Holly Green & Sarah Ramon - The 2024 Texas Roofing Conference - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Sarah Ramon and Holly Green of Roofing Contractors Association of Texas. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast.

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Karen Edwards: Welcome to another episode of Roofing Road Trips. I'm your guest host, Karen Edwards, and today, we are going to be talking about the Texas Roofing Conference and we've got folks from the Roofing Contractors Association of Texas joining us on today's episode, Sarah Ramon and Holly Green. Welcome, ladies.

Holly Green: Welcome, thank you for for having us.

Sarah Ramon: Yeah, thank you so much.

Karen Edwards: Now, just for our listeners who might not know, I'm sure that many do, but Sarah, could you introduce yourself and tell us what your role there is at RCAP?

Sarah Ramon: Yes, I am the executive director here at RCAP. I've been here almost 13 years. I am super, super, super proud of this organization that we have in our 49th year and just extremely happy to be part of the crew here and contributing to this great industry that we're in.

Karen Edwards: Thank you. And Holly, what's your role with RCAP?

Holly Green: Well, I am currently the president of RCAP for this year, and I own and operate a roofing company in Fort Worth, Texas. It's called Brettco Roofing. Been in the industry since 1988, that's a long time. I was 12 when we got started. That's what I tell everybody. Anyhow, 37 years, owner, operator, odd jobs, do everything that pretty much anybody does on a job site.

Karen Edwards: Wow, and you've seen a lot of changes and a lot of things happening in the roofing industry in Texas, I'm sure, during that length of time. And Sarah, you said 13 years-

Holly Green: Oh, yeah.

Karen Edwards: ... and this is the 49th conference. I feel like the conference just keeps getting bigger every year. Is there something that you're most excited about for this year's?

Sarah Ramon: Well, not one thing in particular, I'm super excited to get together with everyone and see everyone again. We do this conference once a year, and it's a great time for everybody to get together and see a lot of those friendly, familiar faces that you don't get to see very often. So I think that's the thing that excites me the most. I mean, we are growing. I try to get this a little bit bigger and get a few more people in the door every single year. This year, we've got 150 exhibitors, 23 programs, three days worth of events. So it's a lot, but it's a lot of fun.

Karen Edwards: It sure is, and let's get right down the basics and say the dates of the conference are September 11th through the 13th, correct?

Sarah Ramon: That's right.

Karen Edwards: And where is that going to be this year?

Sarah Ramon: We are at the Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas. So in the Dallas-Fort Worth area again this year. We hop between major markets in Texas, so Dallas-Fort Worth always seems to be our most highly-attended events. So yeah, we're excited to be back in that area again this year.

Karen Edwards: That's fantastic. Now, Holly, what are you most looking forward to for this year's conference?

Holly Green: Oh, I'm really super excited. I can't believe it's been... Sarah and I picked the venue and she looked at me like I was incredibly insane and I said, "Let's try it in the middle of the Metroplex instead of off in Great Vine or somewhere else." So I've attended events at the Las Colinas Convention... The Convention Center in Irving and I think it'll bring a lot of adventure for everybody, because we have two different types of hotels. We're going to have some really good events on our opening night, where we're going to have... I think Sarah's planning on putting me in jail and I have to bail myself out to help us to... And not only me, but I said there are some people we're going to put in jail and pay to keep them there.

So we're raising money for our PAC fund, which of course helps with our legislation. We've got an upcoming year of legislation, so I'm looking forward to that. I'm looking forward to our keynote speaker, who is actually a person that I've been following and working with, for since 2016. His name is Hans Johnson, and this is, like, he very rarely does keynote speaking and he has offered to be here for us and we're super excited about it.

But yeah, I think getting to see everybody, it's always so much fun. I'm hoarse by the time we get done with the event, because I've spoke so much. And of course, we have our scholarship program that I'm the committee chair on, that we have only 300 tickets and you have a chance to win $5,000. So anyone out there listening, if you plan on attending or if you don't plan on attending, go on to RCAT.net. Is that correct, Sarah? And go look under scholarship and there's a link. You can buy a ticket for $50 to possibly win $5,000. So just letting you know, they go fast.

Sarah Ramon: Yeah, and-

Karen Edwards: And so will you do the drawing-

Sarah Ramon: [inaudible 00:05:53] don't have to be [inaudible 00:05:53].

Karen Edwards: ... [inaudible 00:05:53] to win?

Sarah Ramon: [inaudible 00:05:54].

Karen Edwards: Yeah, I was going to ask.

Sarah Ramon: [inaudible 00:05:56].

Holly Green: You're doing the drawing at the event, but...

Sarah Ramon: Yeah, we do this every year. It raises money for our scholarship foundation. This year, we're actually giving away a little over $51,000. Those students have already been selected and notified, and we're in the process of cutting out those checks. So yeah, definitely buy a raffle ticket, 50 bucks for a chance to win $5,000. We only sell 300 tickets, but yeah and you don't have to be present to win, but that's a really exciting part of the wrap-up of the trade show on Friday. Draws a big crowd, everybody's waiting. And there's more prizes that we draw as well, but that is a lot of fun on Friday at the show.

Karen Edwards: Okay, so getting started, you have a golf tournament, right? Is that your kind of first-day activity?

Sarah Ramon: We do. We sell out two 18-hole courses. We have 288 players out there. We're at Bear Creek, right by the Dallas Airport, DFW. And that is a great event as well, always a lot of fun. Good to get people together on Wednesday before the conference begins. And then, after the golf tournament, Wednesday evening, we have the welcome reception. It's at the Texican Court across the street from the Irving Convention Center. A really, really cool venue. We'll have some live music, and everybody can come in and say hello and spend some time networking before the conference really kicks off, down to business on Thursday morning.

Karen Edwards: So I was looking at on your website, at RCAT.net, which we mentioned and you've got the full schedule of classes out there.

Sarah Ramon: We do.

Karen Edwards: And the topics are so interesting. There's culture, there's insurance work, there's legal folks presenting, there's marketing, there's sales. It's almost like, you name it, you're going to find something that is going to be of value to your business.

Sarah Ramon: Yeah, absolutely. I think one of the hottest topics this year from a legal perspective is this misclassification of employees, 1099 versus W-2. The federal government is really coming down hard, and has issued some further mandates on that. So yeah, we've got, like you said, legal, sales, marketing, safety, technical, little bit of everything for everybody.

Karen Edwards: And I'll just give a little plug that Megan Ellsworth and Heidi Ellsworth from Roofers Coffee Shop will be presenting one of those classes on how to market your business by starting a podcast. So that's really exciting. I wish I would be there to hear them present, but I'm sure they're going to do a great job.

Sarah Ramon: Yeah, they are always really, really well received.

Holly Green: Yeah, [inaudible 00:08:52].

Sarah Ramon: So great topic for the future [inaudible 00:08:54]-

Holly Green: [inaudible 00:08:54] information.

Karen Edwards: Yeah, and part of the workshops and the learning is I'm sure a lot of the classes are interactive, so you can hear from some of your fellow attendees, maybe what they're doing or things that they might be experiencing. So you're not only learning from the presenters, I think you're also learning from your fellow attendees and that networking is important.

Sarah Ramon: Yeah, absolutely and we've got a great panel on Friday morning with some familiar faces, but this panel will be made up of commercial and residential roofing contractors, public adjusters and attorneys, both carrier and contractor attorneys. Steve Badger and Steve Patrick will be there. This is always a great one too that draws a large crowd and it's interactive, so you can submit a question for the panel to answer and this is a two-hour program. Like I said, this will be really exciting and it's really what the future holds in the roofing industry for insurance and claims. We're seeing a lot of change. Insurance deductibles and premiums are increasing, and things are really changing out there for the store restoration contractors.

Karen Edwards: Yeah, and Texas certainly has its share of restoration work and whether they're local contractors that are established and working in Texas or some that may be coming in from out of market even, it's important I think for them to understand regulations and what's to come in the future, so that does sound very interesting.

Sarah Ramon: Absolutely.

Karen Edwards: Now, let's talk a little bit about licensing, because Texas, the state of Texas technically does not have licensing requirements for roofing contractors, but that's where RCAT has stepped up and developed a voluntary licensing program. So I'd like to talk a little bit about that, because I think you guys are going to be providing some information on the licensing for folks and what should a contractor expect that maybe can they learn how to voluntarily become licensed?

Sarah Ramon: Yeah, so me Holly, she's a voluntarily licensed contractor in the state, so I want her to give some perspective on this from a contractor standpoint. But let me cover just the facts, the basics. No, the state of Texas, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation does not oversee a license for roofing contractors in Texas. And so RCAT developed this program, and yes, we call it a license and we legally do so. This gets a lot of heat, it gets people stirred up in the state of Texas, but we developed this voluntary self-regulation to raise the bar in the roofing industry.

We think that consumers in Texas deserve more, deserve better. Anybody in Texas can call themselves a roofing contractor. You don't have to have any experience, you don't have to have insurance, you don't have to have a license, you don't have to have anything. And so unfortunately, in Texas, roofing scams are perpetuated at a very high rate. And so this is, like I said, voluntary self-regulation, but you can set yourself apart from the rest of the pack in Texas by showing that you really care, that you've proven you carry insurance, your business has been through a background check.

There's a criminal history check on the person who's getting the license, you have to pass examinations. So we offer, at least once a year, they do come around a little more often, but specifically at the conference once a year, we have what's called our bootcamp. And so this bootcamp is designed to help you prepare for those exams. Those exams are not easy. It's not a joke, it's a difficult program. The standards are high, and we do everything that TDLR would in any event, because hopefully at some point, Texas does have a license for roofing contractors.

But the bootcamp is designed to help you prepare for those exams. So we go through the material, through the business and safety, the residential and the commercial roofing modules with you. We have a 99% pass rate with the bootcamp. We also offer the testing online, any time. You don't have to be a member of RCAT, it's any qualifying Texas roofing contractor can participate in the program and you can watch the courses online and take the exams online as well, at any time throughout the year.

But the bootcamp is super special, because it's very interactive. You have an opportunity to learn a lot and ask a lot of questions, whereas you don't online. And like I said, we have a 99% pass rate for those people taking those exams, which aren't easy. That's on Thursday, and then on Friday morning, you take the exams and for those people participating in this session, you'll receive an all-access pass to the entire conference and all of those events.

Karen Edwards: Wow. So Holly, as a licensed RCAT contractor in Texas, I'd like to hear from you what this has meant for your business and maybe how it's helped you and how it's perceived in the eyes of your customers.

Holly Green: Well, number one, what I love is the fact that you are being vetted by a third party and it proves that you are a legit business person running a company and that you don't have any bad background as they say. I did not take my test until, I believe, 20... I don't know, it's been a while. I don't know, probably seven or eight years I guess is what I've... And I'd always wanted something that could help me set myself apart from everybody else, that I knew the technical issues, all the different types of applications. And it just helped me to be able to explain, once reading the books from NRCA and the business portion that we created with RCAP, running a business in Texas, it is different running a business in Texas versus somewhere else.

It is kind of, as they always say, the Wild, Wild West. But it's helped me help my customers understand that I take pride not only in the work that we do, but that we do do it, we install it per manufacturer specs, we follow all of the specifications when we're vetting projects, from commercial to residential as well. And we try to come up with the best systems that will meet the budget of our customers. And I think it also comforts them to know that we have insurance. And especially in the state of Texas, if you do commercial work, you tend to have workers' comp. It's not required on residential, but fortunately, my company particularly has commercial. We do commercial and residential, and it's just one more way of verifying that we are who we are, that we do the right thing.

And that's the one thing in my company, it's like above all else, always do the right thing. And that's what I like, is that I'm setting myself out there with another group of people that also try to do the right thing, especially when it comes to roofing. I can't tell you how many times we tear into systems that are not done correctly, that there are four and five and six layers of underlayment that have never been removed. These people have had multiple roofs put on and they don't understand why they have a leaking roof.

And then it's like, and then we come in and tear it all down to the substrate and take care of it and do it right, replace the substrate that's damaged and install the valley systems and follow the city codes and do everything we're supposed to. And really, and you have not only the field knowledge, but you also have all this legitimate information from all the technical books and the manufacturers and you go, "Oh, that's why we do this. Now, I understand." You realize that if your underlayment is not ever torn off all the way to the substrate, you're not going to have a warranty.

Well, we want our customers to have a warranty and then we're able to offer them better warranties, because we're also certified with most of our manufacturers, too. But yeah, it's helped my company. It's helped me personally to grow in the industry, and also to share that with others and encourage them to become members of associations, to give back into the community of roofing, in the roofing industry and that we do try to... All are working to be represented better than two chucks and a truck, those types of things.

And it is just a great program, I'm so glad to be a part of it. And I encourage anyone, member or non-member, the test is not that easy. I know we have a really good rate [inaudible 00:18:55], but I'm going to tell you, when I got done with it, I took commercial and residential the same day. I was like, "Oh, my goodness, I think I just went back to college and went through my worst finals in the accounting and finance and everything else that..." I mean, you've got to be able to know where to go get this information and be able to pass the test. So just letting you know, it's not as easy as everybody thinks it is, but it's definitely worth the time and the effort. And what I love is that you also have to do continuing education. That is another reason why we do the conference.

Sarah does an incredible job with our conference. I mean, she just blows it out of the water every year. And we have improved on what we do. We actually record, video record every one of our sessions. If you're a member, you're able to go and access those items online, because there's so many things. You want to go see all the different classes, but you can't be in all of them all at the same time.

Now, you have the opportunity to go back and watch it online and that helps you get your continuing education hours as well. I do not understand how some people think they cannot get enough hours. And I'm like, "If you're not doing at least 30 or 40 hours in continuing education in your industry, then you're not engaged." And I think it's time we all ask owners, and operators and people in the industry, "Step up, be engaged, because if we don't, we're going to get taken over by something else that we don't want."

Karen Edwards: Yeah, you know, you always want to be continuously learning, because there are new things happening all the time.

Holly Green: Oh, yeah.

Karen Edwards: As you've seen, someone in this industry for so long, you see there's new technologies, there's new products, there's new methods of doing things.

Holly Green: Right, right, correct and that's what's so great to go back to a customer and go, "You know, I gave you a great roof the last time, but you really got a good roof this time, because these are the things that have changed. These products have improved. Here's why we can give you better warranties. Here's why we can help you build a system that can help you get a discount on your insurance with class four shingles instead of Texas..." If you install a Class four shingle, you can give them a certificate to get a discount on their homeowner's premiums. So that helps them overall lower their output costs as well, so that's what I love about it. I mean, it's just a great program.

Sarah Ramon: Yeah. As Holly mentioned, that's one very important part of education at the conference. We want to make sure that those licensed contractors who are required to provide us proof of eight continuing hours of education every year can come to the conference and literally knock it out in two days. You don't have to do that. We have hundreds of hours of education online in our portal available to these people, but I'm kind of the opinion that there's no excuse for not continuing to learn in any industry, honestly, because you're just falling behind your competition and everyone else, if you're not out there understanding what's new, what's trending.

I mean, just marketing alone, look how fast that changes, trends change, social media, et cetera. So it's very important to stay engaged and to learn, and that's why at the conference, we try to offer such a diverse package of education for you that is helpful to both residential and commercial contractors and improve your business acumen all the way around.

Karen Edwards: Yeah, very well put. And that just lends itself to bringing multiple members of your team, right? Maybe bring your marketing person, maybe bring your project managers, because there's an opportunity for everyone to take away a little bit of information and knowledge from this conference.

Sarah Ramon: Yeah, look at that list of 150 exhibitors coming in. You've got suppliers, manufacturers, software providers for your CRMs bidding, estimating, marketing. Roofers Coffee Shop will have a booth there as well. There's just so much there in such a diverse mix of things to see that, yes, really it's for anybody, your owners, your operations, your project managers, even your crews, too. One really cool thing we're doing new this year, which we didn't touch on educationally, is we're doing some demos on the trade show floor. So we're super excited to have Ludowici Tile.

They'll be doing a class, Polyglass, will be talking about underlayment technology and so we have a few of them. Oh, GAF Energy, the new solar roofing, not solar panels, but solar roofing materials. That's a big upcoming trend that we're going to be seeing a lot of. So we're excited to be having these hands-on training and demos with these groups on the trade show floor, both Thursday and Friday as well. Not just educational seminars, but those too.

Karen Edwards: Hey, there's nothing better than seeing it, right, in action-

Sarah Ramon: Yeah.

Karen Edwards: ... and being able to touch and feel. So I always tell people, if you're listening to this, you're planning to go, please go on the website a week ahead of time, even two weeks ahead of time and make your list of, "Hey, I want to see this exhibitor or I want to see this product or I want to attend this demonstration or these classes." Because if you just show up, it can be a little overwhelming, right? Because there is so much to see and do.

Sarah Ramon: Yeah.

Karen Edwards: So just take that little bit of time and plan it out ahead of time. And how do they get registered to attend?

Sarah Ramon: So you can register online. It is RCAT.net/TradeShow. All the information that you need, all the events, registration details are there. We will also be launching our mobile app about three to four weeks prior to the show, which is a great way too to plan your day, because you can literally bookmark classes that you want to attend. It'll send you reminders and notifications. So yeah, RCAT.net/TradeShow will have everything that you need to know.

Karen Edwards: Excellent. Well, thank you both for being here. It's really exciting, all the stuff that you have planned and all the knowledge that everyone is going to be able to gain by attending the show. So please get yourselves registered, download that app when it's available and go to Heidi and Megan's podcast class, because that'll be a lot of fun or send your marketing people to it, definitely.

And thank you, Holly. Thank you, Sarah. It's been a pleasure to learn about everything that's happening at the show. Thank you, everyone out there for listening. Be sure to follow us on social media, follow RCAT on social media too, to stay on top of the latest updates and advances with the show. And we will see you on a future episode of Roofing Road Trips. Thanks.

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