Guest: Kris Werner — President, Werner Roofing | IHS Group (Infinity Home Services) Guest Links: Website: https://www.wernerroofing.com | Phone: (616) 638-4662

Kris Werner runs Werner Roofing in Grand Haven, Michigan, a "five mile famous" brand he built slowly from a one-man job into a multi-trade home service operation now partnered with Infinity Home Services. In this episode, he gets practical about what actually changes when you join a private equity backed family of brands, why best practice sharing with 25 other roofing companies is the unfair advantage most owners don't have, and the operational details that separate a $4M roofer from a $10M+ company. The conversation also goes into adding trades the right way, why Werner doesn't chase storms, how Castle and Diamond metal shingles compare, what's actually slowing down GAF solar shingle adoption, and why a "divine discontent" customer expectation curve is reshaping the entire industry.

You'll learn:

• Why "five mile famous" beats trying to be a regional powerhouse
• How to add metal roofing, gutters, siding, and windows without breaking your ops
• What private equity actually changes (and what stays the same)
• How 25 brand presidents share best practices daily across IHS
• Why collecting accounts receivable matters more in winter than you think
• How to pick a second location and the first two hires that matter
• The "law of the lid" that keeps owners stuck at $3-5M
• Why retail roofing beats waiting on storms (even in storm markets)
• How to treat roofing crews so they stay loyal to your brand
• Just-in-time material delivery vs full roof load: pros and cons
• Why the synthetic roofing market is only 2% (and what could change)
• The new GAF, Castle, Diamond, and Tesla metal products worth watching
• The Jeff Bezos "divine discontent" effect on customer expectations
• Why reading the same business books 3 times beats reading 30 new ones

Guest: Pedro Rodriguez — Production, Owl Roofing Guest Links: Instagram: @P1Rodriguez | Website: https://owlroofing.com

Inside the real tension between sales, marketing, and production at a brand-new roofing company. Pedro Rodriguez runs production at Owl Roofing, the new Minneapolis venture that hit nearly half a million in sold revenue in its first real month. In this episode, the conversation gets raw about the friction that comes with going aggressive on marketing out of the gate: lead overflow, the sales-to-production handoff, scrambling to fulfill what marketing promises, and why most roofing companies stay stuck at $2-3M for years.

You'll learn:

• Why aggressive marketing creates production tension and how to manage it
• The sales-to-production handoff problem (and the document that fixes it)
• Why 200 pictures per inspection isn't excessive, it's the bare minimum
• How to spend 10% on marketing without breaking your company
• The choice between hiring veterans vs training from scratch
• Why they're recruiting $1M reps to turn into $2M reps (not chasing $3-5M superstars)
• How to build master networkers, not just master door knockers
• Why manufacturers (GAF, Iko, Owens Corning) will determine the future of roofing
• The bottleneck every new business owner hits and how to delegate around it
• Real numbers: $487K in month one, 25 leads a week from marketing alone
• How to keep retail roofing healthy without depending on storms
• Why the right culture reinvigorates burned-out reps from bad ownership

Guest: Tim Brown — Founder, Hook Agency | Co-Founder, Owl Roofing Guest Links: Website: https://owlroofing.com | https://hookagency.com

The marketer who built Hook Agency advising roofing companies for over a decade just started one of his own. In this episode, Tim Brown takes the guest seat to break down Owl Roofing, his new home service venture in Minneapolis that hit $480K sold in its first real month of business. He covers what actually transfers from running a 10-year-old marketing agency to launching a roofing company from scratch, what's working faster than expected, and the mistakes he's actively trying to avoid based on a decade of watching other roofers make them.

You'll learn:

• Why he started a roofing company on top of running Hook Agency and raising two kids
• What it actually feels like to step away from the company that made your name
• How $161,000 of starting capital changed the entire game vs. starting from $20K
• Why Google Organic and Google Paid are crushing every other lead source out of the gate
• The "lead babies" problem: why giving reps too many leads kills their hunger
• Cash flow trap most new roofing companies fall into (the bank account isn't your money)
• Why a short, iconic, emoji-friendly brand name compounds every marketing dollar
• The full court press strategy: take every conceivable advantage from day one
• 350 yard signs in one market and the police calls that came with it
• Why brand effort lowers cost per lead on Google Ads (the Monarch Roofing case)
• Pre-revenue marketing: what to do when you have no budget percentage to work with
• The two sharpest tools in his roofing toolbox right now (sales enablement + weekly role play)