MetalCoffeeShop

Emphasizing sustainability, no matter what stage you are at

Fri, 14 Jun 2024 12:06:00 PDT

MCS Influencer Mark Gies says it's important for businesses at every level of the value chain, including contractors, to understand what sustainability means.

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Mark Gies of S-5!, standing in for MCS Influencer Rob Haddock.

Megan Ellsworth: Hello, everyone. My name's Megan Ellsworth here at Metalcoffeeshop.com and I am back again for an April influencer topic response with Mark Gies from S-5!. Hi, Mark. This month's question is, how can contractors use sustainability in their business and sales? So Mark, what do you think?

Mark Gies: Cool. Good question, I think. I guess what's going on in my head is just thinking that it's important for businesses at all level of the value chain and roofing from the material suppliers through the contractors, to just really be aware of what's happening in our country and our world as far as more awareness of sustainability and working towards goals to be more sustainable. So I think it's important for every level and this includes contractors, for contractors, to really understand what really that means, not only to them, but what that means to people they may buy products from and who they buy products from. And a big part of it with roofing material is that material itself. Where does it come from? How much pollution is being made or being reduced in the manufacturing of it? Are they tracking it? A lot of large companies that have set up what I'd call ESG, environmental social guidance, sustainability type programs, one big part of it is tracking their materials to make sure that they're doing whatever they can to improve the sustainability of the materials as you go from cradle to grave.

So I think it's important for the contractors to be aware and then they may make decisions of who they're buying from, maybe not immediately, but down in the future, based on what company or some of these companies, like the big companies in the industry, like the Owens Corning, US Steel, et cetera, what they're doing and how they are improving our world by doing this. So I guess it's, the contractor's one step from the building owner. So they're the ones that are influencing the building owner to make the decisions about buying material that may be more sustainable than other materials. So they're a big part of that chain and I think to learn about it and then to potentially make decisions and incorporate that into your businesses, how we are formally working on the materials we buy and then, how do we conduct our own business? Do we recycle the waste that we come off of the roof with when we're building? So then you can start incorporating your own policies and your own methods of what you can do to make that value chain, all the way to the end user, as sustainable as possible.

And then, I would say, don't be ashamed to talk about it. The stuff that you are doing, I think people want to hear it. And you can use the social media, you can use, when you talk messaging, when you talk to customers that you are aware of it, you're getting more and you're starting to make these decisions and it may, I think, people like that, so this is something that you can use as a selling point and I think that's something that those messages you can definitely communicate. Don't be ashamed, I guess, to communicate those to your customers, the contractor's customers, all that they're learning, all their new decisions they're making, if they do start making those decisions. Don't be afraid to talk about them, because I think the building owners, your customers do want to hear that and they make decisions to hire you more often or to use you more often if you are taking steps in that direction, I guess.

Like I said, don't be ashamed to shout out. People may say, "Well, if I'm doing this, it's almost disingenuous to do it for the wrong reasons," but I think you should do for the right reasons but then don't be afraid to talk about it. Don't be afraid to message that to your own customer base, because I think, the way we're going in the world we're going, that is becoming some of these concerns and some of these better ways to practice business, all the way from the material beginning to the material end. All those players, the more work that's being done to document it and to track it and to make it better, people, I think, the end user, does appreciate that and the contractor is a part of that chain and they can not only make their own decisions, but they can also communicate that to their own customers.

The only thing that I would say is, I think he's made a point that research, research, research and I think it is not easy. There's a lot of buzzwords going around, there's a lot of... It is tough to unwind. It's pretty complicated to dig in. But I think the more people can do, the easier it does become. And I think there are things happening now. It's going to definitely be dynamic. What I see in the world, I think people are doing things now that may be fine-tuned over the years, but I think, as you said, it's really good for every level including and especially the contractor level, it's important to learn to do the work, to research and to learn about it.

Mark Gies is the director of strategy and market development at S-5!

RoofersCoffeeShop® Announces 2024 Influencers for its Coffee Shop Communities

Tue, 06 Feb 2024 06:00:00 PST

RCS Influencers celebrates its eighth year of giving back to the industries it serves.

RoofersCoffeeShop, the award-winning website where the industry meets for technology, information and everyday business, announces the 2024 Coffee Shop Influencers for RoofersCoffeeShop, MetalCoffeeShop™ and CoatingsCoffeeShop™.

Each month these Influencers respond to a topic that is hot in their respective industry such as sustainability practices, AI usage, training and fall protection, recruitment strategies, cause marketing and more. Information is shared through interviews, videos and articles on RCS, MCS and CCS. These Influencers represent all facets of the roofing, metal and coatings industries from contractors and associations to industry manufacturers and service providers. Their contributions are recognized in a special section on each site.

“We are committed to sharing the thought leadership that each influencer brings to address important issues that affect professionals in each of these industries,” stated RCS President Heidi J. Ellsworth. “We are excited to share their expertise across all Coffee Shops in order to help others find success and are so grateful for their contributions.”

We are proud to announce the following 2024 Influencers:

RoofersCoffeeShop

Charles Antis – Antis Roofing & Waterproofing
Rich Carroll – Carroll Consulting Group
Melissa Chapman – Glo Group
Patrick Cochran – Red Dog’s Roofing
Trent Cotney – Adams & Reese
Kendall & Chris Ekerson, Brandon & Nalani Smith – SA Roofing
Tammy Hall – CFS Roofing Services
Peter Horch – Horch Roofing
Rae Fistonich – Chinook Roofing
John Kenney – Cotney Consulting Group
Ro Lewis – Tremco
Lee Lipniskis – Levello Construction
Steve Little – KPost Roofing & Waterproofing
Jake Magalsky – Ace Roofing
Wendy Marvin – Matrix Roofing & Home Solutions
Mandy McIntyre – Level Up Consultants
Ashley and Seth Pietsch – Integrity Insurance & Bonding Inc
Allison Woslager – Integrity PNW
Bill Seibert – Fisher Roofing Company
Jim Ziminski – BZR Advisors

MetalCoffeeShop

Hayley Bohmer – New Tech Machinery
Kevin Bumstead – Stan's Roofing and Siding
Randy Chaffee – Source One Marketing
Rob Collins – Quarve Contracting
Holly Gotfredson – American Metalcraft, Inc.
Rob Haddock – S-5!®
Jena Jackson – Indiana Metal
John Kenney – Cotney Consulting Group
Ken McLauchlan – MetalForming
Bob Mesmer – RMG Erectors
Kyle Nurminen – The Metal Roof Experts
Lucas Severance – Slate Valley Supply
John Sheridan – Sheridan Metal Resources
Melanie Spaid – Orndorff & Spaid
Bill Stillwell – Hippo Roofing
Erik Trefzger – Orca Roofing

CoatingsCoffeeShop

John Kenney – Cotney Consulting Group
Johnny Walker – ICP
Chris Huettig – Karnak
Will Lorenz – General Coatings
Greg Hlavaty – Western Colloid
Lisa Irby – Thomas Roofing
Dennis Perry – Commercial Roofers
Jeff Blank – Simon Roofing
Renee Urso – Ohara's Sons Roofing
Ray Coykendall – JD Miles and Sons Roofing
Marc Allen – Shark Roofing

Find more information on the 2024 RCS Influencers, MCS Influencers and CCS Influencers.

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.

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 CoatingsCoffeeShop

CoatingsCoffeeShop (CCS), sponsored by APOC, launched in 2023. A sister site to the other Coffee Shops, CCS is committed to delivering the education, training, news and information that helps contractors find success in the coatings industry. This unique online community focuses on all things related to coatings including roofing, construction, infrastructure and below-grade applications. CCS connects the industry suppliers, manufacturers and associations with coating contractors to ensure the continued success of the contractor as well as the continued growth of this innovative and sustainable construction solution. Learn more at www.coatingscoffeeshop.com.

What to look for in ideal employee candidates

Tue, 21 Nov 2023 12:00:00 PST

Vicky Smith from S-5! says that your ideal employee will be knowledgable about your company and about their position.

Editor's note: The following is a transcript of a conversations between our Multimedia Manager, Megan Ellsworth, and S-5!'s Corporate Director of Human Resources, Vicky Smith. Vicky is stepping in as guest host for S-5!'s Founder Rob Haddock for this month's influencer topic. You can listen to the interview or read the transcript below.

Megan Ellsworth: Hello everyone. My name is Megan Ellsworth here at MetalCoffeeShop.com, and I'm super excited to be chatting with Vicky Smith. Hi Vicky.

Vicky Smith: Hi Megan.

Megan Ellsworth: You are one of our influencers and we're so glad to have you on board. So let's dive right in. And this month's question is, what are some best practices for attracting and retaining employees that you use in your company?

Vicky Smith: Well, for attracting employees, I think when you're doing your job ads and you're hoping to get the type of candidates that you're looking for, they need to be very informative, they need to be very well written, and they need to be descriptive of what you're, what you're actually looking for. I think another thing that you need to do is to make sure that you're being competitive with your salary and your benefits and your and physician perks, such as we do, you know, quarterly bonuses. We have a,a my brain just died, I'm so sorry. A training reimbursement perk that we offer. If there's certain classes or certain trainings or seminars they wanna participate in that we normally don't do, they can submit a request for it and we will help them pay for that. And then of course, another way is you wanna be thorough with your interviews. You wanna make sure that you are telling them the day to day you wanna ask the questions of what type of person or employee that they are, but you also wanna be able to answer the questions they might have about the company or the position or maybe even people that have held that position before in the past.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, well said. Are, are there any like little pieces of wisdom that you wanna share with any contractors out there currently trying to hire office staff or people on the roof?

Vicky Smith: Well, for office staff, again, you need to make sure that they know what they're getting into and what their day-to-day is gonna look like. And you wanna make sure when you're hiring people that are gonna be on the roof, that they have the ability to go up there. You'd be surprised if they think, oh yeah, that's gonna be such an easy position and I'm more than happy to get up there. And then they get up there and it's like, not so much.

But for the most part, I mean, it's just being honest with your candidates and then getting a feel for what they are able to do and what their strengths are and what maybe you can utilize them for.

Megan Ellsworth: That's great. Well, this has been great advice. Any last words on this topic?

Vicky Smith: Well if you wanna go into on how do we retain employee development for us yes, is very important. We like to make sure that we cross train, we provide mentors for people that want to promote within the company. We wanna make sure that we're allowing them that area to grow and they have the knowledge and they've been with us. We want them to succeed. So we think that's very important. I also believe that appreciating and celebrating your employees are very important, whether it's celebrating their wins or we also do employee of the quarter, I think I mentioned, and, but we also have a kudos plan that they can go out and it's on one of our websites or on our employee portals that anybody can go in and give a kudos to any employee. It doesn't even have to be necessarily their supervisor, but they can go on and and tell them thank you or share something that they've, that they heard that that employee has done above and beyond. And I think that's very important.

Megan Ellsworth: Yes. I love that. I love that. It's so important. It's so important. I love that you do an employee of the quarter too, so it's, you know, it's more than like an employee of the year, but not quite as in frequent as like monthly. It feels a little more special than monthly.

Vicky Smith: Right. Yeah, they seem to enjoy that and that way, like you said, it's not as far out as once a year, but it does make them feel like they won that quarter and that's important for them.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, that's special. I think we're gonna use that here now. Good. Well thank you so much for chatting with me today. And again, we're so excited to have you on as a metal influencer, so welcome to the Influencer gang.

Vicky Smith: Well, thank you, Megan. It was nice getting to visit with you.

Megan Ellsworth: Likewise. For all of you listening out there, go to Vicky Smith's directory on MetalCoffeeShop.com to find out more about her and her company. And we'll be chatting with you next month. Bye.

Vicky Smith: Bye.

Why the Life Span of Metal Roofing Outweighs its Cost

Wed, 31 May 2023 09:00:00 PDT

MCS Influencer Rob Haddock says that metal roofing has a service life of 60-plus years, a benefit that far outweighs its cost.

Editor's note: The following consists of a conversation between our Multimedia Manager Megan Ellsworth and S-5!'s Founder Rob Haddock. You can listen to the podcast or read the transcript below.

Megan Ellsworth: Hello, everyone. My name is Megan Ellsworth here at MetalCoffeeShop.com, and I'm back again for a May influencer response with Rob Haddock. Hi, Rob. How you doing?

Rob Haddock: I'm just fine as frog's hair, Megan. I hope you are too.

Megan Ellsworth: Doing well. Glad to be here with you. This month's topic is all about metal and being compared to other building materials, and the question is, when looking at the true cost of metal compared to other building materials, how does longevity, durability, and resilience factor into that conversation?

Rob Haddock: A whole bunch, if you're a smart buyer. But first, let's define the true cost of "metal," quote, unquote, compared to other building materials, other roofing materials, I assume you mean. We are talking about roofing, right?

Megan Ellsworth: Yes.

Rob Haddock: Generally speaking, and of course costs vary all over the place and all over the country geographically, as well as union versus non-union situations, and residential versus commercial, and so on and so forth. But generally speaking, metal is a premium cost over single plies and asphalt shingles of somewhere around 25 or 30%, as a rule. And as we both know, there are exceptions to every rule, but that's just kind of my 30,000-foot observation.

I have a guest house that a number of years ago had asphalt shingles on it, got hailed out, and the adjuster valued a re-roof at so many dollars, and I installed a metal roof within that dollar amount. So, he was appraising an asphalt shingle replacement. I used a metal replacement, and met the budget that he had established. I've been around the commercial and industrial space for a long time, and until COVID, so these numbers are pre-COVID, on a large commercial project, the cost of a TPO roof with insulation was in the range of two-and-a-half dollars, and metal was more like three or three-and-a-half dollars, so that's kind of the comparative cost.

But when you think about that, and you spoke about longevity, so let's tackle that one first. Metal standing seam, Galvalume steel, which is the lion's share of the metal roofing market, has been documented to have a service life of 65-plus years, and other metals can last even longer than that. Aluminum would be presumably longer, and copper and zinc and some of the natural metals. So, a metal roof, at the bottom end of the spectrum, has a service life of well over 60 years, and all the way up to 150 or 200 for some of the natural metals.

And so, when you think about that in terms of service life of other roof types that are, according to some, more traditional, that have a service life of 15 or 20 years at the most, generally speaking, again exceptions to every rule, then you're looking at roof replacement every 15 or 20 years or whatever it is. With metal, you're looking at a roof replacement after 60 or 70 or 80. So, when you look at it that way, and you can do all the math on current values and so on and so forth, but it makes an enormous amount of sense. So, when we talk about longevity, metal typically will have a service life of two, three, or even four times what other materials that are used would be.

When it comes to durability, metal can be engineered to resist essentially any wind speed you want to, all the way up to category four and five hurricanes, because it's an engineered product. And it is ... What's the word I want? It is stable in its behavior, in its mechanical behavior, so unlike a lot of other alternative materials, it's unaffected by UV. It's unaffected in essence by age, except perhaps for corrosiveness or corrosivity.

And so it is durable. It's just been proven that it's much more durable in hailstorm, so windstorm, hailstorm, firestorm. I'm sitting in the middle ... Where I built my new office is sitting on a burn scar. It was scarred during the Black Forest Fire of 2013, and it burned everything on this property to the ground.

Megan Ellsworth: Wow.

Rob Haddock: You can bet I've got a metal roof on, and most of my neighbors in this vicinity have also gone to metal, because of the threat of wildfire. So, this building is pretty much non-combustible. The wall finishes outside are metal, stone, and stucco, none of which are really combustible. The roof is a metal roof, so in terms of windstorm, firestorm, and hailstorm, I think it's undeniably the champion of the roofing industry. So, that pertains to durability.

Now when it comes to resilience, you'd have to tell me what you mean by that, other than long longevity and durability.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, I think you pretty much covered ... I mean, resilience would just be redundant at this point. But that is so interesting that your new office is on a burn scar, and you and all your neighbors have metal roofs. That just, I mean, like you said, that goes to show the durability of a metal roof and how everyone, not just you in the roofing industry, is believing that it'll be a safer option for those in wildfire areas.

Rob Haddock: Well, and another aspect is that metal is more friendly to solar installation. Solar is becoming a really big thing, roof-mounted solar, and metal is more conducive to solar applications, and that translates to lower costs of installing solar on a rooftop. And not to mention the fact that the average life of PV nowadays, solar photovoltaics, is in the range of 35 years, and there isn't another roof type out there, really, that will last for the entire service life of the solar. So, it makes an awful lot of sense to put solar on a metal roof, not as much on other roofs. The ROI is going to be different and you've got to factor in the removal of the solar to replace the roof and so on after so many years. So, we've built three new facilities in the last couple of years. They all have metal roofs and they all have been fitted with roof-mounted solar PV as well.

Megan Ellsworth: Wow, that's really cool. Dang. Yeah, I mean, just when you said, just the longevity of metal, I mean, that alone is enough to convince anybody, I think. 60, 70 years.

Rob Haddock: Well, the MCA, I initiated an industry-wide project starting back in 2010 to evaluate the real service life of Galvalume-coated steel, and that service life was demonstrated. This was done all over the country on 14 different building sites, on aged buildings, and we did a lot of lab testing and maths and so on and so forth. There's a full report on it published by the Metal Construction Association, but it has a service life demonstrable beyond the 60-year range, up closer to the 70-year range at minimum, in most normal environments.

US Steel notably has very recently really lit up the industry, because US Steel did some research, and they looked back into the warranty claims that they'd had. The whole Galvalume steel industry has had a warranty of 25 years, and it's a material warranty. US Steel just raised that to between 40 and 60, just depending upon the particulars of the coating and so forth. So US Steel at least, they're only one US producer, but they're a major one, and they've just raised their warranty limits, as I said.

Megan Ellsworth: Wow. That's fabulous. That's really good to hear, too. And just like for homeowners and building owners alike, the options are just getting wider and wider now. Any last words on this topic, on the durability, longevity of metal roofing?

Rob Haddock: No.

Megan Ellsworth: Okay.

Rob Haddock: It's a beautiful day.

Megan Ellsworth: Hey, yeah. Awesome. Well, this has been great, Rob.

Three Metal Associations Contractors Should Join and Why

Thu, 06 Apr 2023 13:00:00 PDT

MCS Influencer Rob Haddock says that joining a metal construction association can provide contractors access to networking and problem-solving.

Editor's note: The following consists of a conversation between COO Karen Edwards and S-5!'s Founder, Rob Haddock.

Karen Edwards: Hi everyone. This is Karen Edwards from MetalCoffeeShop, and I am being joined today by Rob Haddock from S-5!. Rob, welcome.

Rob Haddock: Thank you, Karen. Good to be with you.

Karen Edwards: Yeah. So this month's topic is something that is near and dear to my heart. I'm a big fan of associations, and we're wondering what metal construction associations you feel contractors should be involved with and why?

Rob Haddock: Well, you just said one in your question. What metal construction associations? As far as contractors are concerned, are three possibilities I think. One is NRCA, of course. Another is the Metal Construction Association, and the third is the MBCEA, which is an acronym for Metal Building Contractors and Erectors Association. The first one, of course, as you know, is a very large group, and it's a group primarily of contractors. The thing is, it doesn't not directed exclusively at metal. It's directed at a broad spectrum.

The Metal Construction Association as its name implies, is directed exclusively at metal construction. However, that organization it's welcoming to contractor members, but frankly, the due structure is more oriented toward the supply side of the industry. In other words, it's pricey. So I'm not one to mince words usually, but anyway, but it is a very, very worthy trade group, and the next organization, I should say, MBCEA is the only one of the three that is really directed at metal construction and for contractors. Of course, it has associate members that are on the supply side of the equation, such as our company S-5!, but it's primarily oriented at contractors.

Having said that, it is called the Metal Building Contractors and Erectors Association. So it is not necessarily aimed at roofers. As you're probably aware, metal roofing is a big part of metal building construction. But I would say most of the membership of the MBCEA are metal building specialists, metal building contractors. So I don't know if that answers your question, but that's the best I got for you.

Karen Edwards: Well, what are some of the benefits that a contractor could expect to get by being a member of an association like this?

Rob Haddock: Well, Karen, the benefits of belonging to any trade association, in my opinion, the biggest benefit is the networking that's involved. But meeting other people within your same industry, discussing problems that are common to people who work within that industry, those are huge benefits in my opinion. But aside from that, it's staying abreast through newsletters and association meetings and so on of what's going on within that industry and what's new within that industry. There's a camaraderie that develops, but like anything, it's not worth anything unless you attend meetings and unless you get involved, I mean, simply joining and paying membership dues accomplishes very little. It's all a matter of how much you attend and involve yourself and get into it with other people.

And there are also some of these organizations direct which way the industry is going in terms of codes and standards and compliance and all those other kinds of things. So from my perspective, I've always been a joiner and I belong to so many professional trade organizations. I can hardly remember them all, but the ones that are most specific to my own industry are the ones that I contribute my time, talent, and energy and so on. And I've always found it to be very rewarding, and it's hard to put your finger on exactly what is the best benefit, because there are so many different ones. It's just a whole new community that you wouldn't have exposure to, otherwise.

Karen Edwards: Excellent advice, show up. A lot of these associations are looking for fresh faces and input and ideas and energy, and I think that's the best advice that someone could take away from this is definitely be involved.

Rob Haddock: Yeah, show up and contribute. Get involved. Exactly.

Karen Edwards: I love it.

Rob Haddock: Yeah.

Karen Edwards: Well, thank you Rob, so much for sharing with us this month. We appreciate your insight and your wisdom, and hopefully we'll get some folks on the right path to getting involved with their associations.

Rob Haddock: Always a pleasure, Karen. God bless. Talk to you soon.

Karen Edwards: Take care. Bye-bye.

Rob Haddock: Bye.

A Pipe Bracket That's Perfect for Mounting Round Shapes

Sat, 17 Dec 2022 15:00:00 PST

S-5!®'s Rob Haddock says that they've gotten lots of positive feedback from contractors about their new pipe bracket.

Editor's note: the following is a conversation between S-5!'s CEO and Founder Rob Haddock, and RoofersCoffeeShop® President Heidi Ellsworth. You can watch the video or read the transcript below.

Heidi Ellsworth: Welcome back. This is Heidi Ellsworth and we are at Metalcon and we are live from the sound stage. I am honored to have our next guest who is a return favorite, let me tell you that. Rob Haddock with S-5. Hello.

Rob Haddock: Howdy. Hi. Good to see you. Good to see everybody through that lens over there.

And what are we going to talk about today, Heidi?

Heidi Ellsworth: Well, I thought first we talked about the show. How's the show going for you?

Rob Haddock: It's going well. We've had a lot of traffic at our booth.

We have a couple of new products we're introducing here at this show. And it's good to see old friends and old colleagues from around the industry and keep track of where is everybody now.

Heidi Ellsworth: What are they doing? We just saw Jerry Iselin and he was on this right before you, so that was cool. So what are the new products you have in the booth.

Rob Haddock: We always struggled. We make nifty attachments to mount almost anything on metal roofs and do it in a way that is prudent and preserves the integrity of the roof. We have always struggled a little bit with round shapes. So pipes, conduits, condensate lines, things that are round. I mean it could be done, but we didn't have as nifty a way to do it as I always wanted. Now we do.

So that's one of the new, it's a pipe bracket. And we have them in 14 different sizes and it makes it easy. They screw right into any one of our clamps or brackets and make it really nifty and quick and easy to mount round shapes.

Heidi Ellsworth: That's cool. When you think about how much is going on the roof nowadays, I mean between satellite dishes and solar arrays and everything, you want a strong metal roof and you want them to attach the right way. And all those cords and everything else, so that's amazing.

Rob Haddock: Exactly. People run electrical conduits across roofs and gas piping and things like that. And in the solar industry, of course a lot of wiring and things like that. And so this gives them... And it's really economical. It's fast. You just thread it into one of our clamps and it captures your conduit. It's got an EPDM lining lining on the thing. So it's an iffy way to get it done.

Heidi Ellsworth: S-5 engineering.

Rob Haddock: Yeah. It's truly the S-5 whiz-bang solution. And I'm glad we now can make that so much easier for contractors.

Heidi Ellsworth: What's the feedback from the contractors and the architects and everybody who's coming by and seeing it? What are they saying?

Rob Haddock: Everybody loves it. And in conjunction with that, we also developed a strut that's kind of like a unistrut on steroids. And that mates with those same parts. If you've got a series of them, you can create a wire chase and do all kinds of things with it. And that strut's also used to mount HVAC equipment to roofs, particularly condensing units on split systems. And so that's another one. And the two kind of go together.

Heidi Ellsworth: Does it?

Rob Haddock: Everybody loves it.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. It makes so much sense because you are bringing everything together on the roof. Right? And like you said, in a way that your attachments keep that roof safe because it needs to be on there for a long time. And we've been talking about that all week. About the length, the longevity, the performance of metal.

Rob Haddock: Right. And people always have wanted to mount things to metal roofs and there never was a right way to do it until S-5.

I'm glad and proud that we had the opportunity to innovate some unique methods to do it that preserve the integrity of the roof. And you can do it the right way now.

Heidi Ellsworth: Right. Well, give us just a little bit. For everyone out there, just a little bit of the history of S-5. I know you started it, you had this concept. So kind of just from when it started to today. Wow.

Rob Haddock: Wow. That's 30 years now, Heidi. But actually, it started literally in my barn. In my little workshop there. We made a video on this story, but I'll give you the short version. I had just built a new home for myself. This was back around 1984, 5, 6 ish. And of course it had metal roofs.

And I had just finished shoveling the snow from out in front of my garage so I could get my car out, or my pickup back then. And I was leaning on my shovel, admiring my work and so glad it was done. It was a pretty deep snow. And while I was leaning on my shovel, just admiring my work, whoosh, this avalanche came off my garage roof and dumped another four feet of snow where I'd just cleared it. And of course I'd been in the industry for quite a while then. And I said, I'm going to do something about this. And there pre-made gizmos out there in the marketplace for that purpose, snow guards.

And most of them were plastic, glued on parts that you glue them on and they fall off. And then you glue them on next year and they fall off again. And I didn't want any of that junk on my roof. So I just put myself to work and the wheels started churning. And I went out in my shop, in my barn and whittled out a couple of crude prototypes from blocks of wood from a 2 x 4.

And the more I looked at the concept that I was doing, it was just a shape that'd straddle a standing seam like a saddle on a horse. And I know something about that.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. You do know something about that.

Rob Haddock: And then pinched the seam with sets screws from the side. And I finally got one made out of aluminum, a prototype, and took it to a lab and did some load testing on it to see how strong that connection was. And I mean it hung on like country music. It maxed out their load cell, which was a 2000 pound load cell. And I thought, I really have something here.

Heidi Ellsworth: We've got something. Yeah. I love it. That's such a great story. And then it just kept growing from there.

Rob Haddock: Well, it didn't just keep growing. There were a lot of challenges back in the beginning. I was told by manufacturing companies that it couldn't be made for the kind of money I needed to make it for, in order to get it into the market. And I was told by distributors... I took it to some of the best companies there were to reach into the metal roofing community with a new product like that. And I was told over and over again, no. There's no call for this. There's no demand for this. There's no need for this. And so I finally did it myself and then and started manufacturing. And there were a lot of hurdles.

You've got to be like a bulldog. And just don't give up on it. And that's what I did. And the company's grown now. And we figure we've been used on well over 2 million roofs worldwide. And we're in Australia and we're in New Zealand and we're in the Middle East and we're in South Africa and Central and South America.

Heidi Ellsworth: Wow. I hear you've been traveling a lot.

Rob Haddock: Pre-COVID, I was booking about 250,000 miles a year. And it's getting back to that again now.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. I'm finding the same thing. It's kind of crazy. It almost seems like that never even happened, we're just getting right back to all that travel and everything.

Rob Haddock: Seems like we are. Yeah. And all the trade shows are trying to catch up on the revenues they lost during COVID. They're all jamming together. And it's from one to the next to the next to the next.

Heidi Ellsworth: It is. This is our our fifth show in three weeks. So yeah, it's kind of crazy. But Rob, thank you. Do you know what? I had heard only little bits of that story. Thank you for sharing that. That is so cool and so inspiring.

Rob Haddock: Well visit with me again sometime, Heidi, off camera. There's more.

Heidi Ellsworth: Okay, there's more. Okay, well, we'll do that. Okay. So S-5 has a brand new booth. It's right down the hallway if you're here at the show. I think it's on 400. It's 411.

Rob Haddock: 419.

Heidi Ellsworth: 419. So be sure to get down there. It's beautiful. Check out the chandelier. It's my favorite part of the booth. I'm not going to tell you what it is. You've got to go. But just great job as always. You guys are just, you're the top.

Rob Haddock: Thank you very much, Heidi.

Heidi Ellsworth: Thank you.

Rob Haddock: Have a beautiful rest of your day.

Heidi Ellsworth: I will. You too. And thank you all for being here. We'll be back. We're going to have more interviews today and we also have some footage of that booth, so we'll show you exactly what that cool chandelier is all about.

Learn more about S-5! in their directory or visit www.S-5.com.

Metal Roofing is an Ideal Platform for Mounting Solar

Wed, 30 Nov 2022 09:00:00 PST

By Evelyn Witterholt.

S-5®'s Rob Haddock says that metal roofing and solar panel systems work well together in terms of sustainability and are a good return on investment.

In a recent article for PV Magazine, S-5!’s Founder Rob Haddock highlights the many benefits of mounting solar panel systems onto metal roofs. Not only is metal roofing one of the most sustainable types of roofing, but Rob also says that the cost of installing solar panels is actually lower when it’s done on metal roofs.

“Metal roofing provides an ideal platform for mounting rooftop solar as it is the only roof type with a service life (in the range of 50 to 70 years) that actually exceeds the service life of a solar PV system,” he writes. “Most alternative roofing types will expire long before the life of the PV system, leading to costly disassembly of the PV array, re-roofing and re-assembly.”

Another element Rob says home and building owners should consider is the return on investment (ROI) for a metal roof with a solar system. If an owner decides to install a solar, sometimes they discover a new roof is necessary to support this new system. According to Rob, the initial cost of a metal and solar system can be lower than other types of roofs and the lifetime cost is even lower when you consider the longevity of metal roofing.

“The metal roof avoids replacement due to its long service life,” Rob writes. “The roof will still be going strong long after the service life of the solar array has expired.”

Read the entire article to learn more about metal roofs and solar panel systems.

Learn more about S-5! in their directory or visit www.S-5.com.

About Evelyn

Evelyn works as a writer for RoofersCoffeeShop, MetalCoffeeShop and AskARoofer. When she isn’t writing about roofing, she’s either at the gym lifting weights or curled up on the couch watching a movie.

Solar and Metal Are Better Together

Mon, 14 Nov 2022 11:00:00 PST

MCS Influencer, Rob Haddock says that metal roofing is the ideal platform for solar panels because of its longevity.

Editor's note: The following consists of a conversation between COO Karen Edwards and S-5!'s Founder, Rob Haddock.

Karen Edwards: So today, we're going to talk about solar, which I know is a really hot topic growing ever more in popularity. And the question that we're talking to our influencers for September is how can solar be integrated with metal sales?

Rob Haddock: Yeah, that's a very good question. I started a company years ago to do exactly that, but it wasn't successful because they're just two completely different languages. And it was too big a leap to get the metal roofing community, if you will, to learn a whole new language and a whole new trade. Although, solar isn't all that difficult. But I guess, if I were to try to do it again, first of all, I would be very determined and I would educate myself as best I could about solar and the drivers for solar and the feasibilities and all that sort of thing. With the market the way it is now, solar is a pretty competitive field. It's not... But it is still going to be a gold rush because this, what's it called, the Inflation Reduction Act passing into law is going to restimulate the solar industry. Not that it hasn't had stimulus in the past, it has, but it's really going to invigorate the market for solar, and you're going to see all kinds of people getting into solar. It may get a little bit scary.

But if I were to do it again, try it again from the roofing side of the equation, the metal roofing side of the equation, I would hire a good solar designer, one that was really proven. And they're going to be in short supply, so they're going to command a pretty substantial salary. And having a good solar designer, one who is a registered electrical engineer and has had lots of experience with solar and knows how to design systems and knows what products are the best ones out there and all those kinds of nuances, get him on the payroll, and really all you need beyond that... You've already got a roofing contractor with personnel that are used to being on the roof and all that. And actually installing the modules is not a hard thing to learn. It's really pretty easy, and it's pretty systematic once you have a good design and layout, which would be the job of the other guy I mentioned.

And the only other thing you need really is a licensed electrician. And this is a do-it-yourself kind of thing that I'm proposing. The other... And you have to be really determined to get the ball over the goal line and do it the right way. And so the knowledge and integrity of the key people you hire to do this has to be without question. The other way that it could be done, I suppose, is to align a roofing contractor or contractor, manufacturer, whatever that side of the equation is, with the same sort of VPC company and make it a joint effort, perhaps contractually or some way get aligned with a good EPC who's already in the business of installing solar.

The chasm between solar and roofing is, although solar gets put on roofs, the shortcoming of most EPCs is they don't know roofs. Most solar EPCs don't know that much about roofs. But the same thing in the inverse is also true, that the roofing trades know very little in general about solar. And so you got to figure out a way to bring those two together, and one is to bring the solar expertise in-house, and the other is to, as I said, align yourself with a contractual relationship with a known EPC whose integrity is beyond reproach.

Karen Edwards: Seems like that would be happening more frequently.

Rob Haddock: It really does. I mean, it really makes a lot of sense. But as I said in my first response to that question, is that they're two different languages. Solar guys speak in terms of watts and kilowatts and megawatts and inverters and all that kind of stuff, which is very alien to contractors in the metal industry and any roofing-related industry. We all talk in terms of squares and square feet and so on, and they're pretty different languages. But either one can be learned, it's just... Right now, the construction climate, all the roofing contractors that I know are just busy, busy, and backlogged and everything else. And to try to take time to learn another trade, that's a difficult thing to do.

Karen Edwards: It is. And as you mentioned, hiring that person, a good solar designer, someone who understands it is probably a good step in that direction.

Rob Haddock: Right. And an electrician. Of course, you can normally get an electrician on a subcontract basis without having him on the payroll, but the same thing, the labor market in both trades, it's just try to find a good electrician who doesn't have a full-time job. It's a tough thing nowadays. I've got buddy who's an electrical contractor here in town, and he's just pulling his hair out trying to get electricians on his payroll.

Karen Edwards: Yeah. It's across the board. Everybody's struggling. But it's going to be interesting. Like you said, with the government incentivizing solar installations, now might be the time to think about start laying the groundwork and the foundation to make that part of your business, especially if you're doing metal roofs, because they're ideal for solar systems.

Rob Haddock: The metal roof is the ideal platform because it outlasts... It's really the only roof type that outlasts the solar. And the financial metrics of solar is annihilated when you figure in a roof replacement midlife of the solar. It just really destroys an otherwise very attractive metric. And it's less expensive, in general, to install solar on a metal roof than it is on almost any other roof type.

Karen Edwards: And why is that? Because of the attachment methods?

Rob Haddock: Yeah, it's so easy, and it's really the perfect marriage to have a roofing company that does metal roofing also adopt solar and sell the two together. I mean, it just makes all the sense in the world. And that's why I said... It's going to be a struggle to get the right people on board to be able to do that, but that's why I said you got to be really determined.

Because you got to get past those struggles and put it together. Yeah, it is, it's a brilliant thing to do, but you're going to need to learn some new language and you're going to need to have a lot of determination.

Rob Haddock is the founder and CEO of S-5!. See his full bio here.

Why Hands-on Training Can't be Beat

Thu, 10 Nov 2022 09:00:00 PST

MCS Influencer Rob Haddock says that hands-on training and shadowing are the best ways to train new metal roofing crew members.

Editor's note: The following consists of a conversation between COO Karen Edwards and S-5!'s Founder, Rob Haddock.

Karen Edwards: We talked about the labor shortage and being hard to find people. So if I'm a contractor and I've got new installers for my metal roofs, metal walls, what are some resources that I can use to train them, other than putting them out in the field and shadowing someone?

Rob Haddock: Well, I don't know why you eliminated that option, because that's the best one. I was in that business for many years, and what I did was to train up foreman through time and OJT. But what I instructed them... Once I had a good foreman for a crew, I would tell them, don't worry as much about getting the job done as you do worry about training your people to do the job. The intuitive thing to do when you're the boss on a job is go to work, assign some tasks and jobs and so on, and get it done as fast as you can. But that doesn't pay off in the long run. We had a regular revolving door, as I'm sure many do nowadays in any construction trade, and we wanted to focus on training people and retaining help. And so with that kind of attitude, I just got my foremen together and said, instead of trying to get the job built in a big hurry, use it as a teaching experience, use it as a training experience.

Take your time. Speed comes with skill and experience. So make sure you teach them right and you teach them why they're doing all the things that you're doing. And teach it at... Use the job site as a classroom. And what better classroom? You've got all those materials there, you've got the guys there. Just go step by step and train them that way. And that's what I used to do when I was in the business. Occasionally, I'd also bring them in to give them the kind of technical training and stuff on a Saturday, and I would pay them and come into the office for a half a day on Saturday and go through, back in those days it was slides. I'm dating myself. Training materials to give them a little bit more of the technical end about the things that they're doing on the job site that you don't really want to take time on a job site to do that kind of training.

But that's what I did back in the day. Now, that was back in the eighties, and it worked very well. And it increased our employee retention too. When people understand what they're doing, then they begin to feel more valued. And we always showed them an incremental... We had a program with an incremental promotion kind of program as well as incremental pay raises that went with each step in the promotional thing. And so that they could see that they were promotable when they learned all the skills necessary. And we actually developed written tests to test skill levels and their knowledge levels and stuff like that. And it worked very, very well. And that'd be my best advice to anybody else. Everybody wants training to be kind of an instant thing and a highly organized thing, but it's not really that practical in the construction industry, unless you have a unionized apprenticeship program or something like that. That's a little bit of a different story. But I did well with OJT when I used the job site as a classroom.

Karen Edwards: Yeah. Yeah. And well, I think your success too, in the fact that you had levels and you had tests and you had... It kind of like... I know NRCA has created these ProCertification classes, one of which now is for metal. So people that have been doing it for so many years can demonstrate their skills, take the tests, and earn the certification. It's kind of the same approach where people say, oh yes, I can do this, and I've passed this level, and be compensated for their skill and their expertise and their growth in that journey. So, yeah, you were a pioneer in that.

Rob Haddock: Right. So the NRCA program is a qualification test, if you will. It's not a training program, not intended to be.

It's just a test so that when a guy walks in the door and tells you he's been doing this for 20 years and has forgotten more than most people will ever know, you can just putting to the test and see. We had other ways of doing that back in the day, and we had established both a knowledge base and a skill level for each progressive promotional step in our program. And we had a written test for each one, but in addition to that, we also created evaluation forms that the foreman would evaluate both knowledge base and skill level when he had a written form and he could just tick some boxes on there. You got to make it easy on him.

And that forced the foreman to communicate with the guy on the crew as well, because he was doing a weekly evaluation. I think we did it weekly. It was a long time ago. Maybe we did it monthly. I can't remember. Or maybe it was biweekly. And he would evaluate the performance of the employee as well as the skill base as well as the knowledge base, all three areas. And that caused the two to communicate with each other. And it also showed the guy in the field that he was being evaluated, that he was being monitored, that we did care as an employer. And we even had rules that when you hire on with this outfit, if you haven't advanced to the next skill level, next experience level, within 30 days you didn't have a job anymore.

And the next one, because those initial two were trainee... we called him trainee one and trainee class two. And a guy hired on as a trainee class two with no experience, and he had 30 days to advance to a trainee class one. And of course, he got raised with that.

And if he didn't, he was down the road. And the next level, same way. He was still a trainee, and now he had 60 days or something like that to advance to the next higher skill level. And that's what we did, and it worked really, really well.

Karen Edwards: That's great. That's, yeah, a formal program. So I guess when I said other than throw them out in the field and shadow somebody, I meant what kind of structure should be around that, and you just very clearly defined and explained that. And I'm sure there's no reason that wouldn't work today for somebody looking for the best way to bring new folks on and help them succeed and help them see a career path and help them develop that skill. Very good.

Rob Haddock is the founder and CEO of S-5!. See his full bio here.

RoofersCoffeeShop® Announces 2022 MetalCoffeeShop™ Metal Influencers

Tue, 11 Oct 2022 06:00:00 PDT

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:

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

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

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