S2:E6 Coffee Conversations - Getting to Know the Roofing Technology Think Tank (RT3)

By Colin Sheehan, RCS Reporter. 

How to bring technology into your roofing business. 

Coffee Conversations is where the roofing community meets every other week to discuss what’s new in the industry. In this conversation, Wendy Marvin and Karen Edwards join Heidi Ellsworth and the Coffee Conversations live attendees to discuss the Roofing Technology Think Tank (RT3) and the advantages of embracing technology in the roofing industry.  

Wendy is an RT3 member and the owner of Matrix Roofing & Home Solutions. Wendy founded the company in 2007, and since then has expanded the company’s services to offer both roofing and home solutions as well as offering a handyman service in Vancouver.  

Karen has worked in the roofing industry for 20 years, starting at Carlisle and then moving to EagleView before starting her own business, Casimir Group. She is also the executive director at RT3 and editor at RoofersCoffeeShop®.  

“[RT3] was started in 2016 by a group of forward-thinking industry leaders who recognized the need for the roofing industry to use technology more. The roofing industry is typically behind. This group of professionals said we need to get together, we need to study, we need to learn and we need to help get that message of technology out into the industry,” said Karen.  

Wendy agreed that part of RT3’s mission was innovation and change. She joined RT3 to learn helpful information from some of the brightest minds in the industry to help continue to evolve and shape her business.  

“Jumping on the RT3 Think Tank was a no brainer. It was a group of industry rock stars,” said Wendy. “You guys don't give yourself enough credit. It was an opportunity [where I could] speak to our industry to help with advancements, to look at an industry that is predominantly conservative and try to help people move along through some scary things that are changing and growing. Love the group, love the people, love being plugged in. I've learned so many silly little things that I have helped my business with just by being around these people. So, it's been a great opportunity.”  

RT3 was built to be a resource for the industry. It was designed small on purpose and has a limit on memberships. This way the organization can make decisions and reach members quickly, which was especially helpful last March, when the pandemic began to affect the way people were able to work. RT3 was able to respond quickly and hosted three webinars where members and guests from the industry put their heads together to figure out solutions.  

“We think big,” said Karen. “We said we want to be at Microsoft. We want to be at 3M. How innovative are they? We went into 3M through Maureen Kavanagh, who works in the roofing granule area. We spent the day there. We toured their world of innovations, which was incredible, and we learned about all the different things that they do.”  

Read, Listen or Watch the full Coffee Conversations and learn more about RT3 and how they are accelerating technological innovation in the roofing industry.