LIVE From IRE With Roof Hugger!

Dale Nelson and DJ Highnote talk about what is new with Roof Hugger and the beauty of always moving forward.   

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of an interview with President of Roof Hugger Dale Nelson and Vice President DJ Highnote. You can read the interview below or watch the recorded livestream. 

Karen Edwards: Hello and welcome back to the Roofers Coffee Shop sound stage at the 2022 International Roofing Expo here in New Orleans. I'm Karen Edwards, your host for the day, and I'm so excited to welcome my friends from Roof Hugger, Dale and DJ. Welcome. 

Dale Nelson: Thank you. Thanks for having us. 

DJ Highnote: Yep.  Good to be here. 

Karen Edwards: Yeah. I'm so glad that they're here because if you know, you follow along on YouTube, Heidi was in Phoenix last week at- 

Dale Nelson: Ah, Scottsdale. 

Karen Edwards: Scottsdale. Somewhere in Arizona, that was close. For the Metal Construction Association's annual meeting. And they gave out an award, the highest award that is such an honor to receive the Larry Ace Sweeney... 

Dale Nelson: Award. 

Karen Edwards: Award. For... 

Dale Nelson: Contribution to the metal industry- 

Karen Edwards: To the metal industry. And it was awarded to Dale. 

Dale Nelson: Thank you! It was quite the honor to receive that award. It kind of represents lifetime achievement for me and my contribution to the Metal Construction Association. Their charge is to promote the use of metal in our industry. And I've been a member with the MCA since '95. And then of course, in the construction industry, since the early seventies, back when I had bangs. And well, I do miss them though I have to tell you. And so anyway, it was a very high honor and a wonderful evening for me anyway, and I hope everybody else too. 

Karen Edwards: Congratulations. We're just proud. The roofing industry is very proud to have that representation from you. 

DJ Highnote: I can tell you as a member of Roof Hugger, I was proud to watch him go up and get it. He certainly deserved it. 

Dale Nelson: Thank you, DJ. 

Karen Edwards: Nice. So for those who don't know, I don't know how you could possibly not know, can you give us an overview of what Roof Hugger does? 

Dale Nelson: Absolutely. My partner, Red McConaughey, and I started Roof Hugger back in 1991. And it was unique at the time. There wasn't a real graceful way to regroup an existing metal building. So Red had the idea to create a Z purlin that had notches in it that fit over the corrugations of the existing roof. So we went ahead and created a company to market and sell that product, and had a whopping first year, 1991, I think we sold $7,500 worth of product. 

Karen Edwards: Got to start somewhere. 

DJ Highnote: Yeah. 

Dale Nelson: And we did. And soon enough we were at a quarter million, and then a half a million, and then over a million, and on, and on, and on it went. And he passed away in 2011 and we are really honored to have his grandson, DJ Highnote sort of take over the reins now. I am moving toward retirement. I'm going to be maybe doing some stuff for the company, but DJ has a responsibility running this thing and getting the word out that yes, if you have an old metal roof, you do not have to tear it off, you can put a new roof over the old one. And in addition to that, you can bring it up to the current code, and you have a new roof that can live as long as 60 years. 

Karen Edwards: That's wonderful. Because then it keeps that old metal roof out of the landfill. 

DJ Highnote: Absolutely. 

Dale Nelson: Absolutely does. Yeah. 

Karen Edwards: Wow. And I think that's just such a cool story that you are coming, following your grandfather into the business. He would be so proud. 

DJ Highnote: Oh yeah. Yeah, it's been an honor. So it was nine years ago in April that I started with Roof Hugger. So I got the call, Dale said, "Hey, do you want to come over?" At the time I had a contracting company. I says, "Yeah, let's do this." And it's been a family operation anyway from day one, we've all been family. So we were talking about it at dinner, it's been quite the nine years. You never quit learning in this industry, for sure. And with Roof Hugger, the beauty is we're constantly moving forward with something new. 

Dale Nelson: Innovating, testing... 

DJ Highnote: You have to. You have to, to stay ahead of it. So it's a lot of fun. 

Karen Edwards: Right. 

Dale Nelson: It seemed like such a simple product when we started and it worked so well. And when we started getting into the science of it, and the more we learned from the engineering people we were dealing with and the test line we're dealing with it, the more refined the product became. And there have been dozens of minor tweaks to it over the years to enhance it, and make it stronger, and make it more user friendly, so it installs quickly. And it's really been a lot of fun because you really out there on the cutting edge in the design world. And that is fun stuff for some people. 

Karen Edwards: I mean you brought a product to market that changed the way we do things. 

Dale Nelson: Exactly right. 

DJ Highnote: And it's nice to have customers come to our booth and say, "Man, this stuff is great. We love it. I wish we had known about it 20 years ago." So when you make a good product, it's nice to hear the feedback. 

Karen Edwards: The feedback, for sure. So now we are at the International Roofing Expo. You guys have a booth here. What's your booth number? 

Dale Nelson: 1343. 

DJ Highnote: Yep. 

Karen Edwards: 1343. So if you are at the show or planning to come to the show, please go by the booth. Say hi, say congratulations. 

DJ Highnote: Yeah. 

Dale Nelson: I'll be doing my Vanna White thing here. 

Karen Edwards: See what's new. And if you can't make it to the show, we know there's some folks that couldn't, you can visit their directory on Roofer's Coffee Shop that will have tons of information, links to their website. Learn all you can about them there. So thank you guys for coming by. 

DJ Highnote: No problem. Yep. 

Karen Edwards: We're going to be here all day talking to our friends and bringing the show to you. So be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and ring that bell so you know when we go live. And we'll see you soon. Bye-bye. 

DJ Highnote: Thank you. 

Dale Nelson: Thanks again. 

Karen Edwards: Thank you. 

Dale Nelson: Bye-bye. 

Learn more about Roof Hugger in their RoofersCoffeeShop® Directory or visit www.roofhugger.com.