Todd Miller:

I'm Todd Miller of Isaiah Industries, manufacturer of

Todd Miller:

specialty residential metal roofing and other building materials.

Todd Miller:

Welcome to Construction Disruption, where we like to think of each

Todd Miller:

episode as a job site for your brain.

Todd Miller:

Hard hats, optional bright ideas guaranteed.

Todd Miller:

Today I'm joined by my co-host, our creative director, Ryan Bell.

Todd Miller:

What's going on today, Ryan?

Ryan Bell:

Well, not much.

Ryan Bell:

It's Friday.

Ryan Bell:

The weather's beautiful.

Ryan Bell:

Do you want to hear a construction joke?

Todd Miller:

I would love to hear a concern.

Todd Miller:

I've been waiting for this all day.

Ryan Bell:

I'm sorry, I'm still working on it.

Todd Miller:

There have been all kinds of job site delays.

Todd Miller:

Those doggone masonry guys haven't showed up yet.

Ryan Bell:

Part of the business.

Todd Miller:

I get it.

Todd Miller:

I get it.

Todd Miller:

Well, I am excited about today's, uh, guest.

Todd Miller:

This is someone, uh, been a good friend of mine for quite a number

Todd Miller:

of years, more than neither one of us likes to talk about.

Todd Miller:

Um, but I'm really excited today to have someone who is very well known in

Todd Miller:

both the roofing and the solar worlds.

Todd Miller:

Rob Haddock is CEO and founder of S five and owner of the

Todd Miller:

Metal Roof Advisory Group.

Todd Miller:

With over 50 years of industry experience, Rob is very much a

Todd Miller:

sought after speaker and trainer in the metal construction industry.

Todd Miller:

Additionally, his innovations at S five have paved the way for metal roofs to be

Todd Miller:

the preferred base for solar attachment, as well as just generally further the

Todd Miller:

metal roofing industry in so many ways.

Todd Miller:

Um, Rob, welcome to Construction Disruption, true honor

Todd Miller:

to have you here today.

Rob Haddock:

Thanks a lot, Todd.

Rob Haddock:

It's good to be with you.

Rob Haddock:

We've known each other for a lot of years, so I'm glad to share this screen with you.

Todd Miller:

Hey, good time.

Todd Miller:

I'm looking forward to it.

Todd Miller:

Um, I have to say though, that kind of hit me, uh, when it said over 50

Todd Miller:

years of experience you have Rob.

Todd Miller:

That's, that's pretty amazing.

Todd Miller:

It, so, so I heard, is it true that you were born when the

Todd Miller:

Dead Sea wasn't even sick yet?

Rob Haddock:

There's, there's your joke.

Todd Miller:

And then there's my joke.

Todd Miller:

I've been waiting all day for that one, Rob, and I'm, and I'm always

Todd Miller:

trying to remember who's older.

Todd Miller:

You or Dick Buss.

Todd Miller:

You're about the same age.

Rob Haddock:

I think we're almost exactly the same age, maybe

Rob Haddock:

within six months or something.

Todd Miller:

That's cool.

Todd Miller:

I need to get Dick on the show sometime.

Todd Miller:

I haven't had him yet.

Todd Miller:

Um, well again, Rob, it's great to have you.

Todd Miller:

Um, your career has taken you.

Todd Miller:

So many places, both literally and figuratively.

Todd Miller:

Um, and we really wanna jump into the meat of our conversation.

Todd Miller:

Looking at, uh, your contributions to the industry and where you

Todd Miller:

see the industry right now.

Todd Miller:

But can you first give our audience kind of a quick look at how you made this

Todd Miller:

journey from professional bull riding, which not everyone probably knows about

Todd Miller:

you from professional bull riding to entrepreneur and metal roofing guru.

Todd Miller:

What was that journey like for you?

Rob Haddock:

Well, life happened, Todd, and there aren't too many bull riders

Rob Haddock:

still competing past about the age of 30.

Rob Haddock:

So it really isn't a sustainable career path.

Rob Haddock:

But back in those days, I also cowboy in general working ranches and feedlot.

Rob Haddock:

That isn't exactly a sustainable career path either.

Rob Haddock:

Then one day when I was out checking cows, I had, uh, an epiphany about all

Rob Haddock:

that, and I came off that ranch where I was working and went to the big city

Rob Haddock:

to make my fortune, strike my fortune,

Todd Miller:

Fame and fortune.

Todd Miller:

There you go.

Rob Haddock:

Yeah, I was, I was 19 then.

Rob Haddock:

And, um, I kept riding for the next several years, but riding bulls is

Rob Haddock:

kinda like any other extreme sport.

Rob Haddock:

You really can't do it part-time.

Rob Haddock:

Um, it's all in or all out.

Rob Haddock:

You've gotta be given it 110% or you'll disappoint yourself.

Rob Haddock:

Um, so I had been to welding school and fell into part-time steel

Rob Haddock:

construction at age 19, and for the next 18 or so years, I pursued that.

Rob Haddock:

Um, I started my own business and over that time built over 500 metal

Rob Haddock:

buildings in 36 states before, uh.

Rob Haddock:

I sold out and retired from that business.

Rob Haddock:

And in tandem with all that, I started a consulting practice pertaining to

Rob Haddock:

metal roofing, uh, in about 1984.

Rob Haddock:

So in combination with buildings that I had built and forensic consulting work

Rob Haddock:

that I, that I did, I'd been on tens of millions of square feet of metal

Rob Haddock:

metal roofing and learned about what.

Rob Haddock:

Everything that goes wrong.

Rob Haddock:

And I started writing about it and, and teaching on the subject, hence

Rob Haddock:

the, uh, guru piece of the puzzle.

Rob Haddock:

Um, and I've also traveled the world to gain additional perspective on

Rob Haddock:

how things are done around the globe.

Rob Haddock:

Not everything is done the same way it's done here in the US of a. In 1991,

Rob Haddock:

I retired from, uh, from construction, and I started inventing solutions for

Rob Haddock:

the many problems I'd encountered on one roof or another, and many roofs.

Todd Miller:

That's amazing.

Todd Miller:

Quite a story.

Todd Miller:

What is it?

Todd Miller:

Uh uh, necessity is the mother of invention.

Todd Miller:

I guess sometimes you see something, you gotta fix it.

Todd Miller:

So I, back to the bull riding, I have to ask you, did you see a movie that

Todd Miller:

came out recently called The Last Rodeo?

Todd Miller:

Did you see that?

Rob Haddock:

I haven't even heard of it.

Rob Haddock:

I'll have to write that

Rob Haddock:

down.

Todd Miller:

Good movie has a lot of, uh, faith component to it.

Todd Miller:

Um, I think I, I kept thinking about you the whole time I was watching it actually.

Todd Miller:

Uh, it came out a few months ago.

Todd Miller:

So I'm curious.

Todd Miller:

I mean, again, you know, long storied career in this industry.

Todd Miller:

Um.

Todd Miller:

What are some of the major developments that you've seen in metal roofing

Todd Miller:

over the years and, you know, why has that made you a real believer,

Todd Miller:

uh, in metal as a roofing material?

Rob Haddock:

Well, there have been lots of improve.

Rob Haddock:

in in fabrication and automation and those kinds of things.

Rob Haddock:

But I think the biggest milestone in my own lifetime was the invention

Rob Haddock:

of galium coated steel, uh, in the late sixties by my old friend.

Rob Haddock:

Ow.

Rob Haddock:

At that time, you know, G 90 galvanized was the go-to coating for steel, uh,

Rob Haddock:

and this new coating would outlast G 90.

Rob Haddock:

By a ratio of three to one in most environments.

Rob Haddock:

Trouble was, nobody knew that.

Rob Haddock:

And, um, for many years it carried an inherent 20 year warranty.

Rob Haddock:

And then after, uh, several decades, they raised that, the producers raised

Rob Haddock:

that to 25 years, but still no one knew because these roofs weren't wearing out.

Rob Haddock:

Um, and no one knew how long to expect them to really last.

Rob Haddock:

Um, I know you're familiar, Todd, with a field service life study that I led

Rob Haddock:

for the MCA, which began about 2010.

Rob Haddock:

And that study proved conclusively that this coating had a service

Rob Haddock:

life in the range of 70 years.

Rob Haddock:

We went and dissected roofs on 14 different buildings all over

Rob Haddock:

the US and we did lab analyses on 'em and so on and so forth.

Rob Haddock:

But, um, a, as a result of that, I think an indirect result of that study

Rob Haddock:

within the last few years, three major domestic producers of gal. Have raised

Rob Haddock:

their warranty to up to 60 years, and that I think is, is a real landmark.

Rob Haddock:

Certainly I don't, I don't mean to diminish other things that

Rob Haddock:

the industry has been doing, but for me that's the big one.

Todd Miller:

Yeah, no, I agree with you and I, and I know there's

Todd Miller:

information about that still available on metal construction.org.

Todd Miller:

And if I recall correctly, that was also the study where you folks

Todd Miller:

dug into some of the sealants that were used on the roofs as well.

Todd Miller:

Because the concern was, well, okay, the gloom lasts long, long time.

Todd Miller:

What about the sealants?

Todd Miller:

And you found similar life expectancies there as well.

Todd Miller:

Is that correct?

Rob Haddock:

Um, that's a key point.

Rob Haddock:

In fact, the, the gal bloom coating in, in most cases, um, would last, I think

Rob Haddock:

we have some studies that show on some roofs in some environments, um, that.

Rob Haddock:

The, the coating would last over 150 years.

Rob Haddock:

Um, but the, the sealant was kind of the wild card.

Rob Haddock:

But when we did those surveys, we wanted to determine what could

Rob Haddock:

a specifier or building owner.

Rob Haddock:

Expect out of the service life of his roof, everything included.

Rob Haddock:

And so we inspected and, and, and projected the lives of

Rob Haddock:

fasteners and flashings and gutters and so on and so forth.

Rob Haddock:

Um, so it really was a, a whole roof service life as, as a package.

Todd Miller:

Amazing.

Todd Miller:

So I think one of our.

Todd Miller:

Early interactions.

Todd Miller:

A number of years ago was, um, you had started the Metal Roof advisor group

Todd Miller:

out there in Colorado Springs area, and I had sent one of our team members, I

Todd Miller:

think Jeff Mesher out for some training or a class with you, and I think that

Todd Miller:

was one of our early, uh, interactions.

Todd Miller:

But, um, kind of curious, what knowledge and skill gaps are you seeing out there

Todd Miller:

for con uh, contractors, um, you know, that might be keeping them from getting

Todd Miller:

involved with metal and construction?

Rob Haddock:

Um, I would say that the knowledge gaps largely consist of a lack

Rob Haddock:

of understanding of why it's important.

Rob Haddock:

To do things a certain way.

Rob Haddock:

Um, when you don't understand why something is important, you're a whole

Rob Haddock:

lot less likely to actually do it.

Rob Haddock:

And so in, in the lectures and classes that I do, I strive to, um, emphasize

Rob Haddock:

the underlying reasons for everything.

Rob Haddock:

Uh, and people really relate to that and their level of comprehension goes way up.

Rob Haddock:

They're able to digest infinitely more information.

Todd Miller:

Um, yeah, I agree with you a hundred percent.

Todd Miller:

I think under.

Todd Miller:

Standing the why is such a big thing.

Todd Miller:

Well, um, so you talked about how, you know, you developed S five as a way to

Todd Miller:

solve problems you are seeing out there.

Todd Miller:

Can you give us, um, kind of an overview of S five and your various clamps and

Todd Miller:

attachments and product offerings and um, maybe review also what led you

Todd Miller:

to see the need for those inventions?

Rob Haddock:

Sure.

Rob Haddock:

Um, as I said, my exposure to the.

Rob Haddock:

Metal roofing industry was considerable.

Rob Haddock:

Um, and most of the problems on metal roofs were caused by other trades, not

Rob Haddock:

knowing how to affix things to metal roofs and integrate them correctly, um,

Rob Haddock:

they didn't know the right way to do it.

Rob Haddock:

And that's totally understandable because there really wasn't a right way.

Rob Haddock:

To attach things to metal roofs.

Rob Haddock:

So it was kind of by hook or crook had been by guess and by golly, and

Rob Haddock:

it was almost always done with screws, which created holes and worse pinned

Rob Haddock:

the metal panels to the structure, violating its ability to cycle thermally.

Rob Haddock:

Um, the metal roofing community at large responded by sticking

Rob Haddock:

their heads in the sand.

Rob Haddock:

Um, you can't mount things on our roof.

Rob Haddock:

It'll cause leaks and you'll avoid the warranty, but people

Rob Haddock:

have to mount things to roofs.

Rob Haddock:

So it was a catch 22.

Rob Haddock:

Um, and every time they did it, it violated the integrity of a roof.

Rob Haddock:

So the, the, the roof manufacturing community, um, had a good point.

Rob Haddock:

The, the most obvious application that I spotted was the attachment of snow guards.

Rob Haddock:

Um, there were lots of snow guards on lots of roofs in northern climates, and

Rob Haddock:

they were either screwed on causing holes again or glued on, in which case they fell

Rob Haddock:

off after the first couple of winters.

Rob Haddock:

Um, so I kind of mused with myself.

Rob Haddock:

I gotta come up with a better way to do this, the right way to do this.

Rob Haddock:

And as soon as I had that aha moment, I knew I'd come up with much more

Rob Haddock:

than a way to attach snow guards.

Rob Haddock:

But that was the low hanging fruit at the time.

Rob Haddock:

And so I took that invention to four different companies.

Rob Haddock:

I had no intention of commercializing it myself.

Rob Haddock:

I took it to companies that were far more qualified to commercialize products

Rob Haddock:

within that industry space than I was.

Rob Haddock:

Um, but they all turned it down.

Rob Haddock:

There's no market for it, they said.

Rob Haddock:

I didn't want to, but I had to commercialize it myself.

Rob Haddock:

It was a kind of a default situation.

Rob Haddock:

I knew there was a market for it, and today we've, we have over 200

Rob Haddock:

issued patents in our, in our company patent portfolio and S five products

Rob Haddock:

are sold in at least 86 countries of the world on over 3 million roofs.

Rob Haddock:

Um, they can be found on the headquarters of IBM, apple, Google, nato.

Rob Haddock:

Every Costco ever built many FedEx and Walmart distribution centers, not to

Rob Haddock:

mention tens of thousands of homes.

Rob Haddock:

Um, but remember there wasn't any market for it,

Todd Miller:

Wasn't a market for it.

Todd Miller:

Yep.

Rob Haddock:

and it's really become a disruptive technology, uh, to

Rob Haddock:

think that standing seam roofing had been around for about 1200 years.

Rob Haddock:

No one ever thought of a good way to attach things to.

Rob Haddock:

It is incredible to me.

Rob Haddock:

Uh, but S five was the first company to come up with tested, certified,

Rob Haddock:

engineered, and manufactured solutions and offer them within that market space.

Todd Miller:

You know, we talk a lot in the industry about what

Todd Miller:

S five has done in terms of.

Todd Miller:

Furthering the use of solar and other attachments on metal.

Todd Miller:

But the fact is, I don't think you guys get enough credit for what you did to

Todd Miller:

further the use of metal period, because suddenly metal became the preferred base

Todd Miller:

for all of those things because we had a way of attaching, uh, things without whole

Todd Miller:

bunches of screws and, and holes and so

Rob Haddock:

That's why I say it's a disruptive technology because

Rob Haddock:

it, it actually changed the way people think about metal roofing.

Rob Haddock:

You know, in the one, on the one hand it was no, you can't

Rob Haddock:

put anything on a metal roof.

Rob Haddock:

You have to put things on metal roofs.

Rob Haddock:

It was the least user friendly, I guess you could say.

Rob Haddock:

Owner, owner, friend.

Rob Haddock:

Friendly building.

Rob Haddock:

Owner friendly, um, because there was a prohibition about mounting things on it.

Rob Haddock:

And, and that completely switched with, um, with the S five technologies.

Todd Miller:

Absolutely.

Todd Miller:

Well, I know you folks at S five have developed a real, as you mentioned,

Todd Miller:

strong international presence.

Todd Miller:

Um, especially with solar attachment, but you know, what are some of the

Todd Miller:

big countries right now for solar?

Rob Haddock:

Well, almost anywhere outside the us.

Rob Haddock:

Um, due to the recent action by the administration in, in rescinding the

Rob Haddock:

investment tax credit, um, not every country needs tax incentives because

Rob Haddock:

their cost of electricity is so high.

Rob Haddock:

It's two or three times what ours is in the US in most parts of the world.

Rob Haddock:

Um, so solar pays for itself in less than five years and

Rob Haddock:

generates power for over 30.

Rob Haddock:

Here at home, it's not that way anymore.

Rob Haddock:

And so it, it really did need the incentives, um, to improve the ROI

Rob Haddock:

on on, on the huge investment that people make, uh, with respect to solar.

Rob Haddock:

Um, so anywhere in the world.

Rob Haddock:

And, um, by the way, metal is more popular in more places.

Rob Haddock:

Outside the US than it is within the us.

Rob Haddock:

Of course, the US is a huge market.

Rob Haddock:

Um, but the, the domination of metal roofing in, in the roofing market

Rob Haddock:

at large, uh, is are much higher numbers outside the US in, in, in a

Rob Haddock:

lot of places, um, than inside the us.

Todd Miller:

Yeah, I, I think that's an incredible story also.

Todd Miller:

And, um, well, just last night I had a metal roof manufacturer

Todd Miller:

in Romania reach out to me and say, Hey Todd, we need to talk.

Todd Miller:

I said Absolutely.

Todd Miller:

Let's set up a time to talk.

Todd Miller:

Well, tell us a little bit about your structure at S five, your various

Todd Miller:

locations, you know, how you cover this global, uh, presence that you have.

Rob Haddock:

Well, we're a, we're a closely held company, Todd, as I

Rob Haddock:

think you know, and family owned.

Rob Haddock:

Um, we've been debt-free since our inception.

Rob Haddock:

We do almost everything in house.

Rob Haddock:

That means prototyping, accounting, video production, certified testing,

Rob Haddock:

sales, marketing, it, engineering and design, and certified manufacturing.

Rob Haddock:

Um, a lot of people call us a manufacturing company, but we're not,

Rob Haddock:

uh, we're an innovation enterprise that does its own manufacturing.

Rob Haddock:

We have a 76,000 square foot state-of-the-art production

Rob Haddock:

facility in Iowa Park, Texas, and no, that's not in Iowa.

Rob Haddock:

When I say Iowa Park, a lot of people think the Iowa we're actually a tribe

Rob Haddock:

of Indians that stretched all the way from the panhandle of Texas up into Iowa

Todd Miller:

Okay.

Rob Haddock:

at, at any rate, so I, I digress, but.

Rob Haddock:

Then we have another satellite production facility in Bilbao, Spain to serve the

Rob Haddock:

European community and the MENA region.

Rob Haddock:

Uh, we're also bringing another one online to serve the Canadian market.

Rob Haddock:

And our office campus is right here outside, uh, Colorado

Rob Haddock:

Springs in Black Forest, 600 miles from the factory in Texas.

Rob Haddock:

Including the lab building here this complex is, is over 12,000 square

Rob Haddock:

feet, and then we have teams of S five employees in many regions of the world

Rob Haddock:

who all report remotely, of course, to this, to this office here in Colorado.

Todd Miller:

That is quite an enterprise to be managing and leading for sure.

Todd Miller:

And uh, I know everyone that knows you has a great deal of

Todd Miller:

respect for your leadership and the leadership of your family Is.

Todd Miller:

As well.

Todd Miller:

Well, I, I was talking the other day to a Solar, solar panel producer here

Todd Miller:

in the us, actually a solar shingle producer, and they said that they have

Todd Miller:

really reigned back their growth plans for this, uh, after this year due

Todd Miller:

to the federal tax credit, uh, going away, which you alluded to earlier.

Todd Miller:

Um, are you seeing other people kind of scaling back also?

Rob Haddock:

Um, yes, plenty of them.

Rob Haddock:

Uh, the solar space became kind of the.com or housing bubble of the day.

Rob Haddock:

And many companies were very over leveraged with debt.

Rob Haddock:

Um, the curtailment of the ITC, um, will stunt the growth

Rob Haddock:

of the residential market.

Rob Haddock:

So the producer, you're, you're, um, inferring, um, is,

Rob Haddock:

is, is, is gonna suffer that.

Rob Haddock:

Um, but the commercial market is still alive.

Rob Haddock:

But with a lot of additional caveats.

Rob Haddock:

And those keep changing almost weekly.

Rob Haddock:

Um, but the commercial market is still alive with, as I said, with some caveats.

Todd Miller:

Would, would that commercial market include, you know,

Todd Miller:

municipalities who are putting in little solar fields and things?

Todd Miller:

Would that be included in that?

Rob Haddock:

Yes, of course.

Rob Haddock:

You know, we stay in the, in the rooftop

Todd Miller:

Ab absolutely.

Rob Haddock:

so I can't speak to, uh, all the whys and where force and what

Rob Haddock:

have you with respect to solar fields.

Rob Haddock:

Um, but it's my understanding that, um, they are not going to be killed as well.

Rob Haddock:

Again, I think they'll be, they'll.

Rob Haddock:

Plenty of caveats about how, how you define domestic content

Rob Haddock:

and how you, how you do all these, all these various things.

Rob Haddock:

It's still, it's an, it's an ongoing thing.

Todd Miller:

It's interesting, our little city, we're here in Pickwell, Ohio, uh,

Todd Miller:

has put into solar fields and, uh, we were one of the first municipalities back,

Todd Miller:

uh, I think in the fifties or sixties to start playing with nuclear energy as well.

Todd Miller:

So for some reason, Pickwell, Ohio has always tried to lead

Todd Miller:

the way in terms of, of energy.

Rob Haddock:

I think you'll, I think you'll also see.

Rob Haddock:

Um, certain states that are very solar proactive, that because the, the,

Rob Haddock:

the federal investment tax credit.

Rob Haddock:

Is is now more or less disappearing?

Rob Haddock:

Um, I think you'll see some of the states and utilities pick up the slack, so it,

Rob Haddock:

it's not a total bust, I don't think.

Rob Haddock:

A lot remains to be seen.

Rob Haddock:

Um.

Rob Haddock:

But if, if states subsidize solar, it replaces the federal money to some extent.

Rob Haddock:

Um, same thing is true with utilities.

Rob Haddock:

I mean, a lot of times public policy puts the onus on the, on the

Rob Haddock:

local utility to subsidize solar.

Rob Haddock:

It's, it remains to be seen.

Rob Haddock:

And my crystal ball is not totally shattered, but it's mostly broken.

Todd Miller:

Yeah.

Todd Miller:

Yeah.

Todd Miller:

We'll see how it all plays out.

Todd Miller:

That's for.

Todd Miller:

Sure.

Todd Miller:

Well, you know, you have created such a remarkable global brand with S five.

Todd Miller:

Um, okay, well I have to ask you this.

Todd Miller:

Tell us a little bit about the origination of the name.

Todd Miller:

S five.

Rob Haddock:

Well, if, if I told you that Todd, I'd have to have you knocked off

Todd Miller:

well, okay.

Todd Miller:

Well, I don't have to know then

Rob Haddock:

it, it, it's, it's a trade secret and it's closely held.

Rob Haddock:

My kids don't even know.

Todd Miller:

Oh, that's awesome.

Todd Miller:

Well, this is like Colonel Sanders and his recipe almost here.

Todd Miller:

Well, tell me a little bit about though, what it's like to, you know, lead an

Todd Miller:

organization of that magnitude as we talked about, you know, how you're

Todd Miller:

doing all this international stuff.

Rob Haddock:

Yeah, I, I never, when I, um, when I invented S five, uh, attachment

Rob Haddock:

technology out in the workshop in my barn, um, I never imagined the magnitude that

Rob Haddock:

it would, that would, it would achieve.

Rob Haddock:

I sure stayed busy and fly about a quarter million miles a year.

Rob Haddock:

But of course with stages of growth, you know, it didn't all happen overnight.

Rob Haddock:

Um, we went through growth stages and there are then also growth pains.

Rob Haddock:

Uh, I figure at this juncture my job as the CEO is to look down the

Rob Haddock:

road and avoid making a wrong turn.

Rob Haddock:

Um, it's also to remove obstacles that others on staff may not see.

Rob Haddock:

It's also to lower the hurdles and eliminate dysfunctions both inside and

Rob Haddock:

outside the organization and to be sure we keep doing things the right way.

Rob Haddock:

That's our ethos, and I've never paid much attention to

Rob Haddock:

conventional wisdom, so to speak.

Todd Miller:

Love it.

Todd Miller:

Well reflect a little bit.

Todd Miller:

On residential and, and I know we've talked a little bit about how the

Todd Miller:

tax credit going away is hurting residential solar, but, um, talk

Todd Miller:

a little bit about your thoughts on residential metal roofing.

Todd Miller:

Uh, you know, that that's where my heart has been for a lot of years.

Todd Miller:

Um, do you see that as continuing to be a growth market or what

Todd Miller:

are your thoughts on that?

Rob Haddock:

I do, I think it goes, um.

Rob Haddock:

I think it goes deeper than solar viability.

Rob Haddock:

Certainly the metal roof is the perfect mounting platform for solar.

Rob Haddock:

Uh, but there are many other attributes of metal as that

Rob Haddock:

you're very much aware of them.

Rob Haddock:

I think it's, uh, and I think an aging population is coming

Rob Haddock:

to appreciate that things.

Rob Haddock:

Don't last forever.

Rob Haddock:

So when it comes to roof replacement, uh, they're turning to metal because of

Rob Haddock:

its life expectancy, its service life.

Rob Haddock:

It doesn't last forever either, but almost.

Rob Haddock:

We just need to continue to get that word out.

Todd Miller:

You know, it's been interesting.

Todd Miller:

I've seen a number of.

Todd Miller:

Where remodeling contractors have tried to get involved in solar and even

Todd Miller:

guys who are involved in metal have tried to get involved in residential

Todd Miller:

solar seems like it's, you know, they always run into challenges.

Todd Miller:

Well, I don't, I don't wanna have to deal with electricians, I

Todd Miller:

don't wanna have to deal with the permitting, all that type of stuff.

Todd Miller:

Um, I'm just kind of curious though.

Todd Miller:

Do, do you think that we will see.

Todd Miller:

Solar move more into the residential contractor or will always kind of

Todd Miller:

stay its own solar contractor thing.

Rob Haddock:

It, it's really been as, as far as the trades people that

Rob Haddock:

do solar, um, it, it's always been.

Rob Haddock:

A little here and a little there kind of, kind of thing.

Rob Haddock:

You have electricians who have adopted the, the solar buzz, the

Rob Haddock:

solar craze, and are tending into it.

Rob Haddock:

You have a few roofing contractors who, who are doing the same thing, and then

Rob Haddock:

you have a, the, the typical solar EPC.

Rob Haddock:

You know, which is kind of its own subset.

Rob Haddock:

Um, and, and so you have a real hodgepodge.

Rob Haddock:

Um, I think that well organized contractors, um, who don't, who don't

Rob Haddock:

have a mindset of this is a get rich quick thing, um, attacked the right way.

Rob Haddock:

I think it can be a really good crossover.

Rob Haddock:

Um, and, and definitely within the commercial scene, we don't

Rob Haddock:

know what's gonna happen in over the, over the next three years

Rob Haddock:

in the, in the residential scene.

Rob Haddock:

Um, if there's a change in administration, you know, it may

Rob Haddock:

reinstate the investment tax credit.

Rob Haddock:

It, it's really hard to say, but as far as the commercial marketplace,

Rob Haddock:

you know, a large commercial roofing contractor, if he hires a really.

Rob Haddock:

A really good designer, solar one who understands solar and

Rob Haddock:

is a bonafide solar designer.

Rob Haddock:

Um, he could make it work and you can sub out the electrical.

Rob Haddock:

Um.

Rob Haddock:

Again, to some, to an electrical company who understands solar and, and the

Rob Haddock:

rest of it is just placing modules.

Rob Haddock:

It's just, it's just mechanical operation.

Rob Haddock:

It's, it's plugging in two wires together and laying modules down and attaching

Rob Haddock:

'em hopefully with as five goods.

Todd Miller:

There you go.

Todd Miller:

Well, switching gears a little bit, I know that.

Todd Miller:

You have long been a proponent and supporter of trade associations,

Todd Miller:

uh, groups like Metal Construction Association and others.

Todd Miller:

Why do you feel that that's important and how has it benefited you and your

Todd Miller:

career and building your business?

Rob Haddock:

Well, it's, it's not automatic.

Rob Haddock:

It, it's, it's not like all, all it takes is to join an organization

Rob Haddock:

and good things are gonna happen.

Rob Haddock:

I think it's, it's certain.

Rob Haddock:

Really true that you get out of it what you put into it.

Rob Haddock:

Um, and, and like trade show participation, it's a soft payback.

Rob Haddock:

CFOs hate soft paybacks.

Rob Haddock:

They, they wanna be able to measure everything.

Rob Haddock:

Um, but I've always been a joiner Todd, and so I belong to numerous organizations.

Rob Haddock:

I do not devote time to them all equally.

Rob Haddock:

I don't have that much time.

Rob Haddock:

I belong to probably a dozen or more, but, but I direct my time and talents

Rob Haddock:

to the ones that I consider to afford lasting value to friendships as well

Rob Haddock:

as build business relationships.

Rob Haddock:

Um, my longest standing distributors, you mentioned Dick Buss earlier, and

Rob Haddock:

the other one is, um, is Peterson.

Rob Haddock:

Um, I, I met those guys through MCA and in some cases MBMA.

Rob Haddock:

Of course, there are many, many more, but um, and those guys have

Rob Haddock:

been with S five for more than 30 years now and bridge generations.

Rob Haddock:

So how do you measure the value of something like that?

Todd Miller:

Yeah.

Todd Miller:

Yeah.

Rob Haddock:

I mean, I learned most of what I know about metal roofing.

Rob Haddock:

Um, through trade associations and, and mentoring with people

Rob Haddock:

that were way smarter than I was.

Rob Haddock:

Um, that's how I learned.

Rob Haddock:

I didn't learn that stuff in school, in college, or anything like that.

Todd Miller:

Well, and you certainly have been passing it along as well.

Todd Miller:

So, uh, I'm curious, you know, what has been the most rewarding part,

Todd Miller:

uh, of your journey in this and.

Rob Haddock:

I love to learn, but the most rewarding part of my journey is fulfilling

Rob Haddock:

my giftings and callings of and for God.

Rob Haddock:

Um, 12 years ago I started a family foundation and the

Rob Haddock:

enterprise funds the foundation.

Rob Haddock:

And it's set up in perpetuity so that it survives me, and that's the

Rob Haddock:

most rewarding part of my journey in, in enterprise and in life.

Todd Miller:

That's cool stuff.

Todd Miller:

We should all be so blessed to be able to say that.

Todd Miller:

Well, um, been a real pleasure, privilege to to chat with you here today.

Todd Miller:

Rob, is there anything we haven't covered, uh, that you wanted to be

Todd Miller:

sure to share with our audience?

Rob Haddock:

There's a whole mountain of stuff we haven't covered.

Rob Haddock:

Todd.

Rob Haddock:

We had a limited amount of time, but.

Rob Haddock:

I'm writing a book about it and, and maybe I'll even write two, you know,

Rob Haddock:

one about personal anecdotal stories and family history and stuff like that, and

Rob Haddock:

another one about business enterprise and missteps and all the mistakes I've made.

Rob Haddock:

Anyway, stay tuned for that.

Todd Miller:

I'll be your first customer.

Todd Miller:

I, I wanna sign copy though though, so I gotta make sure I get that.

Todd Miller:

But

Rob Haddock:

No problem.

Todd Miller:

well Rob, this has been a great time together.

Todd Miller:

Um, before we close out, I have to ask you one more thing, and that is,

Todd Miller:

if you're willing to participate in something we call rapid fire questions.

Todd Miller:

These are five questions, just random questions.

Todd Miller:

All you have to do is give a quick response.

Todd Miller:

Are you up to the challenge of rapid fire?

Rob Haddock:

Yeah, in fact, I brought my own tool,

Todd Miller:

Good deal.

Todd Miller:

You are well prepared for this,

Rob Haddock:

so have at it Todd.

Rob Haddock:

Fire away.

Todd Miller:

Ryan.

Todd Miller:

I'll let you ask the first one.

Ryan Bell:

All right.

Ryan Bell:

Question number one.

Ryan Bell:

What's a product or service you've acquired recently that's kind

Ryan Bell:

of been a game changer for you?

Rob Haddock:

Oh Mercy.

Rob Haddock:

You know, we're, we're moving all the time and we're always

Rob Haddock:

inventing new stuff and, um, and.

Rob Haddock:

I've, I've invented some stuff that flopped in the marketplace, but

Rob Haddock:

thankfully, most of it doesn't.

Rob Haddock:

And we have, um, we have 10 or 12 patent applications into the patent

Rob Haddock:

office all the time, every, every, every, every day of every year.

Rob Haddock:

Um, we just keep inventing things and we, we never know for certain

Rob Haddock:

which one is, which ones are gonna really sore and which ones are gonna,

Rob Haddock:

eh, kind of a dud sort of thing.

Todd Miller:

So you always got things going on.

Todd Miller:

That's great.

Todd Miller:

Um, I'm curious, uh, question number two, tell us about one of the most

Todd Miller:

impressive metal roofs you've ever seen or been on or worked on or whatever.

Rob Haddock:

I mentioned to you earlier that, um, we have a satellite

Rob Haddock:

production facility in Bilbao, Spain, um, because of the information

Rob Haddock:

exchange and, and the training that is taking place between the US.

Rob Haddock:

In Spain, um, I've, we, we rented an apartment, a three bedroom apartment so

Rob Haddock:

that we have some place to house people when we, when we send technicians and

Rob Haddock:

engineers and so on, uh, over to Spain.

Rob Haddock:

And, um, so, so in answer to your question, I don't know if you've, if

Rob Haddock:

you're familiar with the Guggenheim, that was done by Fran o Gary.

Todd Miller:

Sure.

Rob Haddock:

It's hard to differentiate what's a roof and what's a

Todd Miller:

Well, yeah.

Todd Miller:

Or structure.

Todd Miller:

Yes.

Rob Haddock:

but it is quite a structure.

Rob Haddock:

You, your audience can Google it, the Guggenheim and Bilbo Spain.

Rob Haddock:

It's that that material is titanium.

Rob Haddock:

Um, and it's only 0.4 millimeter in, in gauge.

Rob Haddock:

Um, and, and it's, it's, it's quite a striking thing.

Rob Haddock:

Another one done by the same architect as one of my favorite wineries,

Rob Haddock:

uh, uh, in, in central Spain.

Rob Haddock:

Um, and it's near, um, oh shoot, LaGuardia.

Rob Haddock:

It's near to LaGuardia.

Rob Haddock:

And that's the, um, marque al. Winery and the same architect did that.

Rob Haddock:

They built a hotel there.

Rob Haddock:

It's a Marriott chain hotel and um, the same architect did that one.

Rob Haddock:

It's very similar.

Todd Miller:

I'm gonna check that out as well.

Todd Miller:

Okay.

Todd Miller:

Is the next one?

Todd Miller:

No, it's your, it's back to you, Ryan.

Ryan Bell:

Back to me.

Ryan Bell:

Question number three, what is your favorite meal?

Rob Haddock:

I would have to say lamb shanks.

Rob Haddock:

I know you expected me to say beef.

Ryan Bell:

I was kind of thinking it was gonna be steak.

Todd Miller:

Good answer.

Todd Miller:

Next question.

Todd Miller:

Um, I might know the answer to this, but what did the 8-year-old

Todd Miller:

Rob dream of being when he grew up?

Rob Haddock:

Oh, oh, man.

Rob Haddock:

I don't, I, I, well, I dreamt of being a cowboy.

Todd Miller:

That's what I figured.

Todd Miller:

That's what

Rob Haddock:

Yeah, I did.

Rob Haddock:

I did, for sure.

Rob Haddock:

I did.

Todd Miller:

Cool stuff.

Todd Miller:

Living out your dreams.

Rob Haddock:

I was, uh, I, I have photographs of me

Rob Haddock:

on, uh, on my dad's horse.

Rob Haddock:

You know, my folks were divorced when I was about four, but I have,

Rob Haddock:

I have photographs of me on my dad's horse, and I'm, and my older

Rob Haddock:

brother is, is sitting in front.

Rob Haddock:

And, um, I'm sitting in back and I got a real sour puss on, um, because the,

Rob Haddock:

and you could see my dad is pointing, instructing me to look at the camera.

Rob Haddock:

'cause grandpa was taking a picture, right.

Rob Haddock:

And I had a sour puss on me because I always rode in back, which was fine.

Rob Haddock:

But I preferred to stand up that way I could see where we're going, you know?

Rob Haddock:

I could see over my brother's shoulders and, and, um, yeah, so I had a sour

Rob Haddock:

puss on because they made me sit down, sit down and look at the camera.

Todd Miller:

I, I think that photo needs to make the S

Todd Miller:

five website somehow, someday.

Ryan Bell:

I think so too.

Ryan Bell:

I agree.

Ryan Bell:

All right.

Ryan Bell:

Final question here.

Ryan Bell:

We'll kind of end on a serious note.

Ryan Bell:

At the end of your days, what would you, uh, like to be remembered for?

Rob Haddock:

A lot of things, but, um, improving the lives of other people, um,

Rob Haddock:

leaving a legacy involving certain values.

Rob Haddock:

My children and work ethic and that sort of thing.

Rob Haddock:

Um, but I'm all about doing for others and improving the lives of others.

Rob Haddock:

And the found the mission statement of our family foundation, um, is

Rob Haddock:

to do what Jesus did, which was to improve the lives of others.

Rob Haddock:

And, and he preached about.

Rob Haddock:

Um, about the father, the widow, and the fatherless, and, and doing things.

Rob Haddock:

So, so the charities that the foundation supports are all aimed at in making

Rob Haddock:

permanent changes in people's lives, and that, you know, goes from, um, sexual

Rob Haddock:

slavery to, uh, rehabbing, um, uh.

Rob Haddock:

Vets and those sorts of charities, there are about 20 of them.

Todd Miller:

Cool stuff, great answer, and uh, you are, you are doing it.

Todd Miller:

Um, well, Rob.

Todd Miller:

Thank you very much for the role that you play in the industry

Todd Miller:

and in the lives of so many.

Todd Miller:

Um, for those who want to learn about S five or the Metal Roof

Todd Miller:

Advisory group, uh, what are the best ways for them to do that?

Rob Haddock:

Uh, well, there are two websites because one is a consultancy

Rob Haddock:

and the other is a product company.

Rob Haddock:

But S Five's website is just www dot sen sen five, the number five.com.

Rob Haddock:

And, um, the consultancy, the Metal Roof advisory group is

Rob Haddock:

RM Haddock, like my name, Rob.

Rob Haddock:

RM Raymond Mary Haddock, HA double DOC k.com respectively.

Todd Miller:

Very good.

Todd Miller:

Well, we will put those in the show notes as well.

Todd Miller:

Rob, thank you again.

Todd Miller:

What a pleasure.

Todd Miller:

Always a joy to talk with.

Todd Miller:

You.

Todd Miller:

Thank you.

Rob Haddock:

Enjoyed visiting with you, Todd, and I guess I'll

Rob Haddock:

see you in Oh, I'll see you in,

Todd Miller:

Maybe metal con.

Todd Miller:

Yep.

Todd Miller:

Yep.

Todd Miller:

Good deal.

Rob Haddock:

Alright, take care gentlemen.

Todd Miller:

Well, thank you and.

Todd Miller:

I wanna thank our audience for tuning into this episode of Construction

Todd Miller:

Disruption with Rob Haddock.

Todd Miller:

Please watch for future episodes of our podcast.

Todd Miller:

We always have great guests.

Todd Miller:

Don't forget to leave us a review.

Todd Miller:

Give us a thumbs up, whatever.

Todd Miller:

Um, keep on disrupting, keep on challenging, keep on looking for

Todd Miller:

better ways of doing things, and don't forget to have a positive

Todd Miller:

impact on everyone you encounter.

Todd Miller:

Um, just as Rob was alluding to.

Todd Miller:

Make them smile, encourage them, make their life better.

Todd Miller:

These are just such simple, yet powerful things we can do.

Todd Miller:

So God bless and take care.

Todd Miller:

This is Isaiah Industry signing off until the next episode

Todd Miller:

of Construction Disruption.