LIVE from IRE 2025 with ATAS International! - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Bob Le Claire of ATAS. You can read the interview below or watch the recording.

Heidi Ellsworth: Hello and welcome back to IEC 2025 in Orlando, Florida. My name is Heidi Ellsworth and we are on the Sound Stage Coffee car, uh, for the coffee shops sponsored by IB Roof Systems. Um, I have to tell you, I keep saying this, but there are some favorite people out there, and Bob Le Claire is definitely one of them. Thank you for joining us on the sound stage, my friend. 

Bob Le Claire: Thank you, Heidi. It's good to be here. It's always good to be with you. 

Heidi Ellsworth: We've worked together for a very, very long 

Bob Le Claire: Time. Long longer than I want to think about at at times. I know it's been a long time. Yes. 

Heidi Ellsworth: Back to the beginning of my career almost. Not quite, 

Bob Le Claire: But close. Yeah. I think it was very close beginning of your career. Very. For sure. 

Heidi Ellsworth: And I mean, you have been on the front edge of metal, um, edge metals and now you're with aas. Correct. And you have been for quite a while. So tell us a little bit, introduce yourself, tell us a little bit of what you do with ATAS. 

Bob Le Claire: Sure. I've been with Aass 10 years now. Oh yeah. Um, so what my title is Director of Perimeter Edge business, which pretty much says what I do. I, 

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah, 

Bob Le Claire: Do perimeter edge metal for aas, copings, fascias, that type of thing. Aass has been making coping, uh, for before they hired me, but really I came in to make it a pre-manufactured product, tested S one test and all the things that are required now by Coke. 

Heidi Ellsworth: All the important stuff. 

Bob Le Claire: All the important stuff. Exactly. Talk a 

Heidi Ellsworth: Little bit about overall, what does Aass do? 

Bob Le Claire: So, uh, does really pretty much any metal, mostly single skin, but we'll also do some insulated metal panels that would be on the building envelope. So we do metal roofing, we do metal wall panels, we do soffits. We're actually getting the interiors. We do metal, linear ceiling column covers, wall panels. So if it's architectural metal, uh, on a building, uh, we're probably gonna be looking at it and we're getting more into heavier, uh, panels, too heavy, uh, plate panels, so 

Heidi Ellsworth: Oh, nice. 

Bob Le Claire: Pretty just continue to grow and add products and, uh, develop more. 

Heidi Ellsworth: I tell you what, you just gotta check it out. If you check out the aass directory on Roofers Coffee Shop, beautiful. Beautiful roofs, beautiful buildings. I mean, you guys, just the stuff that you put out, I, I love it. Thank you. And thank you. And I love your awards that you do every week 

Bob Le Claire: Too. Yeah, we do. Yeah. We always do a, you know, projects of the year awards Yeah. And multiple different awards in different categories. Yeah. So, yeah, it's always nice. 

Heidi Ellsworth: Beautiful. Absolute beautiful. Thank you. Okay, let's talk about, we're here at IEC. How important are, I mean, what you doing, I guess maybe let's start here. How are you working with consultants with Aass and kind of what's that relationship look like? Right, 

Bob Le Claire: So Aass works a lot with specifiers in general. 

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. 

Bob Le Claire: So that would be architects and, and specifiers in the architectural community, but certainly in the design community. And, uh, consultants are very important to us. Again, as I just described, we do roofing and walls, which I be, is now the whole building envelope. And that's exactly, that's, that's what we do. So in this show, I think we're helping to more on a technical level, how do we design something so that it'll perform well, not leak, not blow off, that type of thing. 

Heidi Ellsworth: Right. 

Bob Le Claire: With the architectural community, it's more about looks and some of this group too, but really it's just to help them, uh, design better buildings, solve problems. And that's what I love about this show is the people are coming up, uh, and they with a real problem, Hey, can you help me with this? Something to talk about? Yeah. Yeah. So it's a great group to be 

Heidi Ellsworth: With that I, you know, consultants are so important to really, and I mean in there especially with, as IBE has found its way with the whole building envelope, it's become even more important on those transitions and really bringing the whole thing together. What are you hearing from the consultants in your booth? 

Bob Le Claire: Again, I think what I just said, they're coming in. They, they, a lot of 'em know us, so it's more we're keeping that relationship with them, but then also helping 'em with solving problems 

Heidi Ellsworth: Some. Yeah. 

Bob Le Claire: Um, and the other side of, with, with consultants as opposed to architects, they do a lot of existing reroof, and that's a whole nother area that we play into. So 

Heidi Ellsworth: They do a lot. 

Bob Le Claire: It's a group that we get to talk to. It's a little bit different than the, uh, architectural design community that don't get involved in a lot of those projects. Yeah. 

Heidi Ellsworth: What are some of the main, what are you showing in your booth while you're, 

Bob Le Claire: So our, uh, we're showing the products that we think would fit for this group. So we are selling, showing our IMP roof panels. We're showing some, uh, other metal roofing panels, standing seam. Uh, we have a, a roof panel that looks like tile. 

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah, 

Bob Le Claire: Of course. Showing perimeter edge metal and then some wall panels. So really just a, a little bit of a smattering of what we do. Again, just to keep the brand out there and to talk to people about what a test 

Heidi Ellsworth: Does. IP is really growing. 

Bob Le Claire: Ips are growing quite a bit for us. They're growing in general and we sell a lot of ips by themselves, but we've also found it's a great backup system for our other single skin. So they can put an IP wall up and then use our other panels on top of it to give that architectural look Architectural that they want. 

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah, 

Bob Le Claire: Exactly. 

Heidi Ellsworth: Insulated metal panels. Just so we 

Bob Le Claire: Right. 

Heidi Ellsworth: Are all on the same page. Thank you. Um, okay. So I kind of wanted to dive in here a little bit to current what's going on, because we're hearing a lot about the po um, potential of tariffs. 

Bob Le Claire: Yes. 

Heidi Ellsworth: Talk to us a little bit about what you see coming up in 2025 and if you have any, you know, any nuggets for the 

Bob Le Claire: Yeah. The 

Heidi Ellsworth: Contractors out there. 

Bob Le Claire: I, I, I think that everybody's waiting to see what's happened. Yeah. So nobody knows for sure. There's question still. And even now, even today, you're hearing things are rolling back on tariffs. Right. So it's, we're questioning whether they're gonna stick and how strong they're gonna stick. The other thing that we're seeing is, and we don't know, we don't have a crystal ball, but the, um, demand in the US is not quite as great as the supply right now. Oh. So with 

Heidi Ellsworth: Tariffs, okay. 

Bob Le Claire: The prices may not go up as much. I think there's some suppliers that are gonna take advantage of it and raise prices a little bit. We're not seeing them holding a lot, but don't, don't hold me to that, but that's what we're seeing right now. The other thing for aas is we have a pretty good supply of metal. Yeah. So, short term, I don't see us, uh, doing a lot. Uh, but we're gonna have to wait and see what happens. And right now, I don't think it's, I think people are a little bit overreacting. 

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. 

Bob Le Claire: And, uh, just be a little patient, see what happens. And over time we may have to adjust prices. The industry may, but I think right now it's a lot of, like, you see the stock market doing. It's just a lot of fear and not really sure what's gonna 

Heidi Ellsworth: Happen. 

Bob Le Claire: A lot of uncertainty. A lot of uncertainty. And we're hoping, and that makes people nervous. We're 

Heidi Ellsworth: Hoping we'll kind of mellow out. 

Bob Le Claire: Exactly. 

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah, 

Bob Le Claire: Exactly. 

Heidi Ellsworth: Because metal is growing, 

Bob Le Claire: Metal is definitely growing. 

Heidi Ellsworth: The metal industry is just taking off. What are you seeing that way? 

Bob Le Claire: Um, again, just a general growth in metal. I think it's become more popular for roofs and definitely more popular for walls. 

Heidi Ellsworth: Yes. 

Bob Le Claire: A lot of, uh, it's the sustainability side of it, the variety and the different looks. And it's kind of just a, that's an architectural trend right now is that, uh, kinda that almost industrial look that sometimes you can get with metal as opposed to, you know, woods and other soft metals or soft products. 

Heidi Ellsworth: Well, it's also helping when it comes to durability with extreme weather. Right. And what's, and resiliency. Right. 'cause we know between fires, storms, everything 

Bob Le Claire: Else we need it. Of course, climate change is the other big topic right now, right. So yeah, we're having higher winds, so we got wind resistant products. Fire metal doesn't burn. Yeah. So there's a lot of reasons to do that for sure. 

Heidi Ellsworth: There's a lot to definitely to look at. Uh, you're an, as always right in the heart of everything. 

Bob Le Claire: Uh, we, we try as a company to stay in the heart of it. And I'd like to come to these shows and talk to people like you and everybody here at IBE and learn more. Thank you. So it's great. Always 

Heidi Ellsworth: Good. I'm always asking you questions, what's going on? 

Bob Le Claire: I'm happy to talk to you anytime. 

Heidi Ellsworth: I love it. Hey, please check out the aass, um, directory on Roofers Coffee Shop. Like I said, beautiful pictures, but also a lot of great information on how you can bring more metal into your projects and into your business. 'cause it's growing and you should be there. Um, stay tuned. Bob, thank you so much. 

Bob Le Claire: Thank you, Heidi.