Gabe Goepfert - Spray Foam from 29,000 feet - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Gabe Goepfert of Everest Systems. You can read the interview below, listen to the podcast or watch the recording.

Intro: Welcome to Coatings Cast, 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 coatings cast where every drop counts in the world of roof and service protection

Heidi Ellsworth: On the Everest Systems. Sound stage here in Daytona Beach. And this is our very first interview, and it is going to be a Coatings Cast podcast. My name is Heidi Ellsworth and I am here with Gabe. Gabe, welcome. Thank you for coming.

Gabe Goepfert: Yeah, it's great to be here.

Heidi Ellsworth: Um, you know what, first of all, I wanna say thank you to Everest for sponsoring our sound stage. Yes. You guys are the bomb

Gabe Goepfert: <laugh>. Well,

Heidi Ellsworth: We try, we try. You have a great booth down

Gabe Goepfert: There. You guys have done a pretty, you're, you've grown your, your niche a bunch.

Heidi Ellsworth: We've tried.

Gabe Goepfert: Yeah, you guys, it's

Heidi Ellsworth: Fun. We love it. It's fun. You know what we love? We love contractors and we love manufacturers. Yeah. But when you come to these kind of shows, you get to see all these different, um, manufacturers. I don't know. We just, I just came from the awards, um, ceremony. I don't think people realize how much is being done by some amazing contractors on the roof with spray foam.

Gabe Goepfert: Yeah. It's an, it's an interesting, so SPFA is interesting just in general 'cause it's a very niche market to begin with. Yeah. Like we're dealing with, um, I mean, obviously focusing on spray foam and the technologies that go along with that and spray foam is super unique, right? Yes. Because it's, it's not just walls. Right. It's also, if you actually go back historically, uh, the spray foam show was actually started on the roofing side of things and then the walls have kind of grown out of it. Obviously there's a lot of wall foam here too. Um, but yeah, the, we make lots, Everest makes products. Lots of other manufacturers make products, but if we don't have contractors, then things don't go

Heidi Ellsworth: Well. It doesn't. We need have, we need that installation.

Gabe Goepfert: The number one limiting factor to the, the foam and coating industry growing is contractors. Yes. And we need more and more, um, well-trained and ambitious and great contractors that are taking care of their, their area and their spot. And there's, there's more. There's on the roofing side for sure. There's more, uh, work to be done than there are roofers. So it's just a great environment to get into. But organizations like the SPFA, it's really great because they also ensure that they're gonna get opportunities to get trained to have a chance to do. Because you can also mess things up really bad if you don't know what you're doing.

Heidi Ellsworth: Exactly.

Gabe Goepfert: So we wanna make sure that we have, um, these organizations are super important because it brings all of us together to help support the contractor. 'cause ultimately, every, whether it's an Everest job or any other manufacturers, um, every job that goes well is good for the whole industry. It because it's, it's, it represent what can be accomplished through these spray foam systems.

Heidi Ellsworth: And that's what we're seeing we're seeing on these amazing projects out there. And you know what I realized, Gabe?

Gabe Goepfert: Nope.

Heidi Ellsworth: Is I didn't start out with the introduction 'cause I got so excited talking about after seeing all these awards and everything. So let's start out, can you introduce yourself Yep. And tell us a little bit about you and your history in the industry.

Gabe Goepfert: Yep. So, Gabe Geffert, I'm the VP of sales and marketing at Everest. Um, I've been with Everest since 2016. And, um, yeah. So the last eight, nine years of, of the roofing, uh, environment has been pretty wild. 'cause we've gone, we've gone through, um, not only, well, we had covid mm-hmm

Gabe Goepfert: And just before Covid, there was, uh, blowing agent change, which affects all the spray foam. So true.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yes.

Gabe Goepfert: And then we went into covid, and then we had supply chain issues and all the different things. And one of the pieces that we've learned about the spray foam and coating industry is that, um, even more so than traditional roofing products, during those times that things are uncertain. We've been very, uh, adaptable. We've had a chance to really do a lot of great work when a lot of the traditional, uh, supply chains were down.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah.

Gabe Goepfert: And so that was interesting.

Heidi Ellsworth: When you think about the material shortage, we're gonna talk a little bit more about that. You guys were there to save the day.

Gabe Goepfert: Uh, yeah. We had, um, we had some neat opportunities to partner with people. Um, that and some really cool projects too. Right. Things that just weren't getting done.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah.

Gabe Goepfert: Um, traditionally you think of spray foam and coatings as more of a retrofit type of a system. And during covid we did a lot more new construction, um, because they weren't able to get to traditional roofing materials. And turns out we exposed a lot of people to spray foam and to coatings. And, uh and they, they really enjoyed the experience. So right now you have an opportunity where your market share is growing and, um, 'cause foam and coatings, uh, it's about seven ish percent of the overall roofing market.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah.

Gabe Goepfert: And, um, while all the traditional roofs are super important too, um, to grow that percentage of that space, that market share is probably the big. We had just such a huge opportunity to grow. Um, and also because of the, it is a retrofit type systems that we are, everybody's promoting here. So such a great opportunity to improve things with the environment, not throwing stuff in the landfills. And

Heidi Ellsworth: Yes,

Gabe Goepfert: All this information is the breakout classes, all the different things, educating these contractors on how it's not just about fixing the roof. Yes. That, that's important. It's not just about insulating the wall, but how do you make the building more efficient? How do you sell that to your end user? How do you value add to the construction project, whether it's roofing or walls, is the whole building envelope can be benefited by what's here at spray foam

Heidi Ellsworth: Instead. You know, one of the things that I've seen to that point is,

Gabe Goepfert: Oh, I'm not done yet.

Heidi Ellsworth: Oh,

Gabe Goepfert: Everest ever. Everest. Talk about Everest. Everest,

Heidi Ellsworth: Yes. Let's talk about

Gabe Goepfert: Everest. Everest. Everest has made, we're about, uh, been in the industry for, uh, 12 years, started on the roofing side. And now we, we actually are, are really unique. 'cause we manufacture a whole building envelope. So we do, uh, roofing, uh, we have foam and coatings for roofs. Then we also do, uh, close cell and open cell for, uh, foam too. So yeah. We now have basically the whole building any contractor that wants to be a part of the whole building envelope. We have offerings in all spaces,

Heidi Ellsworth: Which we keep hearing more contractors. Our commercial contractors are going building envelope.

Gabe Goepfert: Yep. Yep.

Heidi Ellsworth: And that in, and obviously residential too. But

Gabe Goepfert: Yeah, I mean, it's a, it's a big thing. Um, the other piece there is, um, if you're gonna want to have, uh, one manufacturer for all your warranty needs as well. Mm. Right? Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So if you have a different foam manufacturer than you do your coating manufacturer and you have an issue, sometimes that can be a problem.

Heidi Ellsworth: Right?

Gabe Goepfert: So manufacturers like Everest that we manufacture the everything from the roof deck up, and then it's a, a one stop place to go if you have any issues moving forward. And it also on the positive side, and ensures that the materials that you're using are all compatible and the systems are meant to go where they're supposed to go. Because if you have multiple manufacturers trying to solve problems together, communication is always an issue.

Heidi Ellsworth: Right.

Gabe Goepfert: Um, so we try and keep that process, um, as streamlined as we can.

Heidi Ellsworth: Sometimes the chemistry just doesn't match.

Gabe Goepfert: Right. That's a hundred. Yeah. There's, there's so many jobs that get put down that, um, you're expecting the materials to do more than they were ever designed to do. Right. And if you put the wrong thing in the wrong place, I don't care what you do, it doesn't work.

Heidi Ellsworth: Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Well, and that Exactly. So perfect, because that's where I was going. That comment is thinking about what you and Everest have really seen over the last 10 years, right? Yeah. Over the last decade. And you were saying, you know, about seven to 8% of the industry is spray foam. Well, that's up.

Gabe Goepfert: I would say. Well, it is up. I would know that. I would say, uh, coatings in general and spray foam is a part of that. That's true. I don't, I'm not a hundred percent sure how much I don't wanna be wrong on that piece. Right. But yeah,

Heidi Ellsworth: It's, and something we'll look up because I think that's really interesting because I, we just see the growth happening all the time.

Gabe Goepfert: It's all the time. Yep.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah.

Gabe Goepfert: Yep.

Heidi Ellsworth: And one of the things that I heard a lot of were some huge contractors who during the material shortage, they were, we can't get what we need. We're gonna go ahead and we're gonna start doing spray foam. The other spray foam, late white, lightweight, concrete was another one. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And then, so you had a lot of contractors diversifying who now are able to really provide, I saw some things just on, in that awards thing about how much money contractors are saving building owners by restoring and also doing the spray foam. Yeah. It's for energy,

Gabe Goepfert: It's huge. Yeah. I mean, you, I mean, there's so many layers of, of, uh, cost savings when you go and restore a roof. Um, then if you were to go and tear it off and start over, um, so many costs that you don't think of when you're looking at the project. So if you go in and you, and you traditionally rip the roof off, you gotta take all that put in the landfill.

Heidi Ellsworth: Right.

Gabe Goepfert: Uh, one of the big issues that you have there is as soon as you rip that roof off, you expose the entire inside of the building weather.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah.

Gabe Goepfert: Right?

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah.

Gabe Goepfert: And, um, the, the amount of and a lot of times if you do that, you don't have access to the inside of your building.

Heidi Ellsworth: Right.

Gabe Goepfert: So if you're a manufacturer, if you're a school, you know, fill in the blank of the different thing you may do in that building, as soon as you, uh, rip that roof off, suddenly that's, there's zero production happening in that facility.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah.

Gabe Goepfert: And the amount of time that it takes to get back into that facility. 'cause typically we're in commercial applications mm-hmm <affirmative>. Right. And so if you think of a return on investment, whatever they're manufacturing in that building is more important than the roof. Really. That's why they're redoing the roof.

Heidi Ellsworth: Well,

Gabe Goepfert: Just

Heidi Ellsworth: Projecting it

Gabe Goepfert: More. Yeah. So if you're not able to go in and make your widget and you can't go make money, that's, that's lost time, lost profitability. And a lot of times people don't factor in the lost profitability, um, into a restoration versus replacement.

Heidi Ellsworth: We've been hearing this so much when it comes to, um, roof restoration. And actually, I was just on a podcast the other day about roof retrofits. Right. How are we retrofitting 'em? How are we, how are we using what we have instead of just putting it into landfills? And it's, I I don't think it's just, uh, coatings or just a spray foam issue. This is really an issue of so many large cities who are out of landfill space and this is gonna be required.

Gabe Goepfert: Yeah. And I, I think the other pieces there too is, is once you restore a roof, so if you have a, if you have a roof that you restored that that roof now can be restored indefinitely. Yes. And what I, that's the key part too, is that, um, once you get to the, to the life expectancy of that, that coating that restoration process, you can come in and for less money than even the original, uh, um, process, go and recoat it and extend the life of that, uh, roof membrane again. So in theory, you can keep coating a roof indefinitely, keep restoring a roof indefinitely, which makes that super efficient long term for what goes on.

Heidi Ellsworth: I agree. Okay. So let's talk just a little bit. We,

Gabe Goepfert: I don't have the ability to talk a little bit

Heidi Ellsworth: No, no. Just a little bit. Let's talk a lot about, um, what we're seeing in the industry. Because one of the things we just talked about was how much has changed in the last 10 years? Okay. Let's just go back a year ago, um, to 2024 spray foam when we were here. What kind of things are you seeing in, in this, in the spray foam and in the coatings industry? What are some of the big changes over the last year?

Gabe Goepfert: So the biggest change was as of, uh, the first of 2025, you can no longer use the, uh, 2 45 blowing agent. Ah. So, um, most people had transitioned out of

Heidi Ellsworth: That mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Gabe Goepfert: But the, for all the old timers that didn't wanna change, right. Like

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah.

Gabe Goepfert: That, that line, the sand, sand was drawn. And, and so that's all over as of 2025.

Heidi Ellsworth: 2025 done.

Gabe Goepfert: And so there's been, um, so that's been probably the biggest change that was mandatory that had to happen. Um, and then within that change, there's some different blowing agents and different formulations that have come, uh, because of that. And that also applies to the roof and the walls.

Heidi Ellsworth: Right. Yeah.

Gabe Goepfert: So that's pretty, that's probably the biggest thing that's changed.

Heidi Ellsworth: And so how's the industry had a number of years to get ready for this, right? Yes. It was like three or four years.

Gabe Goepfert: If they're surprised by it, something was drastically.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. Yeah.

Gabe Goepfert: Yeah. Right.

Heidi Ellsworth: And, um, so that was a 100% environmental

Gabe Goepfert: Yep.

Heidi Ellsworth: Change and those types of things. How do you see that that's good for the industry? Is that something the contractors should be talking about?

Gabe Goepfert: Yeah. I think that that's, um, one of the pieces that are, one of the things that's really important is that your contract, that the contractors being educated by their, um, by their manufacturers to know what's coming down the pipe.

Heidi Ellsworth: Right, right, right.

Gabe Goepfert: So that they have a chance to, 'cause it does affect the equipment a little bit differently. Uh, so they have a chance to be prepared for those changes before they come into play.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah.

Gabe Goepfert: Um, and then once that, that, so they're not caught by surprise. Right, right. That's a big thing.

Heidi Ellsworth: Um, I mean, you don't want your contractors caught by surprise. Yeah. <laugh>.

Gabe Goepfert: And the other part too is on the manufacturing side, we wanna take our time to introduce those things as well, because we want those to perform as good, if not better, than the previous, uh, blowing agents. Right. So, yeah. And during COVID, we, some of those, those, uh, blowing new blowing agents that came out, uh, for 2020, um, that we thought were gonna be readily available through covid, that kind of changed. And so we had to make some adjustments that way. Um, but it, I think the industry's in a pretty good spot right now as far as like having their mind around what those bullying agents are and the changes that need have happened. 'cause it got introduced over the last few years,

Heidi Ellsworth: Which makes sense. Yeah. I mean, that's the way it should, regulation should work and it should work for the betterment of ev the industry and every and the environment across the board. What are you, I mean, there are, we're, we're hearing a lot of different things that are going on in Florida with insurance, extreme weather. We now have a new administration with, um, you know, supposedly lessening of regulations. Anything that contractors should be looking at out there that you've been aware of?

Gabe Goepfert: So, I mean, we, we cover whole country, right? Yeah. So I think one of the pieces that keep in mind is everybody's area is a little bit different. Um, and I think that's another reason to partner with the manufacturer that has lots of options

Heidi Ellsworth: Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Gabe Goepfert: Um, you know, obviously shameless promotion for us, but we manufacture acrylic and silicone coatings, our own sealants foam, um and also wall foam. Right? Right. So all the different things we can cover, but, um, one of the pieces that I've been talking to my contractors about is, yes, there are some challenges and difficulties that are out there

Heidi Ellsworth: Mm-hmm

Gabe Goepfert: <affirmative>. But they're also very much opportunities. Right? Yeah. So within, like, take Florida, there are some things going on in Florida that we've been able to understand how to better address the issues with the insurance company and some systems that we have available that they're accepting as, um, full system replacements.

Heidi Ellsworth: Right. So, so all of a sudden now they have the opportunity, right?

Gabe Goepfert: They have the opportunity to still use, uh, you know, liquid applied, uh, materials

Heidi Ellsworth: Right.

Gabe Goepfert: To solve that problem. Yeah. It may it look just a little bit different than it did before

Heidi Ellsworth: Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Gabe Goepfert: But, um, we're gonna have to embrace those changes. And again, I think that the liquid applied side of life Yeah. As far as roofing goes

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah.

Gabe Goepfert: Um, because it's so adaptable to so many different environments, it puts us in a really great spot to be able to grow that to. Um, it just makes sense.

Heidi Ellsworth: It does, it just makes sense. That's the part that I look at. And I think we can't just keep tearing off and putting on new stuff. Not that there isn't a time and a place, obviously there's some roofs that just have to be turned off.

Gabe Goepfert: And I, another big thing that I see with contractors, which is positive contractors, folks who sing more and more on, uh, service and repair

Heidi Ellsworth: Yes.

Gabe Goepfert: And getting on those roofs before they're totally worn out.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yes.

Gabe Goepfert: Right. Because we can do, yes, we can do a lot with a, a membrane that is not totally shot. If we can get to it when it's 80% of its roof life, we can, we can do a much better job of restoring that at a much more, more reasonable cost. Right. Right.

Heidi Ellsworth: Right. So,

Gabe Goepfert: Um, and it, the, the mentality of the roofer that's out there, I think is, is their game is, is is getting better all the time mm-hmm <affirmative>. And they're trying to serve their, their roofing's really unique because you're really serving a very regional area for the most part. You're taking care of your community.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah.

Gabe Goepfert: And if you can really listen to what that community needs, you can be very successful still as a contractor.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. Okay. I wanna talk a little bit about differentiation because we, as you know, we're, we've been on the edge of recession for 3, 4, 5, 10 years right now. Right. <laugh>. And so we're kind of slowly going, oh, when's it gonna happen next? Um, or is it going to happen? But I think for any good business, for any contracting business, it's about diversifying and being able to kind of flow with where the work is and what's happening with mm-hmm <affirmative>. All the different things. You, Everest offers products that cross all planes, whether you're residential, commercial

Gabe Goepfert: Yeah.

Heidi Ellsworth: Inside, outside building, envelope, the whole nine yards. How many contractors are you seeing who are starting to adopt, maybe they're traditionally roofing contractors? Are they starting to adopt the building envelope? Are they starting to adopt doing some internal, um, insulation? How's that looking?

Gabe Goepfert: Well, um, the equipment goes works both ways, right? Yeah. So, I mean, there's definitely some crossover. Um, and I think that, that, um, we do see a little bit of it, right? Yeah. Where you have, where you have guys that see opportunities that can go do X, y or Z and the and that they're not necessarily always probably see people getting into the roofing space more that direction than the other.

Heidi Ellsworth: Okay. But,

Gabe Goepfert: Um, yeah, I, I see a little bit of that specifically with the roofing. Um, I don't wanna say that it's recession proof, I'm, that's not the the right word, but the reality is what we, what we have to offer to the market is how do you make something that exists lasts longer, right? So in the, in the event that you have a, a recession, you know, quote unquote or when you have people really not sure about what's going on in the environment, they tend to wanna come up with more cost effective ways to make things last longer.

Heidi Ellsworth: Right?

Gabe Goepfert: And so that puts all of the things that we have in that, in that situation,

Heidi Ellsworth: It fits perfect.

Gabe Goepfert: Yeah. It's great. Yeah. And then even on the, on the new construction side to do with the wall foam

Heidi Ellsworth: Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Gabe Goepfert: You know, if the, if if you go and you insulate your building properly, your, uh, monthly expenses on your insulating your building goes way, way down. Yeah. Right? So you have such a, a, an efficient building, uh, with spray foam in the, in the roof and in walls. It's just wild.

Heidi Ellsworth: It makes sense to offer that whole thing. You talking to your building owners, especially obviously if you're new construction, but also in retrofit or restoration, I think that, um, we're gonna see more of that too. Um, especially those

Gabe Goepfert: Huge, and people become more and more conscientious about those monthly bills, right? Yeah. And as cost of energy goes up, the value of insulation goes up at the same rate.

Heidi Ellsworth: Right. Well, and I think it's interesting too, what we're starting to see is people are understanding that if they can control the environment of the building inside, they can also do so much more. Especially when you're talking about data centers. We just saw a thing, um, at the awards on whiskey making whiskey, but there's, there's also this, there increasing demand. What if they got paid in whiskey control? It, I don't

Gabe Goepfert: Know. I mean that, would that

Heidi Ellsworth: Be cool?

Gabe Goepfert: That'd be pretty solid.

Heidi Ellsworth: I know, I aware of that

Gabe Goepfert: Bit. A little bit of horse trading there.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. A little bit. It was pretty interesting. Um, but it seems to me that there's just, so I guess what my point in there is that there's so many drivers Yeah. Ask really driving the market towards the spray foam solutions, both roof and walls.

Gabe Goepfert: Yeah. And I, and I think it dries back to what you first started talking about, like what's the value of spray foam?

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah.

Gabe Goepfert: Uh, SPFA

Heidi Ellsworth: Mm-hmm

Gabe Goepfert: <affirmative>. Is if we can educate, uh, it's an education sale, right?

Heidi Ellsworth: Right.

Gabe Goepfert: If you can gain the trust of your, the person you're working with and if the contractor is educated to understand their value proposition so that they are doing the best for their customer and these organizations, these trade shows are a great opportunity for contractors to really understand what it takes to go out and and market themselves and these products to be successful.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. To put 'em together. So, okay. You brought it up and I think we passed right over that question, but being involved with SPFA, um, I wanna kind of hit back on the training. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. They're doing field services, they're certified, um, the contractors. How important is it for Everest to be involved with SPFA and really helping with that training of the gen you know, skilled labor? That's the thing. That's what we need.

Gabe Goepfert: Yep. So one of the, you asked earlier, like one of the things trends that we see, well, one of the things that we see is that the traditional spray foam contractor is aging out. Right? So if we want, um, peace <laugh>, um, if we want to, um, I'm sorry, did I break the fourth wall? Um,

Heidi Ellsworth: If we are live west PFA

Gabe Goepfert: Yeah. If we want to, um, if we wanna see this grow

Heidi Ellsworth: Yes.

Gabe Goepfert: Then we have to invest in, in the next generation that's coming up and what it means to be a spray foam contractor. Yeah. So that's a big

Heidi Ellsworth: Deal. It really does. And and getting the next generation excited

Gabe Goepfert: Yep. We don't

Heidi Ellsworth: About being a part of it.

Gabe Goepfert: Yeah. And if we're not gonna be involved, if we're not willing to commit as manufacturers to support these moments, uh, then we we're gonna be short. It's very shortsighted thinking. Yeah. Because we need great contractors out there.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. Well, I've been seeing Everest everywhere's, you guys, that's the, you guys are on the bags.

Gabe Goepfert: That is the plan. We're on the bags right here. We're in front of this. Yep. Yep.

Heidi Ellsworth: Sponsoring the sound stage. Yep. So exciting. Um, and I really think when I, when you see the awards, you see the excitement of the, um, applicators

Gabe Goepfert: Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Heidi Ellsworth: Getting trained. I really do think that's gonna make a huge difference. So let's talk a little bit about Everest. Okay. Let's talk about what is new, what's new this year? What, what compete with people walking over to your booth right now, which I see down there is it looks beautiful. Um, what are you showing? What are you talking

Gabe Goepfert: About? Yeah, so I mean, the biggest thing that we have, um, this year is introducing our wall foam. So half pound and, uh, closed cell wall foam. Uh, that's a, that's a new venture for, uh, so it's been in few years in the development, so that's pretty exciting. Um, but one of the things with Everest is we're constantly trying to be as innovative as possible.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yes.

Gabe Goepfert: Um, so one of the things that we're super excited about is that, um, we're in 2025, we are planning on launching, um, our PFA free foam.

Heidi Ellsworth: Ooh.

Gabe Goepfert: Which would be a pretty big deal. Uh, 'cause it's the next step in the environmental, um, in the environmental as the HFO foams are out there now, but with some of these forever chemicals that are, uh, tied to the HFO foams and some con concerns about that. We're trying to look into the future and, um and talking with our foam business manager that that's been in the works. And so we're pretty excited about

Heidi Ellsworth: That opportunity is

Gabe Goepfert: Exciting. Yep.

Heidi Ellsworth: So for the contractors out there who maybe are not familiar with spray foam as of yet mm-hmm <affirmative>. And they're gonna be getting in on this. What, when you talk about PFA and you just said it the forever chemicals and stuff. Yeah. But what kind of advantages does that bring overall PFA to for the, um, environment and also just for them as contractors?

Gabe Goepfert: Well, I mean, every time there's a new regulation that comes out, right? It, it's, it's trying to solve a problem that's out there. Right. Whether it's, uh, whether it's a functional problem is trying to make the, the products perform better or whether it's an environmental problem, which obviously the, the trying to, uh, the HFO phones, we're solving another problem, right?

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah.

Gabe Goepfert: And, um, but as you solve problems, you find out about new ones too. And so, um, we wanna be doing the, be as responsible as we can be for the environment as we're doing these things. Yeah. Um, and we are in the chemical industry.

Heidi Ellsworth: Right.

Gabe Goepfert: Right. So, I mean, those are things

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah.

Gabe Goepfert: But even in the midst of being in the chemical industry, we've gotta be responsible as we, as we look forward. But we have to, we have to be responsible, but we also have to be, um, make sure that we're performing well too.

Heidi Ellsworth: Right? Yes.

Gabe Goepfert: So to make a change for change sake. And it does, if we don't have the performance that we expect, then that's bad too. Um,

Heidi Ellsworth: But

Gabe Goepfert: If you have both, if you have both, you're killing it. Yep. So at Everest, we try and have things that improve, um, not only the functionality with the materials within the, the project,

Heidi Ellsworth: But then

Gabe Goepfert: Also improve either, um, you know, the, the safety or efficiency or the things that really affect the contractors. Our goal is to put things in contractors' hands to make them more money. I mean, that's the name of the game,

Heidi Ellsworth: Right? Yeah. That's it.

Gabe Goepfert: And anything we can do to make them more efficient on the job site. And that's, that's we're trying to come up with.

Heidi Ellsworth: And I also think efficiency on the job site, you know, the right products, making it easy, but then also having the right products to offer to the building owners. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And you said something earlier that I just wanna jump on and not being stymied by regulations, actually working with manufacturers who are looking ahead.

Gabe Goepfert: Yep. Right.

Heidi Ellsworth: Not being forced, but they're actually working ahead to make sure it's the right combinations.

Gabe Goepfert: What I find when I talk to contractors out and, and I, because of my role at Everest, I kind of go across the whole country,

Heidi Ellsworth: Right? Right.

Gabe Goepfert: But then if there's a theme that I see be between any of 'em that we're visiting, they want to under, they want solution to those problems. They want to know, they want someone to understand what's happening and how they can not get around it, but how they can fix the problem and do it. Right.

Heidi Ellsworth: Right. You

Gabe Goepfert: Know, because people aren't, for the most part, um, you know, contractors are trying to do the right thing. They're not trying to cut corners, which is great.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah.

Gabe Goepfert: Um, but they want to have a manufacturer that has options of how to, um, do things correctly in those, those moments. Right.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah.

Gabe Goepfert: And so,

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah.

Gabe Goepfert: Um, part of that also has to be manufacturers that have the experience on the roof and understand how those systems go together, have the experience in the walls to make sure that they understand how those systems go together. Um, because it's the partnership between, um, the, the contractor and the, uh, manufacturer to put that together for that end user.

Heidi Ellsworth: Exactly. And you know what, that all man you just circled, you just circled it back around. Gabe, you are. I'm so awesome. I'm, um, it brings it back to bringing, working with your manufacturer for training, understanding the products, understanding the regulations and then circling back to be involved with SPFA mm-hmm <affirmative>. To really get that training, get that certification, bringing it all together. And that's the thing, I think for a lot of contractors out there who might be going, you know, we just don't know if we can do spray foam or not. There is a whole platform here

Gabe Goepfert: Yep.

Heidi Ellsworth: Of training, which a lot of different products don't have.

Gabe Goepfert: And not only that, like if, if people are interested in spray foam and putting that air in their quiver

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah.

Gabe Goepfert: There's also contractors here that are, are willing to help them get into it too. Right? Yeah. So if you, if you have an opportunity to do a, you know, a, a wall foam project or a spray foam roofing project, there are contractors here that are more than happy to walk alongside you and give you a bid to go and do the, perform the, the labor for it. Right. You know, that's another thing.

Heidi Ellsworth: This is a tight group.

Gabe Goepfert: It is, yeah.

Heidi Ellsworth: It is a tight group. And they, they support each other. They support mentoring, training, all of those kind of things. So, okay. You're gonna be at IRE next week,

Gabe Goepfert: Be at IIE next week? Yep.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yep. So be sure to everybody to go visit Everett this week at, at the SVFA. You are in booth

Gabe Goepfert: One 11.

Heidi Ellsworth: One 11. Yep. I need my boss.

Gabe Goepfert: If they can't, uh, if they can't, uh, read numbers, just look up and we've got the ever sign up above the booth.

Heidi Ellsworth: It looks, it looks great. And if contractors come into your booth, what are you gonna be talking, what are got anything fun step?

Gabe Goepfert: Yeah, I mean, now we're at the SPFA, right? So we're obviously focused on, uh, foam and and uh, full foam systems. But we also have our coating systems. And then, so we're talking about wall foam and then roofing systems.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah.

Gabe Goepfert: Um, yeah, we got some giveaways. We got some, uh, beanies down there and some other hats. And, um, I'm sure we got some pens. Lots of, lots of paraphernalia.

Heidi Ellsworth: Lots of good stuff. Yeah. Lots of good stuff. And I have to tell you, spray foam coatings

Gabe Goepfert: Altogether, it goes well.

Heidi Ellsworth: The contractors who are putting it all together are the ones who are having huge, huge success.

Gabe Goepfert: Yeah.

Heidi Ellsworth: On the Everest. It's live right now on YouTube. Um, and it'll be going out on your favorite podcast channel, so be sure to check out the Everest directory on Coatings Coffee Shop and Roofers Coffee Shop. Find out everything that they're doing and what's going on. Also, check out all of our Coatings Cast podcasts on Coatings Coffee Shop. Under the read, listen and watch. Find your favorite on, your favorite on channel. Subscribe and get those notifications so you don't miss a single episode. We'll be seeing you next time. 

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 coatings coffee shop.com.