Jeff Romero - Coatings are more than Chemistry - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Jeff Romero from Progressive Materials. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast.

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 service protection.

Megan Ellsworth: Hello, everyone. My name is Megan Ellsworth and you are listening to CoatingsCast. Welcome to a new episode of CoatingsCast. I'm so excited, I have Jeff here from Progressive Materials and we're going to be talking about company culture, what your end product, finished product looks like and everything in between. So hi, Jeff. How are you?

Jeff Romero: I'm good, how are you?

Megan Ellsworth: I'm so good. I'm excited to learn more about Progressive Materials and everything you all do. So let's dive right in and have you just introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about PM.

Jeff Romero: Cool, so my name's Jeff Romero. I am the technical and education coordinator for PM. Essentially, what that means is I do all of the training of CLAs, any other kind of training that we need to do for our contractors. I do a lot of internal training and stuff as well. I've been in the construction industry since probably about 2008, roofing exclusively since probably about 2013-ish. Wasn't a big fan of coatings whenever I first started my career, learned a lot more about it and a lot more about the other substrates. And well, we call them substrates, other roofers that don't do coatings, the substrate is what's under their system, but we call the actual system substrates. But, you know, learned the industry and understood that coatings is a big part of the future of the industry and it's a really good part of the industry.

Megan Ellsworth: It is. Yeah, it really is. I've been learning so much since we launched CoatingsCoffeeShop last year, and I've been up on a roof, a commercial roof and we did a live webinar and I got to see all the different systems and how it all works together. And I totally agree with you that coatings are the future to prolong roof life, and other things that we're going to talk about right now. So can you tell us a little bit about what Progressive Materials does and what you all produce?

Jeff Romero: So currently, I can't go into all of that. We have a big announcement at IRE this year, but currently, we are a manufacturer of full silicone systems. We make everything in-house, including some of our primers. We're just a very... You know, you ask what PM does. At its core, PM makes silicone, we make and we sell silicone. But the bigger thing that PM does is kind of what the technical department, my department or the department I'm part of, not my department, what we do is we're all about support of our contractors.

Jeff Romero: I was a contractor, I was a roofer for quite a while and every manufacturer tells you, "We want to partner with you, we want to partner with you." And they kind of throw that partner word around. PM really doesn't use that word lightly. We genuinely want to be your partner. We will do roof walks with you before jobs. I am constantly on the phone, on FaceTime with contractors all over the country, looking at roofs with them. "Hey, Jeff, what do we do with this?" Matter of fact, I was concerned that I was going to be late for this. I was on the phone with a contractor down in Louisiana.

Jeff Romero: They were actively on a roof. "Hey, we have this, what do we need to do here? What do we need to do there?" That's really something that we really take very seriously and find very, very important, because and I know this is going to kind of lead into the conversation we're going to have, if we don't vet these roofs out and really qualify them as a coating candidate and we go and coat them, we're going to create more problems than we will solutions. So that's kind of our role, the technical department of PM. Most of what we do is help our contractors navigate those waters of, "Is this a coating candidate, is it not? Is it kind of, do we have to replace some and then coat the rest?" So we walk through all of that with our contractors. I tell contractors all the time, "We will be as involved as you want us to be on every single project you do."

Megan Ellsworth: That's so nice. I mean, we are always talking about how important it is to have a relationship like that with your manufacturer, but it's just nice to have the manufacturer say it back and have that dual, two-lane street situation relationship going on. I love that, and I also love the word partner and how you all really believe in that. So do we, at CoatingsCoffeeShop. That is just so true. So to you all at Progressive Materials, what does a finished product mean to you and why are they important to you all?

Jeff Romero: So finished product, I guess that could kind of mean a few different things, right? So whenever I hear finished product, my mind immediately goes to the job, right? Finishing the job, walking away with confidence and understanding and knowing that what you just did was the right solution for that roof or that situation, whatever it may be. And I think the finished product is not really as important as what leads up to the finished product. We have to, like I just said, we have to vet that roof. We have to make sure that it's actually a coatable roof, first of all. Once we establish that, then we have to execute correctly.

Jeff Romero: Again, going back to the partner thing, if there's any time during the job that our contractors don't know what to do or they might have a question, they're just not confident, we will get involved again. So that finished product is kind of this culmination of all these things that you do leading up to it. You know, a successful job long term, you can have a great finished product, but two weeks later, three months later, whatever it might be, start having issues if you didn't execute correctly or qualify correctly. So I think it all goes back to the work we do on the front end, to lead to a good finished product. So the finished product is really just the result of doing what you were supposed to do in the first place.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, yeah. It's not always about the end result. A lot of times, it's about the journey, as they say.

Jeff Romero: Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, especially with roofs, especially with coatings. If we're going and removing an entire system, well, then we're kind of... It doesn't matter. We're going to go and we got to do it right, of course. But with coating, there's a few more steps that we have to do.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, so I'd love to hear from you how these commitments to your contractors choosing the right roof, the right projects and your commitment to the journey, not just the finished product, how does that influence your company culture? What's it like over there at PM?

Jeff Romero: You know, the culture is something that we take very, very, very seriously. Matter of fact, I'm leaving tomorrow, going out to Indiana for our annual Christmas party and meeting and stuff. So yeah, my wife and I, you're welcome to bring your spouse and all that stuff, so my wife and I'll be heading out there. Yeah, it's always a good time to get together with everybody and see everybody. The culture is, like I said, we take it very seriously there and we have a standard that we keep amongst ourselves internally that absolutely 100% bleeds out into our contractors. We work together, we really try to partner up. I have the pleasure of working with all of our sales reps across the country on a daily basis, sometimes too frequently. But yeah, I hesitate to use the word family because it sounds so cliché, but that's really what it is.

Jeff Romero: I call some of my co-workers, and that relationship that you have, where you can just cuss immediately whenever you talk to somebody and that's how I feel with the vast majority of my co-workers. It's just a really cool place to be, and I think whenever you partner with us, we love to take our contractors and do plant tours. Our facility in southern Indiana is absolutely state of the art. It's one of the coolest things I've ever seen. You know, it's not just guys pouring bags into buckets and trying to mix these things up. Everything is automated and plumbed throughout the big building. It's just the coolest thing ever. So I think whenever the contractors come in and do the tour with us, no matter who's there, they really get a sense of everybody's kind of chatting with everybody and all that stuff. It's just a really cool place to be, and I think our contractors really feel that whenever they come on and really get involved with us.

Megan Ellsworth: Wow, that's amazing. I couldn't agree more with you. The feeling of having true, genuine friendships in the workplace is so nice.

Jeff Romero: Yeah, yeah. It is, it is. And I mean, you don't feel that about everybody, but-

Megan Ellsworth: Exactly.

Jeff Romero: But everybody feels that about somebody. So it's just a really cool atmosphere to be a part of. I am unbelievably grateful. I love PM, I truly love PM. It's just a great place. Our president, Ms. Danielle, is... Our president is a woman, by the way.

Megan Ellsworth: Slay.

Jeff Romero: Yes, right, right. So yeah, she's great. I don't know, it's just, it's really cool to be a part of it and I know our contractors, whenever they get a little piece of it, they really feel it as well. That's really-

Megan Ellsworth: I love it.

Jeff Romero: Yeah.

Megan Ellsworth: That's awesome. And it's nice to, like you said, share that with your contractors, with your partners, give them a little piece of that pie. I love that. Okay, so besides premium products and amazing partnerships and everything that you do, what are other things that you do as a manufacturer to contribute to the quality of your finished products, to the ease of that journey to the finished product?

Jeff Romero: So I mean, it all boils down to service, right? Like I said, we don't just make silicone and send it out into the world and hope that people are using it correctly and doing things correctly. We're, again, as involved as our contractors want us to be. You know, that's such an encompassing idea, that service idea. I really don't know how detailed you want to go into it, but we do post inspections on jobs where we actually require our contractors to be on the inspection and we give them the opportunity to maybe make any little corrections that we would've dinged them on the inspection report while we're there. You know, those kind of things. We're always willing to have the conversation. That's a statement I say a lot to our contractors. We understand, you know, PM was born from a roofing contractor, so PM was started, his family originally was a roofer. So we have that roofer mentality.

Jeff Romero: We understand that when you get on a roof, they're not all going to be the same. Not all TPOs are going to be the same, not all mod bits are going to be the same. You know, none of them are the same. So whenever you come across that roof where you think it could be a coating, but something doesn't quite fit within our specs, we're always willing to have that conversation with our contractors. We want to have those conversations. "What can we do to get to the next step, to make this a successful job for our contractors?" And then, obviously, support afterwards. Again, being from a roofing background, we understand, we all have bad days. We all have jobs where nothing goes right. We just can't win for losing, right?

Jeff Romero: So let's say we have a job that, three months later, we start to have issues, we'll get on planes and we'll come and meet you and we'll walk with it. We'll walk the roof with you, and come up with a scope of work that will satisfy us, will satisfy you, will satisfy your customer, to get to where we need to be. I guess the one-word answer to that is service. That's really something we push on. We really, really... And I know, I don't like to say that, I'm not a sales guy. I tried that, that's not my thing, but it's the truth. It really is. Whenever we're talking about PM, it's really the service that we provide and the willingness we have to have those conversations and be involved on those jobs.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, that's so true. And I mean, just the fact that you all are willing to will fly out there, "We'll walk the roof with you, we'll do that as many times as we need to do," that speaks volumes. What kinds of training do you provide to contractors to help them arrive to the best outcome?

Jeff Romero: So that's part of what I do. We have another trainer, John Sanders, a great guy. He's been with PM actually longer than I have. He was one of our inspectors for a long, long time. Nobody can say they've seen it all, but John's probably pretty damn close. So the main training that we do is our CLA training. So CLA stands for Certified Licensed Applicator. That's what our certified partners are called. We call them CLAs. And the initial CLA training to get you certified is... I mean, it's the full gambit. We go through each one of our products in detail, when to use them, when not to use them, how to use them. We have a section where we talk about qualifying roofs, what we require for you to do in the way of moisture scans, core samples, adhesion tests, those types of things.

Jeff Romero: And then, we even go in a little deeper, what to do when you get a bad core sample or if you have moisture in a roof and what to do there. And then, we move into our full specs. So I walk through, step-by-step, on each roof system that we would be coating, TPO, metal, mod bit, EPDM, whatever, in detail, on what we expect as the manufacturer when you're applying these roofs. And then, of course, we have all the administrative nonsense, where the paperwork for warranty and yada yada, we walk everybody through that step by step. So that's the main training that we do. We also have kind of lighter versions of that, where if you're just kind of interested in PM, maybe you're not ready to be certified, we'll go and do a full product training for you.

Jeff Romero: I've even dealt with some of the smaller roofers maybe that started off on the residential side, kind of starting to dabble in the commercial side. We have a roofing 101 is what I call it, where we literally break down different types of decking, different types of insulative layers, different types of roofing systems, all the way from the top to the bottom and then how to install those systems, what they look like when you walk on them, et cetera, et cetera. So that's a really cool one. We use that one a lot internally with some of the newer employees whenever we bring them on, to make sure that they're up to speed on what they're seeing and what they're looking at and what they're going to see.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, no, that's brilliant. I think having everyone on the same page starting at a new company is so important. I'd love to know, because you mentioned a couple roof system types that you can coat, I would love to know what's been your most interesting project you've worked on in terms of coating?

Jeff Romero: We do offer custom colors. So there's a few out there that were custom colors that were kind of weird. I did an orange roof, that was as a contractor. It was very small. Well, I say very small, in our terms. It was a massive house. They had the terracotta roof, and they had a flat section that was visible from the second floor and it was white or black or whatever before we got there. So they wanted to coat it with a terracotta. So I was a customer of PM before I was an employee, so I got with PM, they custom matched that orange color and we did that one. So that one was kind of weird.

Jeff Romero: And then, we did one with one of our contractors, since I've worked here, up in Colorado. It was a massive metal roof. It was green, and it was part of a complex that had all green roofs. Well, the custom colors come with an additional charge. This was a job for a small municipality, so budget obviously was an issue and we did that roof in clear, so we have a clear product. So to maintain the aesthetic, but also save them a little bit of money on the custom color, we did that one in clear. So that was a pretty cool job, it was just kind of big. I mean, I've done some dumb stuff getting on roofs, but...

Megan Ellsworth: Haven't we all?

Jeff Romero: Yeah, geez, boy, have we. Anyway, but yeah, those are two that kind of stick out to me with PM. And then, we did a... I wasn't involved directly in that one, but we're still proud of it, there was one out in Georgia, I think that was right at a million square feet. It was just massive, big type of manufacturing or something. I don't know how far I can go or what I can say, so we'll just leave it there. It was just a big, massive roof in Georgia. That was pretty cool, to say that we did that kind of thing. Yeah, that's probably the ones and as soon as we're done with this, I'm going to think of like 10 other cool ones. And the minute this comes out, my co-worker is going to be like, "Dude, why didn't you mention this one and that one?" So we might have to do a follow-up update and talk about some cool projects.

Megan Ellsworth: Perfect. I would love to do a follow-up, because I love talking about cool projects, like the clear, I live in Colorado, so I can totally imagine those classic green metal roofs.

Jeff Romero: What part of Colorado do you live in?

Megan Ellsworth: I live in Denver.

Jeff Romero: Oh, I'm in the Springs.

Megan Ellsworth: Oh, no way.

Jeff Romero: Yeah.

Megan Ellsworth: Awesome. Wait, is PM based in Colorado?

Jeff Romero: No, no, I'm based in Colorado. Yeah, no, yeah, Southern Indiana. But whenever I got hired on with PM, it was in a sales role.

Megan Ellsworth: Oh, got it.

Jeff Romero: And the region was out here. I'm originally from South Louisiana.

Megan Ellsworth: Oh, wow.

Jeff Romero: Okay. So I moved my family up to Colorado for PM, and then shortly, after about two, three years in, I was able to take the technical position.

Megan Ellsworth: Very cool, very cool. Well, I love Colorado, so-

Jeff Romero: I do, too.

Megan Ellsworth: So I loved hearing that one of your favorite projects was here. I would love to know, last couple questions here, how do all of these efforts and things you provide for the contractors benefit them in the long haul? Like, maybe what's so special about being a partner with PM?

Jeff Romero: Well, again and I hate to sound redundant, but again, it goes back to the finished product that we talked about, right? So the service, the support, getting you to that finished product and having that peace of mind and the confidence after you're done with a job, knowing that, chances are, nothing's going to go wrong. Because if you talk to most roofers, they always say, "I don't want to get back on it. I want to do this job, I want to do it right and I want it to last the time that I told my customer it would last." So the confidence in knowing that, most of the time, that's going to be the case. Getting off that roof, and moving on to the next project and not having to worry about that one.

Jeff Romero: But also, at the same time, knowing and being confident that if there is an issue, you don't have to go at it alone. We're going to be right there with you. I mean, I've had situations where there was issues on a job in Colorado, where it was easy for me to just to drive out there and I'll go walk the roof without the contractor. I'll go take a look at it and see what's going on, kind of come up with a spec. So I guess it's just that peace of mind, that confidence of knowing that, chances are, the job's going to be fine and you won't have to get back on it. But if you do, you don't have to go and face it alone, that we're going to be right there with you, helping you along. And that's a big thing for a contractor, man. It's a big, big deal.

Megan Ellsworth: It is, that's huge. I mean, just the fact that also you're not just talk. You're walking the talk and talking the walk.

Jeff Romero: We like to think so. Yeah, yeah.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. You're not going to leave your partners, your contractors high and dry. So that's going into a partnership with a manufacturer like you all, it's nice to know, have that information in that.

Jeff Romero: So I do have one little story that just popped in my head about that partnership. So it's not really about a specific job, but so I got a phone call. I was in California a few months ago, and I got a call from a property owner actually in Denver and he said, "Hey, man, one of your CLAs did this job less than a year ago. I want a maintenance plan on it. They gave me a price, I feel like the price is too high. Can you give me a list of other CLAs that PM works with?" And he said, "I'm totally satisfied with the contractor, the job. I love those guys. They did a great job. I have a great relationship with them. I just want to price shop it."

Jeff Romero: So it kind of put me in a weird situation, as you would imagine. But at the end of the day, we stood behind our contractor. Essentially, what that property owner was asking us to do was give a lead that belonged to one of our CLAs to another CLA. And at the end of the day, refuse is a harsh word, but we called our contractor that he was already dealing with, we had some conversations and we worked it out with that property owner, rather than just giving him a list of other people. I mean, to me, coming from being a roofer, that is huge, massive, that we wouldn't pass that lead. And the potential for... I mean, you never know. These property owners rarely own one property, and property owners go to dinner with other property owners, right? So those things kind of snowball.

Jeff Romero: So to know that my manufacturer stands behind me that strongly and is willing to take the time out of their day to call me and say, "Hey, this is the feedback we're getting from your customer. Here's a suggestion. This is what I did when I was a contractor," whatever the situation may be. But just to have those conversations and not just send that lead down the road. I think that's one that I'm very, very proud of. And even though it would've went to another one of our partners, I would've done the same thing for any of them. So I think that's one that I'm really proud of.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, no, that's a great example. If I were a roofing contractor, like you said, that would mean so much, not just kicking it down the street to the next person. That is a really great example of the loyalty and the partnership that you said at the very beginning. Okay, so we've really talked you all up and PM just sounds like a great company to collaborate with, to partner with. How can contractors get in touch and experience this support for themselves?

Jeff Romero: So if you go to our website, pmsilicone.com, you can go to... There's a little tab on the top, I think, that says, "Find your rep," or," "Locate your rep," or something like that. If you click on that, it'll give you a map of the United States, hover over or click on your state and all the contact information for your regional manager will pop up. Our regional managers are great guys, man.

Jeff Romero: They're a lot of fun to work with, they're just a blast. Some of them are a little quirkier than others, and I don't mind saying that and they know who I'm talking about. But they're all wonderful guys, they really work hard. They really want to see their contractors succeed, and they really enjoy those relationships with their contractors. I hear stories about going on fishing trips, and this and that, all the time with all their contractors and it's just, they're really a group of really, really good guys.

Megan Ellsworth: Love it, that's great to hear. So are you all going to be at IRE?

Jeff Romero: We are, yeah. We're always at IRE, so-

Megan Ellsworth: DO you know your booth number?

Jeff Romero: I do, isn't that amazing?

Megan Ellsworth: Amazing, I don't know our booth number.

Jeff Romero: I have it written down right here. So 6101 will be our booth number. Our marketing department does an absolutely amazing job with our booth every year. There's always really cool stuff. A couple years ago we gave... I'm not a basketball fan, so if I say this wrong, don't kill me in the comments or whatever, but we gave away Final Four tickets. We had the little hoop game, and the winner got some Final Four tickets that year. Last year, we gave away a big, huge... If you remember, last year, IRE was right near the Super Bowl. So we gave away this big, huge tailgating package with cornhole boards, a grill, a bunch of chairs and the big, really nice tent. And the game last year was cornhole. So this year, we are giving away a free hunting trip. Details to come. Yeah, it should be pretty cool.

Jeff Romero: Like I said, Klaus and the marketing department do a great job putting this stuff together, but the game this year is going to be a Nerf gun target type thing. So the winner of that, we'll get the hunting trip and we'll have the details by the show for sure. But whenever I spoke to Klaus, he didn't have all the details yet, but it will be a hunting trip. It will be a Nerf gun, target-type thing. So the winner of that will get the hunting trip, and we'll have the details by the show for sure, but whenever I spoke to Klaus, he didn't have all the details yet. But it will be a hunting trip, it will be a Nerf target thing.

Jeff Romero: And we also, I'm really excited about this, because I'm kind of a diva and I love to be the center of attention, but we just got this new really cool demo table. So we're going to be doing demos throughout the show at our booth. Contractors will have a chance to come and get hands-on with the product if they want to. They'll be able to ask questions. I'll be up there. Klaus, my marketing guy, will have a microphone and everything on me and I'll be making all kind of noise and taking up a lot of space. So it ought to be a good time.

Megan Ellsworth: Oh, my gosh, that's so exciting. Okay, so repeat your booth number.

Jeff Romero: 6101.

Megan Ellsworth: Okay, everyone, if you're going to IRE and I know you are, go to booth 6101, play some Nerf gun games, say hey to Jeff and all the PM people there. And also, if you can't go to IRE, but you want to get in touch, you can go to their website or you can go to their directory on coatingscoffeeshop.com and find out more about Progressive Materials. Jeff, this has been so fun. Thank you so much.

Jeff Romero: It was a blast. Thanks for having us, we really appreciate it.

Megan Ellsworth: Absolutely. Oh, my gosh, I've had so much fun. I'm so glad to know that you're in Colorado. So any Colorado contractors, reach out to us. We can put you in touch with Progressive Materials, with Jeff, with the rep here and we will see you next time on CoatingsCoffeeShop, CoatingsCast.

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.