Building Arrington Roofing: How an Architect’s Mindset Built a Better Roofing Company in Texas

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Welcome to the first episode of Building Dallas, the podcast that brings property owners, builders, and developers in North Texas the insights they need to make informed decisions. In this episode, we sit down with Chris Arrington, a roofing industry veteran, to discuss how roofing has evolved in Dallas, the impact of extreme weather, and the biggest mistakes homeowners make.

In This Episode:

• 🏠 Chris Arrington’s Journey – From architecture to roofing
• 🌦️ Why Dallas is a Roofing Hotspot – How extreme weather shapes the industry
• 🔨 Homeowners vs. Commercial Clients – Key differences in roofing needs
• 💰 Insurance & Roofing – What’s changing and what to watch out for
• 📈 How Roofing Affects Home Value – Insights for real estate investors
• 🏡 The Future of Roofing – Why cheap materials are going away

• (00:00) - 🚀 Welcome to Building Dallas – Shaping the future of North Texas
• (00:40) - 🏗️ From Architect to Roofer – Chris Arrington’s Journey
• (02:15) - 🌪️ The Roofing Industry in North Texas – Why It’s a Booming Market
• (04:30) - 🏠 The Truth About Dallas Roofing Regulations – What Homeowners Need to Know
• (06:10) - 💰 The Insurance Game is Changing – How Rising Deductibles Affect You
• (09:20) - 🌨️ Why North Texas is Hailstorm Central – Understanding the Storm Market
• (12:35) - 🏚️ Cheap Roofs vs. Durable Roofs – What’s Really Worth It?
• (15:00) - 🔨 Roofing 101 – The Basics Every Homeowner Should Know
• (18:45) - 🌬️ Attic Ventilation Explained – The Secret to a Longer-Lasting Roof
• (21:00) - 💸 The Roof That Pays You Back – How to Save Money with Smart Roofing
• (24:10) - 🛑 No More Free Roofs! – How Homeowners Need to Adapt
• (26:40) - 🏡 Selling Your Home? – How Your Roof Affects Your Home’s Value
• (29:15) - 🚫 The End of Asphalt Roofs? – What’s Next for Homeowners
• (31:30) - 💎 The Rise of Synthetic Roofing – Why It’s the Future
• (34:20) - 👷 The Roofing Industry Shakeup – How Contractors Must Adapt
• (37:10) - 📉 80% of Roofers Fail – Why Choosing the Right One Matters
• (40:00) - 🔑 Key Lessons from 40+ Years in Business – What Chris Arrington Learned
• (43:00) - 🎯 Final Thoughts & Advice for Homeowners

What is Building Dallas?

Stories from the ground to the roof featuring leading Dallas voices in commercial and residential real estate. Presented by Arrington Roofing.

Narration: 00:01

From sunrise commutes to stormy nights, from tough builds to big ideas, we're shaping the future of North Texas, 1 story at a time. Welcome to Building Dallas.

Reese Arrington: 00:16

Hello. Welcome to Building Dallas. This is our first inaugural episode. We're gonna be talking to business owners and people involved in construction from the ground all the way up to the roof. In our first episode, we have the founder of Arrington Roofing, my dad, Chris Arrington.

Reese Arrington: 00:33

Chris, thanks for sponsoring the show, creating this, and, I'm excited to talk about how you got into the industry and what people need to know about their roof because it's really important.

Chris Arrington: 00:45

Good to be here.

Reese Arrington: 00:45

Yeah. Thanks. Great. Son. Yeah.

Reese Arrington: 00:48

Yeah. Whatever. So first thing is, you know, I know you I know your whole story. But for everybody else watching and listening in, how did you get from architect to roofer?

Chris Arrington: 01:01

Well, yeah, I got my, architecture degree at Texas Tech University and practiced architecture for a while, not enough to get licensed. But I just really enjoyed the construction aspect of the building industry. And so I actually moved some houses, which was kinda fun, pick a house up and move it, and, and really learned more about building technology. You know, in in architecture, you get the design and programming and the whys of the building and then how to put it all together. But in the construction end, you get how does it really work?

Chris Arrington: 01:44

What what goes together best? You know? What what you touch and see and feel and how the products work together. And that that was, really more of an interest to me, and I like to be in the field. So, you know, fast forward into roofing, you know, went through some phases in the construction business.

Chris Arrington: 02:03

But, I I looked at, you know, the importance of our built environment, where we live. And and in the Dallas marketplace, there's a huge market for roofing because we're in a hail area, so that drives a lot of business. And then in the, political aspect of roofing, it's very unregulated. There there's no requirements to be a roofer, and I kinda saw that as an avenue to bring a better knowledge base and a better product to an industry that typically doesn't have that great of a reputation because it's so easy to enter. Guys get in the business that probably aren't ready to be there or shouldn't be there at all.

Chris Arrington: 02:57

And, and then once I started getting into roofing, I had a lot of my architect friends call going, okay. Well, Chris, how would I do this? You know? What how would did this work or this work? Or, you know, You can you can get pretty complicated in roofing when you get into some some bigger projects.

Chris Arrington: 03:13

And so that was fun to see that, you know, I was really using my education to make a better product and to serve the community better. So that's kinda how I got to the roofing part. And then and it started in the residential side with steep slope.

Reese Arrington: 03:32

Mhmm.

Chris Arrington: 03:33

And then we then we added commercial. And I've been advised over the years possibly to, you know, drop residential. But we've got a just a great, what do you call it? Reputation.

Reese Arrington: 03:50

Yeah. Oh, great.

Chris Arrington: 03:51

We got a great reputation in the residential field, and I wouldn't wanna give that up. I don't wanna wouldn't wanna give up those clients. So we still do residential, and we do commercial and, you know, from from a small repair on a residential Yeah. Job to a, you know, large industrial complex. Mhmm.

Chris Arrington: 04:12

Yeah. We've done all

Reese Arrington: 04:13

of it. Yeah. And and you mentioned, you know, Dallas, and I and you have a lot of history here too because you, you know, you're born in Dallas, and you've been a Dallas site for how old are you now? 68? 60 eight.

Reese Arrington: 04:24

And then your dad also was here. So your blood runs deep, and you and you've been in, runs deep in Oak Cliff. You've been in here. You've been here since you were born, and your dad was here as a principal at school. So so speak on your love of of Oak Cliff.

Reese Arrington: 04:41

What do

Chris Arrington: 04:41

you know about this place? Actually and I I didn't I didn't ever see it because my paternal grandfather died very young, but there was an Arrington furniture store in in Downtown Dallas. Know that. Arrington furniture. And, and, actually, my my maternal grandfather was the president of East Texas Motor Freight, which, you know, ran freight all around Texas and Southwest.

Chris Arrington: 05:09

And mom went to Adamson. Dad went to Sunset, local Dallas schools. I went to Kimball High School. So, yeah, growing up in Dallas, it was it was kind of a small town, it it felt like. I mean, and especially being in Oak Cliff, being on the other side of the river, It just felt like a a little smaller town.

Chris Arrington: 05:32

I mean, Dallas now is a huge metropolitan area, and not that it was small back when I was growing up. But, yeah, I feel like I've got some great friends and family here and some deep roots and and just a love for Dallas. I'm I wouldn't live anywhere else in that.

Reese Arrington: 05:51

And

Chris Arrington: 05:51

I I just still live in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas. We live in Kessler Park, and it's beautiful. You don't think of hills and trees in Dallas, but we've got huge trees and hills and creeks. And, so I like covering Dallas with roofs, you know, helping protect the environment that we live in. So yeah.

Reese Arrington: 06:15

Yeah. I mean, you you adjust to change well in business, but, you know, we go to lunch and you order the same thing, and you go to the same places. And so you like the familiarity, and and you get you you like knowing people. I mean, it seems like, you know, everywhere we go, you know, I feel like, you know, that's always running to someone he knows, and, it's really been cool to see. So are you saying I'm boring?

Chris Arrington: 06:38

No. Is it? Okay. Alright. Okay.

Chris Arrington: 06:39

I'm just saying

Reese Arrington: 06:40

I'm just I'm saying you might need to I'm just checking. I need to not get tequila chicken every single time and get something Oh, man. I gotta order something different.

Chris Arrington: 06:49

Yeah. Alright. But cool. It's not sushi.

Reese Arrington: 06:51

Yeah. So roofing, you know, when you get into commercial, it has complicated aspects to it. You know, you get into different types of fasteners and all this stuff. And I mean, you know, we wanna be able to take care of those difficult that that's our expertise. We take care of that for the client.

Reese Arrington: 07:05

But for people who don't know roofing and, you know, having been in sales, it's sometimes shocking to go, wow. You know, homeowners and building owners, they really don't know the very basics of how roofs function. So what what are the going just to elementary school with roofing, What are the basic principles of roofs and how they work?

Chris Arrington: 07:27

You know, I heard you talk about this, and this this ought to be a better question for you because you answered it very well. But I'll I'm I'll maybe some of it is what you heard from me. Yeah. But there are there's there's two basically, two roofs. There's all different kinds of materials you can make them out of, but there's the steep slope, which is a watershedding, and there's low slope, which is waterproofing.

Chris Arrington: 07:51

So on a water shedding, which is typically homes, they're steep. You know, it's like it's like a mountain. And when the rain, hits it, it runs off and and it runs in a certain direction because it's it's flowing downhill. Well, if if you were to, you know, take a hose and run the water uphill, those would leak. I mean, they're designed that way Mhmm.

Chris Arrington: 08:18

Because, you know, typically, somebody's not putting a hose up in on your roof.

Reese Arrington: 08:23

Rains from the top down.

Chris Arrington: 08:24

From the top down. Yeah. Hopefully. I mean, in in Dallas, sometimes we get a little bit of this, but, you know and sometimes we get a little bit of this, you get a leak. Yeah.

Chris Arrington: 08:32

I mean, this is a good point. You know? You get some sideways blowing rain, you might get a leak that you've never had before, and then you think something's wrong with my roof. It's really not. It's just in a situation that it's not made for.

Reese Arrington: 08:44

Mhmm.

Chris Arrington: 08:45

And then the second one is low slope, which is from dead flat to a tiny, tiny bit of pitch. And but those roofs will hold water more. So you have to waterproof everything. Every product you put together has gotta be sealed together into one homogeneous membrane, if you wanna call it that, just that that covers everything to where if water's standing on it like a pool, the pool that's on top of your building is not leaking. I mean, a pinhole on those could be disastrous.

Chris Arrington: 09:24

You could drain hundreds of gallons of water into your building. So the that's the simple explanation of roofing. Watershed, waterproof. Cool.

Reese Arrington: 09:36

Good. Yeah. And, you know, you mentioned how earlier, you know, DFW has crazy storms. We get a lot of hail damage in DFW. I know it's just a massive storm market, and it's been that way for as long as I can remember.

Reese Arrington: 09:51

But things have seemed like they're kinda trending in a certain direction dealing with insurance companies that might might kinda put some homeowners, you know, a little make them a little uneasy. So what is going on with the insurance roofing market right now, especially in North Texas?

Chris Arrington: 10:10

Yeah. And and that that's the question that deals with today. What what's going on, what has been going on for a few years, and what is can it continue? I'm not a weatherman, but we're gonna have hailstorms here till this earth is gone. For whatever reason, the hail hits hits kinda starts here and really goes all the way up through the middle of the country.

Chris Arrington: 10:35

It's it's interesting when you look at at where the hail hits. There there there's a belt that goes north and south right in the middle of the country. There's lots of hail. And the reason Dallas and Fort Worth is so popular for roofing is because we're a massive build out of expensive properties. And so when it comes through here, you know, I just think if a hailstorm went through a a cattle farm and it's gonna hit the ground, well, it's not gonna do any damage.

Chris Arrington: 11:07

But comes through Dallas Fort Worth, it's doing millions, if not billions, of property damage. Well, the insurance companies have been, you know, insuring all these properties for a number of years, but it seems like the storms are increasing. Property values have have have gone up. The expense of the roofs have gone up. It's getting to be a major, major expense for the insurance companies, and and they can identify it.

Chris Arrington: 11:38

I mean, they know year in and year out. I mean, the the fire in California, I mean, they have their fires, but, I mean, this is every year this is gonna happen. So what they've started to do is they've raised their deductibles, which a deductible, which most people don't know, if you have a $500,000 home and your deductible is 1%, that's $5,000. Your deductible, you're gonna pay $5,000 before the insurance company pays anything Mhmm. On a claim.

Chris Arrington: 12:12

And we've talked to people before, and they thought the 1% was the value of the claim. So they had a $10,000 claim. Well, my deductible is gonna be a hundred dollars. Yeah. What were they surprised

Reese Arrington: 12:24

surprised. Yeah.

Chris Arrington: 12:25

About and, you know, I don't know what the average home, even just a home in Dallas, is probably in the half million dollar range. So Yeah. 1%. And and the the rates the deductible rates now, 2% is really the most common. You know, not that you couldn't get a one or a five for percent deductible, but 2% is pretty common.

Chris Arrington: 12:49

So when you're starting to look at ten and fifteen and twenty, forty, fifty thousand dollars of a deductible, you got it's a whole different mindset to think, am I really even covered with this insurance policy? If if my roof which I'm gonna say it's it's around 90% of the claims that are, paid for in the Dallas Fort Worth area are for the roof. Well, if my roof on my home is gonna cost $20,000 and my deductible's 20,000, why am I even paying for insurance on my roof? It's it's not covered. I'm gonna pay the whole thing if it gets damaged.

Reese Arrington: 13:34

Right.

Chris Arrington: 13:34

You know? Maybe the window gets broken or some siding or something, and you get a little bit on that. But it's a whole different mindset. In in the olden days Mhmm. Everybody's like, I'm not gonna buy a roof.

Chris Arrington: 13:46

I'm a wait for the insurance company to buy it because that's hailstorms. I'm praying for a hailstorm. Everybody's praying for a hailstorm. Well, now they're god supplied, and now everybody's like, okay. God, stop.

Chris Arrington: 13:58

No more hailstorms, please. Because it it's now an expense. So what we're advising our clients is to now think of your roof as more of a permanent

Reese Arrington: 14:10

Mhmm.

Chris Arrington: 14:11

Solution. Instead of putting something on that would get damaged every year, let's put something on that can make it through a hailstorm.

Reese Arrington: 14:18

Yeah. And that seems like a really uphill battle sometimes to get homeowners to really think long term about their property, especially the roof because they're used to these hailstorms happening every couple years. You know, are there any products out there that are helping homeowners, you know, without completely blowing their budget to have something that can help them with the longevity of their roof and also withstanding some hail?

Chris Arrington: 14:43

Yes. And what we call it generally is a hard product. So an asphalt shingle has got ceramic granules on it, and it's asphalt. And if you've ever seen one, they're flexible. And, I mean, you know, you could just take it.

Chris Arrington: 14:57

You could you could poke a hole in it, but that's because you're just holding up. You put it on a flat surface, and it's it's pretty tough. But it still is fairly easily damaged by a, you know, hailstone come coming at a a great speed from the sky. It it's it's gonna damage it. So go into a hard product, metal Mhmm.

Chris Arrington: 15:20

Tile, slate, synthetics, you know, that are that have got some thickness to them that are that are tough. But wood is outlawed in a lot of places, and it has some splitting problems. But but so you take a hard product. Now within the hard products, there's some that are heavy and some that are lighter. When we're talking about a reroofing market so if you're building a new house, do whatever you want because you're gonna put a structure up there to hold it.

Chris Arrington: 15:52

But for slate and tile and some of the concrete tile or clay tile, you have to build your structure stronger to hold it. So of all the houses out there that have asphalt shingles that wanna, you know, upgrade to something hard, it's probably gonna have to be metal or a synthetic because they are light enough weight but strong enough structurally to take the hail pounding and not be something that you've gotta actually go in and restructure your whole roof system. Add rafters. You know, maybe they gotta be thicker. I mean, what a I mean, it'd be a humongous project.

Chris Arrington: 16:36

So we're advising our clients to really now go Mhmm. To a harder product, which is more expensive. But in the long run, we've done the math. It's the best deal.

Reese Arrington: 16:49

Well, so do you mean do insurance companies know what these products are, and do they care if you put it on your roof?

Chris Arrington: 16:54

They do. And and most of these products will come with a higher classification for impact. Mhmm. It's a fancy way to say it's it's gonna make it through a hailstorm without getting damaged. Nothing will make it through, you know, a huge hailstorm.

Chris Arrington: 17:12

It it it could go through the decking of your roof into your house, you know, if it's big enough. But there's a a class four. So just to be simple Mhmm. When you move up to the class four, it it says that you're gonna be a lot stronger and able to handle hail that hits that product. And typically, most insurance companies are given reductions in their premiums for putting those products on.

Chris Arrington: 17:42

So you get a great savings.

Reese Arrington: 17:44

And so, no, those those deductions, they last for as long as that product's on the roof.

Chris Arrington: 17:50

Right. Because some people think, oh, well, I got a $600 savings this year. Well, no. You're because you're gonna get it next year Mhmm. And the next year and the next year.

Chris Arrington: 17:59

So in ten years or $6,000, Maybe your upgrade was only 2 or 3,000. Well, in four or five years, your your roof's paid for. You're making money. I mean, there's we had a saying that here that, you know, the roof that pays you back. I mean, there are roofs that will pay you back and get into another subject of attic ventilation and doing that right and saving on your energy bills.

Reese Arrington: 18:29

Yeah. No. I mean, talk about attic ventilation. I mean, this seems like, you know, from working here, you know, two big things that we talk about are the low hanging fruit, right, which is keep your shingles healthy. And you've always said they're the lungs of of the of the roof, you know, and then and get money back from insurance company to put on a class four shingle.

Reese Arrington: 18:49

I mean, how

Chris Arrington: 18:50

why why actually the attic ventilation are the lungs

Reese Arrington: 18:53

Yeah.

Chris Arrington: 18:54

Of the roof.

Reese Arrington: 18:54

Yeah. I think maybe I said that. I don't know.

Chris Arrington: 18:56

Yeah. You said shingles.

Reese Arrington: 18:57

Oh, I did. Yeah. Shingles of the roof. But but yeah. Oh, yeah.

Reese Arrington: 19:01

Lungs of the roof. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Chris Arrington: 19:03

Yeah. But, I mean, that is a good way to explain it, because buildings are kind of living things, you know, if you wanna look at it that way. And, you know, every living thing needs to breathe.

Reese Arrington: 19:18

Mhmm.

Chris Arrington: 19:18

Well, yeah, your attic on a building that has an attic is are the lungs of of that structure. So it it needs to breathe in. And that that's your soffit vents, which the soffit is the part of the roof that kinda hangs out past the, the outside wall of the building. And you put vents there so air can come in, and and then you have to have a place for it to go out up at the top. So and especially everybody knows how hot it is in Dallas.

Chris Arrington: 19:52

Yeah. I I told a guy one time, you know, the attic ventilation works like this. It brings the cool air from in the outside, and he goes, where's the cool air? Where's the cool air?

Reese Arrington: 20:03

A 10

Chris Arrington: 20:04

degrees outside. Yeah. Yeah. Cooler air.

Reese Arrington: 20:07

Yeah.

Chris Arrington: 20:07

It is coming across the grass. It's cooled a little bit, and it's coming in and then as a place to go out. Attic ventilation is so simple, and guys don't do it right. It's it's heartbreaking. But if you do it right and you just have a balance of air coming in and down low and going out up high, it keeps your attic drier in the winter when, actually, you want a little bit of cold air going through your attic because, in the wintertime, you're you're facing humidity and stale air that could could be moldy, could just be smelly and just not comfortable, could make your air conditioning feel like it's not really cooling.

Chris Arrington: 20:53

And then, you know, and then in the summertime, obviously, you you've got this hot box, which your air conditioner is probably in the attic, and it's trying to work in a 60 degree attic. And if you can lower that down to a 10, you know, your attic ventil your air conditioner is actually working probably twice as efficient. And, and and then, you know, if it's working more efficient, it's not on as much, saving money on that. And, you know, so that's a that that is a big savings. And then also with the hail discounts.

Reese Arrington: 21:31

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it just seems like the market really is just kind of adjusting to, to these long term products. And, you know, the hail is not gonna go anywhere, you know, like you said. So homeowners have to kind of they gotta be prepared for these free roofs or, you know, no more free roofs.

Reese Arrington: 21:50

Right?

Chris Arrington: 21:51

There's no more free roofs.

Reese Arrington: 21:52

You know? So how is that whole situation with the deductibles going up gonna affect the roofing landscape for roofing companies because that's a big change.

Chris Arrington: 22:04

Right. Well, we are we're seeing it right now.

Reese Arrington: 22:07

Mhmm.

Chris Arrington: 22:09

Roofing companies that know what they're doing and know where the market's going are turning more to a retail model. They're gonna be offering financing. Mhmm. They're gonna be offering better products. Another thing that we haven't even mentioned is warranties.

Chris Arrington: 22:27

And most of the manufacturers, the companies that are actually building the products that go on your roof, will certify the installers like us to offer higher level warranties that actually a manufacturer, which is typically a much, much larger company, is backing their material and our labor. Now at Arrington Roofing, we offer our own in house labor workmanship warranty coupled with, depending on what product we're putting on, that manufacturer's warranty that they're standing behind our labor too. And if you ever had a bad you know, this is, you know, worst situation, but if you had a bad project go on and you're trying to get resolution as a as a client, as a homeowner, or a building owner, and your little roofer that you used is out of business or you can't find them, at least if they did a warranty that was warranted by the manufacturer, do you have somebody to go to? So now Yeah. You know, we're not a one man show.

Chris Arrington: 23:42

We're not a small company. But we put a lot of stock and a lot of training and a lot of time and effort into those certifications so that we can offer that to our clients so that they're basically doubly covered. You know, we're gonna stand behind our work. But, you know, if anything happened to us, they get the manufacturer.

Reese Arrington: 24:04

Mhmm. Now back on, you know, the ventilation, why why aren't other roofers I mean, it seems like every roof we go out to, something's wrong with the ventilation. Yeah. Why have other roofers not told people about this?

Chris Arrington: 24:20

Yeah. Yeah. What I what I really think is that it's another thing. We've had people say, oh, you're you're too high, and then we'll go, well, let's look at the scope of work. Oh, well, this other guy that you're is gonna put a roof on for you, he's got no attic ventilation.

Chris Arrington: 24:37

Well, one, I've gotta tell you, no manufacturer is gonna warrant his roof. If you don't have attic ventilation, that is the number one thing that they look at. If they come out and they see there's not good attic ventilation, they're gonna turn around and say, our our warranty is void because you put it in a situation where it was gonna fail. You know, it probably blistered or got overheated, you know, or slipped or down or something. And, and I've lost my train of thought.

Reese Arrington: 25:12

Talking about why why roofers don't tell homeowners about about this ventilation. I mean, they get it to say they get an insurance claim, and then they just they're what if the roofer just comes in? They just go, well, this I'm just gonna take a run with this, and they don't ever offer an upgrade. I mean, what else are those companies doing that, you know

Chris Arrington: 25:33

I think so.

Reese Arrington: 25:33

They shouldn't be doing.

Chris Arrington: 25:34

Yeah. I think sometimes they just don't know how to do it.

Reese Arrington: 25:37

Mhmm.

Chris Arrington: 25:39

And the other thing this is gonna really sound funny. But roofers are used to working below themselves. You know, they're up on the roof and they're hammering down on something. And when you do a soffit vent for the intake, which is critical Mhmm. You're looking overhead and you're having to saw through the soffit vent typically, and there's sawdust.

Chris Arrington: 25:58

And, I mean, it sounds funny, but, you know, our guys, they don't wanna get sawdust to their eyes. They don't like doing that. It's in a different trade. And, you know, you gotta line all the you know, line them up straight, and you you gotta be good at carpentry and cutting stuff and putting things together. So sometimes it's just that.

Chris Arrington: 26:14

Sometimes they just don't know what all the products are because there actually are intake, products that actually go on the roof that you can use. Mhmm. But, you know, I Reese, I just gotta say it. Sometimes it just comes down to money, and they wanna get the job and skimp on that. And it just doesn't pay.

Chris Arrington: 26:38

Mhmm. That money that you said a little bit of money you saved upfront is gonna cost you in the long run by a higher monthly bill every single month, and it's not gonna take that long to fill up that bucket.

Reese Arrington: 26:54

Yeah. Well, it seems like a lot of roofing companies, if they're storm chasers, they really don't have to sell because they're they're giving away something for free. You know, back when deductibles were really cheap, roofers come and they cover deductibles, which has been illegal if not frowned upon for the past, however long, decades. Long time. But but yeah.

Reese Arrington: 27:12

I mean, there's no reason to hold up something and try to give your client what you really need if that's going to split on the insurance process. And then you have to, you know, go back and forth and the homeowner has to come out of pocket. They just take what the insurance says, puts on the exact same product that was on before, and they move on down the street and go sell the same thing to other neighbors saying how they saved them all this money. So I, you know, I I think that, you know, I I think that roofing companies are gonna have to learn how to sell on value because homeowners now, they're having to come out of pocket to make sure they get a good product when in the past, they didn't have to do that. Right.

Chris Arrington: 27:51

And and you bring up a really good point in that it it it now is gonna cost something, so why not put something on better? And and you're right. The mindset for decades has been, here's what I had and and because it's insurance driven. And the insurance company is only gonna pay to put back what you've got. But now's the time if, you know, if you can if you've got a little extra money or, you know, since we're going to more of a retail model, you know, to do something better, you can finance it, then right now is the time to do it.

Chris Arrington: 28:30

Hey. You're gonna you gotta replace this roof anyway because it's all damaged. Well, let's go the next step up. Let's increase our attic ventilation. Let's do it right.

Chris Arrington: 28:40

Let's, you know, make this make the house more valuable for the long term now? Because if you put on the same thing, you're gonna get the same thing. The next storm that comes through is gonna do the same kind of damage. Why don't you just get out of that storm claim game

Reese Arrington: 29:00

Mhmm.

Chris Arrington: 29:01

And get to where you don't have to do it anymore. And I'll look at the camera on this one. I'm I'm serious. I don't have to a lot of in the roofing industry, it's like repeat business. I don't wanna put anything on better because I know the storm next year is gonna damage it again.

Chris Arrington: 29:17

And we've done that. We've we've put roofs on the same house year after year after year. Well, if we can get our client to put on a better product where the next storm, they don't have any damage, guess what? I'm not being totally unselfish here. They tell their friends.

Chris Arrington: 29:35

Right. I'm not having to buy a roof again. You are. You gotta do what I did. Call Arrington.

Chris Arrington: 29:43

They'll put you on a roof that's gonna last longer. If not, it's your last one. Yeah. No.

Reese Arrington: 29:48

That's so true. And, you know, James, you know, he's our commercial guy for all you out there. He super detailed guy, and he put together a life cycle chart for roofing, specifically for a shingle roof, regular asphalt roof, and an f wave product, which is a synthetic. And taking into account inflation, you know, and and the, you know, the f wave, the synthetic product is warranted for fifty years. In that fifty year time frame in Texas, you'd replace your asphalt roof two times.

Reese Arrington: 30:16

So and that price goes way up At least. At least with inflation you're talking about, you know, I mean, it it comes out to over twice as much money put into that asphalt shingle than it would have been for an F Wave or synthetic product. So, you know, that you look at the year over year cost of a roof and putting in more money, even with ventilation, you put in more money, it might cost you another thousand dollars. You save on your year over year cost because you're extending the life of the product by five years. Yeah.

Reese Arrington: 30:49

So it's hard to think about, you know, your roof as a vehicle for financial, maybe not gain, but repayment, but it really can. Your roof can can really pay you back.

Chris Arrington: 31:00

Well and you know what? You you hit a good point. It's when you start thinking about the long term value of something, we always forget, hey. In twenty years, this $15,000 roof might be 20. And I I I gotta tell you this.

Chris Arrington: 31:16

I'm I'm some years ago, I'm calling one of my suppliers, and I said, okay. How much is a three tab shingle? And it was I think it was $95, and I just started laughing. And the guy at the desk, his name was Carl. And then Carl said, Chris, you know, what are you laughing about?

Chris Arrington: 31:34

I go, Carl, I used to tear off two layers of shingles, put decking on, and put shingles on for $95 a square. And you're telling me this cheapest shingle you've got has costed me $95 a square. I mean, it just shows you how much prices have increased. And it's you know, we even we even thought when COVID hit and all the prices just skyrocketed, we thought, well, they're gonna come back down. You know how much they've come back down?

Reese Arrington: 32:11

Yep. They haven't. Yeah. Yeah. No.

Reese Arrington: 32:14

We get Zero. It just seems like, you know, every other month, we get price increases from the manufacturer. It's crazy. And then, you know, on top of this, you know, you think, well, I'm not gonna live in the home for that long. Well, we've seen I mean, I we talk to realtors all the time.

Reese Arrington: 32:29

Homes get held up by the roof almost every other home sale. It seems like there's some negotiation that goes on. So by putting on a longer product, you buy a new home and it's got an f wave on it, or you're selling your home and it's got an f wave and a synthetic product, that new homeowner doesn't have to worry about replacing that shingle for the next thirty, forty years.

Chris Arrington: 32:49

I I mean, I I really I wanna this is for everybody, but I wanna I wanna just tell the realtors. If you're not using the roof as some of your sales pitch, Mhmm. You you you're missing an incredible opportunity right now because, let's say you did have more of a permanent product on there. You need to tell your buyers that are buying that house, Here's here's my house. Say it's house a, and my insurance premiums are x.

Chris Arrington: 33:20

And here's house b that you're that you would buy. It's about the same house, but it's got this cheaper roof on it. And your premiums are one and a half times what the premiums are here for insurance. Well, take that 200, 3 hundred, 4 hundred, 5 hundred dollars a month that you're paying for more for insurance. Put it on the house.

Chris Arrington: 33:44

Yeah. I mean, the the house is gonna be more valuable. If it costs you less to run it, you can pay more for it. I mean, I don't need to tell realtors that, but, you know, as for the general public, the roof savings that that you can have these days is beyond what most people are ever even thinking of because I guarantee you, the mindset is still praying for a hailstorm Mhmm. Because I'm gonna get a free roof.

Chris Arrington: 34:13

Yeah. And And it it's over. Yeah. It it's over.

Reese Arrington: 34:16

And the the other crazy thing with with real estate transactions is I've been hearing more and more that, homeowners insurance has called out to properties, and they're denying asphalt roofs that are over ten years old. Yeah. So, you know, if you're, you know like like we said, if you're in the market and you're looking and you're looking to sell your house, I mean, you know, that that buyer might have to put up with you know, even if they're only nine or 11 years old, when they go to sell the house, they're gonna have that burden as well. So you you don't have the burden of replacing it at closing if you're buying a house right now. You know, if you sell it later on down the road, you don't have the burden of of having to cover that cost at closing, and you get all that savings from the insurance, discount on your premiums.

Reese Arrington: 35:01

So it's a no brainer. I mean, especially with deductibles skyrocketing, you know, something's gotta give. And, you know, it seems like this might weed out some of the not so great contractors. Because a lot of the not so great contractors, they relied on that free roof. And so now, you know, it's not gonna be free anymore.

Reese Arrington: 35:22

Right. And so homeowners are gonna be paying, a lot more attention to who they hire.

Chris Arrington: 35:27

And, Reese, I wanna just put an exclamation point on what you're talking about the insurance companies going in, and they're they're going to keep, a record, from now on. I mean, they started doing this of how old your roof is. And and you're right. At generally, I think right now, it's it's about ten years. At at ten years on an asphalt shingle, now they're pretty specific, I think, about, you know, being an asphalt shingle.

Chris Arrington: 35:54

At ten years, you're probably gonna get if you go to renew your insurance, probably gonna get denied or it's gonna be very expensive. Yeah. Whereas on the permanent product, you just get to go right along your happy merry way. Mhmm.

Reese Arrington: 36:12

Yeah. I mean, I think the average homeowner stays in a year anywhere from eight to thirteen years. So, you know, maybe if you have a fifty year product on there, you get five to seven homeowners in that house. Or if you're buying if you're buying your first home and you're 35 years old, you might never you might never have to replace your roof again if that's your forever

Chris Arrington: 36:33

home. Well and and when you go to buy a house, if your realtor is up on all these things and the roof is ten years old, you know, when you say, well, I'm not gonna live here that long, so I'll just sell the house to somebody else. Well, videos like this Yeah. And others, people are gonna start learning. They're gonna go, no.

Chris Arrington: 36:53

I'll buy your house. You've got a ten year old roof, but you're gonna pay me. I'm gonna or I'm gonna take it off the price of the home for the cost of another roof. Well, I mean, there's your there's your savings. I mean, instantly Yeah.

Chris Arrington: 37:08

With a with a long term roof, it's already worth more because you're gonna get to sell your house for what you for what the value is instead of having to break off, you know, $10.15, $25,000 because nobody's gonna buy it because they know they're not gonna get approved on their insurance till we get a new roof on there.

Reese Arrington: 37:26

It's almost like, why buy an asphalt roof anymore? You know, I mean, it really it really starts to feel that way, especially in insurance is making it really difficult to buy that because you sell that home. What buyer even if you're selling the home and the roof's eight years old, what buyer's gonna wanna buy that when they know they're gonna get denied on their insurance in two years and they gotta replace the roof? I mean, it just I feel bad for homeowners because it is putting them in a tough spot. But it looks like if it's not already a reality, it's becoming one and will be one in the next ten years.

Chris Arrington: 37:58

Okay. And here's what's going on right now. I mean, we're right this minute. I think there's two manufacturers now that are not manufacturing three tab roofs for the general public. Now someone wants to go look that up.

Chris Arrington: 38:11

They're probably still making them for the new construction industry. That's a whole another podcast

Reese Arrington: 38:16

Yeah.

Chris Arrington: 38:17

Because they buy so much product. But for the general public, the cheapest what was called a three tab asphalt shingle. Manufacture, they're not making it anymore. It just they don't make any money off of it unless they're selling in great volumes, and it is so thin, and weak that it gets damaged so easy that they they just they don't wanna sell that product anymore. They wanna sell something better because anybody who's manufacturing something that knows, hey.

Chris Arrington: 38:53

I'm selling in the area where it could get damaged. They're gonna get a lot of complaints, and they don't want it. And then plus, it's it's a it's not a big moneymaker for them because it's it's way cheaper. But, I mean, the the the marketplace is already moving up because they're getting rid of the bottom, product. You know, the the cheapest thing you'll be able to buy is a laminated architectural shingle, which was, you know, kind of the the crown jewel Yeah.

Chris Arrington: 39:24

Of twenty five years ago. Mhmm.

Reese Arrington: 39:26

Yeah. Time's changing. Yeah. Times are changing. And, you know, all these if you're all listening, the synthetic products we're talking about out there, they're they're all they all cock they're copycats.

Reese Arrington: 39:35

They all look like other real products. So they they're molded into into look like shake or slate. And so, I mean, just just the curb appeal that these add to your home is it's it's beautiful.

Chris Arrington: 39:48

Oh, I had a quick story on that. Yeah. Go for it. Gosh. This was probably twenty years ago.

Chris Arrington: 39:52

I had a client who said he wanted to have a slate roof put on his house. I told him, hey, buddy. You can't, you can't do that because your house is not built for it. Like I was talking earlier, it's too heavy. Your your house couldn't hold we'd have to take the roof on.

Chris Arrington: 40:08

We'd have to restructure your whole house and then put it back on. Too expensive. Mhmm.

Reese Arrington: 40:12

Or, you

Chris Arrington: 40:12

know, why would you ever do that? And he said, well, but I want that look. I said, well, let's do a synthetic. He goes, I don't want a I don't want a plastic I want a plastic roof on my house. He was a real very nice house.

Chris Arrington: 40:24

Mhmm. And I said, well, we'll point down the street, you know, to something you like. And he he said, well, I my neighbor looked three doors down right across the street. Look at that one. Well, I'm looking at it, and I know it's a synthetic.

Chris Arrington: 40:36

It's plastic. But he thinks it's real slayed. He goes, How about that? And I go, Let's go down there and talk to your neighbor. So, we went to to to walk down the street, knock on the door of the neighbor's home, and he comes out.

Chris Arrington: 40:47

I go, hey, Chris Harrington with Harrington Roofing. Your neighbor really likes your roof and, you know, can you just tell us a little bit about what that is? And I mean, it's like he goes, well, it's fake. I go, what do you mean fake? He goes, it's plastic.

Chris Arrington: 41:01

And I go, really? He goes, yeah. But didn't it look good? I was like, yeah. It looks great.

Chris Arrington: 41:06

I mean, it was a perfect sale for my client. And so we put a synthetic. It it was DaVinci is the manufacturer. Put a DaVinci slate on his roof. And you can't I mean, you'd have to look hard to see that, okay, it's not real slate.

Chris Arrington: 41:23

Mhmm.

Reese Arrington: 41:23

But

Chris Arrington: 41:24

it's got the same look, lighter weight, less expensive, easy to repair, and it and it's it's on his house today. I know it's it's at least 20 years old.

Reese Arrington: 41:34

Yeah. Oh, it's wild. Yeah. And, you know, I'm I'm and we could go on and on and on and talk about roofing all day long. I mean, this is what we do every single day, and it's it's always fun getting to work with your dad.

Reese Arrington: 41:44

You know? So I always enjoy it. But to kinda to kinda wrap things up, I got a few more questions for you. So so what as a business owner, you know, just operating a business, it doesn't have to be roofing related, but what's one thing that you know now as a 68 year old business owner not to keep hammering in your age. You're not even that old.

Reese Arrington: 42:07

What's one thing you know now that you wish you would have known when you first started out?

Chris Arrington: 42:14

I I think it would probably be when you're young and you don't have any money and you're trying to sell something, do you think, how's anybody gonna ever afford this? You've gotta get over that and just go, you know what? Putting a better product on that may cost a little bit more is actually the best thing to do. And as for a client, that means save a little bit longer or you have to do some financing or whatever you gotta do to make it happen. I think that's the biggest probably one of the biggest lessons I learned is cheaper is typically not better.

Chris Arrington: 43:02

It's better to do something that's got some quality, especially when it comes to your home. I mean and, you know, people will say all the time, man, Chris, that it roof that's expensive. I I agree. I go, yes. It is.

Chris Arrington: 43:14

It's expensive. Well well, what's what's the alternative? You've got a roof that's leaking or it's falling apart or whatever. I mean, the the roof expense compared to everything else in your home that if you had a catastrophic failure and water's all over your floor, your hardwood floors, your cabinets, your carpet, your furniture, I mean, good grief. You could spend 10 times as much on the damage that water would do to the inside of your house as opposed to, you know, just putting on something a little bit better.

Reese Arrington: 43:46

Mhmm. Yeah. And, I mean, also just going with the a company who's been around for a long time. I mean, that's that's huge. You know, the stats say that eighty percent of roofers got out of business in two and a half years, and that number rises to ninety six percent in five years.

Reese Arrington: 44:01

So, you know, yeah, the it the you save money by doing it one time. Yeah. You know, if you gotta do it twice and you gotta fix someone else's mistake, then you really start to you know, it starts to cost more money. So, you know, I understand. You know, having to ask somebody to spend a little more money on something, it's kinda tough.

Reese Arrington: 44:20

But once you start believing that, no, it's better because it just costs this much money. This is how much it costs to do it right, to have staff, to have insurance, to be voluntary members of certain organizations. Chris is gonna be a he's he's the vice president for the North Pole. Oh, the president-elect. President-elect for the NTRCA.

Reese Arrington: 44:44

Yes. North Texas Roofing Association of North Texas. What is it?

Chris Arrington: 44:47

North Texas NTRCA, North Texas contractors. Oh my gosh. You reached. You got me messing up. NTRCA, North Texas Roofing Contractors Association.

Chris Arrington: 45:00

Very good.

Reese Arrington: 45:00

We did it. That is that says five letter acronym. That's that's a tough I know. It's a little hard. Yeah.

Chris Arrington: 45:04

And then

Reese Arrington: 45:04

and then there's RCAT, and they all have r's and t's and a's, and it's kinda confusing.

Chris Arrington: 45:08

Yeah. Roofing Contractors Association of Texas. Yeah.

Reese Arrington: 45:11

At the New Year one. So At the New Year one. So so all of these things add up to not just product that we're selling and putting on a roof, but who are you dealing with? How long have they been in business? What's their reputation?

Reese Arrington: 45:23

There's no regulation. Anybody can do it. You can be selling siding one day and decide a hailstorm comes through, and you see you're a roofer the next. Yeah. So so those are really what's important.

Reese Arrington: 45:32

And and that's a lot where the cost comes in. You know, there's an expertise to this business and and this trade. And and we do that. And then we also deliver on exceptional customer service. And there there's a cost to that.

Reese Arrington: 45:42

Saves you time and money.

Chris Arrington: 45:44

And, you know, Reese, on the, the quality aspect, we're not perfect. You know, when people say that, you're everybody I think everybody in the world goes, duh. I mean, nobody Yeah. Nobody is. But I say that to say everybody's imperfect, and not all jobs go perfectly.

Chris Arrington: 46:05

But what separates a really great company from a company we don't wanna deal with is how you rectify the problem. Mhmm. If if you if you decided that you're gonna rectify the problem by being hard to find, not calling people back and really not honoring your warranties. You're gonna have those are gonna be the companies that just aren't gonna make it for very long. You you could make it for a year, two, three, five because you build new customers.

Chris Arrington: 46:32

But after a while, you have enough people telling other people, don't use that guy. Well, having forty years of experience and still being in this business, have we done some bad jobs? We sure have. But some of those are our best clients, and they were referring more people to us because we were able to prove to them that we're gonna stand behind our warranty. And at our expense and our cost because it was our problem, we fixed it, and we got it right with them.

Chris Arrington: 47:02

That's what it takes to have a really great company is to stand behind your word. And then when it comes up and you gotta prove it, you prove it.

Reese Arrington: 47:11

Yep. Well, that's so true. And that's and that's I think looking at the forty year longevity of this business, and I had the pleasure of seeing that play out in everything you've done. You know? And that's been a great example for me and for the rest of the team to know that not only in our dealings with our clients, but our dealings with our, you know, employees or sales guys that we are in this for the benefit of all.

Reese Arrington: 47:32

That's that's our vision statement. You know, we are not here to win to have somebody else lose. We believe it's not a zero sum game that we can all win. You know? You get a good product.

Reese Arrington: 47:43

You have a good job. You make a commission. Company makes money. We all grow together, and then we're all happy. So so I I've I've appreciated it.

Reese Arrington: 47:50

You you definitely led with example on that, and it's built this great company. It's been really a pleasure to watch.

Chris Arrington: 47:55

Thank you.

Reese Arrington: 47:56

So last question. You know, two more two more questions. First, what Chris Harrington, what what do you like to do besides roofing, unroofing related? What is some fun give me two fun things about you that you're doing right now in your life.

Chris Arrington: 48:13

Exercising and eating meat.

Reese Arrington: 48:18

Okay. No. I've I, I

Chris Arrington: 48:22

have to say, I really kinda let myself go. And I because I used to be an athlete and I and it's but here's a good thing. You know, when you've been an athlete, you know what it feels like to have your full control of your body, strong muscles, being able to jump, run, whatever. And, you know, as you as you get older, you know, you're sitting more or whatever. But I've I've gone back to the gym, and it's it's really been fun.

Chris Arrington: 48:47

I've I've enjoyed it. I'm not doing anything super special, but, just just staying healthy. And then Mhmm. On that healthy thing is I was keeping the the fast food business in in business. I mean, I was eating a lot of fast food, and I've been actually cooking for myself a little bit more and eating better.

Chris Arrington: 49:06

So I like that. But so so I'd say that that'd just be one. That's that's my health. The other thing, and this maybe what you're getting at, is I started doing pottery.

Reese Arrington: 49:16

Yeah. Pottery. Well, it's the third thing I was thinking of too, but that's another one.

Chris Arrington: 49:21

So I started going to the creative art center, over in East Dallas. And it oh my gosh. It's so much fun getting a piece of clay and throwing it on a table and spinning it around and making a bowl and then having it be all waffling and crappy. And my teacher last night, I go, that's not exactly around. She goes, well, I mean, it's got character.

Chris Arrington: 49:45

You know, it's got I'm like, okay. We'll call it love, but it's kinda crooked. Anyway, that's that it's been yeah. That's been a lot of fun.

Reese Arrington: 49:53

Yeah. The imperfections are what make things interesting, you know, sometimes.

Chris Arrington: 49:56

What's the other thing you were thinking of?

Reese Arrington: 49:58

You're in a band. You're a lead singer.

Chris Arrington: 50:01

You know what? That has been that has become so much a part of my life.

Reese Arrington: 50:05

I know.

Chris Arrington: 50:06

And the funny part is, I grew up, but loved music. Loved music growing, and I loved to perform music. But but I was never I wasn't in a rock and roll band as a kid. You know, all the young guys are getting a band. I I didn't again, I'm a I'm a member of the Happy Campers.

Reese Arrington: 50:25

Mhmm.

Chris Arrington: 50:26

Good time rock and roll band, funnest band South Of The Trinity. Funnest? Is that The the the the fun because we are because we're a lot of fun. Funnest 60 and 70 year old something band, South Of The Trinity. And, but I was 30 no.

Chris Arrington: 50:44

I was, I was in my forties because this is our twenty fifth year. I was 43 when we started, yeah, when we started doing rock and roll, and we started playing around the campfire at Indian guides, campouts, and and then we just started doing private party gigs and stuff. And now and that's a lot of fun. Yeah. I love doing that.

Reese Arrington: 51:05

Yeah. Well, whenever someone comes to one of our parties, you know, like the parties we have in the summer at at our offices, and they go, wait. That's your dad? Like, yeah. That's him.

Reese Arrington: 51:15

He seems like,

Chris Arrington: 51:16

I know he's a bit your dad's so cool.

Reese Arrington: 51:18

I'm like, please don't tell him that. Please don't tell him that.

Chris Arrington: 51:21

Then go to my head.

Reese Arrington: 51:23

No. But you are you are a cool dude, and and it's been great having you here. Last question. If there's one takeaway that you want everyone listening to understand about their roof, take a second to think about it. But what is what's the one thing?

Reese Arrington: 51:38

We talked about a lot of things.

Chris Arrington: 51:40

Top takeaway. I'm actually gonna go back to quality. I mean, put something on that's gonna last for a long time, and and really that comes down to something that'll withstand the hail. Just being in the hail game anymore is gonna be a losing situation. You're you're you're gonna have to redo your roof when the hail hits it.

Chris Arrington: 52:10

You're gonna have to redo your roof, or pay for someone to do it if you sell your home. It's just something that you're gonna have to worry about every March, April, May, and it's so easy to get out of it. And with this industry learning that too I mean, I'm not the only referrer that knows this. Do some financing. Hey.

Chris Arrington: 52:34

Hey. I'd I had two air conditioning systems in my house go at the same time. Did I pony up the 20 whatever thousand dollars it was? No. They they said we offer financing.

Chris Arrington: 52:44

So I said put me on financing. I'm making a payment. I want an air conditioning fixed. So Yeah. I'd I'd do the same thing with your roof.

Chris Arrington: 52:52

And it not that it provides the immediate cool that you need because it was summertime, but it provides a long term security confidence that your property is gonna be secure Yep. For the next forty or fifty years.

Reese Arrington: 53:10

I love it. I love it. Well, thanks for coming on. Thank you all for watching the first episode of Building Dallas. We'll be back with more episodes here next week.

Reese Arrington: 53:21

Tune back in. Thanks for coming. We'll see you next time. Hey. Oh, good.

Reese Arrington: 53:29

Yeah.

Chris Arrington: 53:29

Really? That's Man, we we probably went for ten or twelve minutes there.

Reese Arrington: 53:33

Yeah. Longer than that. We covered it all. Okay. One forty five.

Narration: 53:38

Thanks for tuning in to Building Dallas, where we bring the stories that shaped North Texas. Subscribe, share, and stay connected. Until next time, keep building. Building Dallas is presented by Arrington Grouping, keeping North Texas covered, rain or shine.