Shannon Conrady – Revolutionizing Doors: Sentry Storage Solutions - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Central States’ Marketing Director, Shannon Conrady. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast.

Intro: Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Metalcast. I'm your host, Karen Edwards. And in today's episode, we are going to be talking all about roll-up doors and hallway systems. And I'm really thrilled to welcome Shannon Conradie from Central States. Shannon, welcome.

Shannon Conrady: Hi, good morning. Thanks for having me.

Karen Edwards: Yeah, this is going to be a great conversation. But before we dive in, could you just introduce yourself and let us know what you do there at Central States?

Shannon Conrady: Certainly, Karen. I am the marketing director at Central State, and I've been with the organization for roughly five years. Most of my professional background, though, has been in the door industry or at least the adjacent door industry. So I'm excited to be talking about doors with you today.

Karen Edwards: Yeah, it's not something that we talk about often on this podcast. I think every, we like to talk about all parts of the building and doors are a pretty important part of the building, if you ask me. So tell us first a little bit about central states for those that may not know. How long have you been around and what do you do?

Shannon Conrady: So Central States is headquartered in Northwest Arkansas. We are a 100 % employee-owned company and we have 11 factories nationwide and we have two in construction at the moment that will be coming on later this year that we're really excited about. But basically, Central States has three business units. We have a manufacturing division that manufactures the light gauge metal. needed for metal buildings. And then we have a building package division where you can buy the building as a complete package. And then we have a third division where you take that complete package and have it installed. So we're trying to reach the metal industry with as much service and quality as possible. And fortunately, doors are just going to be another extension of that. Doors and hallways for the self-storage industry.

Karen Edwards: So Shannon, as I was preparing to have you on the podcast today, I was just thinking about the self-storage industry. And I was thinking about, you know, we have a lot of storage units in this country. We have a lot of stuff, right?

Shannon Conrady: Yes, it's kind of funny you mentioned that, Karen, there's more storage facilities actually than there is fast food. The United States self-storage is a $44 billion industry. So Central States provides the light gauge cold roll formed metal needed for the self storage building. The hallway and door system is the interior portion of that that you and I experience when we go rent a unit.

Karen Edwards: Okay, and you know, I think about people that are renting that unit, they're just yanking those doors up and open and slamming them down and they're not thinking about being nice to the door. So I imagine it's really important to make sure that those doors can withstand that kind of use and abuse.

Shannon Conrady: Yes, when Central States went to market, one of the things that was really important and that I'm pretty passionate about is that we've raised the standard that's being offered to the industry. And what I mean by that, it's the quality of the product and the field considerations. Central States has a reputation of being easy to work with. And so I'm really excited and proud about how much thought our engineering team has put into thinking about the installer and thinking about the maintenance associated with our product. It makes me feel good about the fact that we're bringing such a high quality product to the market and they deserve it.

Karen Edwards: Yeah. So tell me a little bit about what makes your solutions better. said raising the bar. Can you talk a little bit about some of those standards and where, you know, it's not the bare minimum. You're making it rise above that bare minimum to work longer and perform better, right?

Shannon Conrady: Exactly, exactly. So one of the things that we were adamant about when we developed the roll-up door is that we wanted to make sure there was a dead axle design on the door. So even though the self-storage door typically doesn't get any larger than a 10 by 10, the dead axle design is the same as you would find on a 20 by 20. So what's important about that is the fact that it extends the longevity of the... What's important about that is that the life...go again. What's important about that is that the lifetime of the door is...no, last time. What's important about that is that it extends the lifetime of the door because the springs are all equally tensioned with the same amount of stress and it makes it much easier to maintenance. So it's just a much more appropriate engineering design than say a live axle design that is also what you would find in the industry at the moment. Another upgrade that we did is in our spring wire. So typically the door industry uses a spring wire that has a standard of ASTM 229. We decided to go with an ASTM 228 and you would say, well, what's the difference? The 229 spring is a black oil tension. The 229 spring is a black oil tempered spring. It is very strong, but over time, if it doesn't stay lubricated, it can get brittle and it will break. Our 228 spring is music wire, Karen. Like literally music wire.

Karen Edwards: Interesting.

Shannon Conrady: The properties of the steel alloys in that wire give it a higher tensile strength. It also gives it a good... good elastic limits. So we feel like that it's going to increase the life of the door because it can withstand more stresses and it doesn't require greasing. Our 228 spring wire springs do not require any additional lubricants. There's no maintenance associated with that, which is music to a self storage owner's ears when it comes to, you know, the maintenance and the ongoing maintenance program associated with their facility. So we're pretty excited about it. We are the only ones right now in the industry that have, that are off, we are the only ones right now in the industry that are offering this type of spring. And we're pretty stoked.

Karen Edwards: Nice! Wow. Yeah.

Shannon Conrady: It is a more expensive spring, but again, the industry is worth it. Our customers deserve the best.

Karen Edwards: Well, from the owner's perspective, think about that. If you know that that spring is not going to require the maintenance over time, it's actually probably going to save you money by investing in the better spring to begin with.

Shannon Conrady: Exactly. Exactly, exactly, exactly. thank you, thank you. The other thing that I am super proud and excited to share is that I feel like there was a very intentional approach to the installer's experience with the Central States door. Some manufacturers have

Karen Edwards: Wow. I love the pun, the music to their ears. That was good, by the way.

Shannon Conrady: A variety of fasteners and sizes. And so you have to practically carry your toolbox with you when you go install it. The Central States store uses the same fastener for the jam and the bracket and the doorstop. And so there's just one fastener size in the hardware bag. And you don't have to worry about having the 3 eighths tip or the five eighths tip.

Which is swapping the tips out and making adjustments to go to the next step of the installation process. Our bags are kitted by unit. So the little hardware bag has all the parts in it necessary for a door to be stalled in a particular unit. We don't bulk pack. We keep it all together so that keeps the job site nice and neat and clean and well organized. And then our brackets are installed on our door assemblies. and our latches are factory assembled onto the door curtain also. So there's just a lot less time and effort and know-how really required for our 6500 series door.

Karen Edwards: Wow, organization is key because I've never installed a door, but I have put furniture together. And when it comes with everything in one big bag and I have to sort it out and figure out what part goes where, that takes a lot of time. So I'm sure feedback has been great from contractors on that.

Shannon Conrady: Yes, our doors are actually very consumer friendly. The self-storage door that's makes it such a great component for the industry is because it's a lightweight door. It's simple to install. It doesn't install like a sectional door does. It doesn't have the 72 pieces and every hinge that has to get connected to every piece. And so it is very consumer friendly that a homeowner or do-it-yourself kind of person could totally install this door in 15, 20 minutes. You just have to be mindful of when you're tensioning the spring, you know, because a spring under tension can cause bodily injuries. So you have to follow the directions and make sure that you're doing it correctly and properly. We have video that helps identify how to do that. And our tension adjuster on our door makes it very easy to just click and we have a little pawl tensioner that if you have to take tension off the door then you lift the pawl and rotate the tension wheel back counterclockwise and it would take some stress off. But I mean that's really the biggest... the most critical part, yeah, of installing a door.

Karen Edwards: Yeah. Yeah, see, I would hire a professional. Even though it's easy, some things are better left to the professionals. that in my mind, that's one of them. But yeah, no, that's great. So I want to just talk about, we said hallway, like and I'm envisioning storage units. Yep, you can go inside and you're walking down the long hallway. But some storage units have external doors. Is this a product that works there too?

Shannon Conrady: That's, Thank you. So our 6500 can be installed in a climate control setting or exterior on buildings. Currently it goes up to a 10 by 10 and it's the same sort of installation. It doesn't matter. We will provide different bulb type weather stripping on the bottom depending on which application you use.

Those doors are applicable for both situations. Sometimes in storage you have a situation where the roll-up door doesn't have the cubic space to roll back up behind the opening. And in that particular case, you can go with a swing door. So a swing door in the self-storage world is not a man door, but it has the same look and it has the same profile as the roll-up door. So it matches really well, but it's actually just on hinges. and you open it up just like you would a normal door. It normally has the same kind of latch as a roll-up door. So they look very well together. They pair well together, you know, visually speaking, when you're going down the hallway. It's just a different way to enter a tenant's unit.

Karen Edwards: So you are able to customize these doors to fit pretty much any size, right? We don't have to stick with standards here.

Shannon Conrady: Correct, yes, absolutely, 100%. A door can be built any size on an inch increment. So if you're opening a 7-Eleven by 6'8", then that's what you should order because it's the manufacturer's responsibility to make sure that we cover that opening size adequately. It's not the contractor's or the consumer's responsibility to know what the overlap needs to be for that door.

So yes, and then on top of that, we have 31 colors to choose from. And I feel like sometimes we're an ice cream shop, but it's just metal. So yeah, that's pretty exciting. and colors are always, you know, being added because there's new color fads and new color trends. And so if there's a particular color that you need that's not necessarily on the sheet, we can actually see about getting it for you. So we want to be easy to work with and you know, as new things come on board, we want to be able to provide that to our customers.

Karen Edwards: Yeah, I think the colors are important because these public storage facilities or self storage facilities, they're not always pretty, right? So the more aesthetically pleasing we can make them for the people who have to drive by them every day or see them every day, the better. So 31 colors, I love it. It's fun, right?

Shannon Conrady: Yes, yes. And well, you know, the other thing is, know, metal buildings have a large number of colors to pick from also, depending on, you know, your profiles and the trim and that sort of stuff. One of the cool things about Central States is that we have the metal building colors and we have the door colors and we can be a one stop shop for contractors and developers. So we're very excited about that. You know, who doesn't want to save on freight?

Karen Edwards: Right? Yeah. No, that's, I love the one stop shop. And then let's talk a little bit. And I don't even know this question, but do you offer warranties? Yeah.

Shannon Conrady: We do have warranties. Our doors are covered with a three year spring warranty and our paint on the doors are a 40 year film integrity warranty and a 40 year chalk and fade warranty. So it's going to last a very long time. We have worked with Sherwin Williams and getting those paint colors and getting that chemistry correct. It's just amazing to me how

The paint warranty, long it has been, how, it's amazing to me how much more durable paint has gotten on metal just overall. I remember when it was a five year warranty or just a 15 year warranty, you know and now we're talking 40, that's pretty impressive. So metal has definitely come a long, long, long way.

Karen Edwards: It has, yeah, where you put paint on metal and it doesn't last very long, especially when it's exposed to the elements. But Sherwin-Williams, they've done an amazing job with the technologies that they put in place and the things that it can do. That's fantastic. I love it. So one more question for you, because I'm fascinated because I don't know anything about this industry or doors. Are you seeing, you know, on other buildings, metal buildings, maybe that are going to have a loading dock, they need a dock door?

Shannon Conrady: Exactly. Yes.

Karen Edwards: Are you able to supply that to the market?

Shannon Conrady: So we can supply that to the market if it's a 10 foot wide by 10 foot tall opening or less. on your warehouse buildings, typically you have a 12 by 12, a 12 by 14, something like that. And we're working on the product line to be able to bring that to market, but it's not quite ready quite yet. And we are also working on wind rated product line to bring that to the market. So Central States is committed to providing the industry with products that will be useful and helpful and I really want to say Central States is committed to providing a full product line of doors for metal buildings. It's just going to take us a minute to get that production in-house and get it geared up. But soon.

Karen Edwards: Yeah, well and you mentioned at the beginning of the conversation that you're building two new manufacturing facilities. So I'm sure that's going to contribute to expanding that line of solutions that you do have for people.

Shannon Conrady: Yes, yes, we are building a plant in Tuella, Utah, which will also manufacture doors and be able to service the west coast of the United States. Our east coast is serviced by our Graniteville, South Carolina location. And then we have a frame plant that will be hot rolled steel in Springdale, Arkansas and that will service nationwide. So we're really excited about the growth and the expansion. and our product lines that we're gonna be bringing to market here in the very near future.

Karen Edwards: Yeah, that's exciting. And I want to talk a little bit about how do contractors buy the doors and the systems? What are they buying from you? Are they working with distribution? What does that look like?

Shannon Conrady: So a contractor can buy a door and hallway system from a metal building subcontractor, kind of like Elevate structures, where Elevate will install that system for you or they can buy it from Central States Building Works where they just get the package and they do the installation. Or if they have a relationship with Central States, they can do the... If they or if they have a relationship with Central States, they can order it directly from the from Central States as the manufacturer. So there's three main ways we can get this product to you to the industry and. To learn more, contractors can visit our website at centralstatescode.com and request, complete a form to have us give them a shout and we'll have and one of our sales reps would be happy to reach out. That was so terrible. To learn more, a contractor can contact us at centralstatescode.com and one of our sales reps would be happy to. Reach out to you.

Karen Edwards: All right, one more question because this is always really important, I think, is talk to me a little bit about the customer support that you offer and the customer service. Because I know in the notes earlier we were talking about we want to create raving fans. So tell me a little bit about how you support contractors.

Shannon Conrady: The Central States company has three pillars. We act in love, we can do and we own it. In our response to customer service, it incorporates those three elements of what our mission is. And if you've got a problem, we'll help you with it because we want to help you with it. And you're talking to someone who can help you with it. And we want the best for you. We want you to succeed because when you succeed or when the contractor succeeds, we succeed. Our success is built on our customer success. And we recognize that the customer comes before us.

And we're not ever too busy or don't care about what you think or how you feel or if you need help with the product. We want to be there for you and that's what we strive to do on a daily basis. Whether we're bending the metal, whether we're delivering the metal, whether we're taking the order for the metal, it is a personal initiative that we keep you, that

It's a personal initiative for all of our employee owners to have you in mind when we're doing our jobs. And so that's one of the elements about Central States that I love the most because it is real and it is true and we live it every day and that's how we make our raving fans.

Karen Edwards: Fantastic. Wow, Shannon, thank you so much for being here today. This was fascinating and interesting. I hope that we, our listeners out there, have learned and maybe even want to consider getting into this growing $44 billion industry. Wow, thank you so much, Shannon.

Shannon Conrady: Thank you, Karen. It was a pleasure.

Karen Edwards: And if you didn't catch that website, just go to metalcoffeeshop.com. Central States has a full directory on there with contact information, links, phone numbers. You can find out everything you need to know there and get in touch with the team. And thank you all for listening today. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on your favorite platform because we don't want you to miss a thing. Thanks everyone. Bye bye.