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Drew Slocum: (00:09):

This is episode 13 of the Fire Protection Podcast, powered by Inspect Point. Today my guest is Matt Rice. Matt is the CEO and Co-founder of Bryer, the compliance engine. I wanted to have Matt on to discuss the compliance engine, mainly cuz it's a kind of a newer idea in the fire protection industry where, um, there are different software solutions out there that are being provided to the, uh, HJS fire departments and other entities, uh, throughout the country, which manages compliance of fire protection systems and other, other things, other systems that the AHJs have to deal with. The compliance engines, one of the, uh, the large ones in the industry. Um, Matt and I have, have dealt before on some, some ideas on some things, and, uh, wanted to have him on to talk about compliance issues with hjs and what we see moving forward. So, um, great talk with him. We really get into the data side of fire protection as well, and where we see, uh, data being very powerful, not only to the hj, but the industry in general. So, really excited to have Matt on and, uh, please subscribe and pass the word along on the Fire Protection Podcast. Thanks for listening.

(01:33)
I wanted to give a quick plug and update on the, uh, Inspect Point side of things. Um, been hard at work on the development side. Keep onboarding a lot of customers. Everybody's been, uh, uh, very happy with what we've been doing. Uh, the California forms, uh, have been a really big hit in California with the, uh, inspection, testing and maintenance for sprinkler and suppression. Uh, fitting, fitting fitting the California needs. But we have a really big launch coming in December, January timeframe, um, in inspect points, really been inspection proposals and some sales features. But we're finally gonna figure out and complete the last piece of the puzzle. And that's the service and work order feature where you'll be able to dispatch a technician out for fixes and service for an issue for deficiency. It'll all be attached, uh, within, in Inspect Point to the inspection to what, uh, system that you're working on.

(02:32)
So that service order will be able to just be dispatched to the tech through the iPad app. Also, you'll be able to attach material and get it back to the office within a reasonable time. So, really excited about this service piece and, uh, it's gonna put us to a different level. So if anybody has any interest, reach out to Inspect Point and or myself, Drew @inspect point.com and make sure you reference the podcast when you do talk to us and we'll give you an extra 10% discount. I've got Matt Rice here. Uh, Matt is the CEO and co-founder and ceo, right? Matt?

Matt Rice: (03:09):

Yes, correct.

Drew Slocum: (03:10):

Of, uh, uh, of Brier and, uh, compliance engine. Uh, I wanted to have Matt on. I've, I've, I've, I've been, uh, industry pals with Matt for the last few or a couple years since we met out at, uh, uh, an N F S A event a few years ago. And, uh, you know, there's a lot of, um, interest in the software realm, obviously, uh, said spec point. Were into, into that, and Matt and his company, um, is into that as well at a different level. So a lot of times we get kind of pushed together in the same group, but we are a, a totally different, uh, softwares for, for different, um, kind of stakeholders in the, in the fire protection process. So, wanted to have Matt on just to, to chat a little bit about, uh, compliance engine with the, what they're, what they're seeing out there for fire protection. So, uh, yeah. Welcome Matt.

Matt Rice: (04:03):

True. Thanks a lot for having me. Appreciate it and looking forward to the opportunity to, uh, talking with you here the next half an hour to hour.

Drew Slocum: (04:09):

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's good. Um, so let's do a little intro. You know, you wanna give a little intro about yourself, maybe a little bit about the company Sure. Why, why you got into fire protection. I, I'm always interested in how, uh, how that happens.

Matt Rice: (04:26):

Yeah. Well, a little bit on the company first is, is, you know, Bryce and its 10th year. And, uh, our product is the compliance engine. You know, we're based out of, uh, Warrenville, Illinois, just about 30 minutes west of Chicago. And, uh, you know, how we got into this was, is actually the Illinois Air Illinois Fire Sprinkler Contractor Act in Illinois was requiring that all fire, fire protection system inspections of 25 systems be submitted to a copy, a copy of it be submitted to the hj. And that was, you know, a paper based, uh, manual reactionary process being done. And so Brian Schultz, who founded the company with me, uh, approached me while I was working at Ann Insurance. So I've been in the insurance industry for 17 years, and he was a, uh, service provider, uh, for a local contractor here in the Chicagoland area, and said, Hey, what do you think about this from an insurance perspective?

(05:20)
And as we continued on those conversations, we said, Hey, we got something here. Yeah. And from there, we, you know, there, there's a solution to, to make this more efficient, right. Utilize technology, utilize the web, and bring that to the fire departments and the fire prevention bureaus in particular to make their jobs easier. Right, right. And allow them to do more with less. Um, so, uh, we researched it with, um, Illinois Fire Marshall Association's executive board back in the time, 10 years ago. And, and they all thought it was a great idea and told us, Hey, you need to make this simple. Um, and so we decided that, uh, at that time in our lives, an entrepreneurial effort to get into it. I had touched fire protection from the insurance aspect. Brian was a service provider. It was a natural fit. I had some technology background, and in a way, we went. And that's been, uh, 10, 10 great years. And as any entrepreneur, you're an entrepreneur with inspect point. Uh, you know, the journey has been, um, enlightening educational, and most importantly, it's been a blast. And, uh, we've been able to drive benefits to our customers.

Drew Slocum: (06:24):

Yeah, that's, that's nice to hear. I'm, I'm, I'm glad. Uh, so how, how did you know Brian before? I mean, you were in, you were insurance, so did you just deal with him in the insurance end or was it, cause I know he's been in fire protection for a while.

Matt Rice: (06:38):

Yeah, no, Brian's been in it. Brian has been in it for about 15 years. When I got together with him, um, he actually married my cousin, and that's how I got to meet him.

Drew Slocum: (06:48):

Oh, there, there you go. All right. , uh, yeah, I met, uh, I met Brian a few, uh, a couple months ago when, when, when we were out in Chicago. So that was, that was good. Um, so yeah. Yeah, I'm, I'm always interested to see how people get into fire protection. Usually it's not the, you know, the most standard way. It's, uh, usually,

Matt Rice: (07:09):

Yeah. You know, I, you can look at it. I, I wasn't a fire engineer, you know, I had it from the insurance perspective of it, and then certainly there's still an insurance play to what we're doing. I don't know, you know, the market and industry and a couple spots are, are ready for it. But, um, you know, what it was, it was an opportunity to make something better and really give back and, and deliver a value added solution to an industry that, uh, was the enticing piece for me. You know, Brian still on fire, but he wanted to do something entrepreneurial as well, and, and make a difference. And, uh, that's how, that's how, you know, the, the marriage, so to say, uh, occurred between the two of us as far as business partnership and the start of bryer.

Drew Slocum: (07:48):

Nice. No, no, that's great. Great story.

Matt Rice: (07:50):

Um, and a really, and a point of clarification here is nobody's name here is Bryer. My last name is Rice. His first name is Brian with a y. Hence, we merged those together and got Bryer.

Drew Slocum: (08:01):

I see. I, yeah, I, I think you, you mentioned that to me before, but I was wondered what Bryer was, and then some people say Bryer, and then they say the compliance engine or he CE E. So

Matt Rice: (08:14):

Yeah, we get people who call and ask for Mr. Bryer all the time. .

Drew Slocum: (08:19):

That's great. Um, so yeah, little intro about yourself. So I guess, you know, there's a lot of, uh, we got a lot of listeners out there, most of them obviously in fire protection, but you know, we're, we're in tune to what, what the compliance engine and what you guys are doing. I guess for the layman's terms out there, what is, what is, what are you doing, I guess, what is the software? What's it providing?

Matt Rice: (08:43):

Right. So we do outside, um, we do outside just the fire protection system. So I'll give you kind of a general term of what we do, and then I'll get more specific under the fire, fire side of the house. But, you know, Bryce's product to compliance engine, it, it's a software service vehicle. Uh, it's web ho, you know, web-based. And the whole purpose of it is, is to drive compliance with the adopted fire codes or whatever code it may be as it pertains to inspection, testing, and maintenance of some sort of system or apparatus. Uh, right. So in the fire protections and, and we cover fire protection systems, backflows elevators, fat oil, grease. Um, and so, uh, we got a couple other ones we can talk about later when, when you get into, uh, you know, the, uh, gas detection systems and mm-hmm. , and that's kind of an interesting story because that's all around the, the, the marijuana growing facilities that are growing rapidly across our country.

(09:35)
So we can talk about that later. But, so anything that really requires to be inspected, tested, and maintained by an authority, having jurisdiction and has a third party contractor who performs those inspections for the buildings. Um, we are a communication vehicle and they go between, or clearinghouse, however you wanna call it, for those two to accomplish the goal of ensuring that, uh, all the fire protection systems in the country are inspected, tested, and maintained on the frequency that they're required to at a minimum with the reality of is on an annual base at a minimum. And mm-hmm. . And that has really to do with the, the capacity at the ah, HJ level. Right. Um, today in, in the industry, people may have heard it called third party reporting, you know, drew, you've heard me say in the past. Yeah. Uh, I think it's misnomer. I've told the, you know, then ITM summit meetings. I think it's a really misnomer, I think you guys get lumped into third party reporting when you talk about inspections office for

Drew Slocum: (10:27):

Some reason. Yeah.

Matt Rice: (10:28):

We're more on the contractor side. So, yeah. And I think over the years, and that's just, that kind of stuck 10 years ago when, when we created the market, right? We were fir you know, we're a market maker when it comes to this, right? Its market didn't exist before. And so it kind of was there for about eight year, nine years this year. The nfsa, AFA and the naed, you know, published a position paper on it. And I think the NFS a was really the driver behind it. And, you know, they, they've kind of come to the conclusion that third party reporting didn't make sense either according to their position paper. Cause they're not calling it ITM reporting services. Mm-hmm. , I can live with that. I think that's way better than third party reporting. I still believe, and we believe here at Brier that, you know, it's a compliance solution, service or application would be a better, you know, moniker for what we do or classification of what we do.

(11:15)
But, um, so to clarify that, yes, technically, if you've heard third party reporting, that would be more bresser, um, that's dealing with the communication and the tracking and the aggregation and the enforcement of, of the fire inspection takes and maintenance part of the codes, uh, between the service providers and the AHJs. Um, so we did build this system, right? So if you really wanna look at it from, I'm not sure what perspective you're looking at this, uh, those listening, but we really built this originally for the hjs, right? Mm-hmm. , you know, in 2008, you know, you had the financial crisis, right? And budgets were cut. And when budgets are cut, prevention bureau or in a fire department, prevention's usually one of the first places they look to get rid of spots. Right? And so they were tasked with doing more with less, right? They had pub ed, they had, you know, plan reviews, they had investigations, and they had enforcement of the code.

(12:08)
And so, um, we were able to be a resource for them and a tool and save them time, allowed them to do more with less. So we're really, we built this, uh, for the hjs, uh, we contract directly with the AHJs to adopt this. When they adopt this, it becomes required in their jurisdiction that any third party contractor or service provider inspection test maintenance company out there, uh, has to submit a copy of the report of the, you know, the inspection, testing and maintenance report that they provide, that they perform Yep. And submit it to the HJ through us, right? We aggregate that track and make it easier for them to review. We highlight deficiencies, we send out notifications on deficiencies. We send out past due notifications to a building owner to in a renewal notice, um, et cetera. But the whole goal of driving compliance mm-hmm.

(12:55)
, right? If, if, if these systems, these fire protection systems are compliant, they're gonna work in, you know, in case of an incident, we're gonna, you know, protect lives and building and property and investments. So, um, that's really what we do. Uh, you know, if you really wanna sum it up now, all that kind of detail, it's a risk mitigation tool mm-hmm. , right? It helps jurisdictions understand where their risk is and where their risk is lessened. It allows 'em to focus on those areas where they need to maybe better enforce their code, right? Right. What are the, what are the common deficiencies that we maybe need to go do better education? So it's a pure prevention, uh, tool to help our, to help our HJ brethren out there, um, do their job Yeah. And do their job well.

Drew Slocum: (13:36):

So, so you got fire water elevator, and I saw that on the website. Obviously you guys are getting into other things. What is, is the Vegas sector, it's gotta be fire, right? Fireside,

Matt Rice: (13:48):

Uh, fire, that's where we got our start. Right? And that's what, you know, that is, um, our largest portion of our, our business is fire today.

Drew Slocum: (13:57):

Yeah. It's interesting, you know, fire, and obviously we're in fire, but we're in, we're in water in the backflow side, you know, fire seems to be across the board, you know, there's standards across the US that provide a pretty good template on what you should be doing. You know, what the code is, what, or what you should be referencing. At least the water side seems to be all over the place. So, uh, you know, there's, so it seems like there's so many water jurisdictions and backflow forms out there. Um, do you see the same thing when you, when you, I know we're, we wanna focus on the fire side, but the question I ask No, sure. Good question is, is it, is it all over the place? Like, like we see?

Matt Rice: (14:40):

No. I would tell you that fires more all over the place than, than backflow. There, there are more jurisdictions for backflow, right? Um, if you wanna, but when you look at it, I mean, there's really, you know, a, a fire alarm or a sprinkler inspection report, right? They vary greatly across the country, right? Yes. You have templates and FPAs put stuff out there, N fsa, afa, they've all put stuff out there, but these contractors use their own forms and in most cases, and then you have inspection softwares like yours, right? Where you guys will customize the report for however the contractor wants to use it. Mm-hmm. , um, and the fire departments are on different codes all over the country. Different versions of ICC 2012, 15, some are on nine, heck, we've even had some here as recently in Illinois, they're still on the Boca codes, right? Some are on NFPA one Oh. And the water arena, you know, really kind of EPA drives a lot of that, right? So, and you know, you know, and I'm, I'm o over estimating this, but, or over summarizes, but there's really only 68 key, you know, data elements that they need to capture when, when kind of looking at that. So we don't see, we see a mass, we see it differently, um, a much more dynamic or diverse reporting debt element capturing on the fire side than we actually do on the backflow side.

Drew Slocum: (16:01):

Yeah. That, that makes sense. Those, you know, at the end of the day, you're right, 68 key elements for that, those backflow devices. It just seems like every, every jurisdiction wants something different. So I, I'm, I'm totally for you going after the water side of the business too, to, to kinda standardize that a little bit. Um, so that, that, yeah, that's great. Um, on the fire side, what, so you said fire alarm, fire sprinkler, do you get involved in the other fire and life safety aspects as well?

Matt Rice: (16:31):

Yeah, so I mean, we'll track whatever the HJ wants us to track, you know, we'll, the main ones are sprinkler and fire alarm, but Right. You know, our, our 25 and 72, right? Mm-hmm. stamp pipes, fire pumps mm-hmm. , we track hood, hood suppression, hood cleaning, private, private hydrants, you know, in, in Los Angeles for example, we track automatic closing door assemblies, right? Oh, wow. Um, up in Seattle, right. We're doing, you know, we're doing, you even now we're doing the, you know, we're doing the, uh, uh, the first response, the, uh, BDA testing Yep. For radio transmitters. Oh, wow. Um, we do fire escapes in certain jurisdictions, and that's an interesting one, right? Cuz there're not too many companies in the country that actually do inspection, testing, maintenance of, of fire escapes, to be honest with you. But, um, so, but, uh, you know, those are the systems that will track any, any fire. You know, the, the one we don't is probably a better way to put it is, is we don't track, you know, extinguishers, portable extinguishers.

Drew Slocum: (17:33):

Yep. Yeah. It's gotta be,

Matt Rice: (17:34):

And that's

Drew Slocum: (17:36):

So funny. It,

Matt Rice: (17:37):

It's difficult for multiple reasons, right? A lot of those are, you know, they're taken out mm-hmm. and swapped and then recalibrated, you have a, you have a strip mall or an office building where in some one someone's lease, they're responsible for their fire extinguishers where the other, the building is. And you, you just don't know who the responsible party is, and there's no report required in N FPA for it, right? No. They tag it, they punch it and they go,

Drew Slocum: (18:00):

No. And maybe it's more at the building level of how many, how many are deficient, and I don't even know where, you know, I don't know how, again, you have to ask your HJ Yeah. Ask your customer and what, you know, if they have interest in that or not. So

Matt Rice: (18:15):

Interesting. Right? So, but yeah, I mean, you know, kind of 25, you know, I would tell you is number of systems we're tracking, fire alarms are the number one, they're just more of 'em out there in the country than there are sprinklers. And then sprinkler's number two. And then, you know, we get to the kitchen hood systems. But, um, that kinda, hopefully that gives you a flavor for what we'll track on the fire side.

Drew Slocum: (18:35):

No, no, that's good. That's good. Uh, now you mentioned, uh, hjs contractors. Are those the only, what are, I guess, what are the players involved in your system? Who's entering, I guess the, the whole, you kind of explained the process a little bit, but who are, who are the main players, I guess, or all of the players

Matt Rice: (18:56):

As far as, well, you have the AHJs, right? The authorities having jurisdiction. Yep. Um, they're the primary player there, right? Uh, well, primarily there are our first point of contact Yep. Uh, player. You have the service providers. Yep. Right. Um, and, and then you also have the buildings mm-hmm. , right? And so the buildings are ultimately responsible or the, you know, building owners ultimately responsible for having make sure that this, their systems get tested and maintained. Right. Right. Um, and so it kind of gets into, those are the main three main players, and then you throw us in there as a nucleus to make sure that the communication between those three is met. Yeah. And the primary communication is between the service provider, the contractor doing the inspection, testing and maintenance, submitting a copy of the report to the authority, having jurisdiction. Yep. Right. So, and then we sit in between, in between those two. Right. Gotcha. Um, so those, those are kind of the, those are the main players. So, you know, any, any anybody who inspects testing and maintains fire protection systems on the service provider side and the HJ are really the primary two as far as the process goes. You know, big winner and is the building as well. Right? Yeah. Uh, the building's ultimately responsible for it, and it's a way to make sure that the building's doing what they're doing from an AJ's perspective. Right.

Drew Slocum: (20:15):

Yeah. I, and you mentioned insurance earlier and I'd be sure, really curious to see where their role and, and it, this doesn't seem to be there now, but you know, obviously there's a lot more inquiries from the insurance industry and kind of this deficiency, risk mitigation process. So, uh, you, you think they would get involved in it quicker than they are, but, um, and maybe I, I, I see a little bit on our side, but have you seen the insurance on, you know, re requesting, you know, information from you guys?

Matt Rice: (20:48):

It's pretty, that's actually pretty fascinating story to date, right? You know, I had 17 year history in the insurance world prior to this. Right? So, and, and you would think, um, when we started this, we went to all the, you know, large property, um, you know, insurance companies and, and, and asked them and there wasn't much interest one cuz one, we didn't have really any case study to show 'em, right? We didn't have a customer base. And two, at the end of the day, they have their all have their own underwriting models that are built by actuaries and actuaries Right. Are using their 10 years worth of claims information and purchasing information from other entities and building in their, their all, they're all actuarial models so that their underwriters can take a look at the risk, you know, where they located, you know, part of the country's, all this stuff goes into the underwriting.

(21:35)
You know, the interesting thing in this is is that though, if you don't do this, if you don't have your systems inspected test and maintained, it clearly leaves in your, and, and I can't say every policy cause I haven't read every, every insurance company's policies and they've changed over years. But if you don't have your, your systems inspected, tested and maintained, and you have a claim or you have an incident at your, at your property and you file a claim and they ask if you've had inspected, tested and maintained, you've got a, you've got a potential serious problem. Yeah. Because you're in violation of your, of your insurance. Right. Uh, policy. So, you know, and there was a case of that in southern Indiana and I, and I'm, I'm drawing a blank on the venue, uh, on the name of the, the business. But it was a venue that had a hotel and it, it had, you know, um, uh, a musical venue and, uh, you know, the pipes had burst.

(22:23)
Oh. And the ITM had noticed it told them and they didn't get it fixed for three or four years. Right. So, hence one of the benefits of us is the HJ now knows and can enforce the maintenance of this low. And both they had a fire, thankfully no one was hurt, but, you know, it was a millions and millions of dollar claim that was filed and they were turned down because they knew their pipes were burst. Wow. And they did not continue to have the system maintained or inspected the following year. So, um, so we are, so why I say it's fascinating is, is that we are now getting, you know, based on our breadth here at the, at Bryer and you know, we're in 38 states, right? And, you know, we've got six of the largest 10 largest cities in the country on board and, and we're continuing to grow.

(23:06)
They're now wanting to see this information mm-hmm. can they have access to it, right? And so I think that's all part of the whole trend where fire is going and then the world and all businesses is, look, data is great. We wanna be able to turn in info so that we can better mitigate our risk. I think it'll end up helping eventually, you know, we can talk about ISO ratings in a jurisdiction, but I think it can help with the firmer pricing of a risk of a building based on what system is it has and where the common deficiencies and violations in those, and tie that all into their whole risk model. Uh, cause this is just a portion of their risk model for sure. But I think it can help firm up some of the pricing on the prevention side of the house.

Drew Slocum: (23:41):

No, no, I agree. I think, uh, I think over the next 5, 5, 7 years that'll become more of a factor and hopefully, and it should drive obviously better compliance and, uh, our platforms and better fire protection. So

Matt Rice: (23:56):

I think it may be even sooner than five years. We've already got a couple states, which I'm not at liberty to share at this point in time, but that are already actually gathering this information from the AHJs. Cause I think it's one thing important for, you know, for people to understand is, you know, it it for least to rice and the compliance center, we don't own the data. It's the, it's the authority having jurisdictions data, right? Yep. So, um, all access to that information, you know, to the insurance companies comes through the HJ and, you know, they're all getting ISO rated, but, uh, there's a couple, um, state, um, insurance organizations that are now taking a look at this data. So yeah. Here it's not where it needs to be and it's certainly gonna grow. And I think you're right, probably where it'll be it's most effective as the next five to seven years.

Drew Slocum: (24:36):

Yep, yep. Yeah, I'm, I'm glad you guys are kind of on the same page as, as us, at least on the, uh, on the data side. Cuz you know, our customers, our contractors purchase the, you know, software, so they should own the data at the end of the day and do what they want with it. So,

Matt Rice: (24:54):

Um, right. And, and our customers, the HJ customer does not purchase our application. Right. Our application is zero cost to the authorities having jurisdiction. Our customers on the, on the contractor side, they pay a fetus, submit a copy of this to the, to the ahj. So, but even then, right. At the end of the day, uh, this is about, you know, life safety mm-hmm. , and the goal is to be compliant and keep people safe and buildings, you know, uh, safe and, uh, whatever it takes to do that, you know, um, that is ethical and, and moral and within our realms, we're gonna help the AHJs do.

Drew Slocum: (25:29):

Yeah, no, I agree. So that, so, so the, the big advantage, obviously on the ahj side, there's, there's no cost. You know, they're getting all that data. They have a dashboard of all their, you know, deficient buildings or whatever. Um, I know, you know, over the years seeing these compliance softwares out there, certain, certain contractors, I, I've, I've seen mixed, mixed feelings across the us and actually it's starting to become more of a positive reaction. Um, you know, once something, once a compliance system is, is required for the jurisdiction. So you wanna kind of shed light on that and kind of the process there and what's, what's the advantages and if there is a disadvantage or maybe dispel some of the disadvantages out there.

Matt Rice: (26:20):

Yeah, and I absolutely, I mean, what you said was, was very true. There, there are, there are mixed feelings. Um, those mixed feelings are in favor of, of, you know, a ITM reporting system, like the compliance tension, uh, and heavier than, than they were six years, you know, two years ago, certainly, oh, four years ago. And clearly when we started, um, because we have many jurisdictions where we've been introduced by the service providers from the simple vein that what we do has proven to drive compliance mm-hmm. , and when compliance is met, it solves some of the problems that the service providers were having. You know, when Brian was out there, you know, he was turned away from business because they hadn't seen anybody from the profe, you know, they hadn't seen a fire marshal or inspector in, in three years. And they said, until I get somebody here from the fire department tell me I have to do this, even though it's part of the code, I'm not gonna do it.

(27:15)
Right. I'm gonna save the 200, 304 bucks, whatever it might have been. Yep. And so, and, and so that was a challenge. And, you know, and, um, upon, you know, that we did a survey and, you know, um, and it's over a thousand hjs. And, and the hjs believe, and, and our 10 years in business have proven to proven to be accurate, is that over 50% of the fire protection systems in any given jurisdiction go uninspected tested and maintained on an annual basis. Wow. Now that's 50% of the contractors' market that they're not generating any revenue on the inspection side of the house. Right? Right. And then you take that right now in our system across a million buildings that we're tracking, uh, that's just buildings, um, 33% of all those buildings have fire protection systems, right. That come in with some deficiency of some sort or another, right?

(28:09)
Mm-hmm. , and they certainly, you know, fluctuate on the severity of de but there's maintenance revenue there, right. And now with applications like the compliance engine, the HJ with a, literally with a click of a button can have a notification sent out to that billion dollar notifying that we're aware that you have your headset, you know, the sprinkler heads are painted or whatever it may be, you know, and they can have those corrected that's driving maintenance revenue to, um, to the service providers. You know, I've been on numerous panels, right. And in Illinois, we had a contractor mentioned that, uh, you know, their, their maintenance revenue was up 33% year over year. Wow. In jurisdictions were, the compliance editor was implemented. I had another contractor from a large national say they hadn't done that kind of analytics study, but they say that we have nobody on the bench.

(28:59)
Was their response in jurisdictions for the compliance engine engine is Wow. So they're getting the maintenance work. Right. So yeah, I think, you know, I think the benefits are, are more than just, you know, an electronic software and, you know, for the AHJs, I just gave a bunch of benefits for the, for the contractors. Right. And so for the contractors think about is is where we're implemented, we see a 72% increase in fire protection systems that are tested and repaired. Yeah. Um, on the backflow side, we're seeing 63%. Wow. So that's, that's work. Yeah. Um, and, and so, and in most cases, the contractors are passing this fee onto the business. So when you look at, um, at a cost of the service providers to submit this as their, their customers, um, it's really not costing them many hard dollar costs. Right. They can have some administrative side of it.

(29:49)
Sure. Yeah. Um, but many of these already had to email 'em or mail 'em in, or hand deliver them. I mean, and, and jurisdictions, right. The, you know, the pass process. And we're just trying to make that simpler for everybody and a win-win for everybody, the AHJs, you know, it's a resource issue. Right. Um, it's a huge resource issue for the hjs mm-hmm. , you know, it's also something that probably, um, isn't talked about enough is, and this was brought to us by fire chiefs and study that they had done, but it's, it's, it's, it's, it's limiting or it's decreasing the amount of unwanted nuisance alarms that they have to respond to mm-hmm. , right? Yes. Right. So, and, and if you look at the N FPA had done a study, uh, there, um, that, that showed that, you know, th about 32 and half percent of unwanted nuisance alarms were due to lack of testing and maintenance on the fire protection systems. Wow. Well, when a fire department responds right. To a false alarm. Right. It varies every jurisdiction as they sit on a truck and a ladder or an ambulance, or what are they sending that has costs? Costs,

Drew Slocum: (30:52):

Yeah. Varies.

Matt Rice: (30:53):

It has hard dollar costs on wear and tear on the rigs and, and just gas take that. So that's cost that the, the jurisdictions are incurring, which again, is always gonna come back to a budget, which is always gonna come back to taxpayers. It also has, uh, you know, a, a softer risk as far as dollars are concerned in that. And, and probably even a bigger downside, unwanted news alarms is they're not able to respond to real incidences. Oh. If they're responding to unwanted news alarms.

Drew Slocum: (31:22):

That's right. If they're, if they're too strapped. Right. Yep.

Matt Rice: (31:25):

Right. And so Andrew, you've been, you've been in the industry a long time. You, you understand that, you know, the fire departments, uh, aren't, don't have an abundance of resources. No. And, um, you know, the more they can focus on, you know, real incidents, the better off they are. Right. I mean, heck, you're, you're, you've got inspection software to check these systems to inspect 'em, to make sure they're working so that you know, you, you're fighting that same battle. Your software will help reduce Right. The number of, you know, um, false unwanted nuisance false alarms. Sure. Cause you guys are gonna be checking that your, your, your, your customers are gonna be making sure that those get inspected tests maintained. We're gonna help make sure that they need to get maintained. And they're getting inspected as well from the hjs, right? Yeah. When 50% of the fire protection systems and billings aren't getting inspected, testing maintained, that's a problem. Yeah. Should drive business to your customers. Hey, you know, that's a huge one.

Drew Slocum: (32:17):

Yeah. You think spending, you know, hundreds of, you know, tens of hundreds of thousand dollars on a fire protection system, the least you could, you know, the least thing that you could do is maintain it. You know, you spend all the money to do it, you know. Right. Not only, yeah, I know there's a risk for the fire, fire and safety risk, but you think you would wanna maintain your system same as you would your, your H V A C plumbing, electrical. But I guess, you know, sometimes fire gets, you know, it's more of a passive thing and people don't notice it a lot of times. So

Matt Rice: (32:49):

No doubt. You know, a fire chief told me that, uh, hey, look, uh, two things. He never wanted to see anybody die in his watch. And too, he wanted to build, he wanted to build an environment to, to ensure that it was safer. His firefighters, the citizens and the guests, right? Mm-hmm. . And if we're all collaborating to, to drive to that, it, you know, I see this as, as a win from, from a much bigger picture than, you know, um, just compliance, right. Compliance should keep it safer and keep people in buildings safe. And, um, you know, it, it's, it's a win-win for all.

Drew Slocum: (33:20):

Yeah. No, no, I, I agree. Now, you, you did kind of touch on, uh, the, you know, you have the, you have, you have the cost for the contractor, which, you know, is baked into the, you know, the price, which I could see, I could see that easily, uh mm-hmm. being done, but you said an indirect cost, which I know there's some, there's some talk of it out there. Um mm-hmm. of, of making, of getting, if we can get the information together from the contractor faster into your system. I think it's a, it's a home run. And I think contractors will, uh, will totally flip once I think once that occurs, um, you know, there will, there'll be no negative and I think, I think it'll, it'll push, push compliance software into more jurisdictions even faster. That, that's my opinion. But, um, and I know

Matt Rice: (34:11):

Yeah. And, and you're referring to APIs, correct? Correct. You're referring to APIs to, to companies like yours. Yeah. And I mean, I kind of, you know, if you look into the future, right? And, and we, we've had some of these conversations is is that we are headed in that direction, right? Yep. Making the APIs available, right. Um, you know, there's like anything right there, there's a cost, indirect cost, like you said. Correct. That indirect cost is being incurred by most of these jurisdictions today anyway. Cause you know, we've done a study, we can tell when somebody entered a report to when they submitted it. Right? And on average, it takes you 63.4 seconds to submit a report. Okay? Right. On average, some are gonna take a little bit longer if they got deficiencies with the compliant reports. If you look at that and then you look at it, if you're just emailing it, it's, it's almost equivalent.

(34:56)
Mm-hmm. . Now, I do agree with you, we got into this, you know, we got into this to take an archaic process, or not, not archaic, but a more manual process reaction and make it more efficient mm-hmm. , right. Um, and more cost effective and drive better communications. Correct. And so, um, yeah, we are, uh, we believe and we agree that, you know, allowing systems to talk to each other. I think, I mean, you might have stated earlier in the, in, in the conversation that, you know, um, not, there's not one software system that's gonna do everything for everybody, right? And so, but can we have those systems talk to each other? In today's world, you know, you guys built yours with, you know, open architecture as well as we did. You know, systems are, it's easier for systems that should be able to talk to each other.

(35:44)
Now that said, writing the APIs and making sure it works, you and I can do from the technical perspective very easily, it now comes down to know, to the layman's side, doing the actual work of mapping these systems together or mapping their customers to what the HJ has or mapping from inspect point to the compliance engine. And you know, and there's different variances of what happens in different AHJs and it's an education process. And I think that's probably where the biggest challenge, um, on the API side integration side of the house is. And I don't think it's from the technical perspective of it, and you can even go further onto that as you move forward with apps. Right? Right. You know, building apps on your application to make it even more simple for, um, the contractors to submit reports, um, and the hjs to review the reports and all that kind of stuff.

(36:32)
So yeah. I mean, computing, uh, power doubles, you know, what every two years and, you know, doubles in strength and, um, and it's moving faster than maybe moving faster that in today's world. And we're just trying to leverage everything that's out there to make it easier for everybody else. And Yeah. Yes. The answer to your question is yes, we love to be able to see the contractor softwares, those contractors using inspection software, talk to ours. Yep. Um, uh, without having to submit it back to somebody, uh, at their office to submit. Yeah. Uh, cuz for me, from my perspective, right, if you wanna take this not from a business perspective, that just increases my cash flow.

Drew Slocum: (37:13):

Sure, sure.

Matt Rice: (37:15):

Right, right. There's no delay. Uh, there's less delay, you know, but we also have, uh, realities of the business world is that, and Drew is that some contractors and one really large contractor doesn't want their technicians sending anything out until it's reviewed by somebody in their office. Right. Um, well,

Drew Slocum: (37:33):

I see that, I see that most, I see that most often. We see that most often. Is there, there there's a review process, but that's quickly reviewed and then, you know, pushed into your system very quickly cuz you know Yeah. It's not always the most, you get very accurate, detailed information we can and I think that's very powerful to your HJ at the end of the day too. So, um, it's coming. It's, we're, we're almost there. So

Matt Rice: (37:58):

I agree.

Drew Slocum: (37:59):

Yep. Um, I agree. So any, anything else going on in on kind of future we're with Bryer Compliance Engine? I know you kind of touched on a couple different sectors you're going after. Um, is there anything else that

Matt Rice: (38:12):

Yeah, we were in, yeah, well, we'll be continuing to look at new verticals. Right now, our three main verticals are, you know, the number ones fire, you know, then you have, uh, backflows close second and you know, you have the elevators, um, right. Cause they're, and there's different departments within each jurisdiction. Um, you know, you got Fat Oil and Grease, which kind of is a separate division in some cases with the backflows, but same department, um, you know, the whole gas detection system thing, you know I mentioned earlier mm-hmm. , that, that's kind of fascinating. Just with this whole rise with the marijuana, marijuana growing facilities out there. And that's a, you know, something that's now having to be tracked. Cause it's a higher risk that the US didn't have before. What is it? A gas?

Drew Slocum: (38:53):

A gas from an off-gas?

Matt Rice: (38:55):

It's a gas, it's a gas detection system from the marijuana growing facility. So what, what they put in there to grow these, you know, to grow the weed. I don't know, you know, someone be like Joe Rogan, it's a good thing. You and I are, you know, pulling a Joe Rogan here, . But, uh,

Drew Slocum: (39:14):

I do listen to a lot of this podcast. So I do have, uh, you know, uh, do you have

Matt Rice: (39:17):

An idea what I'm saying? I

Drew Slocum: (39:19):

Have an idea what you're saying. Elon Musk, now ,

Matt Rice: (39:23):

You know, in Seattle, um, in partnership with Seattle, we created the first, um, BDA testing form for the, you know, for the, uh, radio transmitters Oh. Is becoming a bigger issue, an issue. And you know, when, when you're having, if you look at the trends in fire and one of them's, you know, mass, mass reaction or, you know, for first responders and they get into a big building and they can't talk to each other and all that stuff. So that's becoming a bigger issue. We're seeing more and more requests for that. And we're pretty proud of the fact that, you know, we were able to partner with Seattle who's gonna be tracking it here and start officially in the next month. And we are able to come up with a form and, um, that everyone in that Seattle works in that jurisdiction will have to use their form.

(40:03)
Seattle uses standard forms for everything, um, standard templates for all of their, their, their fire protection systems. So, and then I think you're gonna see in the future, um, with us is, is, you know, we kind of look like we're a nucleus, right? We talked about those APIs, we're kind of that go between that nucleus at Keystone for systems like yours and communication with HJ and H ha's record management system. You're gonna see more of that from us. And you're also gonna see, I think, uh, the importance of data. This isn't specific to us, but how we play a role in it. Right. I think you're probably seeing it, um, the importance of data and the information that provides, right? Is it massive industry, industry trend, uh, trend and the fireside. Right? And I think we're gonna play a vital role in that trend as it relates to long-term impacts of some of the, of, of the fire codes and the code changes and code adoptions and Right.

(40:50)
Um, right. You know, data's meaningless unless you can turn it into information and take that information and analyze it and turn it into, uh, something positive to move forward with or to focus on. And, you know, we have, we're inundated with requests for the data from that perspective, right. Again, we'll play a role with our AHA partners in helping them if they decide they wanna share that information. But, you know, from the insurance companies, from manufacturers, um, to community risk reduction consultants, to risk mitigation partnerships, all those from NFPA with their data initiative. Sure. Those requests are from, from iso. All those folks are requesting information to change the model to improve it in the fire industry. And I think we're gonna play a big role in that because there's nobody out there, um, that is collecting more inspection, testing, maintenance data than Bryer.

Drew Slocum: (41:49):

Than Bryer. Yeah. Now you guys, you guys are obviously, if you grab the jurisdiction, you grab, you know, everything that's done there. Um, yep. Yeah. It's pretty powerful. And I, I, I think, you know, uh, another fi I mean you guys, you guys already had a great set of data, but I think it's just gonna get better and better and, um, you know, we'll be able to make smarter decis decisions as an industry over that in the, in the, probably less than five years we'll be able to start doing that. I think there's gonna be an initiative to push that way. It, it's funny, I, I've talked to different manufacturers cuz that's the realm I came from and it, it's funny that they're great at making product designing, product innovating, but they don't know, they don't have any data on the product, which is, it's kind of wild to think, um, that they make the product but they don't know what it's doing. And I think that's where we fill those voids. So

Matt Rice: (42:45):

I agree with you and you know, it, it's gonna take somebody, right? I mean, I know that FDA's got some initiatives going out there and, and others do, but it, you know, I think it's gonna probably come from the vendors right out there in the marketplace and, and that can help really deliver this. Um, I think that it's gotta be a collaborative effort between vendors to help, you know, when I say vendors, I mean software vendors. I mean inspect point Bryce or the others to help come up with this data and help make fire, you know, whether it be the codes, whether it be, you know, the processes and procedures, whatever it may be, the focus on education, all that stuff. The fires can do that and fires behind the times when it comes to that. Mm-hmm. mean, if you look at the funding that goes to police, right?

(43:31)
And people could argue, well, we have bigger problems that we need more police. Well police have been using data for 10 years, 15 years. They're 10 or 15 years ahead of where fire was. Yeah. And utilizing data. Wow. Right. I mean, I know that. And so you've got companies out there that are working with, for example, the Western Fire Chiefs has, uh, you know, a partnership with a, a big data company to help hjs benchmark off each other and do things. I think you're gonna start seeing more of that. I think companies like yours who capture the data and provide it to mine can also feed, um, these big data lakes that are out there, you know, and they can extrapolate that data, normalize it, and, and, and make things better for, for everybody out there. Yeah. Um, and so yeah, that's kind of where I see it going.

(44:19)
If it's where us going and know continue to be, you know, our goal is to have every ahj in the country using us for, for the prevention efforts. And, um, and from there, uh, act as a nucleus to communicate, you know, make it more efficient communication between companies like yourselves and your, and, and your, um, end customer and, and, uh, with our end customers, uh, the hj and, and really drive efficiencies, drive data, which will create good information, which will help people mitigate risk better and, and analyze what they need to address, um, in a more timely and resource centric way.

Drew Slocum: (44:57):

Yeah. No, that's great. That's great. I, I, I think we, uh, I I've been, I've been wanting to have you on this podcast for a little bit and, uh, it's kind of, uh, you know, I try to, I try to kinda gear around the future of fire protection a little bit cuz that's what we're doing. So trying to get some innovative companies on and, and you guys are by far, uh, you know, on, on that side of thing, connecting the contractor with the hj. Um, I think that's, that's very powerful. So, uh, um, so I, you, I don't think you've listed, you may have listened to the podcast, I don't know if you have, but at the end of every podcast, I have a quick response round. So I I I fire off a couple questions for you. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna pigeonhole you or anything, but they're pretty fun. So is this like

Matt Rice: (45:45):

David, is this like David Farty

Drew Slocum: (45:47):

in my, I haven't seen Farty. I haven't seen one of it, but, you know, quick response, sprinkler, you know, I don't know. I I thought of something to, to kinda lighten it, lighten it up before we, uh, take off here. So, okay. I'll have to watch one of, I, I haven't seen it in a while, but, um, uh, I know, I know you're big into golf as well as I am. Um, if you had to choose to go to the, um, final round of the Masters or the Sunday of the Ryder Cup in the US what would you pick?

Matt Rice: (46:23):

Masters.

Drew Slocum: (46:24):

Really?

Matt Rice: (46:26):

Yep. Oh,

Drew Slocum: (46:27):

Man. All right. All right. I'm the opposite writer

Matt Rice: (46:30):

Crowd. The crowds aren't 20 people deep at, uh, the Masters versus the, versus the Ryder company only. You're only following, you know, you're following about a 10 to the amount of players at the Ryder Cup than you are at the Masters, right? So, yeah.

Drew Slocum: (46:44):

Yeah, good point. Good point. There's just so much energy at the Ryder Cup. It's, it's, uh, and there is at the Masters. Not saying there isn't, but I've never actually, I've never

Matt Rice: (46:53):

Been to the, I've never been to the masters either, so I'd really like to go see Augusta.

Drew Slocum: (46:56):

Yeah. I haven't seen the Masters, so I, I can't, uh, one of these days I'll get down there. You gotta you gotta get a Augusta Fire department on board. There you go.

Matt Rice: (47:07):

Right.

Drew Slocum: (47:08):

Matt Rice: (47:09):

And, and, and, and then, and join them on their, you know, on the next inspection,

Drew Slocum: (47:14):

. Yeah. They're, they're not gonna have

Matt Rice: (47:16):

Augusta Nationals.

Drew Slocum: (47:17):

They're not gonna allow, uh, I wonder who has that contract?

Matt Rice: (47:21):

, yeah, I wonder.

Drew Slocum: (47:22):

Um, next question. Uh, more technical. Um, do you, are you a a Mac guy or guy?

Matt Rice: (47:31):

Pc.

Drew Slocum: (47:31):

Pc. Phone. Phone. iPhone or Android?

Matt Rice: (47:36):

Android.

Drew Slocum: (47:36):

Oh, all right. Okay. You have a good little flavor. I'm, I'm, I've converted to Mac and iPhone and iPad. It, uh, have you, yeah, so the Mac's not doing too well today because, uh, we had audio issues and we're late on this podcast, so , it's not, I dunno, that's right. No, .

Matt Rice: (47:57):

So I was, I was raised on, you know, the PC and, uh, my family's all Mac people now, but, um, iPhone people, but, uh, yeah, I like what I like.

Drew Slocum: (48:07):

Yeah, no, that's, that's good. Um, I know the answer to this question, but not, you're a Chicago guy, so, uh, Cubs, Sox, Cubs or White Sox,

Matt Rice: (48:19):

Cubs, Cubs, Cubs, white Sox, I think they're a minor league team we have on the south side of Chicago.

Drew Slocum: (48:25):

And, and follow up to that, what, what's going on with the Bears?

Matt Rice: (48:31):

Um, no offense, uh, a quarterback we moved up for that is not performing to his level that he should, but, uh, it's more than that. Our offense lines weekend. Um, you know, you probably can cut all that out of this, but yeah,

Drew Slocum: (48:47):

I'm an Eagles fan, so, you know, we're not, we're not,

Matt Rice: (48:50):

Well, you don't have a lot to say then either. I don't,

Drew Slocum: (48:53):

But,

Matt Rice: (48:53):

Uh, at least you're not a Jets fan.

Drew Slocum: (48:55):

At least I'm not. Yeah, that was, that was rough the other night. And I've, I'm in Connecticut, I'm in New England country, so it's, uh, it's kind of funny all the, uh, the comments made around here. ,

Matt Rice: (49:08):

I went to school in New England and all, and I got a lot of buddies out there. I, I know. Thank God I went to school in days when Michael Jordan and the Bulls were dominating the basketball, uh, world,

Drew Slocum: (49:17):

Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You were on the, you were on the good side of that. Uh, I was, well, that's gonna wrap it up here. Um, do you wanna, do you wanna get any message out? Do you wanna give your contact or you know, how to reach, uh, Bryce or a compliance engine if, if people are interested or, um, you know, any questions on it?

Matt Rice: (49:36):

Absolutely. Uh, and one, first I wanna thank you for having me on, drew. Uh, really, you know, drew, I really enjoyed the conversation really, um, and, and really like what you guys are doing. And, uh, and I think this is a great way to get out to the people, um, what's going on in the industry. So I, I applaud you for your efforts. Um, I can get ahold of us, you know, you can reach out to me, Matt Rice. We've got a whole team of on the business development side as well. Our main line is 6 3 0 4 1 3 9 5 1 1. Uh, or you can reach out to info. I nfo my Brier, that's my m y b r y c e r.com. Uh, with any questions, comments, or, you know, concerns, we do have 24 7, 365 customer service. So if you're a service provider and you've got a question or a concern you wanna ask somebody, please give us a shout and ask. Um, and if you are an HHA who's listening and want some more information, uh, reach out and ask for, we're here to help. And, um, look forward to, uh, talking to you.

Drew Slocum: (50:37):

Yeah. Now, thanks Matt for, uh, jumping on the podcast.

Matt Rice: (50:41):

True, thanks. Have a great day.

Drew Slocum: (50:44):

I want to thank my guest again, Matt Rice from Brier, the compliance engine for joining me on the podcast today. Uh, really great talk about hjs, uh, different softwares out there for the hj, uh, how it can interact with other, other contractors and, uh, other people's businesses to make fire protection better for every party in the industry. So, uh, again, thanks Matt for coming on and see you again next time.