Welcome to the AskARoofer Podcast! - PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of an live interview with Megan Ellsworth, Alice Reynolds, and Lauren White of RoofersCoffeeShop. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast.

Alice Reynolds:
Welcome to the AskARoofer Podcast, a podcast for people with roofs. My name is Alice Reynolds. I'm a new homeowner.

Megan Ellsworth:
And my name is Megan Ellsworth, a roofing enthusiast. And we are with RoofersCoffeeShop.

Alice Reynolds:
We want to share the knowledge of the contractors we work with every day with home and building owners.

Megan Ellsworth:
So please join us as we talk with industry experts, roofing contractors, business owners, and more to answer all of your burning questions about the health and maintenance of your roof.

Megan Ellsworth:
All right. Hello everyone. This is Episode 0 of the AskARoofer Podcast. My name is Megan.

Alice Reynolds:
And I'm Alice.

Megan Ellsworth:
And today we're chatting with Lauren White, the editor of the AskARoofer site. And we're so excited to have you here, Lauren. Thank you for joining us.

Lauren White:
Yeah. Thank you.

Megan Ellsworth:
Lauren, why don't you just go ahead and do a little introduction? Tell us about yourself.

Lauren White:
Yeah. So like Megan said, I'm the editor for AskARoofer and RoofersCoffeeShop. I've been working with them for about three years now. Kind of fell into roofing like most people do, chatted with Heidi and it just kind of escalated from there. And here we are. It's been great. I'm learning a lot about roofs. I notice a lot of things about roofs that I never thought I would ever noticed before. So...

Alice Reynolds:
I love it.

Megan Ellsworth:
Same.

Alice Reynolds:
So today we're talking about AskARoofer. And Lauren, what's the history of AskARoofer, and how did it start?

Lauren White:
Yeah, so Bob McCrickard started AskARoofer in 2005. He grew up in the industry, had his own roofing company, worked with his family. So he had a lot of knowledge of roofing, and he wanted a way for homeowners to connect with contractors. So he started the site, AskARoofer. And later on, he passed away, but it was his wish that RoofersCoffeeShop continue his legacy of AskARoofer. So he and Vickie Sharples, who started RoofersCoffeeShop, were really good friends, and he knew that she would be able to take it to the next level and continue what he started. So that's what we did. And in 2019 RoofersCoffeeShop fully took over and we have just been making changes and improvements and just continuing on what Bob started in 2005.

Megan Ellsworth:
Wow. That's awesome. That's really cool. I didn't realize it was so early, in the 2000s. That's really cool.

Lauren White:
Yeah.

Megan Ellsworth:
He was a trendsetter.

Lauren White:
Yes, definitely.

Megan Ellsworth:
So what kind of questions are submitted to AskARoofer? And then who answers the questions?

Lauren White:
Good question. So we have a feature, right? The whole idea of AskARoofer is for home and building owners to get their questions answered. So there's a form that people can fill out to ask a question. And we've had all sorts of questions come through. I mean, about ventilation, about, "How many layers of shingles are on my roof?" Or one person was taking a walk in their neighborhood and noticed this different style of roof that they'd never seen before. So they submitted their question and a bunch of different contractors in the area answered and said it was this really unique style of roof that isn't very common anymore, which is why you don't see it. So I mean anything from, "Why is this here?" to "Should I get a new roof?" to "What do I do now that a storm has hit?"

Lauren White:
And the people who answer those questions are members of the RoofersCoffeeShop R-Club. So they're contractors, and we look at the zip code of where the homeowner or building owner is who submitted their question, and we connect them with contractors in their area to answer those questions. So should they have follow up questions, they have someone locally that they can turn to who's a reputable contractor. And we also have our friends at Go Roof Tune Up. John and Marty Stout have been wonderful, and they've kind of been our go-to people as we've been getting our feet off the ground with this. And so we send them those questions too, and they always get back to us really quickly, which is great.

Megan Ellsworth:
That's awesome. So Alice, you are the R-Club and contractor coordinator for RoofersCoffeeShop. And I'm sure you hear the contractors saying a lot about AskARoofer and how much they love it. So what's their perspective on this whole thing?

Alice Reynolds:
Yeah. So the members of the R-Club are all roofing contractors, like we've been saying, and it's a community built just for these roofers to get together. And they network a little and talk about industry problems, but also having access to AskARoofer opens up a broader discussion with home and building owners and what those home and building owners, what kind of questions are coming up with them. So I think that, yeah, the AskARoofer site is a huge tool for those R-Club members and for any contractor, really, to browse AskARoofer and look through the questions. It's a huge tool.

Megan Ellsworth:
Yeah, totally.

Alice Reynolds:
And so moving on about AskARoofer, Lauren, how do home and building owners, how do they go about submitting a question?

Lauren White:
Yeah. So we made it easy and we have a nice big green button at the top that says, "Ask a Question." And so once you click on that, it takes you to a form that you fill out with your name, your zip code, and your question. And you have the option to submit a picture, which is always helpful for... You know exactly what you're looking at on your roof, but the contractor who's receiving this question might not. So it's always helpful to have those images, that way without stepping on the roof... And you want to be safe when you're taking those pictures, obviously. Then you can get a better answer to your question. And then at the end of all of our articles, we also have a link to that form, for if you are reading an article and something pops up and you're like, "Oh yeah, I was wondering about that with my roof." It's right there at the bottom of the article for you to just click on and it takes you there automatically.

Megan Ellsworth:
Oh, that's great. That's awesome. So how long does it usually take for a question to get a response?

Lauren White:
So it can take a couple days, just because contractors are busy, right? They're running their business, they're doing their thing, they're helping other people. But we usually will respond immediately once we get the question in. If it's on a Friday, we might respond on a Monday saying, "We received your question. We've sent it out to a contractor." And it could take a couple days, two to three, but we usually try to get a response within a week, just because a roof is important, you want your questions answered in case anything goes wrong or anything is wrong that needs to be addressed. Yeah. So a week at the longest, just because we need to respect all of our contractors' time and everything else that they're doing too. But we understand that those questions are important.

Megan Ellsworth:
That is cool. It's just really cool that this is such a safe place for homeowners, especially if you're a new homeowner or you have a lot of questions about your roof and you're looking for a reputable contractor. I feel like this is such a great resource. That's really awesome.

Lauren White:
Yeah, definitely. And I mean, especially new homeowners or new building owners, right? There's a lot more to roofing. Before I started in roofing, I had no idea there were so many different aspects to a roofing system, right? So like you said, it's a safe space for anybody to ask any type of question, right? Because the more information you know about the better off the health of your roof will be, and you can continue to maintain your roof to keep it lasting long.

Alice Reynolds:
That's a good point. Yeah. I mean, I think maybe even some people might not even know what questions to ask. And I know that you can go to AskARoofer and ask a question, but what else can you find on AskARoofer, for those people who maybe aren't sure about how to word their question or if their roof is even worthy of a question?

Lauren White:
Definitely. So we actually have a whole section in our roofing blog that's dedicated to these question-and-answer articles and questions that are submitted by homeowners. So that's always a good place to start too, if you are like, "Maybe this is a common question that other people have had." That's a good place to start. But I mean, we have information on, "What are the terms for a roof?" Like, "What are the different types of roofs? Do you know what type of roof you have over your head?" Maybe not. I didn't know what type of roof I had. I was like, "I think it's metal. But other than that, I don't know."

Lauren White:
There's different tips for ways to maintain your roof, right? Different things about ventilation, gutters, making sure your gutters are clean, what to do when disaster strikes, right? We've got tons of different weather events and extreme weather conditions all over the US. So, "Do you know what to do when a hurricane comes through or when there's extreme hail that pounds on your roof?"

Lauren White:
And we also have innovative products. So if you are really into roofing or are really curious about what's new in the industry, we highlight different innovative products that are coming out into the industry, different sustainable shingles or underlayments or ventilation systems. You can find that information also. So there's a little bit of everything. And I'm trying to think if there's anything else,

Lauren White:
Roofing 101. That's also a great place to start, if you're like, "I don't know much about roofing." That's great, start at Roofing 101, start at the questions and answers, the Q &A articles, and hopefully something will be answered for you. And if not, ask a question.

Megan Ellsworth:
Absolutely. That's awesome. That's just such a great resource. What else is coming for AskARoofer in addition to this podcast?

Lauren White:
Yeah, I know. So the podcast has been a big deal. We're very excited to be launching it and to bring homeowners and building owners even more answers to their questions and information to them. We're also talking about doing kind of a website overhaul, kind of redoing the look of it, updating it a little bit, changing some things around. Nothing drastic, but making it a little more user-friendly, and highlighting important things that are top of mind for home and building owners on the homepage to make them easier to access. So there might be a new logo in the future, I don't know.

Megan Ellsworth:
[inaudible 00:12:14].

Lauren White:
Very exciting. Yeah. Yeah, those are kind of the main things right now, just in addition to more content and more articles and all that good stuff.

Megan Ellsworth:
Absolutely. Oh my gosh, well this has been so informative and I hope everyone listening has been taking notes and is going to go check out the AskARoofer site, because it really is very helpful and informative and we can get connected with a contractor in your area if you need to. Thank you so much Lauren for your time today.

Lauren White:
Yeah. Thank you.

Megan Ellsworth:
And for everyone out there listening, you can find us at AskARoofer_RCS on all social media platforms. And as well as TikTok, you can find us at just AskARoofer on TikTok. And you should hit subscribe and make sure to follow us so you never miss any new information. And we will be seeing you in the next episode. Thanks everybody.

Lauren White:
Thanks.

Alice Reynolds:
Bye.

Alice Reynolds:
To learn more, go to AskARoofer.com. And ask a question if you have a question about your roof. It's really that simple. And make sure to follow us on all social medias at AskARoofer_RCS. Make sure to follow us as well on your favorite streaming platform, and we'll see you next time.