership in this net- work of high-caliber contractors. A joint venture between Welch Tile & Marble Co., in Kent City, Mich., and Kemna Tile in Dallas, Texas, is one such partnership that owes its beginnings to a Five-Star con- nection. Working together Dan Welch of WelchTile&Marble and Barry Kemna of Kemna Tile worked together before they became NTCA Five-Star Contractor members, spurred by the need to diversify in light of the 2008 downturn. In the tradition of NTCA members helping each other, Welch Tile – at the time a labor-only company – received a hand from full- service contractor Kemna Tile, both of whom were NTCA board members at the time, about 2010. “The relationship blossomed since we were sharing labor,” Welch said. “We took a lot of risks together. Now we are team building.” Before Kemna developed its own terrazzo team, there was a lot of terrazzo work across the country with clients Kemna had relationships with, and Dan Welch, Welch Tile & Marble Barry Kemna, Kemna Tile By Lesley Goddin, Editor 28 TileLetter | June 2019