Doyle and Dianna Forgey: Home, home on the roof

Twenty-six years ago, Doyle Forgey needed a job and a roofing company was hiring. From that chance beginning, Forgey found a career, a marriage partner and a business of his own.

Forgey and his wife Dianna run Forgeys Precision Roofing from their home office in Pleasant Hope and an office in Springfield. They started the business when they moved to the Ozarks a homecoming for Doyle, who had grown up in Willard, while Dianna is a California native and they've been building it ever since.

It's a hard, sometimes risky, and always labor-intensive business, but when the Forgeys talk about it, they're full of humor and affection.

The meeting

"I got into the industry because a girlfriend of mine told me her boss needed more office help," Dianna Forgey said of her first job as a secretary for a West Coast roofing company. "I went to work; she turned out to be a flake and got canned. I met Doyle when he came to work for us in 1980. He left but came back five years later, and we were married a year after that."

The couple started a roofing business in California, but after several years agreed that the "hustle and bustle of L.A. was too big and too much." Doyle Forgey had brought his wife back to the Ozarks for family gatherings and she loved the area, so a move to the countryside north of Springfield felt like a welcome change for them both. He found work with the Precision Roofing Company, and in 1994 the couple bought the business.

"I kept two of the 12 men already on the crew, hired two more, and built it from there," Forgey said. "Today I've got 15 men working three jobsites a day." Dianna Forgey broke in, laughing. "More if we take on our usual summer work," she said. "It's very fast-paced in the summer for Doyle." In their busiest times they hire a second field supervisor so they can keep up.

Examples of work

Look up almost anywhere in Springfield, and you'll probably see a Forgey roof. The company recently created a new roof for the Savannah Square Shopping Center on South Campbell using a new designer shingle called Grand Manor Shangle, which creates a slate roof effect. The flat roof of the Carnahan Fence Company's building was another Forgey project. They have also worked on the Secret Garden office complex on Republic Road, as well as the Chesterfield Village Assisted Living Center.

"Being a roofer, when I drive around town, all I see is roofs," Forgey said. "And my favorite roof is the one on the Castlegate Condominiums on Bradford Parkway. The whole building has a neat look to it, and it's got the most stand-outish roof in town." He paused for a beat. "Of course, I did the roof on the original building in that complex."

Asked about his most interesting roofing project, Forgey thought for a minute before breaking into a rueful laugh. "Has to be the Savannah. The weather got us. We started five days before that 14 inches of snow hit us, and we had to wait for it all to melt. Should have been a three-week job, but ended up taking nearly two months. We got to do a lot of office work during that time, got to know our computer system a lot better."

The goose

He added, "But my funniest job happened when we were redoing a roof in Halltown. The owner had a goose that had built a little nest on the roof near the porch. We had to build a shed for that goose before we could get going, because she just wouldn't leave the nest, and she wouldn't let us get up there to work."

After 15 years of marriage and working closely with one another, the Forgeys say their life together "has been absolutely wonderful. We work really well together in fact, we worked so well together when we met, that's why we got married."

The Forgeys have one child, son Christopher Edward, now 14. While Dianna covers the office and Doyle is out doing estimates, selling, and supervising his crews, Christopher has been learning from his dad how to be an entrepreneur. In the summers he goes with his dad on sales calls, hands out business cards, and to quote Doyle Forgey, "tells em his dad is up on the roof." Will he follow his dad into the business? "He sure will this coming summer," Forgey said, "because this is the first season I'm going to pay him to work for me. He says he wants to go into the business, but you never know. That might change."

Fishing

This year will also see the Forgey men fishing together in tournaments on the Fish Tales Family Fishing circuit. It's a first for them. Are they good anglers? "We'll find out, won't we?" Forgey said. Dianna, who enjoys fishing but can't take being in a boat for eight hours at a stretch, said, "I'll just be home. Cleaning the house, probably."

The Forgeys have made a good life for themselves. "But if you think roofing is only a part-time job," Forgey said, "it's not. We work year-round because we've got bills to pay, and it's hard work. But we get to meet a lot of wonderful people. It's a great feeling."