LIVE from IRE 2025 with General Coatings! - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Will Lorenz of General Coatings. You can read the interview below or watch the recording.

Intro: Hello, and welcome back to the sound stage at the International Roofing Expo. My name is Heidi Ellsworth and we've had the best day, and it's only getting better because my friend Will Lorenz is right here to visit with us. Hello.

Will Lorenz: Hello, Heidi.

Heidi Ellsworth: We were just together last week at the SprayFoam show.

Will Lorenz: Another great show, yes.

Heidi Ellsworth: I know. It was so good. Let's start with an introduction. If you can introduce yourself, tell us about your company.

Will Lorenz: All right. Well, my name is Will Lorenz. I'm president of General Coatings. We manufacture spray foam roofing systems, so spray foam as the insulation and then roof coatings on top of it, acrylics, silicones and urethane. We've got manufacturing in Fresno and Arlington, Texas.

Heidi Ellsworth: I tell you what, last week's SprayFoam conference, I've been talking about it ever since. I thought it was so good. The projects were so impressive of what they're doing, and the applications of how spray foam can be used. Let's talk a little bit about that, the rise and no pun intended ...

Will Lorenz: Sure.

Heidi Ellsworth: ... the rise you're seeing in spray foam on the roof, and on these just major projects when energy matters and the durability of the roofs. Talk a little bit about what you're seeing.

Will Lorenz: Well, what we've seen is a re-emergence of people's wanting to have a sustainable roof system. They want to have a roof system that saves them energy and then does what a roof's supposed to do. It keeps the water out and the snow on the outside. Spray foam as an insulated roof system provides that advantages. If it's a new construction, we can go right in on that new plywood, steel or concrete deck and go right over it. Or if it's an existing roof system, we're a lightweight solution that's seamless and monolithic, that can help out when you have an older roof that's at its term and you want rejuvenate it and keep it waterproof.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. What you're seeing, and I mean from everything we heard from the contractors last week, there is a definite demand for this type of energy efficient roofing. We're starting to see it. Data centers, anywhere where they have to have temperature controlled within the buildings. It's not just the roof, it's the walls too.

Will Lorenz: That's correct. Yep. I mean, the way forward is going to be whole building solutions.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yes.

Will Lorenz: You can't say, well, we're going to solve things by the windows, but we're going to neglect the roof or we're going to do things with something for all the walls, but then not deal with the subfloor and so forth. Polyurethane foam, which is what we're talking about as far as it being applied to either the walls or roofs, are great solutions there. What's the core material in your refrigerator to keep it so that it performs as keeping your food fresh?

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah, yeah. Again, I just have to say, when you saw what the contractors were doing around roof restorations, I know it can go on new construction, but with the rise of roof restorations, service and maintenance and the excellent coatings you have, along with obviously the spray foam system, talk a little bit about what you're seeing with that roof restoration trend.

Will Lorenz: Yeah. When people look at their homes, or in this case look at their commercial building, what they want to do is they want to keep most of their money. It goes in the landfill ... big controversies. I know in California we had these terrible fires, and there's a big debate of what are they going to do with all that debris and where's it going to go and who's going to make sure that it's safe. It's some of the same thing that happens with general roofing products at its end of service life. Let's not try and add to that as much as we've done in the past. Let's look smarter, better solutions that have less material getting to the dump.

Heidi Ellsworth: It makes sense to me. It really does. Then when you look at some of those landfills are just going to start closing, there's just no more room left. We've gotta do things different, and spray foam and coatings is really solving, fitting that niche. The contractors are so impressive.

Will Lorenz: They are. I mean, what we've seen with the industry activities such as SPFA and their PCP program, doing things to educate the contractors how to do it safely, how to do it responsibly. NRCA has a wonderful guide out there. ASTM has a number of things on how to do spray foam, guides and things there. It's a well-established roofing product system out there. Our company has FM approval on a number of our systems. It can be at the highest level of performance and meet the criterias that whether it's the tech industry wants, or it's somebody that they want to insulate their barn.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah, it's true and that's all growing. I mean, when you look at ... I don't know. We saw so much, from garages to barns to houses to huge industrial to data centers. I'm going to say, how can people, contractors out here ... and this is one of the things you and I are going to be talking about a lot more in 2025 ... how can contractors get into spray foam and understand how that works along with the coatings? How do they get started?

Will Lorenz: Well, I think the first thing is it's an easier lift if you're already in the roofing business. If you're looking to diversify and you're looking to expand your opportunity to grow, and you're saying, "Look, I have these other product lines," and maybe they've been static and you can say, "Look, let's bring something new to our customer base and say we have a low-cost solution in the sense of not having tear-offs," that's the first thing, is making that commitment there. If you're not in the roofing business, then what we have to say is I think you've got to get involved with things like NRCA and things to learn roofing.

Heidi Ellsworth: Or SPFA.

Will Lorenz: Exactly, but manufacturers like General Coatings, we want to talk to you. We want to give you what the information is. We're happy to run training programs about our products, also give you guidance about roofing using spray foam. Then there's a lot of what I would call local affiliates of NRCA at the state level that do trainings. ARCA is a great program.

Heidi Ellsworth: ARCA is a great one.

Will Lorenz: Yeah, and some of the other ones in Florida as well as in California are ones that are doing a lot of things, involvement with spray polyurethane foam.

Heidi Ellsworth: They are, they are. There's so many resources. It's something you really want to think about in 2025. From material shortages to labor concerns to energy efficiency, spray foam and coatings is really something that can build your business. Will, thank you so much.

Will Lorenz: Thank you, Heidi. Always great to see you again.

Outro: Always so great. You can find all this information on the General Coatings and the Everroof directories on RoofersCoffeeShop. We have the student competition teams. You should stick around for this, Will. The student competition teams are going to be talking here now.