Renee Ramey - Guiding the Way to a Metal Roof - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Renee Ramey of Metal Roofing Alliance. You can read the interview below, listen to the podcast or watch the recording.

Intro: Welcome to the AskARoofer podcast, where all your roofing questions find their answers. Your hosts, Megan Ellsworth and Lauren White peel back the layers of the roofing world to reveal the knowledge, tips and FAQs you've been curious about. From shingles to skylights, metal to asphalt, we are here to demystify the system above your head. So get ready to ask, learn and explore the fascinating world of roofing one question at a time on the AskARoofer podcast. Hello everyone, my name's Megan Ellsworth.

Lauren White: And I'm Lauren White.

Megan Ellsworth: And this is the AskARoofer podcast. Welcome back. Today we're talking about metal roofs with the one and only Renee from the Metal Roof Alliance. Hello, how are you?

Renee Ramey: Hello. I am wonderful. How are you guys?

Megan Ellsworth: So good.

Lauren White: Doing well.

Renee Ramey: Good.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. Excited to chat about metal roofing and everything y'all are doing over there. So let's dive right in and just have you introduce yourself, and tell us about the metal Roofing Alliance a little bit?

Renee Ramey: All right. My name is Renee Ramey as I was introduced. I've been in the metals industry construction side for a little over 26 years now. And in my time in the industry, I've learned to become very passionate and a big fan of metal in construction. I'm currently serving as executive director of the Metal Roofing Alliance. I've been in this role for going on seven years and love what we do, which is we educate and promote metal roofing to homeowners.

So we're here to drive awareness, answer questions and be the resource for homeowners when it comes to re-roofing their home period. But metal roofing specifically, and again, just trying to educate and promote metal roofing to them so that when they do get to a point where they're going to do a re-roof or a new home construction, metal enters the consideration set and they put metal on that roof.

We also are supporting the industry, specifically manufacturers, suppliers that feed into the metal roofing manufacturers and contractors or installers of the product. And so we've got a lot of cool stuff in place now and always looking for ways to support the industry as well.

Megan Ellsworth: Amazing. That's great.

Lauren White: And we love metal here too. So can you tell us what you're noticing about metal roofing's popularity with homeowners right now?

Renee Ramey: Yeah, every year we see it grow. Since I've been in this role, it's been a consistent growth and it's a slow process. We're fighting the giant that is asphalt roofing, but I do think as more and more people become aware of metal roofing and understand the benefits that it brings, it's gotten easier to convince them, to get them to understand that it's really the right option for most homeowners. And so, yeah, we're seeing that trend up and we have every expectation that that's going to continue.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, absolutely. Even just in the time that I've been in the industry total for six years, I've seen metal just go astronomically way higher than it was when I started. And then we were talking to the Barndominium lady yesterday, and they use pretty much exclusively metal roofs, which is really cool. I'd love to know a little more in depth why homeowners are choosing metal, and if maybe homeowners listening to this and they're kind of on the edge, they don't know where to go, why should they?

Renee Ramey: Right. Well, pretty much every aspect of metal brings some benefits. For just basic benefit, it's very low maintenance requires very little by way of cleaning. It lasts, we always say lifetime, but there are roofing systems, if you're getting a quality roofing system, it'll go 40, 50 plus years without any issues at all. And so that's big. It's kind of one and done for lack of a better description.

And then you transition into the benefits that come from cost savings because you're not having to replace your roof every so many years, and you're not having to pay someone to go up and clean it so you don't lose the granules and things of that nature. But then you start getting into things like energy savings. If you install a quality metal roofing system, you're going to see an impact to your heating or cooling costs. You're going to see a better platform for solar.

So if you're looking to do anything with solar, a metal roof, a quality metal roof is going to outlast most solar panel systems on the market, which means you're not going to have to pay somebody to take the system off to replace a roof, to put the system back on and worry about warranties. And then we transition to just weather events, period. I think we can all agree that we're seeing a lot of weather events throughout the US, whether it's wildfires or hailstorms.

I know we've seen a lot of massive rain and cold, and then we've seen hurricanes picking up. And we're right in the middle of hurricane season, and quality metal roofing, it just protects your home because it's a solid roof, it's going to withstand or resist high winds. It's going to resist and withstand pretty decent sized hailstorms. It's really lightweight, so it's perfect in heavy snow load areas. It sheds snow, which makes it easier for some homeowners. Wildfires, it resists embers, which is a real issue if you live in a fire-broken area. So it's just all those weather events. Just tack on yet another reason why a homeowner would want to consider metal roofing.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, I mean, I live in Colorado where we have a lot of wildfires. I mean all over the western United States, and I believe I heard recently from our realtor friend that almost all houses in the mountains that are being built now are required to have metal roofs because of the fire resistance.

Renee Ramey: Yeah, and I know you're familiar with the central Oregon area, you both are. We've had some pretty horrific fires that have come very close to where you guys are at, and the rebuild there a lot of insurance companies, same thing, they're requiring the homeowners to put metal on their roofs. So there's a reason insurance companies are doing that.

And then one thing I didn't touch on that I tend to overlook, because I'm always digging into the more weather related or cost savings related things with metal roofing, but if you're a homeowner and you're worried that you don't want to put a roof on that's going to look like metal or you don't want to go with a barn roof, as a lot of homeowners think, come to the metal roofing website because we'll show you roofs that look like shake, wood shake.

We'll show you roofs that look like concrete or clay tile. There's even roofs that look like asphalt. Metal can come in any way, shape and form and look like any other product out there. And so from an aesthetics perspective, there's no reason you wouldn't want to go with a metal roof as well.

Lauren White: Yeah, the versatility is amazing. Yeah, it's hard to differentiate sometimes. That's actually a metal roof. I had no idea.

Renee Ramey: Yeah, I run into that problem.

Lauren White: I'm back. Sorry. So I know that a part of the Metal Roofing Alliance is education, and not just for contractors, but also homeowners. And I hear that you have a new guide, the New Residential Roofing Basics for Metal Guide. So can you tell us a little bit about that?

Renee Ramey: Yeah, yeah. Just based off questions we were receiving from homeowners and then also from contractors that install asphalt roofing that are looking to learn a bit more about the metal side or to get into roofing from installing windows. I mean, we get hit up with a lot of questions and the one thing that I realized is that there are a lot of people that just don't understand the basics of a roof. So it's really hard as a homeowner, it's really hard to go out and find someone who's quality. It makes it harder to find someone who's quality when you don't speak the language or you don't understand the nuances of a roof and the different types of parts of a roof and different aspects that play into replacing your roof. And so we developed, we saw a similar guide at a regional show and we thought there's something there.

And so we've taken kind of the concept and developed that into something a little more robust. It covers what are the bits and parts of a roof that need to be considered? What are they called? What do they look like? Why do they matter? And then it also then goes into just a very high level summary of the different roofing materials out there and provides pros and cons because every roof has a pro.

Every style or type of roofing material has a pro. Everyone has a con. We think metal has less cons and more pros. But at the end of the day, we wanted to give them just a quick brush guide of what is a roof and what are the bits and parts and why does it matter? So yeah, it would be something really good for a homeowner to download and just go through and educate yourself really quickly if you're not familiar with the language before you reach out to a professional.

Megan Ellsworth: Absolutely. So why would you say this is so useful for a new homeowner? Maybe someone like a Gen Z couple that they want to buy their first home. Why should they download this? You kind of touched on it a little bit already, but maybe go in more?

Renee Ramey: Yeah. Well, I think it's that self-education piece a bit. So if you're new, if you're going to be a new homeowner period before you even buy a house, I would hope that you would have some level of understanding of the roof, because that's one of the most expensive things that you're probably going to have to replace on that house.

And so with that in mind, again, understanding what a gable is and what the different pitches and different designs of a roof line look like, what they're called and what kind of complexity they can add to a roof? Different things you have to think of when it comes to replacing that roof. And setting aside the roof replacement period, just learning your roof enough to know and this guide will help you, where the pain points might be. So if you've got a certain roof line where you've got different angles meeting up, that might be a great place to make sure that the flashing materials are in place. Just things of that nature. So it really is, it's just a good educational piece.

Megan Ellsworth: Absolutely.

Lauren White: Yeah, definitely. And what's your favorite part of the Roofing Basics Guide?

Renee Ramey: I love the simplicity of it. I think it gets very easy for me and others that have been in the industry for a long time to just assume everybody knows that stuff. And I love that we took it down to just the basics and no big speak, no anything that's going to make someone feel small or silly for not knowing that. And I like that about the guide.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, I think I mean-

Lauren White: It's so important.

Megan Ellsworth: ... going back to new... Yeah, it's so important. Going back to the new homeowners, if you have no idea what goes into the roof, then it'll be hard if you buy a house and then you're a year in and you need a new roof. Awe-oh, that sucks. So, yeah, that's so important.

Renee Ramey: Yeah.

Megan Ellsworth: So we talked about wildfires and all the severe weather events going on, but I hear that you have another new guide into the regional considerations guide. So that kind of goes into all of that stuff. So can you tell us a little bit about it?

Renee Ramey: Yeah, that one is kind of born from our larger buyer's guide, that's a-

Megan Ellsworth: Got it.

Renee Ramey: ... homeowner reference guide. But to our conversation so far and what we're seeing in the market is weather is becoming a bigger issue throughout the US and Canada. And it does play such an important role in securing your home, not just staying on the house itself, but the importance that staying on the house has in the windows not blowing out in a hurricane or your item's not getting wet from a water leak, right? So it's not just the roof on the house, it's the protection of your home that is so important. And so, yeah, we pulled out and elaborated on the regional considerations that should be taken into account we believe when you're looking to replace your roof.

So for example, we've talked a lot about the wildfires. If you live in an area that is prone to wildfires, there's certain things that you need to take into account, not just put a metal roof on your home, but have a buffer zone around your house. Make sure you get a certain quality of roof, make sure you're cleaning out your gutters. So it's a little more than just this roof performs better. It's this roof performs better metal in this environment or in this weather event. It gives lists of why. So we're actually pointing to the various testing that a quality system will go through.

So if you're in a wildfire prone area, you want a roof that's rated to withstand or resist embers and perform. And if you're in a hurricane area, you want a system that's going to stay on your home in high winds and not leak and whatnot. And so it's talking about the roof, but it's also talking about other things that you could be doing to prepare your home in those regions as well.

And then we also touch on a funner side of the regional considerations is what's the most common architectural styles? And here's some examples of the metal roofing options that go great on that architectural style. So it's touching on the heavy stuff and the important stuff, but it's also touching on the look and feel of the aesthetic of your home.

Lauren White: So I love that part of the guide includes that aesthetic aspect of the roof because the curb appeal is so important. You want your roof to look similar to other roofs in your area so you're not standing out amongst the neighborhood. So I love that that's part of the guide as well.

Renee Ramey: Yeah, we liked to include the aesthetic aspect of where you live and why that matters. And I'll share a story, recently having talked to a homeowner that just redid their roof. It was with metal and she did it for some of the other reasons we've spoke about. The energy costs, the weather events, things of that nature. And she picked a roof she liked, she saw some of the options, but she didn't understand until the roof was on how big of an impact it would have on her entire home aesthetically. And I think a lot of times people overlook that.

They'll avoid metal roofing because they think it's a barn roof or that it just comes in standing seam. When we get them to understand it comes in other options. That's great. But through that whole process, I think one thing that largely goes unthought about is your roof is a huge amount of the road front square footage that somebody's looking at most times with a home. And a lot of times people worry about what color they're painting their house, or what color their window frames are or or or and those are all great too.

But the roof is a huge part of aesthetic of a home. And taking it back to the lady I spoke with, she was just in awe of how she loved the roof she picked, but once it was up on her home, just how absolutely amazing it made her home look. It just was that extra aesthetic oomph that they weren't expecting, but were so pleased with.

Megan Ellsworth: That's so cool. I love that you get to hear stories like that from homeowners in the before and afters. The roof is really the unsung hero of the building.

Renee Ramey: Yes. I agree.

Megan Ellsworth: Yes, absolutely. So how does this regional considerations guide help homeowners select a new roof? You kind of touched on it with all the different options, but let's go over it again?

Renee Ramey: Yeah, again, going back to that educational piece, we exist to educate homeowners. And a lot of times I think people make decisions without taking into consideration a lot of things in a regional where you live aspect of that decision process kind of gets left out or overlooked. And so it's just a really quick and easy guide. It's educating yourself. It's taken upon yourself to learn some things, hopefully you know all of it, maybe you don't, but certainly it'll give you as a homeowner things to think about that maybe you weren't, as you walk through that, which type of roof should we get and what... Not even metal versus asphalt or shake. But even so far as once you decide to go with metal, what roofing style you go with, right? So if you're looking for something that's going to shed snow versus something that it just really is a helpful regional educational guide.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, absolutely.

Lauren White: Yeah, so important. And is the aesthetic aspect your favorite part of this regional guide, or do you have another favorite part?

Renee Ramey: Yeah, I think the aesthetics are kind of neat. I mean, it makes it light and fun, but the thing I love most about it is it touches on the important things like the test results. You should be aware of, the things you should ask for dollar, but it's so straight to the point, I guess. It's so concise and that's the thing I like about it the most is it's not a lot of fluff, but in fact it's more just useful information and I like that.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, that's nice. That's always helpful too, when you're just trying to get facts and answers. You don't want to have to flip through all the pages and then eventually not even find your answer. It's nice to just have that one document you can look at and get all your answers. That's great.

Renee Ramey: Absolutely.

Megan Ellsworth: So how can people find these guides and start using them?

Renee Ramey: Yeah, they're both on the Metal Roofing Alliance website. And then if you want to go even simpler than that, our email address is support@metalroofing, M-E-T-A-L Roofing, with an I-N-G, all one word, .com. So email support@metalroofing and say, "Hey, I'd love to get a copy of that guide." We want to make it as simple as possible for it to get in the hands of the people that want it. So, yeah, go to our website, shoot us an email. Either way works.

Megan Ellsworth: That's great.

Lauren White: That's great.

Megan Ellsworth: You can also go to askaroofer.com and go to their directory and find all that information as well.

Renee Ramey: Love it.

Lauren White: And what do these cost? Do these cost anything to homeowners?

Megan Ellsworth: Nope.

Renee Ramey: Nope. Again, we exist to educate. Metal Roofing Alliance is a nonprofit legally, and we're that because again, we are here to educate and grow awareness for metal roofing. And so whatever we can get in the hands of a homeowner to make their process easier, and it's free. I mean, it's easy to download. Tell me what else we can do. We're here to the homeowner for sure.

Lauren White: We love free. That's great.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, free 99. That's great. Well, Renee, thank you so much. As always, you have been amazing. We so appreciate you being on the podcast and look forward to doing it again.

Renee Ramey: Oh, I love being with you guys on here. And, yeah, happy to talk about metal anytime.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, well-

Lauren White: Thank you.

Megan Ellsworth: ... if you have questions, you know where to go. Go to askaroofer.com, ask your question and someone will be ready to answer it at every time of the day. And also go to askaroofer.com to just learn more about the Metal Roofing Alliance. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll see you next time. Well, that was a great episode. I love Renee. She is the best and so knowledgeable.

Lauren White: I know. She's always such a fun guest, and I feel like she's probably our most frequent guest on this podcast.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, she's a series regular.

Lauren White: I know. All things metal. We love it.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, I know. It's so cool. I mean, we got to see she had a background in the second half of the episode and I'm pretty sure that was metal, obviously, metal shingles. And she talked about that in the podcast too, how there's so many more options than people think there are when it comes to metal roofing. And that's really cool.

Lauren White: Yeah, so much versatility. I mean, anymore it can look like anything you want it to, which is so key, especially in an HOA. They might have restrictions, but if you live in an area prone to fires and don't want a cedar shake roof on your house, you can still get a metal roof that looks like it. And I think that's so great and so amazing the technology anymore.

Megan Ellsworth: I know. It is really cool. It's cool like you mentioned, the cedar shake thing really blew me away. And the shingles, and you can have it look like clay tile now, which is really cool for the Florida market, California market. You want that hurricane resistance, but you want it to look like clay. That's cool.

Lauren White: Right, and you still want that aesthetic and that curb appeal for your home. Yeah. And they have some exciting new stuff out. The MRA, the Metal Roofing Alliance, they have two new free guides for homeowners.

Megan Ellsworth: They have have so many guides. I want to say they have upwards of 10 now. The overall home buyers guide, and then they have mini versions that go more in-depth into each chapter, which is really cool. And it's all free.

Lauren White: I know. How incredible is that-

Megan Ellsworth: Love slate.

Lauren White: ... free education for homeowners, new homeowners or people who have a home and need a new roof and need to learn more about metal roofing and what their options are. And, yeah, the two new ones are the roofing basics, going back to the beginning and then regional considerations for people in different areas because my home here in Oregon is going to have different needs than a home in Florida for their roof. And it's not one size fits all.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, definitely not. But metal is one size, one material fits all.

Lauren White: Yes. Yes.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, super cool. And just providing that information for especially new homeowners. We touched on that in the episode, so if you're a new homeowner or you're hoping to become a homeowner soon, definitely start reading these guides and looking into what goes into installing a new roof and whatnot, because that's probably something you're going to come across if you're buying a house.

Lauren White: Yeah, absolutely. So go check out all their guides and especially their new ones that just came out.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. Well, everyone, I hope you enjoy the episode. Lauren, I'll see you on the next one.

Lauren White: Yes. Can't wait.

Outro: Bye. If your roof needs answers, subscribe now to the AskARoofer podcast. We've got your questions covered, one episode at a time. Go to askaroofer.com to submit your questions and learn more. Stay tuned and keep those questions coming.