Grit, Grind, & Roofing Redefined: Two Brothers Are Disrupting The Industry with Andrew and Eddie Prchal

0:01Who's ready to rock today, Fire Nation? JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, brought to you by High Level, the all-in-one sales and marketing platform. Today, we'll be breaking down grit grind and roofing redefined. Two brothers are disrupting the industry. And to drop these vibe bombs, I brought Andrew and Eddie Perschal into EO Fire Studios. Brothers Eddie and Andrew co-founded Gunner Roofing in 2018, revolutionizing home improvement through exceptional customer service, innovative technology, and transparent processes. And today, we'll talk about breaking into construction, reinventing the sales model, powering it with tech, nationwide expansion, speed meets quality, and oh, so much more.

0:38And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode. Go to Andrew, Eddie, and our sponsors. Are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies? Build funnels, automate follow-ups, manage clients, and even white label your own software. Say hello to our featured partner High Level and visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial today. Fire Nation, success isn't a solo journey. It's about who you surround yourself with. That's why I built the Freedom Circle, a powerful community of entrepreneurs ready to support, inspire, and share the ideas that move you forward.

1:20Visit freedom-circle.com to learn more. Andrew, Eddie, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. And let's start with Andrew for this. Awesome. Well, what's up Fire Nation? John, thank you for having us. I think that a lot of people, you know, really just look at it and think you have to understand and really be an expert in, in, in, you know, something specific in order to be successful. And, you know, they, they look and say, oh, well, I don't know anything about this, this certain area or this certain topic. And it's like, hey, you know, with everything that's out there, you're able to learn, you're able to teach yourself, you can ask experts and really make yourself the expert.

2:05So I think that's one of the biggest things that I think is, you know, a big part about being successful. Eddie? Yeah, I think when you're going in and trying to change an industry, or you want to be successful, Usually successful people have done something different. So going in and challenging the status quo, some people may have a certain way of doing things and to look at it differently is not a bad thing, even if someone's got 20 years of experience on you. Fire Nation, we have two fiery guests here today. We're talking about grit, grind, and roofing redefined, how two brothers are disrupting the industry.

2:41And Andrew, I want to start with you and I want to talk about breaking into construction. I mean, you had zero construction experience, yet you stepped in to disrupt a massive established industry. I mean, how long have roofs been being built for? I mean, since the dawn of time. So what gave you the confidence or the fire, so to speak, to take that leap? So funny enough, when we first got into this, it was actually, it was Eddie's brother-in-law. He had a solar company over on the East Coast. and he reached out to us and said, Hey, I can't find people to install roofs. And we were like, well, what do you mean?

3:19And he goes, I, I call them. They don't answer my phone call. I give them a deposit. They don't show up. Um, you know, he's like, you know, it's just, it's crazy. And so Eddie and I looked at each other and we were, we were, you know, in disbelief that you could work on, or you could be working on a 15, 20, 30, you know, plus thousand dollar project and not even get a call back, you know, so it was pretty crazy to just to really just see that. And so Eddie and I looked at each other and we said, all right, I think we could do this. You know, you asked the question before about being successful.

3:53You know, we weren't we're not experts. You know, we weren't experts. And and so we really just had to dive right in and learn. And, you know, we really leaned on just obviously the Internet, you know, any experts that we could talk to and pick their brain. And that's what really helped us kind of jump into this industry. And, you know, as we got to understand it, we realized that this isn't an industry that has has changed in a long time. I mean, it's been very stagnant. And, you know, seeing that was like, oh, wow, there's a lot of growth that that we can do and a lot of things that we can accomplish.

4:30And, you know, really what that translated to was was looking at the overall customer experience. You know, I don't know about you, John, but but construction projects, people seem to have, you know, a fear of having to do them. And, you know, we really wanted to just take a step back, say, all right, what is our what does a customer deserve throughout the experience? What what makes it a good experience? What makes it so that they can tell their family, tell their neighbors? and, you know, really zeroing in on that and kind of being from outside of the industry, it allowed us to take a look and say, all right, let's, let's focus on that customer experience and make sure that we can provide the best one possible.

5:09Well, I really want Eddie to expound upon this because you two have reinvented the sales model. I mean, Eddie, you flipped the traditional roofing sales approach on its head by actually selling roofs online. How did that idea actually come about? And then what did it take to make customers actually trust that process? Such a good question. Because as you said, right, it's a completely different approach for something. Everyone really thought they needed three quotes and to have people come to their house. Maybe they wouldn't show up on time. It would take a week to get an actual quote back. And Andrew and I were just like, every part of our life nowadays, you can do online.

5:50You can do it fast. And why has this industry not caught up to it? So Andrew and I were like, there's got to be a better way to quote. So we did a lot of research. We tried to figure out how we can utilize technology to make the quoting process faster and super accurate and actually buy your roof online. And you mentioned how did the industry react? And it's still something we go through every single day of people don't fully understand it because it's so new to such an outdated industry. and most of our fellow peers in the industry don't understand it either. You know, they hear you're selling roofs online.

6:25They just can't believe it because it's been done this way for generations of generations of people going out and talking to homeowners. You know, we still provide an unbelievable experience. If you want to talk to a real person, you can and give them guidance. But you don't need this back and forth like crazy. We want to provide the ultimate transparency with pricing and being able to buy a roof online. Andrew, do you want to add anything to this? Yeah, I'd love to. I think that Eddie said it really, really well. It was something that kind of shocked the industry. And really, we wanted to make sure that it was just so easy that it seemed like just second nature.

7:04Like you're ordering groceries online, you're, you know, getting your, your package, uh, you know, in, in two days. And, you know, one of the first customers that we had check out was, you know, someone that was in their eighties and she had said that it was so easy to do. She's all set. You know, I was calling her and I was like, Hey, you know, do you need any help? Do you need any help? And she was like, I'm already, I already checked out. So it was like a cool experience to see that it's not just, it's not just first, you know, the younger generation. It's, it's, this is what's happening now.

7:35And this is what people are getting used to. And, uh, you know, we just had to keep it simple. So I want to go back to Eddie and really talk about powering IT with tech. Now let's talk about your tech. I mean, how does your platform actually work behind the scenes to make roofing faster, simpler, and more transparent for the customers? So there's a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes with product databases, labor databases. We work with about 10 ,000 subcontractors across the country. So there's a lot of data in the background. And then it's using aerial measurements through satellite imagery to put together a completely accurate quote.

8:15What that means for a homeowner, though, is put in your address and within 15 to 30 minutes, you'll have a real live quote that you can buy online. It's as simple as that. I can make it more complicated, but for homeowners, it doesn't need to be. And that's kind of one of the things that I've really realized in my 13 years of running a business. Simple sells, fancy fails. I mean, you really want somebody to just be like, you know what, this feels easy. This feels simple. I mean, to have somebody in their 80s be able to go through that process with no problem, that is huge. Andrew, what do you want to add to this whole thing about powering with tech?

8:55I think that when you think of tech, you know, we talk about just making sure that the process is simple. I think you can always you can overcomplicate it. And at the end of the day, like you don't need to. And I think that's one of the biggest things is just I always we always talk about it. But simplicity in the basics, you know, it's like that's what that's what makes the world go round. Fire Nation and our world and our world's going round and round as we talk about nationwide expansion. We're going to talk about speed meets quality. We're going to talk about the disruptors playbook and so much more.

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10:39So visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial and see why thousands of businesses are switching. That's highlevelfire.com, where marketing, sales, and automation finally come together. High level, join the revolution. Fire Nation, let me drop a truth bomb. The biggest bottleneck holding most entrepreneurs back isn't lack of ideas, tools, or hustle, it's lack of connection. And when I scaled my business to eight figures and mentored thousands of entrepreneurs, I saw the same thing again and again. People trying to do it alone, and that's why I created the Freedom Circle. You've heard me end every episode of Entrepreneurs on Fire by saying you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

11:21That's not just a quote. It's the reality of success. The Freedom Circle instantly becomes your family of five and then some. It's a community of driven entrepreneurs ready to pour ideas, connections, and support into every part of your journey. So Fire Nation, if you're ready to level up and finally create freedom on your terms, head to freedom-circle.com to learn more. That's freedom-circle.com. Andrew, we're back. And I want to start with you because nationwide expansion. I mean, you're now operating across the continental United States. That is no small feat. How the heck did you scale your business so quickly while keeping control and consistency?

12:00Usually those two things don't go hand in hand. Absolutely. And that was the toughest part. It was really just making sure that we perfected a system over here on the East Coast. and we've got, you know, the toughest weather conditions. And I will say the, the being from Arizona, the folks over here, you know, they're pretty direct. And so, you know, really just taking that experience, taking that, those you know, those different projects that we've worked on and just harnessing that, putting that together and making sure that, you know, we are able to do that across the, you know, the country, you know, so we perfected our systems and, and said, all right, if we're going to do this?

12:39Like, how can we do this and make sure that we've got control? You know, whether it be the systems, the installs that we, you know, want to make sure that they're documented correctly. You know, when we're doing a roofing over in Ohio, we look at it and say, all right, you know, it's just like a roof that we do over on in Connecticut. So, you know, really looking at that, I always compare it, John, to, you know, McDonald's and this is one of my favorite movies, movies, but the founder lays out the tape on, on the basketball court and says, all right, this is how we do it. This is, you know, this is the perfect experience.

13:16Like that's, that's what we're aiming for. And, and, you know, that's, that's really how we're able to scale with it. Um, you know, and it's just like the technology has allowed us to do that and, and really bringing things, uh, kind of just like a more centralized approach. Uh, it allows us to, to have people doing specific parts of the job and really speed things up. So it kind of just changes your typical construction company, relies on technology in order to make things more efficient, but also allows you to have the proper systems to document all of this. Eddie, let's have you also talk about scaling your business quickly while keeping that control, while keeping that consistency.

14:01What do you want to add to what Andrew just shared? I think the thing that most people don't realize about the way we built our business was it wasn't by mistake. When we started and we were in a 500 square foot office to now go on across the country from day one, we always had this vision that we would want to scale across the country. So we built everything out that way. And then when we added the technology, it allowed for this centralized system that allowed for us to repeat the process across the country. you know and it's worked fantastic for our homeowners the most important thing for us is that customer experience and to make sure like Andrew said each market is very very similar I want to go back to Andrew and talk about speed meeting quality because this is such a key ingredient to your success I mean roofing it usually and I mean usually means long timelines long delays but you two your company you're installing fast and you're keeping the quality high.

14:59Talk about how you are maintaining these top-notch standards and certifications at scale. Absolutely. And a lot of people assume that if you're fast, you must be cutting corners, right? But the truth is, is that most of the delays and issues that we see as far as quality comes down to poor planning. So, you know, when it's a project that we're working on, we want to make sure that before we even show up to a site, we understand, you know, what can possibly happen? And how do we make sure that it's a very, very, you know, flawless and easy, easy project? So there's just a lot of planning. Once you fix that, you can get faster.

15:39You can slow down any lag time for potential delays. If there's material issues or stuff that doesn't show up, you know, we've always got a backup plan. So really just focusing on the planning of that. And I talked about our centralized system. You know, this centralized system allows people to really just focus on specific parts of the project. And that allows it to speed it up, you know, very, very, to be just extremely fast. You know, they're used to doing this every single day. It's not like, oh, hey, what did I do? Or how did I do this last time? You know, should I try something different this time?

16:17No, it's people doing, you know, what they're used to on a daily basis. And then especially with our online, you know, measurement system, it's it allows us to eliminate the guesswork. You know, we're able to go through and and say, hey, we know exactly what this roof is going to take. We know exactly the material that it's going to take. So we're not, you know, undercharging, charging a customer or overcharging them. So it's it's you know, there's a lot that goes into it. And, you know, partnering with our manufacturers has been a very, very big, you know, part of all this because they understand what we're trying to do, what we're trying to accomplish.

16:54And they also want to, you know, partner with companies like us that are going to provide the highest standards in the industry because it makes them look better. And it's, you know, it makes us look just as great. So, you know, it really has been leaning on just how we've set things up. Eddie, what do you want to add to this? Quality goes hand in hand with the customer experience. If you don't put up a good roof, right, they're not going to have a great customer experience. So we're extremely hard on ourselves to always get better, right? There's our, you know, 90 % is most people's 150%. We're always just driving and looking at things we can do better and constantly fixing.

17:34Like we're never satisfied with the way we do things today and always looking at tomorrow, trying to get it better, which ends up leading to that super high level of customer experience and quality. Eddie, I want to stick with you and I want to talk about the disruptors playbook. I mean, there's a lot of people who are listening right now and they're dreaming, just like you guys once dreamed of shaking up a traditional space, a vertical, an industry. What is your best advice for becoming a true industry disruptor, not just another competitor? I love this question because, yeah, when you said I was dreaming and we were dreaming back in the day, it was always, hey, I want to, you know, kind of chase the shiny object, right?

18:19Of the, there's all this AI going on. There's people building robots, all these things. But really our day-to-day life gets so overlooked. Like roofing, before we came into it, no one was trying to disrupt it. there's so many parts of life that still need a huge shakeup. So it's don't miss what's going on around you trying to shape, you know, chase that shiny object. Like look at the things that people need every single day. Some of the mentors I have in my life changed up a printing business, which, you know, most people consider that kind of a dying industry, but extremely successful. And he helps so many people and people are very happy about it.

18:56And it's not something you see on the news every single day, but those business owners that hire that company are extremely happy. The homeowners we touch every single day, you know, without us there, they wouldn't have had that same experience. So that's how I look at those things. Andrew, what do you want to add to that? Yeah, I would love to just add that, you know, we, we really just focus on transparency, whether it be for, you know, our, our internal team as well as our customers, right. You can, you can continue to grow and grow very, very fast. But if you're not transparent with your customers and you're not transparent with, you know, the people that work here, you're going to lose people along the way.

19:34And I think that overall just will impact you and slow things down in the long run. But, you know, that's a that's a good reason why we've got, you know, several hundred five star reviews and, you know, our our employees just love working here. So I think that's a that's a big part about it is just being transparent throughout the whole process. Eddie, let's flip back to you because I want to talk about a closing value bomb because Fire Nation, they love bold moves. What is one action step that our listeners can take today to start turning disruption into a scalable, winnable business? I think the easiest thing is to go out and give it a shot, right?

20:13When we first started, we put ourselves out there. We really embraced the industry and we got out and we weren't so focused on trying to get everything right. We were really focused on understanding our customer. Andrew and I were at job sites nonstop. We took that feedback from them and that's what shaped where we are today and is still shaping us. It's the feedback from actually getting out there and doing it that is formulating the plan of how we're moving forward every single day, even with how large we are now. Andrew? I think just learn something new every day. You know, just because you're not an expert at it doesn't mean that you can't learn it.

20:50And that's how you become an expert at it. When we first started, it was, all right, how do we install a roof? And, you know, we showed up to our first roof, it was raining, and we didn't understand why we couldn't do it in the rain. Because we're from Arizona, it was like, all right, it never rains. You know, I think it's just like, take a look at something. And if you're not familiar with it, like there's ways to learn. And, you know, I always say I can always learn more and I try to learn something new every single day because that only makes me better. Andrew, if Fire Nation is listening to you and Eddie and they're like, I want to learn more.

21:25I want to connect with these guys. I want to learn more about their company. What is a call to action you have for our listeners today? I would say send me an email, you know, like if you want to learn more, if there's something I can help you out with, like, feel free to reach out. Funny enough, when when Eddie and I spoke on stage to, you know, several thousand contractors, we we just talked about, you know, our process and and, you know, how we did things. And there was one person or two people that reached out to us, you know, out of thousands of people. So I just thought that was, you know, pretty crazy.

21:59But, you know, you can send me an email. I always say follow us on Instagram to check out what we're doing. It's pretty entertaining, but there's a lot of different ways to just keep in the loop. All right. What's the email address? What's the Instagram handle? Email address is going to be andrewatgunnerroofing.com. And then our Instagram is going to be just gunnerroofing. And you can find us on there and check out some of our funny videos. Hey, Fire Nation, that was two people out of thousands and thousands roofing contractors. So let's beat that number by quite a bit. Let's have you reach out.

22:36Ask Eddie, ask Andrew any question you may have. Just connect with them. Follow them on Instagram because you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with AP, EP, and JLD today. So keep up that heat. For links to everything we talked about, just visit eofire.com. Type either Andrew or Eddie in the search bar and the show notes page is going to pop right up. Thank you both, Andrew, Eddie, for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Thanks, Sean. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Andrew and Eddie for sponsoring today's episode.

23:12And Fire Nation, are you an entrepreneur on fire who's looking to share your amazing message with the world? If yes, we are now accepting applications for entrepreneurs on fire. To learn more about becoming a guest, visit eofire.com slash guest or we'll catch you on the flip side. Are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies. Build funnels, automate follow-ups, manage clients, and even white label your own software. Say hello to our featured partner, High Level, and visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial today. Fire Nation, success isn't a solo journey.

23:52It's about who you surround yourself with. That's why I built the Freedom Circle, a powerful community of entrepreneurs ready to support, inspire, and share the ideas that move you forward. Visit freedom-circle.com to learn more.