January 2014 | Palm Springs, CA.  The Spray Polyurethane Foam Alliance (SPFA), the sprayfoam insulation and roofing industry’s trade association, held its annual convention and expo in Palm Springs January 25-29, 2014.  The convention brought nearly 1100 people to town for great weather, sessions, exhibits, golfing, awards ceremonies and delivered its newest Professional Certification Program (PCP) classes and testing.

As part of the PCP program, Field Exams, a live-spraying exercise where PCP Master Installers must demonstrate their abilities to complete their certification, were hosted by Western Pacific Roofing.  This is the first time that SPFA attempted to offer mass Field Exams and it was a huge success. 

“The amount of preparation, logistics, equipment, and materials needed to make this work was incredible,” said Kurt Riesenberg, Executive Director of SPFA.  “So many companies in the industry leapt at the call to donate expertise, volunteers and supplies needed to make this happen, but having all the stuff needed would have been pointless without a safe and effective place to hold the event.  Western Pacific Roofing came through for us in such a huge way by hosting the Filed Exams on their property for all of the professionals pursuing their Master Installer status.” 

For his efforts in leading his company to prepare for the event, Sig Hall received SPFA’s 2014 Workhorse Award.  “It’s great to get an award like this, but really the names of each one of our staff and the volunteers belong on it because they worked so hard for so long to do everything needed to get us ready,” Hall stated.  “We have the best team and they recognized how important this would be with the eyes of the whole industry on us expecting us to deliver.”  In addition to the U.S. sprayfoam industry, Western Pacific Roofing also greeted several international contractors pursuing their Master Installer Field Exams, and representatives from the California State Fire Marshal’s Office. 

With great disruption to operations, effectively shutting down for three days to invite the industry into their facility, Western Pacific embraced the challenge of months of preparation time, construction of mock-ups used for the exams, laying out the stations across their property, positioning all the equipment, coordinating dozens of volunteers, and making sure the experience for the SPFA PCP Master Installer candidates would be perfect.

“The PCP program is one that emphasizes and focuses upon excellence,” said Bonnie Strickler, President of PUFF Incorporated and Chair of the SPFA PCP Committee.  “Sig and his people spent a lot of long days and nights getting everything ready and showed their own commitment to excellence and attention to detail to get everything just right for us.”

Western Pacific also had four of their own roofing and insulation installers take and pass the Field Exams with high scores, solidifying their professionalism and demonstrating their exceptional abilities.  Ron Winkle for Roofing, and Jill Ludvickson for Insulation, are two of only six current individuals in California to hold the SPFA/PCP Project Manager certification, having passed all 4 levels of required written examinations.

The SPFA PCP program is a rigorous ISO-17024 compliant professional certification program for sprayfoam insulators and roofers.  It offers four levels of certification for both insulation and roofing, each of which build upon the last to thoroughly test the knowledge, skills and abilities of sprayfoam installers.  Field Exams are required at the Master Installer level and represent one of the most demanding portions of the program.