By Jesse Sanchez. 

Learn how user feedback is driving practical AI tools that turn stored data into immediate action. 

Roofing contractors are not asking for more dashboards. They are asking for faster answers. At Dataforma’s PSU event, it became clear that the value of software is no longer measured by how much information it stores, but by how quickly it helps contractors act on that information. Artificial intelligence (AI) is now central to that shift. On this episode of Roofing Road Trips®, Megan Ellsworth spoke with Brian Cook, chief operating officer at Dataforma, about how contractor feedback is shaping the company’s development priorities. PSU is the company’s annual conference where leadership and top users review upcoming features and provide direct input. 

“It’s our annual conference to solicit feedback from contractors and show them what we’re working on and then get their blessing for changes and all the stuff coming the next year,” Brian said. This year’s event brought together over 120 attendees from across 30 different states. According to Brian, the sessions were highly collaborative, reflecting the company’s reliance on real-world contractor insight to guide product decisions. AI emerged as a primary focus. “The obvious [interest] is in AI,” Brian said. “But the trick is how we use it.” 

The emphasis is not on trend adoption, but on practical application. Dataforma captures detailed job, client and production information. However, large data sets can slow decision-making if they are difficult to navigate. Brian offered a direct example. A contractor may manage a client with more than 10 buildings but have no recent contact information logged. “Now, with an AI agent, you can find that data in 30 seconds,” he said. “So, then I tell my salesperson to go call them right now.” 

AI must do more than analyze data; it must identify overlooked opportunities and prompt timely, decisive action. At the same time, contractors expect to stay directly involved in shaping how these tools evolve, so that new technology reflects real-world workflows instead of abstract innovation. 

Listen to the podcast to learn more about how contractors are putting AI to work!

By Jesse Sanchez. 

How long-term industry experience and user feedback are shaping the next phase of roofing technology. 

Technology adoption in roofing has shifted from optional to essential, driven by labor shortages, tighter margins and the need for clearer operational visibility. In this episode of Roofing Road Trips®, recorded during a Western States Roofing Contractors Association (WSRCA) board meeting in Monterey, California, host Heidi J. Ellsworth sat down with Brian Cook, chief operating officer of Dataforma, to talk about how contractor-driven software continues to evolve with the industry. 

The conversation reflected a familiar industry arc. Dataforma began more than two decades ago as a commercial service platform and has grown into a web-based system designed to help contractors manage their entire business. Brian, who has been with the company for eighteen years and now serves as COO, described the foundation of the platform as the “building file,” a single address-based record that tracks every interaction, visit and decision tied to a property over time. 

That long view matters, especially as contractors navigate uncertainty and increasing complexity. Brian explained that software leadership is rarely static. Tools must continuously adapt as user expectations change and competitors catch up. “So, there's times when you're the leader and then people catch up and you have to leapfrog again, become the leader again,” Brian said. 

As contractors confront shifting economic conditions and rising expectations around service, speed and transparency, the ability to see and act on accurate data becomes a competitive advantage. The conversation in Monterey demonstrated that effective roofing technology is not built in isolation; it is shaped by ongoing dialogue with the contractors who rely on it every day. When software evolves alongside the realities of the field, it does more than streamline tasks; it strengthens decision-making, protects margins and positions companies to grow with confidence in the year ahead. 

Listen to the entire podcast to learn more about how contractor-driven technology is evolving to meet the demands of today’s roofing businesses!

By Jenny Yu.  

Dataforma and O’Hara’s Son Roofing show how partnership leads to practical, powerful tools. 

In this episode of CoatingsCast™, Karen Edwards spoke with Kim Baxter of O’Hara’s Son Roofing (OSR) and Brian Cook of Dataforma about how contractor feedback is shaping smarter software decisions across the roofing industry. 

For contractors, choosing the right management platform is a high-stakes decision. To make the most informed decision, the OSR team considered their options wisely. “There was a lot of software brought to the table, and a lot of software out there that does a lot of stuff,” Kim stated. “We listened to every single one, sent everybody through the ringer and tested them. It's not a very easy decision, because once you're in and you get everything in there, you'd better have made the right decision.” That diligence ultimately led OSR to Dataforma, where functionality and flexibility aligned with real operational needs. 

Brian highlighted that one of the most common reactions contractors have is surprise at the platform’s scope and affordability. “When they see our pricing, they're almost shocked. They're like, ‘There's no way you can do all these things that we need for this price.’ I'm like, ‘Well, we do,’” he said. “You have a timecard, daily job reports, a service module and a production module. We're about to release a full sales module for people that have separate sales CRM — you don't need those now, and the price point doesn't have to be crazy.” 

A key theme of the discussion was Dataforma’s commitment to user-driven development. Brian recalled how OSR’s feedback directly influenced platform improvements. “I remember doing all the demos with OSR, and you would hear them ask questions and you're like, ‘not only is that a great question, but that's also a great idea for a functionality upgrade,’” he said. 

One feature that stood out was Dataforma’s lock functionality, which Kim described as transformative for managing access and accountability. “When you've got the lock feature in Dataforma, you can lock it to however many people you want,” she explained. “It's just streamlined things for us. It's working. Everybody's on board, and we all work together really, really well.” 

As Dataforma continues to evolve, Brian said the focus is on modernization and integration. “We're making some big changes at Dataforma,” he shared. “We know we have this great foundation and great functionality. Let's get rid of clicks. Let's make it more updated for the 21st century. More integrations.” 

Read the first article in this series, Listen to the podcast or Watch the recording to learn more about how collaboration between software providers and contractors can drive meaningful progress across the industry. 

By Jesse Sanchez. 

The annual gathering from Dataforma connects contractors nationwide for the opportunity to influence product direction through hands-on collaboration and feedback. 

In this episode of Roofing Road Trips®, Dataforma brought contractors together during its PSU conference for the opportunity to shape product development through direct collaboration. The gathering drew more than one hundred attendees from roughly thirty states, reflecting broad engagement across company sizes and specialties. The annual forum positions Dataforma users as active partners in guiding the brand’s software priorities rather than simply passive recipients of updates. 

Brian Cook, COO at Dataforma, described the event as a working session designed to gather unfiltered contractor insight. “It’s our annual conference to solicit feedback from contractors and show them what we’re working on,” Brian said, adding that participants review upcoming features and request changes before release. Extended feedback sessions highlighted ideas contractors felt should have existed sooner. 

The PSU format pairs company presidents with top platform users to evaluate how tools perform in real operations. That collaboration reflects the relationship-driven nature of the roofing industry, where trust and shared experience influence adoption. In-person interaction on this scale allows contractors to see how systems are built while simultaneously strengthening peer networks that continue beyond the event. 

Discussions also addressed scalability across company sizes. Brian explained that larger firms value standardized processes while smaller companies see strong returns without adding headcount. “They don’t want to spend $75,000 a year on a new employee,” Brian said. “They can just spend $5,500 on Dataforma and allow them to do more.” 

The company detailed technology advancements to attendees, including a new sales module intended to simplify tracking while reducing fragmented data. Brian noted contractors use limited portions of large platforms, creating demand for focused tools. Data mining through AI emerged as another priority as teams seek faster insight into customer activity and missed opportunities. 

Learn more about Dataforma solutions shaping contractor workflows through collaboration innovation and industry partnership!

By Jesse Sanchez. 

Dataforma’s PSU 2025 showcases new sales tools, AI features and mobile upgrades while guiding the 2026 roadmap. 

Dataforma is turning PSU 2025 into a launchpad for its next generation of tools, with a packed agenda that puts new sales, AI and mobile capabilities in front of contractors to gauge their reactions and expectations for what comes next. Brian Cook, COO at Dataforma, said this year’s event looked noticeably different from past conferences, starting with how time was spent in the general sessions on this episode of Roofing Road Trips®, alongside Tracey Donels, founder and CEO of Service First Solutions. 

That shift in focus sets the stage for one of the most anticipated upgrades contractors will see this year. At the center of that future is a ground-up sales module that reflects how commercial contractors work today. When Dataforma launched 25 years ago, formal sales tracking was rarely part of a roofing contractor’s operating rhythm. Brian acknowledged that the current approach, while functional, is not ideal. That desire for optimization is driving their mission to provide a comprehensive redesign. Brian noted that CEO Mark Zeleznock has been leading the development of a true sales module built directly from user requests. 

The new module is designed to stand on its own as a sales customer relationship management software (CRM) while tying cleanly into service and project workflows. Brian described a scenario many contractors will recognize. He explained, “If I go to Tracey's house, if I go to his commercial property and I say, ‘hey, here's the repairs you need or here's even the price for you to reroof the entire building.’ I can then create the proposal in the app, send him the proposal via the app. Like DocuSign, it'll show me if he's viewed that or not,” while adding, “When he signs it, it'll show me he signed it and it'll upload a copy of that into Dataforma. You'll be able to track your sales teams with goals and quotas and all that. And you'll be able to send proposals directly from the field.” 

Tracey Donels sees these advancements as a major step toward simplifying the daily reality of service teams. “I think a big thing to Brian's point is that it's going to significantly simplify things,” he said, noting how clearer workflows can reshape the way contractors operate. He added that while service pipelines have long been trackable in Dataforma, the new tools will make it far easier for companies to understand their sales pipeline better. “It may be easier for me to convince them to track their sales pipeline and know what's coming and know their number,” he shared, noting how streamlined features can elevate both decision making and long-term planning. 

As PSU 2025 brings these innovations to the forefront, Dataforma is putting contractors in the driver’s seat of what comes next. With the event doubling as a testing ground, feedback forum and technology preview, the company is signaling that future development will be shaped by the people who rely on the platform most.  

Listen to the podcast to learn more about PSU 2025 and how these upgrades are shaping the industry’s next chapter!

By North Texas Roofing Contractors Association (NTRCA). 

NTRCA’s bowling event offered networking opportunities, friendly competition and seasonal festivities for attendees. 

The North Texas Roofing Contractors Association (NTRCA) brought the local industry together for a festive year-end celebration on December 11, 2025, hosting members and guests for a bowling social at Bowlounge Dallas. The event welcomed professionals from across the roofing community, including partners from the Midwest Roofing Contractors Association (MRCA) and Roofing Contractors Association of Texas (RCAT), for an evening focused on connection, camaraderie and celebrating shared success in the North Texas market. 

Designed to blend networking with holiday fun, the gathering featured friendly competition on the lanes, seasonal food and drinks and plenty of opportunities to reconnect with colleagues. From spirited bowling matchups to lively conversations, the night captured the energy and unity that define NTRCA and its commitment to strengthening relationships throughout the regional roofing industry. 

Giving back with Toys for Tots 

Thank you to everyone participating in our Toys for Tots drive! Together, we collected over 100 toys and donated $1,700. We’re proud to make a difference in our community alongside our members and partners. 

Most Festive Contest winners  

• 1st place - Kiki Fuller 
• 2nd place - Will Greer 
• 3rd place - Sidney Curtis 

Bowling winners - 5:45 p.m. session  

• 1st place - Reese Arrington  
• 2nd place - Chris Arrington 
• 3rd place - Reagan Cross 

Bowling winners - 7:00 p.m. session  

• 1st place - Sidney Curtis 
• 2nd place - Chad Davis 
• 3rd place - Toni Kuncl  

Thank you to our sponsors 

This event wouldn’t have been possible without the generous support of our sponsors. Thank you for helping us create such a fun and meaningful night for our members: 

• 838 Coatings 
• Calhoun Law Firm 
• Dataforma
• Fisher Roofing Company 
• GAF
• Inland Coatings 
• In The Dry 
• KAW Roofing 
• Malarkey Roofing Products
• MFM Building Products Corp.
• MRB Mechanical 
• OMG Roofing Products 
• Service First Solutions
• Sika Corporation
• Topps Products

Be sure to check out the photos from the event and relive the highlights! 

Original article and photo source: NTRCA

By Jesse Sanchez. 

Contractors trade practical insights in a setting built to turn quick conversations into real community and stronger service teams. 

Dataforma is putting its long-running PSU user conference squarely in the hands of the contractors who use the platform every day, with a 2025 event built around peer learning, shared experience and practical takeaways that extend well beyond software screens. What started nearly two decades ago as a small gathering for presidential and super user attendees has grown into what Brian Cook, newly minted COO at Dataforma, describes on this Roofing Road Trips® podcast as “a great place for our contractors to get together.” Over the years, PSU has evolved into a relaxed day-and-a-half event where commercial roofing leaders compare notes on how they work and where they want the platform to go next. 

For Tracey Donels, founder and CEO of Service First Solutions, that peer-to-peer dynamic is the heartbeat of PSU. He remembers traveling to one of the earliest conferences in Scottsdale, the same city hosting PSU 2025, when he was a contractor looking to grow his service department. “Almost any software can be used in a myriad of different ways,” he said. “So, it's very beneficial to go and meet other people that have grown their departments and their companies by using the software.” 

Those early trips left a permanent mark on how he thinks about service. “Because no software is perfect. But it's about the question of, ‘how is it perfect for me?’” Tracey said. “And I know when I was first in the industry, I learned from a lot of powerful people going to those PSUs and learning from people who had bigger departments, bigger companies, than the one I worked at. And I'm lucky enough to still count some of those people as friends that I met at that very first PSU.” 

Brian and Tracey are channeling that spirit into a refreshed format that pushes attendees to learn from one another as much as what they’ll learn from event sessions. Brian pointed to the redesigned breakout sessions as an example, where operational topics like hiring, training and maintenance planning will sit alongside platform conversations. “In those breakout sessions, we're going to have tons of options for you to just work with other contractors, and it doesn't have to be Dataforma focused,” he said. “We want your business and your staff to grow from this, and we know that if you do that, it'll help Dataforma, too.” 

As PSU 2025 takes shape, the message to contractors is to show up ready to share, question, compare and contribute. The agenda is built so that every hallway conversation, breakout exchange and feedback session can translate into stronger service teams and smarter technology that reflects the real work happening on roofs every day. In putting peer learning at the center, Dataforma and its partners are betting that the most powerful innovations will come not just from what is presented on screen, but from what contractors choose to build together. 

Listen to the podcast to learn more about PSU 2025, its peer-focused agenda and how to register through Dataforma!

By Jesse Sanchez. 

As contractors expand across states and service lines, Dataforma gives teams a scalable system that unifies documents, reporting, project data and field communication in real time. 

Commercial contractors are navigating larger footprints and more complex workflows than ever and Dataforma is positioning itself as a central system to manage it all. In this CoatingsTalk webinar, Brian Cook, the company’s senior vice president, discussed Dataforma’s evolution from a roofing shop solution to a widely adopted platform built for commercial contractors of all types. 

Brian’s connection to the contractor world began long before his current position with Dataforma. He shared, “I knew the owner of a commercial roofing company since I was a very young kid. I was good friends with his son, so I would mow the lawn. I would sweep up the shop.” As he got older, those small tasks turned into summer work on the roof itself, giving him firsthand experience with the demands crews face every day. His years spent on roofs and in project offices shaped the problems Dataforma set out to solve. “We came out as the number one service management software for commercial contractors, but now we've gotten into a lot more of tracking production jobs, which is a lot of what we're going to get into today.” 

That evolution, Brian explained, reflects how rapidly contractor needs have shifted alongside industry growth. As companies expand across regions and add new service lines, keeping processes consistent becomes increasingly difficult. Leaders need a system that scales with them, gives offices the right level of separation and still brings all performance data back into one place. “We had every single weird situation you could think of,” Brian said, noting union and nonunion employees, multiple offices and multi-entity structures. “What’s lucky for our contractors is when we run into these situations, it's already baked into Dataforma.” 

This is especially critical for firms running simultaneous jobs across multiple states. Old processes relied on long drives, paper notes and outdated file systems. Brian recalled the frustration well. “We found out we had two or three estimators working on the same bid but we didn't know because we were at different offices.” Shared data solves that issue instantly, and contractors no longer lose time on retracing steps. 

As commercial portfolios grow more complex and geographically dispersed, the contractors finding the most success are those turning this newfound clarity into a competitive edge. By replacing disconnected spreadsheets, paper trails and siloed offices with a single source of data, platforms like Dataforma give leaders the visibility they need to protect margins and keep projects on track. For many firms, that shift is no longer a nice-to-have but a strategic necessity as they look to scale responsibly, serve multi-site clients with confidence and build teams that can make better decisions in real time. 

Read the transcript, Listen to the conversation or Watch the webinar to learn more about how Dataforma supports contractors adapting to a changing industry!

By Jesse Sanchez. 

This leadership shift signals fresh energy, bold ideas and user-driven innovation. 

Dataforma’s signature event, PSU, is getting a major reboot in 2025 as a new leadership dynamic duo steps in. Brian Cook, recently named COO at Dataforma, and Tracey Donels, CEO of Service First Solutions, are now steering the reins of the user conference with a bold focus on innovation, community and real-world impact. “It’s always been Daryl’s baby,” Brian said during this Roofing Road Trips® podcast with Megan Ellsworth, in reference to former Dataforma leader, Daryl Maronic. “He asked Tracey and I to take over and run the PSU in his stead. I’m nervous, I’m incredibly excited and I think Tracey and I will bring a cool new spin to it.” 

That spin includes a sharper focus on the future of the platform and on the people who use it. PSU, which stands for Presidential and Super-User, has evolved over the last two decades from a modest gathering of commercial roofing pros into a bustling hub for collaboration, learning and direct feedback. But 2025 promises to raise the bar. 

From its early days as a niche software meet-up to a now-essential event for contractors using Dataforma, PSU has always offered value. Tracey, who attended one of the earliest PSUs nearly two decades ago, sees the user-to-user exchange as essential. “Almost any software can be used in a myriad of different ways,” he said. “So, it’s very beneficial to go and meet other people that have grown their departments and their companies by using the software.” 

Brian echoed the sentiment, adding that the goal isn’t just to demo features; it’s to shape what gets built next, emphasizing the opportunity for participants to share ways they believe PSU can grow in the future. He shared, “We’re trying to kind of shift this conference from being all things Dataforma to focusing more on PSU’s future.” 

This year’s PSU will feature breakout sessions that stray from the typical software fare, covering topics like hiring field staff, running preventative maintenance and managing service departments more effectively. 

And while PSU will still showcase new features, like a powerful new sales module, AI integration and a redesigned mobile experience, the organizers are betting that the real draw will be the conversations that happen between users. 

Listen to the podcast to learn more about how PSU 2025 is transforming from a software event into a contractor-powered hub for innovation, connection and real-world impact!

By Jesse Sanchez. 

This sales module aims to streamline the full customer journey for commercial roofing contractors. 

In this Roofing Road Trips® podcast episode, Brian Cook of Dataforma revealed a bold step forward for the roofing tech company that could reshape how commercial contractors manage sales. While Dataforma has long been known for field service management, the brand is now zeroing in on a different, often neglected challenge: tracking and converting leads into profitable roofing jobs. 

“Twenty-one years ago, commercial contractors didn’t really track sales,” Brian said. “We just bid. We threw out bids. But now it’s a huge [need].” Today, there is a major surge in demand for tools that guide contractors through the full sales cycle.  

Brian, who has been with Dataforma for nearly two decades, said the brand’s new integrated sales module will allow roofing companies to start tracking interactions the moment a lead is generated, from meeting a potential client at a trade show, all the way through to job completion. “If I meet Karen at a BOMA Conference, I can enter [the lead] into Dataforma,” Brian explained. “If it becomes an opportunity, if that turns into a job, we’d be tracking through the whole process, tracking quotas, everything they want from that side of it.” 

This isn’t just about customer relationship management, but it’s also about surfacing actionable insights. He explained, “Our clients will be able to say, ‘Karen is really, really good at bidding jobs that are TPO reroofs with multi-building owners because she closes at a 32% rate.’” 

The tool goes even further, letting companies pair sales data with performance data from completed jobs. Brian explained seeing the data in real time, noting its potential to help roofing contractors grappling with disconnected systems or missing insights into what’s working and what’s not. As Brian put it, “You always got to be checking with the customers and saying, ‘Hey, what do you want?’ Not what we think you want, what do you want?” 

Read the transcript or Listen to the podcast to learn more about the development process, upcoming integrations and how AI is shaping Dataforma’s roadmap!