Drywall has been the default garage wall for as long as most of us have been in this business. Joel Koops thinks that’s starting to change, and his reasons have as much to do with your margin as they do with the product.
Joel is Executive Vice President and co-founder of Trusscore, which makes PVC wall and ceiling panels and slatwall. At Fall Market in Indianapolis, he sat down on the show floor with our brand and strategic partner Stefanie Couch for the Grit Blueprint Podcast, a Grit Blueprint and Do it Best collaboration. They talked about where the product came from, why contractors are tacking it onto jobs they’re already running, and why a yard can make more on it than on another stack of sheetrock.
This episode is sponsored by Trusscore.
It started in the barn
Before Trusscore, Joel and his business partner Steve Bosman worked in agriculture. They kept seeing the same problem: barns get washed down hard, the cleaning chemicals are rough, and the wood and steel inside start to rot. They set out to build a wall that wouldn’t rot, wear out, or break down over time.
That took them into commercial work too, in places like food processing plants that get washed and disinfected every day, and car washes. Then something they hadn’t planned for happened. Farmers started putting the panels in their own garages. If it held up in the barn, why not at home? Neighbors saw it and wanted the same thing.
When Dave Caputo came in as CEO in 2019, Trusscore leaned into that residential demand. Joel said residential is now by far their fastest-growing market, with ag and commercial still an important part of the business.
What you’d actually be selling
Trusscore makes its panels through PVC extrusion, using a compound it mixes in its own factories. There are two main products. Trusscore Wall&CeilingBoard is a flat, smooth, glossy panel in white or gray. Trusscore SlatWall is the storage piece, and it’s built to lock in alongside the board. According to Trusscore, it also works with most standard 3-inch slatwall accessories, so customers aren’t stuck with a proprietary hook system.
Joel said the look he’s seeing more of is a mix: some board, some slatwall, white and gray together. It turns a plain wall into usable storage.
Stefanie and her husband Ben put Trusscore SlatWall in their own studio to hold camera gear and tripods. She liked it better than pegboard, and better than plywood, where moving a hook means leaving a hole behind. They watched the install video, in her words, probably more times than they should have, and still got it up without trouble. Since then, she said, nearly everyone who walks into the studio goes over and touches the wall first. You can watch how their install went on their Building Grit series.
The cost conversation
Every customer asks what it costs, and on material alone, drywall wins. Trusscore says as much on its own website. Joel’s point is that nobody buys a finished wall at material cost. They pay for material plus labor, and the fair comparison is finished, painted drywall, because Trusscore goes up already finished.
He said it installs three to four times faster than drywall, with no taping, mudding, sanding, or painting, and that the installed cost ends up very close. The customer gets a more durable wall, and the installer is off the job and paid sooner.
It doesn’t take a specialist, either. Joel said that in some cases even less experienced people on a crew can put it up, which matters to any contractor short on skilled labor. Stefanie added that it cuts with a small battery-powered saw or even snips, and you don’t need a vinyl brake. For a DIYer doing one slatwall, it’s a weekend project.
Why it’s worth floor space in your yard
Joel’s first point was that Trusscore isn’t a commodity. Your yard sells plenty of products where you’re squeezed on every point of margin, and he believes yards can probably do better on this one. Trusscore’s own dealer materials describe it as a higher-priced, higher-margin product than drywall, with a narrow SKU list that keeps the inventory investment manageable.
You also aren’t creating the demand alone. Trusscore’s marketing team puts a lot of time and energy into reaching homeowners, and its website points shoppers to the retailers that carry it. Joel said the first thing most site visitors want to know is where to buy it, and about a third want to know who can install it. A customer who walks in already asking for Trusscore by name is an easy sale to make.
Trusscore will also help on your side of the counter. Joel said they’ll help a yard set up a display, train the team, and name a product champion in the store. Contractors get a cost and materials estimator for takeoffs, and Trusscore’s Trusted Installer Program helps homeowners find a pro. That’s a useful thing to offer the contractors who already buy from you.
Who’s already walking in your door?
Joel and Stefanie named a few groups worth bringing it up with:
- Homeowners working on a garage, basement, mudroom, or laundry room.
- Remodelers already on a job. Stefanie’s example: a contractor finishing a kitchen or organizing a pantry mentions that the garage could use help too. The before-and-after photo usually does the rest, and it’s a quick add-on to a job they’re already on.
- Commercial contractors working in food processing, breweries, car washes, or any high-traffic or high-moisture space.
- Custom home builders looking for an edge. Joel said a finished garage with slatwall is the kind of small step up that can set one builder apart from another.
Stefanie also pointed to luxury garages, where owners treat the space as a showroom. A glossy Trusscore wall behind an epoxy floor and a nice car makes a strong photo.
Show the before and after
Stefanie’s marketing advice for yards was simple: show the work. Find a contractor who loves the product, film the garage before and after, post it, and tag the contractor and Trusscore. And make the before as messy as you can, because the bigger the change, the more people call asking for the same thing. Joel said Trusscore will help with those social posts, too.
How Do it Best members can get started
Reach out to Trusscore directly by phone, email, or the chat on its website, and they’ll connect you with one of their two-step distributors. Joel named Boise Cascade, which stocks Trusscore and ships to Do it Best stores, along with regional distributors such as Palmer-Donavin. He said the product is available within two to three days anywhere in the U.S.
You can reach Trusscore at [email protected] or 1-888-418-4679, or start from its page for dealers. If you’d like to talk through where it fits alongside the rest of your drywall and gypsum lineup, your Do it Best LBM team can help.
