Roofing Road Trip with Heidi- Ashley and Chris Cooper- PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of an interview with Ashley and Chris Cooper with Tremco Roofing. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast here.

Heidi Ellsworth: Hello and welcome to another Roofing Road Trip podcast with Heidi. I'm Heidi Ellsworth, partner at RoofersCoffeeShop. Today we have such an interesting podcast. I know you are all going to love it. It's exactly what we need, exactly what we need to be talking about, and that is technology on the roof. And so I am really, really happy to welcome Chris Cooper, the Southern Indiana foreman for Tremco Roofing and Ashley Cooper, the Tremco Knovi product manager, to the show today to talk to us about Knovi Monitoring SmartDrain. This is cool. This is the stuff that's going to change how we do business on the roof and how building owners handle things. So Chris and Ashley, welcome to the show.

Ashley Cooper: Thank you.

Chris Cooper: Hello. Thank you.

Heidi Ellsworth: Thank you. Well, you know what, let's just start out getting to know both of you a little bit better. So Chris, can you just tell us a little bit about yourself and your job at Tremco?

Chris Cooper: Yeah, sure. I'm Chris Cooper. Been here at weatherproofing technology going on 12 years. Pretty much covered all the aspects of the company down in Indiana. We covered the whole board down here, do a little bit of everything for WTI. Restorations, coding structures, and now these new SmartDrains, which are very interesting and innovative.

Heidi Ellsworth: Wow. So, yeah, and you're on the front line, really getting to see how they are installed. And we're going to hear a lot about that here in just a few minutes.

Chris Cooper: Yes.

Heidi Ellsworth: I know. So Ashley, I know you've been on the show before. Welcome back. So happy to have you. Why don't you remind all of our listeners about what you're doing at Tremco.

Ashley Cooper: Sure. So, I've been in the commercial roofing industry just going on seven years. Not particularly with Tremco, but with a few other national roofing companies and really excited to be on the Tremco team now acting as product manager for our Knovi monitoring technology.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. I mean, really you are doing some technology on the roof that is really different, Ashley. I know you talked about that on our past podcast, which everyone should listen to. But just real quick before we dive in, Ashley, can you share just a little bit about the SmartDrains in particular and how that works on the roof?

Ashley Cooper: Certainly. So our SmartDrain technology is really interesting. It's a wireless technology that is installed or fixed rather, I should say, to our drain covers on our rooftop. So it's a completely wireless system that allows us to monitor the water levels around our drain. As we all know, clogged drains can be pretty catastrophic to our rooftops if they go unnoticed and this technology allows us to proactively monitor our roof drains and know the minute that water levels rise around our drains. And what it does is it sends us an email and or a text message the moment that our water levels rise around our drain.

Heidi Ellsworth: That's going to save some buildings. I mean the weight of water on a roof, I've seen it just destroy roofs and everything that's underneath it. So this is really a lifesaver.

Ashley Cooper: It absolutely is. And I often say, in our industry previously we've been a little more reactive to situations such as clogged drains and this really affords us the opportunity to be proactive.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. Facility managers are going to love this. So Chris, maybe you can share with us, I know you just did an installation in Kentucky of 29 SmartDrains. So can you share a little bit about the roofing system, the SmartDrains, just how it all worked?

Chris Cooper: Well, the SmartDrains, I think, are really good. We've had a problem at a lot of places with drain cloggage, like you say. The first thing that's going to cause a catastrophic incident is going to be a drain clog. And with these monitors, it's going to be the first thing that we can go about looking at with the customers and ourselves of saying, "Yeah, this drain is clogged," and we can get back up there and get it done. I think that's really awesome. I think it's good that we're moving forward with this, these drain sensors are very easy to install and I just think they're very awesome.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. Tell us just a little bit about the project? What kind of roofing system was it?

Chris Cooper: We we had multiple systems actually out there. We've had some restoration systems that we've installed them on and most of them were in [D systems 00:05:26]. I think there was one single ply out there and then the rest of them, there was a couple of set drains that really clogged up that really needed them that we installed them on. So I think that's going to be very beneficial to our customers. As this Kentucky customer had a drain clog, I think it was about a year ago, and they took a substantial hit. I think this is going to be absolutely 100% better for our customers.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah, that's good. When put the drains in, the roof was already installed and you took the old drains out and put in new drains or was this part of a re-roof?

Chris Cooper: These drains, the customer was actually asking about these sensors. So the sales guy made a determination that this would be best for them to do. As we did that, we investigated the drains, we found that they had plastic strainers on most of the drains. So before we started with the drain sensors, we installed new drain screens on all the drains, including retrofits of everything. So we had a good, solid surface that we were going to apply these drain sensors to. So before we even started, we did that. A lot of places will have the metal strainers. But we installed the metal strainers as we worked.

Heidi Ellsworth: Perfect.

Chris Cooper: And then as we installed them, they just set it in place pretty easy.

Ashley Cooper: And if I could just touch on that, I'd like to commend Chris and the sales rep out there. They had really never seen the technology before. Never felt it, never touched it. And they very smoothly did the installation of the 29 sensors. I believe it was about a day and a half that they were on and off the roof. So that just goes to attest to how easy the installation is.

Heidi Ellsworth: Wow. That's great. What are some of the tips that you would... I love the fact that you guys... This is one of the first jobs, it was that easy putting it together. But Chris, what are some of the tips that you might share with contractors who are looking at installing SmartDrains?

Chris Cooper: I would recommend them bringing the proper tools, which would probably be a socket set with deep wells, considering your bolts are going to be longer than the socket. That was a critical tool. We really needed that we decided to go pick up, which wasn't much. It was easy to pick up. Other than that, we actually, we went and picked up other screws and bolts just to have on the site so we could actually make these drains more stable, I guess you could say. We just added a little more extra to it. I mean, it basically had everything there that we needed. We did need a couple more screws or bolts and nuts and washers, which are easily found that Home Depot, Lowe's or your Harbor Freight or anything like that you would have, a supplier around you. We didn't really run into any problems at all. One of the stumps was lower than we expected. So we had to drill a hole in the top of the screen and then install actually the sensor holder in a different area. But I think there was one or two of those and that was it. The rest of them kind of just sat in place about it all came together pretty fast.

Heidi Ellsworth: Geez, that's great. I mean, to have that kind of technology, to be able to start monitoring your roof that fast, that is going to make a big difference to a lot of building owners. Ashley, can you talk about a little bit of how you would recommend contractors and building owners, facility managers, anybody who might be listening to this, how would they include SmartDrains into their service and maintenance program? How would you have them looking at that for going forward?

Ashley Cooper: Certainly. So to included sort of in your maintenance program, what we suggest is that you would just reach out to your local Tremco representative and they would be able to provide you pricing on the system. It's really affordable. It's something that you can tie right into your annual maintenance package. So perhaps have your contractor do the installation of the SmartDrains while they're up there doing your annual maintenance. Like I said, it's all wireless technology. Yes, we do use WTI to do the installation. As most of you know, they are a partner company to Tremco, but really any third party contractor has the ability to be able to install the technology. And it really just, I mean, now that we're coming into the spring season, speaking to that preventative maintenance or maintenance program, specifically your annual maintenance, your spring maintenance, this is really a time to be looking at this type of technology with rain in the near forecast. It will really help you monitor those drains and keep your roof safe during a time like this.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. During the winter with snow, but during the spring when you get all the new leaves and into the fall. I mean, things get clogged all the time. Chris, go ahead on service and maintenance. How do you see that, too?

Chris Cooper: I see this being very beneficial. Like she's explained it, a lot of these drains and every thing are cleaned out every year. Spring and fall is what we shoot for because that's when you're having pollen and everything blowing around and in the fall you're losing leaves. So, you have a lot of your debris in the spring and fall. With these drain sensors it's going to say whether that drain is cleaned out in between that period of time. Whether we're there or not, then they'll have information. It gives the customer a peace of mind. So, if they're paying for maintenance package, like with WTI, which is with TremCare, while they're out there we can adjust these sensors, we can make sure they're good while we're on site while we're cleaning the drains out. So I think this is going to be very beneficial to us and the customers as we move forward.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah, I do too. I do too. So Ashley let's talk a little bit about the technology. So they send an email, they send a text. I know that you are doing a lot with this overall on technology on the roof and being able to have that at the fingertips of the facility management. Can you kind of talk about how that all works?

Ashley Cooper: Certainly. So we're not only excited obviously about the drain sensor on the rooftop and being able to monitor your roof drains, but what we've done is we've actually tied the technology into our MyOLI platform. So what this means for our customers now, when they log into their MyOLI, they'll be able to click on their Knovi sensor tab. There they'll be able to see the placement of their sensors on their rooftops. They'll be able to look at alert history. So from a financial planning perspective at the end of the year, they can go and see an analysis of when their drains have gone off, how frequently and which drains have gone off. And it also just allows them to be able to go in and change or upload contact information for who they would like to receive these notifications. And this, of course, is all just in addition to all of the other great features of our MyOLI platform.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. Just for those out there who are listening who aren't familiar with the MyOLI platform, why don't you explain a little bit more about that?

Ashley Cooper: Sure. So our MyOLI platform, it is an online platform for our customers where they can view roof drawings, rooftop history, they can even submit roof service requests through this system, they're able to order product through the system. So it's really a one stop shop for customers. So just having the ability to tie our Knovi monitoring technology into it is really, really amazing. And for those of you who haven't checked out our MyOLI platform, I really encourage you to do so, particularly if you already are a Tremco customer. You should have access to it and you're really missing out on a great benefit if you're not really fully utilizing it.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. Tremco continues to really lead the way with this type of technology and with everything that's going on, being able to do so much of it online makes such a difference, I think, for the building owners and the facility managers. Now, how does this smart gateway also connect and work in with MyOLI and SmartDrain and how all that comes together, Ashley?

Ashley Cooper: So as I mentioned earlier in the conversation, the SmartDrain technology on the rooftop is wireless. It speaks into a smart gateway. The smart gateway is typically plugged into a mechanical room very close to the location of the rooftop sensors. That gateway speaks into our MyOLI, and that is where all of the notifications are generated from. So going back to what I just said a few minutes ago about our MyOLI platform, it gives us then the ability to be able to go back and see all of our previous alert history right inside of the MyOLI platform. So what your notification looks like when it's sent out to you is it's actually a Google image of your rooftop. It shows the placement of every drain sensor that you have, sensors that are functioning properly appear as green and any sensor that's been alerted will appear as red. So essentially what the notification is that gets sent out to you is it's a screenshot from within our MyOLI platform and it's a pictorial image of your roof. And what you can do from that is you can just pass that along to your service contractor. I know previously when I worked for a roofing company, I'd have customers call me and say, "I've got a clogged drain." Well, as you know in most instances, a facilities manager can look after two, three or more buildings. So we'd arrived to site, the facilities manager would no longer be there and we'd go up on the rooftop, we'd struggle to figure out which drain has been causing them issues. Whereas now they have this picture image of exactly what drain is affected or having the issue. So it definitely saves us some time when we get up onto the rooftop too, having that very pinpointed information at our fingertips.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. That kind of reporting and that kind of information, that kind of data, that is only becoming more and more important, not just for validating for budgets and everything else, but also for future planning. What are you hearing from building owners and facility managers about that? I know you just said it with being able to get the historical data, but they're also able to pull out reports that they can share then of the channels?

Ashley Cooper: So we don't have the reporting ability as of yet. However, you can go into the system and get a screenshot of how many times certain drains have been alerted. I will tell you, we do have another customer that we've recently installed the product on their rooftop and because the sensor was going off very continually, it's actually brought to their attention that they need to install additional drainage on their rooftop. So it helps from a financial planning standpoint as well. Now, as a customer, you're looking at your roof, you're realizing that your roof is holding water, you need to look at potentially more drainage on that rooftop. So it definitely helps from a financial planning perspective as well. And like I just mentioned earlier, it also helps from financial standpoint of being able to pinpoint exactly where the troubled area is on the roof so when your contractor comes to site, they're not wasting time and money trying to figure out where the issue is located. So overall it's a really great financial planning tool as well.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah, that's critical. And so important right now with everything that's going on and building owners or in commercial properties are challenged. They need this type of help to make sure that they're doing the right things for the roof and for their tenants. Along that line, Ashley, I would love... When we talk about Knovi technology, it's not just a SmartDrain. You are constantly working on technology, new technologies. So is there anything you can share with us on some potential new products coming down the road?

Ashley Cooper: So I think we all know, I mean, I relate it often to our mobile devices, right? If you reflect back on years ago when we first all purchased our initial mobile device, now we look back and say, "Wow, that was old," or, "Look how far we've come." So it's technology, it will ever be evolving. This is the tip of the iceberg for us. And we started with the SmartDrain sensor because we saw a need for this type of technology in our industry. And being able to bring technology to our rooftops is so exciting. If we look at it now, we have all types of technology on the interior and maybe the exterior of our building as well, but not on the rooftop. So over the next few months I think you'll see Tremco really evolving this product line. We refer to it as an ecosystem and we say that our ecosystem will continually evolve. So once you have the SmartDrain system in place and you have our gateway, as long as you have that gateway, any other technology that we'll introduce over the next few months or years will all be plug and play. I'd like to tell you about some of the technology that we are releasing in the near future, but it is in development. So I'll just keep the suspense waiting.

Heidi Ellsworth: I love it. That means we get to do another podcast and hear about this when it comes out.

Ashley Cooper: Yeah.

Heidi Ellsworth: That is great. So, Chris, I just wanted to bring in some final thoughts from you. I mean, I know you are on the front line of protecting these buildings, working with building owners. You've been with Tremco for a long time. What are you seeing with some of this? What do you foresee as the changes that are coming on the roof with all these new, not just technologies and sensors, but also the great Tremco technology that's out there right now with the restoration codings and your products. What are some of the cool things you're seeing out there in the field?

Chris Cooper: I'd like to think that we're moving forward and we're making it better on these rooftops. We've been on them for a long time and we're putting out information and more of the technology on these that's going to make it easier for the future. The drain technology that we're coming up with for scans and all that, that's going to be great for the future and you won't have to go on the roof or take a chance or anything. It's going to give you more information on the ground. And the SmartDrains, like Ashley was saying, this is going to pinpoint exact locations so our customers know and our contractors or WTI or whoever might be going out, will know exactly where to go, where the issues are at and where they're going to lie. It also give us information for the future. How these drains are working on a certain roof level. If we're getting indications that they're going off all the time, we might need to investigate the roof and see exactly what it's doing while it's raining. Be out there to see what's going on. And these sensors are going to bring it home by saying, "Hey, we're having issues," and we can actually look at it. And then with the OLI platform, that's also going to give us information in the future as well. From the time it starts to the time it ends, we're going to have information on the customers roof, what's going on, pictures, all of that good stuff. I think we're even feeling very good. I mean, I love the technology. I like moving forward and keeping everybody safe. And if we can make it safer for the next people, then heck yeah, I'm on the board. And if it's a restoration building, I love restoration. I think that we're fighting a lot of pollution and [inaudible 00:23:16] to our dumps and into our environment. If we can go about replacing these roofs and restoring them before they're actually due to be tore off, I think that's amazing. That's one thing that's kept me at WTI is moving forwards and trying to do the best we can for the future and I'm good with that. I like moving towards positive stuff in life and this is very positive. The SmartDrains, OLI, restoration, everything that we did, we put our hands on has been very awesome and I like being a part of it. I'm glad to be a part of WTI's team at Tremco.

Heidi Ellsworth: That is so cool and I love it. You just hit some of the most important initiatives in our country right now and that's technology and the environment, and you guys are right on the forefront of all of those and really bringing it to the roof. That makes you feel good and I think it also, what you're doing with restoration and with the sensors is you're also saving time and energy for Chris, for you, for your crews, for other contractors, because you're going to know exactly what you need to be looking at. So that kind of helps with the labor shortage also.

Chris Cooper: Absolutely, absolutely.

Heidi Ellsworth: We've got a lot of great stuff going. Well, Ashley, any last thoughts before we finish up this roofing road trip?

Ashley Cooper: I'd like to say a special thank you to Chris. We talk about frontline workers and definitely we're appreciative of all they're doing. But I don't think we mention enough our frontline workers are the roofers, the ones that are on our rooftops keeping our roofs and our building safe during such a trying time. So Chris, thank you, not only for being amazing with the installation that you recently did in Kentucky, but thank you for everything you've been doing over the past few months.

Chris Cooper: Hey, not a problem. I thank you for all the technology and keeping this going because without the technology moving forward, we're stepping backwards and I like moving forward. I think we're moving forward quite well right now. I'm looking forward to seeing more in the future. I mean, if we can make it better, like I said, I'm all about it. So if we just keep positive and keep moving I think we're going to have good results.

Heidi Ellsworth: I do too. And you know what Ashley, that is awesome. And Chris, I just want to say exactly what Ashley... Her sentiment, I love that and thank you for all you do out there. I mean, the roofing contractors haven't stopped. Our roofing professionals on the roof, they've been keeping this country safe throughout everything that's been going on. So thank you for all you do.

Chris Cooper: I appreciate it.

Heidi Ellsworth: Thank you. Well, thank you both Chris and Ashley for being here today and for visiting with us about this technology. I mean, 29 SmartDrains installed in Kentucky. We are really seeing where this is going to go and it's there for anybody. So if you're interested listening to this podcast, if you're interested in finding out more about SmartDrains, of course, you can go to RoofersCoffeeShop under the Tremco directory. Plus across the site you're going to find all kinds of great information about the Knovi technology from Tremco. And also you can get in touch with your Tremco reps. Talk to them, find out what's happening and how you can be involved and be a part of this. And of course, you're going to also be able to listen and find Chris and Ashley on RoofersCoffeeShop. So if you have questions, just send them our way and we'll make sure that they get them. So once again, Ashley and Chris, thank you so much for being here today.

Ashley Cooper: Thanks Heidi.

Chris Cooper: Thank you.

Heidi Ellsworth: Thank you and everybody out there have a great day. Be sure to listen to all of our podcasts under the RLW read, listen, watch initiative on RoofersCoffeeShop. Now you have two with Ashley and them. So be sure to go out there and listen to them. Have a great day.