Roofing Road Trips Podcast: Jared Ribble Part 1

By Lauren White, RCS Reporter.

From professional drumming to helping change the roofing industry, Jared Ribble is full of great information and hopes for the future of roofing.

Jared Ribble has had a unique start to his career in roofing.  He spent many years as a professional drummer prior to his current role as the Director of Qualified Trainer and ProCertification programs for the National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA).  In part one of his podcast, he shares with Heidi Ellsworth, RoofersCoffeeShop Partner, how he transitioned from drumming to roofing, major issues in the industry, and the different certification and training programs NRCA offers.  

Growing up, Jared’s father owned his own roofing company and instead of pressuring him to become a roofer, he told Jared, “I hope you’re happy and healthy and go off to do what you’re passionate about.”  His passion at the time was beating on pots, pans, and buckets he found around the house. After numerous drum lessons and hours of practice and training, he became a professional drummer. His drumming career allowed him to drum for over 20 Grammy, American Music Award, and Dove Award winners, and he was on major television networks over 50 times.  While he loved drumming, and still does, Jared shares, “When roofing is in your blood and roofing is such a great industry...it did attract me back to it and it was just really thrilled to get a call from NRCA” 

“NRCA is a group of roofing professionals who come together to make the industry better and work with each other to navigate bumps in our businesses and bumps in the industry,” according to Jared.  One of the major issues in the roofing industry is workforce development and how to attract and maintain workers. NRCA is working hard to change the public perception and show that roofing is a great career.  

Because of the labor shortage, people are getting hired even if they don’t have a lot of experience.  They are put on a roof and expected to learn by watching others instead of getting properly trained. For this reason, NRCA created TRAC, Training for Roof Application Careers.  Jared explains, “This is a web-based, self-paced learning modules, which someone who knows zero about roofing, can come inside a roofing company and over time...they can learn about the basics of the roofing industry…”

In addition to TRAC, NRCA encourages companies to have their own trainer within the company to assist the new hires, recommend different training modules to watch, and practice skills in the shop.  This person is called a Qualified Trainer, and NRCA has a Qualified Trainer Conference available to those who are serious about implementing training into their company.

Jared also shares about ProCertification™.  This certification is a way to measure the skills of an already experienced and proficient worker.   “ProCertification is a measuring stick. It’s a standard by which great roofing skills can be measured against,” according to Jared.  This certification instills worker pride and promotes professionalism. Jared reveals, “Instead of saying ‘I’m a roofer,’ [workers] can say ‘I am a Certified Master Installer in this roofing system.’”

“We want roofing employees to have successful, long-lasting careers.  As business owners look at the benefits of certifying their workforce, they quickly realize it can dramatically and positively affect company success, culture, retention and recruitment,” Jared shares.

NRCA is doing their part to provide training to members and non-members.  Roofers who are just starting out, or roofers who have been in the industry for years, have access to information and certification programs to boost their confidence and showcase their skills.  Be sure to listen to part two of the podcast for more information on the ProCertification Program and the Qualified Trainer Program.

Listen to part one of the podcast to hear more from Jared about the trainings NRCA offers.  Check out the RoofersCoffeeShop® podcast page for even more.