Good Neighbor Podcast Northport
Bringing Together Local Businesses and Neighbors of Tuscaloosa and Northport!
Good Neighbor Podcast Northport
Ryan Hoerl's Transformative Path: From Master Cabinetmaking to Roofing Excellence with HHM Roofing and Construction in Birmingham
Discover the journey of Ryan Hoerl, a master cabinetmaker turned roofing magnate, who shares his story of transformation and success in the vibrant city of Birmingham, Alabama. Ryan, the owner of HHM Roofing and Construction, joins us to reveal his secrets to ensuring impeccable quality and attention to detail in roofing and home maintenance. With his roots deeply embedded in carpentry, Ryan's passion for craftsmanship is evident as he discusses his company's core values of helping, educating, and communicating with homeowners. From roof installations to gutter maintenance and exterior painting, Ryan emphasizes the importance of transparency and adapting construction techniques to meet the unique demands of the local environment. A true Green Bay Packers fan, Ryan also reflects on how his move from Wisconsin influenced his business approach and vision.
Ryan offers valuable insights on proactive home maintenance, urging homeowners to use their senses to identify potential issues before they escalate into costly repairs. Tune in to learn how engaging with your home's environment and embracing hobbies like mountain biking and Aikido can cultivate mental clarity in the fast-paced world of construction. As HHM Roofing and Construction continues to grow, Ryan shares his plans for service expansion and hiring new talent while upholding trust and transparency. He also introduces Life 101, an educational initiative aimed at equipping individuals with essential life skills and home maintenance knowledge. Stay connected with Ryan and his team through their website, hurlhomes.com, or follow them on social media to learn more about their services and be inspired by their commitment to empowering homeowners.
#GNPBirmingham #RoofingExperts #BirminghamAL #HomeMaintenanceTips #QualityCraftsmanship #RoofingAndConstruction #HomeImprovement #TransparencyMatters #GreenBayPackersFan #ConstructionIndustry #CarpentrySkills #ProactiveHomeCare #LifeSkills #EducationalInitiatives #HomeMaintenanceKnowledge #LocalBusinessBirmingham #RoofingInnovation #CraftsmanshipAndCare
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Patricia Blondheim.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. I'm your host, patricia Blondheim, and today we're speaking to Good Neighbor Ryan Hurl, and Ryan is the owner of HHM Roofing and Construction in Birmingham and serving all of West Alabama. Ryan, how are you today?
Speaker 3:I'm doing fine. Thanks for asking.
Speaker 2:Appreciate you having me on the show. Oh, absolutely. Can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your company?
Speaker 3:My name is Ryan Hurl and I'm the founder of HHM Roofing and Construction. We are about a year and a half old and we do primarily roof reconstruction, roof installation. We can assist with any insurance claims from storms that come through. A lot of times we find that with looking at a roof, you also probably have a lot of rot on your soffit and fascias Gutters sometimes are bad, which kind of cause those problems. And if your house is a little bit older around 15, 20 years, you probably have, you know, rotten trim around the windows and the baseline of your house and we can repair all that, fix it, repaint it. We can repaint an entire house if need be. We just really kind of come to your home, see what your issues are, help educate you on what needs to be done. That way you can make an educated decision on the process in which you need to repair your home. And if there's something small we can help with while we're there, we'll just help you and just get it done.
Speaker 2:Well, what inspired you to specialize in? You know, both roofing and exterior home maintenance.
Speaker 3:The being, the exterior, is kind of just kind of happened as time went on. But where I started, right out of high school, I was a cabinetmaker and I did that for five to seven years and then I worked as a carpenter, worked as a cabinetmaker, went back to carpentry, did some roofing and then I moved to Alabama and I moved from Wisconsin. So I'm a Green Bay Packers fan. If anybody wants to join our fan club, we have about 30 or 40 people that meet up and it's at B4 Brady's in Helena and it's not anything that costs anybody any money. It's just where a lot of people from Wisconsin come and we watch the games together up there in common. We watch the games together up there, but um well, what what made you?
Speaker 2:decide birmingham? What made you decide you're going to leave wisconsin, which is a lovely place and obviously has your favorite team. Why would you come to birmingham?
Speaker 3:well, it was time for a change. You know, things are just the same all the time there and a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to start a business down in Alabama and I said, yeah, I'm coming, let's do it. So I moved down the Gulf Shores. For the first three or four years I lived here and we worked on remodeling a little bit, fixing boathouses. We learned and taught ourselves how to install pylons in the goons in the Bay Area down there.
Speaker 2:So, Ryan, you started as a cabinetmaker, so you have probably a great sense of detail in your life. How do you ensure high-quality work across such a broad range of services?
Speaker 3:Um, because, having the cabinetmaker mindset, you're dealing with very micro details. I used to construct custom-made staircases for million-dollar houses up in Wisconsin and when you're doing a staircase, if you're off by 64th of an inch when you start, by the time you get to the top of a staircase you're a good two, three inches off. So for me, I like to focus on the details and make sure that things are being done the right way the first time, and the crews that I've hired to do a lot of the work have that same mindset. These guys, you know, they also study what they do a little bit on the side so that they can keep up with different trends and how to do things in a better way. Because, you know, one of the core values of hhm roofing is is efficiency and, um, we'll just talk about the other core values.
Speaker 3:The first one is to help, the second one is to educate and the third one is to constantly be in communication, because there's nothing worse for a homeowner than not to know what's going on with a project they're working on, that you're working on, and to be wondering, when we're coming, how long it's going to take us to get it done, how much is it going to cost.
Speaker 3:It's all open for everybody to ask and be available. So when you're working on the outside of a house and you see that somebody's soffits rotten and their gutters are hanging off, I don't feel good about putting a roof on your house because it's just going to you're just going to deteriorate underneath that and in the process of assembling these things is if you're going to paint your soffit and fascia and you already put a new roof on that house. Now you've got to worry about getting paint on the, on the new shingles and on anything that's been installed new. So I like to do things from the bottom up, you know tear it down, repaint all the wood, get all that stuff fixed and then, when it's finished, put a nice roof on top and then some brand new clean gutters. And, if it's needed, if you have trees, you know we'll put gutter guards on there to protect it, so you don't have to get up there and clean every year.
Speaker 1:So it's just a meticulous process.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry. It's all about the details and a lot of people don't know. They think they can fire somebody to come and do the maintenance for them and that it's just going to get done. It's kind of magical thinking because there's materials and techniques that are specific to this area that you need to know done. It's kind of magical thinking because there's materials and techniques that are specific to this area that you need to know about. So are there any particular materials or techniques that you recommend for roofs and home exteriors in this very weather-heavy region?
Speaker 3:Yeah, one thing that people probably don't realize is that the soffits on their house, like in the neighborhood of Letson Farms, for instance there's a lot of houses in the neighborhood that was installed for all their exterior fascias and moldings and that's what's swelling up getting full of water. A lot of houses are missing drip edge. That's one of the most important because water can stick to shingles and ride up the underside and then that gets behind the gutters and that'll rot your trim. And then when you have rotten trim you know it's all right, we'll just fix this one inch, one foot spot. But you got to take the gutters down, which are typically nailed up if it's older construction, and then you can't reuse that because you're just going to beat the gutters up and then the drip edge will go over the gutter, so it prevents the water from hitting the wood.
Speaker 3:I like to use certainty shingles. The landmark series are the ones that. So it prevents the water from hitting the wood. I like to use CertainTeed shingles. The Landmark series are the ones that I feel are the most appropriate for most houses.
Speaker 3:There is an upgrade you can have, which is a Landmark Pro, which it has a class three rating for impact resistant, which is helpful with your homeowner's insurance.
Speaker 3:It will reduce the premium a little bit. It might not justify the cost, but if you want something stronger, the Landmark Pro is what I recommend for that. If you go above that, the shingles get so expensive and then you're starting to get outside of what is affordable because I mean things are getting more expensive all around us, so you know building materials are the same way. I mean things are getting more expensive all around us, so you know building materials are the same way and lumber well. For instance, the shingles went up three times this year in premium and cost. So the building materials are always going to be expensive and they're not going to come down most likely, most likely. So we try to use the most reasonable things that have the best strength along with a reasonable price, so that you can at least have your house fixed and have it not fall apart, because the worse it gets, the more it's going to cost you, because you're just going to have to keep digging deeper into the rabbit hole and finding all the different problems.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. I mean a lot of people don't think about taking care of their house as a seasonal thing, but there are seasonal tasks that homeowners should prioritize. Can you share any of those for proper home maintenance? Sure.
Speaker 3:I think for most homeowners it's not recommended you climb around on your roofs and get on your house. That's why there's people like me that come and do inspections to make sure everything's right. But you should probably consider an annual having somebody come out and look, because what I do when we come out is I'll take pictures and videos of what's going on on your roof and I'll just show you and you can decide for yourself. If you think it's a big enough problem, I'll make my recommendations and give you the education on what's happening and then from there you can just decide how much you want to spend on fixing it. If it's a bad enough problem, you can put it off for a year and you know. Then there's that process of gutters going up. You know if you have to to fix the wood. I don't want to fix the wood on your house and paint it on a new roof, because what that's going to do is increase the labor cost because now they got to tape off and protect your new shingles from paint, which you know. That just more time and more money. So if we can do it smart and do it efficiently, it may cost a lot in the beginning.
Speaker 3:And one thing I don't want anybody to forget there's financing out there. I mean, for us, we have financing through us. But secondly, I have connections to people that have that do home equity loans. Um, there's a few banks that I know will will assist with, probably what is it? What's it called? Uh, an equity line of credit. You can try and get some of those for home construction and since I'm those for home construction and since I'm a licensed home builder, I can sign off on those things so that the bank knows that you're using it for the right reasons. So it's just take a look. I mean, all you got to do is walk around the house and look. If you see something that don't look right, you might want to call a professional and get their opinion on what's going on with it opinion on what's going on with it.
Speaker 2:Well, ryan, how did you end up here? How did you end up first being a cabinet maker and then now you're? Now you're doing roofing and exterior maintenance, but you know that's. Is that where you started, or did you have a journey that brought you here?
Speaker 3:It's just something I always liked. When I was a kid, I got my first workbench. I think I was eight and I started trying to make shelves in my parents house and I just always my mind just goes to building things. Like I can look at a house schematically and I can disassemble it in my mind and put it back together. It's just. This is something I've naturally been able to do really well, and all the years of experience I've, you know, since 17, that's almost 30 years ago yeah, 30 years experience I have on working on houses and building things. So I've seen it all and I pretty much know how to fix it all. Not to be arrogant about it, but, um, that's what experience teaches you how to what, what to look for.
Speaker 3:I always have this saying I've been using is use your five senses to see what's wrong at your house, because I can hear stuff going on, I can see stuff, I can sometimes smell the issue. You could feel it, of course, but I mean I always joke that you're not going to taste it. I'm not going to lick the walls of your house to find out something's wrong, but you know, when you can hear water dripping, you're using your ears and you can see it easily by looking for it and sometimes like smelling like. If you smell like a moldy smell or like gas, you know there's something wrong. It's not supposed to be like that.
Speaker 3:So just just get your eyes out there and look at your home and get to know it a little bit, and when you get me out there I'll help you do that. I'll show you things to have you look for. If I see something beginning to be a problem, point it out to you, keep an eye on it. Different things like that. I want people to understand their houses. It's important. It's important to me that you understand and it should be important to you, because you invested a lot of money and time in this thing. You should probably understand it a little bit.
Speaker 2:Well, you picked a very. I mean roofing and exterior maintenance. These are demanding things to ask of yourself every day, both your body and your mind. Solving problems is probably not the least part of what you do every single day, but you have to fill your cup up. So what do you do? For fun, you know, to give yourself a lift and to restore yourself.
Speaker 3:Fitness plays a big role Exercise, and I like mountain biking. So when you're doing things like that, your mind has to focus on the trail itself, because if you're thinking about work and doing something else, you know and I've done it before I've hit a tree, I've wiped out more than most people have, but you're only thinking about that when you're doing it. For the last eight years I've practiced Aikido and once you step on the mat, you know all you're thinking about is Aikido. You're not thinking about work, you're not thinking about your problems or whatever's going on. It's just a way to shut off your mind and just let your body do stuff for a while. That's what I find has been helpful to find clarity.
Speaker 2:Well, what's next for your company and how do you see your business growing in the coming years?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's next growth and hiring. Right now I'm creating a platform for onboarding and hiring. I'm looking for salespeople and then, from there, project management. So, yeah, I'm looking to expand next year. We got this year under our belt and I've been doing everything running everywhere, so it's time to get some other people involved and start to get this thing to grow a little bit.
Speaker 2:So what would you like our listeners to take away, Ryan, about HHM roofing and construction.
Speaker 3:The biggest thing I want to take away is trust me, I know that's something people just say, but if I come out to your home and I'm talking to you or anybody on my team, you're getting solid advice. We're not here to rip you off. We're not going to try to oversell you. Um, there's other contractors out there who will give you one price when they start, but when everything's ripped apart, they're going to start asking for more money. And what are you going to do? We're not going to do that. Everything's up front and we know what we're talking about.
Speaker 3:That's why I started this business. I want to help homeowners make their home something they can be proud to come home to, and education is a big part of it. So we're going to teach you, and education is a big part of it. So we're going to teach you, and we have done a couple of Life 101 courses for some of the kids around McCall and Bessemer to kind of give them a heads up on what's going on in life, and we're going to be doing more.
Speaker 3:The end of the year is just the hardest part, because it's kind of busy with what my wife does and what I'm doing, so it's hard to schedule it for this year, but there's going to be more what my wife does and what I'm doing. So it's hard to schedule it for this year, but there's going to be more. It's called Life 101. And there's some adult things I'm thinking of to kind of teach them how to work on simple things in their home so they don't have to pay a contractor a ridiculous amount of money to like fix something simple that they can do at their own home. So I'm working on some things like that. But we're here to help and we're here to educate. That's what's important to us.
Speaker 2:Ryan, but what are some of the things that maybe you would like homeowners to take away about HHM roofing and construction?
Speaker 3:takeaway. Um, I guess we know what we're doing and we're good at it. Um, just ask us questions and we'll guide you through the process. We're here to take that stress whether it be an insurance claim or just repairs it, when you're dealing with that on your own. You got to figure out what you got to buy. Who are you going to get to install it? Can you install it? Is it 20 feet up a ladder? You know you don't want to have to deal with all those things. Let me figure that out and let me just give you your options and you can decide what you want to do. I usually set it up so you can see different things that you can do and we can subtract and add things before we finalize the project. It's just, we just want to make it easy for you to make your house the way you want it to be.
Speaker 2:And you're someone that they can trust Absolutely. How can our listeners get in touch with you and learn more about your services or, you know, request an estimate?
Speaker 3:Sure. My phone number is 205-396-7077. You can Google HHM Roofing and Construction. You can go to my website, hurlhomescom, that's H-O-E-R-L-H-O-m-e-scom, and check me out on facebook hurlhomes no, hhm roofing and construction.
Speaker 2:And instagram, I believe, is out there as well well, I'll link to some of that in the description down below. Ryan, thank you so much for coming by and sharing HHM Roofing and Construction with us.
Speaker 3:Yes, ma'am, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpbirminghamcom. That's gnpbirminghamcom, or call 205-952-0148.