By Heidi J. Ellsworth.
RoofersCoffeeShop is known for being on the road and participating in our great roofing industry associations. Recently, I hit the road and traveled to Virginia Beach for the 56th Annual VARP Summer Convention. It was great. I was able to make industry friends and incredible roofing contractors.
According to VARP’s recent announcement, “this year’s convention kicked off with the welcome reception and cornhole tournament. Congratulations to this year’s champions: Justin Maitland of Johns Manville and Anson Martin of Valley Roofing. As one attendee put it, "the first night was very casual and fun and allowed for a lot of networking with new connections and catching up with existing connections."
The next morning was the annual meeting and education sessions. Committee chairs updated members on the status of various VARP activities and programs, including advocacy and workforce development. For the education portion, attendees were treated to a presentation by Lisa Sprick, NRCA’s Chairman of the Board, who gave an update on the current roofing industry landscape. After that, Patrick Readyhough led a group discussion on the roofing industry best practices.
The discussion included important topics that are affecting all roofing companies including mergers and acquisitions; hiring, retention and core values; and promotion from within along with safety and recruitment bonuses. One very interesting discussion was on the use of AI Chat and how companies are using it to write SOPs, marketing documents and recruitment ads. The format included questions submitted ahead of time and then Patrick leads the discussion. It was very insightful.
The annual awards banquet was held later that evening. Attorney General Jason Miyares was the keynote speaker and was recognized by VARP for his work to support small businesses. After dinner, VARP recognized this past year’s outstanding volunteers and installed the 2023-2024 Board of Directors:
Contractor of the Year – Paul Davis, Jr., Phoenix Roofing
Supplier of the Year – Jim Tait, ABC Supply
Associate of the Year – Bill Hale, Hale Associates LLC
Hall of Fame – Rick Dalianis (retired)
President - Marc Reitzel, Reitzel Home Improvement
1st vice president - Bob Shackford, Paramount Builders
2nd vice president - Thomas Easter, Roof Services Corp
3rd vice president - Mike Bruni, Owens Corning
Immediate past president - Todd Scanlon, TST Roofing
Mid-term directors (2022-2024 Term)
First year directors (2023-2025)
VARP sent out a special thank you to all the sponsors who made the event possible, including RoofersCoffeeShop! It was great to see our friends from Bitec, Hunter Panels, APOC and Johns Manville.
Remember to mark your calendar for the 2024 event: VARP 57th Annual Summer Convention, July 24-26, 2024 at The Homestead.
Learn more about Virginia Association of Roofing Professionals (VARP) in their Coffee Shop Directory or visit www.varoofingprofessionals.org.
About Heidi
Heidi is the president of The Coffee Shops. She is very involved with roofing associations and helped launch the Roofing Technology Think Tank (RT3) and National Women in Roofing. When she isn't working she likes going for walks and playing cribbage.
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