Age alone doesn't decide whether a roof needs replacing. Adam starts with the leaks, the flashing, the pipe boots, and a walk test.
Give homeowners real options, maintenance or replacement, and let them decide what's right for their family.
Taking care of the customer, even with a small repair, earns referrals and reviews over time.
Insurers are paying out less for full replacements, which makes maintenance a bigger part of the retail side of roofing.
Know your numbers: material, labor, permits, and dumping fees, and charge enough to go back and take care of the customer.
Pick a memorable brand name early. It can save years of marketing spend.
Nobody wants to replace a roof, so make the process as easy as possible for the customer.
NARRATOR 00:00 Welcome to Built to Last, the show about building a home services business that’s still standing and still trusted, years from now.
NARRATOR 00:13 On our first episode, Mike Feazel sits down with his friend of more than 20 years, Adam Quenneville. Adam runs a large, full service exterior company in Massachusetts, and he was the second contractor ever to become a Roof Maxx dealer. You’ll hear what Adam really thought when Mike first brought him the idea of roof maintenance, how he decides what a roof actually needs, and what both of them would tell a young contractor starting out today.
NARRATOR 00:38 Here’s Mike and Adam.
MIKE 00:40 A long time friend. Adam known Adam for now, over 20 years. He runs a very large, well-established, full service replacement company in the roofing business. But also you do siding, windows, repairs. You do really a lot of exterior home services.
ADAM 00:59 That’s right. Mike, how you doing? Thanks for having me on. I can’t believe it’s your first one. I feel special.
MIKE 01:06 Yeah, you are special, buddy. Yeah. Thank you. And also one of our first dealers. Adam. When we started Roof Maxx, we started. I started to reach out to people that I’d known for years to try to get their feedback on what we were doing. Yeah. So, yeah. You’ve been a dealer for, I guess, eight years. You’re probably the first or second dealer.
MIKE 01:25 Second dealer?
ADAM 01:27 Yeah. Mike, I think it was like October of 2018 because I still have the video of going to spray your sister’s roof to really see how it worked. And we went right over to Amy’s house and I sprayed her garage. I show people that video all the time.
MIKE 01:41 Yeah.
ADAM 01:42 It.
MIKE 01:42 Was great.
ADAM 01:42 That’s over of 18. Yeah, it’s been eight years.
MIKE 01:45 Well, you know, I wanted to have you on not just because we’re longtime friends, but, you know, you’re also what I would consider one of the kind of an old school roofer. Right? You were on the roof doing the work. When did you start roofing?
ADAM 01:58 Well, what I can remember is probably like mid 80s, like being in high school and maybe even before that a little bit. But it was mostly, you know, like yourself when weekends or summers in high school. My father and uncle had a company and it was a way to make a few dollars. I didn’t mind the hard work being outside.
ADAM 02:17 So yeah, it goes back, man. We’re going back 40 years now.
MIKE 02:20 Yeah. Long time.
ADAM 02:22 To get started. Yeah. Sure was.
MIKE 02:24 Yeah, I started in 85 myself, so. But yeah. So I really wanted to talk about the roofing industry, how things have changed and how they have evolved, maybe how maintenance and rejuvenation fits into that category. You know, a number, a number of things really just kind of talk about the roofing industry as a whole and, and all the things we’ve both experienced over the last 40 years, because, boy, it’s a much different industry today than it was 40 years ago.
MIKE 02:52 Of course.
ADAM 02:53 Yeah. Remember 40 years ago the bundle of shingles was pretty heavy even in high school trying to lift it up. Now, you know, 40 years later, older, not as strong and it’s it’s it’s a lot lighter now. It used to be that’s for sure. It’s not it’s not made the same.
MIKE 03:08 Not made the same. You know, how long do you think roofs are lasting? Right now you’re on the East coast. You’re out in Massachusetts. How long do you think a roof is lasting today? And I don’t want to point out manufacturers. They’re all kind of in the same boat. There was definitely, you know, in defense of them.
MIKE 03:25 There were a lot of things that changed that. They had to remove asphalt. There wasn’t as much available asphalt. So there was a few year period where they started to remove a lot of it from the shingle. But how long do you see them lasting today?
ADAM 03:37 Nowadays, I think you’re lucky to get 20 to 25 years. But like you said, Mike, I can remember as you can or anybody that’s a roofer, when you spend a whole day or two on someone’s house, you drive by and you have memories. And I still to this day, when I go back home, there’s homes I’ll drive by that have roofs on from the late 80s, early 90s that are three tabs that are still that are still functioning fine.
ADAM 04:03 You know, they’re made different. And people nowadays, they say, you know, how long should roof last? I said, well, you’re lucky to get 20 or 25, but if you had it done 30 or 40 years ago, you might get 30 or 40 years. But nowadays, yeah, not like it used to be, that’s for sure.
MIKE 04:18 Not like it used to be, that’s for sure. Yeah. Less asphalt, less durability, more reason for maintenance to be done on the roof, you know.
ADAM 04:25 Yeah. More filler in the shingle.
MIKE 04:27 Yeah, yeah. So when I started to first talk to you about this idea. This product idea. Yeah. You know, what were your honest first opinions or what were your thoughts? Right. You’ve been been a longtime roofer at that point. Already in the business for 30 years.
ADAM 04:49 You know, I thought at first it was too good to be true. But knowing it was coming from you being a serious guy and not a jokester, and then you weren’t joking with me. So I remember saying, I got to come. I got to feel it, touch it, see what it feels like. And I remember you said, if you come down to my house, you had taken off an all three tab roof.
ADAM 05:05 I still remember it laying by your garage and you had sprayed half of it and the other half wasn’t sprayed, and I was able to literally. I don’t think I went in your house before I went right to that shingle, drove ten hours, went right to the shingle, and I started to play with it and I could the old brittle part broke like it, like we know it would, and it still would without being treated.
ADAM 05:26 But your shingle, it was bending and I was. I was sold really on that test right there, knowing that it was an old shingle and you had treated it. And that’s I remember saying, wow, it works. It’s no doubt it works. Let’s hear more about it. And then you had told me that it actually had been around a little bit longer, just hadn’t been marketed well, and that you were going to try to grab it and get the, get the patent and, and now you’ve taken it national.
ADAM 05:53 But yeah, it definitely works. There’s no doubt about it. But that was my first impressions. Mike was maybe too good to be true, but I was believing you. And then once I felt it, yeah.
MIKE 06:05 You know, and I wanted feedback from guys like you. Brian Thompson, also second generation roofer, have been doing it for as long as we have Wes Rich. Same thing. So you know second generation roofer took took over the business from from their father Wes and Eric Rich. I wanted feedback from guys that have been around the business for a long time and more than that, also mechanics.
MIKE 06:26 Right? Tradesmen. Right.
ADAM 06:28 So you got it from us. I mean, we all gave it to you on the street there. I remember picking Brian up in New Jersey to drive to your house, and he was he was believing two before we had got there. We were like, If Mike’s got this product and says it works, you know, we’re pretty confident it did.
ADAM 06:41 But he was a, you know, seeing his believing guy, too. I remember him doing the same thing. And we were like, wow. It brings back flexibility in the shingle. There’s no doubt about it. And we are early to jump on because I knew there would be a place for it. And then later, as you got in the testing done and got more science behind it, it became more believable, of course.
ADAM 07:02 But those were the early days.
MIKE 07:04 Yes, yes. You know, and there’s a lot of misconceptions by roofers and. Right. Rightly so. Right. They don’t study our product and know a lot of details. So, you know, the product itself is not magic. All we’re doing is making the shingle pliable. But as you know, that’s that’s not what stops a roof. You know leaks leaks happen around flashing along the walls when the seal tabs start to fail.
MIKE 07:28 Right? So if the roof is sound, well, let me ask you, when you go out to assess a roof, when you or your team. What are you looking at to determine that a roof will qualify? Or probably time for a new roof? Or maybe it doesn’t need a treatment at all. Maybe it doesn’t need anything other than a little bit of maintenance.
ADAM 07:46 Yeah, well, first, Mike, we’re always asking, do you know of any current leaks now and if so, where? So let’s try to address those. No current leaking to me. We take a look at the flashing to see the pipe boots. Make sure they’re not wearing out the lead. If there’s flashing around the chimney that is lead. If it’s not been eaten by any squirrels, everything’s intact, in shape.
ADAM 08:09 And then we do it through a walk test. If it’s not falling apart when we’re walking on it, we believe it’s candidate for Roof Maxx. You know, it’s most of the time, 95% of the time they haven’t had a leak. And there’s there’s going to be a great candidate for Roof Maxx. And that’s why it’s great to have that option for the customer, because it comes with a price and so does a replacement.
ADAM 08:29 But what I love about your product is it gives us another option where other other, other contractors are going to say, oh no, your roof’s 25 years old, 20 years. We got to replace it. You know, it’s getting old. It’s, you know, we’re not going to do even though there’s no leaks you’re due. It’s going to happen any time now.
ADAM 08:48 We like to say, listen, you’re a candidate for Roof Maxx. We can get you five. You may get ten more. Okay, but here’s the replacement option two. And at the end of the day, you decide what’s better for you and your family in your home.
MIKE 09:01 Yeah, let them decide. And a lot of people that have already saved the money for a roof, they feel safer buying a new roof. And if they’ve got the money, that’s great, right? It’s an option. It’s not the only solution. And that’s really the key for contractors, homeowners and everybody to understand. You know, Roof Maxx is just one tool in the tool kit.
ADAM 09:21 Right. And another spin on that too, Mike, is you know, I’m sure a lot of people are in the same boat as we are. Customers are calling, saying they got a letter from their insurance company, do something with their roof. You know, it’s it’s they’ve taken a drone flying over and they’ve got, you know, algae. We’ll go out there.
ADAM 09:39 Other customers, other contractors say, well, here’s a cost of replacing insurance. Says, you better do something. And we’ll say, well, a simple cleaning. And here let’s talk about Roof Maxx and keep your roof alive longer and keep it pliable. So we go on a lot of the insurance calls where they’re getting a cancellation notice, and we end up they end up really happy with us because we give them an option to clean the roof and treat it.
ADAM 10:04 Then they send photographs back to their insurance company. Look, I’ve dealt with my roof and it works for them and they don’t have to swallow that big replacement cost. A lot of people just can’t afford it.
MIKE 10:14 Yeah, the insurance letter. That whole game has changed a lot in the last few years. The insurance companies are switching more to policies, which is just basically depreciated value versus replacement cost. So more and more consumers are going to homeowners are going to have to realize the maintenance is very important.
ADAM 10:32 I mean, back in the day, you know, if you’re missing a tab or two, 20 years ago, insurance would come out and say, get a new roof. Nowadays, they’re looking to repair as much as they can. And now they’re, you know, they’re not they’re not giving the full replacement cost or depreciating it. They’re getting smarter. They’re they’re getting tighter with their money.
ADAM 10:50 And it’s getting the actual insurance business is way hotter nowadays than it was back in the day. It’s why so many more contractors are getting into the retail side of it, which if they are, they should be understanding maintenance too, because it’s a big part of of the retail side.
MIKE 11:06 Yes, very much, very much. We’re seeing a lot of contractor adoption, not just with Roof Maxx. There’s a lot of competitors out there now.
ADAM 11:15 You know, even 20 or 30 years ago before roof cleanings and Roof Maxx, you had, you know, certain contractors would do repairs and some would, would not. And it’s still the same way now, even though there’s so much more options for repair and maintenance than there was, there’s still contractors, probably less of a percentage now, but that just won’t repair or or do any kind of any kind of repair or maintenance to their roof.
ADAM 11:42 They only just replace something else. You were just saying to Mike with the three tabs, you know, in that little key ways cut out, it has less protection. But nowadays, in the last 20 years, almost everything has gone to the architecture of the laminate shingle. So I think maintenance is going to become more because the shingles, you know, it’s got more layers on.
ADAM 12:05 It might not be as thick, but there isn’t that that pathway anymore with less protection. So be able to treat the roof should be able to make it even last longer. Being being an architectural shingle versus a three tab.
MIKE 12:17 Yeah, no I agree I agree and they’re more rigid. They hold up to wind better. You know there’s you know the shingles have become thinner. But there’s also a lot of technology the manufacturers have with the sealant strips. And there’s a lot of also positives.
ADAM 12:31 Yeah. Nail line too, Mike, let’s face it, we were we all used to nail and that line was very difficult to hit 10,000 times on an average roof. You know if you’re 99% effective, one in every 100 nails was below the line or above it. And some guys would rip the shingles off. Some guys would leave the nail low.
ADAM 12:49 You know, we see it when we go back on these roofs. But nowadays, yeah, not to slam the manufacturers. They may have taken some weight out, but I think they’ve got a better seal strip now. And nailing line that makes it a little easier for the installer to nail it properly.
MIKE 13:05 Yeah. They saw challenges and they solve those challenges for the, for the for the roofing industry. And they continue to do that. So what is the name of your company and what I wanted to get that just in in the show here.
ADAM 13:20 Yeah it’s Adam Quenneville Roofing & Siding Inc. And you know our home office is in South Hadley, Mass. I have some smaller offices spread out throughout New England, one in Manchester, Connecticut, and one in Pittsfield, Mass. Which is the western side close to New York, and a small office in southern York, Maine, in southern Maine called York Little Town, where I spent a lot of time in the summertime.
ADAM 13:43 And I’ve gotten so much work up there. I opened up a small little office up there.
MIKE 13:47 Nice. I didn’t didn’t realize you had done that.
ADAM 13:49 Yeah, that was new. That’s just in the last month or two.
MIKE 13:52 Okay, great. And you’re also doing government work, large, large commercial projects. And when I say commercial, still steep slope mostly.
ADAM 14:00 Yeah. Still shingles. Mike. Yeah, it’s actually since I spoke to you, it’s been a couple of months. We just landed. It was first job since about a year and a half ago up in New York at Fort Drum. We just started last week. That’s the reason I’m flying home tomorrow is to go up there. We’re kind of kicking off.
ADAM 14:17 We’re getting the building set up right now with the safety. They require two forms of safety up there, not just your your your your cable and you calling the yo yo. Or guys would know it as a rope and a harness, but they actually require a perimeter. Two by four rail system guard system around on top of the roof.
ADAM 14:37 So it’s a it’s it’s incredibly safe. I’m going up there and getting started. We’re getting started I’m going to go check that out next week.
MIKE 14:46 How many squares.
ADAM 14:48 This one’s 10,500.
MIKE 14:51 Wow. Big projects. You’ll be there for a year.
ADAM 14:54 Well you know, it’s it’s up in just north of Watertown, New York. So the season short, they had 13 feet of snow last year.
MIKE 15:03 Wow.
ADAM 15:04 They said it started snowing in end of October and it went to late. So we’ll see what Mother Nature lets us do. We’re hoping to shingle till Thanksgiving and get back to it in April, and have it wrapped up in about six months. Total roofing time. But you know, getting a little started this year, trying to get a thousand squares done before the snow hits or it gets too cold, and then we’ll head back up there in April.
ADAM 15:25 But we’re actually doing some repairs there too. They’ve had a, oh, 1400 units. We have to look out. There was never any corner kick-out flashing installed. So they’ve got some rot behind the siding because of installation. Just that little piece. So yeah, it’s going to be a lot of repair work too, just because it wasn’t installed properly.
MIKE 15:47 Right? Right. And the you know, when we talk about repairs and maintenance before Roof Maxx, you already had a pretty big repair division, just like I did at Feazel Roofing when I, my brother and I had Feazel Roofing, just like Brian Thompson. A lot of the old school roofers had a repair division, did repairs, did maintenance service work.
ADAM 16:06 Yeah. We’re always trying to save someone’s roof if we can and give them that option. Sometimes the simple repair is all they need. We do a cleaning service called Roof Shampoo, which is organic. No bleach. It’s good for the environment. Takes a little longer. It’s a soft rinse versus high pressure. We’ve been doing that for many years, and we find that a lot of those same customers that like the roof cleaned, you know, have interest in maintaining their roof with Roof Maxx too and extending the life of it.
ADAM 16:33 So we try to make them understand that we’re cleaning it. Yeah, it can help extend the life. But really the product to extend the life is the Roof Maxx. The Roof Shampoo or cleaning is just to get rid of that ugly algae and and moss or maybe lichen, but to to keep it lasting. You got, you got to get into the shingle, not just clean the surface and your product gets into it and cleans it.
ADAM 16:57 So it’s great for companies that might already do roof cleaning. Yeah. And to act as an add on, you know, just because you’re already there with a customer that’s paying attention to their to their home, it’s a natural fit to, to to offer that Roof Maxx product.
MIKE 17:12 Yeah. I mean, you, Brian and Wes, all three of you have again, being kind of old school roofers, believed in the maintenance first mindset before rejuvenation. Rejuvenation just allows a roof to be maintained for longer, that’s all. That was the component that was missing. And you saw the commercial roofing industry evolve over the years, right? It used to be install a new roof when it leaked, repair it when it wore out, replace it.
MIKE 17:38 And now commercial roofing is full. They have restoration products and inspections and maintenance and they treat it as roof asset management right. It’s a much different approach. So Adam, what was your thought about maintaining roofs, not just rejuvenation, but for before and after finding Roof Maxx.
ADAM 17:58 Well before Roof Maxx I you know, I believe there was the right thing to do. If we could repair a roof and try to make it last longer. Do the right do right by the customer and give them that option of the repair or the replacement. And once you showed me roof rejuvenation with Roof Maxx, you know, to me it was more of options to, to help repair roofs that, you know, we might have been getting a call for, for a cleaning and we’re going there for a cleaning.
ADAM 18:25 They have no idea about roof rejuvenation. Let’s educate them and say, listen, your roof’s doing really good, but you really want to make it last 5 or 10 more years. Let’s soak it with some roof, with Roof Maxx oil and you know, and get more life out of it. Give it flexibility back so it works both ways. Yeah, they got a lot of coatings now that really wasn’t prominent when we were getting into it.
ADAM 18:46 It was either replace it. There was no such thing as coatings. But yeah, it’s the industry is changing for sure. You know it, it’s it’s for sure changing now with AI and everything else is it’s it’s different. It’s fun to learn and there’s a lot of guys out there talking about stuff, and I like to listen to other people and hear what they’re doing and hear what they’re saying and the challenges they’re coming with.
MIKE 19:12 What are you seeing happening, happening in the insurance space? You know, we touched on it a little bit. And I know that, you know, you’ve not really been a big storm contractor. I’m sure when they hit your market, you take the leads. Right. Everybody would. Yeah. You’re not out chasing that business. No. But your market had a lot of storm guys knocking doors, insurance work or that not have a lot of that on the East Coast.
ADAM 19:33 A little bit. Mike, it was about 10 or 12 years ago was I’ve never seen hail. I’ve lived in New England my whole life. I’ve never seen anything bigger than, you know, a Tic Tac, a little bit bigger. But has it hit in little pockets here or there? Yes, but there was a widespread hailstorm about 15 years ago, and that’s when I was like, what’s a storm chaser?
ADAM 19:54 I remember calling you like, these guys in town. A company came into town and I won’t name who they are. A good company did well by me. And I remember calling you said, hey, they want to do a set with me. They want to use my name because they’re not from here and be able to give me a percentage of their work that they that they sold.
MIKE 20:15 And then you, you warranted after the fact. So there’s a contractor behind it.
ADAM 20:20 Yeah. So it worked out for me. They did a good job. We went back on very few. It didn’t last as long as we thought it was going to last. But it was you know, that was a it was more for the ice dam issues we had about ten years ago. And they thought it was more hail, but they realized that so many people were just chopping ice and and whacking their roof to get it to stop leaking that they were, you know, leaving their X marks all over the roof.
ADAM 20:46 It was easy to find that damage versus a hail mark.
MIKE 20:50 Right? Right. Yeah. And that is definitely an issue. Definitely get out west up into the mountains. We have a dealer up in Truckee Tahoe. Ice damming is a huge issue, probably in your part of the world. Definitely up in Maine.
ADAM 21:03 Oh yeah. Well it depends on like last year. Mike was the first year in about ten years since we had a real bad winter where we didn’t do a roof, you know, like we go every single week of the year. We’re doing roofs. Even January, February. We used to get 1 or 2 done. Last year we went almost four weeks without doing a roof.
ADAM 21:19 We were shoveling roofs. That’s what that’s what the customers wanted. There was excessive snow and ice. And, you know, we were out there with, you know, five or 5 to 7 crews a day, five, five men shoveling, you know, just a service for the customer. And the they really weren’t making much money between the fuel and paying the guys.
ADAM 21:40 But, you know, it’s what the customers needed. It’s what they wanted. So it was a slow start to the year because of that. But, you know, we’re just here to take care of the customer. And if Mother Nature gives a lot of snow and they want it off, we’ll be there to safely take it off the roof.
MIKE 21:55 Let’s talk about that. So I think it’s one of the reasons when we talk about maintenance and repairs, you know, we can we can put rejuvenation into maintenance at this point. But a lot of contractors have not really built out repair and maintenance divisions because it is very difficult. And and, you know, my brother and I are attitude at Feazel Roofing and we did turn it into a profitable division.
MIKE 22:21 But it was it was difficult to make profit. But but our attitude was always we have to take care of the customer. And if we do that we’re going to get the roofs over time. And referral business is the biggest part of any the growth of any company, any successful company anyway?
ADAM 22:37 100%. Yep. We believe same thing. Take care of the customer. It’s one thing when I left my father and uncle 31 years ago to start my own company, and they kept doing it, you know, they instilled in me work hard and take care of the customer always. If the customer is your number one focus and you take care of them every time and you do a good job, and if there’s an issue down the road, you’re back and you look at it and you take care of it, they’re going to refer you to other people.
ADAM 23:03 And that’s how I built my business, like you guys. And taking care of the customer to me was if they only needed the repair in the roof. This is even before rejuvenation, before cleaning. And the roof looked really good. It was just a pipe boot or a little flashing around the chimney. And back then, maybe for 500 to 1000 bucks, we could take care of everything, reflash the chimney and take care of the pipe boots and tell the customer you might get ten more years out of this roof.
ADAM 23:26 It looks great. That’s what we did. Knowing that they’re going to tell their friend, not even knowing they’re going to. They just tell their friends that. But we’re just going there with the model. Take care of the customer, do the right thing so you can go home and sleep at night too.
MIKE 23:40 Well, when you show up and you tell them that and two other companies have told them they need a new roof, you know, word spreads pretty quick.
ADAM 23:48 Yeah, we have a lot of reviews now, Mike, it’s funny, said that we’re we’re over 1700 now at Google with all the offices and some of those I can scroll down and literally will say that they came out and offered, you know, just a simple repair, maybe a cleaning, maybe a Roof Maxx, when everyone else said I needed a new roof.
ADAM 24:06 And these are years that, you know, years ago that they’re saying this. Thank you so much. You’re the only customer, only contractor that didn’t try to sell me a new roof. And hey, some contractors don’t want to do repairs, don’t want to do maintenance. And okay, but maybe they should be telling the customer, hey, we don’t do all that stuff.
ADAM 24:23 But you could still you might want to call someone else who does it. I don’t I don’t mind contractors like that, but a contractor goes in there and with a, you know, knows they’re telling the customer they need a new roof when they don’t. That’s no good. We got we got to get them guys out.
MIKE 24:37 Yes, yes. I mean, there are a lot of great contractors and there’s a lot of bad ones, like in every trade in any business for that matter. But you know, and that’s what we’re really hoping with Roof Maxx and rejuvenation as a whole and really expanding the maintenance category, the repair and maintenance category. This is a contractor podcast.
MIKE 24:58 So I’m just hoping contractors hear this and start to think about it more. You know, there were eight articles talking in Roofing Contractor magazine in the last 12 months. Either talking about Roof Maxx or rejuvenation. And those articles leaned neutral to positive. So you can see that the industry is starting to accept this new thing. And Adam, you remember the days of Topcoat.
MIKE 25:21 Remember, Topcoat was bought by GAF.
ADAM 25:24 Yes. Yeah, GAF, yep yep.
MIKE 25:25 But Topcoat was kind of like Roof Maxx. It was on the fringe of the roofing industry, the commercial roofing industry and then brought adoption started to happen. Or more greater adoption I should say increased adoption. And then eventually GAF bought Topcoat. Now there’s GE silicone in the commercial roofing space. Like, you know, I think about 60% of commercial roofs at one point will be restored before they’re ever replaced.
MIKE 25:49 I’d say a lot of the 40% is because they were improperly installed to start with, and there wasn’t a lot you could restore. The bones of the roof were installed improperly, so they kind of just had to rip it off and start again. So I think that that’s working its way into our industry. We’re seeing broader adoption from the insurance companies and again, more broader adoption from contractors.
MIKE 26:11 So I think it’s a good thing for the residential roofing industry.
ADAM 26:14 Yeah. And you guys really got it going with your push with Roof Maxx and putting, you know, educating the customer out there. Now you’ve got your copycats, which is, you know, I guess, you know, when you’re on top, you’re all coming after you, which is fine, I’m sure, because it’s getting more awareness for, for you guys anyway, the other companies that are trying to do the same thing, but at the end of the day, you guys got it started.
ADAM 26:35 You’re the originator, the OG of the roof rejuvenation.
MIKE 26:38 Yeah. Yeah, well, I see I see the you know, I see there’s a positive and I tell the tell the dealers. Right. This is a positive. Yeah I know you did. It’s going to expand the space. It’s just going to make it better. So shows there’s a demand. That’s that’s the big thing.
ADAM 26:54 Yeah. So definitely is.
MIKE 26:56 Let me let me ask you a few questions about some of these startups. Right. There’s a lot of young guys getting into the industry today, some who only have a sales background, others who have a roofing background. But what would you tell somebody that’s young, getting started in the residential roofing industry today, based off of what you’ve learned over the last 40 years and building a very large, successful company.
ADAM 27:24 I would say first, if you’ve never done roofing, watch your crew spend time watching a crew get a little time on the roofs. You understand how hard it is, how dangerous it is. If you’ve already done that, you know, stepped back. Make sure you have the right people in the right positions and understand your numbers. Keep it simple, right?
ADAM 27:45 Understand what you have for cost. Everybody has the main cost that go into the job. Everyone’s got to buy material. They got to pay for labor. They should be buying a permit. Some don’t. I would advise everybody to get a permit if it’s needed. And you have dumping fees. So understand your hard cost and understand what you need to charge to make a profit.
ADAM 28:07 To be able to go back and take care of the customer, you know, charge enough so you can go back and take care of your customer. But I would also give someone advice just starting out. Simply, if you haven’t picked out a name like I wasn’t real smart when I started my company, I was, you know, gave my father and uncle two weeks notice.
ADAM 28:26 I was young, 25, and I got a job and the guys like at the check do. I said, how about Adam Quenneville Roofing? Don’t worry if the roofing don’t fit, it’s all going the same place. And that literally was the true statement. But I would have spent a little time thinking of a better name now. I spent a lot of money over the years to brand the name, but I think a catchy name in a in a mascot would go a long way.
ADAM 28:48 If I was starting over, I would do that. We’ve just adopted a AQ duck. We’ll keep the water off your back because we’re just into our 30th year. We’re going to introduce the duck, I would say to a new, new, new new guy starting out, don’t spend any money in marketing to wrap a vehicle. If you can spend 4 or 5000 wrapping a vehicle and you’ll get 4 to 10 years out of it.
ADAM 29:08 To me, that’s the best bang for your buck. And get job signs, put job signs, and anything you do. If you’re just going up to replace a pipe, ask if you leave a job. Sign those two simple things right there to get started. And always, always make sure your customers on top and make the experience for the customer as smooth as roofing can be possible.
ADAM 29:29 You know it’s messy. It’s no one likes to replace their roof and understand that. Don’t. It’s not a cool thing, really. Like, oh, we’re going to do a roof today. People don’t really like to do it.
MIKE 29:39 Not like a bath remodel..
ADAM 29:41 So I was getting my teeth worked on at the dentist the other day. I said, I got to tell you, doc, I don’t like being here, but I know what it’s like. I’m roofing company. People don’t like to get their roof replaced. They have to. And I said, you know, let me give you as he’s about to open me up, I said, you know, a roof leak is like a toothache.
ADAM 30:01 You you can’t ignore it. But it’s not getting any better. It’s coming back worse. So let’s deal with it right away. And he’s like, you know, I’m going to use that analogy. I said, you can duck. That’s good. But it’s true. No one likes no one likes to replace the roof. You don’t call up some day and you go, hey, we’re just sick of changing the color of our roof today.
ADAM 30:19 Can you come over and give us a quote? It’s been on for ten years, but we don’t like the color. I’m still waiting for that call.
MIKE 30:24 Still waiting?
ADAM 30:25 No, they call because a they’re in distress. They have a leak or B they know it’s been on a long time and they’ve been procrastinating it and realizing it’s probably going to leak sooner or later. It’s not a good call to make. Nobody wants to replace the roof. So understand that when you get into this business. So make that process as easy as possible and smooth for the customer.
ADAM 30:47 That’s my simple advice.
MIKE 30:49 Yeah, communicate with the customer. Communication is key. Being trustworthy, always telling them the truth. It’s all really pretty simple, isn’t it?
ADAM 30:59 It is, but don’t get carried away. You know, when you’re starting a business off and you’re running in different directions, I wish I had hired a little quicker, but I managed to, you know, the second or third year in business kind of get to where I was only part time on the roof. So it went. But I, you know, I wish it was a little quicker.
ADAM 31:17 And sometimes I wish I, you know, hired slower and fired faster.
MIKE 31:21 Oh yeah.
ADAM 31:22 For sure I would make I remember back in the day when I was working with the guys. All right. You got we need somebody. Somebody I got a guy will bring him in, you know. All right, well, you know, I’d be like. I was like a I felt like I was a manager of a football team. All right.
ADAM 31:34 What’s his height? What’s his weight, which, you know, I didn’t want any I want athletes up there. If they were working with me. I want the guys in shape. I want to be able to move. And it was. It’s just different. Back then it was like, oh, he’s really good. But you know there’s always a but.
MIKE 31:46 It’s always a.
ADAM 31:47 But yeah. Well you know he’s got he’s on probation and every other Wednesday he’s got to go see his probation officer. He’s going to leave about three. Oh he’s got that ankle bracelet to, he’s going to have to wear long pants. If he’s really good. We’ll give him a shot.
MIKE 31:59 And have a driver’s license.
ADAM 32:01 Oh no. You got to pick him up for sure. He’s got to get a ride. Yeah, and he’s a heavy drinker, but he’ll get to work every day.
MIKE 32:07 Yeah, he’s a good roofer.
ADAM 32:09 You remember those days.
MIKE 32:11 Very much. And that’s the way it was in the 80s and even the 90s. You know, I made the same mistake. Our company name was Feazel Roofing. You know, you notice that Roof Maxx is, is a branded name, not the name of the. But it was so common back then for contractors to put their name on their shingle, so to speak.
MIKE 32:29 Right. That was that was what they called the name of the company. And not always the best advice for a new guy.
ADAM 32:34 No, no. Starting off new, think about your brand. Think about your your name, your brand. And if you have a mascot to go with it, people remember it. Just you spend less money. Branding. I’ve spent millions and millions of dollars on TV and radio and truck wraps to get my brand out there, but I think if I had a catchy name and a mascot years ago, I wouldn’t have to spend as much money.
MIKE 32:54 And today you can. You can do it very cheaply just using ChatGPT.
ADAM 33:00 Yeah, right.
MIKE 33:01 Big branding companies and yeah, there’s there’s a lot of tools this generation has that we didn’t have.
ADAM 33:06 To come up with ideas. Yeah we did that with the duck we wanted, you know, help us make the image of the duck. I like the duck because, you know, you can put the duck in water and it doesn’t get wet. Yeah. So it’s like, okay, well, we control water. That’s what we do as roofers. We control it from getting into your house, off your house, away from your foundation.
ADAM 33:23 So I was like, well, but a duck duck controls the water. We’ll keep the water off your back. So that was my I came up with that. But the look of it have it. Now you got to come up with a look at what’s he going to look like. And we’ll be revealing them shortly.
MIKE 33:37 Okay. So yeah. It’s not out there yet. No.
ADAM 33:40 No, it’s coming soon. But it’s funny because I got a buddy up in Maine and the other day he’s like, hey, he didn’t know anything about it. He’s like, thinking of having duck tomorrow night for dinner. Are you in? I’m like, I don’t eat duck. And I was real serious with him. You know, we kind of have a humor.
ADAM 33:54 Back and forth he goes. What do you mean? You don’t eat duck? Like, can’t eat duck. I go, it’s my mascot. So we joke about it. But. So he sent me. He threw on. He must have time on his hands because he had a dozen golf balls and he drew it. He drew a duck on every one of the golf balls, and he sent me a picture of him.
ADAM 34:14 He’s like, all I can do is draw ducks now. Like, you got problems.
MIKE 34:18 You got a problem. Yeah. That’s awesome. That’s awesome. Well, listen, I really appreciate you coming on the call. It’s been a while since we’ve caught up anyway, so it’s a great, great way to catch up and obviously have you on my my first podcast. I really appreciate you taking the time to jump on and have the conversation with me.
ADAM 34:37 Yeah. You’re welcome. Mike, I best of luck with the podcast and keep it rolling. I’ll be looking for for episodes to follow along and spreading the good message.
MIKE 34:47 I appreciate it. And Adam, for anybody that wants to get ahold of you. How would they get ahold of you?
ADAM 34:51 Our website is 1800newroof.net. It was a. It’s been like that for a long time. It got a website back in the mid to late 90s. When?
MIKE 35:00 Don’t you remember when I had the number 1-800-NEW-ROOF in Columbus, Ohio.
ADAM 35:04 You did. Right. Yeah. You had by area codes. We still have the area codes in Massachusetts and in most of Connecticut, but nobody likes to dial that and look on the phone anymore. Yeah. So we have real numbers now because, no, we get frustrated. Look at the phone trying to dial the letters up. But yeah, it was catchy back in the day.
ADAM 35:20 And yeah, that’s how you get ahold of us: 1800newroof.net.
MIKE 35:24 Awesome, awesome. All right, my friend. I appreciate you taking the time to be on here with me.
ADAM 35:29 You’re welcome. Mike. Thank you.
MIKE 35:30 All right. Take care. We’ll talk soon.
NARRATOR 35:33 That’s our first episode of Built to Last. Thanks to Adam for sitting down with Mike and sharing what he’s learned over decades in the trade. If there’s one idea to take with you, it’s the one they kept coming back to. The fundamentals are simple. Communicate with your customers, tell them the truth and take care of them. And the business follows.
NARRATOR 35:54 To learn more about Adam and his company, visit 1800newroof.net. And for more great conversations, head to Roof Maxx. Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next time.
It's for people who want to own and run their own business, including roofers and contractors who want to add roof rejuvenation to their services. It's a business ownership opportunity, not a job. Dealers need sales, management or business ownership experience, plus a truck and trailer or a van to carry the product.
The investment depends on the size of your territory and the scope of your dealership. Roof Maxx charges no royalty fees and has no hidden costs. You'll get exact figures, including sample income numbers, during the discovery process.
Yes. Your dealer agreement secures a protected territory, and you can run one territory or several. You can suggest an area based on local population research, subject to availability, so ask early whether your market is still open.
New dealers go through Roof Maxx University and a sales training class, and learn the Roof Maxx sales system. After launch, you get weekly national meetings, monthly dealer success calls and a Dealer Success team you can reach for help.
Roof Maxx runs national brand marketing and supports dealers with local marketing. Dealers also run their own local marketing to build a steady flow of leads.
You can be up and running in a month or two. You apply, Roof Maxx reviews your background to make sure it's a good fit, you sign the dealer agreement to lock in your territory, and then you start selling.
