Talk with Your Trusted Advisors Before Adding a New Product or Solution

RCS Influencers Seth and Ashley Pietsch say that you should consider how new products or technologies could impact your risk. 

Editor’s note: The following is an interview with Ashley and Seth Pietsch of Integrity Insurance as they share their thoughts on online ordering. You can watch the video or scroll down to read the transcript below.

Hi, everyone. This is Karen Edwards, editor at RoofersCoffeeShop® and I'm joined today by Seth and Ashley Pietsch of Integrity Insurance & Bonding. They're two of our RCS influencers and we're going to talk about this month's topic, which is what makes you try a new product? So guys, what makes you try a new product?

Seth Pietsch: Well, thanks for having us, Karen. The big thing that we ... Anytime we're considering trying a new product, obviously there's got to be a reason for us to try it. There's got to be a change in the way we do business, whether that's it makes our job easier, the technology behind is backed. And obviously, you have to do a little bit of due diligence on your own to make sure that that product, whatever it is, has been proven and tested. But any time that it can make your job easier and you can do your job more efficiently, that's the main thing that we look at before we even consider trying something new. That's a big thing. And even with a contractor, with the way things are being done right now business-wise, everybody has to adapt to the times, whether through technology and how they do their bids, their whatever it is, but it has to make their job up-to-date with the way the parameters and the restrictions are set. So, having technology-based products is definitely a way to increase your sales and keep your sales going if you're not able to go out and actively go onto a roof, like you may have been six months ago,

Karen Edwards: Are there any considerations that a contractor might want to keep in mind in terms of risk or liability before they choose a new product to add to their mix?

Seth Pietsch: Absolutely. I think having, for one, anytime you're going to want to try something new, you should be talking with your trusted advisors, whether that's an attorney, your CPA, your insurance provider, whatever it is. You should definitely run it by those core contacts or core people that you work with to make sure that, "Hey, whatever new technology we're going to use or new product lines, if we end up going down another path with something new, how is that going to affect us from an insurance standpoint?" There was a big hype a couple of years ago about the use of drones and getting up and doing estimates, from flying drones around. Well, a lot of insurance companies at that time, the technology was so new, all the insurance companies were concerned about whether or not they provided coverage for the use of drones or not. So all of a sudden, these contractors are using drones and they're thinking, "Man, this is a great way for us to do quick bids and do things efficiently on our end," but they didn't know necessarily if there was a ramification on their insurance, which in a lot of cases there was. Which now, it's easier to get coverage for drones. And usually that's not really a problem anymore, but when the technology came out, it was so new that everybody's like, "Whoa, hold on. We don't know what we're doing here, how to underwrite this or cover this." So having that conversation, when you do test a new product or try something out, send a quick email to whoever your trusted advisor core group is just to see if they have any insight, because this is our business, is insuring risk. And we look at the crazy scenarios every day, because we see them, but that may not be the same thought concept from a construction standpoint. Because they're like, "Man, this is great. I can get these bids off my desk faster," but they don't understand whether or not this is going to affect their insurance or their insurance risk or not.

Karen Edwards: Okay. So the company offering that product or service, of course, it's going to say, "It's the next best thing since sliced bread and it will change your business," and can very easily convince you that this is what you need, but you really probably maybe need to take a step back and have those conversations.

Seth Pietsch: True. And they may be accurate in saying that, "This is state-of-the-art technology, it's going to change your life." And it may be very well will do that. But we also got to know, at least from an insurance standpoint on our end, whether or not ... What your new product line you're going to be going into is something that we can or can't get coverage for. And if we can't, well, how do we go around it? And how do we get coverage for it if it's something new that hasn't been ... It hasn't been up to parameters yet as far as the insurance side?

Karen Edwards: Wow. Yeah. Some good stuff for contractors to think about and to be aware of as they're selecting new products. You guys always bring an interesting perspective to our monthly topic. And I appreciate you being here and sharing that knowledge with our contractors.

Seth Pietsch: Absolutely. Of course.

Ashley Pietsch: Thank you for having us.

Seth Pietsch is the president and Ashley Pietsch is vice president of Integrity Insurance & Bonding Inc. See Seth’s full bio here and Ashley’s full bio here.