Flexing your roofing muscles - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Tim Klindt of UNIFLEX. You can read the interview below, listen to the podcast or watch the recording.

Intro: Welcome to CoatingsCast, the ultimate podcast dedicated to the science, art and innovation of liquid and fluid applied roofing, coatings for surfaces and waterproofing. It's time to roll up our sleeves, put on our lab coats and dive headfirst into the world of liquid protection that keeps your roofs and surfaces in prime condition. The future is here and it's liquid, so don't miss out. This is CoatingsCast, where every drop counts in the world of roof and surface protection.

Karen Edwards: Welcome to another episode of CoatingsCast. I am your host, Karen Edwards. And today we are welcoming Timothy Klindt from Uniflex, which is a Sherwin-Williams brand. And we're going to talk all about that space and Uniflex today. Tim, thank you so much for being here.

Tim Klindt: Thanks, Karen. I appreciate you taking the time and having me on.

Karen Edwards: Yeah, so just why don't you introduce yourself and tell our listeners out there what it is that you do at Uniflex?

Tim Klindt: So I am Tim Klindt, obviously. I work for Sherwin-Williams. Sherwin-Williams Roofing Solutions team, a business unit of the Sherwin-Williams Paint Company. Uniflex Fluid Applied Roofing Systems, and I cover the central United States as the regional manager to support our stores and our customers in the central US.

Karen Edwards: Wow, thanks. Thank you for being here today. I'm curious, tell me a little bit about Uniflex and how it came to be. What's the story behind this product line?

Tim Klindt: So KST Coatings actually has been around since the early 1900s, as its own separate entity. It was actually an acquisition of Sherwin-Williams about 20 years ago, and that's how Sherwin-Williams got into the roofing game and they had some technologies that Sherwin-Williams wanted to utilize in some other spaces. And so it was a natural acquisition for Sherwin-Williams

Karen Edwards: Early 1900s is what you said. I'm shocked because most of the time we think of fluid applied systems and roof coatings as kind of a newer technology. What were they using it for way back then, do you know?

Tim Klindt: Yeah, there was actually not quite that far back, but early forties, fifties, sixties, it was just some aluminum emulsion type coatings and stuff like that. So coatings really actually aren't a new system. Really, they've just become a lot more prevalent because of sustainability and renewability initiatives across the country and with corporations.

Karen Edwards: Wow. So you said you cover the whole central part of the country. I'd like to know what you are hearing in this space, when you're out in the field, what are contractors talking about?

Tim Klindt: Well, there's a lot of contractors that maybe five, ten years ago would've never really entertained installing coatings as a roofing system, but that's really changed in the roofing space. There's a lot of, again, sustainability and renewability is a big thing across the United States. Everybody has their carbon initiatives that they're working towards, and coatings really fall into that space. Being able to restore existing roof substrates that don't necessarily need to be torn off, and technologies that have advanced to move that space a little farther along. And then when you think of supply chain issues and stuff like that that we've had over the last couple of years with the pandemic, it really kind of brought more relevancy to coatings because people had to entertain them as an option. And so people have been able to see them used more prevalently, and it's been a good growth market for a lot of contractors.

Karen Edwards: So it's interesting. I wonder, is this being driven by building owners and companies that are just being more educated about their options or doing more of their own research or the contractors seeing this wave and pushing it? Or is it just a perfect storm of a lot of different factors?

Tim Klindt: I think it's kind of a perfect storm. I mean, definitely the education piece and being able to see coatings utilized is definitely a driver, but also cost savings. I mean, costs have risen substantially over the last few years and having a less expensive option that's still viable with the same style warranties. People are starting to educate themselves more on coatings, and I would say that would be from the contractor side and the building owner side.

Karen Edwards: Okay. So let's talk a little bit, the coatings industry fluid applied, I think they've faced some challenges and some hurdles and the industry is working really hard to promote quality, the right kind of installation, the right kind of products, because there's some stories out there you hear of someone, "Oh, I tried this and they put something down on my roof and it didn't even last." And how are you as a company helping to ensure that we've got the right products, that we've got the properly trained crews and that people know what they're doing, I guess, to ensure that it performs like it should?

Tim Klindt: Yeah. Well, I think that that comes from education and training. Not every roof out there is a coatings option. I think that people are starting to understand that if we have a good working roof assembly to begin with and we're mitigating moisture and taking care of the issues before the coating's installed and using them as a restoration system, they're a great option. And I think that before maybe in the industry, there was a lack of education, there was a lack of training and a lack of widespread knowledge of what is a good roof for coatings and what isn't a good roof for coatings.

Karen Edwards: How do you help in that process of determining if it is a viable option for a roof? How do contractors bring you in to help?

Tim Klindt: Well, we partner with, we have programs within the Sherwin-Williams organization to help with moisture surveys. We spend time in the field. We have local rep support, and we do Uniflex universities across the country periodically to bring in our customers and just to educate them not only on Sherwin-Williams, but on industry standards and making sure that we're adhering to those so that coatings do perform properly and as a long-term sustainable roofing system.

Karen Edwards: Now, when you say, you mentioned Uniflex universities, I'd like to know a little more about that. Is that something that travels around to different locations throughout the country, or are you bringing folks into a central location to learn?

Tim Klindt: Yep. So we typically do them. There's seven of us across the United States, the regional managers and we kind of headway that within our regions and our Sherwin-Williams districts to bring in the local reps, customers in central location located within each of the regions, so that we have an opportunity to sit down with all those customers collectively and deliver one solid message, that we can make sure that these things are being applied and installed correctly or at least passing that out to the field so that contractors can make better educated decisions.

Karen Edwards: So tell me a little bit about what's available in the Uniflex product line, the different types of options that you have and is it a one stop ... Because there's accessories that need to go along with it, there's tools that you need to install. What does that look like from Uniflex?

Tim Klindt: Yeah, so due to our paint relationship, obviously with some of the industry leaders in the spray equipment space, obviously everything from applicators, whether that's spray equipment, Sherwin-Williams owns quite a few different lines or manufacturing lines of applicators and stuff like that as well. So when you say one-stop shop, that's what Sherwin-Williams always tries to get that message out, that we have a full roofing system lineup in the coating space from patch and repair products to caulks and sealants to full coating systems, as well as everything else that you need from safety equipment and application equipment and anything like that that you're going to need to complete and execute a coatings project.

Karen Edwards: Okay. So I'm going to ask you this question, which we didn't talk about ahead of time, but I'm sure you can answer this. Why Uniflex, right? There's a lot of options. What makes Uniflex the right one?

Tim Klindt: Well, I mean, the biggest thing that stands out and it might sound a little bit maybe arrogant, but the Sherwin-Williams company. I mean, it's been around over 158 years. We're not going anywhere. We continually try to be a leader in the industry for support and technology, all that stuff. Being able to have the brand of Sherwin-Williams behind not only your warranties, your field support and your coatings in general holds a lot of weight.

Karen Edwards: Let's talk a little bit about the warranties. What kind of options does a building owner have, and is it based on the condition of the roof when you start? What kind of factors go into determining what kind of warranty a building can have?

Tim Klindt: There is a lot of factors that are based off of the existing roof assembly, what the roof is subjected to, those types of things. But mainly we have 10 and 15-year material warranties. And then we do also offer system warranties through our authorized contractor network that take a little bit of extra homework as far as us determining the longevity and the viability of a coating system working for a certain amount of time on a specific roof.

Karen Edwards: Okay. So you just said three words that made me go, "Oh, I want to know more about this." You said authorized contractor network. Tell me about that. What is it and what are the requirements to become part of that?

Tim Klindt: Yeah, so typically we like to partner with commercial roofing contractors that at the end of the day have the experience and the knowledge to be able to build and rebuild and tear off and replace roof assemblies. That's the most important part to us. Coatings are pretty technical, but they are not near as technical as the roofing systems in general. So typically, we like to partner with authorized contractors or commercial contractors to make them authorized contractors to have access to national account opportunities that we might be involved in, being able to offer full system warranties to their clients and stuff like that. Some of the main requirements really are that they are a commercial roofing contractor. They've spent some time with us doing some training, they have some coatings experience, those types of things. Really just making sure that we're partnering with the right people, not only to protect the contractors and the building owners assets, but Sherwin-Williams as well, making sure that our systems are being installed correctly out in the field.

Karen Edwards: Okay. So you mentioned that there may be, if you're part of this authorized contractor network, that Sherwin-Williams does have national accounts, so it can help drive business to a contractor.

Tim Klindt: Absolutely. Yeah. Yep. We have obviously paint flooring, industrial type relationships all over the United States, so that's something that we have conversations about when we're having conversations about other products and services that Sherwin-Williams offers, we always ask about the roof.

Karen Edwards: Nice. Nice. So yeah, that's a big plus right there. So I'm curious, if a contractor is out on a job and they come up against a challenge, are you the guy that goes out and helps them out? What does that look like? They call you for help, and what do you do?

Tim Klindt: So I'm a man of many hats. I mean, I cover a lot of states and so I can't always be the guy that's out in the field, but that's the one thing about Sherwin-Williams is that we have 4,000 plus sales reps across the United States. So in every market, every city always, there's always a Sherwin-Williams store and always a Sherwin-Williams sales rep there to support you in the field. And the good thing is that Sherwin-Williams employs an entire roofing team to support our national coverage of stores and sales reps.

Karen Edwards: Wow. Yeah, it's nice to know that, "Hey, I'm not out here in this on my own." If I do have a problem or a question, it's just quickly a phone call. Right?

Tim Klindt: Yeah, absolutely. Well, and we have a fully integrated sales team and technical team too, so obviously there is times where it might be myself or somebody from our technical team out in the field and on the roof with your customers or with our customers as well.

Karen Edwards: Excellent. So tell me a little bit about if a contractor is listening to this maybe and they're like, I really like the Sherwin-Williams brand. I like their history, I like their support. I want to get started. What do they do? Stop in a store? How does that work?

Tim Klindt: I mean, yeah, that's always an option. They can stop in a store, obviously, they can reach out to me. A lot of people utilize LinkedIn. I'm on LinkedIn. We have a Uniflex and Cool Seal LinkedIn pages that you can utilize to reach into us, but our website as well, you can contact us through there. And really, if they already have an existing relationship, just asking their local Sherwin-Williams sales rep or their Sherwin-Williams store and get us in contact with anybody from the roofing team.

Karen Edwards: What does the process look like? "Hey, I'm interested. What do I do?" Is the first step training or you are going to vet the contractor? How does that work?

Tim Klindt: So I mean, typically it's just like any relationship, right? It's baby steps. What is the customer looking for? How can we help them? Those types of things. They have any immediate needs or solutions, maybe we can help them out with some problems. Maybe it's something simple right off the bat. But typically it's just an introduction and discussion about how we can help them and help them to grow their business or to fill a need that they're looking for. There's not really a magic potion to starting a relationship other than just figuring out how we can help each other.

Karen Edwards: Oh, that's fantastic. And the breadth and 4,000 sales reps across the US means that you really get that support in the field. Do you have other, we talked about training, we talked about education, what else? Some leads for maybe some national, are there any other things that you feel are really important for contractors and helping them succeed as part of the Sherwin-Williams Contractor Network? What else do you guys cover?

Tim Klindt: Really, the biggest thing is customer service. Sherwin-Williams has been around a very, very long time and we care mostly about quality products and customer service. We have a slogan or a motto within the roofing solutions team is, "Do what you say you're going to do." So being able to follow up with our word and our promises and those types of things is very important. The other thing I would say is that logistics is huge. There's no other company out there that can do what Sherwin-Williams does from a logistical standpoint, as far as distribution, local support and reps out in the field. I think it's about, this is a real statistic that every four minutes a Sherwin-Williams store is being built in the United States somewhere at any point. So no matter where you are, you have support. Local distribution and manufacturing is something that is next to none with Sherwin-Williams.

Karen Edwards: Wow, okay. Yeah. Every time I go to a new city, I always see a Sherwin-Williams store somewhere.

Tim Klindt: Absolutely.

Karen Edwards: Is that the only place where the products can be purchased?

Tim Klindt: Yeah. So Uniflex is a Sherwin-Williams distributed product only.

Karen Edwards: Okay. Well, that's good to know. Because I know contractors often have multiple places where they like to buy their products, and so they can just add Sherwin-Williams onto that list.

Tim Klindt: Well, and we offer free delivery, all those types of things. So it's any market, no matter where you're at, we can get the material to your job site.

Karen Edwards: Well, that's true. You think about that. A lot of contractors work in multiple states, and they work in multiple areas, so if they've already got that relationship with Sherwin-Williams, it's just as easy as arranging a delivery from wherever the job is. Is that correct?

Tim Klindt: Yeah, absolutely. And there's no minimums to that. Whether they need a couple buckets or a truckload, it's on us.

Karen Edwards: Nice, nice. Well, Tim, thank you so much for joining us today and telling us all about Uniflex. I did learn a lot, and I would like to say that Uniflex does have a directory on coatingscoffeeshop.com, so you can check them out there and there's contact information. And if you're going to look up Tim on LinkedIn, his last name is spelled K-L-I-N-D-T. Sounds like Clint, but spelled just a little differently, so that'll make it easy to find him. Go ahead and connect and reach out and send him a message. Tim, thanks so much for being here. It was great to talk with you.

Tim Klindt: I appreciate you, Karen. Thank you.

Karen Edwards: Yeah, yeah. Thanks everybody out there for listening too. And be sure to subscribe to wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be out there and follow us on social media and check out coatingscoffeeshop.com, you can see all of our podcasts there, past episodes and we hope to see you on a future episode. Thank you for tuning in today. Take care. Bye-Bye.

Outro: Thanks for joining us on this coating adventure. Stay tuned for more episodes. And in the meantime, be sure to follow us on social media to stay updated with all things roof coatings. Until next time, stay coated. For more information, go to coatingscoffeeshop.com.