Pacific West Roofing - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Stan Robinson with Pacific West Roofing. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast.

Megan Ellsworth: Hello, everyone. My name is Megan Ellsworth, here at rooferscoffeeshop.com, and I am back again with the Roofer of the Month, and I'm here with Stan. Hi, Stan. How are you?

Stan Robinson: I'm great. Thanks for having me.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, we are so honored to have you as our Roofer of the Month. So why don't we just have you start out by introducing yourself and telling us about your company?

Stan Robinson: Great. Well, my name's Stan Robinson. I'm the half owner of Pacific West Roofing. We started out in Lake Oswego, Oregon, bought a building into Tualatin. We were there for 30 years. Now we've moved down to Hubbard, which is another 15 minutes south, I-5, in an 8,000 square foot building, finally. But started in 1980, so we're 43 years now we've been working. And serving the northwest and putting on the best roofs with the best roofers in the Portland market. And we're kind of a, I don't know, boutique kind of a roofing business. We're not huge, we don't do big commercial box stores, but we do small, detailed, usually building our owner operated commercial buildings and then also mostly primarily residential.

Megan Ellsworth: Okay. Very cool. Love it. What would you say is your specialty?

Stan Robinson: Honestly, roofing ventilation is probably one of our key systems that we have developed through education over the last 20, 25 years. And we're very good at proper intake, proper exhaust ventilation. And it's not just about putting shingles on, it's about saving the substructure that the roof sits on. And so we're probably one of the premier companies for that. In fact, I got a call yesterday from a customer who says, "This guy's three quarters of the way done. I just realized that he does not know what he's doing and we needed to stop him. We need to have you come out." So I have to go out there today and basically find out what ventilation they did right or wrong and correct it. So, I would encourage all the roofers who do listen that ventilation really is the key to a good roof system, not just nailing down shingles.

Megan Ellsworth: That is so true and, yeah, key to the roof system, but also key to the house system. Like the whole house running well.

Stan Robinson: Correct.

Megan Ellsworth: And then efficiently. Yeah, so true. So can you share with us something special that your company celebrates, whether it's your company culture or actual holidays that you celebrate? What do you guys at Pacific West celebrate?

Stan Robinson: Oh gosh. Well, we usually try to celebrate everybody's birthday. So everybody, if we've got a birthday in the house, we'll bring in cupcakes and sing happy birthday to. It doesn't matter if they're a truck driver, a roofer, an office staff, it doesn't matter. We always celebrate birthdays. And we try to have a half a day of just having fun and telling stories. And I got guys who've been around here 10, 12 years, they tell stories of way back when, when I had to come out and help them and ended up on a three-story ladder on a 12'12 metal roof. Anyway, stuff like that. It's a lot of fun.

Megan Ellsworth: I love it. Yeah, comradery makes it feel like one big family. That's awesome.

Stan Robinson: Yeah.

Megan Ellsworth: So how do you define customer service?

Stan Robinson: Customer service is, to me, is delivering more than they expect in a positive way. We have a lot of five star reviews on Google, and primarily it's because of the way we communicate. We learned the hard way, we didn't communicate well, and now we have a text thread that starts the job off with the customer, with the sales team, with the installers. So they get live pictures and live feeds and live daily status constantly. So that's one of the new things that we really implemented in the last several years. Down the backend, we use WhatsApp to communicate within the same job thread, but without the customer. It's just us communicating about the job. Here's pictures of what's going on. I've got this detailed situation, what do I do? Hey, we need three more lead pipe flashings. We need another piece of alloy metal, whatever it is. And then when we do a final inspection that also rings out throughout the company, that they scored well on their final inspection.

Megan Ellsworth: That's awesome.

Stan Robinson: Customer service is, it's over deliver, under promise and over deliver.

Megan Ellsworth: Yes, yes. Well said. Yeah, absolutely. And from a customer point of view, that's all they want. That's all I want, anybody wants.

Stan Robinson: Yeah. And sometimes they don't know what they want and we try to get that out them in the front end to what their expectations are so that we can meet or exceed that. And so that is sometimes hard if they won't talk. We're trying to pull it out of them.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. Yes, absolutely. So, why should homeowners or business owners, more specifically, work with Pacific West?

Stan Robinson: I think we've got a very good reputation of quality, not just the materials and the manufacturers that we represent, because we're certified with several of them, both in the steep slope and in the low slope. I think we just have a reputation of man, when it's done, it is bulletproof. And the contractors in the area know that. Some of the very highest end contractors know that. We've roofed some of their own personal houses. The story I always tell is what roofing contractor is willing to go do work for a construction defect attorney? Well, we've done several of them. And we do it because we know what we're doing and we're not afraid to go into the lion's den and be vulnerable, I guess. But we're willing to do it because we know that we do it right. And that's why they call us, by the way.

We also got recommended by the City of Beaverton for a project, a commercial building owner called the city and said, "I don't know who to find, because I've been looking." And two of the inspectors in there said, "Call Pacific West Roofing. We've inspected their work and they do a perfect job."

Megan Ellsworth: Oh my gosh.

Stan Robinson: That's pretty nice.

Megan Ellsworth: That's so nice. That's so awesome. Wow. When you have a, that's great. That's just super cool.

Stan Robinson: I love it.

Megan Ellsworth: So, why are you an art club member?

Stan Robinson: Man, I know that this organization is, well, I would say recommended, admired, appreciated. I don't know all the value that I have available to me, through the club, honestly. I haven't had the time to dive into it. But it's a true community of people who seem to collaborate well and they communicate with each other. And I don't know, I just think it's, I feel like I'm on the inner circle.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, I love that. You are in the inner circle.

Stan Robinson: Yeah.

Megan Ellsworth: So lastly, what would your walkup song be? If you were walking out into a field, getting ready for a game, what would your walkup song be?

Stan Robinson: Oh man. I'm not good at remembering song names. I'm going to have to opt out on that one. Something from the seventies when I was going through high school, that I loved, but I can't even remember the name of the song.

Megan Ellsworth: That's awesome. No worries. Well, Stan, we are so honored to give you the celebration of Roofer of the Month for the month of November, 2023. So congratulations, and we're so happy to have you a part of our club here at Roofers Coffee Shop.

Stan Robinson: Thank you very much.

Megan Ellsworth: Yes, everyone listening, you can go find more about Pacific West Roofing on their directory, on rooferscoffeeshop.com, find out where they're located, if you can get a new roof from them. So everyone go check it out.

Stan Robinson: Great.

Megan Ellsworth: And Stan, again, thank you and thank you everyone for listening. We'll be back with next month's Roofer of the Month in December.