Building a partnership between contractors and manufacturers

By Emma Peterson. 

Tremco’s sales operations and training team share how collaboration between contractors and manufacturers can build success. 

The roofing industry has always been about craftsmanship and relationships, whether it's doing a good job on the roof and getting a referral from a client or improving your craftsmanship and making connections at trade shows. In this episode of Roofing Road Trips®, Heidi J. Ellsworth sits down with Patrick Evans, Bob Moretti and Vince Paladino from Tremco Roofing’s sales operations and training team to talk about the importance of the relationship between contractors and manufacturers. 

Roofing, like all construction, is a bit of a high-risk business with the possibility of unexpected challenges at every turn. Patrick explained, “Roofing is like all construction, it's complicated and messy and there's unintended consequences. Whenever you tear off an existing roof or when you're diving into construction, there's a lot of things that can go wrong.” That’s why having a strong partnership with your manufacturer can be a huge benefit.  

In general, the partnership between contractors and manufacturers starts with someone reaching out to their local team or branch. Bob shared how he has seen this happen with Tremco, saying, “The process generally starts with contractors reaching out to someone on their local team. So, a Tremco field advisor or something. And they're going to say, ‘Hey, based on the work, I see you guys putting up market, I'm interested in bidding on this type of work. How do I start? How do I get involved?’”  

From there, Tremco’s team will find different ways to support the contractor that reached out. This can look like anything from helping a contractor get certified in a new product to having technicians go out in the field to help when those inevitable bumps in the roofing process crop up. And, at the end of the day, both the manufacturer and contractor can start benefiting. Bob shared, “In the last few years, we have over 220 million total square feet of surveys that we've handed out. And right now, we're running at a 94% rate of customers who would hire that same applicator, one of our trusted partners, again. So, that really speaks for itself.” 

Read the transcript or Listen to the whole conversation to learn more about the importance of contractor-manufacturer partnerships.