My name is Mario Lallier, owner of Metal Plus, LLC, and have evolved to a place of having Patented products that I manufacture and distribute along with other metal roofing accessories and products. The purpose of this continuous 2023 blog is to educate and inform people about my process and transition from being a asphalt roofer, to owning a successful Standing Seam Metal Roofing company. We will learn together how I evolved, after making mistakes that I ultimately learned a lot from, and I hope to help you to avoid.

I immigrated to the USA at 19 years old in hopes of a better life and future. My hope was fulfilled, but it took a lot more than just hope. What it took was handwork, sacrifice, a willingness to learn, consistent motivation and the most important one, a supportive wife.

Being in good physical health and motivated, I would take on asphalt roofing projects that no one else wanted. Most would involve the stripping of old asphalt shingles and installing new. I was working 10 to12 hours of hard labor a day. As a teenager, I did masonry work with my father who was a stone mason, and I would joke with my friends that I have a better career now although, one is just as back breaking and painful as the other!

After being a roofing contractor for several years, installing asphalt roofing with repetitive bending, I began to experience health issues. The first, due to being bent over all day (you other roofers can attest to this) I was in excruciating pain in my lower back. Come to find out, this was due to having two herniated discs. The other major health issue was from being bent over two feet from the roof all day. I was inhaling toxic petroleum fumes, which are incredibly erosive to the throat and esophagus.

I ended up having to see two different specialists a neurosurgeon and a gastroenterologist!

Now stayed tuned to see how bad news changed the course and direction of my career…