Heath Hicks - Put Safety First with Job Site Protection - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Heath Hicks of The Catch-All. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast.

Intro: Welcome to Roofing Road Trips, the podcast that takes you on a thrilling journey across the world of roofing. From fascinating interviews with roofing experts to on the road adventures, we'll uncover the stories, innovations and challenges that shape the rooftops over our heads. So fasten your seat belts and join us as we embark on this exciting roofing road trip. 

Heidi Ellsworth: Hello and welcome to Roofing Road Trips from Roofers Coffee Shop. This is Heidi Ellsworth. And today, you know, I'm really excited about this podcast. We're gonna be talking about safety, but in a very progressive way on really how do you take products that really help you on the job site overall, but also are essential to safety. So we brought the expert in the field who knows all about this, Heath Hicks from the Catchall to Roofing Road trips today to talk about it. Good morning, Heath. 

Heath Hicks: Good morning. How are you doing, Heidi? 

Heidi Ellsworth: I'm doing great. You know, I love hearing about your products. You have one of the most inventive minds out there in roofing. I just love seeing everything that's coming out and and your real focus on safety, I think, which is so important. So, but before we dive in, which I just did, let's start with an introduction. If you could introduce yourself and tell us about your company. 

Heath Hicks: Sure. Awesome. Well, yeah, my name is Heath Hicks. I own a roofing company in Texas called Afco Roofing. Been in the roofing industry now for about, uh, 15 years, 16 years, something like that. And in the process of, you know, growing our roofing company, myself and my partner in the catchall, Eric Macintosh invented a system called the Catchall that helps protect the job site during, you know, residential roof installation. And then from there we've invented, uh, several other products along the, kind of the same route. Some of them are similar, some of them are different. Some of them do, uh, kind of an extension of the original product. And so, yeah, now I'm basically full-time with that and, you know, trying to invent stuff every day to make the job site better, safer, clean. 

Heidi Ellsworth: I, I love how you say that. Basically full-time with that. I <laugh>, I don't know if I could ever keep up with your schedule <laugh> and what you do <laugh> that, that is awesome. Well, we just, I know it's, it feels like we just finished IRE, it's been a month now, but I know you had a lot of new stuff, a lot of great new products that you shared at IRE. Can you tell us about your three new products that are designed to improve safety on the roof? Because I think this is so great, or on the job site. 

Heath Hicks: Sure. Yeah. You know, one of the first ones, it's called the AC Shield. It's kind of an extension of our catchall system. So it's a system of nets and poles that cover the AC unit while you're doing a roofing, you know, tear off an installation just to keep debris off of and out of the AC unit. And 

Heidi Ellsworth: Nice, 

Heath Hicks: You know, basically every job site that you go to, you'll see the crew in some way trying to protect the AC unit. Whether there's a sheet of plywood on the top or a piece of foam on the top or a tarp over it or something. There's almost always some version of protection for that unit, but many of them are not good for the unit. 

Heath Hicks: And in some parts of the country it's very, it's a very regular part of their process to ask the homeowner to just not run their air conditioning unit all day so they can cover it. And you know, here in Texas you can't get away. You can't get away with that in the summer. You cannot stop it. It has to be running all day. And you know, that's not the greatest way to deal with the, with that unit. You really want to protect it in a way that it can keep running. And you know, when I was in the field every do every day doing roofing, I had figured out some ways, but they were pretty cumbersome and time consuming to set up and take down with, you know, a bunch of sheets of plywood and, you know, maybe a piece or two of netting from the crew trailer or something like that. 

Heath Hicks: But, you know, we, we extended our system from the catchall and used some of those same parts and pieces we made and, you know, invented a unit that really covers the AC unit and it covers, you know, basically 90, 95 to 98% of all units out there as far as size go from the small ones to the big ones and just keeps all the debris off of it and keeps all the granules and nails out of it. But it can continue to run all day 'cause it's not suffocated or stifled or anything. And so we're really excited about that. We've sold a ton of those right off the bat. 

Heath Hicks: Because it's kind of a no-brainer product. It's not very expensive. It packs down into a small bag that'll fit in the back of your truck, you know, back behind the seat of your truck or something like that. And you can just reuse it over and over again and saves you, you know, a lot of money in the long run. You only have to hurt one air conditioner a year to cost yourself a lot of money, you know, so. 

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. Yeah. And when you really think about it, like you said, in Texas and all over the country, we're talking over a hundred degrees most days once the summer hits. So that's a safety factor in itself. And then just being able to protect that air conditioning unit. So you're not pulling debris in or we're damaging the unit overall. 

Heath Hicks: Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's an exciting product. We're excited to get out in the market. It's in pre-order right now, but yeah, it's on its way here really soon, 

Heidi Ellsworth: So. Okay. What about the roof step and why is it such an important upgrade option for the homeowners? I'm interested in that. 

Heath Hicks: Yeah, we got a lot of really good attention on that at the show. 'cause we had a big display there. We could see it and try it out and step up on it. So if you're curious about the description, you're gonna have to go look it up because it's a little bit hard to picture. But, you know, maybe you guess can cut in some B roll or something, but 

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. Yeah, 

Heath Hicks: Basically it's a permanent access point that, you know, the roofer would install during the installation of the job so that the homeowner and other contractors would have a safer place to access the roof. So it is basically just what it says, it's a step that you install in the valley corner between the two sides of the valley, above the gutter. It has some hooks in it to hold the ladder, receive the ladder, so when you climb up and down the ladder doesn't shift or fall backwards or forwards. And then there's a platform that is left there when you install it that you step off of the ladder onto a very rigid, stiff steel platform that is made to look really nice paint. You can paint it to match trium or the gutter or whatever color is appropriate. So it doesn't stand out quite as much. That just provides a place for you to be able to step off the ladder onto a really firm level platform so that from there you can access the roof instead of trying to step around the ladder and get up onto the pitch of the roof. Um, 

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah, 

Heath Hicks: Especially now that most gutters are getting to be six inch gutters and now you're even farther, you have to step around and get your foot up onto the roof and you know, roofers do it all day so they're not as uncomfortable with it. But, you know, at the same time, roofers fall all day. 

Heath Hicks: Every day the roofers fall off the roof, you know, getting on and off the ladder. And there's, depending on the year, somewhere around between 600 and a thousand homeowners a year die at their house, um, accessing the roof. Wow. Hanging lights, cleaning gutters, you know, looking at leaks, looking at some blowing off shingles from a storm. And they don't typically fall off of the roof itself. They typically fall when they're getting onto the roof. So they're still partially on the ladder or they're getting onto the ladder when they're coming down. And, you know, I've had, I mean, more, more homeowners than I can remember in the last 15 years doing roofing that I've heard about that either just fell right before I got there. Or I find out right after we did the job that, you know, the husband or whatever fell trying to clean out the gutters or just go look at the roof and it's just not a safe thing to do. 

Heath Hicks: And the mindset around commercial roofing is a lot better. People realize they need to be safe. 'cause typically the roof access points are higher, they're gonna be on the roof longer and they're just more prepared. And OSHA is a lot stricter around workplace stuff. And so people getting up and down on commercial roofs are, are typically, you know, keeping, keeping their mind wrapped around safety in some way or another. But when you're at a home, oftentimes the homeowner or the contractor that might be fixing the leak in the chimney that's not roofing or someone looking at a window repair or siding repair up there, um and especially roofers, they just don't consider it because they do it all day long and they're up and down so fast. If they're just popping up there to check where a leak is at, you know, real quick or to take a couple pictures to write an estimate, they get up and down so fast. And so they're doing it so many times a day. And there's, you know, not really a, a good way to tie off on a, on an average residential roof. There's certainly not a good way to rope off. And so it's just with all the, you know, with that high volume of access just up and down and up and down from roof to roof to roof, you know, people fall and 

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. 

Heath Hicks: Um, we want to change that mindset and, you know, provide every home with a safer access point than what exists right now. And it's not safe of course. And, you know, getting up and down on a roof is never gonna be safe. But, you know, we believe this is a safer way to get up and down. So. 

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah, I, I love that. And you know, one of the things that makes me think about Heath is we are starting to see the growth of residential service where contractors are, you know, putting service programs together with their homeowners to come out and clean the gutters to check the do inspections, um, once or twice a year. Um, what a great addition for a contractor as they are installing a roof to use the roof, install the roof step and make that also part of their service and maintenance program that they're gonna do for residential. 

Heath Hicks: Yeah, absolutely. You know, if you had the contractual inspections and repair relationship with that customer, you know, you could just offer it as an upgrade to that, that yearly contract to install the roof steps so that we can get up and down safely. It'll be here for as long as your home is here and you know, you'll have it for everybody to use yourself included, but it'll, it'll come with our contract, you know? 

Heidi Ellsworth: Right. And 

Heath Hicks: In the reroof scenario, it's basically just an upgrade. 

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. 

Heath Hicks: Which will increase the, you know, the revenue and the margin on the job. You know, 800, 

Heath Hicks: Homeowner. Yeah. I mean the safety factor. Yeah. I mean, most homeowners are gonna go, yeah, that sounds like a really good idea. You know, whether or not they wanna pay for it. You know, maybe that's salesmanship on the, on the roofing sales part. Right. And or, you know, maybe some budget consideration for the customer, but everyone that we've shown it to, you know, whether in person or in videos and some of our testing scenarios, everyone's like, yeah, that seems like a really great idea. So there's not a lot of resistance to it other than some people are like, aesthetically, like, I'm not really sure. I'm, I'm not sure if it's really gonna stand out too much. But the way we designed it, it's not an eyesore. It looks like it's designed to be a decorative part of the roofing system. And so, yeah. But just being able to go to a job as a roofing salesperson and offer an upgrade that makes a lot of sense that homeowners are gonna be highly interested in that. You can also feel good about, you know, we, we like the way that sounds and we think it's gonna sell well. So 

Heidi Ellsworth: I think so too. And when, when you're, you know, in that home selling, whether you sell it as an upgrade for safety for the homeowner or you really have that conversation with the homeowner of, do you really wanna get up on your roof? But we will, and we're gonna install the safety equipment to make that easy and good for you or anyone else who has to get up onto your roof, um, makes total sense. I can, I can really see that. I think that's brilliant. I love 

Heath Hicks: It. What did you think when you saw it? Because you saw it, right? 

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. I thought it was great. I you're right, it do, it looks ornamental. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And it makes sense to me. It, it, it kind of, as you can tell in my mind, you know, Heath, our marketing minds tend to kind of go there and I'm kind of like going, Ooh, this is a great tool to start talking about service and maintenance. This is the Yeah, yeah. This is a way to do it. Yeah. So 

Heath Hicks: It can be a fun little way to generate, you know, some online ads that would differentiate your roofing company. You know, not just a, you need a new roof or Hey, do you have a leak? You know, offering a 

Heath Hicks: Yeah. Just to see who would click on that. It's gonna be a different group of people that maybe look past all the other ads. I might click on that. Um, yeah. So I'm interesting to see what people are gonna be able to do with it. 

Heidi Ellsworth: I love it. I love it. You know, and when you think about it, there's so many things. I mean, there's cleaning out vents, there's, I mean, there's just a lot of stuff that somebody's getting up there and to have that as a safety factor. 'cause it also reduces the risk for the homeowner, whether they're doing it or whether they have other people getting up on the roof. That is a risk reduction. 

Heath Hicks: Yeah, absolutely. You know, I think in the long run, I think homeowners insurance will probably take into consideration if you have a roof step and they'll actually start kind really pushing you towards having something like that and or a permanent access point to rope in right above that. Just so that there is a, an easy, safe way to get roped in, you know, to tie out the ladder, have a safe access and then an easy place to rope in. Um, I think, you know, in the long run that's gonna be something insurance really considers. 'cause homeowners nowadays, a lot of them are really concerned about it. When I started out roofing, you know, homeowners didn't really think about it. But now it's very common for the homeowners to really want to see your insurance and vet it and make sure that it's really real so that if someone gets hurt, it doesn't come back on them. You know, um, people are exactly educated as that industry is expanding and Yeah. You know, things are getting more and more litigious as time goes on, you know, 

Heidi Ellsworth: They are. 

Heath Hicks: Yeah, 

Heidi Ellsworth: It is. I mean, and just the overall amount of people who are on your roof now I think has led to that too. Mm-hmm. Because we didn't used to have as many people on the roof. But now you have telecommunications, you have satellites, you know, like adjusters across the board, so Okay. You had a third product that I am also very excited about. And that is your pool shield. Yeah. Um, tell us about that. 

Heath Hicks: Yeah, so we've had a lot of contractors over the years ask us if we have a pool cover made out of the same, you know, proprietary netting stuff that we use for, um, the catchall. And for a long time we didn't really see the need, we weren't really sure why people were asking so much, but when we dug in, we realized that there's a big safety issue if someone falls in, falls into a pool while there's a tarp on it. And, you know, that seems a little bit obvious. You know, if you were to fall into a pool and you fell into the tarp and you were laying down, you would have no way to swim. You wouldn't, it'd be very difficult to get out. And if you were in the wrong position, I could easily see you being, you know, stuck or suffocated. Yeah. 

Heath Hicks: And so I, I felt that one right away. But what I didn't realize is that people fall in there more often than you think because when they put those tarps out, they'll just pick their big tarp, right? They've got a bunch of tarps. They picked a really big one that'll cover the whole pool or most of the pool. But when they put it over the edge, they're using shingles and stuff to lay it down. And it normally covers a lot of the deck as well. 'cause they'll cover up the deck of the pool to try to keep it from getting marked up or scratched or whatever. Um, and so then when you're walking back and forth, you can't see where the edge of the pool is because the tarp covers the whole pool and the deck. And if they stretch it tight, a lot of times you're just not sure. 

Heath Hicks: And so it was more common that I thought for people to step off that edge and maybe not make it all the way into the pool. Sometimes they do, sometimes the tarp is still there, anchored somewhere where they can get out or whatever. But, you know, in a worst case scenario, that's not an experience anybody would want to have at a job site. And so when I realized that, thinking back through job sites and I visited a few, I was like, ah, I guess if you're in a hurry, especially if you're rolling that wheelbarrow around or something and you're not paying total attention or you can't really see because that just looks like a big uniform blue or gray surface from that tarp. I'm like, yeah, I can see how people get end up in the pool. Yeah. And so, um, when we figured that out, we went ahead and made one. 

Heath Hicks: And people are really excited about it. We've sold a lot of those too. Yeah. It, it's, it's made outta the same netting we have. So you can clearly see the pool underneath the net, whether or not has, has a cover. Obviously we recommend using it over a, a real pool cover so that if somebody fell in, they, that those typically the pool covers are built to handle that. But whatever, whatever scenario it's in, you can very clearly see the edge of the pool where it terminates and where it starts and avoid, you know, falling into the pool. But it also still keeps the debris out, keeps granules out. Our netting has a small, uh, fine enough mesh to it that it keeps granules still from landing in the pool and obviously keeps out all the trash and debris and nails and stuff like that. So 

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. And makes cleanups so much easier. 

Heath Hicks: Totally. Yep. Sure does. Yeah. 

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. I mean that's, that's been across the board all along. But when you think about it now you are expanding out around the house to make that cleanup even easier across the board. And I know that's been a lot safety, also the cleanliness of the job site have been top motivators for you as you have been inventing and putting these products together. 

Heath Hicks: Yeah, you know, we, we definitely were trying to solve initially the trash and cleanup problem just on our own job sites at my roofing company. That's what we invented it for. But, you know, very quickly we realized the marketing power of the, of the, the unit, you know, once it has your branding all the way across the side of it, it's like a big billboard all the way around the house where everyone can see exactly who's doing the roof. And you know, nowadays you can just look at the banner and click on the QR code and set an appointment or ask for an inspection or call the company or whatever it is right from, you know, your yard on the other side of the street, a couple houses down. You can just scan the QR code and and get an appointment or just call a company. 

Heath Hicks: And we see thousands of uses of the QR codes per month. 'cause they, they kind of run through my back, back backend system. So I can see when people use 'em, I can't see any of their information or anything. But the way the QR codes are set up, I can tell every time someone uses one. And we get thousands and thousands of uses every month of Jesus great customers all around the country. You know, using those QR codes to contact that company and the sales potential. You know, when you're a good salesperson and you can really differentiate yourself with, you know, how much your company does to protect the customer and their investment and go above and beyond, you know, really wants the company gets it in their hands. That's the most powerful part of, it's really the sales part. 

Heath Hicks: Yeah. It helps you close deals and, you know, build some good rapport and expectation that of good performance and people feel more interested, more, more comfortable using a company that's gonna really go outta their way to protect their asset like that. So it's powerful all the way around. And you know, some of those things I didn't see, I didn't understand when we first built it. 'cause we weren't really trying to build a marketing tool or sales tool. We were just trying to basically just keep the nails outta the grass and the flower. But it was so hard to get out once they get in there. You know, you can roll your magnet all day long, but you are gonna leave a bunch of nails behind no matter how you do it. And the key for us was just figuring out how to keep the nails from ever hitting the ground. 

Heath Hicks: 'cause once they're there, they're really hard to get 'em all back. And so, you know, we pushed really hard for that and then found several other layers of benefit. And then right now most of our customers that are buying it are choosing it for the marketing value. It's really what there's, well it is their, you know, kind of lever that they're using to actually make the purchases. They can see, they can see the return on investment from a marketing and lead generating standpoint. So it's been a really cool ride. I've really enjoyed it stepping into a different seat in the industry and doing something different than roofing. Um, you know, it's been, it's been good. I've enjoyed it. Yeah. 

Heidi Ellsworth: It's fun. You know, when you really look at it, you've got three such incredible messages when it comes to job cleanliness and just protection of the assets, like you said, protection of the house, but also then the safety elements. Yeah. Across the board of, from the original catchall. I mean that has a lot of safety. 

Heidi Ellsworth: When you think about the homeowner and protecting and everything. Yeah. And then all these new products and then marketing on top of it. Yeah. It really kind of hits every checks, every box for the contractors. Yeah. You, you talk to a lot of contractors, heath. Oh yeah. What are some of the things that you kind of talk to them about? Marketing, obviously the QR code Yeah. And the branding on the catchall, but also kind of how do you talk to them about incorporating your original products and now these new products into the sales process and really using, see if I say this the right way, but I see them as marketing tools during that sales presentation because you're differentiating yourself from your competition. 

Heath Hicks: Yeah. Yeah. One thing that, you know, I talk a lot about when I'm at roofing conferences is this idea of hyperlocal marketing where mm-hmm 

Heath Hicks: You're really focusing on the exact set of customers or neighborhood or small region that you really want to work in. And you're hitting them from all these different angles. You know, whether it's mailers, online ads, really condensed areas, specific neighborhoods, nextdoor app, yard signs, banners, the catch, all things like that. Keeping your, your marketing efforts really focused. And a lot of those are on the lower cost side as well. 'cause you're not trying to blanket a whole area. But if it's an area that you're already working in and you already have some presence and you have some roofs sold or you're about to build some roofs and you turn on this approach hyper hyperlocal marketing where you're really kind of giving them five to six different ways to get impressions of, of your company and who you are. While they're also seeing you come in and out of the area in and outta their neighborhood, they're seeing your truck at the gas station. They're seeing your, you know, your vans rolling up and down the street and they see your trailer and your catchall in jobs you're doing, you know, when it comes time to do a roof, whether you knock on their door or you don't, they're gonna think of you. And 

Heath Hicks: It's, it's a much lower cost way than just trying to, you know, get on the radio across the whole city or put billboards up everywhere. And a lot of times you're generating leads in areas you really don't wanna work in with customers you don't particularly wanna work with or houses or roofing systems you that really don't wanna work with. But when you really focus it, you can really basically select which customers you're really marketing to and which ones are gonna be calling you. And you know that the system is a big part of that 'cause it generates leads for you. And if it has generated a lead for you, when you go there and it's a part of your presentation, it's kind of a slam dunk because that's what they're all expecting, seen it in the market and they've seen that you're using it and that really nobody else is using it. 

Heath Hicks: And you know, after the price quality concern where the pri the customer's trying to figure out what the price is gonna be versus what quality they get, they've, they've got these little levers they kind of mess with how much they wanna build and what kind of quality they want. Um, after that their number one concern is are you gonna mess up all my stuff? You know, are you gonna mess up my garden? Or whatever it is. And so if you, if you've mastered the price quality matrix of figuring out how to sell to which customers you want and provide enough value to get the price that you want, um, then their very next concern is, you know, are you gonna take care of me? Well, are you gonna damage all my stuff or not? And so you get 'em from that to this and there's a really good way to kind of tie it together at the end. 

Heath Hicks: You know, a lot of, a lot of retail roofers will in their pitch kind of offer the setup and tear down of the catchall for a fee 500 bucks or 800 bucks or I've heard a thousand dollars or whatever just as a fee to do mm-hmm <affirmative>. To do the setup and tear down really just because it's different than what everybody else does. It's not really that it takes any longer, but you know, at the end of the pitch they'll often just say, Hey, you know, if you, if you choose our company today and you wanna go with us, you know, we'll throw in the that catchall for you and we'll give you extra a thousand dollars value. And that's a really good way to kind of, to add value in your value category to justify the price you're asking. You know, we do a lot more than anybody else and we really try harder. So we're worth it more than competition. And it's a really good message. I've seen a lot of guys really actually charge the fee for it. You know, there are a lot of people and then, you know, those same oftentimes we'll throw it in for free if they're trying to close a deal. So 

Heidi Ellsworth: When you think about what you're protecting, I mean it really and the inconvenience for a homeowner, you know, they don't wanna have to be picking up nails. They don't wanna have to be worrying about granules in their pool. They, you know, they, those are the kind of things that I think make a huge difference for people as they're trying to make a decision between different contractors that they know someone's gonna take care of 'em and and then it's gonna be safe. When you're thinking about that roof step too, really bringing in products that are a little bit different that are lasting, that will really make a difference for them down the road. 

Heath Hicks: Totally. Yeah. It's all the different products, depending on how you pitch 'em, are just a really good way to get attention and different differentiate yourself. For sure. 

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. One thing you made me think of, and I just have to bring it up 'cause it's age old and heath, this goes back to my very beginnings in the roofing industry, but what did, you know, we used to always do door hangers, right? Yeah. And so you, you get into a neighborhood, you have, you set up, you're doing your roof and then you take the door hangers and you put 'em on everybody about, you might hear some noise, you know, it's, it was never really a sales thing, it was always kind letting them know what was going on just as another subliminal to, Hey, we can do your roof too. Yeah. But I love the idea and sorry, I just have to kind of go there, but I love the idea of those door hangers having the catchall on it. Yeah. You know, showing that and really showing that difference. 

Heath Hicks: Yep, totally. We, we actually have a, a few companies now, I mean, I, I can't remember exactly how many, five or six that I've heard of that have kind of rebranded the catchall as a part of their proprietary system. And it's not even called the catchall. Like there's a, a company I believe, uh, somewhere up north, maybe Minnesota and they're called Mammoth Roofing and they call the catchall the wooly wall. It's like a part of their system is all their pictures, you know, they, they've taken it and made it a part of their proprietary system and kind of white labeled it for themselves. And you know, I think that's really cool because it's the 

Heidi Ellsworth: Woolly wall 

Heath Hicks: Market. Yeah. The wooly wall for Mammoth Roofing. I always thought that was, and there's several companies that have done that. And I I think that's awesome. 

Heidi Ellsworth: I love it. I love it. That is so cool. So let's talk just a little bit training. And so we, we um, I know we have contract a lot of contractors out there who are listening to this who are already using the catchall. But for those who are not using the catchall, what does it take to kind of get started using it and then to bring on these different, you know, the AC protection Yeah. The pool protections roof step. Yeah. How, how does that work and what's some of the training that's involved with that? 

Heath Hicks: So the setup and tear down of the basic system really takes the same amount of time as tarps and plywood. You know, if, if everybody on the crew grabs a few pieces, it takes 10 or 15 minutes. If you have one or two guys there that go there before the job to set it up separate from the crew, it might take them 30 minutes to an hour just depending on the size and complexity of the job. But if they were, like I said, if they were just using a bunch of tarps and plywood to cover everything, it's, it's really the same amount of time, if not faster because and you can cover more of the house more easily than you could with tarps. 'cause tarps basically just gonna cover from the bushes down. This covers all the way up under the eu, under the gutter, provides more protection. 

Heath Hicks: But as far as training, really, you just watch the instructional video once or twice and it is pretty self-explanatory and we have that in English and Spanish. But once you set it up a couple times, you've kind of figured it out. And then if you go back and watch, you know, one of the videos again, you know, in a week or two you'll see a few things that maybe you missed and you'll get better at protecting the, you know, the small trees or bigger shrubs. And you know, you'll see some ways in there you can kind of protect corners of the house better than how you started. But it's, it's certainly not complex. It's not easy, it's not hard to figure out. A lot of times guys will just open it up and just use it without even watching the instructional videos just 'cause they saw a picture of it. So it's not, it's not complicated. It doesn't take a lot of time to learn as far as the kind of add-on pieces like the shrub shield and the AC shield and things like that. Those are all, those are super self-explanatory. And so once you take the thing out and you start putting it together, you realize, you know, the 20 different ways you can use it. So, um, we, we never really have anybody calling asking for more clarity on how to use it. It's pretty straightforward. 

Heidi Ellsworth: I love it. I love it. And as contractors are starting to bring this into their safety protocols Yeah. Into their setup, how is that working? 

Heath Hicks: Um, yeah, I mean it's good. One of, one of the benefits of safety that I really enjoy is it keeps the homeowner out from under the area that you want. You're working. Yeah. And it can cover over the front door. Like I so many times the, the, the homeowner trying to come outta the front door because the trailer is sitting in the driveway blocking the garage or whatever and they've got their car on the street and they walk right out the front door, <laugh> and there's stuff falling and there's hammers, you know, going down singles. You know, it's always so stressful because we, you know, clearly communicate you need to go out this door and this door only and if you need to go and just call me or wave at me and get me to come because I need to stop things. And you know, when you've got the catchall up there and they open their front door, it's all screened off. 

Heath Hicks: There's no way for them to get out <laugh>. So, yeah. Uh, I really like that benefit. It just keeps the homeowners outta the way. I don't have to worry about them walking underneath everyone working. Same thing with any kids or dogs that are going up and down the street. You know, I've had, I've had times where I was doing a roof and somebody walking down the street had their dog off leash and their dog runs up to like pee on a bush and their stuff falling off the roof and you're like super stressed out and you know, when you have that system up there just basically keeps everyone and everything out of your, out of your work site and yeah, I like that part. 

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. What a great, and also again, sorry, gotta go back during the sales process talking about these things. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Totally talking about the safety elements of the products and how they can really make a difference in that job. Heath, congratulations. Wow. Great products. Congratulations on, you know, the launch when I know you said some of these are on a waiting list. When, when can contractors expect to be able to start ordering and using all these products? 

Heath Hicks: Yeah, so you can order any of them right now. The AC shield should be here really quickly within the next 30 days to 60 days. From what I understand, we have the pool cover, the pool shield in stock now and the roof step is still getting through a little bit in manufacturing. So you can't say exactly yet, but I would expect within the next 60 to 90 days, we'll have units of that to move around. 

Heidi Ellsworth: Perfect. And you'll be able to hear all of this, find out what's going on on the catchall directory, on Roofers Coffee Shop or Heath, where else can they go from more information? 

Heath Hicks: Um, the catchall.com. Yeah, it's got a lot of information there. Lots of videos, you know, lots of stuff to find on our Facebook page too. Lots of videos and reviews and things like that. 

Heidi Ellsworth: I love it. I love it. I love your videos. So very great stuff to use. Great ways to see what other contractors are doing, how they're incorporating this into their business and how they're making a difference in their business. So Heath, thank you so much for being with me today. I always love talking to you. 

Heath Hicks: Awesome. Thank you Heidi. Enjoyed being here. 

Heidi Ellsworth: Thank you. And thank you all for listening. Please check out the catchall directory on Roofers Coffee Shop. These are the kind of products that will make a difference in your business. So get look, look 'em up, incorporate 'em. We're going into season. Now is the time. Also be sure to listen to all of our podcasts under the read, listen and watch navigation. 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. 

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