MCS Influencer Haley Iselin says there's something that women inherently have that make things more cohesive.

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with MCS Influencer Haley Iselin. You can read the interview below or watch the recording.

Alex Tolle: Hello, I'm Alex Tolle with MetalCoffeeShop.com and I am here for the March Influencer response with my friend, Haley. How's it going, Haley?

Haley Iselin: Good, how are you?

Alex Tolle: Good. Excited to be doing this interview with you today.

Haley Iselin: Same. Thank you.

Alex Tolle: This topic is really great. So, how have women influenced the metal industry overall and why should more women consider careers in metal?

Haley Iselin: Sure. I mean, I have a couple different things to say on that from my own experience and then from some of the incredible women I've met in the industry over the years. I've almost been doing this 21 years now. When I started, I was a salesperson. And I realized right away that I was the only girl salesman on our team, and I seemed to be able to gain a lot of trust from our employees and customers just naturally. I don't know if that's just a natural female tendency or not, but it really proved itself to be helpful in sales. And so, it was really great to have that. I could be totally authentic and natural and got to develop so many great relationships with customers and turn those into partnerships. So, that was one thing that was really cool about being a woman in a male-dominated industry.

We also had a woman on our crew for the longest time who was an installer. And one of the things that my dad always noticed was how well she brought the whole team together. So, again, there was something about maybe a female characteristic that naturally brought all the team together a lot better and got them talking and got them open. And so, I think it's just something that maybe we inherently have that brought these tendencies and made it way more cohesive. And that benefited everybody, because we not only then got ideas from very different perspectives and belief systems, but it really balanced out the whole environment.

Right now, our company, we're a small distributor and we have three full-time women and one full-time guy, and then we have a part-time. So, I think also that's pretty cool for our customers' experience. We deal with a lot of do-it-yourselfers and homeowners, and I think they really like that.

The other thing, though, about getting women into the industry is that there's so much opportunity for great pay, for leadership opportunities. Or if you just are a hands-on person and you want to work in the field, there's so many areas. And not needing a ton of education or training to get in, it allows a lot of opportunities for women in lots of different areas of life. We've even had many moms that could work part-time while kids were at school and really learn a lot about the trades and with the technology. Some brilliant minds have been on our company that have helped us develop systems and softwares to work with what we're doing here out in the field. And we owe that to several really great women. So, there's just so many opportunities in a vast array of areas for women to consider in this industry.

Alex Tolle: I love it. And it's so true. And you guys are leading by example, showing how women can be super successful and really bring your team together.

Haley Iselin: Yeah, thank you. Me too. It feels great to be in this industry, again. I think it's very well receptive. When I first started, there was a little resistance sometimes from a certain generation. But once you broke that small gap, if you had a little bit of confidence to break it, then it was so great. So, yeah. Maybe there's that tiny bit of challenge, but it was worth it, for sure.

Alex Tolle: Absolutely. Well, Haley, thank you so much. I appreciate you taking the time to answer our March Metal Influencer question.

Haley Iselin: My pleasure, Alex. Thank you so much. It was so nice to meet you.

MCS Influencer Jerry Iselin says sustainability is a significant advantage of using metal roofing.

As the digital world continues to grow more expansive and harder to navigate, it can be hard to find the reliable advice you're looking for. That's just one of the reasons MetalCoffeeShop™ wanted to bring together experts in the field to one digital space to share their expertise and insights. This group, the MCS Influencers, are all trusted sources of advice with perspective on both the past and future of the industry. To help prompt conversation, we send members of this group a prompt every month and for April we asked about how contractors can use sustainability in their business and sales.

One of our amazing MCS Influencers, Jerry Iselin, responded to this prompt. Jerry's been a part of the industry for over 45 years. By the mid-1980s he had made his way to the position of general manager and vice president for an international firm managing both facilities and activities in the Pacific Northwest. He can often be found participating in industry events such as being a speaker at Metalcon and teacher at the International Roofing Expo. This is not the limit of his efforts to help others in the industry, he has worked with the Roofing Industry Educational Institute (RIEI) and Metal Roofing Alliance (MRA) as a resource and reviewer. In 2016 he was honored through an induction into the Metal Construction Hall of Fame.

Jerry had this to say about sustainability in the industry:

"Sustainability is a significant advantage of using metal roofing and contractors should be well versed in the benefits. In a nutshell here are some of those benefits:

• Metal roofing is fully recyclable and is made from recycled materials in various percentages based on the specific materials and manufacturer.
• Metal roofing can often be installed over existing materials relieving landfills from the disposal of old roofing. Leaving old roofing on where applicable also provides for additional vapor barriers and possibly slight insulation benefits.
• Metal roofing is more reflective than other materials minimizing heat retention and heat gain. This can significantly reduce cooling costs and in some cases provide the benefit of radiant heat retention.
• Metal can be used to collect rain water for irrigation and in some cases drinking water saving our water resources.
• Metal is also fire resistant protecting property and risk to human life while protecting valuable resources.

I am sure there are more but this list is pretty unique to metal."

MCS Influencer Jerry Iselin says that growing strong relationships with manufacturers or distributors is a key way to improve your business.

Growing strong relationships with manufacturers or distributors can and will likely be one of the most important ways to improve your business and grow profitably. Depending where you are in the country will determine whether you are buying from manufacturers or distributors or a combination of both. If you are only selling one product and are purchasing from the manufacturer, that relationship is of utmost importance to maintain at the highest levels of course. If you are using a variety of products distribution is likely your best method of obtaining products.

The distribution method offers a variety of products that can best meet the needs of your customer. A strong distributor relationship is one that ensures you and your distributor work as partners to serve your market. Distributors can offer more options with the best ability to compare and choose what will serve you and your customer’s needs at the best value at the time. You are less constricted based on availability and current pricing fluctuations with more product options from your distributor. Your distributor may also be able to educate you on methods and products other customers like you are having success with.

Whatever option best suits you doesn’t matter. What matters is making sure your relationship is one of a partnership nature and not a combative one that focuses only on price. Great relationships based on trust and mutual benefit will far outweigh any price difference that may be available from a less reliable or untrustworthy vendor. The best relationships always work both ways so keeping them and nurturing them should be a high priority. Keeping them is as easy as keeping a clear and open communication channel and making sure to pay your invoices on time if not early. It just isn’t that hard.

MCS Influencers Haley and Jerry Iselin share their best practices for retaining quality employees.

Here's what Haley Iselin had to say:

I believe the best thing we do (particularly in the past few years) in retaining employees, is treating our employees like family and being flexible with their needs. Since Covid started there have been many times employees have needed to tend to kids and other family members differently with limited resources. Feeling like they are valued as an individual and not a number and that we are willing to work around the challenges, has been a huge benefit for our employees.

Here's what Jerry Iselin had to say:

There are so many factors to consider for this topic but I will focus on retention. The work “Engagement” sums it up for me. Engaged team members are happy, productive and committed to their company. Keeping them in the loop with the company’s vision, mission and performance while giving them the flexibility to make decisions and the confidence to offer suggestions for improvement without judgment. Make sure they know you will always have their back. I also think it is important to focus on the team with as few layers as possible in the management structure.

Keep it human and allow for the differences in individuals while celebrating the similarities. Of course competitive pay and benefits are assumed, but the ability to engage them and ensure they feel just as important as any team member will keep them.

Haley Iselin is the vice president at Metal Roof Specialties. See her full bio here.

MCS Influencer Jerry Iselin says that the longevity of metal roofing far outweighs the price.

This a good topic and one that all metal roofers should be well versed in. We love promoting metal roofing because it really has so many advantages over all other roofing. The only drawback is the somewhat higher price. How do you promote this? Here are the areas that make metal roofing the best choice:

• Metal roofing has the longest life expectancy and lowest maintenance requirements
• It's heat reflective for more comfort and lower energy costs
• Metal roofing is fire resistant and non-combustible
• It's nvironmentally friendly. Most are recyclable and made from recycled materials.
• Many metal roofs are suitable for water collection
• Metal roofs are lighter weight, often saving the cost of existing roof removal and requiring less structural framing.
• They are easy to use in reroofing often allowing roof overs.
• Metal roofs are reliable in high wind and extreme weather environments.
• They are compatible with existing gutter systems and the best roofing option for solar systems.
• There are easy attachment devices to eliminate roof penetrations.
• The metal roofing industry many regional and national manufacturers with a responsible industry support system to ensure quality and appropriate installation.
• Metal roofs are suitable for virtually any roof shape or slope and they are beautiful!

I could probably go on and on but you get the drift. Keep in mind this list is primarily for painted and unpainted metal roof systems. Some shingle and stone coated metal roof products cannot claim all the above advantages.

MCS Influencer Jerry Iselin says that smaller roofing companies can benefit from having an on-site rollformer since it could be hard to access them elsewhere.

Editor’s note: The following consists of a conversation between MCS’ Gina Cali and Metal Roof Specialties Owner Jerry Iselin. You can listen to the conversation or read the transcript below.

Gina Cali: Hi Jerry, thanks for joining Metal Coffee Shop for the December Influencer Question of the Month, and the question is what are the items to consider when purchasing metal roll forming equipment?

Jerry Iselin: Hi Gina. So there are a number of issues and a lot of it depends on where you are and your geography and relationship to other access to products. Onsite roll forming has become really popular actually for many, many years now, ever since I've been in the industry it was a consideration. And the biggest benefit of onsite roll forming is just having the ability to make the products on the job site where you're at.

It becomes more popular in areas where people don't have access to other manufacturers that can make products and deliver them to the site. For instance, here in the Pacific Northwest onsite roll forming is not very popular because there's a lot of manufacturers nearby that have site delivery capacities and can put the materials right on site for you, eliminating the need for you to have your own equipment and your own coils and things like that. But in more remote areas or where that's not as accessible or people just simply want to have their own machine and make their own product then they become a very good option.

The things to consider for onsite roll forming equipment is the fact that now you become the manufacturer so you are responsible for a finished prime product. You are the one that carries the product warranties, you are the one that certifies or ensures that it's suitable for use. It does put a different reliability on you as a contractor that you're now making a product and responsibility for its performance, as opposed to if you bought it from somebody that was going to make it then they carry all those issues regarding warranty and suitable for use type issues. So that's one consideration.

The other is you also now have to have people capable of producing the product, being on site to make it, and so that's a different... Another labor aspect of it, but of course you're going to pay... Your total cost is probably going to be less even with the labor and buying the coil than maybe buying it from somebody else.

The other thing is for a metal roof application, which is primarily what we're talking about, the panels are only part of it. So while you may have the capacity to roll form and make your own panels do you have the capacity to make all the parts and pieces that go with it, the trims and things like that, that is a separate process, it's not made by the onsite roll former, so you need to have that capacity. A lot of larger contractors have their own capacity for making sheet metal parts and pieces so then they can certainly make those out of the same coil that they're making the panels, and that becomes kind of a non-issue. But for maybe smaller operators that are thinking about getting an onsite roll former that sometimes is overlooked, that they haven't really considered where they're going to get all the other parts and pieces or how are they going to make them.

So issues are access to products in your environment where you want to build your product, your project, or where you're going to install your project, and then also the ability to make all the things that go with it. So great ideas, there's some really nice manufactured products out there that are onsite roll form, but again, may not be as practical if you've got great resources for pre-made products or factory made products in your area. That's what I see as the primary considerations in deciding to go with onsite role forming or not.

Gina Cali: Jerry, thank you so much for your insight and thought leadership on that topic, it is very much appreciated by Metal Coffee Shop and our readers. Thank you.

Jerry Iselin: Take care. Bye.

Gina Cali: Take care. Bye.

Jerry Iselin is the President of Metal Roof Specialties. See his full bio here. 

Metal Roof Specialties' Jerry Iselin speaks about his decades long journey in the metal industry.

Editor's note: the following is a conversation between Metal Roof Specialties' President Jerry Iselin, and RoofersCoffeeShop® President Heidi Ellsworth. You can watch the interview or read the transcript below.

Heidi Ellsworth: Hello, and welcome to day two of barns. And we are live. We are in the MetalCoffeeShop booth sound stage sponsored by New Tech Machinery. Just want to put that out there. This is our first interview of the day and I am so excited to have Jerry Iselin here with us for the first video of the second day. Jerry is one of our Metal Coffee Shop influencers. He also just retired from Metal Roof Specialties out of Washington, right?

Jerry Iselin: Yep.

Heidi Ellsworth: I'm going to let you... And I just did a little bit, but you introduce yourself, tell everybody a little bit about you and your past company.

Jerry Iselin: I started in this industry in 1976, working for a manufacturer for about 16 years. And then in 1992, I decided to start my own contracting business because at that time there were so few people doing residential metal roofing that it seemed like a great opportunity. I was tired of the corporate life. So I did that. In 1992, I started a company, we did primarily residential roofing. We did that until 2013. And when the economy was challenging, we were having a hard time getting contractors and installers, so we became a sole distributor of metal building products. Roofing, siding, fencing, all types of things in the metal roofing, siding industry, metal building industry. We're also Metal Building Manufacturer's, distributor. So that's what we've done. Metalcon has been a huge part of my life. I've been coming here for about 20 years. Most of those years I was actually doing training sessions.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yes, that's what we were just talking about.

Jerry Iselin: Administration for the manufacturers, helping people understand how to install. And that's been really a big part of my background is helping people with installation and doing training. I do now that I'm semi-retired, Heidi.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yes, semi.

Jerry Iselin: Doing consulting for people for expert witness and things of that nature as well.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. And we're talking about training, and-

Jerry Iselin: Training, yeah, that is a passion for me. There's a number of videos that I did on the Metal Roofing Alliance website that will help people too, if they're part of that. They can see those training sessions. They were really, really good, and really fun, really interactive.

Heidi Ellsworth: I'm really excited that you are an influencer on Metal Coffee Shop because we need your wisdom. We want to share that. You've been answering some questions, you've been helping us with some articles. You're sharing that. What's been your experience and what do you think of the questions? What do we need to be doing different, Jerry?

Jerry Iselin: No, I think you're doing great. And seeing a little bit of the panel yesterday, the discussion about installers and getting people involved in this industry as installers is really important. It is our Achilles' heel. Everybody loves metal. Metal is a wonderful product. I know you have a lot of other products that you do through your organization, but I've been focused on metal all my life. There is nothing bad about it. The only drawback is maybe it's on the higher price end of things.

Heidi Ellsworth: But it lasts longer, too.

Jerry Iselin: It lasts a long time, it's beautiful, it's fire resistant, it's sustainable. Everything about our environment is favorable with metal. Our biggest problem, back when the Metal Roofing Alliance started, was getting people aware. And I think you heard back then, Metal's market share was about three and a half percent. Right now they're in the teens.

Heidi Ellsworth: I heard 17.

Jerry Iselin: And that doesn't surprise me. And I know that's going to continue to grow. Those that want to get involved in it, know that you're in a growing industry as opposed to maybe a dying industry. Metal in roofing is going to grow, hands down. It's going to get pieces of everybody else's pie.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yes, it is.

Jerry Iselin: What our challenge is, is exposure, for homeowners to understand. And now they're there.

Heidi Ellsworth: The Metal Roofing Alliance has done a great job of that.

Jerry Iselin: An incredible job, and they are really helping people appreciate it. I remember when I first started, people thought metal was only for barns or a mountain cabin. And one of my favorite lines was "well, it was good enough for Bill Gates' house. So what do you think?" Because it was. Bill Gates put it on his. Back in the day, the most expensive new house in America, $55 million, had a metal roof on it. And it changed people's attitude. They go "oh, really?" So now they're seeing it and it is a product of choice for high end homes. And it's a product of choice for a more economical home that just needs a good, long life roof for maybe an elderly owner who doesn't want to fool with it anymore.

Heidi Ellsworth: Right, exactly.

Jerry Iselin: And the energy efficiencies are incredible.

Heidi Ellsworth: And what's going on with solar? Solar is going to be the game changer, I really think. Because there's nothing better under a solar rate than a metal roof.

Jerry Iselin: I totally agree. It is the only roof product that will outlive the solar system. Even the solar guys say "make sure you get that type of roof if you're going to put a solar system on because of life expectancy."

Heidi Ellsworth: I grew up under a metal roof. My dad was a builder, built a log house with a red tin roof, and I think it was tin, actually.

Jerry Iselin: People still call it tin. We smile when they do, but that's okay. It's a metal roof. Whatever material, right.

Heidi Ellsworth: It was a good one. Talk a little bit more about... I know you're doing some consulting. You're going to be doing some training, and we would be totally remiss if we didn't mention Haley.

Jerry Iselin: Oh, my daughter Haley, yeah.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yes, let's talk about Haley first.

Jerry Iselin: Haley's now been with me for 17 years. When she graduated from the University of Washington, she came on board. Initially I thought that I wanted her to go get experience somewhere else with some other companies just to see what other people are like. And actually, one of my dear friends here, Dick Bus from ATAS said "Jerry, you're nuts. Bring her into your..." If you know Dick, he's got a big part of his family as part of their business. And another dear friend of mine also said the same thing. So Haley came in, she started at the ground floor. She was in sales, she was climbing on roofs, she was estimating. When the turndown came, she actually went in and did all of our accounting for us, and marketing. She has a full spectrum understanding of our business, it's in great hands. And she was an award winner here at Metalcon a number of years ago. She's a woman in the trades, right?

Heidi Ellsworth: She's amazing. A woman in roofing. And much more, a woman in metal.

Jerry Iselin: She's very good at what she does, and she really loves our industry. Her house that we remodeled a number of years ago has got a metal roof. It has a metal fireplace enclosure. It has metal around the kitchen cabinets. It's got metal everywhere.

Heidi Ellsworth: I love it, that is so cool. For anybody who is out in the Pacific Northwest or Alaska... You do a lot of work in Alaska, right?

Jerry Iselin: We do a lot of work in Alaska, yes we do.

Heidi Ellsworth: So you want to be aware of Metal Roof Specialties because they can get you the roofing, they can get you the training, they can help you do what everybody needs, right?

Jerry Iselin: Yeah, and our customer base is certainly some of the larger metal roof contractors in the area, but also probably more of our customer base is consumers. So we work with consumers to help them get that little job done, whether it be a dog house or a chicken coop, or a house, a roof for their house or their garage or whatever. There's a lot of people that are very comfortable with that type of roof, and with the lack of installers, lead times are long, prices are relatively high. So a lot of people want to do it themselves. And that's a big part of our business. We do it every day.

Heidi Ellsworth: That's amazing. That's so cool. And we do need to give a shout out to Guardian.

Jerry Iselin: Oh, absolutely.

Heidi Ellsworth: Because they introduced us.

Jerry Iselin: Yes, they did.

Heidi Ellsworth: Lori and Matt, we love you guys.

Jerry Iselin: Yes, absolutely.

Heidi Ellsworth: Guardian Roofing, they're in the art club, too.

Jerry Iselin: I can't imagine that we missed meeting you with our relationship with them.

Heidi Ellsworth: We have you on Metal Coffee Shop. Yeah. You're going to be consulting. Jerry has a full directory on there and we're going to be adding to that as he does all these things. And we're going to be doing more, a lot more on Metal Coffee Shop together, right?

Jerry Iselin: Absolutely.

Heidi Ellsworth: Love it. Thank you so much for being here.

Jerry Iselin: It was great being here. I'm looking forward to getting down to the show and seeing my old friends from over the years.

Heidi Ellsworth: There's a bunch of them right down there.

Jerry Iselin: It's going to be a full day.

Heidi Ellsworth: Well, thank you for being a metal influencer and enjoy your day at Metalcon.

Jerry Iselin: Thanks Heidi.

Heidi Ellsworth: Okay, thank you.

Jerry Iselin: Enjoy.

Heidi Ellsworth: Thank you all for watching. We're going to be back. We've got a lot of interviews today. Some really cool stuff, so hang in there and watch for those notifications.

Learn more about Metal Roof Specialties in their directory or visit www.metalroofspecialties.com.

Metal Influencers celebrate their inaugural year of giving back to the metal industry. 

RoofersCoffeeShop®, celebrating 20 years as the award-winning website where the industry meets for technology, information and everyday business announces the 2022 MetalCoffeeShop (MCS) Influencers.    

MCS Influencers contribute thoughts and wisdom monthly through interviews, videos and articles on MetalCoffeeShop concerning pertinent industry and metal construction topics. The Influencers represent all facets of the industry including contractors, associations and industry service providers. Their insights are recognized in a special category on the site called MCS Influencers.   

“We are committed to sharing the thought leadership of our MCS Influencers with the industry,” states Heidi J. Ellsworth, president of RoofersCoffeeShop. “Each influencer brings a unique perspective to issues that are of importance to contractors and the overall metal industry. We are thankful and appreciative of their willingness to share their insights.” 

We are proud to announce the following 2022 MCS Influencers: 

1. Charlie Smith – McElroy Metal 
2. Dale Nelson – Roof Hugger 
3. Haley Iselin – Metal Roof Specialties 
4. Hayley Bohmer – New Tech Machinery 
5. Jerry Iselin – Metal Roofing Specialties 
6. John Kenney – Cotney Consulting Group 
7. John Sheridan – Sheridan Metal Resources 
8. Mark Standifer – Retired metal roofing and walls expert 
9. Rob Haddock – S-5!® 

For more information on the 2022 MCS Influencers, meet them here.   

About MetalCoffeeShop 

MetalCoffeeShop is committed to being an advocate and supporter of the metal construction industry.  With Sherwin-Williams and industry thought leader’s contributions, the site supplies consistent information, education and networking avenues for all metal construction professionals. Visitors to the site will not only find education and information but thought-leading editorial, multimedia and Influencer content that elevates the metal construction industry. Like RoofersCoffeeShop, MetalCoffeeShop is “Where the Metal Industry Meets!” For more information and involvement opportunities, visit www.metalcoffeeshop.com.  

About RoofersCoffeeShop 

As an award-winning website and online community, RoofersCoffeeShop is committed to being a roofing professional advocate by supplying consistent information, education and communication avenues for all roofing professionals, and especially contractors, while promoting the positive growth, education and success of the roofing industry overall. Visitors to the site continue to find excellent opportunities for sharing information while participating in important ongoing conversations concerning new technologies, safety and the overall roofing trade. From the rooftop to the board room, RoofersCoffeeShop is “Where the Industry Meets!” For more information, visit www.rooferscoffeeshop.com. 

MCS Influencer Jerry Iselin breaks down the different metal roofing myths customers have, like whether metal roofs are noisy or not.  

Editor’s note: The following consists of a conversation between MCS’ Gina Cali and Metal Roof Specialties Owner Jerry Iselin. 

Gina Cali: The question for the month of August for the MetalCoffeeShop influencers is how to communicate with consumers about metal myths, like noise and rust, et cetera. 

Jerry Iselin: Okay. So I think there are an awful lot of myths out there about metal roofing. Like you mentioned, noise and rust and heat and weight. There are a bunch, and I think there's perceptions. We all have perceptions about certain things. So I think the easiest thing to do in helping people overcome those is just talk to them about practical situations.  

For instance, metal roofs are not noisy and they're not noisy because they are generally mounted over something solid. But the perception of noise comes from being maybe in an old metal barn or under a carport or under something that the metal is unsupported. So when rain will hit a carport, let's say, or an old barn, it's thundering. It gets very loud. And on the outside, it's very loud as well. 

But in the condition where a metal roof's installed in a home or a building, a typical building, it's installed over something solid. There's generally insulation. The noise is actually pretty insignificant. The noise that hits your skylights or your windows from rain will be much louder. And we've even had conditions that here in the Pacific Northwest, people love having metal roofs up in their mountain cabin. And there are those comments that have come in that were actually disappointed that it's not as noisy as they would've preferred. Because some people find that as such a soothing sound. 

So I think that one's pretty easy to overcome if you just talk to people about the practicality and why they have that perception of the noise. And it does come from usually being in those conditions where they've heard it before, but they've not noticed it when they've been in a building with a metal roof because it's really nonexistent. So it is really no more noisy than others. So that one, I think, is pretty easy to overcome with some common sense, talking about what they've experienced in the past. 

The rust issue is usually one that's brought up by people that don't sell metal roofs or people that may sell aluminum type metal roofs. It's just one of those arguments they use to put doubt in the mind of the consumer. But metal products, metal roofs, let's say, in this case, are not unlike the metal in your car. Do your cars rust? No. They experience more rust in the Midwest in areas where they use salt on the roads in the winter. They experience rust near the wheels, around the wheel wells or the bottom of the car. But the reality is the top of the car, the top of things that are painted metal, tractors, trucks, cars, there's so many metal items that are out in the market and are out in the environment all the time that really don't experience rust. 

This is, again, one of those perceptions and oftentimes comes from that old barn that you may have seen, like a metal barn that has old rusty panels on it. Sure, generally those are very, very old. They are oftentimes rusty because of what's going on inside. An animal confinement building like a barn has a lot of chemical reactions to metal products that actually can make them rust faster. But in reality, a typical galvanized or zinc aluminum type covered metal panel is very, very rust resistant for a very, very long time.  

So that one is also one that you just have to put into common sense practicality of other things that are metal that aren't rusting. And really, if you look around, you're not going to see rusty metal roofs on homes or commercial buildings as a general rule unless they're super, super old, and in many cases, because of the environment inside that building that's probably accentuating that situation. Yeah. 

Gina Cali: Those are super interesting and easy to digest and understand references. I think any consumer could understand that. And I've not heard it explained that way, and I think you're right. If you're competing against a different type of system, they're going to throw anything out there that they can and see if it sticks. 

Jerry Iselin: Yes, absolutely. People that are selling metal roofs sell aluminum metalware systems, and those are pretty popular, too, in some areas more so than others. 

Gina Cali: Yeah. 

Jerry Iselin: Of course, aluminum doesn't rust. That's okay. Aluminum's got its drawbacks, too. We won't get into that. But overcoming the rust issue is really, I think, a pretty easy discussion to diffuse if you, again, put it into practical terms of other things people are seeing. Because the metal product that are on these metal roof and siding products, they're every bit as good or better than what's on your car. 

Gina Cali: Wow. That's important to know. Thank you. Yeah, that's a great reference. 

Jerry Iselin: Absolutely. 

Gina Cali: Thank you so much for your time. And we look forward to talking with you again next month on the next question, Jerry. 

Jerry Iselin: Will do.  

Jerry Iselin is the President of Metal Roof Specialties. See his full bio here. 

MCS Influencer Haley Iselin says having a follow-up system with manufacturers can help ensure a timely delivery. 

Editor’s note: The following consists of a conversation between MCS Multimedia Manager Megan Ellsworth, and Metal Roof Specialties’ Vice President Haley Iselin. 

Megan Ellsworth: All right. This is for July, and it is, how do you work with your metal manufacturers for timely deliveries? 

Haley Iselin: So for us, and we're in distribution, so we work closely with contractors and also do-it-yourselfers to get the metal that they need for their customers or their own projects. And something that we do with all of our orders is we have a system in place of regularly following up with the manufacturers, checking in on orders, and making sure they're on time, they're still on schedule, and then getting updates as we get closer to that anticipated delivery date on exactly when people can expect their order to deliver or to arrive. Because sometimes it's hard to demand of others to provide information, we take it upon ourselves to do that follow-up. 

And sometimes we feel like we might be somebody's pain in the butt, but we feel like it's worth it for our customers and the people that we're working with to be able to provide that information. So we follow up with that. Particularly with some of the contractor customers that we work with, who on a regular basis are placing orders, and especially some of the ones that are newer to the metal offering, one of the things that we like to work with them on upfront and we're happy to help people with as they are entering that market is helping them learn the difference in ordering metal versus ordering composition. Because metal, most of it is being produced for that order and it's not something sitting on a shelf. And so being really accurate upfront and making sure we have enough supplies, so that when they get their delivery, it's complete, they have what they need is so important. 

And then we're not having to place another bunch of orders and delaying their project more and more and more. So there is this piece upfront that we really like to be able to sit down and work closely with those installers and contractors, making sure we understand their project. We can help them make sure, again, they have the extras that they need. But we don't want them to have tons of extra. That doesn't make sense on a cost standpoint for anybody. But making sure they have enough, so they're not running out and delaying that project. So that's that other piece to the deliveries is making sure they have what they need upfront because that stuff isn't going to be available in an hour to go pick up at your local store. So that preparation part is also huge in metal, especially compared to some of the other products out there. 

Haley Iselin is the vice president at Metal Roof Specialties. See her full bio here.