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Fall Letter from the CEO Rob Kornahrens

Apr 20, 2017 | Blog, Latest News | 0 comments

A letter from Advanced Roofing’s founder and CEO, Robert “Rob” Kornahrens

As we near the end of Hurricane Season, we can all breathe a sigh of relief and begin looking forward to spending time with family and friends for the holidays. I am proud of my team’s hard work during 2016, making it another successful year. Thank you to everyone for all that you do.

It was a slow start to the year for our commercial Re-Roofing Division due to the torrential rains brought on by the Super El Nino. However, with the acquisition of RSS, production has increased with a full backlog to the end of the year. In the first quarter of 2017, we are starting several big roofing projects for the Fort Lauderdale International Airport and United Therapeutics. This year was packed with many notable achievements that I am excited to share with you.

Company Achievements in 2016

  • We hired 20% more employees and 20% more temporary and CLP workers to help with post-Hurricane Matthew cleanup efforts
  • Successfully implemented Halogen quarterly goal setting that’s helping keep us on track
  • Recognized as the “Top Commercial Roofing and Solar Energy Contractors” in Florida for the fifth year in a row. This means a great deal to me because it is validation from our industry peers that we are among the best in the business.
  • Received the first-place Sustainability Award Lockheed Martin’s solar carport from the Florida Roofing and Sheet Metal Contractors Association (FRSA) Took home the 2nd Place Award in the Low Slope category for the Publix distribution warehouse re-roofing in Deerfield Beach.
  • Recipient of the “Excellence in Construction” Award from the Associated Builders and Contractors, Florida East Coast Chapter for our re-roofing project for the Stephen R. Booher building. Watch the video…

Notable Roofing and Solar Projects in 2016

  • NOAA Hurricane Research Center at the National Weather Service in Miami, Florida Re-roofing: We took great pride in ensuring one of the most important buildings in the country will continue to provide the vital information needed to keep us all safe. Watch the video…
  • Lockheed Martin, Orlando Solar Carport: This will be the second solar carport installation for the company and will be the largest privately funded array in Florida upon completion in 2017.
  • The City of Lake Worth Solar Field: This unique solar project consisted of a 2.25 MW ground-mount solar array on a brownfield that was previously unusable. Watch the video…
  • Our AC Division is also performing well this year, earning several big projects like the Hillsborough County Police Station and the Que- the company’s first $1 million project, expected to be completed in early 2017. The HVAC team has grown by 20% under the direction of Tom Kornahrens and Scott Mollan and will look to expand statewide in the coming year.

A Look Back at the 2016 Hurricane Season

This year’s Hurricane Season was one of the most active in recent history.  I want to give a BIG “Thank You” to our entire team for their Hurricane Matthew preparation efforts. All job sites and branch locations were broken down and secured from the potential impact of the Category Four hurricane. Following the storm, our team was able to respond quickly and help with cleanup efforts throughout the state including drying in 390 roofs in Orlando and providing many temporary roofs and repairs in the Daytona Beach area. Leading our team’s efforts in Central and North Florida, only hours after the storm passed, were Mike Scardina, James Carotenuto, and Randy Gibson. They deserve special mention for stepping up to the plate to ensure our customer’s damaged roofs were safe and secure.

We Are Only as Good as Our People

ARI is only as good as its people (and that means we’re great!). We hired new talent that is allowing us to grow and improve our processes needed to execute large projects and service commercial clients throughout the state. Sadly this year, we had to say goodbye to our long-time employee, Jim Loftus, who moved to the Keys to pursue his dream of running a fishing charter in the Florida Keys. I would like to thank Jim for his service and commitment for the past fifteen years. Under his leadership, our Service Division in South Florida has grown significantly. We will miss him greatly and are proud to call him a friend for life. Our company’s health and happiness will continue to be a top priority in 2017.  We are committed to keeping our employees’ health and happiness at the core of our values by offering a variety of programs and incentives like our Wellness Program, company softball team, and monthly food truck lunches. This year, we created a six-month health challenge to motivate employees to maintain a healthy lifestyle. It’s inspiring to see the healthy changes our ARI families are making each day.

Advanced Roofing in the Community

  • The ABC Apprenticeship Program will see its first graduating class in 2017. We believe this program can help the labor shortages the roofing industry is facing. I am very proud of all of our team members involved in this amazing program.
  • Helped to pay off the mortgage for Sonrise Mission, allowing the faith-based rehabilitation center to purchase new bedroom furniture for its residents and continue its mission serving our community
  • We teamed up with the Broward Sheriff’s Office and Bass Pro Shop to take middle school students on a fishing tour of South Florida. The event is part of BSO’s Cops and Kids United initiative created in 2016 to build positive interactions between kids and law enforcement.
  • Our men’s and women’s fishing teams were on fire in 2016. The ladies team earned 1st in the Dolphin divisions at the Saltwater Sisters charity fishing tournament benefiting breast cancer awareness. The men’s team won “Top Overall Boat” in the RCASF 37th Annual Fishing Tournament, won the Guy Harvey Outpost Blazing Mako Fishing Tournament, and placed first at the Pompano Beach Showdown Crown Championship. It was a great year overall for our fishing teams and we look forward to earning the championship title in this winter’s “Quest for the Crest” Sailfish Series. Learn more…
  • Partnered with TutorMate for the third year in a row to help underprivileged children living in South Florida enhance their reading comprehension skills through a weekly thirty minute phone call coaching sessions with our staff members. Studies show that students in this program can increase their reading comprehension skills up to 40% in a one year period. Learn more…

New Technologies in Roofing, HVAC, and Solar

New technologies are poised to make a big impact on our industry in 2017. Look for improvements in technology applications for our estimating teams that will give application data needed to achieve the greatest success when installing new roof systems. We are also excited to be one of the first installers of a new cool white roof coating from Tropical Products that is a game-changer. You can expect to see this product enter the market in the New Year.

There are new technologies in commercial air conditioning coming to Florida in 2016 like Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) technology. Our HVAC Division, Advanced Air Systems, was recently named a Daikin VRV Pro Contractor, a partnership that will allow us to provide innovative, efficient and cost-effective cooling solutions to our customers. Daikin pioneered variable refrigerant flow (VRV) technology and is recognized as the largest HVAC manufacturer in the world, so we’re proud to provide these innovative systems to our customers.

Since we practice what we preach, I am happy to announce that we are building an 84-kilowatt solar carport at our headquarters in Fort Lauderdale that will be completed by next spring. Stay tuned for more on this as we plan the ribbon cutting in April 2017 for our Solar Division’s ten-year anniversary. Also, be sure to attend our “Spring Lunch and Learn” on February 2nd at the FIU Wall of Wind and Solar Carport. Learn about new roofing and solar technologies, tax deductions for roof maintenance, and tour the solar carport and Wall of Wind simulator.

Looking Forward

I am looking forward to celebrating the holidays with our ARI family, first with our annual Thanksgiving tradition of cooking turkeys in hot tar kettles and then by pulling out all the stops for the Winterfest Boat Parade on December 10th. This year’s theme is “Comics and Cartoons Rocking the Night Away.” Be sure to check out our Fred Flintstone Barge and Cadillac Boat!

I am excited to work with all of you as we achieve great things in 2017.

From my family to yours, Happy Holidays!

Rob Kornahrens
Founder & CEO
Advanced Roofing Inc.

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