Lee Lipniskis - A Life in Roofing - PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of an live interview with Lee Lipniskis of Cotney Consulting Group. 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 this very special Roofing Road Trip. This isn't like a lot of road trips because usually we are all organized and we have questions put together, but I had an opportunity to get a hold of Lee Lipniskis with Cotney Consulting Group. And I'll tell you what, we're just doing it right now today. Lee, welcome to Roofing Road Trip.

Lee Lipniskis:
We are. Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here. I love that there's no agenda. I think I work best that way, especially with you. So I'm very excited to be here. Thank you for having me.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Oh, I love it. The whole Roofing Road Trips Podcast is all about road tripping and going and finding all of our friends, and even during COVID, nothing has stopped us. So today, we're virtually in Denver where Lee lives and also Megan Ellsworth lives there too, and they used to be roommates. So I mean we have so many connections here. It's just a pretty awesome thing. How are things in Denver today?

Lee Lipniskis:
Things are beautiful. Finally, we have had quite a bit of hail these last two weeks. However, it's super, super small hail and bits of pieces of small towns have gotten hit with big hail, but I feel like it is a very good start to a possible amazing hail season for us here since we haven't had hail in like two years.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Wow.

Lee Lipniskis:
So it's teasing us right now and we're not used to this much rain. And finally this week, we've had a lot of sun so it's amazing here right now.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. And that sun in Denver, man, intense. I tell you, and there's no place like it as far as I'm concerned.

Lee Lipniskis:
It's beautiful. It is beautiful.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. Well, okay. So Lee, a lot of people know you, a lot of people know kind of about you. You've been so active in the industry and so amazing, but I think we need to talk just a little bit about your experience because not all people start out a conversation with we're getting hail, yes, this is awesome. Can you tell all of our listeners a little bit how'd you get into roofing and what's your history?

Lee Lipniskis:
Yeah. So I am at heart, I'm an insurance and risk management nerd. That is what I got my degree in, in college, in case you didn't know that you could do that, you actually can. And then I was an adjuster for a while working directly for the carriers first and then I went independent, which is awesome because I got to travel everywhere and help people through some disasters especially in Texas after the hurricane. So amazing experience there. I learned so much about estimating and I guess that's kind of my background is insurance and estimating, which is why I love our series right now that we're doing on estimating but that's for another topic.

Heidi Ellsworth:
No. We're going to get to that.

Lee Lipniskis:
Spoilers. But I actually, I fell off a roof. I'm one of those people that had that happened to them. I was in Parker, Colorado, on a wood shake roof, two-storey. And I stepped on a beehive and got stung. Didn't know that I was allergic at the time. And I fell from the second storey or the first storey. I was okay. I mean it was quite traumatic because I'm now afraid of bees. And at that time, when I fell, my keys fell out of my pocket, up on the second storey roof and I had to get down. No homeowner was home, had to get down to take myself to the hospital and I had to go back up to get my keys so it was very traumatic. However, I'm okay. Totally fine. I don't twitch or anything.
I'm good, but that made me realize that I hate anything that flies around me now. I'm getting better though. I can be around butterflies, but if they like buzz by me, I will kind of flinch a little bit. But long story short, I guess long story long at this point, I wanted to get out of adjusting at that point. I didn't want to be on roofs. I don't mind getting on roofs now in my previous life before I worked at Cotney. I would get on roofs for safety inspections when I worked for a contractor and so it's fine. However, in the summertime, things fly around up there and it's just not safe for me. So I wanted to kind of try something different.
And I had met one of the owners of Core, which is where I worked before Cotney on a roof probably about two years before I worked there. And saw how they treated the customers just with a lot of respect. They treated me with respect, which is sometimes hard to find. There's this bad rap between insurance adjusters and roofing contractors. And I would love to change that at some point in time. And it's probably one of my roofing life missions, but I decided to work for them in the estimating department and kind of get out of adjusting. And I mean that was a great opportunity. I worked there for eight and a half years. I worked in all aspects of a roofing company and ended up ... I kind of have this math brain.
Even though I don't really like it that much, I'm good at it. And so I ended there as their controller and finance manager. And how I went from estimating to that is just, we'd need four hours to talk about that. So I worked for a contractor for a really long time and then decided that I wanted to try something different and I have all this knowledge from a lot of sides of the industry, the insurance side and the contractor side. And I think that one of my passions is helping people and watching people learn. I love that aha moment when somebody finally gets something, you know what I'm talking about?

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah, exactly.

Lee Lipniskis:
And I happen to know this amazing woman named Heidi Ellsworth, who helped to connect me with John Kenney, my now boss. And I feel like the rest is history. It's amazing. I love working for Cotney now. I feel like I got my spark back. Do you know what I mean by that? Like I just, I mean you can tell in my face. Very happy. I love my team. I love my job. It's really great.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Well, the thing is, is that there's not a lot of people who have that experience both on the insurance side and adjusting and really understanding how important that is to help homeowners. And on the side of the contractor, working for a contractor for eight years on all sides of the business, I mean, Lee, there's just not too many people like you who have that kind of experience.

Lee Lipniskis:
Well, thank you.

Heidi Ellsworth:
It's perfect. It was absolutely perfect for what the Cotney Group is doing between the legal, the attorneys and most of all the consulting, which is where you're at. I mean I couldn't think of a better fit. It's just perfect.

Lee Lipniskis:
Well, thank you. I owe you for helping me see the light in really figuring out what I wanted in my life and what would be best for me, so thank you, Heidi.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Well, I think that's really interesting too, Lee. I mean we're going to go off course here and we're going to talk about a few things.

Lee Lipniskis:
Totally.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I think there's a lot of women out there and you and I both being involved with National Women in Roofing and talking, you have mentored so many women across the country. I mean I think about the ladies in Pennsylvania and they're like we love Lee.

Lee Lipniskis:
Yeah, the girls.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah, Shelly and Chelsea [Mine 00:08:25] who's working for us now, but I think half the battle is not more than half the battle of a career for women is really looking at what you want, putting that vision together and then having the confidence and having other people behind you saying yeah, you're perfect for this because too often we hear the opposite.

Lee Lipniskis:
Absolutely. I totally agree. And I think, I don't know if it's a female trait or not, but we tend to, I think as women undermined ourselves and not give ourselves credit for what we know, what we can do. And I think in the last year, really tried to think about that and think about, you know what, what is my worth to myself and what is my worth in the roofing industry and what can I do to help people? How can I make this industry a better industry? Because a lot of the time, we have a black eye on the industry and especially coming from the insurance adjuster side, working for a carrier, was very nervous to come to the contractor side. And I find that we're the same people.
We literally have the same goal. Why are our mindsets so different on achieving that goal? And I would love at some point to try and figure that out a help everyone come to the same side. But yeah, it's women, like I said, I think tend to diminish their worth when they're worth a lot. And then when someone else tells them, hey, you have these amazing qualities about you, why don't you look at this? It kind of like turns on a light bulb and says hey, you know what, you were right. I actually can do that. I have those skills. I should go apply for this job. That seems above me, but is actually perfect for me.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Right. And really paying it forward, just like you do all the time. I mean you and I have that same philosophy of the more women and I don't even care. Men, women, the more great people we can get into roofing, the better because that black eye is exactly what we need, I mean not what we need. We need to work on and need make it different. Yeah.

Lee Lipniskis:
Yeah. I mean I've even had, I've had a lot of gentlemen call me since I've been at Cotney saying hey, do you know somebody here? Here are my skillsets. I love the roofing industry. I want to stay in it, but I don't know if this is right for me. Do you know of anybody who's hiring? And especially in Colorado, you'd be surprised how many people have called me since I don't work for a contractor now. And I'm exposed to a lot of contractors kind of saying hey, what's out there? What can I do? And it's surprising, but I love that. I think I get that from you. I love that [crosstalk 00:11:26] people.

Heidi Ellsworth:
It's so much fun and it's so rewarding. Hey, you need to tell those gentlemen too to get on the classified ads on Roofer's Coffee Shop because ... [crosstalk 00:11:35]

Lee Lipniskis:
I do. I do. I do.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yes. And there's so many, I think there's a lot of times too, people who've been in contracting who just are ready like you for kind of a different phase, but they want to stay in roofing. I mean there's distribution, there's manufacturing, there's service providers, technology. I mean there's so much, and we need to hold onto this amazing knowledge and wisdom that comes from the field.

Lee Lipniskis:
Absolutely. And there's something out there for everyone in this industry. And I mean especially technology, how it's been booming and how 2020 has shifted technology. And even the contractor's worlds, I mean there's something out there for everyone. You do not have to put on a pair of boots and get on a roof and roof. That is not the only job available in this industry, there's a lot out there.

Heidi Ellsworth:
There's a lot, but if you want to, that's there too. That's the thing, I think there's so many people who love to work outside, to love work with their hands who just want that kind of career. But a lot of times they're told, oh, no, you got to go to college or you got to do this. And you know what, everybody just needs to find where they're the happiest. Like they love coming to work every day.

Lee Lipniskis:
Yeah, like me. I just had a conversation with John Kenney, I think yesterday about being happy and going to work. And I think it's really sad when people go to work and they're miserable and they do this for years. They're miserable for years. Why? Why not change that? I mean work is such a big part of your life and you're there every day, I guess five days a week for most people, eight hours a day. Why waste your life in a job that you don't like, go, take a risk and go find a job that you love because it will change your life.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. I think so. Look at it. It's the truth.

Lee Lipniskis:
I know. It's so true.

Heidi Ellsworth:
So one of the things I wanted to talk about is too, what you're doing with Cotney Consulting because I think it's just so cool. I've just been, I'm going to say it, I've been blessed to be friends with Trent Cotney for many years and work with him kind of as he started having some of these ideas and visions and strategies. And then when John Kenney came in and joined him, I mean, oh my gosh, it's just, it's amazing. So talk about helping and giving back. What is Cotney Consulting doing for contractors out there?

Lee Lipniskis:
Yeah, I mean there's so much. I think we have a few different ways that we can help contractors and there's kind of four main ways. And I think our two biggest are our COO on demand. So we go into help contractors who may not be able to afford a COO. And I think where we differ from other consulting companies is that we're all about the operations side. We can help you figure out your sales and teach you how to sell. And we can help you in the field as well, but our bread and butter is the operations of your company. And I think that's where we differ a lot other companies. We also don't give people homework. We do it. I myself, Whitney, John, we do all the backend stuff for you. And then we teach you what it means and how we did it.
But I think right now, our biggest thing that we're doing right now is training. Training that's not available right now in the industry, we're creating it and I love it. Like I said before, my passion I feel is really helping people and I love watching people learn. And even though our training is virtual, I still see when people finish. And I still see when people pass the test and I get excited and I get really excited. I want to call these people and congratulate them. It may be too much so I haven't done that yet, but I think it's fantastic. I believe that Cotney Consulting is changing the industry for the good with the amount of training that we are providing. That's the biggest thing I think on how we can impact the industry.

Heidi Ellsworth:
And that estimating training, I mean talking about career path, being able to, anybody who is maybe been working on the field or supervisors or foremen who are like, I want to do estimating, I can do this. It goes back to our conversation, right? A lot of times people don't tell people they can do things and now they have a way to learn it.

Lee Lipniskis:
Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean like I said, estimating is my background. I love it. This is what happens. Let me give you a tidbit of how we work inside the Cotney Consulting world. Okay. John Kenney is a genius. That man is probably one of the smartest men I've ever met in my life. And he has so much knowledge that he wants to share with people. I mean he's probably the smartest and the most kind human being. And he just wants to teach people and help people grow, right? So John thinks of these things and he writes the curriculum, and then Whitney and I just bring it to fruition, and that's all it is.
And that team work, that dynamic of the consulting group is amazing. I mean we have Roger who does Smartsheets and we have Jimmy who's our hands-on trainer who's probably ... He knows so much about roofing, it is impressive. When I was down there for a week and I saw our training facility, I was blown away. It's just the whole dynamic of the consulting group that we have is that we want to help people. We want to make the industry better and we want to bring more people into it. So estimating right now is kind of the first training that we're launching and we should have all the programs out by the end of summer, if not sooner, which is really, really exciting.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Wow. That is so exciting.

Lee Lipniskis:
And I totally like went off right there in excitement.

Heidi Ellsworth:
That's awesome, Lee. That's exactly what we want. I mean I have to tell you and you know a lot of these folks who I'm talking about, I know when we're talking to Rudy and Charles and these contractors across the country. And they're like, we're in, we're sending our folks to that estimating. We want to do it. When does this start? How do I get involved? So for just to start, I mean it's so great for the industry and so exciting.

Lee Lipniskis:
It is. It's really exciting. And coming from estimating, I love that we can now create a career path for people. It's just the innovation that John has. It's just amazing. And the fact that we can just impact people's lives. I'm in.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I know. I don't know, it's such a great industry. We're all [crosstalk 00:18:50] a little geeky about it.

Lee Lipniskis:
Yes, I love it. You fall into it, but you never leave.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. You never leave. No one ever really plans it, but it all seems to, unless you were born into it, which a lot of great folks were.

Lee Lipniskis:
Yeah. I wish I was born into it.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Well, my kids now are being pulled into it. So you just don't know. We can't leave. So I want to talk about these webinars that you guys have been doing.

Lee Lipniskis:
Yes.

Heidi Ellsworth:
So like I said, I've worked with Trent for a long time. Just love working with John. And about a month ago when you and I were talking and I heard it also from John and Trent, they're like we're going to have Lee moderate discussions between John and Trent. I think you're a very brave woman. I just have to say that right now.

Lee Lipniskis:
[crosstalk 00:19:44] Can we talk about highlight of my career? I mean if this is it, this is it. The fact that I get to interview both John and Trent at the same time and moderate them, I mean I'm so nervous. Totally being honest, but at the same time, I'm a really excited because I mean I've known of Trent for a long time. Before I worked for him, we have talked just a couple of times, but I just have so much respect for him. And I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that I get to moderate a webinar with them, like talk about fan girling. Okay.
So yeah, I'm really excited. I'm honored and flattered that they want me to moderate with them and it's going to be fun. This first one that we're doing is actually next week. And we're talking about contract negotiations and it's free because we have Trent who's going to talk about the legal side. And then we have John, who's going to talk more about the scope and kind of the estimating side of a contract. I think that's why we work so well together too, is because it's the best of both worlds. And then you add me and I'll just make it fun so.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Well, and I mean let's be honest here, you have quite a bit of experience with contracts yourself.

Lee Lipniskis:
I do. I do. You are absolutely right. Yes, I agree.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. I mean when you think about all you did is, and I'm going to say it, CFO, you're working with Core and the controlling and the finance and everything. Contract is a huge part of that. And for you to be able to bring that to the conversation with John and Trent, I just think, wow, you're covering all sides of experience here.

Lee Lipniskis:
See, again, I don't think about those things myself, but until you say it.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I think of those things.

Lee Lipniskis:
I'm very excited. Yeah. I'm excited about it.

Heidi Ellsworth:
That's very cool. And so this is going to be ongoing, right? This is something that you'll be doing. And probably not on a schedule-schedule, but you're going to be doing these webinars so people can sign in for these on Roofers Coffee Shop. They can sign up or get to the registration page with Cotney, or they can go to the Cotney website which is by the way a brand new website.

Lee Lipniskis:
It is.

Heidi Ellsworth:
And it's very cool.

Lee Lipniskis:
Thank you.

Heidi Ellsworth:
So they should be signing up for this. I know I am. I'm going to be there. I'm going to be watching you.

Lee Lipniskis:
Absolutely. Absolutely, yes. Please sign up. I would love to have hundreds of people watch me. It would be better if it was like a roast and I would moderate a roast of John and Trent, but right now we're just going to talk about contract negotiation. I'm going to put that out in the universe. One day that might happen, but yeah, so we have this one coming up. Contract negotiation, like I said, and John also does monthly safety webinars with Western states, WSRCA. I always mess that up. Oh my god. I'm sorry guys. And then he also does them in Texas as well for North Texas. So anybody, if you're listening, if you're watching and you are part of those, join in because it's really great. Half an hour or an hour of safety, and I mean who doesn't need to learn about safety, right? I learned a lot about silica. I didn't know much about it and now, I feel like I'm a pro.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. Well, you probably didn't do a whole lot of tile up there in Denver, but now you're all over the place where there's all kinds of tile and concrete.

Lee Lipniskis:
I know. Nationwide, it is so fun.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. So one of the things too is next week is also an RLW that Trent is going to be on, talking about risk mitigation. So it just keeps kind of working together. It's crazy that one of the very, very first Roofing Road Trip Podcasts we did was with Trent.

Lee Lipniskis:
Oh, really?

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. And Trent and I were at the NERCA show up in the Northeast, and we were trying to find a quiet space so that we could do this podcast because we were at the very beginnings. And that's when you know if it could be in person, which hopefully we'll be doing again, but now to see how all this has come around and to know, really to get the education that you need or to just get ideas or inspired, that has been one of the benefits of this change. You can do it all the time now. I mean it's all over Roofers Coffee Shop. It's all over Cotney's page. The education is just outstanding.

Lee Lipniskis:
I totally agree with you. I feel like that is one of the silver linings of 2020. I feel is not only from National Women in Roofing and the friendships I've made with people all over the nation now that I would not have normally been able to do, but that education and the fact that a lot of it is on demand as well. So I know that I myself don't have children, but people who have kids who had to homeschool them, who might not be able to have, log into that webinar because they're helping their kids can now still get that same experience and that same opportunity to learn about the industry and learn about contract negotiations at their leisure, maybe at night or something when they have time. So I feel like that education in our industry in 2020 was a big silver lining. And we figured out a way to help people when it was just a crazy time.

Heidi Ellsworth:
And one of the things I loved about this industry, and I know it's overall, everybody across the board, people were able to rise above and they, okay, so we have a pandemic, it's awful, it's terrible. All these terrible things are happening. And still people just kept giving back and kept rising above and kept helping each other. And so I think sometimes we lose sight of that and that we will conquer.

Lee Lipniskis:
Yeah. Absolutely, it's side note, story time. So I am a part of a non-profit in Denver called The Alliance Foundation. And I am past president now. I was president last year and the year before. And we always do one big fundraising event in person every year. And we didn't know what to do in 2020. And so we decided to do a virtual one and it was during lunch and we had four speakers and it was very moving. We had this great MC. And we thought, you know what, if we raise $3,000, we will be excited because it's virtual. It's harder to raise money virtually, you're not in person and our speaker is going to impact people. And this was in November of 2020. And so kind of everybody almost had a full year of, I guess, maybe nine months of COVID in quarantine. People were getting laid off, didn't have a lot of jobs. Our goal is $3,000, and that day in one hour, we raised $15,000.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Oh, my god.

Lee Lipniskis:
People just kept giving. And then I cried at the end of it because I was so moved that even in a year of hardship, even in a year where a lot of people lost their jobs and were uprooted and didn't know what to do, and people were sick and all of this happened, people still gave money and they gave way more than we even expected. So it's side note story, but still, I just, I love how people just come together in a time like that. And I've seen, well, I think, National Women in Roofing, the word, I think in the last year and a half, two years is resilience.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yes.

Lee Lipniskis:
But we've all learned that this last year and have had to adapt so.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. No, I love it.

Lee Lipniskis:
A side note there.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Well, you know what? And what we're going to do is we're going to end on that side note for this Roofing Road Trips because I'm telling you that I love that story. And Lee, it really kind of gives everyone an insight into you on what you do and just what the special person that you are.

Lee Lipniskis:
I appreciate that.

Heidi Ellsworth:
So I'm going to say thank you because I'm a little teary. No, but I am. I'm going to say thank you and good luck. And I'm really excited, we're going to be talking like this again. I want to keep hearing all this great training, all these great programs and you're in the right spot because Cotney gives back to the industry probably more than anybody I know. So talk about giving back and raising funds and doing great things. In fact, we'll do that at the end of the year. Trent matches funds at the end of the year too to go into the new year to help all the foundations in the roofing industry. So you're in the right place my dear and I'm so happy you're here with me.

Lee Lipniskis:
[crosstalk 00:29:12] I am for sure. I am. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for having me. It was an honor and a pleasure to be with you, Heidi.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Lee, thank you. And thank you all for listening. Thank you for being a part of our Roofing Road Trips as we virtually go out and see everyone. And watch for us coming up at that the Florida show, which Lee will be there, at the IRE show. In August, we'll all be there. And so we're going to start getting back together again, but we'll be road tripping. You watch for it. Please listen to all of our podcasts under the read, listen, watch section of the rooferscoffeeshop.com or on your favorite podcast channel. Be sure to subscribe. Have a great day. Thanks.

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.