Launched in 1999, TuffWrap started as a solution to a common issue that had been plaguing roofing contractors: how to keep dust and debris from contaminating a workspace. The Founder and President, Dave Campbell, resolved to suspend a polyethylene sheet below the rafters to catch dust and debris, an idea born while he was running his previous business, a restoration company. One day, a customer asked for a temporary barrier underneath the roof so operations inside the facility it was restoring could continue without risk of contamination or injury from falling debris. Campbell’s solution ended up working well, and with some fine-tuning, the suspended cover system became highly sought after. Campbell launched TuffWrap, predicting a prime opportunity in a completely untapped market.
Soon after launch, TuffWrap landed the first of many clients it would work with over the next 25 years, spanning aerospace, automotive, food and beverage, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, retail, and warehouse and distribution markets.
Today, TuffWrap’s product offerings have expanded to include suspended cover, interior walls and exterior walls safeguarding companies during construction by protecting from dust, debris, and weather during re-roofing and renovation projects. As the company nears it 25th anniversary, the team reflects on the innovation and positive impacts made on the industry. “The interior protection industry didn’t even exist before Dave Campbell created Tuffwrap,” says Daniel Schmidt, U.S. and Canada Sales Director. “It’s so commonplace now it’s almost hard to believe but back then, there was nothing.”
As for the roofing industry, TuffWrap has created extreme efficiency. “Roofing projects used to spread out over months, sometimes even years, depending on the size of the project,” says Schmidt. Prior to Tuffwrap’s creation of the suspended cover product, roofers would have to do their work in off hours or during shutdowns to avoid debris falling and contamination risks. With TuffWrap SmartSeam in place, roofers can complete their work any time they want, so a project that would historically take months now takes weeks or even just days.
Over the course of close to three decades, the business model at Tuffwrap has also evolved alongside its product offering. In the beginning the company was selling to roofers and then roofers were selling the overall project to the facility owner. Effectively, Tuffwrap was a subcontractor to the roofers.
“What we saw in that suspended cover work was that in bad weather roofers didn’t like to work so they set their schedules for better weather, like spring and summer. What that meant for us as a company was that we would have a big downtime during the offseason,” says Schmidt. In the beginning this worked but as the company continued to expand and exponentially grow, they needed steady income to continue hiring talent and boosting operations and infrastructure.
“So, the founder thought, ‘why can’t we take this horizontal suspended cover, turn it vertical and create containment walls for projects happening inside the facility?’” This approach works particularly well for projects where you’re creating a lot of dust and debris, like putting in a new production line or drainage system, for example, but you still need to keep operations going in other parts of the facility.
And so, TuffWrap began offering temporary walls. “This has taken off dramatically,” says Schmidt. Now, TuffWrap sells to a much broader range of customers including design/build firms, general contractors and roofers. Shortly after, the company evolved again after seeing a need for exterior walls to accommodate projects that required a wall to be blown out to accommodate a new piece of machinery or even as part of a facility expansion plan. The exterior wall product has been very well received and is quickly becoming one of the company’s bestsellers.
“TuffWrap’s resume is stacked, with projects of all shapes and sizes.”
Today, Tuffwrap is seeing more success selling directly to the facility owner, as opposed to the roofers or contractors as part of a bigger project. “The facility owner has much more on the line than the contractor does, and we can show them that our products reduce their liability in many different ways. In addition to reducing liability, TuffWrap products and services can help facility owners maintain, or even grow market share by allowing operations to continue uninterrupted, allowing owners to better serve their customers.”
TuffWrap’s resume is stacked, with projects of all shapes and sizes. One day it might be working with a global online retail/distribution company, building temporary interior walls to support the company’s new warehouse facility builds. The next month it might be protecting the manufacturing process at the facility of a leading provider of electric vehicles. “We even did an aquarium install where we had to install suspended cover over the shark tanks to keep the dust and debris out of the tanks,” recalls Schmidt.
No project is too big or small for TuffWrap, guided by the commitment to safety and quality made possible by consistent investment in research and development (R&D), something that Schmidt believes differentiates TuffWrap from its competitors.
Before TuffWrap, facility owners were doing this haphazardly but there was no recognized solution. Furthermore, no recognized solution meant no recognized building or safety codes to abide by. Early on, the Tuffwrap team recognized this gap and has worked to address it through continued R&D efforts.
In fact, TuffWrap worked with the International Code Council and even hired a consultant, who remains on retainer, to help the team drive safety for the Interior protection industry. Today, TuffWrap is the only suspended cover product on the market that is code compliant by the International Building Code criteria and FM compliant, which sets standards of excellence and certifies products and services for companies worldwide.
As for the future, TuffWrap has its sights set on continued growth, focusing on building relationships with facility owners and growing the exterior wall line, posed to become one of the most successful product offerings. “It’s not just about the product it’s also about the way you install it. Our commitment to quality is what sets us apart from our competitors and has been the key to our success over the past 25 years and I’m convinced that will continue to drive our success going forward.”
Think TuffWrap’s interior, exterior and roofing solutions could help your project? Contact them today to learn more: www.tuffwrap.com
