Queen City Roofing covers businesses for 75 years

For 75 years, Queen City Roofing & Contracting Co. Inc. has experienced economic lags and booms, construction industry changes and an influx of new competitors. Perhaps most notably, the construction business is no longer ruled by one’s word and a handshake.
“A lot of people would say that it’s not as much fun as it used to be,” said Lawrence Stock, Queen City Roofing president and owner. “I just say it’s different than it used to be. And it will be more different than that in 25 years.”
Before looking into the future, one must consider the past.
The company, with revenues that topped $3 million in 2004, began in 1930 with three employees, Stock said. Today, an average of 30 workers are employed between two divisions: roofing and sheet metal. The company’s office is at 1630 W. Walnut St. – the same location since the 1950s.
Queen City Roofing installs and services roofs and roofing products for commercial, industrial and institutional businesses. The company’s work sits atop such well-known Springfield structures as Wonders of Wildlife, Drury University’s Trustee Science Center, St. John’s Hospital and Cox South. More recent projects include the re-roofing of the Associated Wholesale Grocers building and roofing on new buildings for Orthopaedic Specialists of Springfield and Southwest Baptist University.

Rough patches, long haul
Stock started working for Queen City Roofing in 1979; he was hired as an assistant estimator, though he trained in all aspects of the business before becoming general manager in 1983. In 2002, he began handing the reigns of the day-to-day management over to Terrence Cernech, vice president and general manager.
In July 2003, Stock became the first sole owner of the corporation since Richard Stiefvater founded it in 1930. Stock now splits his time between Springfield’s Queen City Roofing and residency and business ventures in San Diego.
Stock said his trust in Cernech and the Queen City Roofing staff allows him to take a step back from the daily routine and realize a different perspective on operations. Other top executives include Chuck Dobson, vice president of operations, Darryl Barr, estimating/project manager, and Cecelia Barr, office manager.
Stock’s seen his share of rough patches. While the majority of the company’s work is done within a 45-mile radius of Springfield – and in the past five years, 80 percent of its business has been within the city limits – there were times Queen City had to take on jobs farther from home.
“There were periods in the 1980s, for example, where it was really tough and we traveled out of necessity,” Stock said. At that point, the company took on jobs in Marion, Ill., Hutchinson, Kan., and northwest Arkansas.
Part of Stock’s secret to survival is the acknowledgement that bad times will happen; it’s a philosophical approach.
“Operate your business consistently, even in the good times,” Stock said. “That’s the biggest help through the bad times, because they’re going to happen. A company has to make a decision on whether they’re in it for the long run or not. Be in it for the long run, which our company certainly is, and then everything else tends to fall into place.”
It’s a philosophy that is aligned with the company motto, “Our business is covering yours,” – and it seems to be working.
“We have a very good working relationship. They’re an on-time, up-front organization,” said David Gollhoffer, director of maintenance and engineering at St. John’s Hospital in Springfield. One of the biggest advantages of working with Queen City is the company’s “extremely good” customer service, he added.
Geoffrey Butler, CEO and president of architectural firm Butler, Rosenbury & Partners Inc., has worked with Queen City throughout his 26 years in practice. His relationship with the company goes beyond using them on projects.
“I look at them as good contractors, but more than that, as an excellent resource,” Butler said, adding that he feels comfortable calling to ask for technical information when he’s in the middle of a project.
Queen City’s reaction to client suggestions and requests also has helped grow the business.
David Murray, vice president of real estate brokerage firm RB Murray Co., is a customer that recommended a preventative maintenance program for properties.
Three years ago, the company started focusing on a maintenance and repair program that accounts for an estimated 10 percent of sales volume. It also is expected to have the highest growth potential, Stock said.
Sold as a contracted plan, the maintenance and repair program offers a menu of services tailored to fit specific needs. Queen City markets the program through a salesperson and direct mail.

Competition, changes
But as much as things change in the roofing industry, roofers tend to have more in common with the old ways.
“It’s a very labor-intensive, hard-work profession,” Stock said.
Queen City continues to use union workers for roofing jobs – a tradition that began in the 1940s, when union crews were required for a Ft. Leonard Wood job. The company’s sheet metal workers are not union. Nowadays, use of union labor is neither required nor common in southwest Missouri, Stock said.
According to Doug Franklin, business agent for the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers, and Allied Workers, Local No. 20, Queen City is one of four local roofing contractors with union contracts in Springfield.
Products, government regulations and even the way business is conducted on the construction site have all changed the roofing industry during Stock’s reign. Government regulations, including the creation of Occupational Safety and Health Administration and an increase in tax and filing requirements, has led to more paperwork.
It’s one of the reasons – competition is another – that the construction business is no longer ruled by one’s word and a handshake.