By Colin Sheehan, RCS Reporter. 

How Greta built a multimillion-dollar brand and why she volunteers with college students to show them the entrepreneurial opportunities in the roofing trade.  

In Season 3, Episode 58 of Roofing Road Trips, Heidi J. Ellsworth virtually visits Greta Bajrami in Westborough, Massachusetts. As one of the top four finalists in this year’s Beacon Female Roofer of the Year contest, Greta is a business owner to watch out for. She impressively broke into a traditionally male-dominated roofing industry as an immigrant, millennial, recent college graduate and single mom. Despite having no prior experience with exterior remodeling, she has built a multimillion-dollar brand and one of the most recognized roofing companies in Massachusetts: Golden Group Roofing. 

Greta got her start in the roofing industry during college and was drawn to the uncommon opportunities the industry offered. Greta saw both a history of pride in quality craftsmanship as well as a possibility for change from the way business was traditionally conducted in the trade. 

"[I wanted] to create a unique process that would attract a certain client and would be mine and my own and it was something I could perfect over time,” said Greta. “That was the light bulb moment that came to me at a very young age, I was just 21 years old and now it's 10 years later. And not only has that process perfected itself, but it's become one of the reasons that we are such an established brand in such a short period of time.” 

Greta was recently chosen by the university she graduated from to join their entrepreneurship council group where she works with a small handful of students interested in exploring what it means to be an entrepreneur. She enjoys working with these students of diverse backgrounds to help them envision what their career lives can become.  

"I just think it's so unique to have all these young individuals, not only show me respect, but listen to my message about the trades, roofing and the future they can also have in such an industry,” said Greta. “I mean, it's incredible how many people see entrepreneurship as a choice and know that they're going to open some sort of business. I'm just there to make sure that they think of the trades, they think of construction, and they don't have to have this immense knowledge in it, because they can come into this trade and partner up with great craftsmen and create their unique selling proposition." 

Listen to the entire podcast to hear more from Greta and Beacon’s fabulous contest that is encouraging the industry to celebrate diversity in roofing.

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of an live interview with Greta Bajrami, CEO and owner of Golden Group Roofing. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast. 

Speaker 1:
Welcome to Roofing Road Trips with Heidi, explore the roofing industry through the eyes of a long term professional within the trade. Listen for insights, interviews, and exciting news in the roofing industry today.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Hello and welcome to another Roofing Road Trips from RoofersCoffeeShop. This is Heidi Ellsworth and I am here today, virtually road tripping, cross country to a very cool State of Massachusetts to visit with my friend Greta Bajrami. Greta, welcome to the show.

Greta Bajrami:
Heidi, I'm happy to be here. Thanks for inviting me.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Thank you. I have to tell you, we just spent such a great time together in Las Vegas for the IRE and you were on our coffee conversations, you've been here on the podcast before. I just, I appreciate you so much. Thank you for always sharing your wisdom and your thoughts, it just means a lot.

Greta Bajrami:
Thank you. I love being here. I love sharing it. Then I hope that to anybody listening, I either inspire them or just makes whatever they're doing that much more worth it.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. And that's what we need, we need to keep bringing all this great woman power, great next generation power, everything that's going along to roofing. And that's why we're here today because we're here to celebrate the fact that you were one of the finalists for the Beacon female roofer of the year contest. That is incredible, is it?

Greta Bajrami:
Yes it was great, thank you. That was fun, that was a nice surprise. It was definitely fun having people vote for you, that was an interesting experience. It always sucks to lose, but it's okay, there's always another time.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I know there's always another time, I agree. And this voting online and stuff, it is kind of crazy and it's now the thing and we're figuring it out and so yeah, I see those dynamics changing a lot in the next couple years too. So before we get too far into that, because I really want to talk about the Beacon, what they're doing to really promote women in the industry and overall that importance of the distributor relationship. But before we do that, for those very few people out there who may not know you, can you introduce yourself and talk a little bit about your company and about yourself?

Greta Bajrami:
Yeah, off course. Well, as you heard, my name is Greta Bajrami, I'm located here in Boston, Massachusetts. I am a young woman in the roofing world, I jumped into it by surprise. I think sometimes we find ourself wanting to get out of financial situations we're in and I found roofing as a good opportunity because there's always work in roofing for those listening, they probably already know, but maybe for others. And seeing as how roofing had work and I needed work, I found myself as a young college student doing just that, working and roofing. And as I was working in roofing, like any other college student, my brain started coming up with these incredible ideas. And one of them was never to change roofing because it's been done for hundreds of years and every day craftsmanship just evolves more beautifully, but it was just to create a unique process that would attract a certain client and would be mine and mine and my own and it was something I could perfect over time.

Greta Bajrami:
And that was the light bulb moment that came to me at a very young age, I was just 21 years old and now it's been 10 years later. And not only has that process perfected itself, but it's become one of the reasons that we are such an established brand in such a short period of time and really sparring with adversity, being the fact that I am a woman, being the fact that I am an immigrant. I came to this country when I was 10 years old and being the fact that I don't actually have anybody here in the States other than my mom and dad, because I'm an only child and a lot of family is still in Europe. So I had all these tides against me and I overcame them, and I overcame them in a roofing world, which is a male dominant world, which shows to you that anything is possible and every industry has the potential to open doors, to all kinds of new identities, we just have to try.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yes, I agree. I mean, that is, when we're looking at really how women are affecting the roofing industry right now, I think you are the perfect example of how that is working. I mean, and not just women, but the next generation, I mean, at 31 you have a hugely successful business. You are on the board of North East Roofing Contractors Association. You are involved, you're on podcasts, you're on coffee conversations, you're doing all these things. And it just really shows how important that is to bring people like you into the industry.

Greta Bajrami:
Yeah. And it's been an incredible journey. And one thing I'll mention on there is my most biggest achievement was when I was chosen from the university that I went to school to join their council. And I got the privilege to work 60 hours a semester with a group of five to seven students, depending on the semester team. I'm acting as a faculty and never did I think that I'd be able to do that, not only as Greta, but as Greta the roofer. I just think it's so unique to have all these young individuals, not only show me respect, but listen to my message about the trades, roofing and the future they can also have in such an industry.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. That is awesome. And in those classes you're seeing, are you seeing a lot more diversity between not just men and women, but also with different minorities and different groups coming in?

Greta Bajrami:
Yeah, I mean, it's incredible, in my entrepreneurship council group, I have girls, I have girls from Arabic cultures, Asian cultures, Black culture. I mean, it's incredible how many people see entrepreneurship as a choice and know that they're going to open some sort of business and I'm just there to make sure that maybe they think of the trades, they think of construction and they don't have to have this immense knowledge in it, because even if they're visionary, they can come into this trade and partner up with great craftsmen and create the unique selling proposition. Again, that's what I always go to. I'm trying to make these young individuals see the potential of, even if you are great at marketing, why not become great at marketing and roofing?

Heidi Ellsworth:
Exactly. I've done that for a number of years, marketing and roofing, it's a great thing. Well, let's talk a little bit too then, I mean, I see roofing contractors like yourself who are out there working with the trade schools, working with the universities, the community college, all these different things, and it is so powerful. But the distributors, Beacon in particular, because I'm really talking about some of the initiatives they have to really talk about diversity and they are doing a lot more of that direction too. So when we look at what they did with the Beacon female roofer of the year, tell us a little bit about that? What was the experience like and how important do you think it is that distributors are stepping up to do this kind of work?

Greta Bajrami:
I mean, it's so incredible what they're doing and I wish they continue to do it and I wish all the other distributors pay attention and begin to do it too. I think when you think of the monetary involvement or the labor hours involvement, it's priceless to what they're doing. Not only for themselves, their brands, but for the people that purchase from them and the community that essentially supports these people that purchase from them. I think when I saw this being done by Beacon, I realized that we haven't had this before and we need more. I think the contractors are craving more because it was the first time that MetroWest Daily News was knocking on our door because they had heard about this and it had got pushed on my social media, it had got pushed on our Facebook. And then a lot of my friends had shared it on their Facebook pages and had landed on this MetroWest Daily News, which is one of the news papers here in Massachusetts.

Greta Bajrami:
And they were here and they wanted to put on the front page and they did put it on the front page, they put a picture of me holding a drip edge.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I love it.

Greta Bajrami:
And I remember going to Wegmans, a local supermarket and walking by the shelf and there was a New York Times, there was the Boston Globe and then there was this MetroWest Daily News and there was my face holding a drip edge saying, young woman roofer gets nominated for this award. And it wasn't really about the award at that point in time, it was about the fact that we were letting the world know of the fact that we existed. Because I think roofing, although it's a necessity, it's very much to me, a minority in the way the homeowner sees us, because we're not very HDTV friendly. I can think of owners, homeowners, they know their interior guys, their designers, their architects, but when it comes to that, we're not pretty, we're not... I've been told before, can you make it sexy? Can you make it pretty? And I'm like, I don't know what you want me to do, I only have 13 colors to work with. And it was the first time that we were highlighted, people were like, wait a minute, roofing is like that? And I think I couldn't thank Beacon enough.

Greta Bajrami:
I think that was so powerful, I think that was priceless and I think it brought a lot of people, so much joy. I mean, even so that the local channels' news channels in my country Albania caught this and they actually invited me live stream on the five o'clock news to talk about this. Because they didn't know that roofing was even a thing and they had no idea that this Albanian girl from Albania was a roofer in America. So think about what that did, Beacon, it ended up in a channel five, five o'clock news in Albania and Macedonia.

Heidi Ellsworth:
You know what, before we got on this podcast, I had no idea that that had happened Greta, that is so powerful. And you know what, it also really shows the power of what you're doing in marketing and using social media and being out there, being willing to share what's happening in this company. So in the past, I think sometimes there was a little bit of embarrassment, like I'm a roofer, but they'll know there's just huge pride in everything that you're doing.

Greta Bajrami:
Yeah. I mean, don't get me wrong. I mean, it's scary sometimes when you put yourself out there, especially as a woman leader, because I do get some, not necessarily, I won't call hate, but I do get bullying. Even the last one being like a week ago where I had put this video of myself explaining the roofing process and somebody said, look at that, it's a woman doing it, they have no idea what they're doing, she's probably just hired to look pretty on camera. I mean, this is just, people love to be mean behind the computer screen, but it shows to me that we're such a long way from where we need to be. But I definitely think I'm in a better position today than I ever was. And I think companies like Beacon supporting not only women, but also men, whoever, whatever we are, it doesn't matter just supporting people. I think we are on the right path.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah, I do too. I think we haven't celebrated our own enough. We try to do it all the time, but when you have a company like Beacon that really steps up and starts celebrating the women in the industry, now they're working with veterans, they're doing on so much with the Beacon of hope also, these kind of initiatives make a big difference. It raises roofing respect and also pride in being part of this industry.

Greta Bajrami:
Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. And I think that we are on the right path and I think we still have war to do, but this is a great beginning and I think we're making a lot of progress and definitely in the last five years there's been probably 15 years worth of progress and we're catching up. And we just need to continue this flame of letting people know that we're respectable, we're smart, we're driven, we embody all the skills that all other business owners and entrepreneurs do and that we're a necessity.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. And we are a necessity and that's the thing that's so great. So I want to talk just a little bit too, because obviously you and I are, I shouldn't say obviously, but you and I are both involved with National Women in Roofing, we were at National Women and Roofing Day, it was just a beautiful thing. And one of the things that I want to talk about is I want to take that one step further of, and you hit on it when you're talking about your mentor groups and what you're doing with your university, that the importance of women owned businesses and supporting women owned businesses, that's a tough one. I mean, not everybody, like you said, some people are hiding behind their computer, but I have seen just a huge growth in women owned roofing businesses. What are you seeing?

Greta Bajrami:
Yeah, absolutely. And I've seen it from men, I have a lot of times proud fathers of daughters who are go-getters and probably on the track to becoming their very own entrepreneurs. And I have them all the time telling me, I love supporting you because you're a woman and I want my daughters to see that I support women businesses because they're going to go and open their own business and I want them to realize that they will get support. So we've been getting a lot of that in the last five years of just proud uncles, proud fathers, proud spouses of women owned business. So we're getting a lot of just people that have women business owners in their family groups supporting us because of that very cost. So that's been exciting. I mean, I think we've seen a tremendous growth and I think it's because societies are shifting and they're starting to realize that here is something that we've left behind the scenes for a long time. And we've given them the short end of the stick.

Greta Bajrami:
Just because again, just like I was told a week ago, that I'm a hired person to look good on camera, I don't know what I'm talking about. Little, did he know that not only am I, I'm the owner, but I go to job sites and I am on job sites and I was on job sites. So, it's stigmas like that, that are beginning to break. And I respect a lot of the men that are helping break them because they're trying to show to their daughters, wives, spouses, cousins, that they don't stand for that.

Heidi Ellsworth:
That is so true, I love that. And really allies working together, it doesn't matter what your gender is, it matters that you can run a good business, that's what matters and how you get that out there. But I do think the balance with the industry, we're definitely seeing some changes there and that balance is creating even more professionalism because without the balance, things will not improve, they will not grow to that next level. And as you're looking at it too, one of the next big, I think one of the next areas to break is actually women who want to work on the roof. So we have women business owners, we have a lot of women in the industry doing what I'm doing, media marketing, working with distribution and manufacturing. We're still breaking that barrier of women working on the roof as project managers, actual installing the products. What are you seeing there?

Greta Bajrami:
It's definitely still very tough. I will say we have two siders women, we don't have many woman roofers on the roof, we do have some ground help for woman roofers, but we are seeing more and more siding in the roofing field. I will say I think one of the reasons is that they still think that it's going to be less feminine and is going to label them as manly, if I may say that, I think that's the response that I've gotten from a lot of women. The reason they want to try siding is because it's a little bit more feminine to it, it's not as rugged, so I think there's a lot that we can do that and I think that... I know some manufacturers are starting to make clothes that appeal to women, they're doing good job, but maybe we can do better.

Greta Bajrami:
I think if you want a woman to be on a roof we have to start thinking of how she's even going to look on the roof, are the clothes, are the boots, are the pants, are the harnesses made for women or are they painful for a woman to wear all day because of the way her body's designed. So I think those are some reasons why I'm seeing the girls not necessarily want to even wear a harness, they don't like it, it's uncomfortable. So those are some opportunities to those listening that probably are in manufacturing and to start thinking, can we start designing some product that's not only comfortable for a woman, but also looks beautiful on a woman to help promote women to feel more feminine on the field.

Greta Bajrami:
Because I think that one of the main reasons why we can't get young women to go on the roof is because there seems to be this perception that they're going to be manlier. And maybe that's something that they don't want to be labeled as, maybe they're mothers, maybe they have a boyfriend. I don't know what the case may be, but this is the feedback that I've gotten. And this is why I seem to find more talent for siding than roofing.

Heidi Ellsworth:
And I really have seen it with the safety equipment, if safety equipment isn't, it needs to be manufactured and built for women so that it's safe because it's not safe when it's too loose, when it doesn't fit the right way. And if you don't feel safe on the roof, why would you want to do that? Or if you're uncomfortable all day, you don't want to do that. I think we're seeing a lot more women on flat roofs and on doing maintenance service and maintenance, we're definitely seeing that, but we still have some work to do, I agree, a hundred percent. But I think this next generation that's coming up too, the stigma on, you can't be in shop because you're a girl, you can't be a crafts person that's changing. We're starting to see a change and we've seen it change a lot in Europe. There's a lot of master roofing women in Europe.

Greta Bajrami:
Yeah, for sure. I think they're more well promoted at the trade school level, that's one of the main reasons, because they have roofing specific trade schools where it's like, that's the only thing they go to a trade school for is roofing. So I think that's one of the reasons why Europe's had such a big push in that initiative is because it's very well paid. And again, it's a pathway directly into roofing, that's from year one to three, I believe it's a three year program.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Well, I tell you what, my little sister she's a teacher, but she would've been an amazing roofer. I tell her that all the time, she would be kicking you guys butt out there on the roof. But let's move on because I really want to talk about distributors and distributor relationships because beyond, whether you're man or woman, it doesn't matter as a roofing company, as a roofing contractor and an owner that relationship with your distributor is so important. What's your philosophy on that relation with your distributor, your local branch and how you're incorporating what they offer and also that relationship into your business?

Greta Bajrami:
I think when you build a relationship with a distributor, automatically it produces consistency because you're able to stay consistent with not only the pricing, but the promises that you're making at the kitchen table or across the desk, when you're making a deal. I think having one strategic partner in your business automatically adds consistency and then after that, I think it's just about adding the right layers and one of them is professionalism. If everything looks aesthetically the same every time, and we're not running around scrambling for material or carrying material over from job to job, I think that's where a lot of contractors sometimes get a little sidetracked is when they try to carry material from one contract, one job to another, or they try to bring some of their own.

Greta Bajrami:
I think adding professionalism starts with just that, having a great relationship with distributor that drops your material off every day and it looks the same, and the client has that same feeling of opening a package when they see all their roofing materials getting revealed. So that's been the key for me, those two first ones is why I choose to only work with one key partner. And then going off of that is the ability to know that we have somebody that is going to stay on time and is going to deliver what we're saying, is going to have the products that we are selling and most importantly is going to let us know ahead of time changes that are coming. I think having a distributor, a key alliance distributor allows you to have leverage so you're not in shock panic mode, but rather you are always being informed before things actually happen, so you have proper time to shift or redesign a process that you currently had.

Greta Bajrami:
And I think working with strategic partner has allowed us to do all those things, so not only are we consistent with all our materials, deliveries, timeframes, because we know exactly how long it takes for something. Not only are we professional because the client is not watching us go to local lumber stores, or watching one process every time. But on top of that, we're always being prepared and we're always one step of the game. And we're working with them to also know what products are coming up, which is really important too. Your distributors always letting you know what products are getting redesigned, what products are getting discontinued, what products are coming up, but they're also letting you know what new products are in town and maybe you should have this conversation with this new company before anybody else does.

Greta Bajrami:
And I think that's what they're there for and I don't think you can unlock that until you really choose to work one on one with them rather than being loyal to price. I think being loyal to price, you lose out on all these different layers that could potentially make your business consistent and solid for many years to come.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. That is so smart. And I see what the distributors are doing also to bring so many ad values, technology, partnerships, affinity, all of those different kinds of things. How are you working with Beacon on some of those initiatives?

Greta Bajrami:
I mean, I'm always excited for the technology, I love the fact that you can see things, know things as they're happening in lifetime. I love the fact that your receipts, your everything is being kept for you. I mean, when it comes to the technology, it's now easier than ever to track a job site from start to finish and to have full control of it without actually having to be there, which is, I think to lot of project managers listening, or even owners listening, it's constant hard burn because you don't know what's happening you can't be in every job. But I think that having the technology behind it and knowing what was delivered, what was not, knowing what invoices are there and how's your accounts looking. I think having this at your fingertips through an app allows you full control of your job sites, which is obviously the bottom dollar that's really important. So definitely that's something that's in technology has played a big piece in the whole relationship with distributors.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. I've been seeing that a lot. And I mean, the thing is, they're doing so many cool initiatives, not only, I mean, really focusing on business builders for the contractors. And I think that is so important, but also they do a lot of fun stuff too. So a lot of these awards, pickup truck giveaways, all kinds of fun things, so-

Greta Bajrami:
Trips.

Heidi Ellsworth:
And trips.

Greta Bajrami:
Yeah. I mean, those are just the perks, I love those, don't get me wrong and just like anybody else does, there's nothing greater than a free vacation every year. But of course, to anyone listening, there's just so much more into it that you're probably not realizing that you're missing out on, by just being loyal to price to different vendors. I think when you have a few different vendors, again, you can't really unlock the potential of these intimate discussions and support that you can receive for your business.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. I agree, a hundred percent, that is so wise. And I hope everybody out there is listening to that because with everything that's been going on with material shortages and price increases and stuff, this has been a hard time. It's been hard for manufacturers, for distributors and very hard for roofing contractors, so those relationships. And Greta, maybe you can speak to that, the relationships matter more now than ever, don't you think?

Greta Bajrami:
Absolutely. I mean during this pandemic and anything that will happen in the future relationships are going to come into part because if you've taken care of them, they're going to take care of you, they're going to watch for you, they're going to be equally concerned for your growth. And it's not to say that they don't feel bad for anybody walking in through the store, but that also means that, a golden group walked in and they have to get it, they'd probably likely give it to them, if those two people in line waiting at the same time, I'm not saying they're going to discriminate, but you have to understand that they're going to take care of their client base first, that's always been loyal to them. So in a pandemic scenario and in a COVID world that came into play, we never had those issues, that other company owners were having because we had very solid relationships and we were able to always keep that and keep those materials coming.

Greta Bajrami:
And again, when I make deals with distributors, the price is not my only decision maker. And I think I'm so glad that I wasn't focused only on the price, because maybe today I wouldn't have been in the same position I am.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. That's so smart.

Greta Bajrami:
That's with everything in life, I think with everything in life, if you're just driven by the price, sometimes something might happen that might really wake you up and it might for the good or for the bad, but in this scenario, I think those that were just working with anybody and everybody, they were stuck in a very tough position.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. I agree. So when you look at your business over the last 10 years, and I know we just talked about this, but I just want to recap it a little bit. How important has that relationship been in the growth in the last 10 years of really finding the right distributor, finding the right relationship, how has that turned into ROI for your business?

Greta Bajrami:
I mean, it's been one of the key drivers, it's like having fuel for your car. You could have the best car in the world, but if you don't have fuel for it, what good is it? I think the distributor is a fuel that you need to get where you need to go. I mean, you can be there at the kitchen table, discussing projects all day with a homeowner, but if you're not able to deliver or the material's not there, or you can't find it, or you need to get a substitute, then what good is that experience anyways? I think the distributors, like I said, we're always there to not only deliver on what I was selling, but more importantly, do it in a professional way that made us both look great in the eyes of the homeowner. And also homeowners love when you have a relationship with a distributor, it shows a lot about your character, it shows that you're committed to your craft and you're committed to your craft by always sourcing out the best products for your clients and not just going to a Lowe's or a Home Depot.

Greta Bajrami:
Not to say that's a bad, sometimes some people just don't live near distribution centers, I'm not saying anything to that, but I'm just saying that for us, living in the area that we live, it ends up becoming a differentiator, not only to the consumer, but to the brand and to the growth.

Heidi Ellsworth:
To the growth, yeah, I totally see that, it's an important way to look at it that I think a lot of times contractors forget, and they just, they think, well, I'm just going to go after, get the lowest price and wherever I can get the materials, it doesn't matter. But it does matter, all of these different things matter. So what I'd like to final... Coming to the end of this podcast, but I would like for you to share just a little bit with everyone out there, how do they encourage on two things, one, how do they encourage getting more women and younger people into the business? And you and I have talked about this before, and I always love what you share, but I think for future women who are going to win this Beacon award, what are your tips to get more women into the industry?

Greta Bajrami:
My first tip is allow them to come into any area of the business, not just necessarily roofing, project managing is a great one, not as heavy, sales, again, I think sales is starting to become more of a woman's world, but we're definitely not at a 50-50 level. So I think it's just welcoming woman to any division of your company that you have and you being the first one to say that there's no stigma or there's no stereotype it's for all equal. You, the owner, you are the manager, you are the hiring manager, the person that's in charge has to be that one that will open the door to all the positions equally. And then on top of that is realizing that you have to do a great job of not putting them in a disadvantage, like not giving them the easier leads only because, or giving them the easier jobs because they're a woman, like you throwing them into equal opportunities of both hardship or easier jobs and letting them prove you wrong.

Greta Bajrami:
And I think that's something that managers do, they'll hire a saleswoman, but they'll only put her in the easier sales, like where they think she might convert or they'll hire a project manager, but they'll give her easy peasy roofs where they think she'll convert. And I think that's the wrong mindset, I think if you're going to hire women or young professionals, you need to be able to give them equal opportunities so they can strengthen themselves and prove to you that it can be done. And I think it can be done but only with your support, so if you are still in a doubt position just don't hire, if you're not there yet, don't do it. You're only going to be speaking to those fears more. I think you, as a leader, have to silence all those unknowns first or answer them rather and then you can go ahead and hire young professionals and women.

Greta Bajrami:
Because when I hire young professionals and women, I know they're going to succeed because that's to my differentiator and that's why I've succeeded. So I'm already bringing them on with a full support that they're going to succeed. I don't bring them on being, oh, maybe they shall succeed I'm not sure, but I'll give it a try. So I think if you're going to do it, you have to be the absolute supporting backbone for them to truly succeed within your organization.

Heidi Ellsworth:
It all starts at the top. And I have to tell you, Greta, you were at the top of your game and I'm excited, I'm just so excited to continue to watch you for your next 10 years in the industry. Before we get off this call real quick, let's do a plug for NERCA, you're on the board there, you've got a great show coming up, what's happening over there?

Greta Bajrami:
So NERCA is having a complete rebrand. I'm super excited to be one of the leading visionaries of that, please be on the lookouts. We will have a new logo, new branding, new messaging, and we're going to change things up again, to allow more and more individuals to not only see the value of having such an organization behind you, but to welcome those younger faces and that new identity of the roofing industry. We have our show coming up, if everything stays the same, hopefully, in 2022 in April in Atlantic City. But I won't give you an exact date on that, just seeing the unlikely event of some big shifts. So I think we're in an exciting time, I think it's a great time to get involved in the trades, I think it's a great time to push forward to the messaging of inclusivity, whether it's minority, woman, Black, Asian, men, woman, I don't care.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. Everyone.

Greta Bajrami:
It's time to be together and I think it starts with you as the leader at the top. I think if you the leader truthfully can speak to that, it will manifest itself. And if you have any doubt, reach out to somebody who's already doing it. People like myself, people like, I mean, you probably know so many more people, but there's totally like a hundred people that you can name right now-

Heidi Ellsworth:
I know, there's tones.

Greta Bajrami:
So if they want to reach out they can certainly do so and see what other people are doing, so maybe they can try it out for their business because we have to continue this trend. And thank you to people like Beacon for starting it and let's have the other manufacturers and distributors continue it because like I said, having your face be on the MetroWest Daily News and having your home country five o'clock news feature you, there's no words for it, I don't even know, I can't even describe to you the feeling, but imagine if [crosstalk 00:33:08].

Heidi Ellsworth:
I can't imagine. Yeah. That Greta, wow, so cool. And congratulations again.

Greta Bajrami:
Thank you.

Heidi Ellsworth:
And I agree. Thank you to Beacon for doing this and for Beacon being a part of RoofersCoffeeShop, for being enabling and uplifting so many companies, men and women, but also being a major sponsor with National Women in Roofing. So it's across the board and it's just so special. Again, Greta, thank you so much for being here and I can't wait to see you. We will be in Atlantic City, we will be at your show, it's going to happen, we're just going to think positive.

Greta Bajrami:
Thank you. See you there.

Heidi Ellsworth:
See you there. And thank you everyone for listening to another Roofing Road Trips, you can find all of our Roofing Road Trips on rooferscoffeeshop.com under the read list and watch section or even better on your favorite podcast channel. So be sure to subscribe and also subscribe to YouTube because Greta's on there too and you got to see all the great content. Have a wonderful day, and we'll see you on the next Roofing Road Trips.

Speaker 1:
Make sure to subscribe to our channel and leave a review. Thanks for listening. This has been Roofing Road Trips with Heidi, from the rooferscoffeeshop.com.

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of an live interview with Wendy Marvin, Charles Antis, Greta Bajrami, Mandy McIntyre and Rudy Gutierrez at IRE 2021. You can read the interview below, listen to the podcast or watch the webinar. 

Heidi Ellsworth:
Welcome to Coffee Conversations Live. We're going to have a possible echo in our ear because we are really doing something way out there. Not only do we have our panelists, but we had two online. We're looking down here at the conversation, at the laptop, sorry. Coffee Conversations. We are doing it live at the National Roofing Expo, and we are talking to everyone who is right now on the floor. Can you see this? Look all over the floor. I see contractors walking by. Then we are here with our RCS influencers who are contractors. Yesterday, we talked to distributors and manufacturers. Today, we're going to talk to contractors. I'm going to have everybody introduce themselves, and we're going to work away, so our team is going to introduce with their name, their company, location and I'm going to make sure we don't have the echo. Okay. Hold on one sec. Go ahead, Wendy.

Wendy Marvin:
Okay. I am Wendy Marvin. I am the CEO and owner of Matrix Roofing, and we are located in the state of Washington down by Portland, Oregon.

Charles Antis:
Thanks, Wendy. I'm Charles Antis, and I am the founder and CEO at Antis Roofing and Waterproofing in Irvine, Orange County, California. We service the HOA market from San Diego on down.

Greta Bajrami:
Hi, everyone. My name is Greta Bajrami. I'm the owner and founder of Golden Group Roofing, and we're located in Boston, Massachusetts, and we service the greater Boston area.

Rudy Gutierrez:
Good afternoon, everybody. My name is Rudy Gutierrez, and I'm president and CEO of Shell Roofing Solutions Group in California.

Mandy McIntyre:
I'm Mandy MacIntyre with First Choice Roofing. I'm the Operations Officer here, and we are located in Cleveland, Ohio. We're a commercial and just getting back into residential after dropping residential last year at the worst time, now that we can't get commercial materials, but we also specialize in historic restoration and preservation.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Excellent. Thank you, Mandy. Thank you, Rudy, and thank you all out there. What we're doing is, we are starting now with really hearing from the contractors on what they're seeing. I want to start with Wendy here and I want to talk to Wendy. We have folks from all over the country, as you can see. What's happening in the Pacific Northwest?

Wendy Marvin:
Yeah. Pacific Northwest, we're starting to see the impact of the shortages. I think we were living a little bit of the surplus that they had out there. We're back down to pretty much black or gray and anything that is any color mix and it's not manufacturer specific. It's anybody. We're seeing significant delays up to three to six months for deliveries. We have a really good relationship with our distributors, so they're helping us source not only from their company, but from other companies. I think that's a big takeaway, to try to keep those relationships fresh and good because yeah, they can be your ally. Yeah.

Then we're starting to see a shortage of the other weird things that have come up, like plastic. Nobody seems to be talking about that, but plastic fence and different things, and so we're starting to see shortages in that and silicone is what we're hearing is coming down the road, too, now.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Your coatings.

Wendy Marvin:
Yeah. Well, and your pipe fittings in your residential, just there's all kinds of applications for that. We're feeling a little unsettled, just in what we're doing. We're getting all these jobs. We're booked into October, November right now, but are we going to be able to service them? We're trying to get resources available and keep them in house while we can.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. The market's not slowing down, but the materials that we have, demand here, materials here. That's a huge gap in trade.

Wendy Marvin:
Manufacturing is trying to keep up. I think our GAF rep said a couple of weeks ago that they were 4 million squares short already.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Wow.

Wendy Marvin:
[crosstalk 00:04:21] I'm thinking pretty sure he said squares. I think that's just indicative, is they're just, they can't keep up.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. Charles, what are you seeing down in Southern Cal?

Charles Antis:
We see the same thing. We see the same thing wherever we look, however, I'm feeling it a little differently because we're in a drought and we don't have the big rush. A lot of my friends in companies across the country, they're, affected a lot more. For us, we're watching this, and we noticed that, like plywood, if you go into our warehouse, we have a huge warehouse. It's like 8,000 square feet. It's three stories high. We just have stacks and stacks of plywood because we don't want to go pay $75 a sheet for it when we could lock it in for $30, which we have. There's a lot of things that we've had to guess on. We've guessed and we've gone wrong in the past, but I think right now we're being blessed for guessing.

It's not just in the plywood. It's not just in the roofing product, but we see this everywhere. I live in a place that I have access to 13 pools. They're all closed. You know why? There's no chlorine.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah.

Charles Antis:
Suddenly, there's no chlorine. If there's chlorine, any roofing product, or one of those other elements, we will hit another disruption. I think we have to learn to be really flexible and go back, which we'll speak more on today, but you mentioned, Wendy. It all comes down to the relationships. If you have solid relationships with your manufacturers through computers, you will find a way to get material. It comes down to relationships and how you build them.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah, that is. You know what? It's so important, too, because I think that homeowners, using the chlorine example, homeowners or consumers are figuring out that there's shortages. It's not as hard a conversation, but Greta, what are you seeing in the Northeast?

Greta Bajrami:
The same thing. It's been a great year and we've had demand. There's never been a demand for roofing than this year, but at the same time, the flip side of that is that for the first time, we are in trouble where we don't know if we're going to be able to accommodate a certain client based on the selection. We're trying to push people towards grays and blacks. When it comes to color, we're not sure if something's going to change along the road. For the first time ever in my company, we don't like to put deadlines on projects and we have to change that, right? We had to put out on bids and then put deadlines on those bids, something that we'd never done before, but it was a new world that we had to be a part of.

I think one thing I keep speaking about, and I hope the manufacturers hear me, is that I think although price increases are necessary, you have to find a way to do it tastefully, because we are going to speak for the lot of the sales team that come to me, is that they're getting a little bit torn in between all these price changes. They're losing a little bit of stability out there when they're proposing, where they don't know if they should go a little higher, if their commissions are going to be impacted, if they're going to be able to, if they're going to lose a proposal altogether. That's my concern at it all. My concern at it all is, how do we continue? How do we bring supply up, but in a way so it allows people that sell this product and are part of this industry, not to be the sole impact?

Charles Antis:
Wait, that's brilliant. That's brilliant, putting a fuse on the signing of the contract. Not only can you regulate material, but you'll actually improve the chance of closing that sale. I'm going to borrow that, if you don't mind.

Wendy Marvin:
Can I also throw out, one of the things Greta said that we haven't talked about yet is this constant increase in pricing. Most distribution centers run pricing, and this is a little insider knowledge, but run pricing on a tiered system. Right? Top tier one is typically your entry level piece, and then they lower the tiers as you've been with them longer. It makes sense because we're less of a credit risk. You know what I mean? As you go forward, but with this freight train of pricing changes, you really have to have somebody on top of watching your pricing so that the PO that goes to them is actually what you're being charged, because I can tell you over the course of the years in 14 years in business, I've found more than $150,000 in errors.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Wow.

Wendy Marvin:
It isn't a small thing. Right now, when this is changing so fast, you need to know what date the change is, and then you need to watch the POs as they come in and the bills as they come in and make a match for POs.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Make sure they're not going in at that newer price. Exactly.

Rudy Gutierrez:
Yeah. Yeah. I'm not that far from Charles and his business. The challenges are the same, but I think with what Charles said, Wendy said it as well, communication. Pre-planning is very important. We've had more conversations with distribution as of late than we've ever had, including our manufacturing reps. I think getting ahead of the projects are very key. Getting as much information upfront from our client has been also key. You may have to be forced to think out of the box, like staging materials in your warehouse like Charles did.

Yeah, we've had to get creative. We do have some challenges, particular in the area of the end of third quarter, middle of fourth quarter, where maybe the materials aren't going to be available. Projects are getting pushed back a little bit further out. There are some challenges out there, but communication has been the very key factor here.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. That's what we've been hearing a lot here, Rudy, at the show is how important communications is. As Charles said, and Wendy, everybody, your relationships. Mandy, what are you seeing in Ohio?

Mandy McIntyre:
Well, I think we are experiencing just the same thing that everyone's been talking about, the material shortages and all the trouble with that. Obviously, communication is key with customers and with suppliers. I think with communication, it's also setting those expectations with your customers, being upfront with them that we're getting ship dates of February 2022 right now. We are relaying that information to our customers and just being honest with them, but then it's also an opportunity too, to do some maintenance contracts, do some repairs, to get them by until they can replace the roof, offering alternatives such as coatings or maybe a re-roof if they don't necessarily need a tear off.

As far as our contracts with our customers, we can't do any LDs right now. We do have clauses in there for MVPs, material, escalation, protection clauses to save us because some of our orders, our price is not solidified until it's delivered. Those are a lot of the challenges, but it's an opportunity to be creative and to help the customer at least get by until we can replace that roof.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Mandy, I have a question for you because you do a lot of alternative high end residential roofing, or a historic building. I was in your shop, the slate and the copper, so impressive.

Mandy McIntyre:
Thank you.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I know a lot of people are looking for alternative products. Are you seeing it across the board, even with slate and copper?

Mandy McIntyre:
Well, copper is always a commodity that goes up and down a lot just because it's copper. With tile, we're fortunate in Ohio, we have Luissi, which produces tile about three hours south of us. That hasn't really been an issue, and we have had some historic projects that wanted to do a roof replacement in certain sections where they had tile, but now what they want to do is just restore that those tile sections, which is a benefit to us because it can keep our crews busy. It's something that we can get the materials more easily, and it helps. I love history, so it helps protect the historic integrity of the building, as well. That really hasn't been an issue with specialty stuff like that.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I would say, everybody out there, you have the opportunity to go to First Choice website. Look at some of their historic renovations. They are amazing. They are really, it was just a super fun day. National Women in Roofing, Cleveland, hands on, it was cool. I'm going to change the topic a little bit. Sorry. If it feels like a squirrel, I'm a squirrel. Usually, it's you, Charles. I know, seriously. Okay. All right. I want to talk about where we're at. Everyone's tired of talking about COVID, and when we put the questions together, I said, "Oh, how are we on post-COVID work world? We're not post-COVID." Really want to talk about going forward when everything is changing, and I want to talk because I love our influencers here. They're all about culture and their company culture.

Maybe let's just share with everyone out there, what you're seeing on how it has affected culture when you're talking about safety testing and all of the things that are going along with the pandemic and then hopefully moving forward. How are you handling that in your business? Wendy, let's start with you.

Wendy Marvin:
Well, I think to address the first part of your question, the one thing I want to say is the panic is over. That absolute terror, that furor that COVID had us in, we figured it out, right? We've proven that we can figure out whatever else comes along. The dynamics of the problem maybe changed, but we've figured out that initial "holy world is ending" thing, we're okay with that, which I think is a good thing. Living in that place of terror, it's not a good place for business.

From a culture standpoint, it's been challenging, we split off and had people working from home in the first time ever. We've never done that. Keeping those people engaged and positive and hopeful and informed has been ... We have weekly meetings with those people, but when you're not face-to-face with somebody and you're not able to have that water cooler conversation, it really makes a difference with the interactions with people and the closeness of your team. That's a big part of our culture. We treat each other in our company like we are family, always have. Trying to build that environment where people don't leave right now, that's a struggle.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Right.

Wendy Marvin:
I think the people that we have left, we've lost some people, but the people that we have left are embracers of the technology, are people who are going to be problem solvers going forward, which is really what we need. Then on the COVID side of it and the masks and mandates, we've taken a real soft approach to that. I think it's an individual decision. I understand the impact of having somebody who chooses not to vaccinate in your company, but I also have vaccine-injured family members, and I understand. We're just trying to all be aware of what we're doing. If you're running a fever, don't come to work. It doesn't matter, vaccinated or not. We want you to have hand washing stations, stay up with the cleaning, taking care of each other, and stay home when you need to. We're giving them the resources to do that. We're going to have more vaccines to deal with. We're going to have more.

Vegas has locked down now for masks and we heard Oregon just went, Multnomah county, and now I'm sure the state of Washington will be following next. We'll be back down into lock downs, and hopefully we can all just push back where we need to and try to keep it reasonable and not want hot water hand washing stations on the roof again, because that's just not realistic.

Heidi Ellsworth:
That's not right. Charles, you were all about culture. How have you dealt with this?

Charles Antis:
Well, I think first of all, being somebody who understands means I understand that all the groups of stakeholders out there, and I understand that it's my job to message to all of them, not to part of them. You have to stand back. First of all, look where you live. I live in Southern California. I don't live in Texas or Florida or Minnesota or Chicago. The messaging that I'm going to present about this is going to be very much stained by everyone around me, or I'm an idiot, right? I'd be an idiot. I wouldn't have a successful company if I didn't listen.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Right.

Charles Antis:
My messaging is going to be a little bit more socially forward than some places because that's where I live. You know what? I actually started to feel and believe in those things. On all of this, I don't have a lot of opinions. I stay between the lines. I don't watch the news. I don't watch CNN. I don't watch Fox because I'm going to get spun. I'm not trying to make a statement. I'm saying to some extent, I'm going to be spun. I get my message from OSHA, and we have to relate to that. We get it from all of the government agencies that we are affiliated, we're under the umbrellas of, and then we decipher within our culture.

We don't have the same opinions. My VPs and myself have different opinions. When I was asked to do a public announcement about vaccination and when I was asked to do a public announcement, to talk about masking, I didn't want to, but I knew I could do it by where I live and because I think it was a good idea in relative speaking. I'm not an expert, and that's what I do.

Charles Antis:
Once you listen to your people and your message comes in between it all, your people trust you because they see you're trying. They might. I don't think my employees think I have a hard opinion.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah.

Charles Antis:
They know I'm trying to live the company the best I can, and as far as what I do, what I do in public, I have to think about that again, by where I live. when I'm confused about how I'm going to act in public, I reach out to one of my board member friends who's a VP at the Anaheim Ducks or somebody. What do we do? They have a lot more PR influence, and they'll tell you where you live. They'll remind you where you live, and they'll remind you how to message. I think it's critical that you do that. If you do that, you'll be heard inside and outside your company. You'll sell roofs. Your employees will be more safe.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. That is so true. Greta?

Greta Bajrami:
Yeah, company culture is obviously very important. We saw a lot of shifts. I'll speak on a few different shifts, and the most shifts I think that anybody saw was that people don't have to be productive in a 40 hour work week. I think that's something that was a big mind shift for a lot of people that I'm in a circle with. They thought that office managers had to clock in everyday. They thought there had to be Monday morning meetings, and they started to realize that maybe a lot of those stuff were not necessary.

We switched everything where we're no longer really measuring time, but we're measuring productivity. we're measuring success. It allowed those office employees to really have the perks that the sales members had or the production managers had for the first time. I think that was incredible, and that was a great shift for us culturally, as a company, where everybody had the same benefits now, where office people weren't just office people stuck within the building for eight, nine hours a day. That was that really first push.

When it comes to vaccination, obviously I'm in Massachusetts and Massachusetts has a very high vaccination rate. I think it was 75% last time I checked. That doesn't mean that I made it a requirement to work. We do have a lot of people who have spiritual beliefs and live holistic lifestyles. We can't force those people, but we can implement safety in other ways. That was something that I did. I of course said, "Well, what is the goal?" The goal is to protect everybody. In vaccinations, that's the way we handled it.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Rudy, how are you handling it?

Rudy Gutierrez:
Obviously, just like all of you, last year, we were all forced to pivot. I think Mindy said it perfectly. We listened to the experts. I'm in the same situation as Charles. I have to defer to what our local state and federal officials are saying to protect the entire company, not just me. It's the reason why I'm not sitting with you today. I was exposed to someone with COVID, and my team decided that we needed to stay back. We have to cancel all of our events because of that. Anyway, we were all forced to pivot. We redirected our energies as far as sales, just like Mindy's company did. Service grew for us. Re-roofing grew for us. We grew our business during a global pandemic.

As far as our culture, I stay informed. I don't make decisions that are for the company that are more personal. I reach out to my friends that are very intelligent in areas out of California. I have friends in in the roofing industry in Texas, Ohio, New York, throughout. We communicated and got perspective. I certainly follow CDC guidelines, and it is a non-issue in our company at the moment. I respect everybody's personal situations, but it is a non-issue. We've stayed safe because we followed guidelines. My own personal views don't come into play. Otherwise, I would be sitting with you guys today. Certainly, caution must be the key. Safety is primary.

Mandy McIntyre:
When everything first hit, being in Ohio, actually, our state was one of the first states to really start locking things down with Ohio State University, went remote. Our governor started doing, issuing a bunch of mandates, and that was an early March. We just rolled with that. Luckily, we were able to do so, being that we're paperless. Everything is through an app on our service tech and foreman's phones. We were able to transition fairly quickly. We didn't have any COVID cases until this year, actually, in our company.

One of the biggest challenges culturally, as far as company culture, was mental health, really. I saw a lot of people have a multitude of challenges with this pandemic, both personal and professional. We did lose some people, not because of COVID. They just went in a different direction. There was a big disconnect between the office and the field crews, because they were still out there doing their thing, keeping the business going, but we at the office for six weeks were working remotely at home. One of my foremen said to me. I always say I have an open door policy. You can come talk to me about whatever. I'm a huge health and wellness advocate. I'm a yoga teacher, so it's just in my nature. He was pissed. He was like, "We were out there putting ourselves on the line while you guys were safe at home." This was early on when no one really knew what to expect. I was like, "You're right. You're absolutely right."

We tried to connect that gap that it felt like there was all of a sudden two separate companies, almost: the office staff and the field staff. There was no interaction. We tried to do safely more team meetings, more just interaction. We took all the proper precautions, and then we started getting COVID cases in our company. It was a real challenge trying to keep people happy and keep morale going and also be safe. We instituted a wellness program that was through our state actually, and it's free. I advise everyone to look into your state to see what your workers' comp has to offer, because Ohio has a great wellness program. It's free health counselors, tele-health just a plethora of things.

That was our biggest challenge, and I think just now, we're starting to feel that we're coming together again, but now we have this Delta variant and everything. I think it's just it's just an ebb and flow right now with COVID. Just when you think you've tackled one issue, another one comes

Heidi Ellsworth:
Mandy, this is the first time I've really heard this from someone saying, talking about this issue. I think it's so cool. There was a discrepancy, or there could be cultural problems between the people who worked at home and had to go home and work remote and those that had to, were working on the roof and were going out. They were like our first responders, right? They were our first line, and they were at a lot more risk for catching COVID than the people at home. Mandy had had those conversations with her employees to try to bridge that gap so they felt like they were all in it together and working in the safety precautions.

Now, for all of you watching, you just heard Mandy say all that, but I just thought it was such an excellent point. Did you have those similar? Did you have some of that?

Wendy Marvin:
Absolutely. Absolutely. First responders is a great way to say it, because they're out there. They're willing and able and everything, but at the end of the day, they had a lot of extra concerns. Then the people at home, even the people at home flipping over to being. The guys in the field would be like, "That's not that big of a deal," but the people at home, we've had people that we've known that haven't been out of their house for eight months in a year. Their idea of the world out there is even different.

Even on the flip side of that, it's just about ... I don't know. I just feel like we're at this place where we just need to give everybody grace and just be like, "This is hard for you, and it's hard for me." It's hard for us as owners, but it's rough. To have those hard conversations, Mandy, that's amazing. Take this head on.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. What I'm hearing from all of you is, and I love what I hear, is kindness. Lead with kindness, safety for everyone, working together. want to shift just a little bit because I just have all these topics I want to ask you guys about.

Greta Bajrami:
Okay, let's do it.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I'm going to actually start. I'm going to go backwards. I'm going to start with Mandy, and this is a crazy question, but I'm from Oregon and we're in the middle of wildfires, right? They are affecting not just obviously people's livelihood, but they're affecting the type of products that have to go on the roof. It's affecting testing. Is the climate change? Sorry, everybody. I don't think that's the best word anymore, but it is changing, and we have seen extreme weather from droughts to wildfires to hurricanes. I know in Ohio, you guys had some straight line winds. You've had all kinds of turbulent weather. How are you handling that as a roofing company in responding, especially in this time and age when labor and material are scarce?

Mandy McIntyre:
We're actually in a pretty fortunate area of the country, as far as natural disasters. We do have storms. We do have high winds, but we don't really get hail. We don't get hailstorms. We don't have wildfires. We don't have earthquakes. We don't have hurricanes, so really, it's just the wind. It doesn't happen a lot, but it does. The best thing that we can do is just, when we're safely able to get out there and assist our customers, then obviously we do so. We don't really get too much warning for anything like that, as far as when we're going to get a high wind advisory. Usually, we get the advisory and then it comes. Being that we're right on the lake, it usually comes right off the lake. Then you just have to jump on it the next day when

Heidi Ellsworth:
When I talk to people around the country, I'm just seeing so much, so many different things that are happening and that are going on. I'm going to actually go to Rudy. I want to talk to you about what you're seeing, between the drought and the wildfires and things that are happening in California. How are you handling? I don't know how much you're seeing it more in LA proper or on the commercial buildings, but what are you finding?

Rudy Gutierrez:
Obviously, we experience wildfires in urban areas. We've seen quite a bit of a devastation over the last three from Northern California all the way to Southern California. We do have the occasional earthquake, but those are just typical to us. They're not too nerve wracking. We have a serious drought, so that causes issues in the area of, we don't have the urgency of doing a roofing project. We have to be more creative on how we approach and an owner for a re-roofing opportunity.

Obviously, we have a go-to market strategy with respect to high heat. In our environment, heat is a problem, especially in logistics, warehousing, and obviously cool roof, published information. Cool roofs can reduce temperatures anywhere from 20 to 25 degrees internally. We're able to articulate that well during the hot summer months and push for roof restorations in the area of coatings or new roofing.

We adapt to the conditions, but certainly our service department struggles in the area. We don't have a lot of rain. We have program services still, but it's a little tougher. We certainly find an angle, a way to get to the client with additional adapting to the environment.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I think this is really interesting, because that's exactly what Mandy is saying about adapting, being ready to be the first responder with the winds off the lake. Then what I love is, Rudy is talking about products and that's what I'm really interested in, too. Everything is shifting. What are we doing? I'm sorry. Soap box here for one second. I think the roofing industry is somewhat responsible. Not somewhat. It's very responsible for all the acreage of roofs that we have and how can those roofs actually be creating a return on investment, which will help with this changing. I hope it will help with all the changes that's going on. Greta, I know in your area, you are super excited about solar.

Greta Bajrami:
Yeah, I know, because California has been leading it, so Massachusetts needs to join. I think when for example, I'll speak on the residential aspect of working with JF energy, which was very exciting for roofers because they didn't have to create these whole departments of solar. They didn't have to create all these new relationships. It was already there. The problem with JF energy in Massachusetts was that the system that they put in place ultimately collapsed, and the reason being is because the building departments were not like other states. In Massachusetts, the building department's different in every single town, not every single county, in every single town. JF energy, we were so excited. We sold 10 units and then they were like, "Look, you can do it. You just have to do it on your own, because it shifts so much that we can do this from our home office." The roofer who was so excited to just be able to put solar didn't have to worry about any of the paperwork now was left to do the paperwork.

I think for smaller companies, they don't have the resources to create those solar relationships, to have those solar specific departments, because it is a product that takes much longer to turn around. There's a lot more paperwork involved than the traditional strip and re-roof. That was something that was a setback to us. Now, my challenge has been when do building inspectors come together and realize that there has to be at least in the county, one process? That's what I've been really advocating and going to all the board meetings that I can, because I feel that Massachusetts, we should have solar just like anybody else, on every home. Homeowners are really excited about it. However, the process is so painful that it it leaves out all the roofers and it only allows the maybe seven solar companies that are in the area to be the players. Again, they need the roofers, right? Even Tesla and all these companies have issues all the time where they're calling reputable roofers such as us to help them out in lots of scenarios, because something went wrong with the roof underneath it.

I think we have to take another initiative, and I'm excited to see if the building material big names will get involved in looking at this perspective, not from the material, but how do we get down on the ground level and how do we help each state in each county come up to a level that's consistent, and it's as easy as filing an application? Roofers can roof, and solar roofs can be put on.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. It's these alternative products like Rudy was talking about, adapting with the products to help the roofs, whether that's white roofs or solar. I think, and I'm going to kind of circle back Charles, because I have something I know I want you to share. You had talked about, so I'm going to go back to the weather. You talked about that you're in drought and what you have done with your brand to adapt to these. You really are. The weather affects your business every year, and you have done things to try to override that. Can you share that?

Charles Antis:
Yeah, well, I'll tell it a certain way. I'm glad this segued back into this because the fires, I've personally felt them. I live in the city. I live in Irvine, California. That's where the Archie comic series was based. It's not in the country. I don't expect to have a fire. I told my wife, "We have no. Honey, there's no way our house could catch on fire. There's no danger."

Then a year ago, we had the Santiago fires and over 100,000 people were evacuated. Fire trucks came from around the state. We had over 500 engines come, and they centered right there at the great park a mile from my home. They escorted us out, and not one home was burned.
I just want to point that out, because I've tasted the fires. My parents' home in Oregon. They're devastated right now with what's going on around them. Everything's changing. Your husband just told me it was 118 degrees in Portland the other day.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yes. Yes.

Charles Antis:
Everything's changing.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Everything's changing.

Charles Antis:
This is how I adapt. I owe a thank you to those firemen. I owe a thank you to them. You know what I've done? I've done this along with a bunch of partners. We've showed up at fire stations all throughout Southern California, San Diego, up to LA, and we say, thank you because they all sent an engine to save our homes and we stayed safe.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Wow.

Charles Antis:
We say thank you with meals. We say thank you with ... We have great partners, Monster Energy, Yogurt Land. These great corporations say yes. They give us free product to give our frontline heroes. What that does is, it makes my team happy, relevant. When COVID hit a year ago, year and a half ago I mean, we were scared. Everybody was scared. The thing that pulled us out was a couple of things. We heard there was shortage in food, so we started delivering food. I delivered a box of food, and I was very uncomfortable, to a woman on the second story of a condo, because I was told her and 22% of the people in my area do not have enough food to eat. We started sending trucks showing up every Wednesday at 1:00. Why then? Because that's when they couldn't fill the truck routes. I showed up at my first home. I didn't want to go. I got to admit, because it was uncomfortable. I called this woman who I knew needed food. She said, "Will you please carry that box of food upstairs?"

I carried it up these two flights of stairs to this condo. I knocked on the door, and finally a woman answered the door. She was in an old night gown. It was thin. It was frail, and she was hungry. You could tell. She was so grateful that when I brought the box in, she made me uncomfortable. She started saying something. What is she saying? She's saying, "Bless you. Bless you. Bless you." I didn't mean to, but I was deflecting the blessing. I put the box of food down, and I felt something like, "Wow," awakened in the moment, alive. Suddenly, it made sense what I'm supposed to do.

We started holding blood drives. Why? Because Susan Degrassi, who works for me, is on the American Red Cross board. There's not enough blood. We've had 47 blood drives in the last 15 months. We've raised something like 4,000 life-saving units of blood over 1,000 donors, and why? Because we're relevant in the community. We're on KTLA Morning News at least once a month about our blood drives. We were on KMOS radio about our blood drives. You know how that makes us feel? You know how that help helps my team feel? We're relevant in the moment in the community, and that's how we navigate uncertain times because we know why we exist. It's to keep families safe and dry, and we go about showing that in the community. We go so far as, we go out and say, thank you to those police, fire, hospitals, those that are really keeping us safe.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah.

Wendy Marvin:
I love Charles.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I know.

Wendy Marvin:
I love your heart.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I know, and this is what we're talking about is, whether it's COVID or wildfires or tragedy or whatever it may be, it's about taking that moment and figuring out how to be relevant. I love that term relevant and how to back, because it comes back to you. To be honest, that's how Coffee Conversations started because we knew we had to get it out to the industry and somebody had to do it. We were that moment. I love Charles, as always. Wendy?

Wendy Marvin:
I don't want to follow Charles.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I know, but there's so many things. We together went through the wildfires in Oregon, devastation. I want to talk about with you. We are seeing changes in the building codes, in the underlayments and the technology to protect us from these things.

Wendy Marvin:
Yeah.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Then you are also our, am I right? You've been doing a little bit of solar or getting into that.

Wendy Marvin:
We're looking at it. We're not there yet. We're looking at the solar shingles, is the ones we're looking at, that that's movement driven.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yes.

Wendy Marvin:
Yeah, that's the one we've been trying to stay ahead of.

Heidi Ellsworth:
So cool.

Wendy Marvin:
Yeah. We're, Massachusets going to be the same thing is, we're relevant for solar, but only for a certain period of time. What do we do with the rest of the rainy parts of our year? We're not telling everybody how beautiful our weather is, because we want you all not to move here. Looking at the same with technologies that are going to help us in our area, which one of them is that solar shingle that generates solar electricity from movement, which could be rain.

We certified with Tesla, and then they took it back. When they gave it back and said, "Oh, just kidding. We really don't know how to install roofs." I don't know if that's going to be something we're going to jump into again, but staying ahead of those products. What I feel like from this conversation is, I think everybody hit everything I was going to say, but I'm feeling like there's this equalization of products across the nation. What makes me mad is, our states are now looking at trying to write these building codes, right?

Heidi Ellsworth:
Right.

Wendy Marvin:
I'm sorry. Rudy and Charles' areas have already done all that. Why are we not just looking to the places that have already experienced what we've had happen and taking some of the best learning? That's not happening, and it's really frustrating. They're coming up with some of these weird things that we have to do. Like Greta said, you just have to adapt and do. You just have to do what they say.

Heidi Ellsworth:
You're seeing the same thing?

Greta Bajrami:
Yeah, I'm seeing the same thing. Thank God, due to COVID, at least the process was streamlined online for a lot of building departments. That's a plus. That's a big win for Massachusetts.

Wendy Marvin:
Yeah, not in our area.

Greta Bajrami:
The next thing is, my only reach out there to those listening would be is, what if the manufacturers would get involved in helping speed up some of those processes? I think that when contractors, it doesn't matter if they're massive million-dollar companies or just starting out, it's very hard for building inspectors to departments to make changes.

When the industry, the people producing the products demand it, then you're going to have more people being responsive to it. I think that's what needs to happen across all in United States. I think there needs to be a demand for manufacturers. Products have come up. Code has come up, but some of the books have been left behind.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah.

Greta Bajrami:
Where JF and Certainteed and some of these manufacturers have higher expectations than the actual written code.

Wendy Marvin:
The associations too, like NAHB.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yes.

Wendy Marvin:
I think about a lot and how they lobby. NRCA.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah.

Wendy Marvin:
They lobbied for our industry and everything. I think that it's so hard because we still have cities and counties in our area that you have to physically drive there. I'm not talking about small places that you physically have to turn in a written piece of paper and then the paper gets lost or other things.

Greta Bajrami:
Then you have to pick it up.

Wendy Marvin:
Yeah. Yeah. Right. Talking with Sarah out here, we've got a new vendor that's talking about just doing an automation of the MSDS papers from all the manufacturers and what a daunting task. I'm thinking those are the keys to what's going to happen is, somebody is going to write an app. We had somebody talk about this yesterday at NDVIR.

Heidi Ellsworth:
One click code.

Wendy Marvin:
Yeah. One click code, and she's automating the permitting process. She's staying up on what's relevant for your area, and she's throughout the 50 states. I thought, "Oh my God, no brainer." I'm in. I'm in.

Heidi Ellsworth:
The hard part is actually gathering all that. Just like what Greta's saying, gathering it-

Wendy Marvin:
It's a nightmare.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Technology is changing this. You want to watch because like one click code, they are on Roofer's Coffee Shop. You can go learn about it and see how it works.

Wendy Marvin:
Sign up.

Heidi Ellsworth:
If we want this technology, seriously, if we want this technology to keep going, the contractors need to support it.

Wendy Marvin:
Yep.

Heidi Ellsworth:
It's not always good, we know that. Sometimes, technology takes us the wrong way, but we've had some great discussions on that. It is so important and so relevant. Okay. Well, we are coming to a point. My last question to all of you wonderful panelists, and I'm actually going to start with Mandy again, is just your top two or three things for other contractors. What should they be doing to prepare for the next 18 months? What's the most, top two most important things that your company is doing that you think others should be doing to prepare for the next 18 months?

Mandy McIntyre:
Top two things? Well, I think trying to be as efficient and profitable as possible, because there are so many unknowns. I think those go hand in hand. The other thing I think is just to really show appreciation for your employees, to not repeat any mistakes that we went through with the first COVID wave, because it looks like the second one is coming. I don't know. I think being as profitable and efficient as you can so that you can maintain cashflow and save money, and then just keeping your labor loyal to you. I feel like, once all these materials start coming next year, and because we've had companies in our area that have completely laid off and shut down.

Right now actually, labor is not as big of an issue as it used to be, but my prediction is next year when all the materials start coming and production starts booming, which I'm hoping is next year and it's not 2023 when we start really booming again, is that labor is going to be an even bigger problem than what we've already experienced. I think keeping your company culture solid, stable, and making your company a desirable place to work.

Heidi Ellsworth:
That's great, profitability and taking care of your people. That's perfect because you're right. When that demand, when the supplies come back, everything's going to change again.

Mandy McIntyre:
Yeah.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. Rudy, what would you recommend?

Rudy Gutierrez:
Well, I agree with Mandy. I'm sure my colleagues would do the same. You have to make the right adjustments. Communicate with your team. Make sure you strengthen your company culture. Stay informed with respect to your environment, meaning whether it's pandemic or otherwise. Keeping, staying informed is going to be very key. This morning I was on another call and I read a piece on the condition of the roofing industry which was eyeopening to me. We're going to be okay. We're going to be in great shape, actually. I'm going to re-strategize, and I'm going to plan for growth.

The roofing industry currently is about, somewhere in the area, our national industry, I think somewhere the $30 billion a year industry. By 2025, we're going to be a $50 billion industry. The areas of growth will still be the Southwest, which I happened to be in. California is one, Texas. Position your company to win. I think I'm very optimistic. We grew our business during a pandemic. We grew our business. We started our business during the great recession. I'm very optimistic.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I was there when you started your business. I know you are the greatest man ever.

Rudy Gutierrez:
You helped me with the information. Stay informed. Build on your company culture, and plan for the future.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. I love what you're saying too, Rudy, because we're going. We have obviously a new administration. There's a lot of emphasis on green and green solutions. Now is the time to start implementing what we were just talking about, ROI on the roof. How can you bring solutions to your building owners? How can you talk to them about things they can do to actually make money off of their roof and knowing those new technologies that are coming? Now's a great time to plan for that, to be on that leading edge, because no matter what the politics in DC are, it's going to be. The weather is going to force this change for everybody. Nobody's going to be able to say this isn't happening, right? Greta, what are your top two things?

Greta Bajrami:
My top two things. I'm going to go a little bit on the other side of this, and I'm going to say we have to go back to being risk-takers. I know as business owners and leaders and managers, we get so caught up in budgets and profit and loss sheets and balance sheets, but I encourage you to let that to the accounting department and you focus on making the necessary moves or decisions or campaigns that really will be profitable to your team as a whole. Profit sometimes doesn't mean that balance sheet, right? Sometimes profit might be brand awareness. Sometimes profit might mean being part of a cause. What I conditioned myself is to go back to those early times. I had a $15,000 loan and I made it into a multi-million dollar brand, right?

I tell owners that when you get comfortable and you get to a position where you drive a big company, you forget of those necessarily risks. You made something out of nothing. When you get comfortable, you start running more on budget. Oh, well, the budget allows this and this. Then you've missed those key entrepreneurial risk-taker abilities to innovate and push forward something where nobody else sees it. Right now in the next 18 months, I think that's going to be crucial. You need to go back to those entrepreneurial key skills that you had when you first started your brand and let that be the driver of the next campaign, the next idea, the next product that you endorse, whatever that may be. I think that's crucial. I think that's going to be one of the biggest things that I would encourage anybody.

Then for me, the next best part is now more than ever, we realize that you have to be run authentic and you have to be outspoken and tie yourself to the bigger picture, like Roofer's Coffee Shop. I speak to a lot of people and I encourage them to join associations. Sometimes, they tell me they're too busy, or "I don't want to do that," or "I make enough money." Let's be honest. Let's be raw about it, but it's not about that. It's about you tying yourself to the bigger picture so the people that see you as their leader know that this is not a selfish game for you or a game for your vacations or your lavish lifestyle. This is about you understanding that the career they're investing in matters to you equally.

I think that's the biggest thing. I think this is going to be the crucial. If you want people to come back, join your team, if you're having maybe a tough time hiring people, think of the perspective and think of the message you're giving them. Are you putting in the labor hours, as well, in associations, in coming to an event like this? Are you just saying it's not worth it? People are watching, and the people that that recognize you as their leader are watching. You need to be authentic and raw and outspoken. Those are my two points.

Wendy Marvin:
Love her.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Greta, I love you. Yeah. Really, this is. It's about all businesses, right? The two things you just said are exactly where I'm at with Roofer's Coffee Shop business, that I continue to be, continue to take risks. It does. It's not always perfect, but it's always authentic. That is, if everyone can think that way, I think it makes such a difference.

Real quick, before we go on, I just want to say that Greta is on the board of the Northeast Roofing Contractors Association, one of the first women I've known has been on the board. I'm sure there's others. Tell us a little bit about what you're doing with NRCA.

Greta Bajrami:
Yeah. For the first time ever, I met at the board's meeting in June, and I proposed to the board that we need to respond. We need to respond to change and change comes with changing just the identity of who we are and the mission statements that we once created. It was time for a rebrand and it was a very ballsy, I'm sorry if I may say that.

It was very ... I was pushing for it. I told everybody we have to do it. We have to respond. Look at how many young people are here. I'm young. There's so many young faces around. We need to change. That change comes with a rebrand: logo, color, designs, mission statements, the whole identity, cause. In September 21st, we go to the full board and we're hoping that they will encourage. Next time you see NRCA, you might be looking at a very new face, and I'm happy that they chose and they trusted me to be at the forefront of it.

Heidi Ellsworth:
You're amazing.

Wendy Marvin:
Yes.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Great job. I'm so excited for you. I can't wait to go to the NRCA show. I can't wait.

Greta Bajrami:
Yeah. That's exciting.

Heidi Ellsworth:
It's so good. Okay. Charles, top two things. We might go a little bit long on this, and we're not going to care. Top two things.

Charles Antis:
I love. I love that. I love that, and I love that we're talking about the same things. I believe in a complete inside out re-investment. That means my top two things, number one, my team, number two, the community. For me, it's not the time to go out and buy a boat. I'm not saying you shouldn't buy a boat. I've had one in the past.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah.

Charles Antis:
It's a time for all of my resources to go back in and be available. The way that shows up is this. Those that follow me know that I often say I have the best CEO seat in Orange County, and I really believe I do. There's a few people that might get to do what I do, but I get to go out and really make things better all the time. Once I thought that I could do that for myself, I realized why not? Why couldn't I try to create the best jobs for any seat, the best job for my VP of cost, Susan Degrassi? Go ask her if this is the best job she's ever had. She'll tell you it is, Recently, Audrey, my VP of finance said, this is the best job she's ever had. It took me a couple of years maybe to hear that, but I heard it. I'm starting to hear it. Why? Because of reinvestment, and the reinvestment on them looks like this.

Audrey is a great financial leader. She wants to be greater. I put her in her own Vistige class. If you do the research on what it costs to put somebody through Vistige, not only that day a month they lose plus the fee, it might be $30-$40,000 a year. That's a value because she's empowered. If you meet her, you're going to say one thing about Audrey Schneider. You're going to say she's got capacity because she's engaged. Another reason why it's her favorite job is, she's found what fulfills her. It's tutoring, mentoring, and people. She's getting heavily involved with Boys and Girls Club of Central Coast, just like Susan Degrassi is on the board of the Red Cross, American Red Cross. I'm on the board of United in Homelessness. I'm on the board. Put on your socks. I'm on the board of Ronald McDonald House. I'm on the board of Habitat for Humanity. I'm on the board of a local college, Cal State board. I'm on the board of 10C. I'm on the board of the Roofing Alliance. I've been on the board with Rudy of the NRCA. Why? Because that's the best thing I can do if I want to have a strong company where I want my people to stay.

If I invest in them and that looks like those investments like Vistige, and that looks like personal assessments, give them any assessment that'll help them understand themselves more, but it also looks like in the community. What fulfills you? I give my people these giving cards that you've seen.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yes.

Charles Antis:
That allows them to give to the cause that fulfills them. Then somebody in finance and not Audrey, I'm just making a fictitious person in finance, will stand up that people don't like, cause she's kind of rude. She'll explain a story that's real about an aunt or someone that was sick with cancer. All of a sudden, this person in customer care that didn't get Audrey, not Audrey, I'm just making this up, this person, all of a sudden, "Oh my God, I get her. I get her, why she's designed that way. Suddenly, I love her." What happens when you do complete investment inside and you go complete investment outside, your people stay. You attract and retain top talent. That's what gives us the ability to flex. That's my plan.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. That inside out.

Wendy Marvin:
Just getting down.

Heidi Ellsworth:
You can't leave, Wendy. You're bringing this home.

Charles Antis:
You're funny. You're too funny.

Heidi Ellsworth:
What are your top two things? Come on.

Wendy Marvin:
Charles, Charles, Charles. I was going to. I'm speaking to, and this is. It's the same message. We're just all, we have our little spin on it. The days of games are gone. You have to know who your company is. You have to know who you are, and you have to be really aware of what you're bringing to the table. Charles goes into the stratosphere, but we're talking about thinking about others more than yourself.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yes.

Wendy Marvin:
When you build a culture of that, that's the leadership. That's, I'm giving back more than I'm buying a new car. That's the customer service where you're taking care of your customer more than making a profit. That's the industry where you're more interested in creating a relationship with your distributor who can then turn around and help you. Sometimes, it's holding their feet to the fire, like Greta said. We've got some tasks ahead of us, and we need some help. Sometimes, it's okay to stand up with that. Yeah, just getting into that mode of just kindness and understanding, and again we're all transversing this area that's just uncharted, and we have to have that caring and that understanding. Then you have to maintain. Oh, go ahead.

Greta Bajrami:
No, no. [crosstalk 00:56:40].

Wendy Marvin:
Okay.

Greta Bajrami:
I'm going to make a statement after you're done.

Wendy Marvin:
Oh. For us is, you have to maintain your ability to pivot right now. It ties in everybody's points is, from Greta's is, you've got to figure out what's next. You do that by being a part of these associations. You do that about sitting here in this place, and maybe you're just sitting at a table and you strike up a conversation with somebody sitting next to you, or you're at a vendor booth and you hear, or you're in a speaking and you hear these thought leaders speaking. You're going to get a nugget, and you can bring that back to your business, wherever you are.

We're in very different places in our businesses and who we are, in residential and commercial, but at the end of the day, a business owner as a business owner is a business owner. Maintaining that ability to pivot and that innovation is the next step for us. It ties in what everybody said. That's part of keeping our people. It's part of getting people behind a mission that's bigger than just your company name, because nobody cares about working for Matrix Roofing. They care about who I am and what we represent and what we're going to do for the community and being a giver, not a taker. It's a big deal.

Heidi Ellsworth:
On one part, Wendy, that she's not giving herself a big enough boost, so I will. During this whole thing, during right before the pandemic, into the pandemic, you actually diversified your business. Talk about being a risk-taker. Just real quick share that, because I think this is something in the next 18 months, back to Greta's point, that you've got to do.

Wendy Marvin:
You have to listen to your customers, and you have to hear what they're saying to you. Sometimes, it's polling and most of the time, it's just, what are you hearing on the phone with those people? We were getting a lot of pushback of people asking for additional help. We do roofing and I'm a general contractor. I've always been that, but I would take such great care of my people. Then I would say, "Gosh, but I can't do that drywall repair. I'm going to try to give you to somebody else." I would send them out into the community, just somebody who needs the work and nobody would call them back. Nobody would show up. They'd get ridiculous bids, or nobody would answer the phone even in construction.

We just decided to do it ourselves. We launched that in the end of '18 and had the full '19 before that started. It's blown up into residential repairs and different ways to help our customers. Again, the motivation was to solve a problem for our customers. Yeah.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Do you know what? I am sorry. I've just got to, because you never know when something's going to hit, like COVID. You never know, and you never know how you're going to be positioned. When I think about the fact that this flies, I think about the fact that you added those services right before it became one of the hottest things that the consumers wanted. Right?

Wendy Marvin:
Yeah. Yeah.

Heidi Ellsworth:
You went into 2019, totally positioned for it. I have to say, the Roofer's Coffee Shop went into the pandemic totally positioned, all digital. We didn't have to worry about the other things.

Wendy Marvin:
Yeah, you were ready.

Heidi Ellsworth:
We were ready for it, but you never know when it's going to happen.

Wendy Marvin:
No.

Heidi Ellsworth:
You don't even know if it will happen, but if you don't take the risk and position yourself in that way, it will never.

Wendy Marvin:
Jump. Just jump it. It didn't work? Great, at first, but you just jump. That's Greta's point. Yeah.

Heidi Ellsworth:
There's your 18 months. It's going forward. All these people there. There you go. If you can't get something from this for your business, I'm sorry. I also want to say risk-taking, this is our last Coffee Conversations of our live at IRE. Yes, this is it. I have to tell you, it was a risk. It was a risk. Not everything has gone perfect, but I am thrilled. I think it's been amazing. We have an amazing team. I want to thank Megan Ellsworth and Collin.

Wendy Marvin:
Thanks, Megan and Collin. You guys are amazing.

Heidi Ellsworth:
They have done amazing things.

Charles Antis:
You guys rock.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I want to thank the whole Roofer's Coffee Shop team. We have folks here at IRE. They all came out: our account managers, our editors, our, our club, my husband. I'm related to half of them and I should be related to the rest. It's been an amazing week that is again, positioning and putting yourself out there. I'm going to finish up. Greta, you had one more thing to say.

Greta Bajrami:
Oh, no, I was just going to say, when you guys were talking about giving back, I just wanted. I don't know if everybody knows my story, but I think it's worth mentioning if there's somebody listening. Nine years ago, I was on welfare and I didn't have a home. I used to live in a one bedroom apartment, and today I run a very successful roofing company and I have homes. I'm able to speak on moments such as this, but from the very moment when I first made my first million dollars in sales, the first thing I did was I donated to Habitat because I'm actually, I'm part of Habitat, as well. I remember my accountant saying, "You don't have the kind of money for that. Shouldn't you put it into marketing? You'll get more leads." I said no. I have to put it back there because people will know that now that I'm able to afford a house, that I need to pay that back 100 times.
That type of power? Talk about community. People that knew me, people that knew my story. People that knew how I was raised and the challenges I had had, they are my customers and they are my biggest supporters in the community. They tag me on every post and they share my story. They're like, "You got to call Greta. You got to get a route from Greta."

I think if you're thinking about joining a cause, or if you have some money, some resources, don't think twice about it because there's people watching you. You don't have to be a millionaire. You don't have to have a multi-million dollar company to donate, but you just have to be somebody that cares and realizes that giving back lets other people know the things that you care about. If it doesn't get you new clients, it will get you new employees.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. I love it. Well guys, thank you. That is a perfect thing to stop on. I want to thank my panelists. Thank you for being here.

Wendy Marvin:
Thank you, Heidi.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I love you guys. These are Rudy and Mandy. These are our RCS influencers. They write for the Coffee Shop every month. Get on. Read their articles. There's so much wisdom.

Wendy Marvin:
Can we talk about you for two seconds? You never do this, but for what you're giving back and what you do?

Mandy McIntyre:
Thank you.

Greta Bajrami:
100%. Thank you.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I'm so happy. We are so happy as a team at RoofersCoffeeShop to bring all of you to IRE, to the Coffee Conversations. I want to end with first of all, a special thank you to ABCSupply. ABCSupply is our sponsor. They have made possible. They are big part of RoofersCoffeeShop. I appreciate them so much.

Wendy Marvin:
Believer.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I talk about giving back.

Wendy Marvin:
Yep.

Heidi Ellsworth:
ABC is that.

Wendy Marvin:
Believe in you.

Heidi Ellsworth:
We just had some awesome Coffee Conversations on giving back, miracle. I'm going to think of it. Make-A-Wish. The Make-A-Wish Foundation. Be sure to go back and watch that, and September 9th. September 9th, we start season three. I'm weird, but we put this just like a TV show. We go every other week. We go September through May, and we take a hiatus during the summer, except for here.

Wendy Marvin:
Because you need a break.

Heidi Ellsworth:
We need a break, and it's a lot of work, but it's a lot of fun. September 9th, please join us for Coffee Conversations. It will be at 6:00 AM Pacific.

Wendy Marvin:
That's okay.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Thanks, Wendy and Charles and Rudy. We are very proud to say that Reid Ribble will be our guest to talk about what's been happening, what's happened this last year, about pro certification and about what's to come with the NRCA. Please join us. Be there. Watch for the rest of the live conversations today. Thank you so much and have a great day.

Wendy Marvin:
Thank you.

Mandy McIntyre:
See you.

Rudy Gutierrez:
Thank you all.

Charles Antis:
Rudy.

Rudy Gutierrez:
Charles.

Wendy Marvin:
Thanks, Rudy and Mandy.

Charles Antis:
Air hugs.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Thank you.

Charles Antis:
Wendy.

By Lauren White, RCS Editor. 

Join RCA presidents as they discuss Regional Strategies for Post-COVID Success at IRE 2021. 

As we all continue to navigate the Coronavirus, many are wondering what a post-COVID world will look like and how to maintain success.  On August 10 at 7:45 a.m., Roofing Contractor Association (RCA) presidents will discuss Regional Strategies for Post-COVID Success at the International Roofing Expo (IRE).  This is a panel you won’t want to miss!  Our very own Heidi J. Ellsworth will be moderating and will be joined by Greta Bajrami, Kelly Lea and Leo Ibarra. 

Greta Bajrami, the CEO and founder of Golden Group Roofing in Massachusetts, migrated to the U.S. from Tirana, Albania when she was nine.  Her fierce leadership and female representation in the industry has gained her the respect and following of many entrepreneurs that are up and coming in the industry.  Greta is also the treasurer for the North East Roofing Contractors Association (NERCA).  

Starting at the age of 13, Kelly Lea worked as a laborer at his father’s company Leaway Roofing, putting himself through college.  He earned a BS in Construction Engineering Technology and is now the general manager of Texas Roof Management.  Kelly has been on the board for the Midwest Roofing Contractors Association (MRCA) for over ten years and is looking forward to moving into the role of president in November. 

In 1988, Leo Ibarra started his roofing career at Saddleback Roofing.  And in 1991 he began working as an apprentice for Blue’s Roofing Company, a commercial roofing contractor in Milpitas, California.  He worked his way up to journeyman, foreman, project manager and is currently the vice president.  Leo is actively involved in the industry, serving as the president for Western States Roofing Contractors Association (WSRCA) and is on the board of directors for Associated Roofing Contractors of the Bay Area Counties, Inc. 

During the panel, RCA presidents will discuss: 

• Post-COVID world 

• Material shortages 

• Regulations and advocacy 

• Safety  

• Association involvement  

Register for the IRE today and make sure to attend Regional Strategies for Post-COVID Success. 

By Karen L. Edwards, RCS Editor. 

Here’s what’s trending on RoofersCoffeeShop®(RCS) this past month. 

In looking at our most popular articles for the month of May, it’s no surprise that people are at the top of the list. We’ve all been isolated for the last year and have not had the chance to catch up with our industry friends at in-person events and we want to know what is going on!  

Four of the top ten articles were about people in the industry, including the new EPDM Roofing Association chair, new hires, women beating the odds in roofing and 2020 contractor award winners. Other popular topics were safety, with Duro-Last® earning VPP Star Site status again and OSHA providing answers to vaccination questions.  

One of our more popular articles was about registration opening for the International Roofing Expo and everything that will be taking place at the show in August.  

If you didn’t get the chance to read any of these articles yet, follow the links below to check them out.  

Honorable Mention (#6-#10) 

10 -  Meet Your New ERA Chair Jennifer Ford-Smith 

9 - Duro-Last®, Inc. Oregon Facility Receives Prestigious VPP Star Site Renewal and Safety Committee Recognition 

8 - SOPREMA® Hires Director of Marketing 

7 - Respond to Reviews – Both Good and Bad 

6 - Let’s Show Up 

Read the Top 5 articles: 

5 - OSHA Answers Employee Vaccination Questions 

4 - The Roofing Industry Will Continue to be Innovated by Climate Change 

3 - Registration is Live for the much anticipated 2021 International Roofing Expo in Las Vegas 

2 - Five Women Who Beat the Odds and are Making a Difference in Roofing 

1 - Sika Sarnafil Awards Contractor of the Year Winners for 2020 

Get the top news each week in your inbox when you sign up for the Week in Review email newsletter.

By Colin Sheehan, RCS Reporter. 

Learn about the five finalists for Beacon’s Female Roofing Professionals of the Year Award. 

Beacon Building Products is spotlighting some of the highest performing women in the roofing industry. The contest has moved onto its final stage in the selection process – the public vote – where a winner will be selected as the Female Roofing Professional of the Year.  

Each woman has a unique and inspiring story behind her. Continue reading to learn more about each individual woman nominated for this prestigious award. 

Greta Bajrami – CEO and Founder of Golden Group Roofing 

When Greta Bajrami was nine years old, she emigrated from her home country of Albania to the U.S during a time of war. Greta broke into a traditionally male industry during her senior year of college where she started her own business as a young female immigrant. Through emphasizing excellent customer service and building an elevated company culture, Golden Group Roofing soon became a multimillion-dollar company one of the most recognized roofing brands in Massachusetts. 

Agata Opoka – Owner of Design & Development Group 

Agata emigrated from Poland to the U.S. in 2003 by herself and without speaking any English. Agata worked for suppliers before working for a general contractor and during her time in these foundational jobs, Agata noticed a lack of quality workmanship, customer service and communication between contractors and suppliers. This all led her to form her own construction company that would elevate industry standards. Today, Agata is a wife, mother and business owner who supports her employees, provides excellent customer service and works with her suppliers, not against them.  

Stephanie Pouse – Partner of Brahma Roofing & Construction 

Stephanie grew up next to her father, now business partner, on construction sites. From a young age, Stephanie witnessed the hard work in the field and the impact buildings can have on communities, creating within her a deep appreciation for building. Since then, Stephanie’s passion grew into a mission to enhance the service and trust within the construction industry, leading her to pursue projects like rehabilitating an elementary school in Mexico and re-constructing an elementary school playground in Costa Rica to mitigate flooding.   

Jessica Reid – President of Reid’s Roofing & Insulation 

Jessica took over the role as president for Reid’s Roofing and Insulation after her husband, Calvin Reid, passed away in 2018. While she never expected to own a roofing company, she took the role with pride, building a highly successful and sought-out business in her husband’s name. Jessica ensures that her company maintains its representation for quality customer service, integrity and care.  

Camila Santander – COO of ASA Roofing Inc. 

When Camila was in middle school, she emigrated from Chile to the U.S. Her father started ASA Roofing Inc out of their tiny three-bedroom apartment with the hopes of building a home and a business for his family. Camila aided in running the business from a young age, working late nights and helping her parents communicate with customers with her English language skills. Camila is now the VP of their multimillion-dollar company which was recently voted the best home improvement contractor in Northern Virginia. 

Learn more about the finalists on Beacon Building Product’s website and cast your vote May 3, 2021 - June 7, 2021!