Live From IRE 2024: Beacon Building Products! - TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of an live interview with  John Mike and Chelsea Oesch of Beacon Building Products and Joe from K-9 for Warriors. You can read the transcript below or watch the video.

Lauren White: Hey everyone. I'm Lauren White with RoofersCoffeeShop. We are at IRE 2024 in the Beacon booth and they are busy. I'm here with these two wonderful people. I'll have you both introduce yourselves.

John Mike: Hi, my name's John Mike. I'm the director of marketing.

Lauren White: Okay.

Chelsea Oesch: And I'm Chelsea Oesch, our director of private label for marketing.

Lauren White: Wonderful. So there's so many people here. You're doing something fun.

John Mike: Yeah, we have a great attraction. Our hook is we're giving away NFL hard hats during the Super Bowl, which is great. Customers come in. They sign up for one of our value-added programs and we give them a hard hat and we usher them into the booth where they can learn about our digital solutions, send them over to the TRI-BUILT, our private label brand and we capture their information. We really hope to gather new customers and solidify relationships with the old.

Lauren White: Great. Wonderful. And what are these programs that they're signing up for?

Chelsea Oesch: We have a lot of digital integration, specifically with AccuLynx and JobNimbus. We also have partnerships with EagleView where we can actually take EagleView measurements and turn them into this perfect order, which is really cool technology. Of course, we have our TRI-BUILT, which is Beacon's private-label brand of roofing products. So we're hoping that the customers learn more about all of the things and services that we have to offer and that they can do more business with us in this coming year.

Lauren White: Yeah, wonderful. And what are you hearing from people at the show so far? I know it just kind of started, but...

John Mike: The attendance is tremendous. The weather definitely helps because it's rainy outside. In Las Vegas, people want to be inside. I think people have just had some pent-up energy over the winter months. After COVID, it's been a long time getting back up to full strength. We have a lot of new vendors in the show, a lot of new displayers. And it looks like a lot of customers who brought their crews with them, the installers. Our business is generational, so fathers handed down to their sons handed down to their sons and a lot of times, many members of different communities become businessmen after being the installation crews. So, I think that's pretty good and it's got a great... The future looks bright.

Lauren White: Yeah, I love that. Very cool.

Chelsea Oesch: Yeah, we've had several customers that are really interested in the digital aspect and how they can integrate digital into their workflow, which a lot of roofing companies have been somewhat not willing to integrate digital, slow to adapt and it really seems like the tide is turning and they are looking for the perfect digital solution. So, that is one of the main things that I've been hearing at the conference.

Lauren White: That's great. And is there anything else that you're highlighting this year that's maybe different or that you really want to get the word out to people?

John Mike: Yeah, if you think about it, everybody has something to offer, a new widget, something, a new shiny object. What we're hoping is that people look at Beacon as a solution to the challenges that they face in their everyday business. They could have an obstacle that they can't get over. Well, we've got a solution for that. Right? "I'm not making enough money on my products." Well, TRI-BUILT's the solution for that. So we're very positive on being a different... Have a different perception from the field. We're also showcasing our community outreach programs. We have K9 for Warriors. We have the Beacon of Hope program, where we give away roofs to deserving veterans around the country. We have Rebuilding Together, where we work with the communities to help those that are in need. And we have what else?

Chelsea Oesch: Beacon of Hope.

John Mike: Beacon of Hope, and we have Female Roofing Professional of the Year.

Chelsea Oesch: Yes.

Lauren White: Yes.

John Mike: We want to honor... Let's face it, our business is agnostic. Right? It's male-dominated, but there are just as many strong, enthusiastic and powerful women in our industry, and we want to bring them to the forefront and let them know that, look, we're a resource for them and we're a resource for everybody.

Lauren White: Yeah, that's beautiful.

Chelsea Oesch: And we do have our K9 for Warriors partner here. If you want to get any footage from them, they just rolled up.

Lauren White: Of course. [inaudible 00:04:31].

Chelsea Oesch: Yes. So, if you want, we can get them to talk a little bit about their mission.

Lauren White: That'd be great.

Chelsea Oesch: I can tell you why TRI-BUILT decided to partner with K9 for Warriors.

Lauren White: Yes.

Chelsea Oesch: I know that we've had K9 for Warriors on the Roofers Coffee Shop podcast, but they're a really unique organization because they take dogs from high-kill shelters and they turn them into service animals. They pair them with a veteran that has some sort of military trauma. So, essentially, they're saving two lives, which is just a really cool, unique proposition and something that hits home for me because it fills a personal passion while we're also filling our company core values.

So, K9 for Warriors, we have Joe and Eagle here and they are a warrior pair. I would love for you all to hear more from a veteran's perspective.

Lauren White: Hey, everyone. I'm Lauren White with RoofersCoffeeShop, and we are here in the Beacon booth at IRE 2024. And I'm here with Chelsea and some new friends. Chelsea, do you want to introduce yourself?

Chelsea Oesch: Yes, so K9 for Warriors is an organization that we partner with the TRI-BUILT brand, and we have Joe and Eagle here. So, I would love for you all to hear a little bit more about the K9 for Warriors program and the perspective from Joe.

Lauren White: Yes, absolutely. Yeah, so tell us about it.

Joe: Yeah, so my name's Joe, and this is Eagle. I got Eagle in August of 2022, so we've been together now for roughly a year and a half or so. When I got him, it was such a life-changing moment, if you will. He really allowed me to get back into public again. And not just go out in public, but to be present again. Whereas before, it was a lot of looking over my shoulder, worried about what could have potentially happened.

So, with Eagle, he gives me something else to focus on. But he also has commands. So, for example, if I'm shopping, I can give him a command called Look where he'll come to my other side, sit down. He'll face behind me, and then he'll alert if somebody comes up behind me. So that takes that stress off where I can just shop and be present with what I'm doing, not really worrying about what's going on behind me. I mean, he does so many things. I mean, that's just one of many, but I mean, it's been life-changing with him.

Lauren White: Oh, that's amazing. And how old is Eagle?

Joe: Eagle will be three next month. Yeah, so he's still got a lot of puppy in him.

Lauren White: Yeah. Oh, very fun. That's great. And how did you hear about this program?

Joe: I had done like most. I went through the VA, and I did the standard of care. What I found was that didn't work for me. That created more problems than it solved. It was like moving credit card debt from one card to another, where it solved this, but it created other issues. So I really just didn't know what else to do. So I got online and looked for alternative treatment options and K9s for Warriors came up. I scoured their webpage. I went through all their social media channels. And I thought "They can't hurt," so I applied. Unfortunately, COVID happened at the same time. So it was about a two-and-a-half-year wait to get him. But that was actually moved up quite a bit. Originally, it was going to be over four years. So COVID, obviously when things opened up, then we were able to get back into business.

Lauren White: Wow. Amazing. Well, thank you for your service.

Joe: No, thank you.

Lauren White: Yes. And what a wonderful program.

Chelsea Oesch: Yes.

Lauren White: That opportunity that you provide.

Joe: The great thing about K9s that I didn't know going into it was once I got Eagle and got home, it didn't stop. They still communicate with us every single month just to check on us. How are we doing? Is there anything that we need? Things like that. So, it was really unexpected, but they didn't just send us on our way with a dog and "Hey, good luck. Now you have this tool." They stay with us every month along the way.

Lauren White: That's great.

Joe: Yeah, so it's been amazing.

Lauren White: Yeah, that's very cool. Well, thank you for your time.

Chelsea Oesch: Yeah.

Lauren White: Yeah.