Chris Underwood & Jamie Atkins - Kool Seal & Uniflex Shine - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Chris Underwood and Jamie Atkins from Sherwin-Williams. You can Read the interview below or Listen to the podcast.

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

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Hello and welcome to another Roofing Road Trips from RoofersCoffeeShop. My name is Heidi Ellsworth. And we're here today to talk about some new products, some products that you are going to be seeing in the marketplace and we wanted to bring them to you first. So we have our friends here from Kool Seal and Uniflex with Sherwin-Williams building products to talk about some great new stuff. Jamie and Chris, welcome to the show.

Jamie Atkins: Thank you.

Chris Underwood: Thank you.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Awesome. We just like to be in the know and so I feel like this is one of those moments. It's pretty cool. So let's start out with some introductions. Chris, can you start out and introduce yourself? Tell us a little bit about what you do at Sherwin-Williams building products.

Chris Underwood: Yes. My name is Chris Underwood, I am the product manager for roofing solutions which include Kool Seal and Uniflex brands. I've been at Sherwin-Williams a little over 10 years and involved in the roofing business since around 2018. Just really enjoying all the growth that we've had within this category. We really look forward to providing quality products and good services to you.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Thank you. I'm so excited to have you here, Chris, it's been so much fun to work with you and the whole team. Jamie, please introduce yourself, tell us a little bit about what you do.

Jamie Atkins: Hi, I'm Jamie Atkins, I am the assistant product manager for Uniflex and Kool Seal. I work with Chris to assist with anything from new labels and new products to dealing with raw materials, et cetera.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Excellent, excellent. So we're going to talk about some new products. But before we do that, let's talk a little bit about Kool Seal and Uniflex. People see it, we know the brands, they're very prominent, but I want to make sure that we really have a little bit of a flavor for this. So let's start out with Kool Seal. And Jamie, maybe you can tell us a little bit about that brand.

Jamie Atkins: Yeah. Kool Seal is a brand that we sell in a number of different retail markets. It's both for DIY and contractor. We've been around for a number of years. Many people recognize the name.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yes, very much so. What about Uniflex, Chris?

Chris Underwood: Uniflex is our more contractor-based product line. This line is complete with warranties. You've got a full line of roof restoration products and systems for large commercial jobs. We offer superior product performance and installation guides from a talented group of sales professionals that support this brand.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I love it.

Jamie Atkins: I like it.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: When we talk about Sherwin-Williams building products ... Sherwin-Williams is a big company, as we all know, with many, many different divisions. Chris, maybe you can talk just a little bit about what's the structure of Sherwin-Williams building products and how does that all work. Just to give people's a reference point.

Chris Underwood: We're actually in a division called Consumer Brands Goods, it's a CBG division, we support the commercial side of that business. Within CBG we have a big division that supports a lot of the retail side. You will see a lot of our products in Lowe's and Menards. Some of the big box retailers under some brands that you may all know like Purdy or a Cadence. Thompson's Waterproofer. We have extensive brands within the retail side of the business. Now, we are on the commercial side of the business so we have brands like Uniflex, GSL on the roofing side. GSL also on the caulk side as well. And we have Kool Seal which is our DIY retail business brand as well which Jamie had mentioned. So we have a diverse portfolio within our division. But our group, the roofing solution, and the caulk and sealing lines are the lines primarily focused on commercial side of the business and on what you would call your business solutions.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Excellent. Okay, okay, that makes sense. I don't think there's a stronger brand out there than Sherwin-Williams and so to be part of that overall picture. But really when we're talking about Kool Seal and Uniflex, I know that they have an amazing reputation within the roofing industry also. So let's talk about some new products. This is the part, this is excitement. Chris, let's start with you. One of your new products is a bleed blocker. Can you tell us about that?

Chris Underwood: Yes. We're really excited about this product because it's going to be a great addition to our silicone product line. We currently have bleed blockers that work with our acrylic systems. These primers are usually applied over asphaltic substrates. And what they do is they prevent the bleed-through of the oils that come from the asphalt into the top coat into the substrates so to maintain that white beautiful appearance that you get when you first apply the product. We didn't have one for silicone. And silicone, from a chemistry perspective, really leeches and pulls in that product, those oils into it. You can really see the discoloration when it's applied over asphalted products. We needed to add this to our product line.

So what this will do is it will prevent the bleed-through, it will also help to provide another layer of protection over our substrate. Because of the strong intercoat adhesion between the two products, we'll get excellent adhesion with our silicone, our primer over top of those substrates. So we plan on launching this under both Uniflex and Kool Seal brands. As I mentioned, it helps to reduce bleed-through, repairs the surface for the silicone coatings, and promotes adhesion. And it's ideal for built-up APP and SBS roofing systems which are all asphaltic-type substrates.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: And there's a lot of them out there.

Chris Underwood: Yes, there are.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: So perfect for full coating systems with the right primer. That's excellent. While we're talking about silicone, you all ... Silicone coatings. You also have a number of new colors coming out. Why don't you tell us about that?

Chris Underwood: Yes, exactly. I mean, we have a very good group of silicone coatings under both brands. One is our Silicone 44 which is under our Uniflex brand, and that's primarily our product that we use with our commercial and warranty projects. Uniflex is sold exclusively only in Sherwin-Williams stores so you could only find this product and the Uniflex brand at Sherwin-Williams stores. So we're going to be launching the silicone colors under tan and under yellow for that particular brand. Yes. We currently have it in gray and we currently have it in white.

Obviously, it's still going to give you all of the performance that you're getting, the ponding water resistance, the excellent flow and leveling, the exceptional permeability rating within our ... With the product. UV resistance. You're going to get all of those benefits with the silicone colors, and those additional colors that we can use in certain situations. Safety yellow which will help with providing safe walkway within the roof. You will be able to color the silicone yellow so you will have a clear understanding of where you should walk on the roof. And then the tan for an aesthetic standpoint, which we know in certain markets is pretty big for that particular color.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I've seen a lot of that from hotel rooms looking down at those tan roofs. I want to just reiterate too, when you're talking about Uniflex, that it is only available in Sherwin-Williams stores.

Chris Underwood: Yes.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: It's hard to go anywhere without seeing a Sherwin-Williams store.

Chris Underwood: Exactly. We have 4,000 plus stores all over the US and other parts of the world actually. Our products are available primarily in the US and in the Caribbean.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Okay.

Chris Underwood: We also have some products that we have in Canada and in Mexico as well. We're limited in terms of the scope of where we have our products when it comes to a global perspective, but in the US you'll find us everywhere.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Excellent, excellent. Okay. And we've got a couple more products here. Chris one more. Low solids Tundra silicone. It sounds really interesting.

Chris Underwood: Yes, that is another one of our silicone product lines. This is under the Kool Seal brand. We currently have a high solids and a low solids under Uniflex. And we've had great success with our low solids product. It provides all the benefits of silicone but at a lower price. And the main difference is going to be the percentage of solids. We're roughly around 68% solids by volume for our low solids, and we're at 98% solids by volume for our high solids so you can see a difference there. But like I said, it gives you a lower-priced option and still get all the protection and performance of silicon. So we're going to be launching this low solids under the Kool Seal Tundra brand. Tundra is starting to gain a lot of momentum in terms of being associated with Kool Seal, Sherwin-Williams and silicone in general.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Excellent.

Chris Underwood: Yes. Particularly in the Caribbean and in Puerto Rico. They don't even call it Kool Seal anymore, they don't call it silicone they just call it Tundra.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Wow.

Chris Underwood: Where is the Tundra?

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Where is the Tundra? I love it. Before we move on to a couple more that we have that are really great, I would love to ... As the lead of product management, Chris, what has inspired all of these new products and updates?

Chris Underwood: We just want to make sure that our product line is whole. That we're providing the systems that we need really to be successful, and for our customers to maintain the quality and the look that they want when they're using our products and what they expect from roofing products and roofing solutions. Providing colors, ensuring we've got the bleed through. And then providing the lower price option for silicone so that this can be applied in more situations where a high solid silicone may not be warranted.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right, right. That's really, really interesting. Jamie, let's keep going on these new products. I mean, such great stuff here. Talk to us a little bit about the base coats.

Jamie Atkins: I'm really excited to tell you about three new professional-grade base coats under the Kool Seal brand. The first one is our premium base coat. This is great for use over metal, concrete and polyurethane. The second professional grade base coat is our SPE, single-ply elastomeric. This is perfect for weathered EPM, Hypalon and TPO. Our third base coat, professional level, is our MB. This is for smooth built-up roof, modified bitumen and granular cap sheets. We're excited to introduce all three of these.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: With everything that's going on with roof restoration, this is so important to have across-the-board all of these base coats that can go onto any type of roof. What was some of the inspiration as you were working on this?

Jamie Atkins: Well, similar to what Chris was saying, we want to make sure that we provide our customers with all the tools they need for every situation that's out there. It necessitates having these various base coats for the various substrates that exist.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right. And those base coats will be part of your overall systems. Can you talk a little bit about that overall system?

Jamie Atkins: Well, these are professional grade and so we now also have a warranty system in the Kool Seal brand. There's a website that allows people to see which products are used in these systems, the KoolSealwarranty.com.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: And Kool Seal, I mean, you can get the whole nine yards, the whole system but now you have all these base coats that are going to go over, it sounds like, pretty much any roof out there that you can find.

Jamie Atkins: Correct.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Along with base coats, and Chris has already talked about, but you also have some new primers, new Kool Seal also.

Jamie Atkins: Right. We've just introduced a new professional-grade Rust Inhibitive primer. This product is perfect anywhere you have metal where corrosion is an issue. So once again, it was just looking at what are our needs out there for our customers and trying to find what will satisfy those needs.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Let's talk a little bit about where these products are going to be available, when they're launching. I mean, all these new products. Chris, let's start with you. What are we looking at for a timeline? Are they already out or how soon will they be out?

Chris Underwood: Yes. And I'll probably steal some of Jamie's thunder on here. All of these products will be available by the IRE show. That'll be our official launch for those products. There's two shows that we go to primarily for roof coatings for our business. One is an internal show that we present our products to all of our sales associates that work at Sherwin-Williams so that they can get up to speed on the products, and know what the products are about, and be prepared for the roofing season. The big launch, from a national perspective, is going to typically be at the IRE show.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Great.

Chris Underwood: So, we have a presence at the IRE show, we'll make sure that all of these products are available by that time, the show launches. You can come to our booth at the IRE show and learn more about those products, talk to some of our sales reps that'll be there. We will be there also. And we can just put you in the right direction for solutions that you'll need for your business.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: And once they're out after IRE or once they're a thing, they're going to be able to find the Uniflex in the Sherwin-Williams stores.

Chris Underwood: That's right.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: And maybe Jamie you can talk a little bit. But the Kool Seal is available through all the ... A lot of the retail places that Chris talked about but also through distribution, right?

Jamie Atkins: Correct.

Chris Underwood: Yes.

Jamie Atkins: Correct. Through distribution and retail.

Chris Underwood: Right. Let me just chime in a little bit there. Yes, our Uniflex products are available through our stores and also through our sales reps. And if you go on our website, you'll be able to find the sales reps that represent the particular geographies, get in contact with those sales reps and then they can direct you to where the products are, what products are available at that time, what solutions. They'll provide you all the support that you need to get you the right solution for your situation.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Excellent. And how about Kool Seal?

Chris Underwood: Kool Seal will also be available within our stores. However, there's also a component that we sell just externally outside of Sherwin-Williams that goes through our roofing distribution. SRS, Beacon, those types of stores will be carrying the Kool Seal brand. Those are also professional-grade products that are sold. We also sell Kool Seal on the retail side of the business if you go to Lowe's.com. You'll be able to find Kool Seal on Lowe's.com. We also have some distribution in True Value, Do It Best, Grainger. These products are pretty much everywhere. Whether they're in Sherwin-Williams or outside of Sherwin-Williams, you'll be able to find SW ... Sherwin-Williams roofing products in any type of retail situation.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: That is excellent. Chris, have you had any opportunities to get this into the hands of the contractors yet, or any testing trials out there?

Chris Underwood: Yes. And that's part of our process. When we launch products we always get a chance to put these in the hands of contractors for them to test. But it's just part of our launch process, we want to make sure that we're getting real-world feedback before we launch these products. We have done that with all of the products that we launch.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: And what's some of the feedback from the contractors?

Chris Underwood: Oh, it's been great. I mean, they love the systems that work together. Very easy to apply. They're providing the aesthetic, the look that they want. A very good feel when they're putting it down. We've done a good job of being able to maintain that consistency throughout all of the products and through the brands.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: That is great. As you're looking at some of these products that are coming out, and you're working with your building owners or ... I mean, sometimes even homeowners but probably more building owners, what are some of the things that the contractors should be talking about? What are some of the key features in both lines overall? And maybe start with you, Jamie. On Kool Seal what is the ... What are some of the things the contractors should be talking to their customers about?

Jamie Atkins: Well, I think to start out with what substrate are we working with? What are the weather conditions that we're working with? What are your expectations for how long the product will last?

Heidi J. Ellsworth: As we're talking to the contractors, this silicone, and these coatings, and this roof restoration is so powerful right now within the industry. And to have it backed by Kool Seal and Uniflex, that is just huge. I'm going to wrap this up. Chris. If there's anything that contractors should be aware of or some of the key points they should be using as they are selling and installing your products?

Chris Underwood: Yes. We always like to tout the fluid-applied systems versus traditional roofing. And there's always a significant savings when you go with the fluid applied option. The fluid-applied option, when you apply that, it is just as good as putting on a roof and can work from that from a technical perspective and certification perspective. But you can save a tremendous amount of money when you go to one of your building owners and they're contemplating what they want to do in terms of repairing or replacing a roof.

A fluid system is the fastest growing ... It's really a substrate. It's a substrate just like TPO. It's the fastest growing substrate in the industry now and it provides the most cost savings. And the great thing about the fluid applied systems is you could put them over all of the other substrates that are ... That they're competing against. Really it's really talking about that savings, that monetary savings that you get when using our fluid systems. The ease of application, the non-disruption of your business being ... When applied. You don't have a tear-off, you don't have any of those type of things going on. These things are fully warranty and backed by Sherwin-Williams with a full team to support them and a full technical team to support those.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I love it. That is exactly what the contractors need. And you're right, on the trending when it comes to coatings it's just obvious, this is what's happening. So for everyone out there, you need to be sure to visit the Sherwin-Williams building products booth at IRE to see Kool Seal, Uniflex, Geocel, all the great products that you folks are putting out. And we are definitely going to have you on our sound stage so you'll be talking about it there at the IRE also. It's going to be a great show.

Chris Underwood: I didn't know that.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah, now you do. We're going to get you. No, that sounds great. Gentlemen, thank you so much for being here today. I appreciate the ... Letting us in on the know, and getting this out there for everybody so that they can check it out at the IRE show 2024.

Chris Underwood: All right, thank you.

Jamie Atkins: Thank you very much.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Thank you. And thank you all for being here today, for being a part of this podcast. This is the kind of information that can make a really big difference in your business so be sure to check out the directory for Sherwin-Williams building products, Uniflex, Kool Seal, Geocel. They all have directories. Check them out and you can hear ... Read and see all this new information that's coming out between now and IRE 2024. Also, be sure to check out all of our podcasts under the Read, Listen and Watch navigation under Roofing Road Trips or on your favorite podcast channel. Be sure to subscribe and set those notifications so you don't miss a single episode. We'll be seeing you next time on Roofing Road Trips.

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