Lauren Morley - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Lauren Morley from R3NG. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast!

Megan Ellsworth: Welcome to Stories From The Roof, the podcast that brings you tales from the most unexpected vantage point, rooftops. I'm your host, Megan Ellsworth, and on this show, we'll ascend to the top and explore the world through the eyes of those who live and work above. Join us on this unique journey as we uncover the stories, perspectives and histories of roofing contractors. Let's begin our ascent onto the roof.

Hello everyone. My name is Megan Ellsworth here at rooferscoffeeshop.com, and I am so excited. I am here with Lauren Morley and this is the Stories From The Roof podcast. So we're going to hear all about her and her journey in roofing. So hi, friend. Hi Loren, how are you?

Lauren Morley: Hi, I'm good. How are you?

Megan Ellsworth: So good. So excited to have you on and be here.

Lauren Morley: I know, it's nice to be here.

Megan Ellsworth: Woohoo. Okay, well, I'll just have you introduce yourself. Tell us about R3NG, your name and tell us about you a little bit.

Lauren Morley: Obviously I'm Loren and I'm the President and majority owner of R3NG. We're a commercial roofing company based out of Colorado. We focused on multi-family, steep slope and then low slope commercial. We've been around since 2015, but our parent company's been around since 2008, so we've been in the market for a long time. And yeah, I've been in the roofing industry really for five years, but I've been with the company for 10, which I can't believe it's been 10 years. That's a little bit crazy. 10 years, like a week ago actually.

Megan Ellsworth: Oh, congrats.

Lauren Morley: Pretty exciting. And, right now my focus is almost entirely on roofing.
Megan Ellsworth: Awesome. That's so cool. And you just recently became majority owner and president last year, right?
Lauren Morley: In January. So I was 25% owner for the last two or three years. And in January I became 51% ownership of R3NG.

Megan Ellsworth: That's so exciting. Congrats.

Lauren Morley: Thank you.

Megan Ellsworth: So how did you get into roofing?

Lauren Morley: That's a good question. Well, I was working at a golf course. I wanted to go into golf course management. I got the job there right after high school at 18 and I was still there up until I was 23. And I like to joke that my dad's [inaudible 00:02:29] weakness, 'cos I was reconsidering what I wanted in life and what could provide me the family balance and lifestyle that I wanted and he really wanted one of his daughters to come and work at the company. So I left and in 2014 I went to work for my dad. Now at the time I was actually focused on our new construction division, so we were building multifamily from the ground up and I was learning the ropes from him. And then we owned a GC and a roofing company as well that performed work for our new construction.

When my dad approached me about ownership at all of the companies, and he had asked me if I wanted to be partners with someone who I think most of you know, Jason, the two of us decided to cross-train each other for about six months. And at the end of six months, we said, "Well, we want to own the company, but we don't want to do construction. We want to focus on the roofing company and we want to focus on GC." After that, it was all uphill/downhill from there. So the roofing [inaudible 00:03:38] has been our main focus for the last seven years now. So I grew up in the big construction world, but just was drawn to the roofing industry.

Megan Ellsworth: That's super cool. I love it. I also love a family business partial to that, so that's always great.

Lauren Morley: Our joke is always, I loved roofing. 'Cos it was the one part of construction I could know more about than my dad knows.

Megan Ellsworth: I love that. That's iconic. So can you tell us a little bit about your career once you started in roofing and how you got to where you are today?

Lauren Morley: I mean it's been an interesting journey for sure. I mean, when I started getting a ball with R3NG, I didn't know anything about roofing really. I was pretty intimidated by it. I think having comfort with construction, I had this perceived notion that it would be a very misogynistic industry. I was very lucky to get introduced to National Women and Roofing really early on. So Jamaca Berman, who's now our Regional with GAF, but was our Territory Manager at the time, took me to a National Women in Roofing event seven years ago. And I really dove into that and used that as my big support and just try to get as much education as I possibly could. And I think for me, I'm that kind of person. If I feel like I know what I'm talking about, that I enjoy myself more. And, I think just over the years I kept getting more and more involved with things like National Women in Roofing or associations like IVEC and it just gave me that sense of camaraderie and I think that gave me the confidence to just keep taking further steps towards where I am now, obviously.

I don't know, it's funny thinking back, they used to call me the Ice Queen. 'Cos I think there's something about being the boss's daughter and being younger and being female, that I felt like I had to be this really rigid, really strict person, which was obviously so not who I am. And I feel like once I started really just embracing who I was is when I hit my stride a little bit more.

Megan Ellsworth: That's awesome. Oh, I love to hear that. 'Cos we're all about that. Why not just be yourself and be authentic and show your true colors? 'Cos people appreciate that.

Lauren Morley: Not even vinegar, right?

Megan Ellsworth: Totally. Exactly. Okay, so who is someone that stands out to you in your mind when you think about who taught you roofing? So who's someone that taught you about roofing?

Lauren Morley: I mean, I think for me that answer is pretty obvious. It's my old business partner, Jason. When he realized how much I was taking to the industry and how much base sell which I have for construction, he took me on every roof he went on and taught me everything he knew and introduced me to everyone he knew. I mean, he was definitely, I think we've talked about upstanders. He was my number one upstander for many, many years. I wouldn't be here without him, so it's an easy one.

Megan Ellsworth: Love that. Love Jason.

Lauren Morley: Hi, Jason.

Megan Ellsworth: Hi, Jason. You're famous now. What is a valuable lesson that you learned through your career? Maybe about roofing itself or just about being in roofing or having a career in roofing?

Lauren Morley: I think it's like what we just talked about, right? I think it's just learning how to be yourself, not trying to hold yourself to what everyone else thinks you're supposed to be. I think especially being a female in construction, it's really easy to think you have to be a certain way or act a certain way.

Megan Ellsworth: So true.

Lauren Morley: And I think that leads into the partnership part, too. I've surrounded myself with people who I know will support me and what I am looking to do. And I think if you can bind your tribe, Jennifer Keegan and I talk about that all the time, bind your tribe and just stick to that, then I think you can't really go wrong.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. Love it. So how long have you been a member of National Women in Roofing? Just curious.

Lauren Morley: I mean, I guess seven years probably. I think that's [inaudible 00:08:13], it might've been six? 'Cos I remember the first National Women in Roofing day I went to was the New Orleans one.

Megan Ellsworth: Okay.

Lauren Morley: But I was supposed to go to the one in Vegas the year before that, but I didn't because of COVID. And I'd been involved a year before that, so it might be like five years now.

Megan Ellsworth: That's great.

Lauren Morley: Yeah,

Megan Ellsworth: We love it.

Lauren Morley: Yeah.

Megan Ellsworth: Okay. So if you were to go back to the very beginning of your career on the golf course, would there be anything that you would want to do differently?

Lauren Morley: That's a loaded question.

Megan Ellsworth: The answer can be no.

Lauren Morley: I mean, honestly, I don't know that there is. Part of me wants to say pay attention to roofing earlier, and I've gotten involved with it earlier, but I don't even know that I would've wanted that because I think having had those few years of learning the other side of it was important for me. I looking at where I am now, I don't know that I would've done anything differently to be honest.

Megan Ellsworth: That's awesome. I love that.

Lauren Morley: That's a good feeling.

Megan Ellsworth: That is a good feeling. You're like, "Oh, okay, no. Everything was meant to happen the way it happened."

Lauren Morley: For sure.

Megan Ellsworth: So, going off of that question in a different route, what's the best thing you have ever done for your career? Or for your business, R3NG?

Lauren Morley: I mean, I think on the one side, I passed my Gen oV Contractors License back in 2021. And I think for me that was huge because one, not many roofers in general have it, but I think not very many females have it either. And I think for our company, it was good. 'Cos my dad had always been the one who held it, and I was now the future. But I think it was a confidence boost, too. That's not an easy thing to get. It's not an easy license to hold. And I think that really gave me a lot of confidence to be like, "Okay, you deserve to be here. You deserve a seat at the table."

So, that's probably up there, I think with it. Another really cool thing I got to do that I think helped elevate me a little, at the Wealth Builder at Austin for JF two years ago, I got to sit on the main stage for a community contractors panel, and then Jason and I made it to the final stage for Cutting Edge. So two times in one day I spoke in front of 2,000 people or 1,200 people. I don't know what it was. And that was probably one of the coolest things I've ever done.

Megan Ellsworth: Wow. And nerve wracking.

Lauren Morley: When I saw how many people were there at the main session, I was like, "I think I'm going to maybe want to rethink this, guys."

Megan Ellsworth: I'm actually, I'm going to go back. Go sit down.

Lauren Morley: ... would never come back.

Megan Ellsworth: That's amazing. In one word or a small sentence, I'll accept a small sentence, describe the most important trait in an employee or a co-worker.

Lauren Morley: Okay. I would say probably trust. That, to me, that would probably be it. If I have an employee I know I can trust or a co-worker I know I can trust, that's a big one. 'Cos I think all the other things fall into that, knowing they're reliable, knowing that ... So I think that would be it for me.

Megan Ellsworth: Knowing they're going to get their stuff done and not leave you high and dry.

Lauren Morley: And knowing that they're going to represent us and our brand the way that we want them to, knowing that it felt like all of that, I think falls into that same category.

Megan Ellsworth: Totally. Absolutely. Okay. Who is the best boss you ever had and what did they teach you? It is a loaded question.

Lauren Morley: What?

Megan Ellsworth: This is a loaded question.

Lauren Morley: So the funny thing is, I'm actually going to say that it was one of my managers when I worked at Snooze. So, when I was in golf, I wasn't year round there until year five. So for four years I had to get a summer job or a winter job every year. So I've done it all, the [inaudible 00:12:45] hostess jobs and retail jobs and just all of it. And so my very last part-time job, I was a hostess at Snooze, which was honestly probably one of the hardest jobs I've ever had.

Megan Ellsworth: Oh, I bet.

Lauren Morley: And I remember, I still follow her on LinkedIn. She's also, her name's Kristin Marvin. She's actually doing life coaching now, and I don't know, she just was one of the first people who cut, again, we have a theme here, just really taught me, be yourself, have fun. You don't need to take yourself too seriously. And she was just very cool and very supportive of everyone on her team. And I feel like I really carried that through with me.

Megan Ellsworth: That's awesome.

Lauren Morley: That's probably who I think.

Megan Ellsworth: Oh my gosh, I love that. And fellow woman, we love that, too. Love. Oh my gosh. Okay. What makes you smile when you think about your job?

Lauren Morley: Probably my team. I mean, I'm so lucky, I have the best employees on the planet. Not only are they great employees, but they're all really good friends. That's probably it. I mean, during COVID you couldn't get people to stay at home. So we're all very close. My office admin's been with us for 21 years, so I would say my team, for sure.

Megan Ellsworth: That's amazing. And there's nothing like wanting to go to work in the morning and seeing your work friends and your team and feeling like it's a second home. That just feels so cozy and comfortable and just yummy.

Lauren Morley: I mean, and I think now we're in our new office, and I think the vibe is just so good right now that it's just fun. It's just fun to be here, which is really great.

Megan Ellsworth: When did you move into the new office?

Lauren Morley: The first week of January.

Megan Ellsworth: That's right. That's exciting.

Lauren Morley: It's been great.

Megan Ellsworth: Okay. So when you hire someone new, is there any advice that you give them when they're starting out in roofing?

Lauren Morley: Yeah, there's probably two ways to answer this. I guess.

And I'll say this, I have a tendency, I hire out of the industry a lot. And I think, for me, that's because personality traits and a culture fit is a lot harder to find with somebody with roofing knowledge. I teach that. I think our big thing, and especially keep in mind, we're commercial. So I think when I first hire people, it's be patient. If you're in sales or ASME, you're not going to land a job, maybe for the first year. When you're a superintendent, something's going to go wrong at some point. And that's okay. If you're my services coordinator the first time it rains for 38 hours, you're going to go crazy. But it's okay. So I think just being patient and being forgiving with yourself is important.

Now with females, I think my biggest piece of advice, usually to them and I'm sure Megan, you've heard me say this before, but I have this thing with females and how they interact and grow around men in our industry. And I think that there's this assumption that men who don't inherently support women or aren't right there being the best that they can be automatically are against us. Whereas I think really 70% of guys just don't really realize what they're doing. They just need a little bit of guidance to understand, Hey, do this instead, ask the question this way. Don't assume I don't know it. And I think the thing I tell women is men are going to be your support more often than they're not. So don't treat them like the enemy. And I don't know, I think for me, that's gotten me a really long way. So don't get me wrong. I mean, I have my tribe of girls and I love them, but I also have a lot of men who have given me a seat at the table. So I think that's a great piece of advice that I give.

Megan Ellsworth: That's awesome. I think that's a great piece of advice. And also that just carries to a multitude of people. Just never assume someone's against you until proven guilty, essentially. That's just a good piece of advice.
Okay. So how long have you been following Roofers Coffee Shop, and what's your favorite thing about RCS?

Lauren Morley: Okay, so this is funny. Obviously I've known you and your mom. I mean, how long ago did you and Ivan? Three years ago, right?

Megan Ellsworth: I feel like two or three years ago.

Lauren Morley: And hit it off right away. I mean, I'm pretty sure your mom's been an idol of mine for years. It's weird now since I realize how she's a friend, but I guess I'm friends with Heidi, so it's like I feel like I've been a part of your guys' world for four or five years. I have not actually thought you were for a selfie shot until about nine months ago.

Megan Ellsworth: Finally we booked you.

Lauren Morley: Honestly think I didn't even know I wasn't a part of it, to be honest. I think you came in and spoke to the academy class that I was like, "Oh, there's an actual subscription that I'm supposed to be a part of." But with that being said, I think what I really love the most about it is how much attention you guys pay just to all the little things. I even remember, I put up a random LinkedIn post four months ago to sell a bunch of extra screws and fasteners that we had, like COVID stuff and Alex emailed me an hour later, be like, "Hey, do you mind if we post this and put it in the newsletter?" And I was like, I mean, "Of course we don't mind." So I'm like...

Megan Ellsworth: Please do.

Lauren Morley: ... you really pay attention to your Room For Coffee Shop members and know what we need before I think we really know we need it? So, really wishing I joined more than eight months ago.

Megan Ellsworth: Oh my gosh. That's great. So, I'm also just going to throw in a little testimonial for our club right now. Loren is a member of our club. That's what she's talking about. And we have monthly coffee breaks where people from all over the country get together and chat every month virtually and all sorts of other perks. And Loren is a part of it. So I'm so glad that you're officially part of the family.

Lauren Morley: Officially a part of the team, and also the free content. My staff will advise me if you have stuff on rooferscoffeeshop.

Megan Ellsworth: That's awesome. I'm glad to hear it. Yay. Okay. Lastly, this is the last question. I just want to highlight your work with the GAF Roofing Academy. When's your next one? And tell us a little bit about your involvement with it.

Lauren Morley: Obviously, I appreciate you giving me the plug, 'cos you know how much I love the Roofing Academy. So for anyone who doesn't know what the Roofing Academy is, GAF, the manufacturer, has a free program to their master elite contractors where they will come in if you're in need of hiring somebody. And they will recruit from underserved communities. So anyone for any reason who has found themselves in a part of their life where they are in a place of employment and want to be. And they will set up a full training. All you have to do is provide them a space to do the training and they'll train on whatever you want. So they have in-house sales trainings, they have install trainings. They have, I mean, you name it, they'll train in it. And then you, as the roofer, you get first shot at if you want to hire somebody out of the group.

And then they'll take the rest of the attendees and they'll try to get them jobs in the roofing industry, which obviously, you all know, labor shortage is a huge, huge issue right now. And I'm very big, I grew up in nonprofits helping our communities, one of my [inaudible 00:21:12] in life. And so I think it just does both, right? It's so cool.

So I'm smaller, so I don't really have to hire all that often. And so what I like to do at the academy is host one-off specialty ones. So I've hosted two different all women's classes, and I've got a really, really great group of local contractors who are very, very supportive. I had to give a shout-out to Jeff Gray with Lifetime Roof and Solar because they're a huge partner for me when I do my job there. And so then we can get people hired.

So our next one, I have a little thumbs, 'cos it was supposed to be next week, but we are having to delay it just because of some other situations. But our next one we're doing is going to be a roofing academy that's partnering with the Mayor's Initiative. As a lot of people know, they got a thousand people off the streets in the first 90 days in their term. And their next stage is a workforce initiative. So we're going to be partnering with them to recruit from those efforts and try to get ...

Megan Ellsworth: That's awesome.

Lauren Morley: ... some more people in the roofing industry.

Megan Ellsworth: Man, it's so cool. And I did go and speak to, I think maybe your first all women's ...

Lauren Morley: I think you talked to both now.

Megan Ellsworth: ... academy. And it was life changing and just really cool. And I went to the graduation day and to see for the veterans one that you did, went to graduation day for that and the job fair. And everyone's just so appreciative and grateful and open-minded and open hearts and just so kind. And it was just, I can't speak more highly of it. So I think the work that you and GF are doing with the Roofing Academy is pretty cool.

Lauren Morley: I mean, it's just so funny. If you think about it's like how many of us have hired the guy who watching the door who worked at McDonald's, right? Every contractor out there has hired a guy with zero experience, and these people have at least put in effort to find a program to get trained. And it is incredible the amount these people learn in a week. Some of them know more than some of my technicians. And so to me, it's like they're all here, they're putting in into effort, but they already have more knowledge and some people walking in the door. I think it's just so cool and it's free. You don't pay anything. And if you're doing a regular roofing academy, you don't even have to do the recruiting. They do it all for you. So to me, it's a no-brainer, I think.

Megan Ellsworth: That's awesome. Well, Lauren, thank you so, so much for chatting with me and sharing your story. This has been a blast.

Loren Morley: Well, thank you for having me. It was great.

Megan Ellsworth: Yay. I want to mention that today's episode is sponsored by Ruby. They are a great company. If you need phone answering services, text answering services, so go check them out. They have a directory on rooferscoffeeshop.com, and they're also based in the Pacific Northwest. So we love them. And again, Lauren, this has been so much fun, R3NG also has a directory on rooferscoffeeshop.com. They're an art club member. You should be too. Get on it. What are you doing? This has been so fun. Thank you for chatting with me.

Lauren Morley: I know. This has been really fun. I can't wait to see you again next.

Megan Ellsworth: I know. Yay. Okay, great. Everyone out there, make sure you are subscribed and follow the podcast so you get notifications next time we upload an episode. And we'll be seeing you next time on Stories From The Roof.

If you've enjoyed these unique rooftop stories, be sure to hit that subscribe button so you don't miss a single episode. Go to rooferscoffeeshop.com to learn more. Thanks for soaring with us on Stories From The Roof. We'll catch you on the next one.