Put Yourself in the Shoes of Your Customers

By Dani Sheehan. 

Learn how an increased attention to detail created the Catch-All, and why it saves contractors time and money, while keeping homeowners at ease. 

In season five, episode 38 of Roofing Road Trips, Heidi J. Ellsworth sits down with Heath Hicks, co-owner and co-founder of The Catch-All to discuss their company’s customer-centric approach by thinking outside the box. Heath has been in the roofing industry for the last 15 years and he’s prided himself on standing out from the rest of the industry by focusing on the customer experience. That’s how the Catch-All was invented, with a hope to squash the assumption that “it’s a construction site, it’s going to get dirty,” as Heath explains. 

Think about the number of nails involved in removing an old roof and installing the new, not to mention the debris and dirt that collects on each site. As Heath explains, the roofing mindset has always been “We’re going to do our best, but we’re not going to get them all. So you’re just going to have to give us a pass because we’re taking off 7,000 nails today...If I get 6,994 of them up and you find six, don’t be too mad at me.” But of course, when customers are paying for a new roof, they expect attention to detail.  

Heath’s insight after several uncomfortable experiences with angry customers was that they don’t understand or know the difference when you show them a brand-new roof. They’re not going to admire each shingle because they aren’t experts in shingles. But they are experts in their own home and will notice how much care you take to preserve their home. After attempting to go to great lengths by setting down extra tarps or buying powerful magnets to help with cleanup, he knew he had to get creative if he truly wanted to address this problem. 

The solution? “I just realized the only way I’m ever going to solve this problem is just, I can’t let any nails hit the ground. Because when they hit the ground, you cannot get them all back,” Heath shared. And so began a sorted trial and error process that led to the invention of the Catch-All.  

From the idea’s first inception to the final product, Heath believes in making a lasting difference with his customers. “The way that the Catch-All provides an advantage is it just tells a really clear story in the visual and documentation that you provide to the carrier...So when you take pictures of that you’re telling the carrier, whoever it is, that you had to go to extra lengths to protect these flower beds and these bushes.” 

Listen to the full podcast episode to learn more about The Catch-All and how the product development and marketing came to be, all while keeping the customer in mind.