RoofersCoffeeShop https://www.rooferscoffeeshop.com/ Roofing Forum, Classifieds, Galleries and More! en-us Partnership With Angi Leads to Growth for These Roofing Company Owners https://www.rooferscoffeeshop.com/post/partnership-with-angi-leads-to-growth-for-these-roofing-company-owners partnership-with-angi-leads-to-growth-for-these-roofing-company-owners Tue, 05 Apr 2022 06:00:00 PDT

By Cass Jacoby, RCS Reporter. 

Angi celebrates partner Mighty Dog Roofing’s success, demonstrating what commitment to the success of your partners looks like.  

Mighty Dog Roofing hosted its inaugural Raise the Roof Celebration in Dallas from February 9-11, 2022 to great success, thanks to the support of Diamond Sponsor Angi. The event serves as a landmark of success Mighty Dog franchisees have achieved through their partnership with Angi as well as a celebration of their win-win partnership.  

Angi Leads works with over two dozen Mighty Dog Roofing owners across the country to help them build their brand and book of business in their local markets as they are launching their businesses. Angi Leads is committed to helping businesses grow over time, and loves being able to celebrate their impressive partners.  

“We are excited to partner with Mighty Dog Roofing to help franchise owners connect with homeowners and build their brands in their local markets,” says Lauren Laustsen, senior director of strategy and business development for Home Exteriors at Angi. “Nothing makes us happier than seeing the pros we work with grow and succeed.” 

Mighty Dog Roofing is a growing roof repair and replacement franchise. They also offer innovative products and services for gutters, siding, windows, skylights and storm damage. Mighty Dog Roofing and parent company Horse Power Brands provide extensive services and support to help each franchise owner be successful, ranging from training to software systems to call center support. 

Using a lead generation service from Angi helped establish the Mighty Dog franchise by winning them jobs with advanced matching technology. They were able to distinguish the brand through their online public profiles, and helping built trust through verified ratings and reviews.  

“The Angi team has worked with us closely to develop our program into a win-win,” says Mark Stanek, president of Mighty Dog Roofing. 

Angi makes it easier than ever for homeowners to find Mighty Dog Roofing and get in touch for a quote, which allows Mighty Dog Roofing to shine as the best professionals for the job. 

To start with Angi leads, franchise owners create an Angi Leads account during their training to set up their profiles. Then they receive targeted leads in their local markets to help them establish and grow their businesses. 

Learn more about Angi in their RoofersCoffeeShop® Directory or visit pro.homeadvisor.com.

]]> Win $5,000 to Boost Your Business https://www.rooferscoffeeshop.com/post/win-5000-to-boost-your-business win-5000-to-boost-your-business Wed, 30 Mar 2022 06:00:00 PDT

By Cass Jacoby, RCS Reporter. 

How could $5,000 change your business? Angi looks to award five companies this sum to invest in what they need most. 

How long have you been looking to invest in some extra training for your crew? Eyeing a new software to help automate your systems? Needing additional equipment? Angi wants to know what roofing contractors are looking to invest in.  

Share your answers and how you would use the money and you will be entered into Angi’s contest to win that $5,000! 

To enter, complete the contest entry form, and include an essay describing in 500 words or less how $5,000 would help your business. Entries must be received between Monday, March 28, 2022 at 12:00 a.m. ET and Friday, April 8, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Please limit of one entry per entrant. 

All eligible entries received during the contest entry period will be judged by a panel appointed, who will use the following criteria: 

  1. Business impact (50%) 

  2. Essay expresses business need for the prize (40%) 

  3. Creativity (10%) 

The five entries that receive the highest total scores based on the judging criteria will be awarded $5,000 to give their business a boost!  

Enter for a chance to win $5,000 today! 

Learn more about Angi in their RoofersCoffeeShop® Directory or visit pro.homeadvisor.com. 

About Angi 

Angi provides the nation’s largest network of screened contractors, and is a one-stop shop for homeowners looking to turn their renovation dreams into reality. Our mission at Angi is for every homeowner to love where they live. We’re taking on that mission by making Angi thee home for everything home. 

Over 250,000 verified pros covering 500+ home project categories in over 400 major service areas in the US trust Angi. Angi receives over 32 million requests annually from motivated homeowners. 

NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. The Contest is not open to the general public and is only open to roofing business and franchises located within the 50 U.S./D.C. Void outside the 50 U.S./D.C. and where prohibited. Contest starts at 12:00:01 AM ET on 3/28/22; ends at 11:59:59 PM ET on 4/8/22. For full Official Rules, visit here. Sponsor: Angi, 130 East Washington Street, Indianapolis, IN 46204. 

]]> How 2021 Changed the Industry https://www.rooferscoffeeshop.com/post/how-2021-changed-the-industry how-2021-changed-the-industry Tue, 29 Mar 2022 18:00:00 PDT

By Cass Jacoby, RCS Reporter.  

Manufacturers, distributors and service providers talk about how businesses adapted to 2021 and highlights of the past year.  

Karen Edwards, RCS COO, meets with experts for a LIVE Coffee Conversation, sponsored by SRS Distribution, to discuss how 2021 changed the roofing industry. These manufacturers, distributors and service provider experts celebrate the industry’s pivot to embrace technology, new partnerships and shifting markets throughout the pandemic.  

A major theme in the conversation was the way partnerships and growing customer bases are huge successes of the past year.  

“The highlights for us this year was just the number of acquisitions that we were able to do. So, as we look at 2020, we had a record year for acquisitions then, we bought 12 companies. 2021, we bought 31,” says Jeremy Goldschmeding from SRS Distribution. “We are so thankful to be able to partner with a lot of great companies. Put some investment behind them, watch them grow, see some opportunity for their employees that they may not have had in a smaller business. That's one of the most-proud things that we have to look back on 2021.” 

Christian Zimprich of Sherwin-Williams Coil Coatings told RCS that the biggest change of the year was a focus on innovation, not only on the product front, but from the industry as a whole. “The nimbleness with how the industry has reacted, and the partnerships that you build with your customer base, that is what really helps everything keep going,” says Christian. “I think one of the big successes is adapting to those changing conditions and then really highlighting the ways you can work with your customer, partners, and all the way up and down the stream, to help us all be better.” 

From an economic standpoint, 2021 was a year that saw the market shift, and home renovation become much more popular. Mischa Fisher, chief economist from Angi, breaks down how the market changed. “People turned off their spending on other things, and that happened in 2020, and 2021, where people were taking specifically their restaurant budget or vacation budget, their commuting budget, pushing that into home improvement spend,” says Mischa. “The other thing that happened was, interest rates dropped. Then, on top of that, you also had home equity go up. Thus, the amount of value people get out of a home project has gone up.” 

Mischa also adds that in 2021, the 30-year-old Angie's List brand was turned into Angi, integrating everything, which was a major win for the company. 

The market wasn’t the only shift of the last year, plenty of companies also went online, making the internet the place to go for things traditionally done in person like training.  

Trent Cotney of Cotney Attorneys & Consultants talks about the company’s new shopcotney.com digital trainings. “We focused, first, on estimating training. There really wasn't anything in the market that focused on roofing-specific estimating training,” says Trent. “So, we put this plan together, and what we did, is we developed it from beginner, to intermediate, to advanced, to certification, and it's done incredibly well. You're basically a pro even within 62 days.” 

Trent adds that these trainings are a game changer in terms of a holistic approach to problem solving legal matters, “one of the things that's consistently said is that when people call me with a legal problem, they really have a business problem that wasn't solved, and that caused that legal issue.” 

2021 certainly was a year that changed the industry for the better, making companies more resilient, full of new partnerships and customer connections, focused efforts on going more digital and bringing everyone’s attention to the importance of the home.  

Watch the entire LIVE Coffee Conversation for more insight into how the industry adapted to 2021, and what changes that were made are here to stay.

]]> Industry Experts Share Their 2022 Predictions LIVE at IRE https://www.rooferscoffeeshop.com/post/industry-experts-share-their-2022-predictions-live-at-ire industry-experts-share-their-2022-predictions-live-at-ire Fri, 18 Feb 2022 06:00:00 PST

By Cass Jacoby, RCS Reporter.  

The roofing industry kept pace as the world went more digital. Learn what these experts predict for the upcoming year in our LIVE Coffee Conversations. 

Karen Edwards, RCS COO, meets with experts for a LIVE Coffee Conversation, sponsored by SRS Distribution, to discuss how 2021 changed the way the roofing industry does business and what they are looking forward to in 2022. These manufacturer, distributor and service provider experts celebrate the industry’s pivot to embrace technology, give their predictions for 2022 and provide advice to roofing contractors looking to stay on the cutting edge of a rapidly changing industry. 

Jeremy Goldschmeding from SRS Distribution anticipates demand will normalize and that new construction will be strong.  

“I think that what contractors really have to focus on is, ‘what do they value?’ I think that that's going to be an even bigger deal in 2022 and going forward,” says Jeremy. “Those contractors who really understand what their mission is, how they sell their value, how they go into the home and just try to be different — I think that...the further evolution of just that mission clarity is going to be really, really key.” 

“I totally agree. Leveraging with relationships and partnerships in the market is important, but so is really being able to react as things change,” says Christian Zimprich of Sherwin-Williams Coil Coatings. “It's about being nimble and being able to react...expecting the unexpected and taking whatever is thrown at us the best we can.” 

Mischa Fisher, chief economist from Angi, expects the demand to remain the same. “Expect material prices to go up probably more than they have both because of shipping and because of the raw materials inputs,” says Mischa. “Expect manufacturers to build that into their planning for this year. I mean, when you've got uncertainty, people are going to not err on the side of losing money. But on the other hand, consumers can pay more. So you should probably be expecting to raise your prices too.” 

Trent Cotney of Cotney Attorneys & Consultants predicts that in Q1 and Q2 a lot more mergers, acquisitions and deals are going to happen.  

“In addition to that, I think it is important to improvise, adapt and overcome. I think everybody from contractors to distribution to manufacturing is very familiar with the uncertainty that we've experienced,” says Trent. “One thing that you can always say about the roofing industry is that we're resilient. So regardless of what's thrown our way, we'll continue to move forward and be on top.” 

Read, Listen or Watch the entire LIVE Coffee Conversation for more insight into what is happening across the country and what everyone is expecting in 2022.

]]> RoofersCoffeeShop® Announces Roofing Economic Outlook™ https://www.rooferscoffeeshop.com/post/rooferscoffeeshop-announces-roofing-economic-outlook rooferscoffeeshop-announces-roofing-economic-outlook Wed, 02 Feb 2022 06:00:00 PST

Check out this new one-of-a-kind video series featuring Angi's Chief Economist, Mischa Fisher.

RoofersCoffeeShop®, celebrating 20 years as the award-winning website where the industry meets for technology, information and everyday business along with Angi®, a leading and comprehensive solution for everything home, announce a new one-of-a-kind video series, Roofing Economic Outlook. Episodes will feature Angi’s Chief Economist Mischa Fisher and RoofersCoffeeShop President Heidi J. Ellsworth exploring current economic trends that are influencing the roofing community. 

The Roofing Economic Outlook will look at the economic forces influencing the roofing industry today and in the future. It will be an ongoing conversation featuring Fisher who will share insights, forecasts and current economic indicators. Bringing years of roofing industry experience to the conversation, Ellsworth will correlate economic theory, foresight and trends with current roofing challenges coming straight from roofing contractors and industry professionals.

“We are thrilled to work with Mischa Fisher on this important educational and informative series,” states Ellsworth. “As the industry experiences challenges from COVID, material shortages and pricing, the overall economy is also experiencing inflation and even the possibility of recession. We want to give roofing professionals as much knowledge as possible around the economy to help their businesses continue to see success.”

As the Chief Economist for Angi, Fisher leads market research including consumer spending behavior, labor market dynamics and trends in residential home care. He is also an Instructor of applied quantitative methods and statistics at Northwestern University. Prior to joining Angi, Fisher was Chief Economist and economic policy advisor to the Governor of Illinois, where he oversaw the agencies for economic development, employment security, housing and professional licensing. Previously, he was a Deputy Director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and a Legislative Director for the U.S. Congress.

“I look forward to bringing research and insights to the discussion,” says Fisher. “This will be a great opportunity for deep conversation on the economic outlook for roofing and the skilled trades overall.”

Episode 0 will be available February 1, 2022, with Episode 1 premiering later in the month. 

About RoofersCoffeeShop

As an award-winning website and online community, RoofersCoffeeShop is committed to being a roofing professional advocate by supplying consistent information, education and communication avenues for all roofing professionals, and especially contractors, while promoting the positive growth, education and success of the roofing industry overall. Visitors to the site continue to find excellent opportunities for sharing information while participating in important ongoing conversations concerning new technologies, safety and the overall roofing trade. From the rooftop to the board room, RoofersCoffeeShop is “Where the Industry Meets!” For more information, visit www.rooferscoffeeshop.com.

About Angi

Angi (NASDAQ: ANGI) is your home for everything home—a comprehensive solution for all your home needs. From repairs and renovations to products and financing, Angi is transforming every touch point in the customer journey. With over 25 years of experience and a network of more than 250,000 pros, we have helped more than 150 million people with their home needs. Angi is your partner for every part of your home care journey.

]]> RoofersCoffeeShop® Will Be at IRE 2022, Will You? https://www.rooferscoffeeshop.com/post/rooferscoffeeshop-will-be-at-ire-2022-will-you rooferscoffeeshop-will-be-at-ire-2022-will-you Mon, 17 Jan 2022 18:00:00 PST

By Cass Jacoby, RCS Reporter.  

IRE promises to be one of the biggest events of the year, check out who will be at the expo! 

This year’s International Roofing Expo (IRE) promises many exciting events, products, classes and more. The expo will take place February 1-3 in New Orleans at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.  

RoofersCoffeeShop® will be on the beat, sharing information and broadcasting live on YouTube. Additionally, you will find President Heidi J. Ellsworth moderating a panel on how to work with young people who are interested in roofing. The session takes place Tuesday at 7:45 a.m. - 9:15 a.m. CT 

The Coffee Shop will join many great manufacturers, distributors and associations as they share new ideas with roofing contractors. Make sure you stop by our booth, number 249, and visit our RoofersCoffeeShop partners too:  

Don’t miss out, register today for IRE 2022!

]]> Don’t Miss These Sessions at IRE 2022! https://www.rooferscoffeeshop.com/post/dont-miss-these-sessionsat-ire-2022 dont-miss-these-sessionsat-ire-2022 Thu, 13 Jan 2022 18:00:00 PST

By Evelyn Witterholt, RCS Reporter. 

Join members of the roofing industry, including our very own RCS president, for an exciting couple of days full of speaking sessions! 

This year's International Roofing Expo (IRE) is set to be an exciting couple of days for everyone in the roofing industry that is attending. The expo will take place on February 1-3 in in New Orleans at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Over the course of three jam-packed days, attendees will find that there is no shortage of speaking sessions to attend. Here are some of the most exciting sessions that will take place: 

Casting the Net for Your Future Workforce 

Join RoofersCoffeeShop® President Heidi J. Ellsworth as she moderates this panel on how to work with young people that are interested in roofing. During this session, she will join Roofing Technology Think Tank (RT3) contractor members as they discuss how they are working with schools and youth programs to help them joining the future roofing workforce. The speakers will be: Graham Roofing Incorporated Owner Christee Holbrook, PB Roofing Co-founder John Peck, Antis Roofing founder Charles Antis and Cognitive Contractor CEO Josey Parks. Information on this session can be found here. 

Tuesday, February 1 

Wednesday, February 2 

  • Understanding Metal Roofing - Director at Metal Roof Advisory Group and CEO and founder of S-5!, Rob Haddock is set to present this course on metal roofing, which is a great introduction for both beginning and experienced building professionals. Part 1 will start at 7:45 a.m. and Part 2 will start at 9:30 a.m. 

  • Stop Training Start Coaching - SRS Distribution Inc.’s John DeRosa will speak on the importance of how managers can coach employees as opposed to training them. 

  • Resilient Asphalt Shingle Roofs - For this conference, join asphalt roofing experts as they discuss ways asphalt roofs can resist environmental challenges. Speakers include: Aaron Phillips from the Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association (ARMA), Brian Davis from GAF, Stephanie Kiriazes from Firestone Building Products and Steve Hern from CertainTeed Roofing. 

  • The Economics of Roofing: The Market Ahead - Mischa Fisher, Chief Economist at Angi Inc., is set to discuss the economics driving the roofing market and what to expect in 2022. 

  • Estimating the Right Way - Join John Kenney from Cotney Attorneys & Consultants as he discusses the ins and outs of making estimations. 

Thursday, February 3 

  • 2021 I-codes: Roofing-Related Changes - NRCA’s Vice President Mark Graham will be speaking about the roofing related updates to the International Code Council’s model codes. Time will be allotted for audience questions. 

  • Blueprint for the Future: Building a Successful and Resilient Company - This panel will discuss major issues the construction industry is facing and possible solutions. Speakers include: Erika Mosse from Pro Remodeler, Nick Sabino from Deer Park Roofing Inc., Rob Balfanz from Vinyl Siding Institute and Shashi Bellamkonda from Leap LLC.  

  • Evolving Your Culture and Brand - Charles Antis from Antis Roofing & Waterproofing and The Honorable Reid Ribble from NRCA will discuss how the culture and brand of Antis shifted during the global pandemic 

  • Making Your Business Better: Residential Contractors Committee Roundtable - This roundtable discussion will be moderated by John Arellano, senior manager of GAF. Speakers include: Derric Stull from Ridge Valley Exteriors Inc., Gary Howes from The Durable Slate Company and Ken Kelly from Kelly Roofing. 

View the whole schedule of sessions here! 

Learn more about IRE in their RoofersCoffeeShop® Directory or visit www.theroofingexpo.com.

]]> Get Inside the Mind of Your Customers https://www.rooferscoffeeshop.com/post/get-insidethe-mind-of-yourcustomers get-insidethe-mind-of-yourcustomers Thu, 16 Dec 2021 06:00:00 PST

By Karen L. Edwards, RCS Editor. 

Learn how the experts at Angi have made it possible for you to do just that.  

Selling to homeowners means you must understand their wants and needs while also knowing what things are most important to them when deciding to replace their roof. In the past, this meant turning to your best mind-reading skills or just using a gut feeling based on your years of experience in dealing with homeowners.  

Understanding consumer behavior related to roofing will help contractors better market their businesses, deliver enhanced customer experiences and close more sales, according to Lauren Laustsen, senior director of strategy and business development for home exteriors at Angi who has a specific focus on the roofing category. “Our goal is to better understand the vertical and provide more value to the pros,” she said. “We worked with our chief economist who does a lot of general research on home services to focus specifically on roofing.” 

To get a good pulse on what is driving consumer decisions when it comes to purchasing a new roof and to understand homeowners’ desires, Angi conducted an in-depth survey of 1,200 homeowners, half of who recently replaced their roof and half who were going to over the next few months.  

It’s not about price

Some of the results were surprising. For instance, many think price is often the number one driving factor for a homeowner; however, the study shows that isn’t the case in 2021. “Consumers indicated that price isn’t their number one driver. It’s more about value and aesthetics. They want to also be sure that the roof has excellent weather resistance,” explained Lauren.  

Appearance was a strong driver for people replacing their roofs with 22 percent indicating they replaced their roof to improve its appearance and style. Knowing the importance of appearance, it’s going to be very important for contractors to use before and after photos that emphasize the transformation from old to new.  

COVID safety still a factor 

Despite the survey being conducted in summer 2021 when most of the country had eased COVID restrictions, respondents were still wary. They indicated that they wanted social distancing while in the home, mask wearing while on the job and some still wanted to do virtual appointments. “We saw that 60 percent of homeowners were still very concerned about safety during their interactions with contractors,” said Lauren.  

Helping roofing pros succeed 

Angi is committed to providing the resources that roofing contractors need to be successful in closing more sales and growing their businesses. “Homeowners are shopping around, looking at an average of four places when looking for pros,” Lauren said. “We want our pros to win more of those jobs, so our in-house teams are available to coach them on how to refine their marketing and communication to be more in line with what consumers want.”  

See just what homeowners want when it comes to replacing their roofs when you download the full study from Angi.  

Learn more about Angi in their RoofersCoffeeShop® Directory or visit www.Angi.com.

]]> New Research: The State of Home Spending in 2021 https://www.rooferscoffeeshop.com/post/new-research-the-state-of-home-spending-in-2021 new-research-the-state-of-home-spending-in-2021 Mon, 13 Dec 2021 12:00:00 PST

Angi's report highlights trends in projects, maintenance spending and home emergency repairs.

Homeowners spent an average of $15,680 on home improvement, home maintenance and emergency repairs this year and took on an average of 14.4 home projects, according to Angi's 2021 State of Home Spending Report: The Great Shift – How the Pandemic Put Homes in Focus. This annual report focuses on trends in home spending including drivers, obstacles, top projects and forecasts for the years ahead.

Angi State of Home Spending Report reveals home spending boom

"Not only did homeowners spend more on their homes, but they also completed more projects," said Mischa Fisher, Chief Economist at Angi. "The growth in home spending we witnessed last year continued at a dizzying pace as people have continued spending more time in their homes."

Fisher added, "2021 also presented homeowners with trillions of dollars of unexpected home equity and that wealth has been, at least in part, reinvested in the home through improvements, maintenance and repairs."

Top projects

The most popular home project of 2021 is interior painting, completed by nearly one in three homeowners (32%), followed by bathroom remodels (28%) and, a newcomer to the list, installing smart home devices (27%). Smart home devices replaced flooring in the top three completed projects this year. Other top projects include flooring (26.7%), landscaping (24.7%), exterior painting (24.2%), kitchen remodels (23.7%), fencing (23.1%), new roofing (19.6%) and new cabinets (19.5%).

"The top projects all dramatically change the look or use of one's home, mostly without being prohibitively expensive," added Fisher. "Pre-pandemic, people were motivated to work on their homes for a return on investment or other financial incentives. Now, they're prioritizing projects that help their homes better suit their new normal."

Most desired projects

This year's State of Home Spending report also asked homeowners what home projects they would do if given $10,000. While the overall top project was a living room upgrade, selected by 17% of homeowners, the different priorities of men and women were clear. Male homeowners prioritized living room upgrades (18%), outdoor space upgrades (17%) and bedroom upgrades (15%), while women were more interested in kitchen remodels (21%), bathroom upgrades (17%) and outdoor space upgrades (16%).

"If your family came into unexpected home equity over the past year and are looking for a way to reinvest that in your home, be sure to talk about priorities and preferences before committing to a project," added Fisher. "The project men and women both had in their top three was an outdoor space upgrade, so an outdoor kitchen with nice living features could be a great place to start."

Additional findings include:

  • Home improvement spending rose 25% to $10,341 across 3.7 projects per household.

  • Home emergency spending rose 42% to $2,231 across 2.2 projects per household.

  • Home maintenance spending stayed relatively steady, with a slight 4% decrease to $3,018. This was spread across 8.5 projects per household, up from 7.5 in 2020.

  • 25% of homeowners spend 50% more time at home than they did pre-pandemic, and 14% doubled the amount of time they spend at home.

  • The top two reasons for uncompleted projects were items being too expensive (22%) and COVID-19 disruptions (26%).

  • Half of all homeowners (49%) experienced unexpected home equity gains.

  • The share of households shifting commuting budgets into their homes increased from 33% last year to 40% this year.

  • Pandemic movers are 20% more likely to be in what they consider their "forever home" but just as likely to feel their home needs remodeling.

Read Angi's full State of Home Spending report here.

Methodology

The State of Home Spending is based on Angi analysis of surveys fielded to 6,400 consumers between October 4th and October 7th, 2021. The full sample consists of a survey of the general population (n=5,000) and a survey of homeowner households that completed a remodeling project in the last 12 months and hired someone else to do to at least some of the work for them (n=1,400). The general population survey was post-sample weighted to balance the sample against general population statistics for age, gender and income to determine average spending and project volume. All statistics, unless otherwise noted, refer to homeowner households that completed an improvement project. 

About Angi

Angi® is your home for everything home—a comprehensive solution for all your home needs. From repairs and renovations to products and financing, Angi is transforming every touch point in home services. With over 25 years of experience and a network of nearly 250,000 pros, we have helped more than 150 million people with their home needs. Angi is your partner for every part of your home care journey. Angi is an operating business of Angi Inc., formerly ANGI Homeservices Inc. (NASDAQ: ANGI).

]]> Mischa Fisher - Angi’s Skilled Trades in America report - PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION https://www.rooferscoffeeshop.com/post/mischa-fisher-angis-skilled-trades-in-america-report-podcast-transcription mischa-fisher-angis-skilled-trades-in-america-report-podcast-transcription Wed, 01 Dec 2021 11:09:00 PST

 

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of an live interview with Mischa Fisher of Angi. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast. 

Megan Ellsworth:
Welcome to Roofing Road Trips with Heidi. Explore the roofing industry through the eyes of a long-term professional within the trade. Listen for insights, interviews, and exciting news in the roofing industry today.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Hello and welcome to another Roofing Road Trips from RoofersCoffeeShop. This is Heidi Ellsworth and I am here today with a very special podcast. We are going to get some insights that you just don't hear every day. So we are here today with Mischa Fisher, the chief economist from Angi. Mischa, welcome to the show.

Mischa Fisher:
Great to be with you, Heidi. I'm really looking forward to this. This is going to be a lot of fun.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah, I am too. Angi is just well-known everywhere and to be able to pull from all the data, all the information, all the studies that you do, I think is incredible. I'm so honored that you're here to share that with us today. Before we get started on this great podcast, I would love it if you would introduce yourself a little bit more thoroughly than I did and let us know kind of a little bit of your history, and exactly what you're doing with Angi.

Mischa Fisher:
Sure, absolutely. So for the listeners who are used to doing a lot of, I think, very, very tangible, real things in the field, building roofs, putting on siding, that sort of thing. It is a weird role to have thinking about what consumers are doing, but that's effectively what my role is at Angi is thinking about how consumers are spending their money. What are the big, long-term trends driving it? How are pros responding to that? What's going on in the marketplace as a result of this intersection of behavior between consumer spending and pro behavior? How are prices shaping up? What's going on with materials and supply chains and all of those different factors impacting the market?

Mischa Fisher:
So my role is broad-based thinking about all of those things at Angi. Before that, I was the chief economist for the state of Illinois looking specifically at how do we make our labor markets as efficient as possible in terms of removing bureaucratic barriers and making it easier for people to grow their businesses and hire, and get materials in the marketplace. I also moonlight as an applied statistics instructor at Northwestern University. So I sort of wear that hat of thinking about empirical methods and how you try and tell what's real and what's not real in terms of when you're looking at data.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Wow, I'm very impressed. That is very cool and Northwestern, what a great institution that is the fact that you're teaching there and getting that real life from all this next generation coming up. That has to just give you this full rounded view of things.

Mischa Fisher:
Yeah, it's really fun to sort of wear both those hats and to try and do the intersection of these things because there's not typically a lot of overlap between people thinking about applied statistics and people thinking about what's going on in the trade labor markets. And so that's what we're really trying to solve is making sure people really understand these things as well as possible. And being a resource for tradespeople in the field.

Mischa Fisher:
We want to be as helpful as possible for tradespeople in case you've got a question about what's going on in the market. You're probably not going to go out and hire a bunch of consultants to do it, but we want to make sure that that information is readily available for you if that's something that you're interested in understanding.

Heidi Ellsworth:
That's excellent, that's excellent. I'm really excited to get into that. So Angi's Skilled Trades in America report second version. Tell us a little bit about that, how it started, what it's talking about, and then we'll kind of dive deeper into it.

Mischa Fisher:
Absolutely. The succinct version is it is a dive into the trades. What goes on in a lot of news-making and scholarly analysis and looking at economic trends across all of these things, people tend to look at what bankers think and what manufacturers think and what CEOs think or what university professors think. But everything we live in and drive on and get made, it all was built by a tradesperson doing work in the field. And it's something that we don't think gets enough attention and doesn't show in the seriousness and respect that it should deserve. And so that's why we wanted to put out this annual look at the skilled trades in America. Who are they? What are they doing of work? What are their average ages? What's the gender breakdown? What are they earning? How high is job satisfaction? What are their expectations for their future?

Mischa Fisher:
And putting that all together so that people take the trade seriously. Something that we see all the time is what the perception of the trades are and it's changing, but there's been this stereotype for the last 20, 30 years that the tradesperson is kind of the rough around the edges, you know the plumber with the butt crack sort of thing. Whereas what we're trying to do is say, "Hey, these are very serious jobs. People make great money doing it. They love their work. They're innovative. They're entrepreneurial. And we need to understand what's going on in the skilled trades and people should take the sector really seriously." So that's what our report is doing is that deep dive across all these facets of the trades.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I love that. One of our big slogans with RoofersCoffeeShop is roofing respect. And we work every single day to bring that topic, that professionalism to show the rest of the world the amazing craftsmanship of the men and women who are involved in the trades. So to be able to really deep dive more from an analytical, statistical side of it just brings that one more step up. I love it.

Heidi Ellsworth:
So it was interesting because job satisfaction kind of talking about that, job satisfaction, as we know, getting more people in the trades is such a push for all construction. But job satisfaction remained remarkably high with 83% of the tradespeople either somewhat or extremely satisfied in their choice of work. When you see that and you think about what they went through with COVID basically being frontline, especially in the roofing, anything exterior they were very frontline out there. How did you see that? What were some of the responses?

Mischa Fisher:
Yeah, I mean, it's surprising, but on the other hand, it's not. Because we've seen the job satisfaction in the trades is already high and this was a challenging year for every industry. If your industry was hit hard by COVID and consumer demand went down, that was obviously materially very challenging. On the other hand, if your industry was boosted by consumer demand during COVID, that was also challenging because factories weren't ready, supply chains weren't ready, [inaudible 00:06:45] hiring wasn't ready, and everything was a challenge.

Mischa Fisher:
And so on both sides, it was challenging. And if you look at sort of general polling about job satisfaction, in the US it's only about one and three people really sort of feels engaged for with their work and really likes it. Just yesterday we saw new data that 3% of the entire American labor force quit their jobs in August, which is crazy. That's never happened before because people are so dissatisfied. But in the trades, job satisfaction actually went up and that's what we saw year over year. So it's overwhelmingly almost nine and 10 really enjoy their jobs and are happy they did which is very, very high.

Mischa Fisher:
And on top of that, if you look at the reason why. It's not the superficial things. It's not pay. It's not work hours. It's not that it's an easy job. None of those things are the primary driver. The primary driver of satisfaction among the people who are satisfied is that they find meaning and value in their work. And for finding that meaning and value in your work is what allows you to weather the storm when something unexpected happens is people really like it.

Mischa Fisher:
And at the end of the day, if you're in the roofing business, for example, you see a roof at the end of the day that you built. And that is that tangible sense of satisfaction is I think part of what drives it. It's also fun to do things with your hands, you feel confident. You can do things in relatively small teams and that's all harder. If you look at people who are sort of in a standard corporate job, there's a lot of navigating interpersonal dynamics and what's going on in different departments and priorities and things shift and things are out of your control. And there's not necessarily a tangible product at the end of the day and that's the exact opposite.

Mischa Fisher:
And so that's why one of the ways that we framed this report for tradespeople is saying this is a golden opportunity because the rest of the economy, all these industries are hemorrhaging people. And if you can find a way to really channel that, you can use this as an opportunity to really upscale the quality of your workforce.

Heidi Ellsworth:
You know it's really interesting because, and it's kind of a joke in the roofing industry, but it's so true. People will always say once you're in roofing, you never leave roofing. And I think that's somewhat the same with all the trades and with all the home improvement. Because there is a sense of not only accomplishment and working with your hands and doing those things, but the people. The people are pretty fantastic to be honest. That's a little bit on my insights just on being there, but we are having a labor shortage.

Heidi Ellsworth:
And so one of the things that I'm really curious about, I mean, this is a golden opportunity. We have all these people leaving other industries to get them in there. What did your report and what did you hear from some of the survey individuals on labor shortage? What did they have to say?

Mischa Fisher:
The labor shortage got worse unquestionably. There was already this chronic acute labor shortage that's been going on for years. It got about 10% worse this past year. I think it would've been even more of a problem if it wasn't already so bad, but it was already so bad it only had so much room to get even worse. So it definitely got worse. Pros universally thought that either hiring got harder or that the overall trade labor shortage got worse. A higher percentage of sort of businesses of pros sort of said, "Well, right now I'm currently okay at my staffing, but it was hard to get there. It was harder than it should have been."

Mischa Fisher:
And I think that that is part of the opportunity to really stand out as a businessperson in the skilled trades is when we look at how people are recruiting to their businesses A. There's still way too much word of mouth. The skilled trades is not pulling in the full demographic pool of what's out there. If you look at roofers, I think it's roughly 97% male. So if all you're doing is asking around your friends and you're saying there's a trade labor shortage, but you're missing half the population in your labor force, it's harder to be taken seriously because there's low-hanging fruit there.

Mischa Fisher:
Half the population is not represented in the labor force, pull more women into the trades. Make sure it's a conducive welcoming environment where people are going to enjoy that. So that's one thing is just stop using word of mouth as your recommendation tool, really try and expand the interest there.

Mischa Fisher:
The second thing is really highlight the job satisfaction in the skilled trades, but that's the second least cited thing that people cite when they say how they're recruiting is highlighting how happy they'll be in the work. People say, "Well, I offer above average wages." Sure. But if somebody's saying, "Well, I can go work at McDonald's," which is here in Colorado, we see starting salaries at McDonald's at 18 bucks an hour. So if you're in the roofing business, yeah, maybe you can offer 20 or a little bit more than that. But somebody saying, "Yeah, well, McDonald's is easy, it's social. I don't have to work as hard as being a roofer."

Mischa Fisher:
It's the job satisfaction too. So you can't just highlight that wage difference. You have to say, well, people really like this work. And that is something that we think the trades universally has to do is highlight how satisfying it is at the end of the day to have that tangible thing that you've built. And also how transferable that skill is to your personal life. If you get good in the skilled trades, you can save yourself a lot of money on your next remodel too. So that's another angle of it too.

Mischa Fisher:
And then the third thing is just using more digital tools. We did see in the report that skill tradespeople really kicked up their use of digital tools. And that's great for planning and quotes and project management, but there's a lot of room to improve how people are recruiting as well using digital tools, and being willing to spend a little bit on advertising and recruitment.

Heidi Ellsworth:
We have seen since the beginning of COVID the increase in digital just go off the charts. We had to. We have people working remote. Contractors now, home services need to talk to homeowners digitally online. There's a lot of changes that way. And the industry seems, it sounds like you're hearing the same thing in the report is that they have adapted. They've adapted quickly to be able to do it. And then contractors and the home service pros who are not adapting to that are kind of being left behind.

Mischa Fisher:
Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's like any other form of competition. It doesn't matter until it does. So people do have to be intentional about that. Right now there's so much organic demand that you might not necessarily have to adopt certain tools, but eventually you're going to wish that you had. Now, some tools can actually help you manage all that extra demand, which is its own sort of issue. But as a general rule, pay attention what your competitors are doing. And you don't have to be the first person to chase a trend, but you might not want to be the last.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Right. And honestly now is the time. With contractors going into this winter months, this is always the best time to actually reach out to the technology partners like Angi, and kind of understand how to grow your business. And we talk about this a lot on this podcast is it's about relationships and networking to figure out what's best for your company and how you're going to stay. Like you said, I kind of like that. I'm always an early adopter, but being a mid adopter is not a bad thing either just as long as you're adopting and moving forward.

Mischa Fisher:
Yeah, yeah. Exactly. That's a well-put.

Heidi Ellsworth:
So as you're kind of looking at this, I'm talking about shortages. So if we go from labor, I'd like to talk about material shortages and geez, what a year. What we're hearing is it's not looking much better going forward. What did you see?

Mischa Fisher:
Yeah, we saw universal issues with labor and material shortages, both. So in material shortages only about 15% of tradespeople said it wasn't a problem for them. So overwhelmingly the reality was issues with it. And the one thing about the trades that can be highly regional in terms of the impacts, we saw framing lumber and OSB as sort of the big universal ones. Roofing was up there. It was about fourth or fifth place in terms of the biggest impact. But some listeners might say, "Well, no roofing was the hardest" and others say, "Well, I might not have had any problem."

Mischa Fisher:
And the thing to remember is that if you're looking at the dealership networks and the manufacturing networks, you can end up with really regional effects where because of what's going on at the ports and what's going on at the manufacturers and what's going on with local distributors, you could have a pronounced shortage of windows in one market and then go over a state and their fine on windows, but roofing is the thing is the thing that they're out of.

Mischa Fisher:
And so it's very hard to generalize that sort of very precise, detailed story, but the overall big top line story is that the universe of tradespeople was dramatically impacted by that and some of those effects are still going on because they have so much consumer demand out there. Trillions of dollars in new home equity has been opened up and that's a lot of consumer spending that's still ready and waiting to be spent.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Right. And really understanding and helping to educate the homeowners ... Homeowners [inaudible 00:15:48] say homeowners, but building owners also on these material shortages. And I think now pretty much everybody knows there's material shortages out there, but for a long time they're wondering, "Why can't I get this? Why can't I get that?" And that's really hard for roofing contractors, for home service pros. What are you hearing along that line on the communication with homeowners and kind of working through that?

Mischa Fisher:
Pros have gotten smarter about communicating. So it was actually a little worse last year in terms of pros doing a poor job of communicating to homeowners. This year, when we look at homeowners and their sentiment, they're saying, "Well, my pro did a better job communicating on average." I would still say number one piece of advice, manage expectations. I don't think that's new for anybody to hear. Whether or not you're actually working that into your day, that should be a line item on your checklist when you're dealing with consumers is manage expectations. Make sure they're aware of what's going on.

Mischa Fisher:
If you communicate, you can avoid having the blame put on yourself because it won't be your fault. But if you don't communicate even something that's completely out of your hands, even if it's a total act of God, you could still be blamed for it by the consumer if you don't do a good job communicating. So make sure that that's definitely an intentional part of your process. If there's a risk that things go over time, be upfront about it and make sure that the consumer understands that because it also helps build trust too.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah, it does. And I think that really kind of comes back to what we just talked about, the need for digital communications. Because how are you communicating quickly and accurately with your customers? And that has changed a lot. Before it used to just be, "Oh, we'll give them a phone call." Now it's text or it's even social media. I mean, all forms are being used.

Mischa Fisher:
Right. Yeah, exactly. You've got all the tools at you're disposal to communicate well. Make sure you're being intentional about it. And that's not always easy, especially if you're standing on a roof in the middle of the hot sun in the middle of Phoenix in July, the last thing you want to do is pull out your phone and try to deal with it. Then I understand that and don't mean to dismiss it, but it should be part of your intentional process and you should have it built into your routine.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. So I kind of hit on the big things that we're always, always talking about, labor materials and obviously recruitment and job satisfaction, which I still love that part of it. What are some other really big takeaways that you had from the report?

Mischa Fisher:
The biggest one for me that we haven't talked about is the entrepreneurial spirit in the trades. And that's something that we're like working on changing culturally. Because if you ask people who's an entrepreneur, they think of some tech bro in Seattle or San Francisco with this laptop at the coffee shop. And we're trying to change that. That's not to say that that person's not an entrepreneur. Clearly they are. Some people go on to start very large companies that way, but we want to make sure that people have a broad sense of it takes a lot of hustle and drive and creativity and entrepreneurial spirit for somebody to be successful in the trades and people do it. People hop into it.

Mischa Fisher:
You get people starting their own companies when they're in their early 20s and succeeding and then they're killing it by the time they're in their early mid-30s. And that can be a real short run to entrepreneurial business owning success that you don't necessarily see in other sectors of the economy. And it's very much in in your own hands.

Mischa Fisher:
It's very much can you sell people on the vision? Can you recruit people? Can you build and foster a culture? Because it's not in most cases really, really capital-intensive, you can do it yourself. You're not subject to the whims of investors or what's going on in global credit markets or anything like that. You can do this yourself. And so that's where we're really trying to sell people on the romance in the trades and that it's very entrepreneurial.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah, I love that. I love the fact that Angi is taking this lead, the lead to get in front of people and to bring these messages of respect and entrepreneurial, and all the other things that help the trades gain people. And obviously customers is not as huge of a problem right now. There's a lot of spending going on out there.

Heidi Ellsworth:
What do you see as kind of some of the trends? I mean, going from the first report to the second report and what we've already talked about, but also just is there any interesting being an economist? Are there any interesting trends that you're seeing?

Mischa Fisher:
The interesting trends to me, the big ones are aging and what's going on with aging in the workforce. Roofers are actually a unique spot. Roofers aren't actually a particularly old group, but some trade skills, if you look at plumbers and pipefitters and electricians, then you end up with higher ages especially in sort of that general contractor range as well. And so some trades are going to be facing some sort of pretty severe issues with retirements and people aging out of it.

Mischa Fisher:
With roofers, it's about average. So it's not necessarily young, but it's roughly average with the population. And so that means that the average roofers may be a little less likely to say, "Hey, everybody's aging out of this business." But that to me is sort of the big story with the trades because as people retire out of the trades, that market share has to be picked up. And so that's where it's a real big opportunity for somebody to really nail the thinking around how they recruit and train and pull people into the business because you can gain market share. You can pick up as people exit the industry because that is something that's going to be hitting us I think pretty dramatically in the next 10, 15 years.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I think so too. I do think roofing tends to be a younger person's job just because of the toll it takes on the body. But when you look at the business owners, the roofing contractor company owners, we are seeing actually a lot of young people coming in and starting businesses to point of what you said earlier. That is something that is financially possible without a lot of huge investment or they can get into it and start working their way up.

Heidi Ellsworth:
We also, the roofing industry has also been working very closely with a number of universities, including Clemson and Colorado State. And so with your experience within the university ecosystem, where you're hearing feedback from construction management programs from young people going in there that they are interested in starting their own businesses. And they're very interested in the sub trades. Any insight and I know this is a little outside the report, but I'd just be interested in some of your insights that way.

Mischa Fisher:
It's a good point and it's maybe something that shouldn't be outside the report. Maybe that's something we need to put in there for next year because universities are wonderful options for certain things, but they're definitely not the universal choice. I don't mind personally saying that we've oversold people on the value of university. And I say that as somebody who's a university instructor. It can be really useful for certain things. And there's certain pathways where it can really pay off, but not universally.

Mischa Fisher:
And if you can sidestep that debt and you can sidestep a career that you don't particularly like, and you can sidestep a major that doesn't necessarily give you any marketable skills. And do that instead going into a field where you can start earning when you're 17 or 18-years-old as soon as you're out of high school, you can start earning, you can start a business, you can start all of those things. That's really, really interesting.

Mischa Fisher:
You asked that second point though about construction management. And I think they will probably see more of those programs kind of come into play. My guess is because technology is going to inevitably come in to help solve some of these shortage issues. And as you add technology, you add complexity and that's where you can have sort of a scientific discipline around management and process, and the entire construction flow.

Mischa Fisher:
That being said, residential construction, in particular, residential remodeling is a really tough nut to crack in terms of doing large scale automated, predictable things because everything is so unique. Every job is so custom. Labor is such a high part of it. And so I think those programs will come into play, but they'll probably be more on the commercial side than on the residential side on average.

Mischa Fisher:
I'm sure that some large residential modelers will find some use there. But I think probably a lot of it'll be sort of skewed towards commercial, industrial and new home construction, sort of large subdivisions, that sort of thing. I think that's where that skillset could really come to bear or on improving supply chains or material science around building technology too.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Robots on the roof. We have it all. Robots around the outside on the landscape. Who knows what's going to happen when innovation starts picking up? And we are seeing the same thing. We're seeing before you are always like, "Well, you need to go to vocational school or you need to go to the university construction management."

Heidi Ellsworth:
But now we're seeing young people coming out of entrepreneurship classes and they are starting their own businesses in roofing or in the trades because they're seeing such potential. Where before it just seemed like there was one thing. You're right. Now it's like people are making choices that fit what they want to do, which is probably why we have such high job satisfaction.

Mischa Fisher:
Right. Yeah, exactly. 100%.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Well, great. I love this. This is so great. And we will have links for this report on RoofersCoffeeShop so people can get it, they can read the whole report. It's fascinating. I love the fact that you're doing this every year so we can really start watching those trends even closer. Any last thoughts or anything else to share with our listeners?

Mischa Fisher:
We're here to be a resource for people. So if you want to follow this stuff, you can track it all down at angi.com/research. You can find it there. You can also feel free to track me down on LinkedIn if you want and shoot me a note. If you agreed with something, let me know. If you thought I was totally wrong and disagree with it, I'd love to hear that too particularly for any roofers that are in the Denver Metro area, it's always nice to hear from people. So just want to be a resource and to put out good figures. So that's what we aim to do and love to hear from people.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah, and I would say the resources on these studies on what's coming out on trends, but also just on what we talked about earlier with really getting the digital tools and marketing resources. Angi is doing that across the board. It's really been fun and interesting to watch the growth of Angi and everything that's coming out of that. And how much is helping the car contractors and the pros out there.

Heidi Ellsworth:
So Mischa, thank you. Thank you so much for being here today. We truly appreciate it and are honored that you spend the time with us here on the Roofing Road Trip Podcast.

Mischa Fisher:
My pleasure. Thanks for hosting me. This was a lot of fun.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Awesome. Thank you and thank you all for listening. You can find all of our podcasts on rooferscoffeeshop.com under the Read Listen Watch initiative or of course on your favorite podcast channel. Be sure to subscribe, hit the notify so that you are notified every time there's a new podcast coming out. Thank you so much for being here today and we'll see you on the next Roofing Road Trip.

Megan Ellsworth:
Make sure to subscribe to our channel and leave a review. Thanks for listening. This has been Roofing Road Trips with Heidi from the rooferscoffeeshop.com.

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