I'm Todd Miller of Isaiah Industries manufacturer Specialty Metal Roofing.
Speaker:Welcome to Construction Disruption, the show where we break ground
Speaker:on big ideas and tear down a few walls and myths along the way.
Speaker:Today I'm joined by my co-host, Ethan Young.
Speaker:What's the news, Ethan?
Speaker:Well, this has actually been a busy week for me, Todd.
Speaker:I've been, uh, traveling for work some and been a productive week for sure.
Speaker:But, you know, it's, it's been good.
Speaker:How about you?
Speaker:How you doing?
Speaker:Going Well, yeah, it had, you're right, you have been busy, you've been out doing
Speaker:filming and video work and interviewing people and all kinds of fun stuff.
Speaker:So excited to see the results of that.
Speaker:Gonna be cool.
Speaker:But, uh, yeah, it's been a fairly busy week as we kind of go into.
Speaker:Fall.
Speaker:It always seems like September and October are our busiest months.
Speaker:Oddly enough, no one ever understands that.
Speaker:I never understood it for a lot of years.
Speaker:Um, but we seem to be going into that phase again right now.
Speaker:So, um, once again, to let our audience know we are doing challenge words where,
Speaker:uh, Ethan and I, and also our guest, um.
Speaker:All have a word.
Speaker:We have been challenged to work into the conversation as seamlessly as possible,
Speaker:and we will let you, our loyal listening audience, uh, know at the end of the
Speaker:show whether we were successful or not.
Speaker:So Ethan, you good to go?
Speaker:I'm good to go.
Speaker:Let's start it up.
Speaker:Let's do it.
Speaker:So our guest today is Jordan Rueschhoff , residential sales manager for Diversified
Speaker:Roofing based in Phoenix, Arizona.
Speaker:Jordan has considerable history in the roofing and construction industry before
Speaker:he took his role as sales manager for Phoenix's leading roofing contractor.
Speaker:Jordan has a passion for our industry, for customer service, and also
Speaker:for giving back to his community.
Speaker:Jordan, welcome to Construction Disruption.
Speaker:True Pleasure to have you with us today,
Speaker:Thanks guys.
Speaker:Really appreciate you having me on.
Speaker:Uh, excited to, uh, chat some roofing stuff with you guys today.
Speaker:Cole.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:Well, I know that you have a lot of industry history that goes
Speaker:back even to your college days.
Speaker:Um, tell us a little bit about that journey that got you where you are today.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:So, um, for starters, I, uh, I was, um, a student athlete in college.
Speaker:I played football for four years.
Speaker:um, after my senior year of football, I'm a very competitive person and I
Speaker:was like, all right, what's, what's the next thing my football career is done?
Speaker:I need to find something to drive my competitiveness and, you know,
Speaker:find that next thing for me.
Speaker:And, I had an opportunity to take a, um, position as a franchise owner for
Speaker:a painting company, uh, in Montana, which is where I was going to school.
Speaker:And I, uh, I decided to take that on.
Speaker:I feel like entrepreneurship has always kind of been a passion of mine.
Speaker:Like going through school, I went to school for business.
Speaker:Like I knew that was kind of a direction I wanted to go.
Speaker:Uh, but home improvement industry was really never on my radar growing up.
Speaker:Like, I, I didn't grow up wanting to be in the home improvement industry, but,
Speaker:uh, I, I, I quickly learned that, um, the industry itself is what a really
Speaker:competitive one, but also just one where you can really get out there and.
Speaker:Get out what you put into it.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Which is what I was striving for.
Speaker:Um, and uh, so I, I took on the challenge of, uh, starting a
Speaker:painting franchise in a market that, that franchise had never been in.
Speaker:Um, so that was a task in itself.
Speaker:Um, so I did painting for five years.
Speaker:Um, found some success with it, enjoyed it.
Speaker:Um, but I was looking for something a little different after about five years,
Speaker:and that's when I started to, uh, look into other home improvement industries,
Speaker:and that's where I came across roofing.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And, um, roofing, I was like, I, I looked at it as like, man, these
Speaker:average job sizes are like four times the amount of these painting jobs.
Speaker:Like there's, there's some potential of this, right?
Speaker:So, um, make good money.
Speaker:I really enjoyed my time painting, but roofing was like, Hey, there's,
Speaker:there's so much more upside here.
Speaker:Um, so I took the leap of faith.
Speaker:I actually moved from Montana to, um, Arizona to work with a startup roofing
Speaker:company that was working out here.
Speaker:Um.
Speaker:to where it never rains.
Speaker:Makes perfect sense to go.
Speaker:I didn't know that I was young and naive at the time.
Speaker:Um, so I, uh, started as a sales rep. You know, I wanted to kind of learn
Speaker:the trade, uh, understand I worked on some of the roofs myself in Arizona,
Speaker:talk about a terrible decision.
Speaker:But I, I, I learned very quickly, um, kind of the ins and outs of sales and within
Speaker:a year I was able to move into a director of operations role for that company.
Speaker:Um, and we.
Speaker:We're a startup company and we grew very big, very fast.
Speaker:We had five different states that we were operating in, um, and we had over
Speaker:40 sales reps, uh, across the country.
Speaker:Um, and I was in charge of those 40 sales reps, which, um, was a lot, but it was.
Speaker:Just an incredible learning experience and understanding different
Speaker:markets and how different markets operate from Texas to Arizona.
Speaker:Like those are two very, very different types of markets.
Speaker:Um, so it, it was interesting.
Speaker:I did that for two years.
Speaker:And as you can imagine, I got burnt out very
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Um, and it was, it was a lot.
Speaker:Uh, but at the same time it, I don't regret it at all.
Speaker:It was such a great learning experience.
Speaker:Um, so I actually stepped away from the roofing industry for a couple
Speaker:years and I went into consulting.
Speaker:Uh, so I was a consultant for, um, small businesses looking to start
Speaker:up in the home improvement industry.
Speaker:So actually help.
Speaker:launch over a hundred small businesses in roofing, painting,
Speaker:flooring, just any of the home
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:Helped them, from hiring their first sales rep to how to manage
Speaker:payroll, how to develop a website.
Speaker:Um, and that was just a really, really cool and fulfilling experience.
Speaker:Um, and I just remember my time when I was starting.
Speaker:business at 21 years old and how difficult it was, but I had kind of a structure
Speaker:that franchise system to help me and guide me, and I wanted to provide that
Speaker:for, you know, individual business owners who didn't want to go to that
Speaker:franchise route and wanted to have full ownership of their, of their business.
Speaker:I did that for a couple years.
Speaker:Uh, really, really enjoyed it, but I also kind of missed the.
Speaker:Day-to-day of operations.
Speaker:I, I, I miss the chaos of being in the middle of it, you know,
Speaker:of, of what operations and roofing or home improvement is.
Speaker:Um, so I decided to step away from that and get back into it, and that's
Speaker:where I found Diversified Roofing.
Speaker:Um, I started, uh, it's been just over two years now.
Speaker:I, I took the, uh, seals, um.
Speaker:Sales manager role here, um, which is kind of a glorified, uh, just manager
Speaker:in general, how I manage everything from the sales to the operations
Speaker:and all that for, for my division.
Speaker:Um, but it's, it's been a, a crazy process, but I've always kind of
Speaker:just found myself still staying with that home improvement, uh, area.
Speaker:And, um, I enjoy it, you know, I enjoy the customer interaction.
Speaker:I get, I enjoy helping people grow within the industry.
Speaker:Like that's, that's always a passion of mine.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Well, I'm curious, as you look back on the growth of your career
Speaker:in sales in particular, are there any certain experiences.
Speaker:Or lessons or maybe education or training you went through, um, that
Speaker:have been particularly formative to you, uh, in developing, um,
Speaker:your expertise in that area.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:I think, um, for me, the best thing I ever did was get my hands in on a little
Speaker:bit of everything in the business.
Speaker:So I've worked on production crews, I've sat in production meetings.
Speaker:I see what the admin team does.
Speaker:I have meetings with them.
Speaker:I try to.
Speaker:Immerse myself into every aspect of the business.
Speaker:'cause for me, as a salesperson, that helps me understand the full
Speaker:scope of what we're trying to accomplish on all ends, right?
Speaker:To make sure that, uh, there's so many salespeople out there to
Speaker:just focus on getting the sale.
Speaker:And for a business to be successful, there's so many components
Speaker:that need to work together.
Speaker:And I think as a sales person, that's your responsibility to make sure.
Speaker:Everything comes together smoothly, right?
Speaker:Expectations are set properly with the customer and the production crews and the
Speaker:admin team or whatever it may be, right?
Speaker:So I, that's the first thing is just really understanding the full aspect
Speaker:of the business and how your decisions as a sales person impacts the rest
Speaker:of the company and that customer I.
Speaker:Boy, I love that.
Speaker:And you're right, that makes so, makes that salesperson so much.
Speaker:Um, just more powerful in the home when they understand the full business.
Speaker:Well, so, unless I'm mistaken, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think diversified,
Speaker:um, is known a lot for its commanding presence in commercial roofing and
Speaker:you're heading up residential for them.
Speaker:Um, what's that look like to be doing that for a company that is known a lot
Speaker:for commercial and, you know, what's your team look like and so forth?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Uh, so actually we, we have a pretty even 50 50 split now
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:between residential and commercial, um, which is really exciting.
Speaker:Um, our, our team on the residential side, um, is.
Speaker:A big part of our business is in the new construction side
Speaker:of things for residential.
Speaker:So we do a lot of track home custom homes, stuff like that.
Speaker:So that's a big portion of our residential space.
Speaker:And then obviously reroof, repairs service, um, all of that's
Speaker:kind of encompassed into our residential side of the business.
Speaker:Um, in terms of team size, we, we actually do it pretty efficiently.
Speaker:Um, so on the sales front.
Speaker:Um, I got myself and then there's, uh, an account manager that manages
Speaker:all of our, uh, track home builders.
Speaker:Um, so your Taylor Morrisons and, you know, things like
Speaker:that, your bigger home builders.
Speaker:And then I have another account manager that focuses solely on the, like the
Speaker:local custom home builders that do the multimillion dollar homes out here.
Speaker:and then I have three more, uh, guys that focus strictly on residential reroof.
Speaker:So, um, so five total sales guys essentially.
Speaker:Um, so I feel like we're, we're pretty efficient with that.
Speaker:Uh, with the numbers we'll be able to get on the production side,
Speaker:that's a whole different beast.
Speaker:Um, we have eight different superintendents on the residential side
Speaker:each running about four to five crews.
Speaker:Wow,
Speaker:Um, that's, that's, yeah,
Speaker:you're busy.
Speaker:Yeah, you're busy.
Speaker:That's a lot of roofing.
Speaker:Well, and I always think it's interesting whenever I come across a
Speaker:new construction home in Phoenix or around Arizona always seems like it's
Speaker:a huge house and just complicated.
Speaker:And, you know, those are nice projects though.
Speaker:But, uh, well, I'm kind of curious.
Speaker:So, so I mean, I've always looked at commercial roofing.
Speaker:I've never been involved with it, but it, it always seems like that would be
Speaker:a sale that would focus a lot on things like cost per year, return on investment.
Speaker:And yet.
Speaker:Most residential guys don't go about selling residential
Speaker:roofs quite in that same vein.
Speaker:I'm kind of curious, you know, what crossovers or what similarities do you
Speaker:see in your company, um, between how commercial and residential roofs are sold?
Speaker:Or are they completely different beasts to you?
Speaker:Uh, a little bit of both.
Speaker:I, I would say so.
Speaker:Um.
Speaker:I think when we are looking at, for example, in residential we do HOA
Speaker:communities and things like that.
Speaker:So that type of sale is very, very similar to that of like a commercial sale, So of
Speaker:those, like bigger jobs, those HOA boards, they're all about cost effectiveness,
Speaker:saving money over time, all of that.
Speaker:Um, when it comes to like individual homeowners though, this is where
Speaker:I think it gets interesting.
Speaker:Um, I try to focus like.
Speaker:We sell value right to a homeowner.
Speaker:That's what they care about.
Speaker:Sometimes that does mean.
Speaker:Return on investment, right?
Speaker:It just depends on what that customer's looking for, um, specifically.
Speaker:And the way I always look at, it's like any chuck in the truck is
Speaker:what I like to call, can go out and put a good roof on for a customer.
Speaker:But it, it's really how you value your service and your products.
Speaker:And how you create that value through those options to the
Speaker:homeowner that really separates you.
Speaker:So that's what we really try to focus on in the residential space,
Speaker:is how do we create that value?
Speaker:We're not gonna be the cheapest.
Speaker:I don't want to be the cheapest,
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:It's, it's all about how is my service gonna separate me from my competitor?
Speaker:And that's kind of our focus point in the residential space.
Speaker:Makes a lot of sense.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Sell the value.
Speaker:So, um, as I look back on 2025, it's been a year where most areas
Speaker:of the country contractors have really found lead generation to be a
Speaker:little bit sluggish, um, compared to at least what they'd seen in those
Speaker:years, immediately following COVID.
Speaker:Um, any.
Speaker:Saying Your company is finding being successful or effective
Speaker:in terms of lead gen right now?
Speaker:Yeah, it, it has been slow.
Speaker:Especially, I mean, we're field it here at Phoenix especially.
Speaker:Um, and we've had to get creative.
Speaker:Um, there's so many things changing.
Speaker:I know we're gonna talk about this more a little bit later on AI and how digital
Speaker:marketing's kind of evolving and changing.
Speaker:Um, and we've really had to pivot, um, on our approach to lead generation.
Speaker:And this year we took more of kind of a grassroots style
Speaker:old school style marketing and really kind of focused on that.
Speaker:Um.
Speaker:Not as much like door knocking, which I'll, I'll kind of get into it a little
Speaker:bit, but more so networking groups.
Speaker:So we have guys in BNI groups, we have home builder associations, this, you know,
Speaker:chamber of Commerce, stuff like that.
Speaker:We found a lot of traction with that, um, and a ton of success.
Speaker:But I think the, the biggest winner is the referral referral program.
Speaker:That that is bar none, the most important aspect of our lead generation
Speaker:and having kind of a program in place to help generate referral leads and
Speaker:it's helped increase our close rate.
Speaker:drastically having that type of high quality lead as well.
Speaker:So it, it's really helped us in that front.
Speaker:So those are the two areas that I'd say the most successes come from.
Speaker:We do some door knocking.
Speaker:We're not, I wouldn't say canvassers, we're not hitting full neighborhoods.
Speaker:We do a very strategic style of, uh, canvassing or door knocking.
Speaker:I call it the quick six.
Speaker:We hit a very small number of houses around the bills that we're doing.
Speaker:Introduce ourselves.
Speaker:Hey, sorry for the noise.
Speaker:Here's my card.
Speaker:If you have any questions, let me know.
Speaker:Also, be more than happy to give you a free estimate.
Speaker:So, you know, stuff like that.
Speaker:Um, we, we run pretty lean here and I my guys to make sure
Speaker:they're maximizing their time.
Speaker:And I've found that in our type of market, in a retail heavy market like
Speaker:Phoenix, the door knocking can be very, very difficult and time consuming.
Speaker:I, I like what you're saying about, well, something I've always called.
Speaker:Referral maximization.
Speaker:And I started talking about it several years ago saying, you know, we put
Speaker:all this money into traditional advertising of different forms and when
Speaker:it's not working, the people selling the selling you the advertising,
Speaker:their answer is, well spend more.
Speaker:Um, and, and you know, my comment was always, well, why don't we
Speaker:take a certain amount of our advertising budget and devote that.
Speaker:To maximizing our referrals.
Speaker:Um, and so I, I love what you're saying there.
Speaker:I think that is spot on.
Speaker:Um, kind of curious what's happening.
Speaker:I mean, Phoenix has traditionally been a tile market.
Speaker:Um, you know, nationally of course we're seeing a product close to
Speaker:our hearts metal, um, growing in market share, are you seeing that
Speaker:in the Phoenix market yet at all?
Speaker:Or is it still just tile, or what are you seeing out there?
Speaker:Seeing a little bit metal.
Speaker:Um, I would still say over 90% of our new builds here in the
Speaker:Phoenix area are Tyler foam.
Speaker:I think foam is the other kind of roofing system that.
Speaker:It's utilized out here.
Speaker:That takes up a good chunk of, um, the market.
Speaker:Um, metal.
Speaker:The only time we're seeing it really is on custom homes.
Speaker:So custom homes, we're seeing portions of that roof be metal.
Speaker:Um, so that, that hasn't, uh.
Speaker:It a huge part, like reroof though it's been, everybody talks about it.
Speaker:We go to trade shows and we have our metal roof samples up there and they're
Speaker:all intrigued and excited about it.
Speaker:And then we go out there and we show 'em the price and
Speaker:they're like, yeah, nevermind.
Speaker:So, um, so that's, that's kind of been the challenge for us to overcome.
Speaker:Um.
Speaker:On the, on the metal side of things.
Speaker:Another product that we've, looked into on the metal side that's starting to get some
Speaker:traction is, it's called unified steel.
Speaker:It's almost like the metal shingles or the metal tile.
Speaker:Um, like we've seen stuff like that starting to grow in popularity as well.
Speaker:Um, but uh, standing seat and things like that, seeing it on
Speaker:the custom homes, but not a whole lot on the re-roof side of things.
Speaker:Interesting.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Unified steel's kind of a dirty word around here.
Speaker:They are, they are our number one competitor probably.
Speaker:But no, they're good, good company and, uh, good products.
Speaker:So, uh, that's great.
Speaker:Um.
Speaker:Kind, kind of curious.
Speaker:So I, I read a statistic the other day that I really kind of struck me.
Speaker:It said that, you know, with the advent of our Amazon culture and
Speaker:everything online, that by the time a consumer actually calls a home
Speaker:improvement contractor to their house.
Speaker:They are already about 80% of the way through the buying cycle.
Speaker:Um, you know, in terms of, you know, their decision making and they
Speaker:know what they want and so forth.
Speaker:Kind of curious, how do you coach your sales team to, um, connect with homeowners
Speaker:in that environment who may already think they already have it all figured out?
Speaker:Yeah, that's, that's a great question.
Speaker:Um, I think the biggest thing that we have to do in that sense
Speaker:is hear them out, let them talk.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Listen to what they have to say.
Speaker:They're gonna express concerns or their opinions.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:And I feel like so many salespeople make the mistake of.
Speaker:to combat that right away or give them the information that they want to give them.
Speaker:Like, you'll have your time for that.
Speaker:I think it's really important to take the time to listen to the
Speaker:customer and maybe there's some validity to what they're trying to
Speaker:say, even if you don't agree with it.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Um, so I, I think understand and understand where their sources
Speaker:are, where they're getting that information, and, and making sure
Speaker:we're educating them around, um, what.
Speaker:We experience.
Speaker:So I think another thing I like to do in those situations if you've been in
Speaker:the industry long enough, you're gonna have a similar type of customer that
Speaker:you've dealt with in the past, right?
Speaker:That has the same kind of issue, same concerns, whatever it may be.
Speaker:And I always like to tell stories.
Speaker:Tell stories of, Hey, I had a customer just like you had the same concern.
Speaker:This is how we took care of him.
Speaker:Love.
Speaker:This is, yeah.
Speaker:And this is my recommendation on what we do and here's why.
Speaker:And so it just kind of puts them at ease.
Speaker:It doesn't make them feel like a, a victim almost, right?
Speaker:It's like, Hey, we're other people think just like you.
Speaker:It's perfectly okay.
Speaker:Like this is how we take care of those people.
Speaker:that's a great way to put it too.
Speaker:It's kind of reframing it from, not like a conflict, you know, but like you're
Speaker:not trying to sell them something versus them trying not to be sold to versus,
Speaker:know, here's what we've experienced.
Speaker:We can help you out.
Speaker:We can solve your problem.
Speaker:You know, reframing it definitely goes a long way.
Speaker:It certainly helps to build that trust without a doubt.
Speaker:And I'm kind of reminded of something that Rodney Webb teaches and you know,
Speaker:he teaches techniques for making every customer into almost be like a referral.
Speaker:And I think when you talk about those other jobs you've done and.
Speaker:They start to put themselves in the place of your former customer, it
Speaker:starts to give them the mindset of being a referral, even though maybe
Speaker:that lead wasn't actually a referral.
Speaker:So
Speaker:And I, I come from a Rodney web system,
Speaker:do you?
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So, um, a lot of, I don't, didn't take everything from
Speaker:sure.
Speaker:like I kind of made it into my own, but there's so much
Speaker:good stuff in, in Rodney Web.
Speaker:That's where a lot of my learning and stuff comes from in terms of kind of
Speaker:the, the psychological part of sales, which is just fascinating to me.
Speaker:We've never had him on the show.
Speaker:We need to add him to our list.
Speaker:Ethan.
Speaker:I love to do that.
Speaker:Cool.
Speaker:Um, so the riffing industry, you know, it's kind of interesting.
Speaker:I mean, I've been around.
Speaker:Since dirt was three days old, they tell me.
Speaker:But, uh, a long time and, you know, I'm, I'm seeing more change
Speaker:probably in the last five years than I'd seen in the previous 40
Speaker:years of my time in this industry.
Speaker:And, you know, there's things changing with technology, sales, tools, materials.
Speaker:Are there any innovations you're seeing out there right now that have
Speaker:you particularly excited, um, you know, to see where that's gonna lead?
Speaker:I think on, on the sales front of things, it's super exciting.
Speaker:Um, just some of the technology we have for takeoffs and for, um, putting bids
Speaker:together, proposals together, um, I've.
Speaker:Shifted.
Speaker:When I first got here diversified, we used old Excel files that, you know,
Speaker:you put your estimate together and you take off numbers all into that
Speaker:and it spit out a number for you.
Speaker:Um, and we've adapted to a whole new system where I can a takeoff and get
Speaker:a proposal written in 15 minutes.
Speaker:And a, a nice professional looking proposal with, product information,
Speaker:with warranty information, all of that.
Speaker:So it's just made, online Now.
Speaker:Customers can sign online.
Speaker:They open up their email, look at the proposal, and they just click sign right
Speaker:then and there, send us a check or pay credit card over the phone for a deposit,
Speaker:and they're set up and ready to go.
Speaker:You know, so, uh, that's, that's really changed the game.
Speaker:Like, I just remember thinking back at my starting the, uh, painting company.
Speaker:Everything was old school, pen and paper with the carbon copies.
Speaker:You know, like, it's like things have changed, uh, immensely since then.
Speaker:Um, so it's, it's cool to, uh, to see that component of it.
Speaker:Um, I mean, just last year we.
Speaker:Um, launched a, we call our instant estimate tool on our website, so
Speaker:a customer can go to our website and get a, a ballpark estimate
Speaker:for their home in under a minute.
Speaker:Oh.
Speaker:so they can get it.
Speaker:They just put in their address, put in a few informations, they can
Speaker:select the products they want, and it'll give them a ballpark price.
Speaker:Say, Hey, this is what you should be budgeting for, for your, for your roof.
Speaker:just little things like that that just make such a huge difference
Speaker:for the customer experience, you know, and in today's day and
Speaker:age of instant gratification, everybody wants things right now.
Speaker:It's such a huge tool.
Speaker:Well, and it, and it differentiates you from the guys that
Speaker:haven't figured that out yet.
Speaker:And you know, it kind of goes back to the things that, uh, another
Speaker:previous guest, Marcus Sheridan.
Speaker:A lot about, um, you know, they ask you answer, you gotta give 'em the answers
Speaker:because if they don't get 'em from you, they're gonna get 'em from somebody else.
Speaker:Well, I'm, I'm curious, what are you guys seeing in your market right
Speaker:now in terms of interest in solar energy efficiency, sustainability?
Speaker:Are those.
Speaker:Picking up any steams at all, steam at all.
Speaker:And of course, you know, now with the solar tax credits going
Speaker:away, we're not quite sure what the impact that's gonna be.
Speaker:But can you reflect a little bit on what's happening in that regard?
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:On the solar front.
Speaker:Um, yeah.
Speaker:Exploding right now, right.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:panicking trying to get their solar before the tax credit.
Speaker:It's, um, like Arizona, it's, it's been a pretty big deal out
Speaker:here for a handful of years now.
Speaker:Um, and it's not something we really dive into much on our side.
Speaker:Like we work with, we partner with some solar companies that take care of
Speaker:our customers when they come across.
Speaker:But yeah, it's not something we wanted to take on.
Speaker:We did look into some of those like solar shingles and, you know, some of that
Speaker:stuff that's out there on the market now and uh, we just didn't feel confident
Speaker:in it yet to kind of take that on.
Speaker:Um, you know, I think they got some work to do on that front before, uh, I think
Speaker:that's ready to really, um, but I do think it's a really cool concept and I think it
Speaker:actually looks pretty decent compared to just these ugly panels up on your roof.
Speaker:But, um.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So, uh, the other component though of like energy efficiency, that's
Speaker:obviously a big thing here in Arizona.
Speaker:It gets 110 degrees out here during the summer.
Speaker:ACS are constantly running.
Speaker:Um, so energy efficiency has been a big proponent, especially in our custom homes.
Speaker:They're always looking for that r value or looking for, you
Speaker:know, a specific type of, um.
Speaker:Regulations on, on their home.
Speaker:And we've started to implement a lot more what we call cool roof systems.
Speaker:So I know in shingles they got like the cool roof shingles, but even in
Speaker:tile today, there's cool roof systems for tile roofs where it has, um,
Speaker:like raised or arched battens where airflow can go through like a vented
Speaker:bird stop to a ridge vent at the top.
Speaker:Um, so it's cool to see how the industry's adapting to, um.
Speaker:Accommodate all types of different roofs for that kind of system.
Speaker:Well, it's been about a year and a half since I was last in Phoenix,
Speaker:but I remember when I was there, I was thinking it was so hot.
Speaker:I, I swear I could have baked cinnamon rolls on the hood of my rental car.
Speaker:I'm, I'm pretty sure of it.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Well, tell us, you, you had kind of alluded to it earlier, um,
Speaker:AI and various digital tools.
Speaker:Um, how do you see those, uh, continuing to impact, uh, your company, you know,
Speaker:in terms of how you do business, how you sell, lead gen, all that type of stuff?
Speaker:Ai, just like anything else has taken over the world at this point.
Speaker:It's, um, it's, I had a meeting with, uh, one of our marketing companies
Speaker:that we utilize and they're just kinda sharing the information of
Speaker:how like AI has been impacting.
Speaker:SEO, like SEO is a whole different ball game now, and I am no expert in it,
Speaker:so don't ask me any questions on that.
Speaker:But I, this is like, I know it's, uh, it's a completely different ball game.
Speaker:Um, you know, you go to Google and type in sono and hotdog, right?
Speaker:It's not gonna pull up where you get 'em.
Speaker:It's gonna give you like a little list of, what a snoring hotdog is.
Speaker:All from AI generation, right?
Speaker:Same thing.
Speaker:When you type in roofers, it's gonna give you an AI answer.
Speaker:And most people are just reading that AI answer and not even scrolling
Speaker:down to look at the different websites or blogs or whatever it is.
Speaker:So it's, it's interesting to see how that's kind of affecting SEO.
Speaker:Um, but I do think there's also.
Speaker:Some really good uses for it.
Speaker:Like we've looked into actually, um, using AI as a takeoff system
Speaker:to where on our custom homes.
Speaker:'cause as you alluded to earlier, the, uh, those custom homes get, man, those get
Speaker:very, very difficult in the details, in the scopes of work are very, very, uh, So
Speaker:we have to, I mean, sometimes it takes.
Speaker:2, 3, 4 hours to get a takeoff done for a custom home.
Speaker:And we've actually looked into automating it through AI where
Speaker:it creates a takeoff for us.
Speaker:We're still a little ways from that.
Speaker:If we've been working on it.
Speaker:I think it's gonna take some time to kinda get it dialed in.
Speaker:But things like that, like think about.
Speaker:Saving four hours of your time at a day to do one takeoff, I guess, is
Speaker:gonna really increase our capacity, what one person can accomplish.
Speaker:So, um, so I, I do see it as being an effective tool, um, that's will
Speaker:help our industry in the long run.
Speaker:Cool stuff.
Speaker:Yeah, we're playing with that with AI also.
Speaker:And you know, another thing we have kind of thought about is, okay,
Speaker:how can we use AI to even help us predict what would be the most
Speaker:efficient way to install that job?
Speaker:I mean, you.
Speaker:Know, if you got a four person crew, two are experienced, who aren't, you know,
Speaker:how would you arrange them on that job to be absolutely as efficient as possible.
Speaker:And, uh, so I, I think there's cool stuff.
Speaker:It'll definitely get there here, uh, sooner.
Speaker:Sooner rather than later probably.
Speaker:Well, what do you think are some of the biggest challenges right
Speaker:now facing, uh, residential roofing or, uh, companies like your own?
Speaker:Yeah, I think, I mean, I think we've been talking about a big challenge
Speaker:already and that's the technology
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:of things.
Speaker:Um, I think.
Speaker:I, I hate to say it, but like, roofers are not the most
Speaker:technology savvy people, you know?
Speaker:And it's, um, uh, and it's ever evolving in that way.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:And I think it's important for people to, not be afraid to look
Speaker:into some of these systems to help you, uh, become more efficient.
Speaker:And if you're not right, I think you're gonna be left behind.
Speaker:You're leaving a ton of opportunity, uh, out there.
Speaker:Um, so I think just.
Speaker:The challenge of taking on that, um.
Speaker:Adaptation of going with some of this technological advances and utilizing
Speaker:it and being comfortable with it.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And it's, it's hard for a lot of people who've been in the industry for
Speaker:a while to make such a big change in their business and how they do things.
Speaker:And I think that's, that's a true and a real challenge.
Speaker:and then the other one I think that's important, as we've already
Speaker:alluded to, is a lead generation.
Speaker:I think things are very, like, really changing on, How we can generate
Speaker:leads because as we change to a new generation, right, and we're getting
Speaker:more younger people that we're trying to sell to, um, some of these people
Speaker:don't even like to talk to people, right?
Speaker:They don't pick up the phone, they don't like we're moving to a world where I
Speaker:think this is inter interesting concept and I think it's a reality where.
Speaker:We could actually sell jobs without ever doing an onsite consultation.
Speaker:'cause people don't want that.
Speaker:Um, and uh, so I think that's an interesting concept that
Speaker:I could lead towards that.
Speaker:But I think the whole way we generate leads is gonna shift
Speaker:between AI affecting it and.
Speaker:Um, people not answering their doors when you go door knocking,
Speaker:like it's, it's so tough out there.
Speaker:I come from a world of door knocking.
Speaker:That's how I generated most of my business.
Speaker:When I first started, uh, my painting company, it was just door to door.
Speaker:and it's just seeing how that's evolved over the past decade plus is just
Speaker:astonishing how difficult it is anymore to find success on the door to door,
Speaker:unless you're like in a storm market, right, where it's easy to sell like
Speaker:a deductible versus a $20,000 reroof.
Speaker:So to go along with.
Speaker:Of new generation of customers, advice would you give to, you know,
Speaker:a newer generation of salespeople?
Speaker:You know, obviously you already kind of covered, you know, being driven,
Speaker:not being lackadaisical and just kind of expecting it to all happen for you.
Speaker:But what advice would you give, uh, you know, new people to the industry?
Speaker:Yeah, I think, uh, for me in sales, it's, you gotta have an entrepreneurial mindset.
Speaker:I think it can be so difficult when you labor yourself as like an employee.
Speaker:Like kind of have to be willing to work after 5:00 PM or take those phone calls.
Speaker:Like you have to have that entrepreneurial mindset.
Speaker:Um, be, I'm, I'm a very goal oriented person, I, I think it's really important
Speaker:to set smart goals, uh, but also have a plan of accountability around that
Speaker:just for yourself or for your team if you're a sales manager, right?
Speaker:Uh, so I think that's really important.
Speaker:Note.
Speaker:Uh, and don't be afraid to think outside the box.
Speaker:Things are changing.
Speaker:You gotta be able to evolve, like try new things.
Speaker:It's, it's okay to, to give.
Speaker:I mean, the two plus years I've been here, tried so many different
Speaker:things just to see what sticks right.
Speaker:And sometimes that's, that's what it takes.
Speaker:Some trial and error.
Speaker:And, um, don't be afraid to think outside the box and try to do things.
Speaker:So much of what you've talked about today reminds me of something my
Speaker:father told me years ago in business, and he always said, you know.
Speaker:If in business you think you're holding your own, forget about it because
Speaker:there's someone going around you.
Speaker:Um, there is no such thing as holding your own.
Speaker:And I think with the speed of change that's just increasing every year, uh, how
Speaker:quickly someone else can go around you and you're doing all the great stuff, Jordan,
Speaker:by being the one who's, uh, determined to go around all the competitors.
Speaker:So Good stuff.
Speaker:Well, uh, this has been great.
Speaker:Is there anything we haven't covered today that you wanted to
Speaker:be sure to share with our audience?
Speaker:No, I don't think so.
Speaker:I think we, we talked about a lot of like really cool stuff here today.
Speaker:Um, I think, yeah, a lot of the stuff around the technology is interest.
Speaker:Man, I'm, I'm excited to see where the industry kind of goes.
Speaker:Um, I do see a big shift in kind of that momentum of how things are operating
Speaker:and, um, I, just wanna continue to stay ahead of the trend best I can, you know,
Speaker:and that that'd be another piece of advice to try to stay ahead of it and,
Speaker:and explore those different options.
Speaker:So, but no, I really, really appreciate you guys having me
Speaker:on some, some good conversation.
Speaker:Well, good, good advice you provided.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:It's been great time together.
Speaker:So before we close out and before I have you give your contact information,
Speaker:I'm gonna ask if you're willing to participate in something we call.
Speaker:Our rapid fire questions.
Speaker:So these are just five questions.
Speaker:Um, some are serious, some are not so serious.
Speaker:All you have to do is give a top of mind response.
Speaker:Are you up to the challenge of rapid fire?
Speaker:Let's do, let's have some fun.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:You can ask the first one, Ethan.
Speaker:What's a product or service that you've acquired recently
Speaker:that was a game changer for you?
Speaker:And it can be, you know, personal life or for work or whatever.
Speaker:Air fryer
Speaker:Doing some of that healthy eating that way, huh?
Speaker:trying to, yeah.
Speaker:Good for you.
Speaker:Any particular brand?
Speaker:I don't even know
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:what the brand is, man.
Speaker:I,
Speaker:That's fine.
Speaker:That's fine.
Speaker:Good stuff.
Speaker:Well, question number two, what is your dream car or other vehicle truck?
Speaker:Or maybe it's a flying spaceship.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:What's your dream vehicle?
Speaker:So I'm like a old school American muscle.
Speaker:Oh, awesome.
Speaker:yeah.
Speaker:So I'm gonna go with GTO.
Speaker:Love that.
Speaker:Love that.
Speaker:Yeah, that's a great one.
Speaker:My, uh, parents between 64 and 71 owned three.
Speaker:Laman never had a GTO though, but they, they couldn't afford that,
Speaker:but they were still nice cars.
Speaker:Cool cars.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Okay, next question, Ethan.
Speaker:I'm not a sales guy, but I've heard some very interesting stories
Speaker:from some of our sales guys.
Speaker:So what's a, what's the most unusual request you've ever had in roofing Sales?
Speaker:my gosh.
Speaker:I guess I'll just do like the most unusual job that I've had
Speaker:to deal with here recently.
Speaker:I'll, I'll tell this story.
Speaker:Um, the guy had a putting green on his roof,
Speaker:On his
Speaker:so we had to literally create a roofing system.
Speaker:That allowed drainage for his putting green that was
Speaker:literally on top of his roof.
Speaker:It was the weirdest, weirdest situation.
Speaker:It was difficult.
Speaker:It, yeah, it was not fun to deal with.
Speaker:We had to do a TPO system underneath it and then landscapers came in, ruined
Speaker:the TPO with all their stuff like it.
Speaker:It was a disaster, but, uh, we gotta fix it in the end.
Speaker:Taken care of.
Speaker:The guy has a putting green on his roof now, so.
Speaker:Now you can advertise your experience of doing.
Speaker:Putting greens on roofs, so,
Speaker:to Arizona.
Speaker:that's what I was thinking.
Speaker:Uh, next to last question, do you have any hidden talent
Speaker:that folks may not know about?
Speaker:Uh, no hidden talents.
Speaker:Um, I guess my like, interesting fact though, I'll give you that, is I had
Speaker:six wisdom teeth pulled out of my mouth.
Speaker:Six.
Speaker:That's,
Speaker:four?
Speaker:yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:had four on the bottom and two on the top.
Speaker:that's my editor.
Speaker:So I like to think, uh, you know, maybe I'm a little smarter for that.
Speaker:I don't know, maybe they pulled all the wisdom out when they did that, so.
Speaker:I think the fact that you could grow them means the wisdom must be there.
Speaker:That's all I can think.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But it was painful.
Speaker:I would say.
Speaker:I was out, I was down for the counter for like three days after that.
Speaker:They did 'em all at once.
Speaker:All at once.
Speaker:They put me under.
Speaker:Yeah, they put me under and pulled 'em all out.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:Crazy.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Last question.
Speaker:Um, what would you hope to be remembered for like years down the
Speaker:road at the end of your career?
Speaker:I, I think remembered for always.
Speaker:Being there for, for my team.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So always having the, like, somebody that my team could always count on.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:I, I take leadership very seriously.
Speaker:Um, so I would, I would always want to be remembered for, yeah.
Speaker:I was the guy that my team could always count on if they needed
Speaker:something, they needed help or they needed, um, support with something.
Speaker:So I, I'd say that'd be the biggest thing career wise.
Speaker:That would be my biggest thing.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:That's a great answer.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It is good stuff.
Speaker:Well, I am pleased to report also that we all got our challenge
Speaker:words in, which was awesome.
Speaker:Jordan, your word was.
Speaker:Sonora and hotdog.
Speaker:A no hotdog, which you worked in extremely well.
Speaker:Um, I had the word cinnamon, which I worked in there.
Speaker:And Ethan, you had,
Speaker:Um, I had lackadaisical, which was, it was a fun one to fit
Speaker:in, but I think I got there.
Speaker:I didn't know if you were on make it, but you made it.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Good deal.
Speaker:Well, Jordan, thank you again for joining us today.
Speaker:This has been great and very informative.
Speaker:Great episode.
Speaker:Uh, for someone who may want to connect with you, what are
Speaker:best ways for them to do that?
Speaker:Yeah, you can reach out to, uh, us on the website, reach out to directly
Speaker:there at diversifiedroofing.com.
Speaker:Um, or you can reach out to, to me directly, 6 0 2 8 8 5 7 1 3 3.
Speaker:We'll put that in the show notes.
Speaker:You're also on LinkedIn, if I remember right.
Speaker:I've seen you out there.
Speaker:Okay,
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Very good.
Speaker:Well, thank you again, Jordan, for being with us today.
Speaker:We appreciate it.
Speaker:Thank you so much guys.
Speaker:Appreciate your time.
Speaker:And thank you to our audience for tuning into this episode of Construction
Speaker:Disruption with Jordan Rueschhoff of Diversified Roofing in Phoenix.
Speaker:Please watch for future episodes of our podcast.
Speaker:We're always blessed with great guests.
Speaker:Um, until next time we're together, though, keep on challenging, keep
Speaker:on disrupting, keep on looking for better ways of doing things, and
Speaker:don't forget to have a positive impact on everyone you encounter.
Speaker:Uh, make them smile.
Speaker:Leave them feeling encouraged.
Speaker:Simple yet.
Speaker:Powerful things you can do, so God bless and take care.
Speaker:This is Isaiah Industry signing off until the next episode
Speaker:of Construction Disruption.