JR & Co. install, service, and maintain the exterior envelope of commercial buildings including roofing, roofing metal, wall panels, solar arrays, and more. In 2021 the company celebrated their 35th anniversary – the key to longevity, according to CMO Dave Layman has been a “strong foundation and a willingness to focus on growth, regardless of the challenges facing us.” This foundation has been tested during the COVID-19 pandemic when businesses across the country faced adversity on an unprecedented scale. Throughout this time, JR & Co. has expanded the types of clients they are pursuing and strengthened financially to minimize expenses while maintaining double-digit growth. The company have been keeping their “wits” about them as they work through material shortages, an issue posing great stress to JR & Co., along with many other companies throughout the country. Despite these challenges, the company has not had to lay off labor throughout the pandemic to any great extent.

Caused in some extent by the ongoing pandemic, the main issue facing JR & Co. is material shortages. Dave explained that there is demand – people need roofs, and while the company are positioned to acquire the business, “performing it is going to be over a much longer period of time than it would normally take” as a result. JR & Co. has worked to stockpile materials that they could find early but the reality is that is of little benefit if clients are not somewhat flexible. “If you want a system that we don’t have the materials for now, it might be next fall before we can get them.” Coupled with this is the invariable knock-on effect these delays can have to pricing. It is an issue which the company sees as being “volatile” and is one of many ways the industry has been negatively impacted by the pandemic. “There will be inflationary factors that play into the cost of that material during that wait time.” The situation is a dire one, with prices rising for clients, companies unable to attain materials and both the client and company facing longer wait times, with Dave stating, “there’s no silver bullet to this situation – strong companies are going to survive, and weak ones will not – that’s what it amounts to.”

Dave spoke highly about how the companies’ sales team and accountants have persevered through the pandemic, explaining how they have been “really creative in the last year in the way they have solved the problem.” Ultimately, clients tend to need a new roof for a reason, and they can’t wait a year for a new one to be installed. The company provide a variety of services, including sustainable and cost-effective options. JR & Co. are not afraid to make a bid that will save the client money, even if it differs from the original spec sheet. This was the case with the Kansas City Convention Center – Bartle Hall – who had a $5 million budget, with JR & Co. bidding and winning the job at $2.3 Million, saving them over half of their allotted budget. They were additionally awarded a 5-year service contract on all city-owned buildings in Kansas City to the amount of $2.7 million (the amount they had saved on the project) as the city had been impressed with the company’s ingenuity and the system they had proposed. Dave explained that securing these projects takes a team of people that can “build trust and provide expertise to meet the clients’ needs”, along with a client “willing to listen to options that are better value.” Dave went on to state that “the recognition is great, but more importantly we have two more happy customers.”

“They were additionally awarded a 5-year service contract on all city-owned buildings in Kansas City to the amount of $2.7 million.”

Sustainability to JR & Co. essentially means providing options that require on the necessary replacement of fully expired roofing materials. The company has been successful for over 35 years providing options to include Wind Ballasted Roofing systems that bring many positives to the client and the environment. Wind ballasted, or vented, roof systems do not require the removal of most existing insulation and coverboard which create tremendous haul off costs and fill up local landfills. In addition, anything that is removed must be replaced so the project costs of materials and labor are substantially less. Wind vented systems employ a science where the membrane is secured by using the power of the wind. While most systems are mechanically fastened down to the deck by plates and screws or held together with adhesives, wind vented systems are only mechanically attached at the perimeter, again using less materials and labor. Instead of securing the field of the roof with the same attachment system as the perimeter, an air seal is created around the perimeter and strategically placed vents create negative pressure as the wind travels up the side of the building and hits crosswinds. This pressure causes the membrane of the roof to draw down while mitigating moisture in the process. The more the wind blows the more secure the roof system is to the building.

In addition, JR & Co. has an in-house Solay System Installation division which complements their roofing program by including some of the tax benefits of solar system installation to the roof installation. Solar is becoming more and more popular, especially with companies that have a high commitment to sustainability.

JR & Co. have an extremely safety-driven and family-oriented culture. The owner is committed to “people first” and the company has more in-house crews than most companies. Their mod rate (the rate that OSHA uses for ranking safety) of .69, means their jobsites are 31% safer than the average company. Dave explained, “what we provide for you is an opportunity to make a living and have a nice standard of living but it’s about a lot more than that – it’s about doing it safely. An added benefit is that an emphasis on safety not only protects our employees but helps us compete for business that requires a strong safety focus. For many companies safety is just a buzz word, but when it’s authentic it manifests itself in better teamwork, better results and better growth.”

The National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA) is a membership driven advocacy organization, working in the interests of the roofing industry in America. The NRCA engages in advocacy work at different levels for roofing contractors and the broader roofing industry at large by engaging with building codes, engaging with ASTM about standards for roofing materials, engaging with the federal government and government agencies that regulate roofing, while also ensuring the rule book that contractors must follow is written in a manner fair to both the contractors and consumer. It also advocates before the insurance industry – a large purchaser of roofing but also a large provider of insurance for the industry. Essentially, the NRCA advocates for roofing contractors at every place they interface throughout the economy. It has three full-time lobbyists in DC who work with the federal agencies and administration to keep them aware of what is happening in the industry.

When speaking to Reid Ribble, CEO of the NRCA, it is apparent that for the roofing industry it has been a tough couple of years. The end of the COVID ERA appears to be a mystery, with no one knowing when this is going to end. Ribble seems confident about a “hybrid” version of business, one including both face-to-face consumer relations and video conferencing. Pre-pandemic, the NRCA would hold training and conferences in person, meaning the association was not prepared for a sudden move to a virtual space. Reid explained that video conferencing “allows us to have a certain level of connectedness that we otherwise would not have had,” one allowing us to read tone and body language, two incredibly important aspects of communication. Despite this, according to Ribble, there is a real desire for consumers to be back in touch face to face, “where the humanity of what we do and who we are begins to reconnect.” For roofing contractors everything changed. Estimating was no longer tactile and with the onset of COVID, it went digital. Worryingly, this poses risks. Ribble explained that many customers will say “I buy from people, not businesses” – if you take the people out of that equation, you risk commoditising an entire industry.

Though COVID has inevitably caused issues throughout every level of society, roofing is an industry that will last – every citizen needs protection and shelter, meaning that no matter what is going on in the wider world, there will always be a need for it. The NRCA has 65 domestic affiliates – virtually every state has an affiliate roofing contractor organization. The NRCA often participates in affiliate meetings and provides worker training and certificates; pre-pandemic this proved to be quite expensive but the move to an online space has saved members a lot of money and time. Ribble expects the NRCA to continue with virtual events, while also including in-person events. 

The NRCA is focused on helping the industry rebound, though it hasn’t been damaged much by COVID due to stimulus from the government being pushed into the system. The industry has been living through a period of high demand – this is complicated, however, by a serious material shortage, coupled with extreme price volatility expected to last well into 2022 which leads to, as Ribble puts it, “too many dollars chasing too few goods.” Ribble anticipates price volatility to be part of the paradigm leading out of the pandemic – it used to be a case where you could give a client a fixed total price on a roof (including the cost of materials and labor) but that’s not possible today. Across the entire supply chain, price volatility is too great. Distributors and manufacturers of materials are not quoting projects until the project is ready to ship, because the price could change too much in the time between ordering and shipping, with clients being told: “the price will be whatever the price is when we ship it”. The NRCA is working hard to inform their members of their rights and give them all the information needed to deal with the problem of price volatility and supply shortages, with an entire webpage set up on its website devoted to these matters, which includes language for contractors to put into their contracts to protect them and the consumer. Ribble explains that enhancing communication and ensuring everyone knows what is happening is the best way to protect everyone, with the NRCA at the forefront of that communication. The issue of material shortages and price volatility was not a direct result of the pandemic, with COVID acting merely as a catalyst – it had been coming for a long time due to bad policy at federal level on transport and infrastructure, according to Ribble. Ribble explained that the roads have long been inadequate for the level of truck traffic on them, an issue that needed to be addressed 25 years ago because this date, unfortunately, was predictable.

“The NRCA is working hard to inform their members of their rights and give them all the information needed to deal with the problem of price volatility and supply shortages.”

Through the Pandemic the NRCA has engaged more with state governments across the country to provide support to their affiliates by explaining to local government leaders what an essential service meant. It was imperative to stress that if roofing was not considered essential and someone’s roof was leaking but couldn’t be fixed it could lead to all sorts of health problems due to the onset of mould. 

The NRCA held their long-running legal conference virtually for a second year in 2021. Previously, companies may have chosen to send one representative to save costs, but the information given out at the conference is critically important to members from many divisions within a company – when held virtually, representatives from each sector within the company could attend meaning the reach increased exponentially. Ribble expects there to be a mix of virtual and in-person conferences in the future.

The NRCA sponsors Informa’s International Roofing Expo and holds its annual convention concurrently with the event. Ribble describes this industry gathering as “a must go to event if active in the roofing industry.” While it was pushed back to August last year, the next one will be held in the first two months of 2022 in New Orleans where the NRCA will be among hundreds of exhibitors, ready to spread information that is essential to a healthy roofing industry.

In the future, the NRCA’s main priority is to help the industry navigate the supply chain. Ribble feels the biggest threat to the roofing industry is the loss of workforce in the US – down to the fact that the population is ageing, birth rates are declining, millions of people have retired early (who may have gone on to work another 10 years) during the pandemic, along with a restrictive immigration policy. As Ribble puts it, it’s a “perfect storm for a workers shortage, unlike anything we have seen.” In 2021, for every unemployed American there are 1.4 jobs – meaning there are 40% more jobs than there are workers to fill them.

Everything the NRCA does is to professionalize the work that the roofers themselves do, through providing professional certificates for them which would allow them to earn more money. The NRCA wants to ensure its training is the best in the world and on par with every other trade so that “when young people are looking at a career in construction, they come to us first” according to Ribble. Ribble explains that this requires a change in the way the industry thinks about things and how employers invest in people – what they are willing to pay them, benefit structures, how they will certify and treat them once they are professional – this, according to Ribble, will be the future of the industry. “Focusing on people” will be the key to long-lasting success – “It will always be people. Technology will make lives easier and more efficient for those people, but the people will still have to do something. In roofing, it will still take people to put components together – that human relationship and how you treat each other and your employees and how you care about the health and wellbeing of them and their family all really matter” according to Ribble. 

The NRCA puts so much emphasis on worker safety – as Ribble explained it is not about meeting government regulations, it is about making sure roofing company owners never have to call someone’s family and tell them that a worker isn’t coming home today.

“If we become good employers, we will have good employees”.

Founded in 1976, Cooling Tower Maintenance Inc. (CTM) is the largest and oldest independent maintenance and service company for cooling towers in Canada. With over thirty employees between two sites, this generational business is critical for climate control in buildings such as hospitals, care homes and industrial settings. Because of this, the company is considered an essential service provider which allowed it to work through the Covid-19 pandemic and emerge without any major damage done, though not completely unscathed. 

Cooling Towers essentially act as giant radiators which provide cold water for air conditioning units on a large scale. Cooling Tower Maintenance does exactly what the name says – it services, repairs, and replaces cooling towers, while also humidification solutions and air conditioning units for lease and sale. With roots dating back to the 1950s, CTM has always had a ‘people-focused’ approach to business. Asked what the secret to longevity was, General Manager of CTM, Mitchell Cross, had no hesitation in responding with one word that said it all – “people.” Explaining further, Mitchell went on to say that a “stable” ownership group, along with the people you employ, are essential.

According to Mitchell, family businesses offer a generational approach, whereas other companies may look to be bought out when they reach a certain size, losing that relationship they had established between the company and the client – “without a generational approach, ownership sells, and people move on.” When a business adopts a generational approach, it builds a relationship between the company and the client, a relationship that proves to be essential to the business’s reputation. Mitchell explained to me that “being out there on a regular basis has helped to create a brand awareness,” with CTM receiving parts requests from across Canada. Quality of service at a fair price is extremely important to CTM, providing clients with options that best suit their needs and their budget. Such as repairing or rebuilding tower rather than replacing it can save thousands of dollars. Also, the option of top quality parts, but not at the OEM price. And regular servicing and maintenance contracts to help prevent unnecessary repairs. 

CTM were deemed an essential service through the Covid-19 Pandemic – machinery continues to break down regardless of what is going on in the world, and service companies need to be on hand to fix them. If anything, due to decreased numbers of employees working in the offices as they were mostly working from home, more work ended up being done as opposed to less. CTM’s work, according to Account Manager Patrick Sweeney, is loud, intrusive, and disruptive, as the site needs to be shut down for them to undergo their work. Alongside this, the cooling towers are positioned outside, with employees working in crews of two, meaning social distancing was not a major concern as CTM provided all the PPE required. Throughout the pandemic, CTM were able to overcome issues arising as a direct result of restrictions put in place and fulfil their obligations to their customers. 

“Being out there on a regular basis has helped to create a brand awareness, with CTM receiving parts requests from across Canada.”

One major aspect that was a true casualty of the pandemic for CTM was labour shortages. With many people being offered sixty per cent of their usual wage for staying home throughout the pandemic, it has led to fewer skilled professionals being willing to work in the same way they had in previous years. CTM found that to attain skilled professionals to employ, they are continuing to have to offer a higher wage, oftentimes for less skill – raising the prices of those higher up in the field, rightfully so – but this acts as a cycle that may prove difficult to break for companies. This, along with the cost of materials rising exponentially, raises the question for Patrick – is “stagflation” making a comeback? With service and maintenance roles, you must do a lot of hard work all year round, and both Patrick and Mitchell expressed their opinions that currently there is more incentive for skilled professionals to stay at home, as opposed to working in all types of conditions all year – with most (65-75%) of CTM’s work carried out mainly in the months of September to June, as Air Conditioning cannot be worked on while it is being used in the summer months. 

CTM have established a great reputation for themselves in the HVAC industry in Canada since their establishment; they have been regular attendees of the Trade Show for almost fifteen years, where they would connect with potential customers and other companies – though in the last six years, for CTM the trade show has become more of a way to remind people that CTM is still there and pushing new products that they are releasing. Throughout the pandemic, Patrick explained how “B2B (business to business) has become a major casualty” as now, most of the sales he completes are through email. The previous, direct interpersonal method of selling is a thing of the past, and has been replaced by online orders and video conferencing. This is proving to be more cost-effective and time-efficient for the company as it eliminates increased travel costs and better time management. As Patrick put it “If you’re not focusing on the online stuff now, you’re so far behind.” Both Patrick and Mitchell explain to me how most of their “marketing and advertising has been pushed to an online presence now,” as is the case with many other businesses – moving to an online presence had been happening previously, but Covid has accelerated the change. By way of explanation, Mitchell explained to me how previously he would travel to CTM’s office in Calgary every nine weeks for two or three days, whereas now only travels out twice a year because is everything is changing and moving to a virtual presence. 

Beyond towers, CTM has seem significant growth in the Humidification Division since the pandemic. They have carried a carbon-free and low energy line, the UltraSonic line for many years now, sold as a green energy product; but due to the results of recent studies, they have seen a tremendous uptick in the sales of these products. Studies showed that high levels of humidification in the ranges of forty-four to fifty-five per cent in winter pays a tremendous benefit to mitigate the transmissibility of viruses. Because of this, CTM’s UltraSonic line along with their electric humidification products has grown exponentially, due in part, according to Patrick, to “high profile companies wanting to show their staff their Covid preparedness.”  When asked about what’s next for CTM, both Mitchell and Patrick explained that they have seen tremendous potential in the growth of Humidification and that they “understand it extremely well in a marketplace where most don’t,” as they not only sell it but take care of it long-term for the client. They plan to roll this out nationwide in due course. CTM are also planning to expand to an office in British Columbia within the next five years, which would allow them to reach other areas of Canada not covered by their current two offices. At this point in the business’ lifetime, it is more about protecting the brand than expanding it. They have already done a lot of the “start-up” work, such as speaking to businesses, and creating a universal presence – meaning now it’s all down to the people. Mitchell explained that when “opening an office in a new area, you have to have a local presence – you can’t run a business from another province and make it work properly – it’s all about hiring local sales staff and techs.” With all this in mind, it’s clear that CTM are facilitating the reopening of businesses following the Covid-19 Pandemic – with humidification being so important in mitigating the spread of Covid-19, CTM are making it easy for companies to adjust to the post-pandemic way of working.