Jay Jacoby - Fortify Building Solutions Introduction - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Jay Jacoby of Cornerstone. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Hello and welcome to Roofing Road Trips from Roofers Coffee Shop. This is Heidi Ellsworth and we are here today to talk about some big news in the roofing industry. And that is the bringing together of some of the huge companies in the industry and that is Heritage Building Systems, Metal Depots and Reed's Metals all into the Fortify brand. Now this happened in 2024, but we have Jay Jacobi here today to tell us all about it. and what we're looking at for 2025. So Jay, welcome to Roofing Road Trips.

Jay Jacoby: Thanks for having me. I'm really excited to be here.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: We are excited to be visiting. And you know what, I'm gonna make sure, sorry, hold on one second. We're gonna start that over again. Or we're just gonna start.

Jay Jacoby: Okay, and just a heads up, my last name is Jacoby.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Making sure I'm just making sure everything I'm not seeing any. Can you hear me? Okay. Okay.

Jay Jacoby: I can hear you fine. And if you got like a feedback or something, my phone was on my desk and that could have led to some feedback or something. I just got a call and I don't know, just if you heard something.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: No, it's not. I'm just not seeing any settings over here, but we're just gonna go with it. Okay, okay, I'm gonna start over again. Jacoby, did I say that right? Okay, perfect. Jacoby, okay. Okay, we're gonna try this again, whoever's listening, here we go.

Jay Jacoby: Perfect. Yes. Yes, Chicago.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Hello and welcome to Roofing Road Trips from Roofers Coffee Shop. My name is Heidi Ellsworth and we are here today to talk about some big news that happened in 2024 but is really playing a big part in 2025. And that is bringing together industry brands, heritage building systems, Metal Depot and Reeds Metals under the Fortified Building Solutions brand, which is part of Cornerstone. So we wanted to hear what's going on with all of this and what's happening and what can we look forward to in 2025.

We asked Jay Jacobi to join us and talk about what's all happening. Jay, welcome to the show.

Jay Jacoby: Hey, Heidi, Heidi, thanks for having me.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I'm so glad to have you here. This is early morning on a Friday, but this is great. Let's start with a introduction. And if you could introduce yourself, tell us a little bit what you do with Fortify.

Jay Jacoby: I know. I know.

Jay Jacoby: Yeah, so I'm our director of sales. So I work with our sales teams, our branches to help them to get obviously better at selling our products and then making sure that we can provide, know, premier service to our customers, which, you know, can be anywhere from end users to to contractors, developers and anything in between.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: That was great. And you know what, let's just talk a little bit about the Fortify Building Solutions, how it came together and Cornerstone overall. Can you kind of give us that big picture?

Jay Jacoby: Yeah, so metal depots, reeds, metals and heritage building systems are all three brands with their own long histories. But one thing that we found between them and we saw a ton of opportunity was the market that they primarily played in when we talk customer profiles. those each of those three brands primarily work with, as I mentioned, end users, small contractors. They're not really going after the big dogs. Every now and again, we see the big big dog players.

You know, come to us on some commercial work, but a lot more on the on residential side, like commercial and whatnot. So we saw that alignment while also seeing them all play in different geographic markets. And with that opportunity, when you're talking end users, you're talking smaller contractors, you know, having a unified brand, there's there's just a ton of value in that to establish that to where everybody knows and we can leverage those synergies to, you know, to be able to grow within the markets. And as you see, Metal Depots,

As mentioned, they have each different value props that they are able to bring to the table. And by allowing those value propositions to align and be the same across is going to help us to grow. know, Metal Depots has a strong footprint in the New Mexico, Texas and then the East Coast markets. And with that, they have had access to our NBCI manufacturing sites. So a really strong footprint as well as a wide array of offerings.

And then Reed's Metals is similarly heavily in the components game, roofing panels, trims, et cetera, but was a really big differentiator for them was their same day next day service standards. Each of our different branches spread across the Southeast have a roleformers on site, trim folders there on site. So they're able to turn around material for these small customers really, really quickly, which is important in that piece of the business.

And then heritage building systems, know, they're bigger in the overall metal building side. So pre-industrial metal building, rigid frames, mini storages and bringing those under one roof is something we're really excited about doing.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah, wow, what a powerhouse to be able to bring all that together. Let's talk just a little bit about the synergies of all of those companies coming together and really, and you said it with Reeds and I'm so familiar with Reeds. They've been such a big part of the Florida Roofing Contractors Association. But when you're talking about efficient and effective solutions that are fast and simple.

That seems to be really key for what you all are doing in bringing these folks together. How are all those three brands under the Fortify brand really delivering that to contractors?

Jay Jacoby: Yeah, you know, I think a key thing you touched on was simple. And for us, we want to make it simple, especially for customers where it may not be right. You if you're talking end users, this could be the first time they've ever even done anything with a metal roof. you know, having our salespeople being able to effectively communicate with people that are not necessarily product experts goes a really long way. So we want to take something that can be complicated and make it simple for them.

You know, we have different types of offerings, whether it's, exposed fastened panels, know, your, your PBR, your residential ag panels, those types of things, to standing scene. So, you know, we're able to go and, know, for those PBRs that are simple, easy to package and send out, we're manufacturing those at the branches. And then, you know, multiple of our locations have mobile roleformers. We're able to go out to the actual job sites and produce it right there to help to reduce costs, tied to shipping, packaging.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Nice.

Jay Jacoby: Then also, you know, the potential for material defects because we're role forming right there on site. You know, it's, goes straight from the role former and you put it up on the roof and you're, ready to go. And, speed really is the name of the game. I mean, you know, in the Southeast, which is where reads has that very heavy footprint. there's, there's lots of options for people to go out there. and at the end of the day, you know, a metal panel, you know, to most people, it's just a metal panel, right? You know, so long as they like the profile and they like the color.

That's what they care about. And so a big way of when is that speed to market and overall customer service.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah, I tell you what and really with everything that's going on, I mean, you just saying about the Southeast with what we went through with hurricanes this year and the need for roofs and for speed, but also across the country with the severe weather and the fires, there's gonna be so much work and contractors needs people they can rely on to get the materials that they need to take care of their customers.

Jay Jacoby: Yeah. And right. We take no pleasure in any type of natural disaster, but we do take pride in the way in which that our products are able to perform in those types of scenarios. Something that I saw back when there was the Maui wildfires, if you remember those, there's this picture that went viral and you look and there was just utter devastation around it. And then you saw this one building that was sitting there.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: No.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah, yeah.

Jay Jacoby: With the metal roof completely untouched. And that was because the hot embers got on that metal roof and it didn't catch fire. So, it's so oftentimes that metal roofing is thought of for wind speed performance, but to see that also in a natural disaster like a fire was something I didn't even expect to be able to see and experience. then, as we look to Southeast, we had historic storms hitting the state of Florida this year. And you can go drive around there and look from building to building.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right.

Jay Jacoby: You know, seeing, you know, how well the metal roofs, stood up and then, know, for us, you know, for anybody that's in the construction industry, anytime you work on a project, my wife, she gets so annoyed with me because we'll be driving down the highway and I'll point, we did that building. that's ours too. You know? And so to do that and see, how they perform is, is just really cool.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah, that is, know you're in the roofing and metal industry when you're going and pointing at projects as you're driving. Every family knows. Well, you know what, speaking of that and speaking of the different types of projects and you kind of mentioned this a little bit earlier about agriculture, storage, but let's, the rise of residential with metal roofing and metal siding is huge. We're seeing it, I mean, it just keeps growing. But can you kind of talk about the various projects and sectors that... Fortify is working in and kind of some of your specialties.

Jay Jacoby: Yeah, so, you know, one thing that we really take pride in is the wide array of offerings and markets that we can support in. So, you know, when it comes to metal roofing, as touched on, we got standing seam panels that can be a little bit more expensive to your exposed facet panels that are less expensive, but still offer some really good value for the customer to our metal buildings. As we look at, you know, your rigid frame, kind of the types of metal buildings that have a long history of familiarity within our customer base to cold form buildings, which is a little bit newer, but still offers a fully engineered solution all the way to pole barns. So, know, no matter your budget, that's something we're going to be able to play in. So as mentioned, I mean, we're huge in the agricultural market. You know, there's a buzzword going around now that, you know, there's lots of talks of barn dominiums that you see in

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah.

Jay Jacoby: There's metal panels and whatnot that go on it, but some barnum mediums come to us and people think, there's metal on it. I want a metal building. And we'll look and it's like, well, that's actually not a good fit for like a traditional metal building structure, but we can provide those panels and trims all the way to a new buzzword that I only recently heard of was shouses. Have you heard of shouses before? So it's the combination of shops and houses. So somebody will build a half shop.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: No, okay, what is it?

Jay Jacoby: Half house, know, living quarters and then they go and, you know, have the building also be able to house all their toys, whether they're doing wood shops or want to keep their tractors and whatnot. And we're really excited about the prospects of that growth because that is a really, really good opportunity for any of our metal building structures to be able to support.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah, you know what, I keep hearing the exact same thing, Jay. And I think you're right, that term barnuminium is kind of being used for so many things, but really, Shouse is, I love it. And that is what people are wanting to do is to have these metal buildings and be able to really customize them to whatever they need, to whatever their needs may be with living quarters, but also, I mean, we see some with the barnuminiums where they have full arenas. In full arenas and living quarters. I mean, it's pretty amazing as they're going out there. So what are you seeing on the roofing side of things and siding? I'm really interested in siding, especially with what we've seen in the last year or so with all the different patterns, different colors, just different profiles. What are some of the things that are hot that you're seeing overall for the roofing and siding sectors?

Jay Jacoby: Yep, definitely.

Jay Jacoby: Yeah, so, you know, obviously we're very familiar with metal roofing and the traditional sense where you're talking your long, you know, PBR standing seam panels. But we are seeing a growing market of metal shingles. And one thing that we're really excited about that you may not even be familiar with, I don't know, but you know, our business cornerstone building brands recently acquired a company Mueller Inc. And there's a ton of similarities between what they do and what we're doing over at Fortify Building Solutions.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yes?

Jay Jacoby: And that's giving us access to some additional products there. And a product line that they utilize at Mueller is Provia, which it's a metal shingle offering that has multiple different pattern types. You can see slate, barrel tile, there's wood finish options. And so we're going to be rolling that out here in 2025. And once again, has those benefits of metal, but can...

And I'm telling you right now, it's shocking. You go and see one of those and it looks like the real thing, but comes with a pretty significant cost savings. makes your roof overall lighter, you know, relative to, you know, like I said, a traditional, a traditional slate or barrel tile roof. So that's, that's really exciting. And then just the assortment of colors that you can get, get there with it. You know, you're seeing more and more of that, you know, kind of a barn style type of, know, the white and black contrast that's really, really popular right now.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah, I love that.

Jay Jacoby: And then the metal siding. mean, you there's tons of opportunities there as mentioned, you know, compared to a lot of our, you know, smaller competition, we especially see across across the Southeast. One of our big differentiators is going to be the ability to tap into our sister company, NBC eyes network for an expanded profile offering. And then one new thing that we just rolled out here in the last year is we now have a metal board and batten profile that we're really excited to be able to offer.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: That board and batten is just going crazy. mean, people are loving that. Yeah, it looks so good. And talk about protection against fire. I mean, when you have your roof and your siding all metal, again, what long-term performance and protection.

Jay Jacoby: Yeah, it's slick.

Jay Jacoby: Yeah, no doubt. going to take a lot of heat to do something to that.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah, I know. And that's exactly how we want it. So talk to me a little bit about the Fortify brand and your contractors. How is that, how are you working together with your contractors, supporting them to grow this metal market? What are some of the things you have going on there?

Jay Jacoby: Yeah, that's a big thing that we really like about our business is, our goal is to grow the pie, right? We don't want to just eat into an existing pie. We want to grow this overall market. And one of the best ways to do that is to be finding more contractors that, you know, are going to be able to put up our material and expand. So, you know, one of our big things, because we have retail branches where end users often come to, if there's somebody that's new in the business, doesn't have a big market presence for themselves.

If they show that they're a qualified contractor, do good work, if they say something, they actually follow through. Quality, weather tightness, all those different things that's important out of a good contractor, then we can get them put on our contractor list. And when a customer comes to us and they're looking for a roof, they're like, all right, I know what roof I want, but I don't know who's going to put it up because it's not going to be me, right?

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right.

Jay Jacoby: You know, we can give them that list so that opportunity for contractors to get put on that list is really huge for them, especially for smaller growing businesses there. And then all sorts of different training resources that we have there with it. We have a training program called Metal Pro Institute. You know, we offer weather tightness warranties where contractors can become certified, you know, weather tightness warranty contractors and whatnot. So there's a ton of benefits for contractors to be working with us, whether they're established or new and just getting into the game.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: That's great, that's great. And let's talk a little bit, speaking of working with those contractors and getting to be in front of them, the International Roofing Expo is coming up in San Antonio in February. You all are gonna be there. Talk to us a little bit about what you're gonna be showing and what you're gonna be talking about with the contractors.

Jay Jacoby: Mm-hmm. Yep.

Jay Jacoby: Yeah, really excited to spend some time on the river walk and get to hang out with some, some good roofers. Right. Um, so yeah, we're, we're going to be out there. We're going to have a big booth. Um, you know and then we're, I had already mentioned NBCI and Mueller. Those were a couple of our sister brands. We're going to be sharing a booth with them. So you're going to see Fortify, NBCI and Mueller all in one place as we work together as mentioned to grow that pie. And we're going to be, you know, just showing off all of our different.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I love it. Yeah.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Great.

Jay Jacoby: Panel profiles that we have out there are colors. In the last year, we've made an update to our color assortment to better suit our customer needs. Whether you're talking about siliconized polyester finishes or your Kynar finishes, we're going to be able to offer that, depending on what the needs is for the overall customer, whether they're worried about chalk and fade or they're worried about performance in coastal salt spray environments. So we'll obviously have a heavy presence when it comes to metal roofing.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Thanks.

Jay Jacoby: But as you know, so many of these metal roofers are doing way more than just just roofing, right? So we'll be there to talk about our metal siding options as well as our metal building options, whether it's coal barn, cold form buildings, which we call our hyper steel buildings or rigid frame projects. So really, really excited to be there. I definitely encourage anybody that'll be at IRE to come see us.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Rate.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah, I think I'm with you. It's going to be a great show. And I love that you have NBCI, Mueller, Fortify all together really kind of showing because I think I think there's a really strong segment in the roofing industry who is very familiar with cornerstone and with all your brands. But I think there's still a lot of room and a lot of contractors who are going to be looking for your solutions. And this is the place to do it at the International Roofing Show. So.

Jay Jacoby: Yeah, no doubt. I love it, right? I'm going to talk to more roofing contractors probably in three days than I will in an entire year, right? Exciting.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. That is so great. So talk to me a little bit about how contractors can get involved with you and with the Fortify brand. Like, what is the process? How does it work? I know it's national. So how do contractors start getting involved?

Jay Jacoby: Yeah, so you got a few different options, honestly. And one thing that we really pride ourselves on is ease of access and speed to communicate. So I would say if they're local to one of our retail branches that we have, as mentioned, essentially, we've got a really strong footprint with overall Fortify building solutions across the greater South, from New Mexico all the way across to the Carolinas down to Florida and everything in between.

So that's one really nice thing, right? know people nowadays, there's that horrible tendency of companies where, you know, it's so hard to get a person on the line to talk to people. You know, you send in a lead submission and you don't know necessarily where it goes. Or, you know, you make a phone call and you got no idea who you're talking to or where they're located. You know, look up on Google, really easy to find us Fortify building solutions. And you'll see your closest overall location.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah.

Jay Jacoby: And, you know, if you're the type of person that enjoys face to face interaction, which I know I definitely am, you know, just go in and you can pop in at one of those branches and they're going to be able to get you taken care of. If you're unable to go and visit one of those branches, once again, you know, we're going to have that opportunity to still service you because the nice thing about Fortify, because we are owned by Cornerstone Building Brands, even if we don't have a branch location, which eventually we will have a branch location in everybody's backyard. I promise you that.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah. Love it.

Jay Jacoby: Even if we don't today, we have a manufacturing footprint that is absolutely nationwide that we're going to be able to utilize. And we do have that national sales center, which is that heritage group that has typically been an online phone call based cell. They're based in North Little Rock, but they're servicing the entire continental US. In fact, I mean, they've sold projects outside of the United States, into the Caribbean, international, that we've been able to get them taken care of. But obviously in the United States, that's really our core.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Mm-hmm.

Jay Jacoby: Business where we touch on. And once again, with that group, we pride ourselves on trying to just reply and respond as soon as physically possible, no matter what the inquiry is. And if it's something that we can't help you out, we'd love to point you in the right direction to where you can get to somebody that can. So it's a really, really great thing to have good people that are just there to want to service the customer and find out what they need. We're always going to ask.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: That's great.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah.

Jay Jacoby: What do you need from us? And then let's find the solution to your problem versus us telling you what your problem is.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right. That's great. And that's exactly what contractors need, right? That's exactly what they need. Okay. So for all of the contractors out there who are listening right now, are some of the, what's some of your advice on hot trends looking at this year coming in 2025? And also just kind of your advice for them to get into, if they're not already in metal and they want to get into metal, metal roofing, metal siding, what's some of your advice on how to get started for 2025?

Jay Jacoby: Yeah, I mean, with anything that you first want to get started up in, I mean, the first thing is start doing your research and find trusted advisors to be able to work with. Right. And that's once again, something that we pride ourselves on because we do not only work with people that have been in the metal roofing industry for decades. You know, one of our specialties is helping people first break into these markets. So we're going to be able to help you out there. We'll set you up with training. You know, we'll let you go. It goes all the way there through it. Right. We can give customers.

You know, tours of our manufacturing facilities so they can see how, you know, material is actually getting produced. And when you see how it gets produced, it helps you understand, you know, some of the pros and cons of what you're trying to be able to work with. um, you know, that's a great place to start. You know, YouTube is a fantastic thing nowadays. I mean, you can literally learn how to do anything on YouTube. Um, so that's going to be something that they're going to be able to tap into as well. But you know, that face to face hands-on interaction, you know, any of our trainings.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Nice.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I know.

Jay Jacoby: We're going to have mockups there that people can actually go touch, feel. We have field service representatives that can come out to the job sites if there's any sort of issues to help get that resolved. then once again, the really nice thing, especially if you're in the footprint of one of our retail branch locations, is that speed to serve. If something goes wrong, we will help you get it fixed quickly, which is a key, key differentiator for us versus the people that just don't have the type of footprint that we're able to provide out there.

Um, so, then once again, those trends, right? I mean, we're seeing more and more metal roofing, right? Um, I know, I know, you know, there's lots of conversations around, you know, climate change and global warming. And there are people that are uncertain of what's happening, but you know, the one thing that I know I can't deny is I'm seeing a heck of a lot of natural disasters going on. And the best thing that we can do, you know, as you see insurance premiums going up, the best thing that we can do to protect ourselves is, is, is exactly that protect ourselves.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yep.

Jay Jacoby: You know, develop a shelter that's going to be able to handle the elements as best as physically possible. So that's a big piece there with it. You know, in the state of Florida, you know, you may be familiar, you know, they're, supposed to be passing a law that makes it to where HOA's can't limit the use of metal roofing across, their neighborhoods because they found that, you know, it just performed so incredibly well. So those are big trends that we're seeing. And so if anybody's thinking about getting into that metal roofing game.

I highly, highly encourage it's so much opportunity and we're seeing a lot of growth. And with growth means we need more contractors.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: We need more contractors. The homeowners are requesting it. And especially all these new types of structures that we talked about with barnaminiums, shouses, all of these different things, there is such a demand. So we need the contractors to be trained in great installations and have that offering so that people can get what they need to protect themselves. I love it, Jay. This is perfect. And you know, I'm gonna say to others out there too, if you're listening to this roofing road trip, we're also going to be having

Jay on metal cast, and we're gonna be talking more about the buildings and about the overall building structures in metal buildings, because I know a lot of contractors, roofing contractors, who have gone into metal building also. it is the place to be, that's all I can say. Jay.

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and your wisdom. And we are so excited to see you at International Roofing Show. We're gonna have you on our, or expo, I should say, we're gonna have you on our soundstage. We're gonna be there. And for everyone out there, please check out the Fortify directory on both Roovers Coffee Shop and Metal Coffee Shop so that you can get all the information, that contact information, see where all the locations are.

And be able to start bringing this into your business or growing your already metal business. So Jay, thank you again.

Jay Jacoby: Yeah, thank you so much. Nobody I'd rather talk to early on a Friday morning.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Thank you. It is early on a Friday morning. And thank you all for listening. Please check out all of our podcasts under the Read, Listen, Watch navigation on all of our sites. And also on your favorite podcast channel, please subscribe and set those notifications so you don't miss a single episode. We'll be seeing you next time on Roofing Road Trips.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Okay, man, perfect timing. We did great. I know. Do you want to grab some water or anything? How you doing?

Jay Jacoby: I got a water right here, so I'm ready to keep going.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Okay, perfect. We're gonna get you in that. You're gonna be ahead of time for that meeting.

Jay Jacoby: Awesome, that'll let me try and make a couple quick phone calls that I'm missing.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Perfect, that sounds great. Okay, so team, we are now going into Metalcast. Jay, they do use the video on this, you look great. So on Roofing Road's trips, just audio, on Metalcast it is both. So we're just gonna start and, wait, let me pull up my questions. Got them right here, they're a the same, but there we go. Okay, here we go.

Hello and welcome to Metal Cast from Metal Coffee Shop. My name is Heidi Ellsworth and we are here today to find out what is happening in the metal industry. And I have to tell you, big stuff. Growth, everyone is growing and the top, top manufacturers in the industry are making huge moves that are helping every single erector and contractor out there.

And I'm talking about cornerstone. And I'm talking about the new brand Fortify bringing heritage building systems, Metal Depot and Reed's Metals together under the Fortify brand. We're curious. We knew it happened in 2024. What's gonna happen in 2025? So we had our friend, Jay Jacobi join us to give us all of the insights. Jay, welcome to the show.

Jay Jacoby: All right, thanks so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I tell you what big stuff happening in the metal world. It is pretty exciting. And of course, Cornerstone is leading the way. Let's start out with an introduction. If you could introduce yourself, tell us what you do with the Fortify brand and then we're gonna kind of go into that big picture. So let's start with the introduction.

Jay Jacoby: Yeah, I'm the director of sales for Fortify Building Solutions. So, you know, a big part of my job is supporting our sales team, supporting our branches, you know, to make sure that we're in the best possible position to service our customers, you know, when it comes to their metal building and metal roofing needs.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I love it. Okay, so Cornerstone, let's start there. Just give us a little bit of the big picture of who Cornerstone is for those few people who may not know. And then let's start talking about the brands and the Fortify brand.

Jay Jacoby: Yeah, so cornerstone building brands, when we say brands, we mean it, right? So there's a ton of different brands within the overall cornerstone umbrella playing in multiple different sectors of the overall building materials business. So we have what we call our shelter business, which is what Fortify Building Solutions is a part of to where, you know, we're primarily doing metal roofing, metal buildings. And then we also have business units that are playing within the residential, I'm sorry, doors and window space.

And then also the residential siding space. A lot of people may be very familiar with one of our residential brands, Pligem. If you go to the big box stores, you're gonna see their products all over the place.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Mm-hmm.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah, you guys are all over the place speaking of which and really to bring Heritage, Metal Depots and Reed's Metals all together under Fortify. Brilliant. mean, great companies, so much strength. Can you talk a little bit about the synergy and kind of the powerhouse of those three brands coming together under Fortify?

Jay Jacoby: Yeah, so when we look at Metal Depot's heritage and reads, there was a ton of alignment across those businesses, both in product offering, but especially in the market that we were going to when we talk about the overall customer profile, primarily working with either end users to small and mid-sized contractors. So don't get me wrong, every now and again, we'd get in and we'd play with the big dogs and rub elbows with those folks. our bread and butter is end users, small to midsize contractors. So when we see that, it's all that opportunity for alignment. And what's really important in that space is a brand awareness. And when you're marketing three separate brands that are going after similar customers, it makes it a lot harder to really get that overall brand notoriety. So we wanted to unite and align across that while maintaining what made each of those brands special and great.

So as we look at metal depots, know, first off, we see their overall retail branch footprint that they had where folks can just walk in and touch feel, see the products that we sell. You know, they got three stores in the New Mexico area, three stores in the Houston area, a couple in the Carolinas and then one down in Louisiana. So, you know, they had that footprint, but then also they were directly tied in with one of our sister brands in cornerstone and BCI. So being able to leverage just a wide array of panel profiles.

And products was really huge for them. And then we see Reed's Metals who is playing in a similar space. They also have retail branch locations across the greater Southeast. And in fact, we even opened up a couple of locations up in the Montana area. So we're truly shooting for nationwide, but similar products, but their customer service and differentiator is the speed to getting material out to their customers, right? If it's a stock color, stock profile,

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Awesome. Yeah.

Jay Jacoby: We are able to turn a material around, you know, with a same day, next day type of service for pickup and within 72 hours for delivery, you know, as long as we're within 150 mile radius for that type of timeline. So, and then our heritage building systems group, it's a group with a long, long history of, of servicing the metal building industry. And so being able to tap into them and they function more as a national sales center, you know, where they get folks coming to our website, calling in.

And they're leveraging the overall cornerstone national footprint to make us a nationwide brand, even if we don't have a local branch there with it. So really excited about bringing those together, taking what's good and making it to where, you know, where the best possible business that we can be.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah, that is great. And this is really about buying everything you need for a metal building, right? Whether it's the metal building, the siding, the roofing, the accessories, the components, whatever you need, you're going to be able to supply through the Fortify brand.

Jay Jacoby: Yeah, you and you touched touched on components, right? And I think that, you know, one of the things in this industry that we can be really bad about is using using words nomenclature that, you know, our customers don't understand. They don't know an end user when you say, you want to buy some components? Well, what the heck does that mean? Right. When we talk components, right, it's any individual part and piece that gets used to make a metal building, right? Metal building components are those individual parts and pieces. It can be, you know, the smallest fasteners or screws.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: That's true.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah, that's true. Yes.

Jay Jacoby: You know, all the way up to full panels, know, rafter, the actual frames that are holding up our building and everything in between is what we're providing there. So we got the full metal building packages and then also the individual parts and pieces that are not always necessarily going to be used on a metal building structure as we talk about our metal roofing and siding offerings that are being used more and more in the residential space.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right. mean, when you think about how much residential metal roofing and siding is growing, that there just has to be an opportunity to get that and to have that great kind of partnership to be able to offer beautiful metal roofs on all types of structures.

Jay Jacoby: Mm-hmm.

Jay Jacoby: No doubt about that, right? And you know, for us, we have an unmatched profile offering. You know, as we talk beautiful, if somebody goes, if they like the look and feel of metal, we're going to be able to find something for them that they're going to like, whether it's profiles, colors, etc.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: That is, I love it. So what are some of the, let's talk a little bit, you know, as we're talking about metal buildings and everything that you're supplying, but let's talk just a little bit about some of the trends that we're seeing out there in the metal building industry, because, you know, a big part of the Fortify brand is you guys are at the forefront. You really are at the forefront of what's happening. So what are some of the things that you're seeing that contractors should be aware of?

Jay Jacoby: Yeah. So, you know, the biggest thing that you should be aware of is making sure that you're working with a company that is helping to service your needs. Right. You know, one thing that we really pride on in our business, you know, when we talk metal buildings, there's that can mean a lot of different things. You know, what a customer, especially if we're dealing with one of our end users, they just know they like the look and feel and performance of metal, but they don't actually necessarily understand what goes into into making that building and what they need. So.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Mm-hmm.

Jay Jacoby: You know, we have an unmatched offering when it comes to our metal buildings, you know, anything from, from pole barns to cold form metal buildings, which is a very key trend that I'll talk on here just in a second to rigid frame buildings. so the, the nice thing that we see about that is we're going to be able to offer something no matter what the customer's budget needs, design requirements are, so long as they're looking for a metal building. you know, what we're not going to do is fit somebody into square peg, you know, with, with a square peg round hole. Right. So,

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Perfect.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah, right.

Jay Jacoby: On those cold form metal buildings, people are seeing them more and more. They're popping up here in the United States. In fact, the funny thing about that is it is so, popular in Australia. You don't even see that many rigid frame buildings down in Australia. They're cold form, which cold form, once again, nomenclature that our customers don't always understand, right? What are we talking about here? So cold form is what we use to make our Gertz and Perlins, which are key secondary structural members that are spanning across the frames.

To support our roofs, our wall panels and whatnot. So those are made out of cold form material. And when you talk cold form, it just means that it's material that gets formed in just normal temperatures. You don't have to get it hot. You don't have to weld it together or anything like that. And so by getting deeper purlins, you're able to actually utilize that for the frames.

And gives you a nice array of offerings. And additionally, you can manufacture those types of buildings quite a bit more quickly than you can a rigid frame. So, you as we talk about the design, the size, the budget can be a really good opportunity for our customers to use, you know and then from overall trends, I mean, we're seeing it more and more people like the what you can see with a metal building, which is nice, big, open floor concepts with the clear spans that metal can provide. You don't have to.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah.

Jay Jacoby: You know, for most buildings that folks are going to see, we can design them without having to have any sort of interior columns, which gives people the flexibility to do what they want in between. So, you know, a big buzzword that we've seen for a long time now is, is barn dominiums. and barn dominiums can, can mean a lot of things to a lot of different people, right? They just see something that, you know, kind of has a little bit of a look of a barn aesthetic and has metal on it.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Mm-hmm.

Jay Jacoby: So they think of it as being a metal building, but not all barnum minimums are going to be a great fit for a metal building type of structure. Right. If it's, if it's got a lot of bump outs, cut ups, things like that, it could be better used for, you know, actual wood frame construction, just with exterior metal wall and roofing panels, they're on it. But, a key trend that we're seeing more and more. you know, we were talking about this earlier, right? You shouses that's kind of a new thing that we see.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah, shouses.

Jay Jacoby: It's a combination of shops and houses. So people are going and taking their living quarters and their shops and putting it all under one roof so you can go and just walk through a door and go and work on your cars, your tractors, your woodworking and metal buildings are just such a good solution to that because of those clear spans that we can provide. And while also giving it nice architectural components to where it still feels like a home, right?

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right, right, right. So I want to kind of drop back to on the cold forming. That is being manufactured across the country for you. so really by using Heritage and having there where you can call in and work with them on a national level, you can really start looking at these kind of cold formed structures that are in popularity are making it.

Are increasing. Sorry, I'm trying to put that out there. talk to me about that. How is that working for builders across the country to get their hands on it and to get the training for it?

Jay Jacoby: Yeah. Yeah.

Jay Jacoby: Yeah, know, the training is a big piece there. They're with it, right? You know, if you're in the construction industry, you're going to find that a lot of folks are, you know, of the if it ain't broke, don't fix it mentality, right? They like to stick what they know and have been doing this for decades. And so so why would I change? Right. But when you have the opportunity to find a differentiator that can better service the customers, that gives you that opportunity for growth and on the cold form buildings, which we call hyper steel.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Piper still,

Jay Jacoby: You know, the cold form buildings present a huge opportunity and our business has made a massive investment in the last couple of years to be able to bring that to market. As mentioned, the primary structural members for cold form buildings are Perlins. So we have been aggressively investing in more Perlin lines across our nationwide footprint to where, you know, as you talk about full building packages, if you got to ship it across the country, it's going to it's going to drive up costs. So.

We want to be able to manufacture these types of products as close to our job sites as physically possible. And that's a huge differentiator from a cost standpoint, a speed standpoint, not only speed from the original building delivery, but also in the event that something goes wrong. Let's face it, in the construction industry, all these buildings, your roofs, there are thousands of parts and pieces that go into it.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Mmm.

Jay Jacoby: And something is going to go wrong. Whether it's on our side where a piece of material just doesn't make its way onto a truck, or you're at that job site and somebody backs a forklift into your building and you need some more panels there with it, we're gonna be able to get you resolved really, really quickly.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: That is cool. And so kind of let's keep going down that path of really working with the contractors as they are looking at how they are delivering research, design, visualization, all of those kinds of things to their customers. How are they working with you and the Fortify brand to really be able to help not. Just take the leads, to sell those leads and to get them what their customers want.

Jay Jacoby: Yeah. So, you know, a big thing is, is, is growing that knowledge and training, right. And you'd asked on training just a little bit ago. you know, we are able to offer that for, for our customers, right. One of the nice things about our branch locations is people can show up, be in person. They can touch, see, feel the material, you know, we have oftentimes, you know, display buildings there. So, you know, folks can go and look at and understand, you know, how are these different parts and pieces, you know, you're coming together.

And then go through actual formal training sessions there with it, whether it's on the roofing or the building side. And then once again, with that footprint that we have, close proximity to our team members, you know, we can go out there and be on the job site there with you to go and inspect the building if you're uncertain of how something is coming together and really be there to help you out. So it's just really having those trusted advisors. There's so much that you can find nowadays on YouTube.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Mm-hmm.

Jay Jacoby: But you one of the problems with YouTube is you know maybe you got to watch a 30 minute video for a 30 second question And so you know by talking to a real live person You can get to the facts of what you need a heck of a lot more quickly

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right, yeah.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah, yeah. And I think to your point, as we talk about this, the relationship between a contractor and the manufacturer is so important. And, and you know, this is a relationship business. That's all there is to it. So as you are working with your contractors across the country with those relationships, I love the fact, you know, speed, being able to get them what they need.

Jay Jacoby: You

Jay Jacoby: Mm-hmm.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Being able to help them with the design services that they're going out there. What are you hearing from your contractors about bringing all these brands together and what Heritage is offering them and kind of looking at their feedback on all these great new products that you're bringing out?

Jay Jacoby: Yeah. So, you know, a big thing that we're hearing from the contractors, right? You know, as we talk about the pandemic in 2020, it created a new normal that nobody really liked, right? You know, there was historic material shortages that we saw across 2021 and 2022 that, you know, expanded lead times out for everybody, you know, made it more likely that, you know, quality was down, more likely that material wasn't showing up on site. And, you know, it was a new normal that nobody really liked, right?

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah, yeah.

Jay Jacoby: And so we're, we're trying to break out of that normal. and we want to, you know, show people that, you know, services is really important to us. and, we want to find quick resolution. and even if we don't know the answer right then and there, we're going to tell you when we're going to try and find it for you and deliver it, right. A big thing that people talk about on time and full. and you think of on time and full, of, getting material on site, but I look at on time and full and it's just, I told you something and I did it.

On time when I said it and I actually fall through on what you were expecting out of us. So that's just that really big piece. And as you see it, as these products are grown in popularity and we have those small contractors oftentimes that are finding ways to really get a foothold in their markets, we're able to help them to find that, whether it's training, getting on our contractor list where, you know, say an end user comes to us as compared to a contractor and they want to.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Mm-hmm.

Jay Jacoby: You know, buy some more material. They're like, great, I love this is the product that I want. Now, how do I put it up? It's like, well, we have, you know, these contractors that we regularly work with. You know, they do good work. They know that they're expected to maintain different types of service standards, you will, you know, obviously, obviously always recommend a customer, you know, ultimately vet them themselves to ensure that they're going to get what they need. But, you know, we can at least, you know, feel good about, hey, they have experience doing this, whether it's, you know, our actual specific product, right.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah, yeah, so important. And I love that combination between the consumers, the building owners, the homeowners and then connecting them with your contractors so that there's really that performance. I mean, it really closes that circle to make sure that good quality products, on time products, in full. I love that. And then with contractors who are trained and understand how to bring that performance to the field and to take care of their customers, it really makes for a win across the board for everybody.

Jay Jacoby: Yeah, no doubt about that. know, and, you know, whether you're a new contractor or established contractor, we are always looking for more work, right? You know, the second you get complacent is when you fall behind. And because of, you know, the work that we do to make sure that end users know about our business, that allows us to help our contractor customers to be able to help them grow and find work and feed their families, right? mean, ultimately, at the end of the day, why are we all here?

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah.

Jay Jacoby: It's to feed our families and we're going to be able to help people do that.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah, I love it. I love it. So, okay, you have a couple, you have some new products coming out this year under the Fortify brand. You're looking at some new relationships. Tell us, give us a little bit of a sneak peek into some of the stuff that you're gonna be seeing new this year.

Jay Jacoby: Yeah, so, you we obviously already touched on hyper steel, which, you know, we brought out last year, but, know, in construction of product, I feel like it stays new for years until people fully know and see it and whatnot. So we're really excited for the growth that we're going to see in 2025 with hyper steel. You know, one thing is we talked earlier, right? Cornerstone building brands. We are always looking for ways to be able to differentiate and grow.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yes.

Jay Jacoby: And so last year we actually bought a company Mueller Inc, which is very similar to, as we talked about, Metal Depot's Reeds Heritage now becoming Fortify Building Solutions and those synergies. Mueller is very similar as well in terms of the customer-based types of products and whatnot that they offer. And they have a really exciting product that they sell called Provia, which is metal shingles that emulate other types of building products. As we talked about barrel tile roofs.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Mmm.

Jay Jacoby: Slate roofs. Look, I mean, it's crazy. You go and see one of these buildings and it looks just like it, except it has the benefits and durability of metal while being lower weight, which reduces how much money you have to put into your overall structure and whatnot, which can be a cost savings for the customers. And then as we see, we have a board and batten, which is a very popular wood profile that you see.

But we can now do it with metal. So that's a new metal wall profile that we put out there that we're really excited about. And then as well, you know, not just products, but it's also just enhancements to what we already have. You know, we now on the Coldform buildings, have a 3D visualizer on our website that customers can go and it gives them the flexibility to design for themselves, right? You know, and go and play with it see what they really like. So that's for our Coldform buildings.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right.

Jay Jacoby: And we're hoping here in the next two to three months, we are very, very close to having a visualizer for our rigid frame buildings as well. And then as we talk pole barns, we have a visualizer there for at where you can literally look, feel, see what your customer or what your product is going to be able to look like. And we're really excited there with it because nothing is more disappointing than to spend a lot of money on something and have it not turn out the way that you want it. So the more that we can do.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right.

Jay Jacoby: To set our customers up for success to know they're getting what they're asking for is huge.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: That's right. And I love all those things you're talking about. I love the board and baton. And, you know, I think we have to recognize too with the amount of, you know, from the metal building to the metal siding to the metal roofing, how important that is, this kind of type of construction, these types of products to the safety of our country and to everyone's homes and businesses. I mean, we're just seeing it time and time again with the extreme weather that is going on.

Of how important to really be building long-term sustainable buildings that can withstand fire, wind, hail, all of those types of things. And that, mean, that's exactly where you're at.

Jay Jacoby: Yeah, there's no doubt about that. You know, I think we've all noticed a growing prevalence of extreme natural disasters. We're seeing more and more category four, category five hurricanes that are making landfall. You know, here in our communities, we're seeing more wildfires. I what's been the big news the last couple of weeks? You know, the wildfires literally right at right in Los Angeles, right? A big mass of populated area. It's not just out at, know, in the wilderness. It's happening where people live and play.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yes.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah!

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right.

Jay Jacoby: And so to be able to offer a product that can offer people an enhanced level of protection, right? You can never be 100 % protected, but you wanna do whatever you can to prepare yourselves and protect you and your family, which as I already said, that's what we're all here for, A really cool thing that, and I say cool, right? So I need to be careful with the words that I use. We never take any sort of pride in any type of natural disaster that we see.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Exactly.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: No.

Jay Jacoby: But what we do take pride in is the way in which that we can, you know, protect people. You know, when the Maui wildfires that we saw a few years back, there was a picture that went viral of this house that was surrounded by utter devastation. Just houses burned to the ground, trees, nothing there except for this one house. And what did that one house have going for it? It was a metal roof. And what protected them was, you know, these hot embers.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yes.

Jay Jacoby: Were getting blown in the wind. And if you had a combustible material that was really easy to catch on fire, if that hot ember fell on it, it would light up really, really quickly. Metal is able to provide an extra level of protection. You've got to get really, really hot to be able to burn through metal. And so instead of those embers doing that, they just kind of fizzled out. So that house was still there when everything else around it wasn't.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Rate.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: No.

Jay Jacoby: And then as you go and you look at metal, you know, from a hurricane and wind speed preparedness, where it's hurricane tornadoes or just those crazy wind events that you see sometimes, you know, you're, able to handle really high wind uplifts, every single metal building, you know, that, that we provide, you know, we're making sure that we want to be able to design it to the element. It's, it's not just your typical scenarios, you know, you want to do whatever you can to protect yourself in those worst case scenarios. And, you know, as we saw, we have a location in Horseshoe beach, Florida.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah.

Jay Jacoby: Which saw, I think it was Hurricane Milton was a hurricane that hit this year and just utter, utter just catastrophe there. Just buildings are down, but once again, we literally were able to go through those neighborhoods and point at pole barns that we put up. That was our pole barn that survived that storm when nothing else around it did. And when you're in the construction industry, as I'm sure you all know, you remember the buildings that you contributed to.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Man.

Jay Jacoby: You know, my wife now when we're in the car, she, she makes sure that she puts on noise canceling headphones because we'll be driving down the interstate and I'm constantly just pointing out and saying, we did that one. We did that. And she's like, all right, this is kind of cool. We first started dating, but I don't care anymore. I don't care. This isn't the world that I live in. So I was like, well, I take pride in it and I'm going to keep doing it. So good thing we got you those nice, those nice AirPods.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Hahaha

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Not anymore.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I love it. We do that in our car all the time too. So I think that is awesome. Well, Jay, thank you so much. Last thing, how can contractors get ahold of you? How can they get started with Fortify?

Jay Jacoby: Yeah. So the nice thing about us, we got options, right? So, yeah, the easiest thing, the quickest thing right here, if you're listening right now, yeah, you can go visit us at fortifybuildingsolutions.com. and then you can go look at our different locations that we have, you know, either on that website or just look it up on Google and see what's closest there with it. You know, we have an unmatched branch footprint. There's nobody that has as many locations, you know, as we have in this retail space, here at cornerstone building brands, whether it's us at fortify building solutions or our sister brand Mueller Inc.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Awesome.

Jay Jacoby: And so, you know, there's a good chance that somebody within our business is going to be in your neighborhood and be able to help you out. And so if you're the kind of person that, you know, hesitates to have to make a phone call or send in a lead submission form on a website, go to our branch. You will go and talk to a live person right then and there, and they're going to be really happy to be able to help you out. And if you're in one of those circumstances where you're not, you know, it's not feasible for you to be able to go and visit one of our branches.

You know, we do have that nationwide footprint that as being a part of a bigger company, Cornerstone Building Grants, servicing all of North America, you know, you can go to that website, get the phone number for our national sales center. And one thing that we really, really pride ourselves on, which we think a lot of people, know, it sounds so simple, it sounds so easy, just communicate, just pick up the phone. But people are scared to do it sometimes. And that is the expectation out of our people. You know.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right. Yeah.

Jay Jacoby: Tell people what you're gonna do. As we talked about on time and full, it's not just product, it's just communication. And we're gonna be there to help you out and lead you to success on your projects, whether you're an end user or a contractor.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Across the board.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I love it, I love it. And you can find all this information about Fortify and Cornerstone on both Rufus Coffee Shop and Metal Coffee Shop. Find their directories, get the information. It's all right there along with a lot of other articles about what's going on, new incentives and also the new brands. So Jay, thank you so much.

Jay Jacoby: Yeah, no doubt it was my pleasure. You have a good one, OK?

Heidi J. Ellsworth: You too have a great one and thank you all for listening. This has been great information. Please check it out. Check out the directories and check out all of our podcasts for Metal Cast under the Read, Listen, Watch navigation of Metal Coffee Shop. Also be sure to check your favorite podcast channel, subscribe and set those notifications so you don't miss a single episode. We'll be seeing you next time on Metal Cast.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Okay, hold on one second.