Roofing company builds client base by doing jobs correctly

Dale Rector, founder and president of Dale's Residential Roofing Inc., located at 5635 E. Hwy. 60, has a strong belief in getting a job done right the first time. And as far as he's concerned, his company has built a reputation doing just that.

Rector's best advice for people looking for a good roofer is that they "get three estimates. One of the best ways is to call your insurance agent and ask them about any roofers," Rector said. "Your insurance agent isn't going to tell you about someone who will do a bad job because it will reflect badly on them."

He also said people always should ask for references and copies of the roofer's liability and workmen's compensation insurance and call organizations such as the Better Business Bureau.

Rector said that staffing is a challenge that he's facing these days.

"Getting good help is the biggest problem I've got by far," he said. "We're having a lot more calls about jobs now; there are people every day wanting work. We can always use qualified roofers, but the good quality of roofers isn't out there any more," Rector said. He added that qualified roofers are those who will put a roof on according to manufacturers' specifications and according to the way that Rector wants it done.

"With so many people putting on roofs, their opinion and mine are two to-tally different things," he said.

Rector's way must be effective. Dale's Residential Roofing Inc. has been around since 1984, when Rector decided to stop working for other people and to strike out on his own. Rector said the business easily does between 300 and 400 residential roofing jobs each year and they have around 20 employees. The company's services include repairs, re-decks, re-roofs, shakes, rubber roofs, three-tab composition roofs, and architectural shingles and insurance claims. While the company's focus, as implied by its name, is residential work, Rector said his crew rarely puts roofs on new homes, but rather on existing ones.

"All our work is for independent homeowners. We only put a roof on new construction when someone builds a house and the homeowners specifically want us to roof it," Rector said.

The business is family-owned and operated. Rector's son, Dale Jr., is vice president, and other family members involved are his daughter and daughter-in-law, who run the office, and a brother and son-in-law, who run the crews. Rector said having family in the business has "good points and bad mostly good." He hopes to retire at age 55 while Dale Jr. takes over and runs the business.

In the years since Dale's Residential Roofing Inc. began, there have been changes in the industry. "Materials have gotten better. We have better shingles. Right now we're replacing a lot of wood shingles with different types of architectural shingles. In another 10 years, we won't see shakes being put on at all, "because it's hard to get a good grade of wood shakes, and with the potential fire hazard, people are going to the architectural type of shingles which are rough-looking asphalt shingles made to give the same look as a shake roof."

Another change Rector has seen is in the choice of available colors. In the past, he said, shingles used to be solid colors such as black, white and green. Now they come in variegated colors.

Rector doesn't expect the present ec-onomy to have much effect on the roofing market. "It's about the same. I don't see much difference. Dale's Residential Roofing hasn't grown much in the last three or four years; we've pretty much stayed the same," he said. "We could do more if we could find the help to do the work, but we can't find it," he said.

As for the future, he thinks it looks promising. "I hope it just keeps going the way it is. I don't see any drastic changes in the future."