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5 Ways AI Is Revolutionizing Roof Inspections

BY RT3 MEMBER PHIL PRATT

Did you know that hail drives more property damage in the U.S. than just about anything else? In fact, wind and hail account for between 40-50 percent of homeowner’s insurance claims each year. That’s the bad news. Here’s the better news: artificial intelligence (AI) is enabling fast and accurate hail damage detection, speeding up claims and repairs.  

The days of manual inspections that required workers to climb on ladders and walk around on damaged roofs are fortunately fading into the rearview. Now, workers can use drones coupled with AI-powered systems in order to analyze imagery for rooftop hail damage. These inspections are not only faster, more accurate, and cost-effective, they are also much safer. Here are 5 advantages of using AI technology for roof inspections:

  1. Faster and more efficient inspections: With AI-powered systems, workers can inspect rooftops more quickly and efficiently than they could using traditional methods. AI can analyze a large number of images in a short amount of time and identify hail damage with high accuracy. This not only saves time but also reduces the costs associated with inspections.
  2. Consistency and accuracy: AI systems are designed to be consistent in their analysis. This allows the user to reduce the number of photographs to only the ones that have a high likelihood of hail strikes in the imagery. This speeds up the inspection process and makes the analyst’s job easier and faster.
  3. Remote inspections: With AI-powered systems, it is possible to perform inspections remotely. This means inspectors do not need to be on the roof to detect hail damage. Instead, drones or other aerial vehicles equipped with cameras can capture images of the roof, which can then be analyzed by an AI algorithm. This not only makes inspections safer but also reduces the need for physical access to the roof, and allows for third-party pilots to be utilized for the initial inspection.
  4. Predictive analytics: With enough data, AI algorithms can use historical data to predict the likelihood of future hail damage. This can help property owners and insurance companies proactively address potential issues before they become significant problems. By detecting hail damage early, repairs can be made quickly and at a lower cost.
  5. Cost-effective: AI-powered inspections are generally more cost effective than traditional inspections. With AI, the need for manual labor is significantly reduced, which can save money on labor costs. Additionally, AI-powered systems can detect hail damage that may not be visible to the naked eye, which can prevent more costly repairs down the road.

The benefits of using AI to analyze imagery to identify rooftop hail damage improves analyst workflows and creates a more efficient way to identify hail damage than traditional methods. As technology continues to evolve, it’s likely that AI-powered inspections will become even more prevalent in the roofing industry. The applications are endless, but AI still has a long way to go before it completely replaces human analysts.These tools do wonders for creating efficiencies for roofing and insurance companies looking to understand the full scope of hail damage on a rooftop. To learn more about Zeitviews AI solutions for roofing inspections, visit us at Zeitview.com/roofing 

RT3 members experience VR rooms and share future workforce tips at IRE 2022

Members of the Roofing Technology Think Tank started the week of the 2022 International Roofing Expo by participating in a meetup where they learned about emerging technologies and how they will affect the roofing industry.

Tesla Solar Roofs

The group began its meetup on Monday, January 31 with several presentations. Ken Kelly, of Naples, Florida-based Kelly Roofing shared exciting updates related to Tesla Solar Roofs as his company nears their 100th installation.

Ken Kelly presents on his company’s experience installing Tesla Solar Roofs.

Automating Takeoffs

Following Ken’s presentation the topic moved on to the recent acquisition of Estimating Edge by Foundation Software. Adam Oaks, Estimating Edge CEO shared information about the acquisition and what it will mean for the advancement of technology within the roofing industry.

He then proceeded to give a demonstration of their newest program call Vector. The takeoff software automates the takeoff process, allowing users to spend more time on estimating and less on measuring, saving hours or even days.

Virtual Reality

Following the presentations, RT3 members were able to experience the power of virtual reality combined with photogrammetry to see how it has the ability to revolutionize the way we perform site inspections and even meet with our customers.

Thanks to RT# member John Kiesel of Division 7 Roofing and Imagine Technologies Group, members used Oculus VR headsets to enter virtual rooms that focused on different areas in the industry, including safety, sales and marketing and service.

For many members it was their first experience with the VR space and proved to be a fascinating adventure into what the possibilities for the future of roofing could be.

Future Workforce Panel

On the first day of the IRE, several RT3 members presented a panel titled Casting the Net for Your Future Workforce. In this session, RT3 contractor members shared how they are working with their schools, youth programs and communities to build a pipeline for the future roofing workforce. From multi-organizational apprenticeship programs to working with youth from schools who don’t want to pursue college to getting involved in the community and developing in-house training opportunities, these contractors shared what they are doing, how they got started and tips for success.

It was an exciting week for the RT3 members as they continue their mission to learn about new technologies and share that information with the rest of the industry.

RT3 member Joanne Rodriguez of Mycocycle named to 2021 Environment+Energy Leader 100 Honoree List

The list includes CEOs, VPs, managers and engineers who are all making a difference.

Mycocycle, Inc., a leader in using mycoremediation to process toxins out of waste, announced that CEO Joanne Rodriguez has been named to the 2021 Environment+Energy Leader 100 Honoree List.

“It’s exciting to be included among such an elite group of changemakers who are committed to helping the environment,” stated Rodriguez. “Together, this group of honorees will have an impact on the future of how efficiently we use our resources through the development of innovative solutions that lead to a more sustainable environment for coming generations.”

In its fifth year, the annual Environment+Energy Leader 100 recognizes those environment and energy “doers” who break trail in creating new solutions, programs, platforms, best practices, and products to help their companies – or other companies – achieve greater success in commercial and industrial environment and energy management.

“The Honorees on the annual list show groundbreaking work and dedication to the field of sustainability and energy management,” says Paul Nastu, President of Environment+Energy Leader. “We’re thrilled to recognize this year’s Honorees and congratulate all who made the list.”

Nominations for the E+E 100 are made by Environment+Energy Leader readers and others that work in the industry, are vetted and then Environment+Energy Leader team and a select group of advisors from the industry make the final Honoree selections.

About Mycocycle

Mycocycle, Inc. was founded in October 2018. It is a woman-owned, early stage cleantech company using mycoremediation to process toxins out of waste. Mycocycle was the winner of the 2021 1871 Momentum Awards as an Industry Disrupter, recognized as a Finalist in FastCompany’s “2021 World Changing Ideas” Awards issue, recognized as a Forbes “Next1000” Entrepreneur, selected as a Top 100 Global Deeptech Pioneer by Hello Tomorrow, and a 2020 Innovation selection in the EPA’s Innovation and America Recycle’s Fair. Mycocycle has been named a 2021 Illinois Qualified New Business Venture under the Angel Investment Tax Credit Program. This program provides Illinois-based investors a state tax credit of 25 percent of their investment up to $2 million. For more information visit www.mycocycle.com.

About Environment+Energy Leader

For fifteen years, Environment+Energy Leader (www.environmentenergyleader.com) has provided news, best practices and research that has influenced environment, energy and sustainability conversations–and powered decision-making. We have a wide range of professional resources, including our website, newsletters, awards programs, webinars, reports, white papers and conferences to help you tackle environment and energy management challenges in order to reduce costs, increase efficiency and minimize resource waste. Environment+Energy Leader is published by Business Sector Media LLC.

RT3 Member Mycocycle Named a Finalist for 1871 Momentum Award as an Industry Disrupter

The 1871 Momentum Awards is the celebration of tech innovation in Chicago.

Mycocycle, Inc., a leader in using mycoremediation to process toxins out of waste, was named a finalist for 1871’s Momentum Award in the Industry Disrupter category. The award is presented to a company that has developed or introduced an ingenious, non-traditional, and innovative product or service that has significantly disrupted the industry.

“Having participated in the LatinX+IHCC Incubator at 1871 as one of my very first organizational experiences as a startup, I am delighted to be in contention for this award,” said Joanne Rodriguez, Mycocycle founder and CEO. “It is an exciting time to have a growing company in Chicago and the Midwest. The startup ecosystem is supportive, passionate, and always serves as a source of inspiration for me. We look forward to participating in the 2021 Momentum Awards and can’t wait to celebrate with all of our fellow founders!”

“The finalists for this year’s Industry Disrupter Award are leading the path forward through ingenuity and determination, and we’re thrilled to include Mycocycle among this impressive group,” said 1871 CEO Betsy Ziegler. “Their innovative solutions are transforming old waste practices into eco-friendly market opportunities and building a necessary picture of a potential world without waste. We wish them the best of luck as voting begins.”

The 14th annual 1871 Momentum Awards celebrate tech innovation in Chicago, recognizing outstanding CEOs, rising stars and game-changing companies across seven different award categories. Award winners are chosen through a combination of scores from 1871 judges and public votes. Voting opens August 16 and runs through September 1. Winners will be announced on September 23 at a hybrid awards ceremony.

Place your vote for Mycocycle at https://app.reviewr.com/s1/showcase//Momentum-21.  

About Mycocycle

Mycocycle, Inc. was founded in October 2018. It is a woman-owned, early stage cleantech company using mycoremediation to process toxins out of waste. Mycocycle was recognized as a Finalist in FastCompany’s “2020 World Changing Ideas” Awards issue, a presenter for NREL’s 2020 Industry Growth Forum, a 2020 Innovation selection in the EPA’s Innovation and America Recycle’s Fair, and the winner of the Cleantech Open National 2020 Resiliency Challenge.  Mycocycle has been named a 2021 Illinois Qualified New Business Venture under the Angel Investment Tax Credit Program. This program provides Illinois-based investors a state tax credit of 25 percent of their investment up to $2 million. For more information visit www.mycocycle.com.

About 1871

1871 exists to inspire, equip, and support the early stage, growth stage, and corporate innovators that are building extraordinary businesses in their communities. We are the convenor of changemakers, bringing together the right resources, support, and connections that drive growth for businesses across the entire maturity curve, from idea to Fortune 50. Our community is rooted in Chicago with a reach that spans the globe, with over 1,500 members and an expansive network of mentors, corporate sponsors, university partners, VCs, alumni, and policymakers. Learn more at www.1871.com.  

RT3 Members Present on Data and AI at METALCON

By Karen L. Edwards.

METALCON 2019 took place in Steel City – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and RT3 members were well represented at the show, exhibiting and speaking.  On the first day of the show, RT3 hosted a discussion on the importance of artificial intelligence and utilizing data for contractors.

Bill Wilkins of Pointivo spoke about AI and explained that there are a number of companies that offer AI-assisted approaches to roof evaluations.  His company has been working with another RT3 member to develop a system that will do just that. Bill explained asking a person to try to look at an image and identify drains, equipment, ponding water, areas of membrane splits, etc. can be a very time-consuming process.  Ai is a great opportunity to help augment a younger , more inexperienced work force in identifying rooftop conditions and problem areas.

AI can tell you what it thinks is on the roof and provide a confidence level in its identification. How you help is by looking at what it found and either confirming it or correcting it. Each time you provide confirmation or correction, it will learn from the information and keep getting better at what it does. Bill explained that they feel pretty confident that the tool they are introducing next year will be able to reduce the amount of time spent on evaluations by 80 percent through the use of drones and AI.

Key things for AI to be successful is quality data, quantity of data. Bill shared the example of teaching AI to recognize on AC unit on a roof. Because an AC unit is so large, it might only need to ‘see’ 100 images to be able to accurately identify the AC unit every time. Trying to identify hail damage will be harder, because it’s much smaller in size.  The more data, imagery and confirmations it receives, the smarter and faster it becomes.

Josey Parks of Cognitive Contractor shared how AI and data can be a powerful lead and  sales tool for roofing businesses. Josey explained that if you take the records for 1,000 customers and run them through an AI program it will learn from the data. It will recognize patterns of the first 70 percent (or 700 records). Then it will take the next 300 records and predict their behavior based on what it learned from the first 700 and provide them a score.  Contractors should understand the data that they have in their business and how they can structure it to understand what drives your business and your customers.

Josey explained how when he started in metal roofing, he would keep track on a paper of what neighborhoods he had knocked doors in, then he advanced to using a bike trail app to track the locations where he and his sales team had been. They have advanced today to sending emails and plotting on a map (like Google Earth) the locations of the people who opened the email. This allows the canvassers to have an optimized route to work from.

Taking it one step further with the advancement in technology, Josey explained that he is able to use AI to score and predict his leads to the point that it knows which salesperson is the best one to assign that lead to, based on past performance of the sales person.  It’s important to optimize your business and not waste time and resources assigning the wrong leads to the wrong salesperson.

If you missed their talk at METALCON, you can watch it on our Facebook page under Videos.  Be sure to sign up for the Smart Brief e-newsletter to get the latest roofing tech news in your inbox.

 

How to Use 3D Models to Generate More Leads

By Dena Nejad, HOVER.

Before you can start thinking about closing a homeowner’s business, you first need to create awareness around your offering, generate interest, and pinpoint those interested people as leads. But identifying high-quality leads is not a walk in the park.

3D technology can help. Tools like those offered by HOVER transform a few smartphone photos of any property into an accurate, interactive 3D model. When you integrate this 3D model into your arsenal of sales and marketing tools, you have an instant advantage over your competitors. By showcasing the 3D model in your display at home shows, on your print ads, in your brochures, on your website, in social media feeds, and in your other marketing materials, you will be able to easily attract homeowners that your sales team can then turn into customers.

At Home Shows

Use the 3D model at home shows to attract homeowners who are identifying with which contractor they want to bring their next remodeling project to life. By showcasing the fully interactive 3D model of houses that your team has worked on, you can easily display your products and services in a powerful way.

Homeowners who attend home shows are actively thinking about their next project, so they will eagerly anticipate using the 3D model to experiment with potential exterior looks for their house. On top of that, they will realize that you’re a contractor who turns to today’s cutting-edge technology to provide best-in-class service that goes far beyond simply providing a quote for the project.

This modern approach to lead generation speaks volumes without the need for your sales team to use any high-pressure sales tactics.

In Online and Offline Advertisements

Make sure to incorporate the 3D model in your print and online ads as well as your other marketing materials. By highlighting the fact that your potential customers will see exactly what their finished project will look like before the contract is signed, you can pique the interest of even the most skeptical buyer. Homeowners enjoy the reassurance of being able to visualize and manipulate their home’s layout before it’s time to make a final decision. This in combination with the possibility of doing so in their own homes, without the need to come into a showroom or take time off work, will put your contracting business ahead of the competition.

On Your Website

On your website, showcasing video clips of interactive 3D models in motion, with the various changes and choices that can be visualized with a few keystrokes, is another persuasive way to generate more leads. The ability to show a customer a 3D model of what their home could look like is a great way to keep a customer excited about the project, while also helping build their trust from the very beginning. Which homeowner wouldn’t enjoy being able to show friends and family what their home improvement project will look like, long before construction is underway? They will feel completely comfortable in their material choices. Offering a 3D model of their house during the estimating process is a priceless perk that will help your business stand out against the competition.

Running customer testimonials about how useful 3D models are throughout the home improvement process is another powerful way of showcasing the value of the 3D modeling feature. Prospects value the opinions expressed in reviews and testimonials. By placing other clients’ words front and center in your marketing efforts, you let your reputation speak for itself. Further, testimonials make fantastic social media content and can be used to prompt interaction with others online, creating buzz about your company and its services.

Throughout the Sales Process

Using the full capacity of a 3D model from the first point of contact all the way through contract closeout will surely streamline and simplify any job that your team needs to work on, leading to greater productivity and more satisfied clients. An added benefit of 3D models is that the homeowner is excited that they are able to see their project. This often leads to the customer sharing the project with their friends, families, and neighbors – which can ultimately help bring your business new leads (nothing more powerful than word of mouth).

Source: HOVER

How mushrooms can transform our roofs

By Joanne Rodriguez, GreenStructure

Every day the news has stories on plastic pollution in our oceans, bag taxes or elimination of straws.  As our population has increased so has our consumption.  Because many of us recognize these as issues within our control we can make choices that start to impact the amount of waste we generate.  But what about our industry: roofing?  Should we be looking to ways to reduce the burden of our footprint?

Manufacturers have started to consider utilizing recycled materials or bio-based products within their materials, while others have worked to upgrade durability or develop products that can be restored multiple times to contribute to longevity.  Within the shingle market, there are some advances in recycling roofing tear-off and reusing within paving projects.  But as an industry we have yet to develop a means to divert the majority of our 60-100 million tons of annual tear off debris from landfill.

With municipalities looking hard at the need to close landfills, incenting recycling of debris, or increasing fees and taxes on hard to recycle products—like roofing—there is need to consider how to handle our roofing waste more sustainably.  My partner, Liz Hart Morris and I have set out to take this challenge on.  We’ve been focused on landfill diversion strategies within the roofing industry for over 6 years now.  We’ve got archived presentations to NRCA members (May 2016) as well as a feature article in “Professional Roofing” magazine by Liz (November 2017) taking this topic on.  And as this dialogue evolved for us, we realized that the solution set might be growing right under our feet.

We have been innovating a new process called Mycocycle, which is a patent-pending engineered ecosystem intended to bioremediate asphalt roofing waste along with other roofing products.  These are some unusual terms for many of us in the industry, but essentially we are developing a means to biologically break down roofing tear-off waste utilizing fungi (mycelium) and plant species.  The by-product should be two-fold: a clean biomass and mushrooms.  We believe that both by-products can re-enter the manufacturing stream to develop a new bio-based product within the roofing industry: from the roof to the roof.

Currently we are in the initial testing phase of bioremediating roofing products.  We are pursuing asphalt-based products first since there is established success of a similar process breaking down asphalt (see Liz’s article in November). But it has never been applied to roofing and we are excited to be pioneering this innovation along side mycologist Peter McCoy (Radical Mycology).  Everyday we are encouraged by the growth of the product and the break down of the roofing material.  There should be photos and updates on our websites as we advance through the weeks.  We will be able to hone in on how long it takes to break down the roofing products and the most efficient ecosystem to take on the task.

If you want to learn more about the process, you might visit the RT3 Tech Talk I just completed.

Joanne Rodriguez is a founder of GreenStructure. Follow her on Twitter @greengirlnow.

5 Steps to Help Your Roofing Company Make Next Year’s Top 100 List

By Ryan Groth.

Roofing Contractor Magazine’s Top 100 Roofing Contractors List is a really special honor to achieve that indicates several aspects of your roofing business are successful. When looking up and down the list each year, I recognize market leaders who I know are doing certain things better than everyone else. To be fair, the top 10 or top five isn’t everyone’s measure of success for building their roofing business. However, if you’re looking to become the best operator you can possibly be, just look at this list and attend a Best of Success conference. You’ll notice a group of professionals inspired by the others on the list and are driven to innovate and share what they’ve learned to grow — which helps the industry grow. It’s a great honor to be on that list if you’re a roofing contractor. So, if you’re looking to find a way on the list or want to find yourself higher on the list, here are five steps you can take to help you get there and stay there.

1. Find Your Leader
The first step your company should take is to designate a leader to oversee sales — after all, the list is about the bottom-line number: revenue. The “sales manager” is one of the roofing industry’s most under filled positions, however, when occupied by the right person it can be like switching out a four cylinder for a V-8 engine for your company. Finding a good sales manager can be difficult, but with using the right tools you can identify the right competencies for the job. From my experience working with several top 100 roofing contractors, grabbing a sales leader from a different industry can serve very well because they are used to more-developed sales structures, which translates very well in roofing. However, be sure to screen them by using tools like I recommend. Candidate assessment tools, for example, from Objective Management Group based in Boston, Mass., is a great way to identify sales competencies. The greatest skills you seek in a sales manager are: desire for sales success; commitment to do whatever it takes — morally and ethically; the right outlook about themselves and your company’s future; willingness to take responsibility (the opposite of excuse making), accountability, motivation, recruiting and coaching. Roofing technicalities are the easy part and they can learn that over time. Chances are, you as the owner or experienced roofing contractor have plenty of technical expertise, what you likely lack is the sales competency — which is where the sales manager comes in.

2. Serve and Maintain
The second step you should take is making service and preventative maintenance a top priority. The reason I say this is that service repairs take the least amount of time to close, which makes the sale easier. When you can more easily sell to someone it’s more likely you’ll sell to many more people, which means you have a low barrier to entry to build many relationships. You also have a chance to provide a great experience for the client.
It’s only when someone has worked with you that they can refer you, and it’s only when you have referrals and repeat business that you build more and more trust in your market. If you know me already you’ll know that I preach that the big work comes naturally when you’re consistently focusing on the small work. As service revenue goes, construction revenue should go accordingly. Make sure that when you focus on service, also lock them into a preventative maintenance plan so that they only see your truck arriving at their property for years to come. At this point, you’ll be their trusted advisor and will be able to develop the scope and perhaps cut right through any red tape that could cause you to get your bid shopped out and must compete more heavily on price.

3. Prime the Pipeline
The third step you should take is to get a grip on your sales pipeline. Too often do I see in the roofing industry a “bid-it and forget-it” mentality. First, they jump right into the presentation of the bid upon invitation without slowing the process down to ask great questions and listen. The only question that most roofers ask when they get to a lead is “where’s your leak?” They don’t learn the real problem that’s a compelling reason to buy. The best management of the sales opportunity is when there’s urgency discussed before gathering the real qualification questions, like what they think a roof costs and their decision criteria and timeline.
Too many times I see the roofing industry have “happy ears,” which describes contractors getting all excited about an opportunity and not having healthy skepticism. In fact, Objective Management Group has data of over 3,000 specialty contractor sales people and the findings say that we are in the bottom 11 percent in consultative selling and qualifying competencies out of 1.8 million sales people around the world. Our industry really stinks at managing the pipeline, but if worked on it can pay huge dividends. I’ve seen it myself while working with many of the top 100 roofers on the list.

4. Time for a CRM
The fourth step you should take is to get a sales pipeline CRM program. Did I just say a curse word, CRM? AH!!! Yes, you need to be able to see what’s going on in your future sales opportunities anytime you want. However, if you really want to see revenue grow then you should score each deal in the pipeline and hold everyone accountable to the appropriate expectations to drive more business into the pipeline. Each deal should be followed up on until a decision is made along with a status of when the decision will be made. There are some great tools out there.

5. Goal Set
The fifth and final step you should take to help you get on the Top 100 List is to set goals. Goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time sensitive. You should really consider what is it that you want to achieve and to reverse engineer what it’s going to take to achieve it. It would really help if you and your sales manager came up with a compensation plan that matched these goals and held your salespeople and estimators accountable for performance. I also want to be clear: just because you don’t have a true “salesperson” right now, doesn’t mean you can’t incorporate these things. One of my favorite lines from a mentor of mine — BEST Roofing President and CEO Gregg Wallick — is “on the way to perfect, you pass up a lot of good.” The principle that I take from this (and teach my clients) is to get started, and don’t expect perfection right away. Tiger Woods said recently in an interview when talking about Lebron James, “anyone can be great for a week, a month, a year. But can you be great for a decade, two decades? What Lebron is doing is unbelievable because he’s doing it for such a long time.” In closing, you should think about getting on the Top 100 and earning a spot with the top revenue-generating roofing contractors in the business. But do what Tiger says, be on there for a long time. Can you stay on there for five years, 10 years, 20 years? I hope you can.

Note: This article first published on Roofing Contractor magazine’s website and can be viewed here.