Coronavirus Won’t Stop Contractor’s Corner with Corey

By Karen L. Edwards, RCS Editor.

When training contractors is what you love to do, you find a way to keep it going, even during a pandemic.

With training centers shut down and roofing job sites practicing strict social distancing, Corey Johnston hasn’t been able to do what he loves – train contractors. Typically, Corey travels to Tremco’s headquarters in Ohio to use the company training center for filming episodes of Contractor’s Corner with Corey.

Passionate about roofing and teaching others, the travel restrictions and social distancing guideline have made it difficult to bring groups of people together to learn. So, Corey has taken matters into his own hands by using his iPhone to film short videos in his shop in Calgary, Alberta. “Not being able to get out and train contractors in the way I was accustomed to, I thought doing a few short LinkedIn videos would be a way to get the information out there and still have interactions with contractors,” explained Corey.

Corey’s knowledge comes from his lifelong background in roofing. He started out working summers with his stepfather at a residential roofing company while he was in school. He enjoyed the work and the money he was earning so much that he decided to pursue a career in roofing, earning his Red Seal Journeyman certification, which allowed him to work in any province in Canada.

He moved into commercial roofing because it provided more steady, year-round work. “As a roofer doing commercial roofing, I worked on a number of Tremco jobs through my career,” Corey said. “As a foreman I developed a good relationship with my Tremco rep. Eventually when I decided I wanted to make a move in the industry, Tremco was my first choice of companies.”

Corey joined the Tremco team five years ago as a contractor support specialist, bringing his 25 years of experience to job. We asked Corey how he was chosen to be on Contractor’s Corner. “I do a lot of training and support work in the field directly with contractors and some of my superiors noticed that when I did my training, I had a little bit of a different approach,” explained Corey.

“I also have a few inventions that I can up with to help roofing contractors do a better application,” shared Corey.  “I have a lot of tips and tricks of the trade that make an installation go smother in addition to tips for staying clean on the jobsite and how to work with certain materials. It was shared with me from experienced roofers along the way and it’s my responsibility to share with others, especially the new guys coming up in the industry.”

His unique approach to training keeps contractors interested and engaged. “Being a contractor, I like to break things and rip them apart and play with materials so when I do contractor training, I like to bring materials and samples that they can poke through or hit with a sledgehammer,” said Corey. “It really engages them and make the training interactive.”

When not training, Corey says that he enjoys hanging out with his family and trying to keep up with his very active 4- and 6-year old children. “We like to fish and camp, and there’s never any shortage of work to be done around the house,” Corey said.  

See all of Corey’s video in his RCS video playlist.