Revolutionizing the Roofing Industry

Auto-generated from the episode audio and lightly cleaned up. Expect the odd misheard word.

1. 0:00
   Wes Mathews

   This is the unfiltered truth about entrepreneurship. Raw, no BS, no sugarcoating. Welcome to Entrepreneur Intel. I'm your host, Wes Mathews. Each episode, we'll learn from experienced founders and uncover the top 5 percent learnings that led to their success in all things personal, family, and business.

   This show is sponsored by Stealth Consulting, delivering clear marketing strategies, ROI, and no surprises.

   So I'm super excited today. Um, I want to introduce today's guest. So he has 25 years in corporate, uh, fourth year as an entrepreneur. So 15 of those corporate years, uh, he was with WOW, uh, covering over 10 states and 17 markets with a staff of about 250. Uh, responsible for about 33 million a year, correct me if I'm wrong.

   But now, uh, what I'm super excited to dive into is, uh, Mike Harvey is disrupting the roofing market. And today he is a franchisor and also a franchisee of his own company. Uh, I think he's got two of his own locations, 11 overall, but Mike Harvey, welcome.

2. Mike Harvey

   Well, thank you, Wes. I really appreciate the opportunity to come and share this experience with all your listeners.

3. Wes Mathews

   Well, I love home services, but the last like 20 years of my life, uh, I've spent with home service type companies. Uh, I think what's really interesting about you, and I'm really excited to dive into your story because to me as an outsider, an entrepreneur, like you're disrupting The roofing market. Like when I, when you and I first talked, you're like, I'm like, Hey, what's the roughing resource?

   And when you told me, I'm like, Whoa, wait a minute. Like that's not, that's not normal. So my entrepreneur brain starts to go. So why don't, before we kind of dive in, why don't you just explain what it is you do? And then we can kind of start there and kind of work backwards if that's okay.

4. 2:00
   Mike Harvey

   Yeah. So, um, what the roof resource does is, you know, we simplified the roof buying process for a homeowner. so we made it virtual. Uh, we give them selection, we give them costs for the whole process. And, um, you know, they can get a roof within seven to 10 days. We, we, when I say that we've oversimplified that process, you know, the, the traditional way I think everyone understands today, you know, what that traditional picture would look like if someone needs to go get a roof and the roof resource steps in, handles everything for a homeowner or that consultant.

   I've been called the quarterback, you know, of the whole project for the homeowner. And we just deliver an at cost experience to a homeowner.

5. Wes Mathews

   So, you know, typical home in America, I don't even know what that looks like square footage wise, or like how much roof, like what's a normal cost For somebody that wants a roof.

6. 3:00
   Mike Harvey

   Yeah, so let's just take the Detroit market. And so the Detroit market, we go off of Remodeling Magazine, which is costvsvalue. com. It is a national publication and actually tells and shares with homeowners what that market price is for a roof. And so they always use a standard 30 square roof. squares is equivalent to about 3, 000 squares. And here in the Detroit market, the average cost to replace a 30 square roof is 1, 062. So you're looking at just over 30, 000 to replace that's 30 squares or about 3, 000 square feet. And that's where in the industry today, that's where, you know, roofing companies can start a homeowner out or more.

7. 4:00
   Wes Mathews

   That's a lot of money, right? So I'm a homeowner. I'm a fairly smart guy. I think I don't even know if I would need a roof. So I'm thinking if I call a roofing company, traditionally, they're going to come out and be like, Oh, this is awesome. Like how do I even know that I need a roof? Right? Cause if I'm going direct to a roofing company, They want to sell me a roof, right?

8. Mike Harvey

   You are absolutely correct. And so first thing that happens when we get a homeowner that calls us and says, I'm not sure if I need a roof, immediately, um, direct them to our partners, which are home inspection companies that provide a roof inspection. It's objective. And that is the key. They're not there to sell them a roof.

   They're not there to sell them anything. And they're going to give them, Hey, you've got five to seven more years or seven to 10 more years of life. they'll let them know the term end of life. Your roof is end of life. I mean, the shingles are curling. You've got a lot of granular loss the homeowner is going to know, Hey, did I just purchase this home 10 years ago? Was the roof installed 10 years prior? I'm about 20 years into this roof. It's starting to look like it's going to be end of life. And then of course there's potential leaks. So that's what we do. The average homeowner though Wes, I might need it and then they see something on TV or the radio. Get a 17 free inspection. that just, that just gets roofing people all excited because they now know roofing is on Wes's mind. He's thinking of getting a new roof and it's the time to strike is now. So,

9. Wes Mathews

   So if I, if I went and got a quote, right, for like a 3, 000 square foot home and I got three quotes, are they going to be like all over the place? Like it's the normal roofing company, like one's going to be 60 grand, one's going to be 20, one's going to be 40. Where does the, go ahead, sorry.

10. 6:00
    Mike Harvey

    are absolutely right. You're going to get three different quotes three different roofing companies, different types of materials that are going to be presented to you. going to have someone, and the structure doesn't change, so keep that in mind. You're going to have someone say, it's 32, 000, but Wes, if we put a yard sign in and if we can promote it on your social media, we'll knock off 2, 500 to sign today. going to be like, nope, I'm getting two more estimates. Somebody else comes in and they're going to say, Who came, you'll probably keep your cards to you and not tell them

11. Wes Mathews

    Right.

12. 7:00
    Mike Harvey

    they're going to know somebody else gave you a proposal. And the key question, and I always share this with any podcast on Amman or any homeowners, they're always going to give you that high price. And they're going to ask the question, Wes, how does that compare to the budget you were looking to spend? And if you're like, that's about right, they know they got you. they're, if you're like, it's too much, then they know they got to drop a little bit, but you are going to get three different prices. different price points. And at that market price that I shared earlier, at that 1, 062. 30 squares to 30, 000, that's where they're going to start you at, or a little higher. And there's a lot of room for them to drop. You might get someone that'll come down to 22, 000. You'll think, wow, that's a great price.

    You'll be at 25, 000. You'll be at 23, 000. And someone will say, I'm going to throw in 20, 000. And that that's the world today, nationally, everywhere.

13. Wes Mathews

    So I get three quotes, they're all over the place. They're price conditioning me. And I contact the roof resource. So

14. Mike Harvey

    So, um, you contact the roof resource. We talk with you. You're thinking that the roof needs to be replaced. You're at that, you're at that place where you know, I'm going to get a new roof. run a roof report. We use the roofing technology. We then schedule a zoom call with you your availability.

    Whenever you want that to happen, you know, the next day we can have it ready within 24 hours. it's a 20 minute Zoom. We get on the Zoom with you. We show you the, the schematic of your home. We show you the roof report, and these are not Google photos. This is actually what we call roof facts. We go through all of that with you. we share with you your proposal and Wes, we lead with the price. Like the price is right up front. We're not here to build the value and get your buy in to then get to the price because it's, it's a cost price. And we'll show you, hey, your price is, you know, 14, 962. 22 compared to the market retail price of 30, 000, what have you.

    So 50 percent less. And then we'll itemize everything for you. So you'll get to see a flat fee, materials, labor, dumpster, permit, down to the penny. And that's what we give our homeowners.

15. Wes Mathews

    you're basically coming in and just chopping that in half.

16. 9:00
    Mike Harvey

    Yeah, there's no games. You know, we've said, and we've tried to figure out all these different messages. There's no games, no gimmicks, no special cash rate. know, um, I, I like to tell customers and people like when I meet with, you If you're family, because this was all built on that purpose of family. If you were my brother and you said, Mike, I need a roof. say, okay, Wes, pick whatever you want out. You're getting cost. That's it. That's the same premise that we give everywhere nationally. No.

17. Wes Mathews

    So I want to touch on, you were, you were with WoW

18. Mike Harvey

    so

19. Wes Mathews

    for a very long time, for 15 years, right? Manage it quite like, what happened for you to make a switch from a 15 year career at WoW and a corporate world to, I'm going to go off and, and, and create the roof resource. Like there, there, I'm really, it's in the, in that catalyst.

    Did you get burned on a roof or what, what happened?

20. Mike Harvey

    I made the transition out of, of, of, wow, uh, leadership changes. And I did a year contract with AT& T and helping out AT& T stores. then I had someone approach me throughout that last, probably six months of my contract with AT& T saying, do you want to get into roofing? You know, roofing, there's, there's a lot of money involved in roofing.

    And I'm like, no, thank you. I'm afraid of heights. It's not my cup of tea. I don't care how much money is involved. It's just not my deal. And continued to, uh, contact me. And I was in the midst of setting up my own consulting company. Cause I was just going to go into sales consulting and provide What I did for corporate, for my, you know, for myself, my own

21. Wes Mathews

    Yup.

22. Mike Harvey

    And I took my own, uh, my own, um, uh, message that I give everybody else. Hey, go get uncomfortable. learn something. That's where you're going to grow. And so I call them up and I'm like, Hey, Let's do a partnership. I don't know what I don't know, but one thing that I did know, Wes, is the, is the home. I knew the table.

    I knew the dynamic because I trained that for 15 years. I knew consumers, excuse me. So we went out in three weeks and we made 185, 000. At that, I knew that this was, I was shocked, quite honestly, that it was. Um, and so, you know, I didn't know anything about roofing, by the way, I didn't know what fascia board was, drift

23. Wes Mathews

    And you're still afraid of heights,

24. 12:00
    Mike Harvey

    mean, Fred Heights, not getting up on roofs, I would never go up. Um, and, and so over the course of the nine months, though, just learned that I wasn't, I thought it was going to make, you know, scale this business and be different. How can I be different? Because this industry is. I didn't, I didn't care for it. It was, you can make a lot of money in it. And, and so I had a moment where I went to a homeowner in Grosse Pointe Woods and teachers and two kids and sold them a roof for 14, 000, gave them a today price of 13, 500, um, and they were pulling out 14, 000 out of their 401k. And for me to do Materials, Dumpster, Permit, 6, 200. So I didn't make 1, 000 or 2, 000. I put 7, 000 into our business, into my pocket. And I was walking off the porch, and they were very happy. And I just stopped, and I was like, isn't right. Like, I just had that moment of, I don't feel good about what I'm doing. But the key here, Wes, was the very next two days. installing my grandmother's home and my brother's home. And I stood out in front of my grandmother's home and I looked at the roof and the installation's happening and I coordinated it all. I looked down the street and I'm like, you know, this would be really cool I could just give kind of cost to everybody. just take out the 800 pound elephant. And that was that moment where Two days later, I left the partnership and I spent the next four and a half months to model out the roof resource.

25. 13:00
    Wes Mathews

    which is really cool because to me, like that, that's like the true entrepreneur passion, right? Like it was that fire, that thing that happened to you. But now the 800 pound gorilla, though, you're like, you got to make some money or you got to set some type of boundary for yourself. So how

26. Mike Harvey

    Yeah.

27. Wes Mathews

    you now think about, well, how do you monetize that appropriately in a way that you felt was.

    You know, you can still be passionate yet provide a good service, but still like make a living. Right.

28. Mike Harvey

    Yeah. And so that was in the beginning too, I can tell you that, you know, I charged a fee and really my first, probably six months, I almost gave away my service. I was just proving to people that I could deliver. Cause I was 10, 000, 15, 007. People were like, wait a minute. You're not even in the, you're not even in the playground.

    You're, you're at 6, 800 and I'm getting 15 and 20, 000 quotes.

29. Wes Mathews

    your partner think you were crazy? Like

30. Mike Harvey

    Oh,

31. Wes Mathews

    want to leave this relationship and we're printing money hand over fist or like, what's wrong with you, Mike?

32. 14:00
    Mike Harvey

    He actually said, he goes, he's like, you don't like making money. He goes, you're, you're afraid of profit. And I, and I said, no, I said the difference. is that it's important how I make it. The how is more important than the what to me. And, so giving away the business was figuring out what this flat fee is going to be. And would I incorporate that? And so that first year, it was not only the service that I was providing, the intrinsic part of it was that there was so much more value to the homeowner that they were able to start, you know, the pool, the trips to the family, the gutters. I would get, know, Renewal by Anderson sales reps would call me up and say, Hey, can you help out this customer of mine?

    Because they need windows, but they're trying to get a roof and the price is at 25, 000. And I'm like, yeah, well, we can go ahead and do that roof for 14. And they're like, oh my God, then they can use that other 10 and they can move it into their windows and they could close deals. And that was happening.

    And so started to become more of just, Hey, I'm going to do your roof. It was really about you're able to do with the money that you're saving. And that was, to me was a, was a much bigger driver, you know, to, to really start to think of the company. On a bigger scale, because until we come into that community or until we come into that state, all those homeowners left with the traditional way of getting a roof.

    Yeah.

33. Wes Mathews

    right? As I see it as like, okay, how do you find the right roofing companies to fulfill the work? With your vision, right? I'm assuming that you have to hire the vendors in your general contracting, so to speak. So how do you, how did you monetize that? Or how did you figure that out for yourself?

    That, that like fit your model. I want to tie that in with the actual question. Is your, is your partner still in roofing?

34. 16:00
    Mike Harvey

    Yeah. Yeah. matter of fact, he's actually one of our, what I call the preferred roofing network. So I created the preferred roofing network and vetted 10 years in the roofing industry. No financial constraints, no bankruptcies, um, you know, high quality installation work, licensed, insured, workers comp, all that. Um, and he's now doing work for us because now it's, he's like, oh my God, this, there's a, there's a lot of work here. I can be one of those companies. so what I ended up doing is because of the volume and roofing that we do on the labor side. And it's one of the things too, Wes, that I learned when I was, And then by days at, wow, you know, we were on the sales division and then there was the technicians and the technicians respectfully just want to go hang the cable, install the cable. They don't want to sell,

35. Wes Mathews

    Yup.

36. 17:00
    Mike Harvey

    you know, but they did amazing work gaffing the poles when it's, you know, two degrees outside and stringing cable up and all of that. And I said, the same thing that happens here, roofers to roof. They want to get out there when they want to work seven days a week. They want to install roofs. It's an amazing trade that they do. They don't want to sell. They don't want to go into the home and sit down and go through all the selling part. And so what I've been able to do with the roof resource is capitalize on the strengths of roofing companies that just want to work seven days a week. But what's different is that with us, Cashflow is never an issue because when the roof is done, they're paid immediately, which in the standard traditional roofing world, it's maybe seven days out, 14 days out, 21 days out, and they have to worry about their cash flows. with us, that's never an issue. So attracting high quality roofing companies to handle the installations, they look at us as a pipeline for cashflow.

37. 18:00
    Wes Mathews

    Yeah. Help me understand that a little bit. So is it, is it a roofing company would rely on you for like 25 percent of the business, because my assumption is. They're not saving the manatees. They need to make a lot of money on the roofs they sell direct. But the leads that are coming in that they're fulfilling for you, does that offset slow time for them?

    Or like, how do they, how do they justify charging this and then hooking up with you and charging this?

38. Mike Harvey

    Yeah. So, you know, out of respect to all of the big roofing companies that are here in Detroit, I won't name their names. They actually are reaching out to the companies that are in our preferred roofing network to do their installations. So those big companies, respectfully, that are in the Detroit market, they're not doing any of our roofs. You know, because they're trying to sell it at 400 a square, a thousand and work half of that, the companies that are the licensed insured that do high quality work, also using them. And, and so these are the unsung heroes that do all the high quality work that are licensed. You just don't see them out on Google with their four points because they're not, they're not like the roof resource at 4.

    9 or when you go into roofing near me and you have all the big names come up, that's not none of them because that's the actual sales and marketing engine of that company.

39. Wes Mathews

    So they're charging here and you're charging here.

40. Mike Harvey

    Yeah. Yeah. So they're

41. Wes Mathews

    So they're already doing the labor anyway. They're just not, they're not reaping any of that profit because that's being chewed up by the other company.

42. Mike Harvey

    Right. And so in, in the, in the roofing world, about 50 percent of the labor rate is, is earned by the licensed roofer. And so however they pay their teams out, but it all comes down to volume. And that's something that I learned when I was the traditional roofing company, is that they always needed work.

    And if they didn't get enough work, teams would start to become transient. Like they would lose three or four workers to go over here because people want to work and they want to get paid. with this model, now we can say, Hey, if you want to do five or you want to do five or 10 roofs for us a month, that potentially could be 40, 000 to 50, 000 in cashflow for your business. all you have to do, and this is what we'd say, Wes, is you just have to show up to the concert and do a great job. Like the materials are there, the dumpster's there, the money is waiting. You just have to do a great install.

43. Wes Mathews

    So, you know, so, so from the time you got in the traditional to like now you've tested the market, you said you were literally giving it away for six months to either prove it to the customer. But I would say you're probably proving it to yourself. You probably have a lot of people saying, I don't believe you, but if that's what you're going to do, do it, have some happy customers.

    Right. Um, like what, what was that timeframe? Two, two to three years or?

44. 21:00
    Mike Harvey

    So the, in March of 21 is when I had my very first customer and then over the next six months, as I continued to grow, I'm like, Hey, I need support. I need an operations person. in an operations person on a part time basis who I actually went to her in January of 21. And I said, Hey, I'm going to start this thing. I'm going to do cost for, roofs and I'm going to, it's all virtual and it's different and, but someone who's been by my side for so long and she's like, I'll quit my job and I'm in like, you just tell me when and summer she came on part time and was able to handle the whole operation side and then we doubled our volume. I started to have franchise companies reach out and say, Hey, you know, I see what you're doing, would you be interested? And I'm like, no, cause this is too new. And I'm still figuring. It was at that point, really started to look at my business a bigger business, Wes. And that's when I started looking at the scalability of it, the uniformity of it, and how I can set this up for potential scale in the next couple of years. So,

45. Wes Mathews

    So you have people reaching to you saying franchise, franchise, like that wasn't something you. Sat in your office and kind of concocted. So now you're like, huh, what, what made it from, yeah, right now it's not a good time, and this is a half baked idea that I'm testing to now you have 11 locations and now you're, you know, you have two of them.

46. 22:00
    Mike Harvey

    yeah, I, um, at the end of 21, I drove out and I met with, um, CEO of iFranchise Group. And at that point I knew that this was something big. He's like, Mike, as soon as you start franchising, you have three years. And at that three year mark, that's when other roofing companies are going to recognize your model. They need to make the change. And he goes in five years, they won't be in business because you'll run everybody out of business. Because you know, we're the, you know, and you, said this West, but like we're the Airbnb of roofing. We don't own the manufacturers. We don't own the material. We don't own the roofing companies.

    We don't, we just, we put it all together and we save everybody money. And, and so that, that moment, I knew that I had something wanted to franchise. I said, no, I'm going to wait. And it was August 22 when I signed with SMB to build model over the next 10 months.

47. 23:00
    Wes Mathews

    So I have a really good friend by the name of Josh Linkner. I've actually had him on the podcast. Guy's a brilliant guy, really talented speaker. And I heard him speak last, uh, last fall. And he was talking about this concept. Like he's built massive companies and he's like, if you look at a problem Think of it like it's called a judo flip, like literally flipping that idea upside down on its head.

    And like, I look at what you did. That's what resonated so well with me when I first met you. Cause I'm like, man, yeah, you disrupted the roof, like you Airbnb the roofing market, right? Like,

48. Mike Harvey

    Yes.

49. Wes Mathews

    but other people that are in whatever industry or they're entrepreneurs, how did you overcome that? Yo, I just got a 30, 000 quote at 25.

    You're showing up to my door virtually and you're telling me you're going to do it for eight grand or whatever the fee is. Like, it's too good to be true, Mike. Like you seem like a nice guy. I like your logo, but COVID's been, you know, rough on me and my family. Like, I just, it sounds too good to be true.

50. Mike Harvey

    Yeah. And that was really the first year. And even the second year, I mean, at the end, I mean, I get it, you know, I would tell everyone that, Hey, please, do you want to call these customers? That were the first, second, 15th and 20th. can call them and they'll tell you they went right through this process.

    You know, for me, it wasn't even about the fee. It was just that I had to like save them and I would kind of take it personal. If they, yeah, I went with somebody else and I'm like, how could they do and spend 7, 000 and they're not even getting the same thing. And, I had to stop taking it personally. Um, you know, but that was the biggest, that was a big challenge was that the disparity in price was. I mean, I still today, Wes, I can still see a quote that's 70, 000 and 40, 000, and we're at 21, 000.

51. Wes Mathews

    It's crazy.

52. Mike Harvey

    Yes. And it's, I mean, it's today in today's world.

53. 25:00
    Wes Mathews

    So have you thought about disrupting any other industries like that? Mike, is it? The rough resource. Is it like, what's, what's next? Like what's on your plate?

54. Mike Harvey

    Yeah. So, um, we can do Windows. And so, uh, Windows is, uh, uh, we've started modeling that. We're going to do, you know, gutters and gutter guards cause we can do that as well. Um, and reason for that Wes, is that when you start the, that your home is the number one, most expensive investment that you make as we all get up, as we all get up, as we all grow up, right? The roof becomes that second big purchase. And when we come in and be able to provide the service. And it's installed and it's great. And we've saved money. We do become that other resource now. And I've been, I've phone calls of, Hey, do you have a preferred cement company? Who does gutters? Who does windows?

    Do you have a siding company? we've truly have earned the trust. You know, we've earned that trust. And so we can do those, but I will tell you, we get asked that a lot. And I'm like, Hey, we're maniacally focused right now. Just roof off, roof on, that's our lane franchise, the model out, we can plug in these other verticals, but there's so much for us to do with residential roofing, all the storm chasers out there, helping the insurance companies reduce their loss ratios by of millions of dollars. there's just, there's a lot to do.

55. Wes Mathews

    Can I ask a favor? Can you take out Angie's list for me? Uh, I feel like my experience, right? Like they have contractors compete, they sell them leads. And then it's just like the wild, wild West, right? I think they rebranded

56. Mike Harvey

    phone blows

57. Wes Mathews

    under a company called Handy. I hired them to put a grill together and it was like the biggest disaster.

    They kind of try, they're trying to create this like Uber of. Handy services, but it's, it's kind of a disaster.

58. Mike Harvey

    Yeah. You know, those are the experiences that homeowners, I mean, you grow up and our parents, they get three quotes and that's normal, or you go to Angie's list or you go to home advisor and battle for your business, you know, but the customer experience. is so important to me. And that's another piece that I've pulled out of my corporate career building this company with the homeowner, having a seat at the table. How is this going to affect them? Why would they like this zoom meeting? Why would they like this proposal? What do they want to see in the proposal first? You know? Um, and that's how we've modeled out the business.

59. 28:00
    Wes Mathews

    so as an entrepreneur, right? Like, how do you, how do you sort of protect that? Or like you said, even in the roofing, there's like a, you know, the iFranchise CEO said, Hey, there's kind of a shelf life here. Right. And so people are turning, like, how do you, how do you protect that within the organization? Um, cause like, you know, somebody comes up and says, well, maybe I'll just.

    I'll add a little bit more fee and start competing. Or what, what is it? The process IP that you guys have that a franchise is like, Hey, I don't have time to build out process. You already have the credibility, the logo, the process, the website. I'd rather piggyback on this and just go. Or is it that IP?

60. Mike Harvey

    Yeah, so it's the IP, our own custom CRM that we've wireframed. And so that, whole backend, because the interaction is the interaction. Um, but there's a lot that goes in. It's kind of like that iceberg, Oh, roof resource, here it is. But it's the

61. Wes Mathews

    Oh, it's so simple. It's just roofs at a discount. Right.

62. Mike Harvey

    no, right. It's just, Hey, anybody could

63. Wes Mathews

    Right.

64. 29:00
    Mike Harvey

    But there's all the agreements and the legal agreements and the, the relationships that we put together. So as a franchise, we bring all of this to a potential franchisee and they get to do it right from the, I mean, you know, then they get to go out and, you know, we were talking with somebody on the West side of the state today, Wes, and I said, you walk into a networking event or you go into a school or you meet with your church we are fundamentally different. any other roofing company nationally. And I go, and that's why they want to partner with you. That's why they want to put you in front of their, uh, their, their, their, their congregation, the members. Uh, the, uh, the families at the school, because there's a massive savings there. You know, it's, it's a different, you know, when I, when I'm out and people see the roof resource, you know, what, Oh, you have a roofing company.

    Yeah. We're the Airbnb roofing, you get a roofing cost. And they're like, Oh my God. You know, it's not like I'm Smith roofing and,

65. 30:00
    Wes Mathews

    Do you, do you have like sales people banging at your door? Or is it a more like a, an operator led? Type of business, right? Is it who's buying the franchise or sort of going to lead sales and kind of take care of everything, or like, to me, it sounds like a man, if I'm, if my experience is home services and sales, like I would be all in on selling because it's

66. Mike Harvey

    Well,

67. Wes Mathews

    shooting a

68. Mike Harvey

    correct.

69. Wes Mathews

    right?

70. Mike Harvey

    Right. You, like you would be that, that front, that front facing franchisee. Uh, because you understand that interaction and customer dynamic you know, to, you know, you're just, you're presenting the roof resource and the roof reports and the proposals. And then, you know, that's working in the business, working on the business. out and pressing the flash and let it, you know, the realtors who love us because they pull up to the house. They're about the list and they see the roof is problematic. They need roof fax right away. That insurance agent that, Hey, that customer can't get insurance on their home or it's going to cancel in 60 days because we've got to put a roof on. need roof fax and we can have that roof at cost in seven to 10 days. You know, so when you go into these meetings and you're out there, It is a service. And so I always tell people we're not, we don't sell roofs. I mean, it's a service that we just want everyone to know about.

71. 31:00
    Wes Mathews

    If I need a side gig one day, I think I know where I'm going.

    So like from a marketing perspective, like I'm, that's my wheelhouse, right? Like what, what works the best for you? Right. Like you have a new thing in the industry. It doesn't really exist. You're kind of new to the market. Like, how do you stand out outside of like the, I like to say like the guerrilla marketing where you're out there shaking hands, kissing babies and finding people at the gas station.

    But like, how are you, how, how do you. Position your company to get those right opportunities. Is there any, you know, anything unique?

72. 32:00
    Mike Harvey

    Yeah. So, I mean, there's obviously the digital play and the social media, the Facebook posts, your SEO, um, your local Google My Business, you know, um, and you know, our offer, you know, 50 percent less than retail click here, get a free quote in 24 hours. I mean, that, that has really resonated, you know, with. Um, I can tell you that the organic growth of just the referral from, you know, now we get referred from home inspection companies that we've never heard of before, but they've heard of us we call it be the hero.

    They can be the hero and recommend their homeowner to call us after they've gotten a quote from somebody else. And it's, it's, it's amazing. know, retail and we come in at half. And so that, that home inspection company becomes a hero because they've referred us. digital, SEO, organic, Google My Business, uh, very, you know, some of the traditional, we're not heavy dollar spend there, uh, because of that relationship building and being that organic growth from referrals from existing customers. I can't tell you, I mean, I had this year, matter of fact, my very first customer, Pat, in March, um, of 21, um, called me up and said, Hey, I'm here in Plymouth and, uh, you know, my neighbor, my neighbor needs a roof. And I thought of you, mean, you just don't, you don't get that, you know, you

73. Wes Mathews

    Cause then Pat's the hero, right? Cause they're getting quotes for like 30 G's and they're like. You just saved me 15 grand. Beer's on me all summer, right? Like, you're my hero.

74. Mike Harvey

    you just said it and it's, and that just gives me goosebumps because it's like, that's right. Like we didn't save somebody 500 bucks. We've saved them 5, 000 or 10, 000. That that's take your family on vacation, you know, pay for a semester of college, you know, for your daughter or your son, or do you know what I mean?

    That those dollars can move mountains in families.

75. Wes Mathews

    that's huge. I mean, cause I mean, I don't care at what stage of anybody is, whether they're here or here. 30 grand, 40 grand, like that's going to give anybody a little bit of heartburn, right? To pay for a roof. Like it's a roof. I don't, I haven't thought of my roof in years since I've talked to you. And all of a sudden I got to shell out all this dough.

    I'm glad I met you. Cause I feel like I've saved a ton of money already meeting you at some point. I'm sure there's some people that are going to hear this. But it's, you know, what, what's next for the roof resource, right? Is it just, you know, as an entrepreneur, you're super passionate about your craft, but how do you scale appropriately?

    Or like, what's the three year vision of where you're going?

76. Mike Harvey

    So, um, we're looking to, you know, now we've just signed with IFPG, which is international franchise professional group. There's over 750 brokers there that are franchise consultant brokers in erv. These are the, some of the two of the largest franchise brokerages in the country. And we're starting to get requests all over the country for the franchise. You know, when I was vetting out different companies, they were like, who are you? Why have we not heard of you? The growth that you had organically? That's amazing. Um, and a franchise is 45,000 and they're like, that's too cheap. Um, respectfully, I think it's. I think it's a very super fair price for a franchise.

    That's no brick and mortar, um, you know, but we're looking to grow and expand over the next, you know, 36 months and be throughout, uh, about 300 units. Um, and we also look to, you know, about 50 corporate locations, um, and, and things are evolving Wes, you know, for us that we're opening into this world of insurance. And again, this wasn't intended, uh, but because of our cost model pricing, homeowners, uh, don't need to pay and nor do insurance companies need to pay that Xactimate high dollar retail price for an average roof, that's 27, 000. I just had a customer in Diamonddale a very large insurance company. They sent our way their Xactimate pricing was 18, 000 plus.

    So they figured it would probably come in between 18 to 22, 000. completely installed a CertainTeed Landmark Pro, no, I'm sorry. It was an Owens Corning duration, full system. He wanted onyx black for 13, 076 all in everything done. And they were blown away in, Hey, they've saved six to 8, 000. So in the insurance world, it's a reduction of their loss ratios. And when you talk about loss ratios to insurance agents and owners, that is, that is the key to their business and roofing. is some of the highest pricing in the industry. chasing is becoming very big. People knocking on doors when there's hail and high wind. Homeowners don't know what they don't know.

    And so we're opening up these doors and we really believe over the next 12 months that we will soon be partnering with some of the largest insurance companies in the country.

77. 37:00
    Wes Mathews

    So I've been in startup mode the last year cause I sold my company and now I'm doing something different. I would probably stroke five of those checks, uh, to not do what I just went through the last year because it's a lot of, like, I forget how hard startup is. So like the franchise, like that's really appealing to like me or other entrepreneurs.

    Like what, what is like a realistic gross revenue on a franchise? Right. If you have a guy that, you know, Hey, like you, like, I'm just, I'm kind of sick of working for this company. I'm super passionate about saving people money. This is a great concept. You know, I'm going to put 40 to 60 hours a week in here.

    Just kind of grind. Like what's, what's a realistic opportunity.

78. 38:00
    Mike Harvey

    So in our first year in franchising, either someone is going to have an item 19 or there's no item 19. We did not have an item 19 I didn't intend to franchise this. So my territory. a much larger area and I wasn't going to issue out one territory in Southeastern Michigan for 1. 7 million households. And so the legalities of that question, Wes, keep me from saying really anything. the exploration that when potential franchisees come in, they take a look at our feed, they take a look at the infrastructure of. what their expenses or the limited expenses are. They take a look at the fee. There's a couple other pieces that they get and they start to run their numbers. then they actually see what they're going to be able to do with it. And then they make that decision to become a franchisee.

79. Wes Mathews

    Nice. No, that's great. Um, Mike, what's a couple of things. One, if somebody wants to call you because the roof is probably, you know, they need a roof and they're going to save some money, but also like a franchise opportunity. I mean, I really appreciate just your share and how you just kind of thought of your business.

    And like, to me, it really like that judo flip. I think it. It's a really big message for everybody. Like, how can you take a look at your industry or what you're passionate about and like disrupt it? Right. Um, how can people get in contact with you? What's the easiest way?

80. 39:00
    Mike Harvey

    So they can, if they're looking to, you know, find out what their roof would be, they just go to the roofresource. com, uh, right on that main page there, they can fill out their information, it's submitted over to us and they'll be contacted typically within, we say within one business day, but usually it's within an hour from one of, you know, someone here at the corporate office or a franchisee. Um, they, they will run their roof report, schedule a zoom, and they'll know exactly what the cost to replace their roof is typically within 24 to 48 hours, depending upon how soon they are. And then if they're looking to, you know, if they're interested in franchising and learning more about it, you know, they can do the same thing and just enter franchising, or they can shoot me an email directly.

    Mike at the roof resource. com.

81. Wes Mathews

    Mike at the roof resource, right. com. Well, awesome, Mike. Thank you so much for your share. Super interesting. Uh, wish you nothing but success. It's really cool what you're doing.

82. Mike Harvey

    Well, I appreciate the opportunity to share it with you,

83. Wes Mathews

    Awesome. Thank you so much.

84. Mike Harvey

    Alrighty. Thanks.

85. 40:00
    Wes Mathews

    This has been another episode of Entrepreneur Intel. Thank you for joining us. For show notes or other episodes, please visit us at entrepreneurintel.com. Until next time.