Transforming the Roofing Industry with Eddie and Andrew Prchal

0:00Eddie and Andrew Perschell did not come from the construction industry, but they have built a national brand in roofing, centered on technology, innovation, and customer experience. The company's called Gunner Roofing. I was really interested in talking to them about how you digitally transform an industry that's been slow to do so, and I think you'll really enjoy this growth story.

0:26I have two guests today, Eddie and Andrew Pruschell. They're the co-founders of Gunner Roofing. Really excited to talk to you today about the growth of your business. How are you doing guys? Doing great. Awesome. Before I hear sort of the origin story of this business, I kind of want to talk about roofing and the business you're in, home services in the context of digital transformation. I think about some of the first things that went fully digital, like books and many other categories considered e-commerce. Those were among the first to go super digital, but many services for the home, like roofing or contracting or pest control, or the folks that, you know, knock on my door and see if I want services, they seem to be among the last that are either embracing digital ways of doing business or just haven't figured out how to make that type of connection with a consumer or homeowner like me.

1:23First of all, I guess, do you agree with that statement? And then what is it about the home services and home contracting industries that have made it like a laggard in going digital. I think both Andrew and I agree with that statement. We've seen it a lot too. And when we're talking about our business, we kind of reference that a lot. When you talk about why hasn't it really hit the construction industry, I'll say that we were the first ones to ever sell a roof online. Before that, people had kind of tried. But what happens is what we notice is they came from a tech background. They built a platform, but they didn't really understand the install side of it.

2:00So then what you get on the other side of that is people in construction don't really understand the technology side of it. So I think that, you know, Andrew and I kind of bridge that gap. We came from outside the industry. We really learned the industry, how an install takes place, how a sale takes place. And then we started to build the technology around that. And I think that a lot of the technology was able to come in and say, hey, this is how you sell a book online. It's pretty straightforward. You buy it. It's a retail product. If you order Harry Potter, it's going to be the same Harry Potter if you order from here or here.

2:35With construction, the services are very different and the products are very different. So you have to figure out how you can go to a consumer and make it very simple, like that easy transaction they're used to. So I think that's really been the secret sauce is people are complicated or they don't understand technology or they don't understand the install. And most importantly, as soon as you put it up, your reputation is everything, right? So that customer experience has to be on point. There's so much there I want to dive into, but there's something that you said a little earlier that I was surprised by that you said you came from outside the industry when you started the company.

3:11Maybe tell me that story and then why you chose construction roof as a place to plant the seed of Gunner. So the story is actually Andrew and I were living in Arizona. My now brother-in-law was our neighbor in Arizona. He had a solar business. He opened a new section of it in New Jersey. At the time, my now wife was living in Connecticut. So we're doing kind of long distance and stuff like that. But he had known, you know, that we were looking to get to the East Coast. And he called us one day and said, Hey, before we put on solar, we need to install roofs. You know, it's very difficult to find trustworthy guys.

3:48They don't show up. they take your money and run, they're not clean, everything along this kind of the stigma of the industry. He said, do you guys want to start a roofing business? So Andrew and I did as much research as we could on it. And really what came out of it is, whoa, the customer experience here is not what you experience in your normal life, right? When you order something online or go to Costco and you buy a great product. And if you have an issue, just bring it right back. It was not that type of industry. So we thought, hey, if we can bring customer experience to this industry, we can go very far with it.

4:23That makes a ton of sense. And I want to talk more about the kind of the technology. You said you were the first to sell a roof online. What have you learned about the process of making purchasing a roof, quoting fully online? I think about my time at Amazon during a time when online grocery delivery was really starting to take off. And there were so many things that we didn't realize that consumers may not trust. Like, are you going to trust somebody to pick a tomato that looks as good as you would want it to look? Or who are you going to blame when the eggs break? Are you blaming yourself, like when you take your eggs home?

5:00Are you blaming the delivery driver? So just so many things about digitizing a process that I imagine you had to discover along the way. That was one of the biggest things that we had to really just take the feedback from not only people in the company, but also our customers and just adapt. You've got to be quick with it. And we talk about an industry that is not typically quick with change or constantly evolving. And we've got to be quick to make sure that we can address things or customer concerns. A funny story is that I'll share with you, but we utilize a lot of technology just to do measurements for roofs.

5:41And the second we said, oh, this is a new platform, we're selling roofs online. People were like, oh, new? I don't want to be the guinea pig. The funniest part was it's the same thing that we've been doing for how many years using the same software, same technology that we use. It's just now on one platform. So it's basically bringing a lot of things together. And the second we drop that new off, people are like, Oh, okay, perfect. And you've done other things I've noticed on your site that are that are new or new to me, like using a drone to, to, you know, show somebody how their how the roof looks, because that's not something you might, you might see from above after you've installed a roof.

6:24How do you decide whether or not it's in your best interest to make these technology investments? Because not all of them are probably going to work out. Are you thinking about customer satisfaction or long-term profit? Or how do you decide what to do and what not to do? The biggest thing really is our customer satisfaction. I mean, we talk about it, and even at the beginning of the podcast, we talk about just a customer experience. And bringing things online, now it's a really big focus on that customer. It's at their convenience. They're getting the best quality, the best service, everything along those lines.

6:58And so the customer is always in the back of our mind whenever we do anything. And then we also want to make sure that whatever we do do is scalable because we want to be able to provide that customer experience to every single customer in the country and just be that one brand that everybody goes to. I wonder about customer service or customer experience and maybe why it hasn't been as much of an emphasis in this space. I don't know. I'm just speculating. is the last time that I had a roof done in my house was like 15 years ago. And so it may not like if you're going to sell something to me, I either like it or don't like it, but you're probably not going to get repeat business for me for a while.

7:39So what's the point? Do you think that's maybe a reason why that, or am I thinking about it the wrong way? You know, I think that definitely has a factor to play in it. But I also think that it's just one of those things where, you know, there's not a lot of people that came from outside of the industry and have seen, you know, what a good customer experience is. I mean, I always think about it, but like big credit card companies, you know, like they switched in it and they wanted to provide that awesome, awesome customer experience. They're like, Hey, you know, we have, you know, these people that will answer the phone right away, do this and do that.

8:12And you started to see that shift, especially with Amazon, right? It made things easier for customers. But I just think that from an aspect of the construction industry, there's just not a lot of large companies that can actually do that. There's never been that one brand, that one company that you go to that you're like, hey, John needs a roof. Let's get it to him. Nobody's ever been able to turn to one company. So that's what we're trying to build and we are building. So then that way we can provide that experience to everybody and they know, hey, when I do need that roof, that's the exact person I'm the call and my neighbor used them and here we go.

8:48So let's say I'm about to start the process and I'm starting to interact with your company. What's the typical experience I'm going to receive that's maybe different than the rest of the industry? Well, let's talk roof replacement, right, is the main area. So you go to our website, you put in your name and address, phone number, and that's it. You hit submit and you'll get a real quote back within an hour. And I mean, real, we stand behind it 100%. With that same note too, as we talked about, you said when Amazon launched the grocery delivery, people are very skeptical of like, how does this feel or how does this feel?

9:25What we've done is kind of a hybrid approach. Some people don't wanna talk to anyone at all. So if that's the case, you go through our website, price looks good, sign the contract, pick your shingle color and check out. We've got financing options for you all on the website, all ready to go. If you're someone who really wants to talk to someone, We've got a dedicated rep there that will reach out and just say, hey, any questions you have, I'm here to support you, you know, anything you need. And then they move along the process from there. So it's really whatever you're comfortable with. I'm curious, you know, when you you emphasize it's a real quote, you know, there are probably certain circumstances because nothing's nothing's perfect where maybe it's going to cost you a little bit more than you than you thought it would.

10:07Is that sort of just like the cost of doing business? Is it that you've made things so much more efficient at the front end that for the 5 % of houses that maybe cost you more than you thought, it's not a big deal or not? So when we first launched it, we kind of went into it knowing, hey, this has never been done. No one's ever looked at measurements or product materials or labor costs the way we're looking at it, the way we're calculating it, right? So there's going to be some errors. But in the long term, we know that this is a way that's really going to move the industry forward. And also, you know, we want homeowners to know they trust us more than anything.

10:45Right. So if a quote comes back and we're a little bit off, like we're telling them this quote is 100 % accurate. Right. So if it's off on their end, it's not their fault. Right. We promise it would be accurate. So I think that's like our commitment again to the customer to make sure they know this is right. And in the long term, you know, homeowners build that trust. And that's why that brand that we have is so important. You know, when you were starting your business and you were developing your the process by which you'd go around customer service or customer experience, you probably had your had your fingers on everything.

11:15You were able to evaluate every job and so on. I suspect you're at a stage where you're not able to do that. Now, what are your kind of checks and balances to make sure that customer experience scales? And then what's the process by which you handle mistakes? Something gets installed, it's not installed right, etc. There's an unhappy customer. What's your approach in that case? The biggest thing is, and I mean, this is for every single company, is the people that we get involved. We do a lot of hard work to make sure that every single person that comes on has the exact same mindset as us or understands that our goal and our craze is just our customer experience.

11:52So it all starts with the people that we bring on. We've got an awesome in-house recruiting department in our HR department. So it's like we're an actual organization. We're not just finding people, doing this, doing that. No, we actually go through... Some people actually have said that our interview process is harder than a lot of companies. It's a testament to who we bring on, which obviously reflects in the quality of the product that our customers get. So that is the biggest thing with it. And as far as mistakes go, there's no company that's perfect, even Amazon. I mean, I called them up last week and a little bit of a misunderstanding, but we're all set.

12:31It's just how you respond. And that's exactly what we always teach everybody in our organization is it's not how you start something, it's how you finish. And how we handle them is really by talking to the customer, understanding what went wrong and then making sure that that doesn't happen again. The biggest thing is learning from your mistakes. I mean, like I said, nobody's perfect, but we make sure to address it and move on and continue to not make those. I don't know if you refer to yourself as a technology company, a construction company, a little bit of both. But on this podcast, there are a lot of I talked to a lot of folks who are firmly in the business of kind of technology and technology only, whether it's AI or whatever.

13:11But looking at your your branding, your marketing, the technology kind of fades into the background. you're very focused on trust and customer experience. And I can imagine why, but are you torn a little bit in how you present yourself? Almost like you might want to shout from the rooftops as sort of technology forward as you are, but I'm not sure a customer really cares. You know what I mean? Well, I need to take this one. This is a huge part of what he's built. So Andrew and I, well, both of us built, right? But the thing Andrew and I do very well is we're yin and yang with things, right? So we first launched this product.

13:50I was like, people can only go on and buy a roof online. Andrew's like, that's not going to work. We still need to have people talk to them and stuff like that. I was like, no, we're a technology company. We're doing all this stuff. We built our website to look very technology focused, all that stuff. Well, Andrew was right on that one. And I think, again, talking mistakes and things, it was the reason we don't talk technology as much is because it's in an industry where technology has never had a role. So it's very confusing for homeowners when you go to a website and you see something that looks nothing like any other company you see out there.

14:23Right. And it takes, you know, Andrew said we're trying to build this national brand and are building this national brand that people can trust. It takes building that in order for people to, you know, eventually believe in it. So that's kind of why we hide it behind us. And then once people have that experience, they can actually see it and see, hey, this is actually a really cool technology company. If you're interested in that part, you can dive in. But on face of it, it's customer service and customer experience. I think that's really smart. It also goes to show why co-founders are so important.

15:00I mean, you have probably the benefit and at certain times a disadvantage of being related. and so maybe you want to talk about the uh any other dynamics learnings lessons suggestions for folks uh starting a business with a family member a close friend yeah i mean i'll say that it's it's the best right it's the best of of anything you want you have someone that can you know 100 trust but you can always yell at and know you're going to get over it i think that's like the biggest thing is just, you know, having that. Eddie and I work well together. I think the biggest thing that we did very well early on was recognize our strengths and really focused on those as what we're both good at, you know, and also like understanding that each other, like, hey, you know, this is something that you're going to work on.

15:48This is something that I'm going to work on. So I think it's just like having a very open line of communication. Obviously, being family just makes that a lot easier. You don't have those awkward conversations. You're like, oh, I wonder what they're thinking. It's like, no. You know what each other is thinking. One more thing to add on that too is Andrew and I, when we first started this, we had the exact same goal in mind. Right. So like it wasn't always like it wasn't like one person's like, hey, let's sell out when we hit X number or do this. It's like we've always talked about being that national brand for people.

16:18Right. And it's an ambitious goal and there's a lot of sacrifices you make along the way. But when you both have that goal, you both are on board for it. So it's not like a difficult conversation when you say, hey, we're going to do something or hire this person or take this loan for something. Most people, they might have friction there where Andrew and I are very committed to the goal and it just makes sense. Those are very easy conversations for us. Speaking of building a national brand, what's been your approach to expanding outside of Connecticut where you're based? For example, on your site, I saw that you offered or it looked like you offered some services in Washington State.

16:52What's been your approach to expansion? Do you do it all through folks that you hire? Are you partnering? Are you acquiring? How have you thought about that? So we've built out a large list of fully vetted people that we've worked with over the years. And what that has allowed us to do is really work with people that we know, one, are going to do a great job, but also keep that quality that we want and always provide. So that mixed with having project managers. Our project managers are making sure that things are installed correctly. They're talking to the customer, making sure that if there's any concerns that they are answered.

17:28The funniest part that we've noticed, and we're actually just over in Ohio. I'm going to do a little spoiler, but we did the house from a Christmas story. Oh, wow. Awesome. We just wrapped up that house. And it's like, here's an iconic house that there's only so many houses like these across the country. And here we're coming in an area that we aren't necessarily located in and doing a house. So that was a pretty cool experience. But it always just comes down to its process, right? We talk about Amazon and them having a process. And I listened to one of your podcasts talking about how it's very, very organized and people understood where to go, how to do it, how to do that.

18:08It's the exact same thing across our business is just making sure that things are organized and we're able to continue with that. That's very cool. I know nothing about roofs themselves. Are there any, we've talked about innovating the customer experience side and the sales side and the measurement side, quote, et cetera. Are there any recent innovations in roofing materials themselves that are being developed and might be exciting for homeowners that are thinking about, should I or should I not get a new roof now? So I think one of the coolest new technologies that are coming out, and we're fortunate to work with our shingle manufacturer GAF on it is the GAF solar shingle.

18:51So what it does is it sits flat on the roof. It kind of blends in with the rest of the shingle. So it's not those rack mounts that look really ugly. That's probably one of the coolest new products. There's a lot of stuff going into the technology with like the fires going on and hail and all those types of things to start making things more resistant. But again, kind of how we always approach it is, hey, what would I put on my house? What makes the most sense for the bang for the buck? Because we really offer kind of one package, right? It takes all those faxers in. Hey, how do you get the best warranty?

19:23How do you get the best products at the best price? Because those things all matter to homeowners very much so. So that's how we approach like a typical asphalt roof. Kind of that upgrade on it is what I said of like that solar shingles. Pretty impressive. Pretty cool product right now. And about how much of an increase is that over a typical asphalt roof in terms of percentage for people thinking about it? It depends on someone's energy usage because the system is actually tailored to the house. So based on their usage, they can get more panels, they can get less panels. But the nice thing is, is there is a tax credit that's available.

19:58So it actually helps with the total cost of the roof. And there's actually been some instances where once we replace the roof and do the solar, it actually is relatively in line with just replacing the roof. Yeah, similar to folks who bought an EV recently. Exactly. Okay, that makes a lot of sense. So today roofing, and I know you do other things too, how do you see your business scaling to other home service categories at all, if at all, or maybe licensing your tech to other adjacent types of businesses? You want to hit that one, Eddie? If you got it. Well, so right now we do roofing, siding, and windows in the tri-state.

20:36And we really want to focus on roofing because that is roofing nationwide, I would say, because that is just something that there's just a lot that's out there. There's a lot that's out there. We want to make sure that we are, we've talked about this, you know, this whole podcast is just become that brand that, you know, everybody wants to go to to get their roof replaced. Like, hey, I've got a gunner roof. You know, like we want that. So we really, whenever we do things, we want to focus on, you know, just one specific product. And then once we feel comfortable enough, we're going to roll that out.

21:11Siding is actually very, very close. But again, just, you know, we want to make sure that we're delivering that awesome customer experience as we continue to grow and continue to enter, you know, different markets. We're probably not going to be doing kitchens or baths anytime soon. Yeah. Stick to the outside of the house for now before you conquer the inside. Well, guys, I love it. Thanks so much for joining me today and congrats on the growth and the success of your company. Thank you so much. Yeah, we appreciate it.

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