Jason Dark and Steve Ruth - X Marks the Spot with Duro-Last X Launch - PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of an live interview with Jason Dark, vice president of sales for Duro-Last; Steve Ruth, senior vice president of sales for Duro-Last and Heidi Ellsworth, RoofersCoffeeShop Owner. You can read the interview below, or listen to the podcast.

Speaker 1:
Welcome to Roofing Road Trips with Heidi. Explore the roofing industry through the eyes of a longterm professional within the trade. Listen for insights, interviews and exciting news in the roofing industry today.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Hello and welcome to Roofing Road Trips. This is Heidi Ellsworth with Roofers Coffee Shop, and today we are going to hear about some exciting new products. In fact, I'm with two of my favorite people who I have worked with on and off for many years, and that is Jason Dark, vice president of sales for Duro-Last, and Steve Ruth, senior vice president of sales for Duro-Last. And these gentlemen have made things happen in the roofing industry for so long. I'm really excited to talk about the new product that's coming out and what they've been doing. Steve, Jason, welcome to the show.

Steve Ruth:
Thank you.

Jason Dark:
Thanks, Heidi. Glad to be here.

Heidi Ellsworth:
So since I gave you just my kind of introduction, I would love it if you would introduce yourselves to our audience. Let them know who you are and what you've been doing. So, Jason, let's start with you. Can you give yourself a quick introduction?

Jason Dark:
Sure, yep. Jason Dark, I've been with Duro-Last for going on 16 years. Started at the company when I was 20 years old. I've worn many hats in that time. Today I'm vice president of sales and I really enjoy the roofing industry. I'm an active participant in the Roofing Alliance. I'm very proud of that activity. Serving on committees there and being a part of the roofing industry. It's just a great industry to be a part of. So happy to be here and looking forward to this conversation, Heidi.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I'm glad to have you. Steve, tell us a little... I know a little bit, but I want you to share with the world who you are and what you're doing.

Steve Ruth:
All right. I'm the senior vice president of sales at Duro-Last. Been with the company for 36 years, right out of college. I'm also one of those people that once I got in the roofing industry, loved it, found it fascinating, the challenges of it. A lot has changed in those 36 years. Been part of that change, has been great. The people in commercial roofing are the best people out there. So really enjoy the customers. The way the industry's evolved, new things are always happening. So really do love commercial roofing and had been doing it for 36 years.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I just think it says so much about Duro-Last, for both of you. The culture of Duro-Last, I've just been lucky enough to visit all of you in Saginaw a couple of times. I don't know. When I hear that, how long you both been there and the commitment to, not just the company but the industry overall, is so inspiring.
I'm curious, and I'm going to... Steve a lot goes on in commercial roofing, as we all well know, and a lot of changes. Things continue to progress. You have just come out with a brand new product. It's been fun to watch the lead up to it, the tease, and then woo, here's this product. So can you share, not just the new product with Duro-Last but kind of what got you there?

Steve Ruth:
Well, Duro-Last X as you called it, we call it DLX, it's the same product, is a new approach to single ply roofing. Duro-Last has proven for 43 years the value of custom. Custom fabricated roof systems and our custom approach to the rooftop and our services and what we do with contractors. So DLX is our approach to making roll good roofing better, faster, easier with that longterm performance we're known for and make it better for roofing contractors and buildings.
That's the foundation of where it came from. Really the voice of the customer drove it. But we're doing things with DLX that no one else does. We're custom packaging ten foot and five foot roll goods for roofing contractors to make roofing even easier.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Wow. Right now it is so important because of our labor shortage, our skilled labor shortage, to make the rooftop more productive. It seems like that's what I keep hearing from both of you and exactly, you're listening to the customers and returning that to them.

Jason Dark:
Yeah. Heidi. You mind if I add to that?

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yes, please.

Jason Dark:
Yeah, like Steve mentioned, DLX, of course, is just really exciting for us. We're happy to be able to bring this to the market, and it really is, it's the best roofing membrane in the industry and we take a lot of pride in that. We use state of the art equipment to manufacture the membrane.
Like you said, you've been to Saginaw, Heidi. It's all there. We're a true manufacturer from raw materials to finished DLX coming off that line nice and hot. We're proud of that. It's our premium blend of raw materials that we've been using for decades. When it comes to all levels of performance with this new product, from the reinforcement scrim in the middle of the product, it's more robust than our competing products. It's an 18 by 14 threads per inch that we've been using, again, forever. Our top layer is thicker than competing products. The bottom layer of this product, it's not a dark gray or a black filler that you typically see with roll good products.
So from a performance characteristic standpoint, this product is fantastic. It's the best on the market. We're really looking forward to see how it goes. Steve mentioned ten foot five foot rolls, of course. Ten inch and thirty inch rolls as well, 50, 60, 80 mils thick. We have it available in 100 foot stock rolls, but the real beauty of this product is, the real difference is, the custom lengths. If you need 90 feet, we'll make you 90 feet. If you need 190 feet, we'll make you 190 feet.
We're eliminating some of that labor with just using 100 foot rolls and splicing the ends, or butt rolls as the roofing industry knows it as. Just less decision-making on the roof, less workmanship, less material handling just all leads to less labor, less time, better for the contractor and better for the crew. That's DLX in a nutshell, and it's pretty exciting.

Steve Ruth:
With the industry looking alike, a majority of roofing nowadays is white thermoplastics ten foot wide. Saw a need there to provide something that made it easier on the rooftop, better for roofing contractors, more profitable for roofing contractors. Something to sell that makes it easy to understand commercial roofing to that decision maker. And that was the evolution of the DLX. So we're doing something different in a lookalike industry and providing something custom. We've done it for years with custom fabricated roof systems, which is the ultimate and custom solutions, and this is in line with that, that gives a roofing contractor and us an advantage on performance and selling.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I love that. I've been thinking about this and thinking about what you all have done over there with this launch. We talk all the time about that contractors need to be a part of the process. Contractor driven development, being part of what's going on. So Jason, and I know Steve, you just mentioned it too, as you were developing this product, how did you include contractors and how did you take their feedback to get to where you're at right now?

Jason Dark:
Yeah, Heidi. I mean, Steve mentioned it. It all started as the voice of our customers. For our entire company's history, our founder instilled in us, John Burke, the voice of the customer is everything. And our company is built on that. We actually have two different contractor advisory boards that we have four meetings with each year. By coincidence here, last week we had our advisory board meetings and those went great.
They gave us this feedback. In commercial roofing, virtually every system looks alike. Duro-Last has made its impact on the industry by not looking alike, and this is just another example of that, we think. Custom fabricated roof systems, that's been our key differentiator for over 40 years, mainly because it reduces the critical labor on the job site.
Our contractors, a couple of years ago, they started asking, "What can we do to make basic roll good roofing better?" They gave us ideas and concepts and DLX is what was born from that. That's kind of where it all started. And of course there's a great team behind it that made it all happen and that's where we're at today.

Steve Ruth:
Our customer base face that same labor struggle that all of construction faces, and they're always looking for ways that... Working with us to find ways to make that rooftop a better place to put a roof down, a faster place to put a roof down. So a lot of our product innovation comes from that group asking questions, all of our customers asking questions and giving us ideas and giving us recommendations on how to make the current assemblies and products and systems that we have faster and better. That's really how this originated several years ago. It does tie into that labor problem that is currently going on in commercial roofing. Custom fabricated roof system that we have, and the DLX system, really addresses that labor. Less people on the roof, less decision-making, and faster and easier installations.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I just love that. I know a number of your contractors who are on those advisory boards and if you get any of them starting to talk about Duro-Last or your advisory boards or how you all listen, you better be there for awhile because they're going to go on and on. You have extremely loyal contractors and so talented. So I love to see this. I love to see this all coming together, such great collaboration.
Speaking of which, bringing contractors together, I know you just had your national sales meeting. I have been to a couple of them. I've just never been to anything like them before. One of the best in the industry. How did this year's national sales meeting go, Steve? What all came out of it?

Steve Ruth:
Well, we always have had a yearly event where we invite roofing contractors to come together and really work with them. It's two days full of educational sessions, listening to them, us presenting new things to them, reminding them it's just not about the rooftop and it's just not about our products. We tie ourselves to roofing contractors with support on how to run their business. We have people come in to do that. One of the big events that has happens every year at these things is the interaction between roofing contractors, sharing ideas, making friendships that last for years, working together to understand roofing better. So there's that interaction of roofers, and we've done this for 30 to 40 years.
Well, things changed this year, so we had to do some things different. We had a virtual event, couple hours a day. Very short but very to the point. We brought some new products out, we talked about business, how to run your business. We talked about the pandemic and what's working and what can be done. And we also launched the DLX product there. So we did launch a very big product line, a new roof system completely unique to commercial roofing at this event, and it's working. So this virtual event is having an impact and we are getting considerably good feedback from roofing contractors that attended. The products that we introduced are moving, they're trying them, they're giving us great feedback. So it was a successful event even though it was virtual and a couple hours a day, but it really worked.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. That whole new hybrid level of where we're going in the future, Jason, I mean, we're going to be seeing it a lot more virtual even when we can get back together.

Jason Dark:
Yeah. It's been a bummer, but we're making the best out of it. And like Steve said, this year, we knew this wasn't our national sales seminar because we know that that's a live event with networking and just real connection. We called this Duro Days and it really was. I mean, it was great. We got really good feedback. I'd encourage anyone listening to this, of course we had two days with two hours of general session content. Like Steve said, really to the point, five to eight minute delivery of key topics and messaging from a Duro-Last perspective on Monday and Tuesday. And then Wednesday and Thursday, we had 18 breakout sessions total. Really great breakout sessions from really good provisions for your contracts to how to generate new business. Marketing, cold-call, you name it. Just tactical stuff.
Anyone that's listening to the podcast, I'd strongly suggest, if you want access to that content, reach out to Duro-Last and we'll do what we can to get you connected. We'd love to share that with the roofing contractors because it was, it really was a great event.

Steve Ruth:
There was hundreds and hundreds of contractors that signed up and at least a thousand individuals that did tune in for that week to learn more, to ask questions, to communicate with us during those four days of events. And it was excellent.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Wow. That is so impressive. I just love how we're all being creative in order to keep business going, no matter what. We just have to do things a little bit different. One of the things we see all the time at Roofer's Coffee Shop is that contractors like to hear what other contractors are saying. They want to hear how's it going? Do you like this product? How's it working for you? So I'd be really interested, for our audience out there who are listening, what was some of the feedback from some of your Duro-Last contractors about DLX? Maybe Jason, you could start that off.

Jason Dark:
Sure. Well, DLX is one thing, but it's also... A lot of our contractors, they've got a really positive outlook for the year, which that's nice to hear, and being optimistic is important. So we're definitely seeing a nice little uptick so far, which is nice. From Duro-Last, our product launch of DLX, to me, not a lot has changed in commercial roofing over the years. One of the biggest challenges in labor, is labor, right? That's a huge challenge for roofing contractors. Of course soaring costs is another one.
This new product line, just like all of our product lines, it saves labor, it saves on scrap, it limits the decision making on the rooftop. Our entire program is designed to make the life of a roofing contractor easier, and that's what this product line is. There's a tremendous selling advantage built into all of our product lines as well, and of course that's intentional. We're different. We're trying to give our contractors something to differentiate themselves in their local market, and this is another product that does that.
We've gotten nothing but positive feedback from the contractors on this. Of course, once we announced it, we started shipping it. There's plenty of projects going on right now that we're excited to see how they finish. Of course we had a pilot program and saw all the positives of it. But it's faster, it's easier. We design everything to be less people on the roof and just peace of mind after it all. To us, that's what's important long-term to roofing contractors and that's how our contractors feel about it. That's the feedback that we've gotten so far. So far so good, Heidi.

Steve Ruth:
Yeah. I noticed is a podcast and you don't have visuals, but just think about it. If you had a building that's 91 foot long by 65 foot, a typical Main Street roof, typically you'd have to buy eight rolls of roofing, of 100 foot roof... You'd have to buy eight rolls to cover that. We will make you seven rolls 91 foot long, and all you're taken off that roof are the cardboard cores. You're not taking any butt rolls off, you're not resetting roles and lining them up and welding the ends together. It's one piece from edge to edge.
The same thing could be done on building that was 130 feet by 65 feet. Seven rolls cut to the length of the building, not having to splice pieces in, rehandle it. There's no T patches at those intersections where you're doing your inseams. So again, seven cardboard cores come off that roof with no extra work. It's a labor saver, decision-making, rework, all that's eliminated from that building top, the rooftop. Again, four man crew can get a lot done in one day with DLX.

Heidi Ellsworth:
You know what I like about that too, is we know we have pain points, right? We know we have pain points with labor right now and getting labor, skilled labor. When I see products that actually are developed and brought to market to solve the pain points of the contractors, you know that that's really going to make a difference. Obviously it's going to deliver an amazing roof for the end user, for the building owners. And Steve, you just kind of went over that with that enhanced efficiency, but can you talk a little bit more about that?

Jason Dark:
Yeah, Steve, if you don't mind, I'll jump in because the way Steve just pictured that, right away I was thinking, yeah, it's efficiency. That was perfect. Some examples that we've seen, obviously in the short pilot program that we've been doing this, a couple of contractors, big buildings, ridge to eave, were able to run. One project in particular was 164 foot rolls from ridge to eave going down both sides. That contractor told us they were 30% more efficient. That was the number that they used for feedback.
You've got to think, there's other situations, just edge to edge of the building. Like Steve said, say it's 91 feet, or 138 feet, whatever it might be. It just creates this incredible efficiency. Like you said, Heidi, about just the building owner confidence. These roofs look incredible without all the patches and T patches and butt welds, which is fantastic.
I just want to highlight it again, we've got the platform here. We can make these rolls up to 200 feet long. Frankly, 200 plus. Depending on the situation, we've got a lot of technology to make for some huge efficiency here. Just this morning, I was talking to a roofing contractor about a roof that was, I think, it was 578 feet wide and creating, figuring out how to make that the most efficient left to right installation. They're going to use DLX on it. The custom approach to it, it does create some incredible efficiency and ease on the rooftop that [crosstalk 00:20:54]-

Steve Ruth:
And when you add in the induction welding concept, where you can actually... By wind zones you can actually put your plates along the perimeter of the building in place, do inline fastening on the inboard part of the roof, put these custom rolls down, fit them in place, and then one guy drops back and does the welding along the perimeter and you've got an enhanced wind roof with just the 10 foot rolls custom fit to the length of that building. Don't have to have picture frame it with a special rolls and all the seaming that goes with that. Same role across the whole building, use the inductive plates underneath it. That's another big [inaudible 00:21:33].

Jason Dark:
And Heidi, when you do what Steve just said there with the induction weld, our Duro-Bond system, you can get more done with less. Four, five, six person crews can fly. They can get a ton of work done. Roofing contractors know that's dollars, right? That's labor hours. There's a lot of benefits to being able to do that. It's cool.

Heidi Ellsworth:
We have so many more logistics than ever before because social distancing, when can you be on the roof, what's going on in that commercial building? We don't know anymore because everything has changed so fast and be able to provide this kind of product and solution to the building owners is really... That has to help the contractors like nobody's business. Steve, you know this is one of my favorite things, sales. And positioning roofing to building owners and how that really makes a difference. How are you working with Duro-Last contractors on talking about this new product to building owners?

Steve Ruth:
Well, the Duro-Last custom fabricated system, which has been around since our inception, and now the DLX system are completely unique. It really does set you apart from local contractors that are selling what everyone else is. Is a 10 foot wide roll good, or a five foot wide roll good? It gives you a seller advantage. When you're educating the decision-maker with not only the custom approach but the custom accessories and all the parts and pieces of commercial roofing, it's easier for them to understand. They know a rooftop is a harsh place to work. It's not always comfortable up there and it's hard to make those decisions and get the quality good. But when you have something that's custom made, you're taking some of that away from that rooftop, get it done faster. There's going to be less long-term liability for them.
So this unique approach sets you apart in commercial roofing and makes it easier for you to sell. Build confidence in that decision-maker, in that building owner, where everything else looks alike. It's very predictable. It's very predictable for the roofing contractor in the coverage and the time and the ordering and the installation. The same thing can be transferred to the decision-maker, the building owner, that it's predictable, quick and easy.

Jason Dark:
Yeah, and Heidi, to add onto what Steve just said there, when you're selling Duro-Last, we think that it's something that you can demonstrate and show a building owner, how it's so different. Any run of the mill builders grade roll good, it's just a roll of roofing membrane. Our custom approach, you can really show them. We like to arm all of our contractors and manufacturer reps in the field with we show and tell, right? You know what I mean? If we're going to tell it, we want to show it. We want to show you our accessories and how we custom make them to a quarter of an inch of whatever the accessory is, whether it be a scupper, a curb flashing, whatever it might be. It's all custom for that building. That's our story and that's what makes our system great.
The same goes for our custom fabricated roof system. What we're trying to demonstrate to a building owner is roofs leak at the transitions, right?

Heidi Ellsworth:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jason Dark:
Where things are sticking through your roof and where a bunch of hand work and hand labor and hand welding's done. That's the variable, and that critical rooftop labor is what every product we make, we're trying to eliminate that. Obviously we found, over the years, our success is being able to show that to building owners that care about their investment and care about their building. It is an absolute differentiator and it helps us overcome the less expensive, cheap systems that are out there. We're proud of that and that's done great for us over the years.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I think now more than ever the building owners, purchasing agents, all of the people out there are more educated about roofing, about the buildings, about what they want because they have to deal with tenants who are asking for certain things, and obviously the overall protection but also energy savings and possible renewable energy on the roof. I know that as a company, you are all very committed to all of this and providing all the full benefits of the roof to building owners. What are some of the examples of building owners who are... I know it's kind of early on, but any feedback or any examples that way, Jason?

Jason Dark:
What do you mean? I didn't really follow.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah, sorry. Some examples of getting in front of the building owners and really selling the full package of what it's all about because labor savings and taking care of the roof. Also, Duro-Last does so much more with their roofing systems that are so important to the owners.

Jason Dark:
Yeah. Obviously we've got a lot of loyal customers that have had great experiences with our contractors. Obviously when the dust settles, what really makes Duro-Last strong is our contractor base is incredible and they provide just great service beyond anything we could ever hope for. And with that, we get a lot of repeat customers and things like that. We do a lot of schools and a lot of government and a lot of military bases, and they come direct to us for our product and it's because of the reasons, I think, that we talked about here. We've proven that we can take care of them long-term.
Thankfully, we're well known in the hospitality space. Thankfully, they had a rough year in 2020, but we're starting to see them rebound. That's an area that we do a lot of business. Heidi, you mentioned renewables and solar and recycling. We're really proud of that too. We do a lot of recycling. We take back old roofs, old Duro-Last roofs. We turn it into our walk pads. We have a rooftop paver system. We take 100% recycled material and make those items. So, yeah. I mean, those are all things that we're always going to be interested in.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. That is so cool. Steve, it's hard to believe, but I think there are some contractors out there who maybe have not used Duro-Last or are not familiar with you, have not drank the Kool-Aid yet. So I would love it, can you share for the contractors out there who maybe are interested in getting involved, working with Duro-Last, what's the best way for them to get in touch with you, but also to start building that relationship and looking at if it's a good fit for their business?

Steve Ruth:
Well, we have manufacturer reps all across the United States and Canada that they can just contact us and we'll get them in touch with them. We also have a very large field of technical reps. These are individuals that climb ladders every day. They do inspections for warranties, they train roofing contractors on the nuances of Duro-Last. So we have this large field team that's willing to support any contractor whenever they need. You contact our office, we'll give you the local people, and yes, we want to hear from contractors, so that's one way to do it. They can go to our website and communicate with us and find out about us. But again, we focus on the roofing contractor, supporting them and the products and installations and selling a whole library of services that are available to roofing contractors.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. I've watched, for so long, and you all do just one of the best jobs out there. I loved what you said, Jason, about the loyalty of the building owners. So many of your contractors have long-term negotiated work and they are bringing that together.
So last thoughts, and maybe Jason, I'll start with you on how really bringing that DLX into that negotiated work, into the longterm, into the business. It sounds like it's not going to be that big of a jump, but for contractors, any words of wisdom on starting to incorporate this product into their business?

Jason Dark:
Heidi, I don't know that I have anything earth shattering on that. I mean, every contractor has their preference. Any contractor that wants any additional information or how we're go to market with it, we provide a ton of training, sales training, installation training, on all of our specific product lines. So from a DLX perspective, we think it has a pretty broad scope of use across the industry on many different building types. And that's going to help us grow, it's going to help our contractors provide additional options beyond what we had in the past. That's how we look at it right now and we think it's going to be great for us.

Steve Ruth:
Yeah, it's something that doesn't exist. It's an answer to questions that people, that contractors, have been asking for for years. It solves labor issues, rooftop decision-making, there's less scrap, there's less T patches. There's less of everything on that rooftop to make it easier.
Then it's backed up by a very unique warranty in commercial roofing. We have a 15 year and 20 year warranty that has features that no other warranty has. You can build confidence with the building owner through that custom approach and back it up with that warranty, again, nothing else like it in commercial roofing.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Steve, thank you. Thank you. I'm so excited for you all. I mean, what a fun way to go into 2021 with such a great new product and such a strong long-term, as always, great company. So thank you both for being here today. I appreciate your time so much and I'm really excited to see... We're going to have to talk again later on in the year. I want to hear how everything's going and get some of the examples of this new product, DLX, going out. Steve, any last words?

Steve Ruth:
Just thank you for the opportunity to do this. We appreciate it and I'm looking forward to some feedback.

Heidi Ellsworth:
You too. Jason?

Jason Dark:
Yeah, thanks, Heidi. Hopefully we see you at IRE in August.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I hope so, too. I miss all of you. That would be great. Again, thank you both for sharing this new product launch. And thank you also to everyone in Duro-Last for really never stopping, for always taking that next step of what is needed out there for the consumers and the contractors. I'm sure people say it all the time, but I can tell you what, the industry appreciates it.
I want to thank all of you. Thank you so much for listening today. You have questions, as always, you can visit Roofer's Coffee Shop. The Duro-Last directory has all the information about DLX. We also have articles on there. We're going to be having more case studies as we come out.
And of course you can listen to all the podcasts. We've had a couple of different Duro-Last podcasts that are out under our read, listen, watch section of rooferscoffeeshop.com. So thank you again for being here today and have a wonderful day. We'll see you next time on Roofing Road Trips.

Speaker 1:
Make sure to subscribe to our channel and leave a review. Thanks for listening. This has been Roofing Road Trips with Heidi from the roofercoffeeshop.com.