Like his entrepreneurial parents, Bill Eitenmiller always had ambitions about starting his own company but it never fully materialized. However, thanks to SRS Distribution and his passion for learning, his ambitions are coming to fruition in a different light – a solar-powered light, that is.

“I’m a lifelong learner, I love new challenges,” he said. “Solar is something I’ve always been interested in. I love the concept of controlling your own energy, it’s become so much more affordable nationally, so I was really excited to try it out.”

As SRS’ new director of sales for the solar division, he is building a whole new division within the distributor’s framework, relying on years of managerial and sales experience to help SRS enter the ever-growing solar industry.

“If there’s anything that I’ve learned over the years as a distributor, it’s in many cases, you’re so much more than just a provider of products, you’re a business consultant in a lot of ways, and that’s why we provide and have so many tools and resources for contractors to better their business,” he said. “So entering the solar space, and especially working with roofers, I knew I needed to have solutions for them.”

The Path Less Taken

A native of northern Minnesota, Eitenmiller grew up in a town of roughly 300 people. Upon graduating, he pursued an education in computers, which was undergirded by a construction background earned by doing small jobs around town.

About six months later he transferred to Bemidji State University in Bemidji, Minn., and as his family’s first-generation college student wasn’t entirely sure what path he wanted to pursue. After a six-month stint working for an electrical contractor in Florida, he came back to Minnesota to finish his schooling, where he ended up meeting his wife.

Eitenmiller got his first taste of leadership assistant managing a Walmart while going to school. After both he and his wife graduated – Eitenmiller with a degree in art – the economy entered the Great Recession in 2008, leaving the newly accredited artist with little to do.

“It was either go back to school, grad school, or try something else,” he said. “So we ended up moving to Eugene, Oregon on a whim.”

They sold most of what they owned and packed the rest in their jeep to head to Eugene, Ore., where his wife attended school to become a lawyer while he worked odd jobs, including at the contractor desk for Lowe’s.

At the time, the plan was to work until he could go back to grad school, but the construction industry has a way of hooking people who enter it. In Eitenmiller’s case, Roof Line Supply (which would be acquired by SRS) was his customer and he got to know its assistant branch manager. One day in 2013, the manager told him about an inside sales position.

“I couldn’t apply fast enough,” he said. “I think I applied at 10 o’clock that night and I got a call at 7 a.m. the next morning from the manager and went in there, landed that job.”

This led Eitenmiller to the company’s manager-in-training program, where he honed his skills even further, often going to newly-acquired companies to help train them on SRS’ operations and systems. In 2015, he became the commercial roofing sales manager for the Eugene branch.

He remained in this role for roughly five years until he learned the branch manager was going to be promoted, so he gunned for the position, earning the coveted spot around March 2020 – just in time for the COVID pandemic to begin.

I couldn’t help but point out how he began his new roles at the beginning of tough times – first the recession, then the pandemic – and he said getting through both was a matter of having a good team.

“A lot of it is just surrounding yourself with really good people. And I was very fortunate to be at a branch like Eugene that had a  pretty mature staff that has been around the block a few times,” he said.

Photo: Elizabeth Justice Studios

Entering the Solar Market

Eitenmiller said contractors have been contacting him about solar over the past decade. Just over a year ago, a contractor walked into his office, put a data sheet on his desk and asked if they could buy traditional solar panels from him. Intrigued, Eitenmiller asked about the project and was told the contractor was partnering with a local solar company to diversify their offerings.

This served as the final push for Eitenmiller to research whether SRS could break into the solar industry. He spent a year learning everything he could, comparing it to getting a master’s degree level of education on the subject.

“[It’s] understanding the geopolitics of renewables in the solar space, I’m understanding fully the [Inflation Reduction Act’s] domestic content and incentives for the manufacturers, what makes them tick and why things are changing,” he said. “From a contractor perspective, it’s understanding how solar is sold currently.”

He came to the conclusion SRS could benefit from entering the space, so he presented his findings to his manager. His boss agreed with him, so they put together the information in November 2023 and presented it to SRS’ leadership. The pitch won them over, and they gave the green light for the company’s west region to break into solar. As of April 1, Eitenmiller became the director of sales for the solar division.

An Enlightening Journey

As he demonstrated his newfound expertise to me, I mentioned the term “solar coaster” has been used to describe what it’s like to keep up with an ever-changing industry. He humored me with a smile and mentioned he had heard the term before.

“By the nature of electronic components, I feel like there's always going to be some of that, because there's always what's coming up new and what's next,” he said.

Roofing, by comparison, has stayed relatively consistent with its methods – albeit with new developments happening in both residential and commercial products – meaning contractors looking to diversify in solar might run into learning curves. Eitenmiller said when determining how SRS could help customers, it was a matter of helping them understand how they can implement solar, such as a vertical integration or as a subcontractor.

“Solar is sold so much differently too. It's like a roofing bid; you have to understand the local regulations, the code, the permitting process. You have to understand, you know, how financing works, to be able to speak to the ROI for a potential customer. And how do you bundle on the roofing into the ROI and show the value of roofing plus solar versus just roofing or just solar?”

A solar coaster, indeed. But one Eitenmiller is glad to ride to make SRS Distribution a one-stop shop for customers. He said SRS is cutting its teeth on residential and commercial solar but there is room for expanding into other aspects of renewable energy, like EV chargers and batteries.

“The growth is just happening exponentially year over year, it’s not slowing down,” he said. “It’s something where we either get out there and do it or somebody else does, right?”

Finding the right partners has been just as important to Eitenmiller. So far, the distributor is working with the likes of GAF Energy, CertainTeed and Tesla. He said SRS will be choosey about partners, adding about 25 to 30 SRS locations will act as a “hub and spoke” to serve solar markets by the year’s end.

“We have a national approach with the line card and each individual market will determine the product stack based on the customer's needs,” he said. “Then, as we get more customers coming in, we might bring in another brand.”

Whether it’s been helping roofing customers in Oregon or his new path of solar, one thing is clear: Eitenmiller’s ready to learn to give his customers the edge they need.

“At the end of the day, it’s all about taking care of customers, getting the right product at the right place at the right time and focusing on service,” he added. “And if we get that right — if we do what we do in the solar space as well as how we do it in the building products and roofing space — we're going to be a significant player in that space in a short period of time.”