Larry Miller - ARCA's 53rd Annual Arizona Roofing Expo - PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Larry Miller of ARCA. 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 long-term professional within the trade. Listen for insights, interviews, and exciting news in the roofing industry today.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Hello, and welcome to another Roofing Road Trips from RoofersCoffeeShop. I'm Heidi Ellsworth, and I'm here today, we are going to be road tripping down south to Arizona. A little early virtually, because we'll be there at the end of September for the ARCA, Arizona Roofing Contractors Association, show.

Heidi Ellsworth:
We wanted to make sure you all knew about it and what was going on, so we reached out to Larry Miller, who is the current president of Arizona Roofing Contractors Association, and asked him to join us on this Road Trip. Welcome, Larry.

Larry Miller:
Welcome. Thank you, Heidi. It's great to have an opportunity to be on your podcast. As you said, my name is Larry Miller. I'm vice president at Gorman Roofing Service, and the current president of the Arizona Roofing Contractors Association.

Heidi Ellsworth:
That is awesome. I'm so happy. We've worked with Gorman for many years on RoofersCoffeeShop, Larry, so we love you guys.

Larry Miller:
Oh, good.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. And we, of course, whenever we're getting ready to go to a show, which Tim and I, Tim Ellsworth and myself will be there with a table and involved in doing all the events. So we wanted to let everybody know about it so that they could plan on attending too.

Larry Miller:
Oh, that'd be great.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Before we get started, you've already introduced yourself, but maybe you could tell us just a little bit about ARCA, or the Arizona Roofing Contractors Association, because this is your 53rd conference. That's very impressive.

Larry Miller:
Yeah. ARCA has been around 53 years. It was originally created as a place where people could get together to discuss issues that were important to the industry. Over the years it's grown into an association that has actually shaped the industry by listening to its members, and it's striving to overcome challenges that the industry faces. To that end, ARCA is actually instrumental in lobbying to pass the Arizona Prompt Pay law, that now has specific requirements when and how to pay contractors for their work.

Larry Miller:
One of the things I thought was important was a time to get together each year. It's also a business meeting as well as a social function. It's where we elect our board of directors, as well as have a lot of entertainment activities as well. We do a lot of training as well. We do CPR, fall protection, forklift operation, different types of roofing installation classes. Just lots of different things to educate our members so that they can be better in the industry.

Heidi Ellsworth:
We've been to the Arizona show before, you guys just put on an amazing show. And like you said, I love it because it's a lot of things. It's education, it's training, the trade show of course, and a lot of fun events. Maybe tell us a little bit about what are some of those things that are going to be happening this year at the expo.

Larry Miller:
Yeah, so it starts off on Thursday. The big thing is you get there, you register, I think registration opens ... Yes, it opens between noon and lasts until about 8:00. But the first event is the Get Acquainted party. That's actually a big social event, has a cocktail reception and then dinner. And that's really where you get to see all the people you haven't seen much over the last year, that kind of thing. And then it involves a cornhole tournament, which is a lot of fun, just competing with your peers, things like that. It's kind of no holds barred. You get a chance to beat people that you don't normally get to play against, that kind of stuff.

Larry Miller:
Then on Friday, that is really the day that we've tried to gear towards foremen and superintendents to be able to attend. There's lot of very helpful seminars on becoming certified to install tile, how to replant and specifications, forklift certifications, understanding R-value, that types of thing. Oh, and I forgot to mention that there is a sporting clays tournament on Thursday as well.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Oh fun.

Larry Miller:
But then on Saturday we have the 53rd annual golf tournament, which is a lot of fun. Most people participate in that. For those that aren't golfers, there's a big pool day. It's where you can reserve cabanas and things like that and another social event.

Larry Miller:
And then the seminars later that day are geared towards more of your management team, things of that nature. And then of course, we culminate with the cocktail party and then our Awards Banquet. And at that time it also starts the business meeting where we do elect our board of directors for the upcoming year.

Heidi Ellsworth:
That's a lot going on.

Larry Miller:
Oh, yeah.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Now what about the trade show? What are the hours for the trade show?

Larry Miller:
Yeah, so the trade show, that is on Friday. We thought that'd be best this year to give the foremen and superintendents a chance to see a lot of the new, exciting products, the new services, things like that that are being offered.

Larry Miller:
I personally like the trade show. It's a place where I get to find out new things, new products, new services. And even meet some new sales representatives, things like that, that I haven't met before.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. We love that too. And we're going to be there the whole time.

Larry Miller:
Yeah, and that's between 1:00 and 4:00 PM.

Heidi Ellsworth:
1:00 and 4:00. Very cool. And I know you have people from all over the country who are coming to on ... The whole, like I said, Thursday, Friday, Saturday you do it in such a great way. And RoofersCoffeeShop will definitely be there the whole time.

Larry Miller:
Oh yeah.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Let's talk a little bit about, you started out on this [inaudible 00:06:06] about ARCA, and really what you're doing with pay, with advocacy. I mean, so many great things. I would love for you to share, why should roofing professionals in Arizona, and further than that, get involved with ARCA? What kind of benefits are they seeing?

Larry Miller:
Yeah. Oh, sorry, let me ... [inaudible 00:06:30] my notes were. A lot of the benefits that we offer is, one of the biggest ones, is certifications, trainings, OSHA certifications, forklift certifications. Things like that we offer at very little or almost no expense.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Nice.

Larry Miller:
If you do take advantage of those training classes, those pretty much pay for your membership in itself. Also, like you say, we do a lot of lobbying on issues that are important to the roofing industry, as well as other subcontracting industries. We're very active in those issues. We're not in session right now, so I'm not sure of any pending issues, but that is one thing we do stay on top of, and we send out email blasts to our membership, "Hey, this is an issue. Please support it. Please ask your Congressman, your Senator to vote this way or that way." And so we're very active in that way.

Larry Miller:
And being a member of ARCA is really a good way to stay on top of the issues that are important to the industry. Not just safety, but different product shortages, things like that that we're all experiencing these days.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah, there is a lot going on out there. And when you think about all the legal too, I mean, there's a lot happening just on the legal front, with contracts and material shortages. I mean, being a part of your state association I think is more important than ever.

Larry Miller:
Yeah. We do offer seminars throughout the year, lunch and learns, that type of thing, where we do discuss a lot of those topics. Key phrases you need to have in your contracts to protect you from price increases and labor issues.

Larry Miller:
And sometimes people are doing things, and that's actually one of the seminars, people are doing things every day that might be putting their company at a lot of risk. So we offer seminars in pitfalls and things like that, that will be one at the expo. There's just lots of good information that comes along with being an ARCA member that can really save you a lot of headache, and even money.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah, save your business sometimes. I would love to hear it a little bit of your story. When did you get involved with ARCA, and how has that journey been from first getting involved to now being president?

Larry Miller:
Yeah, so I started out getting ... Well, my first ARCA meeting was probably at least 25 years ago. I really didn't know anybody at all. The first person I met was Patsy Hawk with Eagle Tile, who's just since retired. Very nice lady. Since then I served on committees as committee members, committee chairperson. Then I became a director about, oh, 10 years ago. Served on the executive committee for the last so about five years or so and now as president.

Larry Miller:
It's really been a long road for me. My participation in ARCA has allowed me to meet a lot of industry partners that helped me to build my career. And those relationships allowed me to provide more value to my customers, which allowed me to be more successful. I would say ARCA was probably the most instrumental thing in my career to get me where I am today.

Larry Miller:
And not only that, my relationships with, with ARCA have got me to do a lot of great things. I've seen private concerts with Joe Walsh, [inaudible 00:10:04] Rice-

Heidi Ellsworth:
Nice.

Larry Miller:
... [inaudible 00:10:06] Rich, Little Big Town, lots of things like that. I've gone on numerous golf excursions, private events at Six Flags in Orlando. Being a part of the industry in that way and meeting those people, it's really been a huge success for my career.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. You know what, I'm just so happy to hear you say all that, because I agree. I mean, the more involved you get, and especially, I mean, you've really been involved all the way through. And the more involved you get, the more it comes back to you, both personally, professionally, and for your business.

Larry Miller:
Yeah. I can't even imagine where I'd be today if I had not started becoming more active in ARCA.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. And Gorman has been very active in ARCA for a long time, right?

Larry Miller:
Oh, yes. I've been with Gorman for 17 years now. And that's really, my involvement with ARCA, I brought it up to him early on. And he's told me, from the first day he says, "I fully support anything you want to do in ARCA." And he's always been very great at that, yeah.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah, that's a important thing. I love this, and as you're talking to contractors out there who maybe are not members yet, or who maybe are members but just are not involved, what's some of your advice to them on how to start, how to get involved?

Larry Miller:
I would say the best thing you can do is to go to the ARCA website, azroofing.org. You click on the Events tab. Everything that we're doing for the rest of the calendar year is on there, even the committee meetings, the events, the expo of course. And, and just by looking those events, finding something you're interested in, getting involved, that's really the best thing you can do.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. Yeah. And there's so many things, like you said, even going to the monthly lunch and learns, or to the web online webinars. I think that way it's not just once a year, you're getting involved all year long and bringing that value back to your business.

Larry Miller:
Yeah. And a lot of times I'll hear from people about something that they're experiencing and they think ARCA should do something about it. And I say, "Well, it's funny you say it because we do. If you would look on the Events page or follow the emails you would see that there's a lot of things that are actually discussing the issue that you're having a problem with."

Larry Miller:
So I really encourage everybody to just go on the page once in a while, and just look at the activities, look at the Events page, and just start registering for things that are pertinent to your business.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. That's so smart. And so a great way for them to get started with that is to attend the convention.

Larry Miller:
Expo.

Heidi Ellsworth:
The expo. I know you're going to say probably the same thing over where to go, but let's tell them all, how do you get signed up and how do you get registered for the convention?

Larry Miller:
Yeah, so it's really pretty simple. Like I just said, you go to azroofing.org, you click on the Events tab, you'll find a full list of the events. The ARCA is actually towards the bottom of the page, I looked at it this morning. You just click there and there'll be another link that says Register Now. And then you just go through, and you can do a full membership or you can do partial membership. Or excuse me, not memberships, registration.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Registration.

Larry Miller:
Or you can do partial registrations, and you can see the different events that you want to do. And you just click on each item as you go along and it'll total it up for you at the end. And then also, there's a link to the hotel so that you can go ahead and make a hotel reservation in the same book of rooms that we're all being a part of.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Excellent.

Larry Miller:
That's really the best way. And if nothing else just Google Arizona Roofing Contractors and call the office and talk to Jen and she'll get you in the right direction.

Heidi Ellsworth:
She'll get you going. And really encouraging companies to bring not just one person, not just the owner, but to bring your foremen, your superintendents, bring your sales team. Really take this as an opportunity for team building too, right?

Larry Miller:
Yeah, so that's really one of the big things about this particular expo. It's the nearest expo we've ever had to the Valley itself. Usually we're in Northern Arizona or Southern Arizona, and there's a lot of travel expenses involved with that. But by having the expo here in the Valley, more locally, there isn't those travel expenses. You don't have to pay for hotels if you don't want your guys to stay overnight, that type of thing.

Larry Miller:
I would suggest sending them on Friday if they're a production person, out of the [inaudible 00:14:54] or something like that. There's a lot of those meetings going to be geared towards them. And at least that way you're just paying them straight time, you're not paying them overtime on a Saturday or something like that. And it's like I said, it's pretty local, so there's not a lot of travel time or anything like that involved.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yes, and for those of you ... So this is going to be taking place in Maricopa, and it's going to be at the Harrah's Ak-Chin. I hope I said that right, Ak-Chin.

Larry Miller:
Ak-Chin.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Casino and Resort. So kind of cool. I mean, I think it's great that you're having it there in the Valley and this is going to be a lot of fun. And it's by the end of September, we're not saying too hot, right?

Larry Miller:
No, it'll be a little warm. And we did have a golf tournament down there a year or two ago that time of year. And it can be a little warm, but there's a great big pool. If you want to go out there and cool off. There'll be a whole day for that. And if you don't want to jump in the pool there's a lot of free time on Saturday to go do something else you might want to do.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. I really like the idea of, instead of golfing, going to the pool. Thumbs up on that one, Larry. I like that.

Larry Miller:
Yeah. I think Jennifer George is with you on that one as well.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. Well, I'll be hanging out with Jennifer, I'm telling you. Okay, so this is going to be again at the end of September for everyone, and it's going to be in Maricopa so get signed up. If you can't find in ... Which you can, just Google Arizona Roofing Contractors Association, you'll find all the information. But guess what? It's also on RoofersCoffeeShop. We have it on the directory, we have it in the events. If you are looking to get this information, just go to RoofersCoffeeShop and we'll get you right there to where you can sign up.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I know you get, because I've been there in the trade show, suppliers from all over the country. It's a great opportunity to just really get local and be able to bring your whole teams and build a network and build your relationship with the association.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Larry, thank you so much for being here today. Thank you for taking your time now to get us all up in the know about what's happening, and we're really excited to be there and spend some time with you and the team.

Larry Miller:
Well, thank you again for this opportunity to be on your podcast and showcase ARCA and our upcoming expo. And we look forward to seeing everybody out there. It's going to be a great time, lots of fun things happening, and lots of good things to see and do.

Heidi Ellsworth:
It's going to be great. And everyone, think about membership. If you're not a member already, become a member, even before you go to the show. It's well worth it, it's exactly what you need for your business.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Larry, thank you again, and thank you everybody for listening to this podcast. This is the kind of information we want to keep bringing you, local information across the country with these amazing roofing professionals like Larry Miller. So be sure to not miss a single one. You can find all our Roofing Road Trip podcasts under the RLW section of rooferscoffeeshop.com, under Roofing Road Rrips or on your favorite podcast channel. Be sure to subscribe and hit those notifications so you don't miss a single Road Trip. And we'll be seeing you on the next one. Have a great day.

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 rooferscoffeeshop.com.