LIVE From IRE 2023 With A.C.T Metal Deck Supply!

Lauren White catches up with Michael Polizzi from A.C.T. Supply at this year's IRE. 

The following is a conversation between Lauren White and Michael Polizzi from A.C.T. Supply at IRE 2023. Watch the interview on Youtube.

Lauren White: Hi, I'm Lauren White with RoofersCoffeeShop, and we are here at the International Roofing Expo 2023 in Dallas, Texas. And we are at A.C.T. Metal Deck Supply, and I am here with Michael.

Michael Polizzi: Sorry, we had customers. It's a great show. It's busy, so we have a lot of traffic. It's exciting to be at IRE again. Last year I think we had a little scare still, so it was a little slower, but it's really, I think, the biggest exhibitor showing that I've ever seen. And it seems like people's booths are bigger than they've ever been. And for us, we have 15 locations in 11 states so it's really fun to come to IRE and see people from every state. We're really grateful to work with the contractors and be a member of NRCA and have an opportunity to be in one place and talk to people from all these different states while we're in the great state of Texas.

Lauren White: Definitely.

Michael Polizzi: Thank you.

Lauren White: Yeah. And what sets A.C.T. apart from others in the industry?

Michael Polizzi: Well, we like to say honestly, that we're pioneers. There's been other people who've done what we've done, but we've really taken our show on the road and have brought it to all these other states. Nobody likes to pay freight, understandably so it's hard to... Someday we'll invent a way to click a mouse and be able to ship deck somewhere. But until we figure that out, we like to bring the warehouses as close to the contractors, especially with, in roofing, we're only working with the contractors in a re-roofing situation. They rip off the roof, if the deck is rusted and they have to replace it, the job's on hold until they can replace the deck, which means they need it yesterday. So by us having inventory and having it as close to the jobs and as close to the contractors, that's been a real good fit for all of us.

Lauren White: That's great. And what are you hoping, I mean, it's day two, so what are you hoping to get out of the rest of the show? We've still got a day and a half left.

Michael Polizzi: The days are flying already, the same. The traffic is excellent. We got a great staff. I want to bring them in here, but they're busy talking to customers.

Lauren White: That's a good thing.

Michael Polizzi: So that's great. And yeah, just continue the same. We do so much marketing. We're very aggressive. We love the industry. We're an advocate. We're members of many of the associations, but we take it personally when we find out that people still haven't heard of us. So I guess we're not done doing our job. So thank you for helping us.

Lauren White: We'll spread the word.

Michael Polizzi: Yeah, thank you for helping us. So it's Sarah. This is Sarah. She's one of our operations managers-

Lauren White: Hi, Sarah.

Sarah: Hi, how's it going?

Michael Polizzi: ... and we've pulled her in. She's worn many hats in our company. She's been in sales, but she helps us make sure we have these other locations and she makes sure we have inventory in all the locations. And thanks for coming. Sarah does a great job and she's great pulling people in. So I'm like, "Sarah, you should be part of this." And now I'm dragging her on film. She'll love that. You know what I was thinking? I'm talking too much.

Lauren White: No, it's great.

Michael Polizzi: One thing that I think really sets us apart is for 37 years we were what's called a metal deck subcontractor. Each market does it differently, but we supplied and installed metal deck in the Chicago Metro area for 37 years. So we read blueprints, we understand exactly what's happening on the job site. We understand everything about the product, the engineering, and have all the resources anyone would ever need. That's why they don't have to be a metal deck expert. We can handle all of that. That's why we know, not just we have the material, but if you have questions, if you need submittals, if you run into a problem, and especially with roofing, when they're re-roofing a lot of these profiles, they're obsolete. They're from 1962 and they don't make that exact profile anymore. So our whole life is measuring these exact... Here, if you want to get this quick.

Measuring these exact dimensions, and we can help the contractors speed things up. Like I said, the roof is off, they're on the job site. They need to know, because if one measurement is wrong and they buy the material, they sell the job, they hoist it up on the roof, and then it doesn't fit, they're trying to nest it into this existing roof. We really can help them speed that up even with just a photo. With the phones now, it's just so easy, a tape measure and a photo of the deck, and we can help speed up the process. But yeah.

Lauren White: No, I think that's great, especially because you as experts can help them become even more of an expert in the field and what a valuable resource instead of having to turn to somebody else too.

Michael Polizzi: Yes. We've been doing it long enough now too, we have a lot of contractors, a lot of customers, I believe their confidence has really grown, where sometimes in the past they would see the metal deck was bad, but they didn't want to deal with it. But now they know that they have the support and it's a profit center for them. And they may be going after more deck replacement because they know they have a resource, they know they have the expertise and the availability. So it's been a win-win for us all.

Lauren White: We all love a win-win.

Michael Polizzi: We all love a win-win.

Lauren White: All right. Well, thank you. Have fun at the rest of the show and we'll be seeing you around.

Michael Polizzi: Why there's only one day, I don't know, but today apparently it's International Women's Day.

Lauren White: It's true.

Michael Polizzi: So women, thank you for being here, period. And Happy International Women's Day.

Lauren White: Yes, definitely. All right. Have a good one.