How A Sarasota Crew Built A Local Metal Roofing Manufacturer

Metal roofing projects live or die on one unglamorous detail: having the right panels and trims available when the crew is ready to install. Virginia McConnell sits down with Konstantin Ptselnikov to unpack how a Sarasota exterior company evolved into something the local market was missing, a dedicated metal roofing manufacturing partner built for speed, quality, and collaboration.

Konstantin shares the real path from post-hurricane repair calls to a full suite of services. What starts with soffits, fascia, and seamless gutters expands into carports, pool cages, and permitted work that requires licensing, inspections, and a dependable team. Along the way, he explains a problem many homeowners and contractors hit, especially with mobile homes and older properties: discontinued materials that cannot be purchased anymore. The solution becomes fabrication, custom trims, and eventually Combit Metals, a Sarasota-based manufacturer producing standing seam panels plus the finishing trims roofers need to complete a metal roof.

We also dig into the business edge that helps contractors win bids: waste reduction. The conversation ends with a simple operations lesson that protects reputations, clean the job site so well that even the last screw is gone.

Subscribe for more conversations with local Sarasota businesses, share this with a roofer or builder who buys metal roofing supplies, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

Transcript

Welcome To The Show

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Virginia McConnell.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast Live.

Meet Constantine And His Companies

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Are you in need of a metal manufacturing company? One might be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Constantine Selkoff, with COVID metals and COBIT Pro. How's it going?

SPEAKER_02 0:34

Hey, how are you? Thank you for having me here.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Good. Yeah, we're excited to learn about you and your business. Can you tell us about your company?

From Gutters To Metal Manufacturing

SPEAKER_02 0:43

Sure. So Combat Pro has been around four years. We started as a small company doing soft fascia, seamless gutters, then we added some carports, pool cages, and Lanaya rooms, like sound rooms, all that stuff. And then last year, 2025, uh, we've been investing and um looking for more, like we we found a problem here in Sarasota that we have a few companies asking uh where you can where we where you can buy some metal metal products. And we found only like a few spots where we can do it, and then we figure out what if we just gonna invest and figure out ourselves if we can manufacture our own metal stuff. And we went into so combat pro now is combat metals. So combat metals is now a metal roofing manufacturing company. We manufacture standing seam panels for roofers, builders, developers, and also all trims, everything you need to finish or install a metal roof. So that's who we are.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Awesome. And how did you get into the business?

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Yes, it's uh it's a long story. So Combi Pro again. Um after the hurricane, there was a lot of requests. If you guys can you guys come and fix my soffits, can you guys come and do my fascia, all the aluminum parts? So at that time I was helping my friend with a roofing company, and uh my background is in construction, so I know a lot of a lot of things how to do construction stuff. So I just started to help him with the soffits and fascia, and um then customers have been asking, hey, can you guys do some gutters as well? And then I realized I need to invest more time and more money into gutter stuff. So invested a few more things, bought a new truck, bought a trailer, the gutter machine, and starting advertising myself as a gutter guy. It's an easy, easy things and easy to do, especially here in Florida. We have a hurricane, we have a lot of rain. So I'm just so just started a um a gutter company, and then um realized that also a hurricane can damage your mobile homes and your carports and pool cages. But in case, if I mean in if you want to do a carports and pool cages, you need to get a license. So we've been looking into like to get a license. So that took us um, I would say a year to get a license here in Florida, and now we are building carports and pool cages. So this is how we started, and again, so Combat Pro is an installation company and Combat Metals is in manufacturing. Last year, um we had clients, for example, let's say in mobile homes. Mobile homes to repair them, it's really hard because mobile homes are they pretty old, and to buy this kind of materials, they just they just don't exist. You can you can't buy them. So uh we just started to produce our own uh small trims, some some siding. And for example, we had a client who who wanted to change a small piece of a siding, and I'm saying to him, Hey, we can't buy this anymore, they don't sell it anymore, but combat metals can produce it, and combat pro will install it for you, and this is how we get into combat metals as well.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

Oh, okay, cool.

Misconceptions About What They Do

SPEAKER_01 4:16

And so, what are some myths or misconceptions about your industry? Oh what some myths or misconceptions in the industry?

SPEAKER_02 4:28

So sometimes um uh people they think that Combat Pro does only gutters because we started as a gutter company or soft synfasia, and when we say, hey, we also have engineers, we also have a license, we can pull the permits and build a pool cage for you or build a carport for you, they they usually say, Oh, we didn't know that because we always think you guys doing only softists, like small things. And then we also saying, hey, we have a combat metals company, it's a new company just here in Sarasota, Florida. We are uh manufacture, uh, we are manufacturing company, we manufacture metal roofs, and somebody thinks that we are a roofing company, that we are installing the roofs. No, we are not licensed roofers, we don't want to be a roofers, we are not, we're not we're never gonna install a roofer, uh roofs because we want we don't want to be a your competitor, we want to be your partner and friend, so you can buy materials from us, the best quality, free delivery, whatever, and you know, and we are local in Sarasota, so that's that's the biggest problem that somebody thinks that we are a roofing company, we are a roofing, manufacturing, and supply company.

Finding Roofers And Cutting Waste

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Okay, all right, and we know the marketing is the heart of every business. Who are your target customers and how do you attract them?

SPEAKER_02 5:51

Yeah, so for Combat Metals is uh our best clients are roofers. So, the best way how to find the roofers, we actually have a lot of roofing companies around Sarasota. And every time I see any roofing company, I just call them and tell them, hey, come to our shop, we'll show you how we do it, what we do, and how we can help you with your next project. For example, many other companies, when you buy the materials in a metal industry, you usually overpay 15% on a waste. So what we do, we it's a very unique thing, nobody knows about it yet, only our clients. So we invented our own software where we can save you up to 5% on a waste. Usually it's up to 15%. We guarantee you from 5 to 8 percent less. So while we're saying this, uh, for example, if you're a roofing company, uh you're gonna pay this 15% on a waste only because uh companies they don't have they don't know how to uh save this money. Our software is working this way that we can save you. For example, last client, he said, I'm gonna buy material materials from you now only because you guys saved me fifteen hundred dollars, so I can give this um to my client a good discount. That's that's how easy it's gonna be for me to close a deal because you guys are saving me fifteen hundred dollars because you have this software called Optimizer. Yep. Wow, okay, a very unique thing, yeah.

Family Life And Leadership Lessons

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Yeah, well, have you thought about having your own podcast?

SPEAKER_02 7:46

My own podcast, yeah. Um, me, I don't know, never actually.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

Uh, and outside of work, what do you do for fun?

SPEAKER_02 7:59

For fun, I'm a business owner, so I I think I work 24-7 even when I sleep. But I have a great team, so like Combi Pro it works by by itself, so they don't need me like day to day. But Combi Middles is a new company, so I'm trying to be involved there. But for fun, I have a family, I have a wife and three three kids, so we usually just spend time together outside, go on the beach. That's why we moved to Florida. So for the weather and for people and for the beach, yeah, that's our fun thing to do.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

For sure. Okay. Uh, all right, Constantine. Please tell our listeners one thing they should remember about combined metals and pros.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

Yeah, so combined metals. I always say, we are not your um, we are not your competitor, we are your partner. Even even if you are owner of your own uh metal manufacturing company, we still can help you with something, with some some products, maybe. I don't know. But the biggest thing, combined metals is your partner, just not another another supplier, but supplier uh as a partner, like this. And combat pro again, one thing everything you do, you do with a good heart, you do like you doing this for a god, and um, so our clients are so happy with us. They give us five-star reviews, and always say this to my um my team. One more thing. Imagine this: you guys came to the job site, you build a nice carport, beautiful, pass the inspection. Uh, client is happy, he's he's he left you five-star review, but you only forgot one thing. You left one nail or one screw on your on his driveway, and client just you know, his tire got popped because of that small nail. Now client thinks that we are so like we are a bad company because we damaged his car because you know, with the small nail. I always teach my team, you guys, after everything's done, it's perfect, clean. Now you take a magnet and clean the area, clean everything so you're gonna look nice. So I always tell my clients, we not only do the project nice, but we also after finish, clean everything so you will remember us that we are a clean company as well. Not a clean company, but clean.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

Yeah. Well, that's great because a lot of people don't think about that. So that's that's great.

Clean Work Standards And How To Reach Them

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Um, and how can our listeners learn more about combat, uh combat uh motors and combined pro?

SPEAKER_02 10:37

Yeah. So the easiest way, if you can go on our website, uh combatpro.com or combatmetals.com. They also one one thing is we uh we post a lot right now on uh Instagram. Our Instagram is the same thing. If you go on a search, you go on a combat pro or combat metals. We're trying to post as much as as possible information about our products, about our our company, what we do, and why you should choose us. That's simple.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

Okay. Well, Constantine, I really appreciate you being on the show. We wish you and your company the best moving forward.

SPEAKER_02 11:15

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpsarasota.com. That's gmpsarasota.com or call nine four one four eight six five.