LIVE From IRE 2023 With FlashCo!

Karen Edwards sat down to chat with Rob and Jeremy from FlashCo at IRE 2023 to discuss what's new with FlashCo, including their new product line! 

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Rob Drew, marketing manager, and Jeremy Grimes, business development specialist, from FlashCo. You can read the interview below or watch the YouTube video.

Karen Edwards: Hello everyone and welcome back. This is Karen Edwards and we are live from the Roofers Coffee Shop Sound Stage at the International Roofing Expo in Dallas, Texas. And I am so excited to welcome Rob and Jeremy from Flash Co.

Jeremy: Hi, Karen.

Karen Edwards: And they brought fun stuff. So Rob, what's going on?

Rob: So, we're here with our new product line. So we've got a whole new product line. Yeah, it's really exciting and so we're now doing fall protection. So we've got both horizontal lifeline, we've got tieback anchors available, we've got the ladders and that kind of stuff. So, Jeremy's our safety expert, so I'll let him get into some of the details. But yeah, it's really exciting.

Karen Edwards: Yeah.

Rob: And we've got it right here in the booth too. We're showing our horizontal lifeline in the booth.

Karen Edwards: And what's the booth number?

Rob: We're in 2426. So way on the other side, but come on down there and you can test the system. We've got it set up right there-

Karen Edwards: Oh, that's-

Rob: ... in the booth.

Karen Edwards: ... that's very cool.

Rob: Yeah, it's really exciting and we've got the anchors there too. So you can come see it all and I'll let Jeremy explain some of the details.

Karen Edwards: Absolutely. Yeah. We talked to Jeremy at NERCA, about it.

Rob: NERCA, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah.

Karen Edwards: So now we're going to go deep diver.

Jeremy: Sure.

Karen Edwards: Deep diving on it.

Jeremy: So like Rob alluded to, it's a new product for Flash Co. So this is our horizontal lifeline system and it's designed to fit virtually all roof decking materials from 22 gauge metal B- deck, any kind of metal decking, to structural concrete, to staining seam metal roofs, to trapezoidal R panels. So we brought with us, this is our single ply base. Basically, it just sets on top of the roofing assembly, on top of your decking, on top of your rigid polyiso, if you have a cover board system, it sits directly on that and then all the way to the field of your roof. So your membrane, whether it be TPO, PVC, EPDM, mod bit, filled, you name it, virtually any kind of waterproofing is adaptable to this system.

So it sits directly on top of your roof. And then what's unique about our system is we have a single point anchor. It shows four holes on each side. That's for a wood deck application, but for a traditional commercial structure, it's going to be a single point anchor. And what's unique about the single point is, it just mounts directly into the hole and it toggles to the bottom of the deck. Other systems on the market have your four points of connection, so if you're running a lengthy lifeline, a mile of lifeline, et cetera, you have your single point and it's about a 75% savings in labor.

It comes with a full suite of components. What we have here is what we call our kinetic energy absorber. It just basically fastens on, hand tightens onto the base. It's the same hardware for all three systems. So when I say three systems, talking metal deck, talking standing scene and trapezoidal roof panel. And as well as, we have our rigid post system, again, same concept, it just fastens directly on. And then we have a single point anchor which gives you your 360 connection, so you can tie off and swivel around. So really any fall protection need for commercial structures for OSHA 1910, 1926, NC standards, European Canadian standards, it meets all those requirements. So we're really excited.

Karen Edwards: That that is nice. FlashCo. is very well known for rooftop accessories.

Rob: Yes.

Karen Edwards: Flashings, prefabricated.

Rob: Yep.

Karen Edwards: So it just makes sense that you would offer an accessory for safety, basically.

Jeremy: Yeah.

Rob: Yeah. So what we found in the market is that not all of your makers of the horizontal lifelines know a lot about roofing and so we're basically bringing all of our roofing experience to this new product line here. Since the last 23 years, Flash Co. been up on the roof, so it's a real nice extension for us in terms of product line. So having both the horizontal lifeline and the tieback anchors, we've got both that lifeline system to prevent the falls or a fall from occurring and then on a tieback anchor where you're going for your window washing or a similar application like that, where you need something that's obviously going to hold you very tightly as you go over to do that window washing, we got that as well. So a whole suite of products there. So it's really exciting to add this to our existing product line.

Karen Edwards: Yeah, I bet contractors are excited too because they know and trust you and have for years and you definitely understand roofing and designed the system to not damage the roofing system.

Rob: Right. And so I'm sure Jeremy can talk to that.

Jeremy: Yeah. To kind of tie off a couple points Rob made there. We do have our tieback anchors as well for your window washing, your facade maintenance, where the intent is to fall off the roof, we offer that solution as well, as well as our horizontal lifeline system. And also, really to stress the point, I mean our expertise is in the commercial roofing and waterproofing world, so we're bringing the best of both worlds. We're bringing the expertise of our watertight seals and our flashings, as well as our knowledge of the fall protection world, all into one. So really it's a single sweet connection. It's a single point problem solving for all facets in the industry. So we're super excited about what we're bringing to the table.

Karen Edwards: Yeah, so definitely swing by their booth, check it out, try it out.

Rob: Yeah, absolutely.

Karen Edwards: That's fun. Right?

Rob: Come test it out. Yeah, I think what we've found is that contractors, a lot of times will get asked for a permanent horizontal lifeline system and maybe because of liability or something, not interested in taking that on, but now we're able to offer the products themselves and also the certified installers who are going to handle that, in terms of the liability and all that.

Karen Edwards: Oh, wow.

Rob: Yeah, so as you mentioned, you get that best of all worlds, in terms of product and someone to handle the install and all that, in terms of the permanent horizontal lifeline.

Jeremy: And we do hear that a lot from roofers. The liability piece, don't be afraid of that. A roofer is often one of the first points that a building owner is going to come to for this solution and a lot of times a roofer might walk away from it and might not be interested just because of the liability. If that's the piece, reach out to Flash Co., we certainly have the solutions, all the way from engineering partners, to shop drawings, to certified installing, to certified contractors, the insurance, it's all handled. We've got the program completely in a nice package. So if you do run across that, give us a call and we can have that dialogue.

Karen Edwards: It's turnkey, it's ready to go.

Rob: Turnkey.

Jeremy: Absolutely.

Karen Edwards: Wow. Okay. Well thank you guys for being here, for sharing.

Jeremy: Thank you so much.

Karen Edwards: It's really exciting. You can learn more about FlashCo. at their booth and also on the Roofer's Coffee Shop directory. So we'll be coming to you live all day long. From the Sound Stage, I'm Karen Edwards, tune in.