R-Club Roofer of the Month - FL Specialty Roofing - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Ryan Kruse of Florida Specialty Roofing. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast.

Intro: Hello everybody. Welcome back to another Roofer of the Month Podcast. My name is Alex Tolle. I'm the R-Club Coordinator here at RoofersCoffeeShop, and I'm so excited to be here today with Ryan Kruse of Florida Specialty Roofing. He is our September, 2024 Roofer of the Month. Ryan, how are you?

Ryan Kruse: I'm good. Hot down here in Florida, but good. Can't complain.

Alex Tolle: Good. Well, tell me a little bit about yourself and Florida Specialty Roofing.

Ryan Kruse: Yeah, absolutely. So my name's Ryan Kruse with Florida Specialty Roofing. We keep it pretty simple. As our name implies, we're a Florida-based company and we focus on specialty roofing products and systems. We were founded a little towards the end of 2021. I have two other partners, Cody Bates and Gus [inaudible 00:00:49]. We came together as we were starting to pursue some of these composite type roofs, some of the more premium roofing systems at our old company. And we were kind of handling that ourselves and found that the market had a need for people that can specialize in that, have the knowledge, have the go-to expertise and somebody that can depend on if they're spending kind a lot of money on a re-roof for their house or even some of these multifamily projects. So yeah, we came together, built Florida Specialty Roofing and been rocking ever since.

Alex Tolle: Amazing. So you're celebrating three years now. Congratulations.

Ryan Kruse: Yeah. About three years now. So it's been wild. We started out with I think small goals and have greatly surpassed that as time went on. From revenue, from quantity of squares and everything we've done more than I think we ever thought we could do in this first kind of three years.

Alex Tolle: That's incredible. How cool to just start a business and just take off. So you kind of touched on a little bit, but can you go a little bit more in depth about the services that you guys provide? What is your specialty?

Ryan Kruse: Yeah, so specialty.

Alex Tolle: Yeah.

Ryan Kruse: So we started out focusing on the general kind of tile composite premium market. As we've kind of grown and come along, I mean that's kind of narrowed down into focusing mostly on tile re-roof and composite re-roof. We work mainly with larger residential and then multifamilies. A lot of those multifamilies are condo, HOAs so townhome re-roof, those type of associations. So most of our services boil down to tile re-roof and then a lot of composite. Yeah, and with that, probably predominantly on the composite side, we do a ton of the Brava Spanish, the most fitting down here in Florida. Everybody's [inaudible 00:02:52] roof.

Alex Tolle: Yeah, it beautiful.

Ryan Kruse: Yeah, beautiful product, great performing. We don't get any hesitations or callbacks with once it's done and how it looks.

Alex Tolle: Good. And you guys do a lot of DaVinci roofs, correct? Can you talk a little bit about that?

Ryan Kruse: Yeah, so DaVinci, we have done a lot of their composite slate and composite shake. We were actually one of, if not the first roofer to do the province slate product for them down here in Florida. So their products come in as a great option for those slate and shake options and their multi-width was one of the ones that I can speak to later of winning project of the year. So it helps give you that kind of design and aesthetics, but yeah, so we do a lot of them as well.

Alex Tolle: Awesome. I love DaVinci roofs. They are so beautiful and we don't have a lot of them here in Oregon. So when I see them, I am always excited.

Ryan Kruse: Yeah, it is been great. We don't have a ton of the shake and slate is ... It's weird in our market where a lot of times people are doing shake because they're kind of mimicking a flat tile, which is kind of mimicking shake or slate. So we're in this weird inception of people like the composite shake products because it's similar to the flat tile, but better. It doesn't break, you don't have the issues, a little bit more aesthetics. But yeah, we get some random shake neighborhoods. Then slate tends to be some of the homeowners who want that kind of finer tune look. Those tend to come with copper accessories, some of the higher end coastal packages that we supply.

Alex Tolle: Nice. Yeah, gorgeous roofs. Awesome. Can you share something special that your company celebrates, whether that's birthdays or anniversaries or what do you guys celebrate at Florida Specialty Roofing?

Ryan Kruse: Man, we should probably be better at celebrating. I mean I think for us it's been such a wild fast ride starting out as a company, within the 3 years we've done kind of over 30,000 I think squares of just composite in general. So we got to get better at celebrating, I think is the long story short because we are in so much of a add people and get it done mentality. So we definitely try and take a pause. I mean we do a holiday party to where we have some fun games, some giveaways and definitely give some people some time off.

Probably, vacation is something that we keep here. We don't have a capped vacation policy. We're pretty unlimited in that we always shut down during the Christmastime period. We shut down during other holidays. So we try and take those as a way to give our guys a break. So I'd probably say that's close to our celebration is kind of the time off, especially shutting down during the holidays. I think that that was something I did at past companies that is really helpful. Being able to stop from Christmas to New Year's gives everybody a little bit of a breather and celebrate with their families.

Alex Tolle: Totally. And that's so important to people. I mean, not having to worry about, "If I can get the time off, if I have to request it, am I out of vacation time?" Just knowing that you have the flexibility at your job to be able to still have a life and still spend time with your family and not have to worry so much. That's amazing. I love that.

Ryan Kruse: Yeah, we combine that with quasi remote work. So not everybody is in office every day all day. We give people flexibility, kind of work from home. Kind of hybrid schedule is what we go off of. So we're still getting together, we're still brainstorming and then you can head down, work at home and it works out pretty well.

Alex Tolle: I love that. I also work from home, so I love the flexibility of being able to be home and sometimes pop into the office. That's awesome that you guys provide that. How do you guys define superior customer service?

Ryan Kruse: Yeah, I mean, I would probably say that is what we were focused and founded on. And for us, a lot of it boils down to starting with knowledge. So I would say knowledge, communication, being able to be dependable and then a solution mindset. So why it's like knowledge is a big thing for us is we are ... Whether it's doing some of these composites, Brava, DaVinci or doing a custom clay tile roof, copper accessories, some of these higher end things, a lot of what we were finding is homeowners were challenged to find a roofer that could do it right or knew what they were talking about or knew how to price it. And it wasn't just this astronomical price that was a catch-all. Knowledge was kind of, I think our foundation in terms of customer service, just being able to offer and be an expert within this space.

And then from there, we think it flows to kind of standard. Communicate, be dependable, meaning if we start a project, our crew's there, you're not wondering where's the work? Where are you guys at? We're pretty dependable. And then solution mindset, meaning we're doing these projects and we're not here to argue over little details. We get things fixed, we get things right and we shoot to make every customer happy. Sometimes it comes at not the greatest profit, but always we're here to make people happy.

Alex Tolle: That's so important, especially because the type of roofing you do is it's not the cheapest option out there and it's a high quality product. So knowing that the contractor is knowledgeable, knowing that you know what you're working with and you know how to work with these products and then being reliable is so important to a homeowner.

Ryan Kruse: Yeah.

Alex Tolle: So I mean, we kind of just touched on it, but why should homeowners work with your company?

Ryan Kruse: Yeah, yeah. I mean this is the foundation of it all. I mean, if you're looking for a tile or more premium roof or composite, we're the experts in that space. We cover the state, most of the state. We don't work down in Miami, we don't do anything in the Panhandle, but we cover the state. We get a lot of questions about not local. And I tell people all the time, "We're different than most to where most companies focus on a geo market, whereas we focus on these types of roofs." So when we come into different areas outside of ... We're in Central Florida here, we might go to Southwest Florida or Tampa or Melbourne, Vero. We're bringing all our same kind of knowledgeable skilled crews, our field management that's skilled and trained.

So we're coming to, for these specific projects, be the best, be the best in almost every category. So we try and give people the best possible pricing because again, we're doing so much kind of composite and tile at scale along with the best quality roof that they can have. So we're familiar with the components, the installation, the timelines, the permitting, which can be tough with some of these newer products here in Florida. It's not always fun. But yeah, so that's kind of it in a nutshell.

Alex Tolle: Awesome. Okay. I'm going to have Zane take out those ums for me. Why are you an R-Club member and what is your favorite thing about RoofersCoffeeShop?

Ryan Kruse: So why am I an R-Club member? I think this all got connected. We worked with DaVinci getting a Project of the Year Award and that kind of came with joining you guys. That was part of some of the awards we got. We also, for that same project, it was a multi [inaudible 00:11:05] slate on a house here in Florida. Also won the FRSA Star Award for craftsmanship. And then for the FRSA, we also had a Brava clubhouse re-roof that was also part of it. So again, part of that whole kind of crazy growth track over that.

But that led us into being kind of an R-Club member, which again, we try and be a little bit of a roofer's roofer. We've actually worked with other roofers, so R-Club membership and everything about that, being able to connect in the industry, connect with other roofers. I mean, it's helpful for us because sometimes we work with other companies that see us, see the roofs we do. And they might come across these and say, "Hey, we need help. Can we partner? Can we work through you guys for it?" And we have helped companies do that. So for us it's a beneficial thing. We're able to give them the expertise, help them help a client. And for us it's another customer that we can help as well.

Alex Tolle: Yeah. And I think that's probably my favorite part about the R-Club as well is the connection of contractors from all across the country, getting to share ideas and work together and learn from each other. Even from you in Florida so far away from me up in Oregon, we still have this really great connection and there's so many contractors that you can connect with who are doing similar work to you, just maybe in different areas. And I think it's great that you're finding those connections through the R-Club.

Ryan Kruse: Yeah, absolutely. And like I said, we do a ton of composites, which can be net new for a lot of guys or guys or girls out there, contractors. And it's one of those things that doing good work helps, I think that whole industry, composite specifically because it is a newer product, so it's scrutinized a little bit differently. Sometimes it can get put on wrong and then people are not a fan of it when it has nothing to do with the product. It could be the installation and some of that is just knowledge. So we think that if we can kind of help guide people along positive, especially composites, synthetic dial installs, particularly down here in Florida, it helps bring that whole kind of positive reinforcement up for the composite industry.

Alex Tolle: Totally. I love it. All right, and the last question here, probably the best. What would your [inaudible 00:13:32] up song be?

Ryan Kruse: I don't know who sings it, but it's We Ready. I think Bubba Sparxxx is in it, but We Ready. So I play soccer kind of every other Sunday with my son and group of dads and group of kids and every time we roll up to that, we're always playing We Ready.

Alex Tolle: Awesome.

Ryan Kruse: Make sure it's an edited version so it's clean. So it's not that.

Alex Tolle: I'll check it out after this for sure. Well Ryan, thank you so much for recording this podcast with us. We're so, so happy to be able to honor you as our September Roofer of the Month. Thank you for being an R-Club member and sharing just all the incredible work that you do. Looking forward to continuing to work with you.

Ryan Kruse: Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for the call and looking forward to it.

Outro: Awesome. And for everybody out there, make sure you are following Florida Specialty Roofing on social media. Check out their directory on rooferscoffeeshop.com. And this has been your September Roofer of the Month Podcast.