Kyle Weber – He Built a Multi-Million Dollar Roofing Company on Relationships, Not Leads

it's never wrong to do the right thing,

no matter how you spin it.

else is just your homeowner brand.

know if I see one of their estimates on a homeowner's table while

I'm doing our presentation, all right,

you you're gonna get taken care of no matter who you choose,

so we did two and a half our first year,

we did four and a half our second year,

we did right at six last year.

and hopefully our our goal this year was seven and a half to eight.

Hey there, and welcome to From the Ground Up Show,

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by telling the stories of those that have been there,

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Building a life that they love with their hearts,

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you guys doing that really helps us out and helps us spread the content

so we can help more business owners be the best that they can

be for their employees, their customers,

and their families. Today, ~ I'm pretty excited.

I have Kyle Weber joining us. He is from South Carolina,

where he runs Hometown Roofing as the COO.

Kyle has helped grow Hometown Roofing considerably,

a fifth-generation roofing company.

They perform residential and commercial roofing with shingles,

metal, and single ply membrane.

So Kyle, thanks for joining us.

Yeah, man. Thanks for having me.

I'm excited.

Awesome. Well, we like to start every show just getting to know you a little

bit and ~ learning about what kind of a background produces someone like you.

So do you mind going clear back to the beginning and telling us a little

bit about your childhood and what it was like growing up?

so I I grew up ~ like most normal kids,

you know, I had a I had three sisters.

my mom and dad were very involved in my childhood and ~ from a young

age my dad ~ made it a huge importance of earning whatever

you have and if you want something you're gonna work for it.

And started my first lawn mowing job when I was twelve.

worked for a farmer for three or four summers picking watermelons

in North Carolina where I'm from.

Then all through high school worked for a starter and alternator shop.

I'm big into the outdoors, so that's an expensive hobby.

And my dad was always, hey, if you want this nicest,

newest gun, you're gonna go work for it,

you know. So

at the time, you know, I I some of my friends were they got all this nice stuff

for Christmas and obviously my parents we we got Christmas gifts and stuff too,

but ~ it was frustrating at the time because I didn't get the same stuff that

my friends got, but it taught me a lot that my friends didn't get taught

of a work ethic and working with your hands and learning a trade and kinda gave

me the foundation for where I am today.

~

So that that was really my childhood ~ was outdoors and my dad was a brick mason

on the side. He's a full time pastor,

but he did ~ some brick brickma mason stuff on the side.

So I was his mortar kid, mixing the mortar for him so he could he could keep working

and ~ that's kinda where I got my feet wet in construction.

So

So w what did education look like?

Did you pursue any college education after high school?

I went to a year of private school out in California.

my my dad, like I said, was a pastor.

and so I went to a year Bible college out there to ~ potentially look

at going into ministry as well.

Wasn't for me. so after that year I I left that college and went right into trades.

~

looking back on it, how do you feel about that decision?

Was that the right move for you?

Do you ever regret not finishing a degree?

Hundred percent.

One hundred percent. ~ I actually just shot an episode of of my podcast

on Friday with another guy who's my age,

and that that's all we talked about was the the opportunity for kids these days that

it doesn't have to be college.

you you can learn a trade and and make a a different and not it it's

not for everybody, you know. ~ and for some people it is.

And if that's you, great, happy for you.

But

It it's it's not for everybody.

So yeah. Definitely the right move for me.

That's perfect.

Yeah, I I agree a hundred percent.

it frustrates me that I think I'm guessing you and I are probably pretty close

in age and at least in my region growing up,

man, it was in high school, you just got funneled into college.

It was like that that was if you didn't go to college,

there's no way you're gonna be successful.

It it was kind of a failure not to.

That was the only option. And ~ it's pretty frustrating because there

is incredible opportunity.

~ in the trades and in different vocations for those that they might be very smart,

they might be very capable, but school's just not their thing.

They don't do indoors. They don't do sitting still and sitting at a desk.

They're they're capable in other ways,

a a lot more tangible ways sometimes.

Hundred percent.

So yeah, I think there's incredible opportunity there for people that

~ college just isn't for them.

And and those that are, we need those people as well.

Yep. Yeah, that's why

we were talking I was like, I want my doctor to go to college,

you know. The guy who's doing surgery on me,

Yeah.

he better have a degree, you know?

But th there's so many other options for that,

Yeah.

so

Are you in the construction industry and super excited about the services

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Did your material supplier pay to take you on an all-inclusive vacation this year?

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man. Great. well you mentioned quite a few jobs that you had growing up.

can you tell us about you know,

right after high school early workforce,

did you go straight to work for hometown roofing or did you have a few other jobs?

No, so I like I I mentioned earlier,

I grew up in North Carolina. ~ and right after I left college,

I went and worked for a G C up in North Carolina.

and we did everything, ~ windows,

doors, framing, siding, flooring,

in everything. We had a contract.

How I got into roofing was we had a contract with our county school system

for all forty-two of their buildings.

~ so we did

maintenance on their on their commercial properties once a quarter and then

you know once a year we'd have some major project for one of those forty two roofs,

you know, that re-roofing something.

~ and so that's that that's where I really got into

the the trade side of construction,

you know, learning a lot of different things and roofing was kind of

my my niche that I enjoyed. ~

We we did a ton of windows and doors too for ~ the biggest builder in in my area,

~ back in Greenville, North Carolina.

~ and so I I hated that and I knew I did not want to keep doing that.

and then I I got a call from a buddy of mine who was running

a different roofing company down here.

~ in South Carolina and he is like,

Hey, we're we're starting a repair division and you actually know how

to do the work. So I need somebody to run this division of the company.

So I was with them for three years until middle of twenty twenty two.

And then ~ that's when hometown started.

So

Yep.

All right. And I know it sounds like hometown kind of reformed with you

as a key piece of it in twenty twenty two,

but you guys have quite a history.

It's a a fifth generation company.

could you give us a quick summary or background of kind of how that company started

and and how you guys got to where you are today?

Yeah, so my my business partner,

~ Tim, his his great granddad actually had a roofing company in Indiana,

where they're from. and so his granddad ran it and then it went to

his grandma and then his dad and then it kinda dissolved.

It it wasn't named hometown. and then we in twenty twenty two when stuff kinda

Okay.

hit the fan with the other company,

they reached out to me. We had other connections through his other business.

He he owns a executive transportation company.

So I was doing stuff on the side for them for like logistics for the they

do big events like Super Bowl and all all kinds of crazy events.

So I I've been to like eight Super Bowls with them and it's so we we've been friends

Wow.

for a while. and obviously he knew I was in the industry.

and

We had we talked frequently of what was going on at the other company.

And ~ he's like, Well, I don't know roofing,

but I know business. So you know roofing,

you wanna you wanna give it a shot?

And ~ here we are almost four years later.

So

Yep.

That's a great story and it seems like you guys are doing quite well.

can you tell me a little bit about that that startup process?

I mean w what was it like when you decided to go all in and and do your

own thing rather than getting a job at another roofing company like you had been?

It was very stressful. it was a lot of a lot of long conversations with my wife,

assuring her that everything was gonna be okay,

you know. I've always been a hustler and I'll go work at McDonald's if I have

to to pay the bills. I don't care,

you know. ~ I'll I I'm gonna make ends meet one way or the other.

And I've always had that back to my childhood of the way I was raised,

of just a go get it.

~ when I set my mind to something,

it's gonna happen. so it it was it was tough,

you know, the the first four to six months when you're really laying

the groundwork and building relationships and trying to get jobs

off the ground where really not making money,

you know. it's ~ it it's tough.

So I I would say the the the most stressful part was,

you know

the the conversations at home,

you know, w when you get home after a day and no steady pay there's no paychecks,

there's no anything really coming in.

It's just you just gotta trust me.

it's it's gonna happen. We'll get there eventually.

You know, I I don't know when eventually is I have X,

Y, and Z in the works. It's it you know,

we're we're working on it. But ~ that was probably the most stressful part

was trying to

I don't wanna say convince my wife.

My wife believes in me and is my biggest supporter,

but assure her that we'll be okay.

We just gotta give it some time.

So

Yeah. Well now four years in, has that assurance landed?

D does your wife feel good about where you're at?

A hundred percent.

Is she excited about the direction you're headed?

One hundred percent. Yep. Yep.

So my I I told her my my number one goal

Good deal.

of hometown was when we have kids one day to be able to retire her

and you don't have to work. she she still does work,

doesn't need to really right now anymore.

But still does 'cause she does doesn't want to sit around the house.

~ you know. but that was that was a huge goal of mine to be one hundred percent able

to you do not have to work. So

that's great. I think that's an admirable thing to ~ put your wife

in a situation where she can work if she wants to,

but doesn't have to and can raise kids.

I I hope that for my kids in the future that they are in that position

so that they can choose what fits best for them fa their family instead

of being stuck in a position where they have to.

Yep, exactly.

Well, I know you mentioned you worked for a a general contractor ~ and did

a lot of different things. You said windows and doors was definitely not your thing.

What was it that really drew you to roofing?

What what is it about roofing that gets you excited?

it was really like the I mean when residential roofing it's it's shingles,

you know, it's a new house, new color,

same thing every day, you know.

I really like commercial roofing and the challenges that come with it.

and even like in in our market here in Charleston,

the it's it's very unique in the

ton of different like the architecture that we have and the styles of

the styles of roofing that we have.

slate, copper, standing seam, shingles,

barrel tile, like that we we have every cedar,

cedar shake, you know, we we have everything here.

And so the the the learning

the different types

was really what what I enjoyed in the beginning and still,

I mean I'm I'm still learning.

There there's still stuff, which I'm sure we'll get into that,

of mess ups that don't do that again,

you know. of j just the somewhat of the unknown and the appeal of not knowing,

hey, I've never done this before.

Let's learn it and let's try it,

you know.

I can relate to that. that was probably the the thing that I enjoyed most about

running a roofing company. We did exclusively single ply membranes,

but even within single ply membranes,

i you know, new new hires or people that were interested in what we do would ask me,

you know, what does that entail?

And like, well, which project?

Yeah.

~ E every one of 'em's a little bit different that ~

Exactly. Yeah. Which

w which taper are we talking about?

And which you know, like th there's so many different variables in it.

Yeah.

I I love it. I love it.

W what kind of a deck are we on and how much insulation?

What kind of insulation? ~ where's this drainage come from?

Is it structurally sloped? Are we doing a taper system and coverboards

and vapor barriers and unique details and different building designs?

And man, there's there's hardly any two jobs that are exactly the same.

You're you're designing something new every job you look at.

So

Yep.

Same. I love it.

Awesome.

Well well, you told us a little bit about ~ you and Tim kind of throwing together,

starting the business, having to provide that assurance to your wife that that

you could do this and you're gonna make it.

tell us a little bit more about getting the business off the ground.

What what did that process look like?

What were some of the struggles or maybe the the big turning points where

you felt like you kind of leveled up and passed a milestone as you were building it?

~

I'd say the biggest the biggest struggle was the getting the initial brand

out there. because of how saturated most markets are with roofing companies,

getting the getting the brand awareness and getting known

for doing good work.

and not just by your friends and family who are obviously gonna refer you to people,

you know, actually having a a footprint in the community.

And ~ what what really helped jumpstart a lot of where we're

at now is just the in like very intentional networking in the beginning with real

estate agents, property managers,

insurance agents.

I mean a a a ton of y you name it,

we we were there. and then like we we set up a a booth at the farmers market here

in Somerville. we go to it's it's called Third Thursday,

where at every the third Thursday of every month in our little downtown square,

they have a little it's almost like a vendor show essentially where they have food

trucks and stuff. So setting up there and just being repetitively seen.

~ in the community and doing some ~ like charity roofs and stuff like that

for a little league team, you know,

that that needed a new dugout roof or just little stuff like that that gets

you seen and and the visibility and then making the connections in

the the different trade partners that need you,

you know. ~

And I and that's a huge struggle for really anybody in real estate

or property managers, insurance,

you know, anything like that where people that answer the phone show

up when they say they're gonna show up.

And then it's really not that hard to gain their trust when you hear

the last three guys no showed three times.

You know, like that's all I have to do is show up.

Like that this is easy, man. You know?

The bar is pretty low.

Yeah, very low, very low.

So that that's really what what jump started it ~ in the beginning was just

the the the intentional networking and i our our first year in business,

~ I can one hundred percent say with certainty that's what w we did almost

two and a half million our first year in business.

and that was that was just strictly networking,

Wow. That's impressive.

referrals and relationships. So

man, yeah, that's really impressive.

You guys hit the ground running and ~ and made it happen.

So I know ~ I was having a conversation just this week that like I said when

I was running my business, we did a a very particular niche of roofing

and even within single plies we kind of specialized in a couple products

and so a lot of people that would call us,

you know, the answer was ~ I'm sorry,

but we don't do that. ~ but I I tried really hard to return every message,

Yeah.

even if in

Message they gave me enough information to know that we weren't gonna be a good fit.

I would try to return the call just to return the call,

be polite, let them know, maybe give them a referral somewhere else.

And i I got a number of referrals from people that we did not do work for,

but we returned their call. And and they would tell their friends,

Yeah. Yeah. And then

like, call this guy, he'll actually call you back.

Like that that was the standard.

Yeah. Yeah, and

So

then like we like saying where there there's some stuff where either like

For instance, Windows, a a good buddy of mine owns another roofing company in town.

And he I I I don't do Windows,

but his company does. So when somebody wants Windows,

I refer them to him and then but he doesn't do commercial roofing.

So even inside, we're we're technically competitors in the residential side.

We're f we're very good friends,

but we pass referrals back and forth just from having the trust with each other

and our customers know that we're gonna answer the phone and

If one of us, you know, can't do it,

I got I got somebody who can, you know,

that that I trust. So that's that's huge.

Yeah. Yeah,

that's great. I love that you can have relationships like that.

And ~ we've been discussing that a little bit recently.

That seems like a bit of a new development in the roofing space that you know,

Yeah.

ten, fifteen years ago, this was a pretty cutthroat space and it seems like over

the last decade it's really opened up and there are a lot of people willing

to help each other out, share information,

share knowledge.

And as a whole, the industry is really leveling up and and providing better service

because competitors are working together to become better at their craft.

Is that what you see in your area?

One hundred percent. Yeah. And there's there there's probably three

or four guys here that in i in my market that I know if I see one

of their estimates on a homeowner's table while I'm doing our presentation,

all right, you you're gonna get taken care of no matter who you choose,

you know. ~ and like the the other O C platinum in our market,

great guys.

you know, I I know that if th they're gonna get taken care of.

If if I lose a job to them, we're friends,

yeah, what I love the business,

but at the end of the day, the homeowner's gonna get protected the

way that they need to be, you know.

~ and like our the the first podcast I shot on on ours ~

was with a competitor and just talking about collaboration over competition

and and how we can bring our industry up as a whole.

because there is still

with the way the industry's shifting and it I feel like it is getting a lot better,

Yeah. And for our listeners, what is your podcast if they want to check that out?

We'll make sure we get it in the show notes as well.

Okay.

the hometown roofing podcast. Hometown Roofing S

yep on YouTube.

Awesome. Well, I'll get that in the show notes so they can just click

the link there and get some more information.

Check that out. I know we talked about it a little bit.

You guys do ~ commercial and residential.

You work in a lot of different products.

which is your favorite? What what do you prefer as an installer

and a business owner?

~

Probably standing seam metal is my favorite.

Okay.

~ and that's 24 gauge steel,

copper, aluminum, you know, anything like that.

~ I I like the the challenge of especially in our market where coastal.

So the different products that you have to have depending on how close

you are to the

To the coast so that so the panels don't rust,

you know, and the different coatings and learning about what finishes

are better for different environments and these are gonna mildew quicker

and you're gonna have to clean these more,

you know, like all that different stuff.

We we just did a big copper and cedar roof in in Isla Palms,

which is on the beach down here,

and that was a first for us, and it was like the coolest thing I've ever like.

it it's getting framed in the office.

It was a phenomenal project. Loved it.

It was the coolest roof that I probably will ever do.

it's it was awesome.

Yeah.

That's great. That is a lot of fun.

I like I said we kinda did strictly single plies,

but every once in a while we took on a unique project and actually we had

Yeah.

a a copper and cedar roof that was put on a a quarter barrel

and the the barrel roof had two forty five degree angles in it.

It it was like a breezeway that ~ changed directions.

Yeah.

And that was probably one of the most complex,

most interesting roofs that I ever did.

It it turned out beautiful and

You

did that with single clock?

Like I said, I

no, we did it copper standing seam and then ~ yeah,

~ so so you got radiused panels?

radius panels and then having to find a way to make that angle

on that quarter barrel. 'Cause one side of the barrel or the the angle

Yeah.

in the barrel, one side is a ridge,

the other side is a valley, and it goes completely flat on top.

It it was ~ a unique project.

Yeah, I'm I'm mm.

It was interesting.

Yeah, I'm I'm I'm picturing that in my head right now.

That's yeah, that's interesting there.

man.

Yeah, yeah,

it was quite a project. I would never do another one of those,

but it was really fun to do once and the same thing.

Yeah.

Although we only have one and in our world,

that was a relatively small project.

photos of that made our website.

They're hanging in the office.

yeah. For sure. Yeah. P everybody's gonna know we did this one.

It was a fun project. It was cool.

Yeah. There. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. There was ~ a lot of problems to solve.

It was fun for me to figure out.

I actually, ~ when we were tackling that of,

you know.

Yeah, how do you make it watertight with radius panels transitioning over

an angle from a ridge to a valley?

we are using a Firestone product,

and ~ I wound up on the phone with Firestone support and they had never seen

or heard of that before. So they called some guy that had recently retired that

had been their metal guy for like 60 years.

Yeah.

You know, he he wrote the book literally,

Yeah.

and they got me in touch with him.

They called him in out of retirement.

And I explained to him what I was doing.

He said, ~ I've never seen that before.

I don't know how you're gonna do it,

but send me pictures when you're done.

Yeah. man. ~

Yeah. Thanks, man. Thanks for the help.

Like boy. Yeah, and then you get into w with that on

that specific copper roof, we had the architect I wanted to shoot

him on this one like it was it was two hip roofs that meet

in a dead valley and

then there's a transition in both of the hip roofs that also meet

in that dead valley. So the whole the whole roof was hand turned.

But it was, I mean it it it was probably that section was only a quarter

Yeah.

of the roof and it took us like three weeks just to do that one section,

whereas the rest of the roof only took us a week and a half to do.

just like making sure hand turning all the valleys into each other

Yeah.

and the transitions and

shoot me. It was a it looks great now,

but I hated I hated life during do doing all that.

It was a it was a nightmare. So

Yeah. Yeah, if you do this for very long,

we always have that project that i it was miserable to get through,

but once it's done, it's the one we're most proud of.

Yeah, for sure. For sure.

Yeah.

~ man.

So standing seam metal, maybe especially the copper you said was kind

of your favorite. ~ which sector of your business is most profitable?

~ residential, commercial? Is there a product line that's more profitable than

others?

~ I would definitely say standing seam is our most problem.

Okay. Yeah.

Yeah.

Our shingle like the the the our everyday residential stuff,

we we have to be our our because our market is so competitive,

we're we're we're very I I don't want to say low margin,

but we're we're not where I would want to be just to get to get the jobs.

I can't charge, you know, ~ my normal markup w what I would like to get

or or I would never get a job.

You know? So yeah.

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That was that was always my answer when somebody wanted us

to do residential shingles was i I don't know,

different areas are different with ~ contractor licensing requirements

and things like that. But two guys with a pickup and an air nailer

is a shingling company. And in in order to do the other projects that I do,

Yeah.

I have an office and office staff and forklifts and dump trucks

and highly paid skilled roofers to do the more skilled stuff.

And you know, two guys in a pickup and an air nailer,

they're making great money at a price that I'm losing money.

I I just can't compete. So

Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

And and especially the states that have no licensure.

I mean, any anybody's a roofer.

Mm-hmm.

And and even like here in South Carolina,

y you you could today go get a contractor's license to do roofs in South Carolina.

If you have three referrals from three of your buddies that said you did their roof,

and whether they're lying or not,

they're not gonna check.

y you could go get a license today and start doing roofs next week.

It is so easy here. So th the even though we have a licensure,

there's really no checks and balances of that licensure,

you know.

I think ~ a lot of places are still like that.

It seems like they're either like that or they're ~ a little over the top.

And y you know, there's a significant barrier to entry that's probably unfair

to the start up companies. I don't find a lot of places that have

a good balance that I feel works well.

Yeah. Yeah.

~ it's either a free for all or extremely limited.

So

Yeah, I would agree with that.

Yeah.

So ~ judging by your story about that copper roof,

I'm guessing you guys have some in house labor that you ~ self perform self perform

projects with. Do you guys use subcontractors at all?

We do use subs, yep. So my my metal sub has been with me since day one.

They were actually we used them at the prior company too,

so I knew they did really good work.

~ and I've had the same the same crew for almost four years now.

They're the only people that touch my jobs.

and I on on some of this stuff have

helped train them and get them to where they need to be,

but on a lot of stuff that they know what they're doing.

so although they are subs, they're mine.

and th they do work for some other companies,

Gotcha.

but ninety percent of their work comes from me and they're the only people that

touch my jobs. And I know every single one of their names.

I shoot a deer every year, take it to for Christmas,

you know, like we we we hang out on the weekends sometimes.

They're they they're friends of mine and they do phenomenal work,

so

that's a great setup. And so I guess maybe did I get that wrong?

Do you guys have any in house labor that actually performs installs or

do you kind of exclusively use subcontractors?

All all we use is sub. So all of my guys,

I've trained all of them to do their own repairs.

so each of my salesmen knows how to do repairs if it's a small shingle

job or something like that. ~ but e even my repair guys is a sub as well.

So

cool. Well, I know it that's ~ something that often gets debated,

at least in the area that I'm at,

is kind of the the value and the value proposition for the customer of ~ you know,

a a roofing company that utilizes sales ~ subcontractors versus ~ in house crews.

Do you have any th thoughts about that?

I mean, is there a a reason you've chosen to use subcontractors and stick to it?

What what are the pros and cons in your mind there?

~ I would 100% second that notion for the companies that don't know who's showing

up to their jobs. There's a lot of there's a lot of companies that run subs that

it could be one of ten crews. They don't know who they're getting that day.

You know? and that's why I have hand chosen who

is my sub knows I only want these two shingle crews ever.

once again, know all their names.

Known them for four years since we started.

And the metal crew, that that's only one crew anyways,

but or metal and specialty stuff.

~ so I I would 100% agree that with

other companies that are using subs i if you're not vetting your labor

and knowing who is coming to your jobs and like we have a project manager

on site all day too that is one hundred percent checking every part of the install.

because you know you get guys that filter in and out they got a new guy

on the crew that you've never seen before,

you know. but for the most part everybody that we use is people that

we know and have used since day one.

~

the the cons are in house labor is probably significantly cheaper.

so there's that, but to me,

like the the the only argument that somebody could have against a

sub is if you don't know who they are and you don't know who's showing

up to your jobs. ~ and there's no checks and balances system to make sure that

they're doing stuff the right way.

So

I agree wholeheartedly. that's something one of my questions we'll get

to later is something that you've kind of changed your mind about.

And and that's one for me is for a long time I was very firmly in that camp of,

you know, we use in-house labor and that's the right way to do it.

We're in control, we control quality,

there's no there's no question marks.

And ~ as we grew and expanded a little bit,

we explored using some subcontractors and almost the same thing you said,

they're very highly vetted.

a relationship was built. We had a project manager on site watching every day,

every step, everything they did.

~ with the primary sub that we used,

we played a significant role in their training.

We provided a lot of the training that they did.

And so it was it was almost like having y you know,

all the pros of an in house crew,

but they're kind of on call. that worked well.

well it it sounds like you guys are off to a great start and

are growing pretty quickly, but is there something that delayed your growth?

And if so, what would you do differently if you could do it again?

~ yes, one hundred percent. not having systems and processes in place to be able to

handle the growth. we had a massive hail storm

in June of 2024,

I believe it was. Yep, June 10th.

So we're coming up on two years.

and at the time had three salesmen plus me.

So it was great.

in the fact that we got a ton of business but we didn't have

the processes in place to be able to

capitalize and get even more business and the the business that we did get

I mean we were doing like fifteen roofs a week after that storm.

So it was just nuts. It was crazy.

and we could have had we had the right systems in place been doing twenty five

or thirty a week. I can't imagine that because the fifteen was a nightmare.

Hmm.

but

at the time that was I i if I could go back,

it would be setting up the systems on the front end to where if something like that

does happen, you know, and then obviously we're scaling to hopefully

be to that point consistently.

But obviously when you have a massive storm,

business is gonna go through the roof,

no pun intended. so that that's what I would do differently,

a hundred percent.

And so what would it look like?

I mean, that's significant scale in a very short period of time.

What would it look like to be prepared to scale at that level that quickly?

What I mean, what kind of things do you now have in place with your systems?

'Cause that's gonna take staff and a significant amount,

salesmen and crews and ~ how do you position yourself such that you

can scale up that significantly that quickly?

~ it would like your the the the the the

CRM like s setting up your CRM

and your your checklists of okay what does

what w what does a contract appointment look like?

What does after after we get a contract signed what does it look like from

The time that the contract signed to the time where it actually goes to production.

Who needs to touch it? What are our checklists?

Okay, it never even gets to the production calendar before X,

Y, or Z is happened. You know,

like now it's all automated, like we build our CRM out to have like

a checklist that the the salesman has to follow before.

They send it to production. Then production has to follow before

it actually gets scheduled. And then the the customers getting automated text

and and and updates on where we're at in the process,

you know. So everybody is and then it's it's all documented in the CRM

too of who touched it, who did what,

you know, where we're at in that process,

the stage of the job. ~ really that's i i if you can't

pull up any job right now in your CRM and know exactly where it's at in the process,

that's a problem, you know? and that's that's kind of where it was.

It was just like it was phenomenal for business.

We we killed it that year, but it was

the most stressful eight months of my life.

I mean, it was insane. For the like two weeks after the storm

we we were working eighteen or twenty hour days,

you know, signing fifteen, twenty roofs a day.

You know, it was just you d you weren't even having adjuster appointments.

The everything was smoked. There was send me photos,

here's a check. You know, like it was it was wild.

so that that's where like the setting it up to where you especially with

the technology now, there's no reason why you should not have automated processes

in your

in your production or co contractual stage or w whatever it is,

you know. So

was there a process to finding a CRM that worked well with your workflow

and how your business is set up?

It it seems like there's a million of out there nowadays and ~ a

lot of the contractors I talk to end up building their own to get

one that really does what they want it to do and work the way that they work.

what did that process look like for you?

~ we've had the same CRM from day one.

it was not as much of finding the right one,

it was using all the tools available in the one that we have.

and because we did hit the ground running so quickly,

I did not prioritize actually taking time to do the CRM trainings that they offer

for free, knowing

Yeah.

the

processes of, cool, I can automate all of this in my CRM.

I just have to click this button,

this button, and this button. Okay.

Now how do I add this task for each salesman?

Okay, all I have to do is click that button,

but you don't know where to go if you don't or or how to set all that

up if you don't prioritize doing that,

you know, and it was great, we're signing jobs,

cool, we're busy. But there was no there was no actual process for that.

of what that actually looked like from a management side of things,

you know. ~ so it it was just learning the CRM that we had

and actually utilizing what we pay for.

So

Yeah. There's a a lot of tools out there,

but some of take a little bit of a learning curve and ~ it blows my mind what what

Yeah.

they're capable of nowadays. It's so different than when I started.

yeah, it's kind of overwhelming,

Yeah. It's insane. Yeah.

but

It

it it really is. It it's like you drinking from a fire hydrant.

I mean, all the different like tools and stuff that it it's just insane.

Yeah.

And and they all can talk to each other through the back end

and they're taking notes while you're saying like it's just wild.

It's wild.

Do you guys do ~ any of the AI customer interactions?

Do you have a a system set up where customers can text with an AI?

Yep. Yep. So we just we just ~ on a border

Yeah, that's pretty cool.

with Alavo. and they it's so like our our business hours are twenty four hours.

So after five when my admin leaves the office,

the phones get transferred to the AI agent.

~ or and then we have like the chat button on our website and through Google

Okay.

or whatever and they can text and the a the agents are trained for roofing.

to answer questions and ask specific qualifying questions,

you know. and then they both link to our CRM to where I can go back

and listen to the whole phone call that the AI AI agent had with the customer.

and then if the customer wants to,

they will because it's linked to our calendars too,

they can book an appointment

through the chat or through talking to the AI agent based on their problem

and which salesman is assigned to handle these specific problems a little

bit better than somebody else,

or if it's just a standard roof replacement,

it can go to anybody, you know,

like and and we can tell the software all of that to where it's tailored

specifically to it's it's wild.

man, that's amazing. ~ yeah, it it's mind blowing what people can

Yeah, it's crazy.

do with technology nowadays. So well I talked about ~ one of these for me earlier,

but is there an opinion you once held strongly that you've changed based

on your experience?

~ man.

That's a good question.

Probably the first one that comes to mind is that

The small that your small jobs,

like your repair jobs and stuff,

are just for going for future business and that they're

not really that profitable. ~ if you're selling repairs properly,

Okay.

they should be your highest margin ticket.

and not only are you if you do a good job setting up future business,

but

If you're doing a lot of repairs,

you can make a lot of money doing repairs.

Because not a lot of people want to touch So that's that's that that's probably

one that I've changed on my known,

yeah.

Yeah, I can track right with you there.

~ that's ~ an attitude shift that I had as well.

So

Yeah.

W what mistake have you made that cost you the most money?

No. missing a taper package on a commercial roof.

Yep. you know, you you one of those mistakes you only do once.

and it you know, like with w w when you're sta y you know this well,

I'm sure. When when you're stacking a taper package,

i if you miss one run,

y you just miss, you know,

like it's a th the specific one,

it was it was a hundred foot

It was a hundred foot wide building.

So we're stacking I mean what would that be?

twenty five twenty-five rows of foam,

you know. You miss y you miss one row though,

Yeah.

by the time you get by the time you get to the twenty fifth row,

yeah, that that's the same amount of taper as the first whole quarter of your roof,

you know. and that was ~ that was that was a costly one there.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

man, that's good. That's

good.

Yeah.

I if you could go back I'm I'm gonna split this up.

If you could go back to when you graduated high school or if you could

go back to twenty twenty two and had the option to do it all over again

or pick a different track, what would you do?

The same thing.

Yep. Yep. Earlier. Start start right out of high school.

You know. For sure.

Yeah.

But I I wouldn't be here in Charleston,

you know. I would still be home,

you know, if if I'd have done it right out of school,

you know, it's just life life throws stuff at you and you make the most of it.

So

Good. Are you happy with the move?

Do you ever ~ miss leaving?

No. Best decision I ever made.

No.

I grew up in a in a super small town and it was a like the the

the people that most of the people that grow up there and stay there

are generational people.

that their their mom was there,

their granddad was there, they're you know,

and it they've been there for a hundred years,

you know, and it's I don't want to say a black hole,

but it's kind of a black hole of people that have

been there their whole lives and are gonna stay there their whole lives.

And don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with that if that's for you.

But there's so much more in the world that you're missing.

And that was that but but it was hard because all of my friends,

my family, everything was that I'd ever known was there,

you know? but no, I would never go back and change it.

I I would my the best best thing I ever did was getting out of there.

Not in a bad way. But yeah.

Good to hear. Yeah.

Well, we talked a lot about mistakes.

~ what has been your biggest win as a leader?

Biggest win.

I would say getting getting employees to

Trust you as a mentor and not just their boss.

and know that you actually care about them as a human being and not just

a revenue side of the business,

which obviously is important too,

but having

somebody tell you they appreciate that your door is always open and that that

you actually genuinely care about them as a human being too.

Good stuff. Good stuff.

I know you said when you guys first started you hit the ground running and

did ~ two point five million in your first year.

do you mind letting us know kind of what your growth track has looked like?

What what has it looked like growing that business in your market?

~ so we did two and a half our first year,

we did four and a half our second year,

we did right at six last year.

and hopefully our our goal this year was seven and a half to eight.

So yeah.

man.

That's an impressive growth curve.

what kind of lead activities have you guys been taking

Yeah.

on to consistently grow on that scale?

I mean, you guys have been adding two million a year every year.

w what are you doing to produce that kind of growth?

~ really the same thing we've done from day one.

It's it's been a lot of organic partnerships,

referrals, getting in front we have our core

group of property managers and real estate agents and all that stuff that

we work with, but continuing to build that network of,

you know, custom home builders and people like that that need your service

and want quality. and just continuing to nurture

the current relationships and build more relationships.

as far as leads go,

It's been, you know, w we hired a social media lady to run all

of our funny but also informational stuff on social media consistently,

consistently posting on social media.

~ because I just didn't have time to do it and it wasn't it wasn't getting done,

you know, or or just your typical roofer here's a before and after photo or

Here's a Google review that everybody does that makes you not stand out at all,

you know. so investing money in on those fronts too ha has been a big thing.

So

Okay. It it seems like you guys have a lot of organic growth and and kind

of natural growth just serving your market.

but you just threw out the word investing.

what does your plan look like for marketing?

Do you set aside a specific percentage of revenue for marketing?

~ do you just invest when you see good opportunities?

what what is your approach to allocating those marketing dollars?

~ so that's one thing that we're kind of overhauling right now

is our marketing strategy. 'cause right now,

no, we don't we don't have a percentage.

It's kind of like you said, we're in this neighborhood,

all the roofs are old, cool, let's let's hit with mailers,

you know. or we just got a ton of rain,

let's run a Facebook ad for a little bit,

you know.

just randomly here and there. ~ but in order

to continue on the trajectory that we want to be on

we know that you can only get so so much from organic.

and if you're going to keep on the the green trajectory,

you you gotta start setting aside certain things of ~ like you said,

a percentage of

what has to be done to where it's year-round.

~ consistent marketing. And so that that's where we're that's kind of where we're

at right now, almost through year four.

We're about to rebuild the website and get rid of the day one website that

we just kind of threw together,

you know, and start getting an actual game plan together for marketing.

So

And you guys have grown pretty rapidly through some pretty significant benchmarks

there. are there any that kind of stand out in your mind that were significant

turning points? ~ felt like you kind of leveled up and hit a new benchmark

or maybe ~ a growing pain that you had to had to push through

and overcome something to hit that next level?

~ probably the commercial side of the business.

because of how many national commercial roofing companies there are,

especially once you get into like the new construction side of commercial

building the relationships with builders and GCs

to get our foot in the door with those 'cause it's so tough with

the guys that source their own materials have inside in in house labor,

you know, and I there's no way I d I'm like you said about shingles,

I I'm losing money at what they're selling it at,

you know, and somehow they're making money.

You know? that was probably like the

last year I feel like we really broke into the the commercial side

of the business and actually getting a lot more opportunities on that front.

So

And w what did that look like?

I mean, how i if you're in a market that's kind of dominated by some

of those national firms that are,

man, just blowing stuff out cheap because they have huge in house crews

and source their own materials and run their own warranty department

and all of those things, w what is the what is the value that you

can offer a customer or a GC?

to convince them to go with the the local guy or the smaller smaller contractor.

~ it depends on the GC.

Some of like the local builders and stuff want to use local,

which is appreciated, you know.

and then

Like a common pain point in roofing is y you gotta call you gotta call three

different people to actually get to the guy that you're trying to talk to.

You know? Whereas with with me,

if you call and ask ask for you have a problem,

I'm showing up. You know who's showing up,

you have my personal cell phone number,

and you're getting the same customer service every single time.

There's no hoops to jump through of

well, he's not the right guy for this.

That was this guy's job, or you know,

he's this is our guy for this.

Like, no, you you know, you know who exactly who you're getting.

It's one of four people. And each whoever the person is that sold that

job is who you're getting. And if if I have to step in occasionally,

I will, but you know exactly who you're getting,

you have their personal cell phone number,

and it's a very personal relationship and not answering service.

Press one for commercial repairs.

Press two for you know like it's you

Or or starting with press one for English.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

man. Well, I know you mentioned that you started this business as a partner.

~ you're you're only a few years in.

What has that relationship been like?

Are you you still happy to have a partner?

Do you wish you would have done it on your own?

~ have there been any communication or relationship struggles that

you guys have learned to work your way through ~ being a partner in

a business this size?

Yeah, so I mean at the time, ~ it was a great opportunity for me to it

was a it was a shot of,

hey, we we see your work ethic and we wanna bring you in on this,

you know, ~ which I'm super grateful for.

~ and I've had nothing but great experiences with my partner.

~ he's a great guy, always treated everybody fair,

or or I wouldn't be in I would have never even considered it.

I w we really don't have any quarrels or like we don't w we we align pretty much

on on everything in the business.

so I I think it was one hundred percent the right move for me.

at the time, yeah, for sure.

Thank you. I appreciate that. That's been something we've discussed quite a bit.

Yeah.

So w what has been your best resource

to learn and grow and get better?

Like as far as like in in roofing or like different skill sets or or what?

I I guess I would leave that open.

I I I'm thinking mostly just ~ personal development,

whether that's leadership, professional,

sales, personal development. I is there a resource that you lean heavily

on to grow as an individual?

~ I've been trying to read more books recently.

Read I like audiobooks. I I don't read.

I I'll turn them on in the truck.

We we we have a pretty big market here,

so consistently have forty-five minutes plus of drive time between appointments

and stuff. So Chris Zimmerman has been a great resource for me ~ as far as

He's kind of taken me under his wing and and helped mentor me and hey,

you should really read this book.

That'll help with this, you know.

and really there's there's been a lot of there's been a lot of

men in my life who have just taken the time to invest in me,

even from childhood, ~ aside from my dad,

who have

seen something in me that they feel that they want to take the time

to step aside and and and invest in.

~ with time and advice and different stuff like that that I I know for a fact

I I wouldn't be where I was today without my I can think of five off the

top of my head, men in my life that have really taken me under their wing.

And that that like the personal development side of thing,

everybody in their life

I don't care what stage of life you're in,

what stage of business you're in,

you need a mentor and you need somebody who is gonna pour their time

and brain into you that is willing to invest in you.

every every person in their life needs that,

no no matter where they're at.

I I'd say that's probably been my biggest

personal development side of things is between the men in my life and then

the the books that I've read in the last couple of years to help with leadership

and problem solving and conflict resolution and you know,

all this different stuff that I've never dealt with before,

you know. I'm I'm swinging a hammer before this,

you know, like we got a problem,

I'm throwing a hammer at you, you know,

like

Well, a as somebody that ~ you know didn't come up with maybe

a business pet pedigree, but was a practitioner that moved into the business side

of things, is there something you wish you would have known before

you started your business? Something that you've learned about the business side

of things that might help someone else trying to do what you've done?

Yeah,

You gotta know your numbers. And that seems so basic.

Like, duh, I gotta know my profit margins and all this.

Like, you should be able to pull up any single job that you have done

in the last day since day one of business,

and know exactly what your margin was,

what your materials cost, what your labor cost,

what your salesman got paid, all of that stuff.

You should be able to track that to the penny.

And

Because if you're not tracking that,

you're losing money somewhere.

And if you don't know your numbers of we had three quarters of a roll

of high temp underlayment that got thrown away in the dumpster.

Well, that's a hundred dollars,

boom, gone. You know, knowing where knowing where you're losing margin

and how to fix that and then implementing a process to

fix that will not only save you a lot of headache,

but it'll save you a lot of

save you lot of money and you're already that's just straight profit that you're

saving. It it's just money in your pocket that you're not getting.

So that that would be my tip.

That's good stuff. Yeah, that's something I've thought for a long time is

~ I think every business, but especially the the trades and and you're

in my experience roofing, it's all about efficiency.

What what you said, ~ every dollar you don't waste is straight profit.

It that's money that you get to keep if you don't waste it.

And that's what this is really all about.

Man, I think a lot of guys get caught up in in growth,

in volume, and putting up big numbers and you know,

being able to brag about the volume that you've done.

But there's a lot more money to be made in maximizing efficiency than there

is in just strictly scaling. 'Cause if if you're not making any if you're

Yeah. Yep. I I I I would rather Good.

not making any money or if you're losing money and then you double

or triple the scale, you're still not making any money or you're just losing more

money. ~ you

And you just tripled

your headache. That's it.

Yeah.

Yeah, you're doing three times as much work for not much money.

Yeah.

whereas if you can dial in that efficiency and get it where it needs to

be so that you're actually making money,

then when you start to scale it it magnifies in a big way.

Hundred percent.

So

Hundred percent.

Stuff.

Well, this is my favorite question.

I ask every single guest. I know you've kind of alluded to it a little

bit with some of your background,

but are you a person of a particular faith tradition?

And if so, how does that shape how you run your business and how

you lead your people?

I am. ~ so I'm a Christian. My dad,

~ my dad was a Baptist pastor.

so that that's how I grew up. Mentioned that prior.

and there's

There's some things that the way I grew up I don't necessarily agree with anymore.

The main core principles of Christianity I still do.

It's it's the same to me. but

by saying that the meat and potatoes of it,

o of what my my core values are as a human are are the same and all of that.

And that is really

transformed the way that in business like you you hear

so commonly of like people people getting people getting screwed over

or screwing over their employees or not paying commissions or you know

not doing the right thing with a homeowner or w whatever

the the the thing

is is it's never it's never

wrong to do the right thing. No matter how you spin it.

And especially when you start dealing with numbers and money and stuff like that,

whether we're we're going through a job right now where

One of my salesmen bid it wrong.

He missed a detail. and the customer is,

hey, this is what we signed. and we're sorry you messed up,

but

This is what we signed, you know,

and and it's it's a tough one because it's a large financial mistake

and the if I wanted to take it to court,

the the way that the contract was worded is a little bit ambiguous

and I could potentially win it in court if if I wanted to.

But no, the right thing to do is this is what you know what you were getting them

to sign.

And I would have to lie, cheat,

and steal to win that in court.

And probably make up some stuff that isn't true to win that in court.

And take the loss, take it as a lesson.

there's how how did that happen?

How can we make it not happen again?

and as the leader, it all falls back on me.

What what checks and balances?

didn't we have in place to where that happened,

you know? and so the the the morality side of the way that I run

the business is huge and the it it's it's in every every single

day of of what we do. ~ like I said,

it's it's never wrong to do the right thing,

no matter how you spin it. and especially with the people side of things,

like be being a employer.

when it when it comes to mentoring and investing in my employees,

I I I don't shove religion down their throat or anything like that,

but there's definitely a a a clear walk of they know where

I stand and what I expect and what you believe is what you believe.

And

If if you want to talk about it and have a man to man conversation about it,

sure. Let's go grab a drink and we'll we we can we can talk about it.

but I'm not gonna shove it down your throat and you know where I stand

and the way what I expect and the way that that transpires into into the business.

so I don't know. I I feel like I said a lot there and maybe didn't answer

the question.

No, there's some good wisdom there and some good stuff in there

and I appreciate that. So well I know you guys have ~ kind of just been riding

Yeah, man.

a rocket here, growing two million a year every year for four years.

You're you're relatively young in this particular business.

what's next? What you you said you guys are shooting for about eight million this

year.

I is there an end goal? I know ~ there's a lot of movement in our industry with

~ growing and selling businesses.

y you know, you're in business with a partner.

I is there an end goal to buy out your partner?

Is there an end goal to grow and sell?

Do you guys have some big goals for the coming years?

~ not that I know of. I don't f foresee ever selling to private equity

or anything like that. eventually there may be an exit plan,

but for now, no. So yeah.

Okay. Just keep growing at the rate you have and ~ keep serving your community.

Keep grinding. Keep grinding, yep.

Good stuff.

I love it. Is there somebody that you would like to see on the show?

~ somebody you know with a cool story,

works in a cool industry, somebody that you'd like to learn more about?

Trying to think I know some good roofers that you can have on.

I think you would really enjoy talking with the ~ I have I have a buddy

who is a a mobile welder here in Charleston and he has

yeah.

a pretty cool business. He does some really cool stuff.

I think you may enjoy you you may enjoy talking to him.

Yeah.

As far as roofers go, ~ I don't know if you've sat down with Sheldon Murphy

yet of T S ~ in Arizona.

I've I've talked to him. I I don't think we have any scheduled anything scheduled

Yeah. He's a phenomenal human.

yet, but we've been in touch. Okay.

He he is a great guy.

I I would definitely try to get him on.

He's a he's a great human being.

Yeah.

Awesome.

Well I might see if you could make a couple introductions offline and we've

not had anybody in the welding space yet and especially especially mobile welding.

I know that's something that's kinda on the rise in our area and

it that'd be interesting. I know very little about that business,

Yeah. Yeah.

so that'd be a lot of fun.

I can definitely make a connection for ya.

Yeah.

Awesome.

Well, our last question here. ~ I ask most of my guests to either fuel

or settle the debate. If you have a job to do that requires a cordless tool,

which brand do you prefer? DeWalt.

DeWalt

All right. I think we're holding strong.

Yeah. Yeah.

I'm I'm a DeWalt guy myself, and we've had a couple other answers,

but DeWalt and Milwaukee are the front runners.

Yeah.

And I think right now DeWalt's pulling ahead by four or five,

so we're

else is just your homeowner brand.

I mean, th there's ~ for everyday use there's nothing else that I would trust.

Ha ha ha.

And Milwaukee's great too. I've just always used DeWalt So that's what I'll always

Yeah. It

use.

just I I think those two are fantastic.

Just my personal opinion. I think ~ sometimes Milwaukee pushes the envelope

in new and different tools. ~ but i in my experience anyway,

Yeah.

the way that we use them, the the DeWalt just holds up a little bit better,

Yeah. Yep.

is maybe a little bit sturdier.

~ especially there, you know, they all have their different grades,

but the the top end, the contractor grade,

DeWalt,

Those seem to hold up and last longer than anything I've tried.

I would agree with you. I would agree with you on that.

Yeah. Awesome.

Awesome. Well, Kyle, thank you so much for joining me.

this has been a lot of fun. I've enjoyed learning about you and your business

and ~ reaping the benefits of some of your wisdom.

I'm sure our listeners will as well.

I know we're gonna put your podcast in the show notes.

~ if there's anybody listening that's ~ looking for a roof in South Carolina,

Or maybe looking to come on board and work with you guys at Hometown Roofing,

what's gonna be the best way to get in touch with you or get a hold

of your services?

so you can check us out online,

hometownroofingsc.com Same thing,

Hometown Roofing SC on Facebook,

Hometown Roofing SC on Instagram,

Hometown Roofing SC on YouTube,

TikTok, call our office at 843-331-5850.

and that's that's really about it.

Awesome. Well, I will get all of those in the show notes.

We'll make it really easy. They can just link right over there and get

a hold of you. And I really do appreciate the time.

Yeah, man. I

So thank you.

really enjoyed it. I appreciate you.

And thank you guys for joining us here on From the Ground Up Show.

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