Stories from the Roof: David Seager and Dave Flaherty - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Dave Flaherty from Flaherty Brothers Construction and David Seager from Red Lead Solutions. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast.

Intro: Welcome to Stories from The Roof from rooferscoffeeshop.com where we tell the stories of roofing professionals from around the globe.

Megan Ellsworth: Hello everyone. My name is Megan Ellsworth here at rooferscoffeeshop.com and we are back again on a Stories from the Roof podcast episode. And today, I have the honor of talking to two David's. I'm with David Flaherty and David Seager. Super excited to be talking about the project you worked on together with Duro-Last at the marina in California. So let's just dive right in and David Flaherty, why don't you go ahead and just introduce yourself and then David Seager, you can take it from there and introduce yourself as well.

Dave Flaherty: Yeah, Megan. Thanks for having us today. My name's David Flaherty, president of Flaherty Brothers Construction. We are a commercial roofer out of the Bay Area, California. We specialize in new construction, multifamily, industrial and commercial buildings. Been doing this for about 20 years and been in the business for as long as I can remember. My dad got me into this back in 1987 and I never looked back.

Megan Ellsworth: David Seager, how about you?

David Seager: Yeah. Good morning everybody. David Seager here, president of Red Leaf Solutions. We are the manufacture representative of Duro-Last for the Greater Bay Area. Then in the business, started off roofing in San Diego when I was a kid with my uncle. Just, as Dave said, the unfortunate part or fortunate part of being involved in the roofing industry, construction industry since I was a child. Great to be here and talk about Dave's project the launch.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. Fabulous. So could each of you just tell us a little bit more about your career? I know, David Flaherty, your dad taught you roofing and then, David Seager, yours was your uncle it sounds like. So what was it like kind of growing up in roofing and in construction, being taught by these father figures?

Dave Flaherty: Well, it was good. You learned the yard hard work. My dad instilled that in me at a young age. I started roofing doing tear outs when I was about 15 years old and every summer I'd do that throughout high school and then what I did learn was I didn't want to be in roofing. So I went to college and then somehow came back and fell right back into it. The art of hard work is what my dad taught me. That's just one of those things that I kind of instill in all the guys that work for me now is hard work and integrity. Just kind of the way our business operates.

Megan Ellsworth: David, how about you?

David Seager: Yeah. I'd have to relate to Dave a little bit. A lot of it was just hard work. I started off in the framing actually in the construction industry. A lot what Dave went through. Lot of summer jobs, did the whole college circuit, did the whole multi, what do you call it? Multinational corporations, tried to make a career of it. Had a really good instilled in me on the worth ethic. Started doing roofs probably 20 years ago, like I said, in San Diego and was working with my uncle at the time. Lot of metal roofs. Not so much the norm in California, not so much single ply until I actually ended up later in my career, but it was the people you were around, the hard work you were around, the overall cultural atmosphere that kind of drew me back into the industry.

It's not something I think you wake up in the morning and say, "I'm going to be a roofer." It's a skillset I think you develop. I'm obviously on the sales side more now. Dave's mostly on the construction side. But yeah. I think I would say what drew me really back into the roofing industry was the people, the overall atmosphere and the culture of it, and just the ability to work for yourself, make your own hours and answer only to yourself.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. Absolutely. That's the best. So let's get into the launch project. So David Flaherty, give us an overview of what that project was like 'cause it was new build and it's near a marina. So what was it like? Give us the deets.

Dave Flaherty: Actually, it was during the worst time in roofing in terms of material shortages. We really had to latch onto a manufacturer that had our back and could actually facilitate getting material to the job, which was essentially no one but Duro-Last at the time and do the vertical integration, custom manufacturing of pipe boots, flashings, et cetera. They were able to give us everything we needed and more. The company as a whole stepped up from Michigan to Oregon and really enabled us to actually execute the job on time, on budget and really kind of thrust themself to me as one of the top tier manufacturers in the business. In terms of actually getting the material, it was nearly impossible at that time. It was about a year and a half ago, two years ago, and I think materials were out about 12 months, but David got ahold of me, stepped up with all the Duro-Last team, and got everything, as he said, up to the roof and executed the job very well to a point where the developer is not going to be using specifically Duro-Last Roofing Systems on all his developments moving forward.

Megan Ellsworth: Oh. Wow.

Dave Flaherty: Yeah. Some of the challenges with that job where it was right on a marina, right on the San Francisco Bay, you have wind gusts of up to 100 miles per hour. So we fully adhered the system. This is the first time we'd ever used a DuPont tapered insulation system, which had some challenges, but just throughout the job, Duro-Last stepped up as a manufacturer and really kind of solidified themselves for me as one of my go-to partners in the roofing industry. But overall, it was just a wonderful experience. It's a wonderful job. Western Roof Magazine actually featured this particular job on their cover and just goes to show you what kind of product it was, what kind of project it was, and saw the Duro-Last team. Thank you very much for a job well done.

Megan Ellsworth: That's great. So what was the scope of the job? What was the size of the roof that you were putting on?

Dave Flaherty: It was about 120,000 square feet, fully tapered insulation system, fully adhered membrane. And there were tons of details, tons of curves and one of the specialties that Duro-Last has is their custom corners, pipe boots, everything is tailored to the actual job specifically. It really cuts down on time in terms of labor and their technical services are spot on. Jody out in Oregon, thank you very much for all your help with the operations and just overall, I just want to hit the nail on the head here. Duro-Last stepped up when no one else could at the time and really just took care of my company and that's why we are continuing to work with Duro-Last now and in the future and we probably have a million square feet slated with these guys over the next year.

Megan Ellsworth: Wow. Million square feet. That's amazing. David Seeger, what's it like to hear all this from Flaherty?

David Seager: Yeah. Dave is one of the few contractors that really differentiates himself in the industry. Dave actually really pushes the, I would say the value add of a PVC Duro-Last system. When everybody else is just going the lowest bid, he really steps up as a company and shows the features and benefits of putting a PVC, a Duro-Last system down. Duro-Last has the custom curves, the custom boots that really draws time and labor from his overall costs for the job. I can't speak highly enough of Flaherty Construction and his team on what he's actually brought to the market, specifically the Bay Area. California is a highly competitive market. It's the number one single ply market in the nation and to not be the lowest guy on a job bid is very difficult. It's all about the price, it's all about the money, but Dave really steps up and shows his, I would say, GCs, customers, the value of the Duro-Last system, the value of an actual PVC system.

PVC has been around since the '70s. It's been in the market, but we constantly see it's a low bid subpar roof system being put on, not the quality of a PVC roofing system, a Duro-Last system, and Dave has really differentiated himself and his company and to his success on what he's been able to deliver to his contractors on the value of actually upselling them and the values of a PVC roofing system over other systems as well. Not to say they don't have a place, but it's great to hear and the partnership with Flaherty Construction has been great. They've been signed up for contractor on several years. The supply chain shortage really helped us out in solidifying that relationship and Dave has really stepped up time and time again to support Duro-Last and really to be the benchmark in the industry as a roofing contractor that's just not about just selling them anything and putting anything on the roof.

Megan Ellsworth: That's great. Awe. I love this relationship. That's so sweet.

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Megan Ellsworth: You kind of touch on this earlier with the wind gusts and being right on the ocean or the bay, that's some intense weather that you can get. So NC air is notoriously harsh with the salt. So what did you all do with these Duro-Last products to make sure that this roof was going to last?

David Seager: PVC on the degradation. It's not like other roofing systems. You're not going to have that type of salt implication from the salt air. Any type of the PVC roofing, especially Duro-Last, you don't have a wicking scrim and so forth where you have more exposed areas of the roofing system. As far as on the water, a PVC, a Duro-Last system is the way to go. You're going to have the longevity of it, you're not going to have the issues where you have scrim degradation, you're not going to have the issues of sealing of the cuts that you might make of the membrane, and overall, if you look at a Duro-Last system or any PVC roofing system, the longevity is going to be 20 years plus regardless of the warranty.

As far as wind gusts, if you see the pictures of it, it's beautiful. You see both the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate when it's not fogged in. So you absolutely have to have your fastening patterns. To what Dave touched on earlier, what Duro-Last does really well is the support for the contractor. And that's going to do all your FM calculations, your entire engineering takeoff, your tapered system and so forth to where you're really putting out a roofing system that's going to exceed their warranties. Dave, I don't know if you want to add to that one.

Dave Flaherty: You hit the nail on the head. PVC's been around a lot longer than TPOs obviously and a lot of contractors, developers don't want to pay for it. But as we've seen over the past seven to 10 years is that we've had significant failures in TPOs through formulations that haven't been proven like PVC. So that's where Duro-Last really kind of separates themselves from a lot of the other manufacturers is they're developing and have developed a product that can stand the test of time in terms of warranties. There's roofs that are over 30 years old that could still heat well too class wise and PVC, I would put it on more so than a TPO roof just 'cause it's proven. The market for PVC is a lot less in California due to the competitive nature of commercial roofing and the costs of development out here in California. But overall, once the developer or GCs, the owner see the long-term value add of a Duro-Last system PVC, it's pretty scratch no-brainer for them.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. That's good to know and it's so pivotal to have such a strong product and such a great manufacturer backing you during such a hard time coming right out of COVID with all those shortages, that was the worst. You've kind of already touched on it, but how important is that relationship with the manufacturer that they have your back, they're going to see the job done with you. How important is that?

Dave Flaherty: It's very important. I sign contracts a year, year and a half in advance and these builders keep building and it's not their responsibility to acquire these materials. It's mine as we sign the contract. So it's extremely important that I abide by the contract that I sign, otherwise I can get sued or have to give up the contract, which I wouldn't want to do. And during that time, no one could get material. Didn't matter who you were, if you're the biggest roofer in America, it was just a very extremely challenging time to get even a screw. So with the value add of Duro-Last, their technical help, their logistics, the entire operations team over there should be proud of themselves how they weathered the storms of COVID and I couldn't be more proud as a customer of theirs and I look forward to doing a lot more work with them.

Megan Ellsworth: Love it. So this is a question for both of you. What are some of the most valuable lessons you've learned in your careers in roofing?

Dave Flaherty: I'll let you go with that one, Dave.

David Seager: Loyalty. I think that's the biggest thing I've learned in roofing. You have an industry, everybody knows everybody. You have up and coming people that are younger in the industry I think that are really setting a new bar as opposed to the grandfathered in the other companies trying to find people who are willing to work, who are loyal to you. Granted, you got to give them a good salary, you got to give them a good base, but the most valuable lesson absolutely is finding people who really want to work and be a part of the industry.

Dave Flaherty: Yeah, absolutely. To touch on that, I think integrity is one of the biggest points I would drill is I always tell my guys, I say, "Look, true character is exhibited when no one's watching and typically no one's watching us put on a roof." If you want to cut corners on these jobs you can, but it's just not the right thing to do. And that's what I instill in my guys. Take pride and ownership of what you do every day, whether it's a roof or being a good person, but that translates to life as well. Personal integrity and just being a good person.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. Well said. One of our last questions here. This has gone by so fast. What makes you smile when you think about your job?

Dave Flaherty: I think about the thousands of people that have a roof over the head because of my company and the people's livelihoods and property that I protect on a daily basis. That makes me wake up and smile.

David Seager: For me, working with people like Dave. Dave's an awesome guy, standup character 100% of the time. The ability to work for yourself, set your own hours. I'll tell you that when you do start working for yourself, you probably work a lot more hours than you ever did working for somebody else. But in general, it's working with contractors. They're running their business. They have a stake in the game. You have a stake in the game as well and making sure that you wake up every day and make sure they're taken care of. There isn't a day on Dave's projects I don't talk to my guys, "Hey, what's going on with Dave? What's going on with the project? What materials does he need? What's the orders he's got in? When does he need it by?" And it's just absolutely just the integrity of the people you work with. To Dave's point on the integrity comment, it's just huge.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. That's so huge. And I loved those answers. Keeping people safe and dry, knowing that you've affected thousands of lives, that's really powerful. Super powerful. So our last question is how long have you been following Roofers Coffee Shop and what's your favorite aspect of the site of rooferscoffeeshop.com?

David Seager: Yeah. I actually just found out about you guys. The vice president of Duro-Last. About a year ago I actually did a podcast for you at Western States, the Roofing Convention, and he absolutely celebrated your guys' Roofers Coffee Shop, the ability to talk, ability to connect with contractors. In general, talk about roofing and construction and just a dedicated site to the things that roofers go through and face every day. So it's been about a year and a half for me since I've found out about you guys and been following you and very happy to be here and celebrate our contractor Flaherty Construction.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. How about you, David?

Dave Flaherty: Yeah, no, it's great to be able to follow podcasts that talks about the things that no one wants to actually talk about like roofs.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah.

Dave Flaherty: Out of sight, out of mind. People really don't care about roofs until they're leaking. So it's refreshing talking with people that actually are in the business and can relate to some of the daily struggles that roofing contractors have and go through on a daily basis, especially when it starts raining. It's just refreshing hearing the different stories from people like myself and it's a great podcast. I appreciate you having us today.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. Thank you both so much. Really interesting to hear about this project. It sounds like it was huge and a really massive feat. So congratulations and congrats on getting featured in Western Roofing. So congrats on that as well. That's really exciting.

Dave Flaherty: Thank you.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. Okay. Well everyone out there listening, thank you so much for listening. Make sure you're subscribed and you ring the bell to get notified every time we post again. This has been the Stories from The Roof Podcast, and gentlemen, thank you so much. This has been great.

Dave Flaherty: Thank you very much, Megan.

David Seager: Thank you, Megan.

Megan Ellsworth: Thanks for listening to Stories from The Roof from rooferscoffeeshop.com. Make sure to subscribe and leave a review.