Hey, welcome to the U .S. The Pros Answer podcast. My name is Cole. I am so glad

that you're here today. I'm hopping in here at the very top of the show because we

are in the midst of a replay of our show's top episode of all time. We split it

in to two shows. Last week, you had an opportunity to hear my conversation with

Aaron Rogers, where we talked a little bit about the pros and cons of going to

college versus jumping into the trades and learning a trade. We talked a little bit

about what it takes to run a successful business. Now, this week, you're going to

get a chance to hear the culmination of the conversation that Aaron and I had.

We're going to try to dispel some of the common misconceptions that we hear often

about roofers and about people in the trades in general. We're going to talk about

the changing tides that we see, and we're going to try to look out ahead and make

some predictions about what is coming down the pike for people in our industry.

Aaron and past self are already in the midst of a conversation, so let's go ahead

and hop right in and join them. This is the You Ask, the Pros Answer podcast. Do

you have questions about an upcoming exterior contracting project? We've got answers.

Welcome to the You Ask, the Pros Answer podcast.

All right, so what I'm hearing is that all Rufers are not either drunks,

dropouts or convicts? Nope. All right.

Another common misconception, at least I believe it's a misconception, is that all

contractors are dishonest or, you know what, they're not even going to show up when

they say they are. Or they're going to show up with a porta pot and they're going

to take down a section of my fence so they can get their equipment back and then

they're not going to show up for another month um what do you say about that so

so we live in a place where you're going to either going to get called one of two

things it's either going to be lower slower Delaware or slower lower Delaware you

know so depending on if you've moved here or you're from here or which side of the

county you grew up on, you're going to say one of those two things. But life was

always a little bit slower here. Yes, we have the beach. Yes, what it looks like

now is not what it always looked like. You know, it's a very rural town, a lot of

farms.

So when you are surrounded by, you know, major metro areas, like, you know, We're a

handful of hours away from New York City. We're a couple of hours away from D .C.,

Philadelphia, a bunch of very large cities. You know, when those people come here,

they complain about the speed at which we do things. And when I was growing up,

there was, you know, pre -internet, pre -cell phones, all that stuff. You know,

you relied very heavily on calling and leaving somebody a message with the

expectation that they were going to call you back. So when I was growing up,

it was very common for contractors to not call you back. It was very common for

them to not show up to the appointment because there wasn't the amount of

contractors here back then. It was very normal and expected that at least a handful

of the guys that you called out for an estimate weren't going to show up. That's

not quite as prevalent now with the internet and the fact that everybody has an

opinion that they have no issue sharing good or bad and as many public forums as

possible. You know, it tends to hold people a little bit more accountable. So people

typically show up, I would say 75 % of the time.

if they show up on time you know that's a different story but the old adage of

you know guys taking the down payment showing up putting a port -a -potty on there

doing some demo and then walking away it's not as common as a story as i think it

used to be because again with the internet and cell phones it's way easier to get

a hold of somebody you know the the facebook slews if you say hey i'm looking for

so -and -so.

didn't finish jobs or did shoddy work or the job was supposed to take a month and

it took six months again it always comes down to cash flows the number one killer

of most contractors so this falls back to the whole thing that we've been saying in

regards to you know vetting your contractor having a properly written contract getting

their license their insurance checking their reviews getting references not only not

only from customers, again, because I can give you three or four names that are

customers that end up being my brother, my best friend, and one of my coworkers,

you know, get references from their bank, from their suppliers, from their

manufacturing reps, from other trades companies that they do work kind of partner

with. Those are the people that are going to give you the nitty -gritty. They're

going to give you the truth. And I think that it's such a, it's such a disservice

to yourself to hire somebody without taking those proper steps. And any contract

that's not willing to give you, you know, reference to outside of, you know,

customers who's not willing to give you a copy of their license or their insurance,

I think that that's a big enough red flag where you know right away, like,

I don't want to do business with that person. So again, I think you have to hold

yourself responsible in a lot of these situations, and I think it will help you to

avoid a lot of the problems that we see in this industry.

Yeah, a lot of that transformation of the industry, some people might be listening

thinking, oh, he's talking like 50 years ago. You're talking about like the last 15,

20 years, how much it has changed. Yep. in the episode

even some of the subtle tips or indicators like showing up to the job site in a

branded vehicle or the way somebody presents themselves. Could you just talk a little

bit about the importance of like gone are the days for the most part of the guy

showing up in a white pickup truck that's, you know, falling to pieces and just

just a little bit about how the industry's changed in that way? Yeah. So, I mean,

if you travel anywhere near our area, you'll see, you know, more and more fully

wrapped vehicles. You'll see way more companies of every shape, size and color these

days. You know, it's not quite as uncommon. It used to be somebody pulled up in an

unbranded truck and got out and they were wearing just kind of a plain t -shirt and

jeans. Like, that wasn't really that big of a deal. That wasn't a huge red flag

because that was like the majority of the industry. You know, marketing was never a

huge thing because almost everybody relied on like word of mouth, Facebook or phone

book, where nowadays, you know, you almost have to be a brand at all times.

So nowadays, you know, it's almost when somebody doesn't have at least a lettered

vehicle when they show up in the front yard like people are kind of questioning

like who is this person if they show up and they're not wearing like at least some

sort of lettered shirt doesn't have to necessarily be a polo or whatever but realize

that the industry has changed to the point where the people that are showing up to

your house are expected to be professionals you know you're not expected to be uh

you know pulling up in stained pants and ripped shirts and you know no sleeves and

cigarette hanging out of your mouth like the industry is

it in such a way that when somebody does not show up in that fashion, it is

looked upon as they are not as reputable as the other companies that do show up

that way. In our industry in roofing and siding, the majority of our competitors,

I would say easily 85 % of our competitors are going to show up in that way.

They're going to show up in a fully wrapped vehicle. They're going to show up and

dressed neatly and, you know, hair done, you know,

exterior seen all over town nobody knows what he's doing has he lost his mind okay

okay when you're offering something that's good you've got to be ready coexteriors

rarely offers a deal this good all right welcome back erin a lot of this

conversation has been around the fact that over the last couple of decades our

industry really has changed and evolved in a lot of ways both in the way that is

received by the community, the people that are in the industry,

just a lot of it. A lot of it has changed. One of the indicators that you and I

were talking about offline, probably in the last handful of years,

is pretty fascinating. Would you share that with our audience, just one of the

indicators that our industry is being taken more and more seriously. Yeah.

So during COVID, we started to see this, this kind of momentum build where,

you know, larger headphones, private equity was starting to buy some of the larger

name brand, like home improvement companies in the industry.

This started to get kind of snowballing and we started to see more and more

companies, you know, taking those checks to the point where we've had some pretty

well -known players in our space have sold out to private equity. Some of them have

sold their brands completely and have been absorbed to become part of a larger

brand. And some of those have basically taken private equity in order to catapult

them to, you know, the next tier. You're talking companies that are probably in the

$20 a $25 million range in private equity, basically them coming in and funding that

growth is able to get them to $40 million easily. So when Wall Street starts

hedging their money on home improvement companies, I think that's a pretty telltale

sign that this is a legitimate business. And again, we're not talking about Berkshire

Hathaway, who Warren Buffett has had billions of dollars into the real estate

industry for a long time. We're not talking about buying like a massive home

building company. We're talking about, you know, $2 billion, $3 billion hedge funds

buying a $20 million roofing company in North Carolina and then buying another $20

million roofing company in South Carolina and then one in Georgia and then one in

Virginia and West Virginia in New York and to the point where they've got a

collection of you know 20 plus million dollar home improvement companies up and down

the east coast you know we've we've I think it was last year or the year before

we had our first technical uh billion dollar roofing company power home remodeling I

believe it was hit over a billion dollars in sales two years ago so I mean This

is stuff that I don't think anybody could fathom 10 years ago. Even five years ago,

I'm not sure anybody was really even thinking about the fact that this was what's

kind of coming down the pipeline. So, yeah. And so receiving news like that,

that raises the bar for every other company, or at least companies that are taking

things seriously because they realize that to not just stay afloat,

but to stay competitive, to thrive, we all have to up our game. And that benefits

our audience, that benefits the consumer because that means you're getting better

quality, workmanship, you're getting better warranties, your better response time.

And then for the audience member who's listening,

who is on the fence about what their career path is going to be. That's exciting

for you, too, because that that means that this industry is going to not only be

around, but it's going to continue to be an industry that you can be excited to be

a part of and growing, right? Yeah. Agreed. Yeah. Well,

it's a lot of really good stuff, a lot of encouraging stuff. I'm excited to be

part of this growing and thriving industry. All right,

Aaron, as always, thank you for being willing to share your years of knowledge and

wisdom with us. Appreciate it. All right, that is all we have for you today on the

U .S. The Proz Answer podcast. If you are watching this and you are a business

owner or you work in the trades, hang in there. We believe the future is bright.

If you are a homeowner watching or listening to this, please be kind. We are doing

our best. Speaking of doing our best, if you enjoyed this episode,

in the trades, send those questions to info at askproexteriors .com and place you ask

in the subject. If you are facing an upcoming home project, we hope episodes like

this help you and empower you to tackle it with confidence. Remember, knowledge is

power and a little bit of research can go a long way. Until next time, happy home

owning. The U .S. The Pro's Answer podcast is produced in -house by the Pro Exteriors

team. Pro Exteriors is the exterior contract and division of Empire Construction Group

LLC.

This podcast is intended for informational purposes only, and should not be considered

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