Owens Corning & Roofers Choice Insurance: Empowering Contractors - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Brett Scott of Roofers Choice Insurance and Jon Gardner of Owens Corning. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast!

Intro: Welcome to Roofing Road Trips, the podcast that takes you on a thrilling journey across the world of roofing. From fascinating interviews with roofing experts, to on-the-road adventures, we'll uncover the stories, innovations and challenges that shape the rooftops over our heads. So, fasten your seatbelts and join us as we embark on this exciting Roofing Road Trip.

Karen Edwards: Hello, and welcome to another Roofing Road Trips from RoofersCoffeeShop. I'm your guest host, Karen Edwards, and today I'm really excited to talk about a partnership that is going to help contractors navigate the insurance landscape in the roofing industry, and help them mitigate risk. I'd like to welcome Brett Scott from Roofer's Choice Insurance, and Jon Gardner of Owens Corning. Welcome, gentlemen.

Jon Gardner: Hey, Karen. Good to see you, good to hear you. Thanks for letting us join here today on the podcast, awesome stuff.

Brett Scott: Thanks for having us, Karen. We're excited to be a part of it.

Karen Edwards: Glad that you are here. So Jon, I want to start with you. First I want to have you introduce yourself and tell us what you do at Owens Corning, and then I also want to hear a little bit about why it's important for Owens Corning to create these partnerships and help their contractors.

Jon Gardner: Yeah. Well, thank you. And as always Karen, just certainly appreciate the opportunity, and such a high regard for a RoofersCoffeeShop. You guys just rock it, and you've been such a staple within the roofing industry, and you helped so many, thousands of contractors. So, always a pleasure and really appreciate this opportunity.

Karen Edwards: Thank you.

Jon Gardner: For sure. And about me, Jon Gardner, and I am here with Owens Corning. I've been with the company for almost 15 years now, and today I head up our strategic partnerships in our learning and development platform. And what is that all about? That is all about helping to support our contractors in their journey to grow their business, and providing them everything that we possibly can, best in class resources and services to make sure that our contractors have the best opportunity to take advantage of their local markets and helping them to drive their businesses forward faster than any other businesses that are out there.

Our partners, our contractors are such an integral part of our business. They're everything to us, and we look at our strategic partnerships and our training platform as one of those elements that we want to provide our contractors, because these are the areas and places where our contractors can gain great knowledge and implement them into their own businesses. So, we absolutely love when we're able to establish partnerships with companies like we're talking here today with Brett Scott and Roofer's Choice Insurance, and you asked the question of why this is so important? And I alluded to it a little bit, Karen, but at the end of the day when I think about and when our company thinks about roofing contractors, we look at them as what they are, which is small businesses in a service-oriented environment. And those are some of the most challenging places to establish businesses and maintain them.

Highly competitive, and let's face it, not everybody was born to run a business. And the folks that own their own roofing businesses are learning sometimes every day. And so, we look at that and we learn from our contractors, and our promise, our purpose is to help our contractors in every aspect of their business, whether it's very fundamental in nature, all the way up to soft skills, including culture and leadership, including what we're talking about here today with Roofer's Choice Insurance, which is helping our contractors to mitigate some of those areas with regard to risk and helping to support our contractors with the best-in-class resources to implement into their businesses on their own. And Roofer's Choice Insurance represents the best of the best. They are well-established, and Brett, you're going to speak to this, and why we really value the partnership with Roofer's Choice Insurance is because they're the cream of the crop when it comes to contractors looking for either learning and or resourcing when it comes to the insurance that each one of their businesses has to buy, and has to implement into their businesses.

And so, love this, because risk mitigation is one of those areas in the business that's not often talked about but can be, and is in many cases, some of the most important parts of the business, that if left untaken care of and not managed, and brought in the wrong direction can have a big effect on the business. And anybody listening to this as a contractor totally understands what I'm saying. And so, that's what it's all about, Karen. And so yeah, we heavily invested in this space through Owens Corning University and the Contractor Program. So, love this opportunity because anytime that we can help our contractors in these critical areas is a win for us, because we know that we're doing our part to help our contractors' growth strategy.

Karen Edwards: And yes, and I know that Owens Corning doesn't just partner with anybody. You've done your homework, you've vetted these partners and like you said, you can ensure that you're getting the best of the best. And like you said, there's many parts moving in a small business, and a lot of roofing contractors start their companies because they're craftsmen. They enjoy working and putting on the roofs, and doing the job, and that other every day-to-day stuff of running a business is something they're not really that interested in. So, insurance is so critically important. Brett, I'd like to welcome you and have you introduce yourself. Tell us about your background, and a little bit about Roofer's Choice Insurance.

Brett Scott: Of course. Well, thanks for having us, Karen. We certainly appreciate everything that RoofersCoffeeShop does, and we're so grateful for you having us on this podcast. So, my name's Brett Scott. I've been with Roofer's Choice for going on 11 years now. I'm a partner with Roofer's Choice. We've been around for 19 years, insuring roofing contractors, specializing in the space.

We're an extremely forward-thinking insurance agency that tries to make sure we stay ahead of the curve as it relates to risk associated with running a roofing operation, ultimately where the laws are taking us and how we can insulate and keep these contractors in business. We insure around 600 roofers nationwide, we operate in all 50 states. We do anything from general liability, to bonds, to auto liability, workers' comp, list goes on and on, anything a roofing contractor needs within their business, ultimately we can provide.

We've established relationships with each and every carrier that will insure a roofing contractor, and does it the right way, and ultimately is a carrier that you can trust and know that they'll go to bat for you if something were to go wrong during the course of your operation. So, we're extremely particular on who we work with, who we allow to insure our roofing contractors. And at the end of the day, we just want our contractors to be able to lay their head on a pillow at night and know that they're going to be taken care of if something were to go wrong in the course of their operations.

So, we also serve as an extended arm of their company. So, there's a lot of day two services that we provide. We're just not a, "Hey, here's your insurance policy. We'll see you next year," kind of company. Ultimately as involved as they want to be on the risk side, we can roll up our sleeves and certainly help them from the aspect of training as it relates to risk transfer controls with subcontractors, safety. Ultimately what the state by state risks are if you're looking to maybe chase a storm in Colorado or Florida, what that risk could be. And so, we definitely want to serve as an extended arm of their company and be a partner with them.

Jon Gardner: Yeah. And I absolutely love that, Brett, because you're speaking to some of the elements that I was sharing just before you, and Karen, that's just a great example of the type of partnerships that Owens Corning loves to create and bring to the market. And Brett, you brought up a couple of really important pieces to the partnership, and one of them is a trusted resource. There is a ton of noise in the market, no matter what contractors are looking to purchase, or invest in, or research and many times it brings them down a rabbit hole. And part of our partnerships is to establish a trusted resource that has proven capabilities across the country. And when you look at Roofer's Choice Insurance, a couple key things that popped out of what Brett was talking about is number one, comprehensive coverage. That's a must-have when it comes to any contractor, because who knows where they might go someday. They might be in California and move to the Midwest.

But outside of that, it's the consultation arm of Roofer's Choice Insurance that really separates them from the rest of the pack. What I mean by that is to be able to consult at the highest level, you need to be the best in class. You need to understand what it is that contractors may be looking for and maybe running up against. 600 plus contractors in a national scope with some of the best carriers that providing the coverage indicates to contractors that this is a trusted source for them. So, whether or not they're currently in a place where they're up for renewal or not, that doesn't matter. What Brett and his team are there for is to make sure that number one, if a contractor in our network is just saying, "Hey, could you look at our coverage? And can you please make sure that from your standpoint, your professional opinion, that we're in okay shape?" That is a great place for our contractors to leverage Roofer's Choice Insurance.

In addition, when our contractors connect with Roofer's Choice Insurance, Brett, you brought up some really great other great examples. It's not just about buying general liability, or workman's comp, or auto, it's really understanding more of the comprehensive approach that includes safety, that includes your subcontractors. And this is a clear indication that Owens Corning in partnership with Roofer's Choice Insurance can help our contractors. And Brett, you can bring up at some point here today, there's that piece of it but there's also an opportunity for our contractors to save some money and put a few bucks in their pocket when it comes to insurance. And this is, Brett, where our partnership provides our contractors with general liability, 10% discount when it comes to just GL and PEO is also a part of that.

So, I just wanted to talk through that part because Brett, what you're speaking to is just absolutely spot on with regard to our approach and the comprehensiveness of each one of our partners. And then finally, as we spoke about this at the very beginning is, hey, this is not the sexiest part of the business. This is not sales, it's not marketing, but it is one of the most important parts of the business. And Brett, you're making insurance sexy again, so we love it.

Brett Scott: I was about to say, try doing it for a living, Jon. You're welcome.

Jon Gardner: No kidding, but you're killing it. You're doing a great job.

Brett Scott: Well, we do get a ton of joy out of what we do, and whether it's with our current clients or just helping educate Owens Corning contractors or really anyone in the industry on what they have, what they don't have, what's missing. And so, I mean, we certainly do get a lot of joy out of it, and it's one of our favorite parts of the business is educating folks on where their risk lies. And ultimately, if they're with their brother-in-law and we can make some recommendations to fix their program, at the end of the day if they're in a better spot and they're happy where they are, we're happy. And of course, you certainly touched on the discounts. I mean, that is a great opportunity and option that we can add in for Owens Corning Roofing contractors, and ultimately we're gracious for the carriers that we work with, and their willingness to trust us and back us on a program like this to where we can actually have the contractors realize some savings while being a loyal Owens Corning roofer.

Karen Edwards: I think as a small business, many roofing companies could feel like they're on an island, and all by themselves, and they don't have those resources, and they end up trying to research things on the internet and go down those rabbit holes, and it wastes time, and they may end up with the wrong coverage. So, I think that's the beautiful thing about the Owens Corning partnerships is working with the manufacturer who has the resources, who has the ability to bring the best partners to the small business owner is brilliant.

And I really like the consultative approach. So, if a contractor is going to take that first step and say, "Hey, I'm an Owens Corning contractor. Roofer's Choice, I want to work with you." What is that first step? Do you take a look at their current situation and identify maybe some gaps? How does that work?

Brett Scott: That's correct. So I mean, we really work backwards from the standpoint of a lot of times if you go and approach an insurance agency, they're just going to say, "Hey, fill out this application. We'll spit out a quote to you, take it or leave it. Here's what you have." We work in the aspect of, "Let's see what you currently have. Let's advise you on what potentially could be missing." You may have the best situation in the world, and if you do, we're going to let you know of it. But if there's gaps in coverage, we want you to know where ultimately we differentiate. And through those policy audits, I mean, there's a lot of things that are discovered. I mean, we review policies on a daily basis, I would say thousands a year. And ultimately you would be shocked at what's discovered. They could be ABC Roofing and ultimately have a roofing exclusion.

And so, it's absurd what's really going on in this industry and the exclusions that are in play. I mean, we can help them recognize potential unfavorable audit exposure that could be out there if they're utilizing uninsured subcontractors. Maybe there's a subcontractor related exclusion. Maybe there's sublimits in the policy that drop their limit from a million to 50,000 for open roof claims or for subcontracted work. Maybe there's an issue with the credit rating of the carrier to where we really don't know if they have the ability to pay out a claim. And so, the list goes on and on, and ultimately we identify those areas of risk, give them real examples of claims that we've paid or situations where contractors have been burnt in the past and just give them a real feel for, "Hey, if I stay in this situation, yes, I may be saving a lot of money staying here, but at the end of the day it could cost me my business."

And so ultimately, being an entrepreneur, a lot of times people are willing to roll the dice and stay in that situation. But oftentimes there's folks that really don't know what they have and then they find out, and it's hopefully-

Jon Gardner: That's just it. Yeah.

Brett Scott: And we just want to get out in front of that.

Jon Gardner: That's it right there, Brett, is many times we don't know, and it's an output that could be based on who their current agent is that has limited resources in terms of carrier coverage, and just maybe they're not the expert when it comes to the roofing industry and the roofing space, the roofing contractor. And this, again, is one of those critical areas and key areas of our partnership. And Brett, what you were speaking to right there is the insurance audit. And so, anybody listening to this should take full advantage of an insurance audit with Roofer's Choice Insurance, because at the end of the day what you don't know could put you at substantial risk with regard to the business. And knowing it, having the opportunity to gain knowledge of your current coverage may be just good enough. And that's what we're aiming for, is to make sure every one of our contractors is adequately and even more protected when it comes to their insurance.

So, how do our contractors actually take advantage of this is number one, if you have a relationship with one of our area sales managers, use them as your resource to make that direct connection. And number two, if you're an Owens Corning contractor and you have access to OC Connect, then you have access to more information about Roofer's Choice Insurance on OC Connect. And we also have a brochure that's handy for our contractors QR code, just to make a quick connection with Roofer's Choice Insurance and set up their insurance audit. So yeah, if you're having any issues, troubles making this connection, just simply reach out to anyone you know at Owens Corning, we'll make sure that we get you covered. But should be super easy.

And I don't know about anybody else, but when I am in a place where I'm just not 100% sure about something and I can go to a trusted source, proven source and actually get some feedback, no matter what it is, it puts me in a place where now I have a little bit more comfort. Now, imagine multiplying that by a million when you're an owner of a company and there's a lot at risk. So yeah, great, great stuff.

Brett Scott: And to add to that, Jon, it's free of charge as well, so it's no hassle, free of charge. All's we've got to do is gather the policies and we can typically get that audit done within a few days, usually within the same day.

Karen Edwards: It's interesting because any insurance policies have a lot of, I don't know, jargon it seems like. I don't understand it-

Jon Gardner: Legalese.

Karen Edwards: ... I don't read the fine print. Yeah, legalese. But you do this every day, and like you mentioned early, 600 roofing contractors across the country so you've seen a lot, you know how to navigate the system. I think that's so important. I'm just curious how the company decided to focus and make its niche market roofing.

Brett Scott: Yeah, that's a great question. And actually I love talking about it. There's a company, they're called RRSA. They're in the same town that we live in. Marty Haight was the owner of RRSA at the time, he's a big pioneer in the roofing industry, there's many people across the country that know him, many people that run successful roofing companies that actually started off working with him, some of which that are doing 100 plus million a year that are literally started off with Marty. But we actually did his personal insurance, and ultimately we represented him, went to bat for him and took care of him with many situations, always were available. Well, he came to us one day, and he worked all across the country. He was a storm chaser, ultimately a storm hits he'd be there pretty much right when it hit. And he came to us and there was many issues that he was facing within his current program, and relating to subcontractors, maybe some states that he couldn't go in from a worker's compensation perspective.

And it was just becoming a real hassle for him, and ultimately a big headache and impeding him from being able to the day the storm hits, go into that state and do business. Well, ultimately we found a carrier partner that was able to hear him out, and he was a part of this conversation, hear him out. He was a really large company as well, so they were definitely willing to entertain the coverages that were being requested and all of that good stuff. And ultimately, we developed our first carrier relationship to where we identified all of his risks, got him a policy that ultimately fit his needs and it worked. It worked great. And-

Jon Gardner: Lost you months.

Brett Scott: Exactly, too much [inaudible 00:22:37] into the policy. He's sending a friend over, the friend's sending a friend over and then we look up, hey, we really have something here. And ultimately from that day forward, we started the name Roofer's Choice Insurance and started solely focusing on the roofing industry and building off of what we had, and developing more relationships, more carrier partners. And here we are today with 600 roofers.

Karen Edwards: Wow. Yeah, I love those stories. That's fantastic.

Jon Gardner: We're talking about Roofer's Choice Insurance here, which obviously is the key conversation, but thinking about the carriers for a minute, there's no rules in place that require carriers to do business with agents at all. So, Roofer's Choice Insurance has access to the insurance coverages, very comprehensive insurance coverages with some of the best carriers. So, it says a lot from a carrier perspective that they're providing this insurance coverage through Roofer's Choice Insurance because they're recognized as a leader in the roofing industry. So, it's important to understand from that perspective, because you get what you get. And so, you have to look at what's behind your agent, who is the carrier that's actually providing that coverage? And sometimes you'd be very surprised.

And to go along with that, Karen, and Brett you could speak to this is the insurance industry and what's happening in various pockets across the United States, and ultimately throughout the entire United States is, and I would call it unprecedented in terms of some of the, I wouldn't say reaction of insurance carriers, but what just the current changes that they might be applying at a state level or even on a federal level.

And this could catch anybody off guard with regard to current coverage versus what it might look like if there are some changes. Bottom line, what I'm saying here is it's not your average insurance coverage, or business, or carrier anymore. When you look at what's happening in the industry, look at Florida, look at areas within Texas-

Brett Scott: Colorado.

Jon Gardner: ... Colorado, and anybody listening to this in those markets would be like, "Yes, that's exactly what's happening." So, that's another key point is with so much fluctuation and volatility with regard to coverages, now is a great time to make sure that you're set up for success in terms of protection. And that goes back to the free audit that Brett and I were speaking to before, just take advantage of it because everything is different than it was even just three, four years ago.

Karen Edwards: Oh, sure. And-

Brett Scott: Of course, and ... Go ahead, Karen. Sorry.

Karen Edwards: Well, I was just going to say, Brett, you guys, I mean, that's a lot. There's 50 states, you're doing work through all those states, so you're going to be the one that's staying on top of what changes are happening in your customer state or service areas, and then keeping them informed and updated. So, just that in itself has tremendous value, I think for contractors.

Brett Scott: Of course. And I mean, from a rate perspective, of course we're in what we refer to as an extremely hard market. So, when you're in a hard market there's lack of underwriting availability, meaning certain carriers are pulling out of certain types of classes of business, ensuring those classes of business, there's less coverage available. So, maybe in certain areas where they're seeing a big hit in certain types of claims, maybe they're backing out on those types of coverage and ultimately the prices are going up. So I mean, we've really stayed stable from the aspect of our coverage remains the same, and ultimately prices, we're seeing some rate increases but not near as bad as other firms across the nation, just from the standpoint of the amount of roofing contractors we insure in the loss ratio we're operating at. And then from the actuarial information we have at hand, I mean, like Florida for example, there's a 50% chance that you're going to have a claim in the state of Florida, and the carriers know that and they charge for it.

So, one in every two roofing contractors is going to have a claim. In Colorado, you can no longer exclude prior works. So, a carrier could potentially pick up a construction defect claim that occurred 10, 15 years ago, and maybe it was with a carrier that is now and doesn't have the ability to pay out a claim. Maybe they're out of business. And so, those are different things that we can make a contractor aware of based on what state they're in, and ultimately where they're looking to go, advise them on their risk. "Hey, why is this a bit higher than what I'm currently paying?" Or whatever the case may be. I mean, the education is there because we have all the actuarial information at hand.

Karen Edwards: Wow. Yeah, that's key. And I've learned a lot today. I think that this is an amazing resource that you are offering to contractors, through both Owens Corning and Roofer's Choice Insurance, this partnership is amazing. As Jon said, reach out to anybody you know at Owens Corning, but start with your area rep, if you know who they, are or OC Connect. And then you said there's a QR code somewhere they can-

Jon Gardner: Right on the brochure, make it super easy. That'll connect any contractor right through our partnership to Roofer's Choice Insurance, and activate the audit as soon as they send that out. And like Brett said, three days or so and you get your report back. It's like going to the doctor and getting your annual checkup. You want to check, make sure that you're doing well. Well, businesses have to have the same as well.

Karen Edwards: That's so true.

Brett Scott: Absolutely.

Jon Gardner: Brett, are you going to wear your white doctor's gown when you go through all of these?

Brett Scott: I may have to get one.

Jon Gardner: Yeah, there you go.

Karen Edwards: That's funny. Well Jon, Brett, thank you so much for being here today. It was a pleasure as always, and I want to thank everyone out there for listening to this. We hope we've been able to help, and provide some information and education for you. Be sure to visit RoofersCoffeeshop.com, check out our Read Listen and Watch initiatives. That's where you'll find all of our podcasts. Or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform, because we're everywhere. We appreciate you being here on this Road Trip, and we'll see you next time from the road. Thanks, Jon. Thanks, Brett.

Outro: If you've enjoyed the ride, don't forget to hit that subscribe button and join us on every roofing adventure. Make sure to visit RoofersCoffeeshop.com to learn more. Thanks for tuning in, and we'll catch you on the next Roofing Road Trip.