Roofing contractors and roofing material manufacturers share key goals, including providing high-performance roof systems that serve the needs of building owners. When the installing contractor and the manufacturer can both stand behind that roof — and provide a robust warranty — everyone wins. The process is a lot easier if the manufacturer and installer are on the same page, and that makes training a crucial part of a mutually beneficial relationship.
The importance of training for roofing professionals can’t be overstated. That’s the view of Kyle Stavish, National Training Manager for Mule-Hide Products Co. Inc. He believes manufacturers should be a resource that their contractor customers can lean on to help them learn not only proper installation methods for the company’s products and systems, but ways to improve every aspect of their business.
“The big picture is that the manufacturer requires its products to be installed in a certain way, so we have to be able to provide that service of teaching contractors to be able to install them,” Stavish says. “It’s also a huge assist to help with the contractor’s business. Training is integral for employee retention, employee advancement and company productivity. There are so many new products coming out. Contractors have to have access to some sort of formal training by the people that provide the products to help optimize efficiency and productivity. A true businessperson who wants to be successful always wants to stay ahead of the game.”
Mule-Hide currently has training centers in Beloit, Wisconsin; Orlando, Florida; and Avenel, New Jersey. The company plans to add two more, in Denver and possibly Texas. The sites offer hands-on demo areas and classroom training. Sessions also include testing and challenges including a Jeopardy-style quiz competition.
Mule-Hide has seen the benefits the regional training centers have brought about, and the company believes they are worth the investment. “We used to have just one training center in Beloit,” Stavish notes. “We realized that both the increase in business we generated and the quality of the roof installations we saw were so much better in the Midwest region than in some other regions where we didn’t have a facility that provided ready access to training. We talked about addressing training on a regional scale, and that’s how we started this regional model.”
The company decided to establish five regional training centers. “It’s simple math — with four more training centers, we will be able to reach four times as many customers and associates. It will enable us to provide more training sessions — and to bring more people back for ongoing training.”
Help Entering New Markets
The training has been crucially important for contractors who wanted to expand the portfolio of options they offer and enter different segments of the market — for example, residential steep-slope contractors that wanted to add low-slope roofing systems.
“They’re looking to expand their businesses,” Stavish notes. “They see other companies out there doing low-slope roofing, and they say, ‘I can succeed in this market. Where do I start?’ If they start on their own, they could experience hiccups, trials and tribulations. It’s not the same business model as residential roofing, and so it’s incredibly helpful to be able lean on a manufacturer to provide education and training.”
Knowing how to apply a system is critical — and so is knowing which systems are right for a given project. “We provide more than just hands-on training — the parts and pieces of the roof system,” Stavish says. “We talk about selection criteria — the roofs you don’t want to mess around with, what you need to do to evaluate a roof. We cover the whole gamut of what goes into low-slope roofing.”
Once contractors enter the low-slope market, training can help them increase efficiency and become more profitable. “We have a lot of contractors who are doing, say, 60 percent residential and 40 percent commercial, and the question is what can you do to expand that 40 percent,” Stavish says. “Do you need more jobs? Do you need more employees? Do you need better-trained employees? Can increasing efficiencies and productivity increase the profit in that 40 percent?”
Roof coatings are a growing segment of the market, and Mule-Hide offers training to help contractors successfully enter the field. “Coatings are a multi-billion-dollar piece of the commercial/low-slope roofing industry, and people are missing out if they don’t at least add it as an option,” Stavish says. “If you have that tool in your tool belt, it’s a neat way to be able to offer some savings to the building owner and prolong the life of the roof. Contractors leave Mule-Hide’s coatings training knowing how to evaluate a roof to determine whether it is a good candidate for restoration.”
The Warranty Component
Being able to provide a robust warranty on a project can be a tremendous selling point, and training helps ensure everything is installed correctly.
“In low-slope roofing, the warranty piece is kind of an insurance policy for a building owner,” Stavish says. “NDL warranty is a term that’s used a lot. It stands for no dollar limit, which means that if a contractor is able to provide a no dollar limit warranty for a building owner, the manufacturer is responsible for maintaining the warranty on that roof for the lifetime of the warranty period. That’s a big commitment for the manufacturer — to stand behind that contractor and that roof. Building owners want an NDL warranty on their building. So, for a manufacturer to be able to feel comfortable providing that, training with our products, our details and our systems is an integral factor in not only certifying a contractor to be able to obtain the warranty, but also to help contractors stay on top of any changes in details and systems.”
Field inspections ensure the work has been performed to meet the company’s standards. “Before a warranty is issued, the project has to be inspected by one of our field inspectors,” Stavish says. “The field inspectors are out there picking it apart, expecting that all of the installation components were done appropriately in order to fulfill that warranty.”
Sales reps are available to help contractors in the field, but Stavish believes the educational programs at the regional training centers are invaluable because they allow contractors to focus on the material. “We’re investing in training because when you get people to come here and spend a day and a half, they learn a lot, and if you test them and make it fun, you see the results,” he says. “If you conduct a training session at someone’s warehouse, there are always distractions and phone calls. Getting them out of their normal environment is the key thing — when they’re here, they’re dedicated to the training.”
“Training allows us to help our contractors grow,” Stavish concludes. “It’s not just quantity — it’s quality.”
Reaping the Benefits
Justin Hirschfield is the sales manager for XL Contracting, with offices in Roscoe, Illinois, and Madison, Wisconsin. The company does exterior remodeling work, including roofing, siding, and windows. Hirschfield believes the Mule-Hide training program has been instrumental in helping the company develop a more versatile work force and expand its footprint in the low-slope market. He stressed the importance of training for both new and existing employees, especially supervisors. “Our team leaders in the field have to be able to answer questions if there is an issue,” he says.
Training can help companies improve at every phase of a project — from estimate to completion. “It’s key from the standpoint of managing your jobs,” he says. “One thing everyone has told me is that you need to know how to quality check the roof when the work is done. And now, you can double-check your orders for materials. The key part of writing the estimate is knowing how much material to order — and how to calculate the profit and overhead on a project.”
Hirschfield also conducts in-house training at his company, and he finds these sessions are a great source of ideas. “We spend a lot of time on training, and it’s an awesome tool that helps me gauge where these guys are at,” he says. “As an example, we held a meeting last Saturday, where employees graded themselves on presentation, signing contracts, ordering materials, supervising jobs, etc., and then they gave me examples of areas where they need training. So, I look for classes like this based on the needs that we have.”
Another contractor who has reaped the befits of Mule-Hide’s training is Parker Alleman, owner and CEO of Shingle Solutions in Lafayette, Louisiana. The company used to specialize in steep-slope roofing, and Alleman credits Mule-Hide for helping his company enter the low-slope market and offer warrantied work on TPO, modified bitumen and coatings.
“It’s allowed me to enter a market I was not familiar with — and enter that market with confidence and security,” Alleman says. “They not only showed us how to do it — they provided the warranties. They also offered other resources such as the sister company, Tapered Solutions, that helps us with tapered insulation on the low-slope. Some other companies don’t offer these resources. On every project, Mule-Hide has held my hand and made sure we were good to go.”
Alleman recognizes the importance of training at every level of his company. “It’s huge,” he says. “Having a well-trained staff inside and outside makes the sales part of it a lot more valuable to the customer because you actually know what you’re talking about. And with the crews, if they’re not trained and you have a catastrophic failure, you don’t just lose the money from that job — you lose your company.”
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