If you have followed Choice Roof Contractor Group for any length of time, you have probably seen pieces of a much larger story.
You may know me from helping shape Choice Roof Contractor Group from its beginning in 2013, through my Top Roof Marketing business, from articles and educational resources, or simply from working behind the scenes with roofing contractors and other companies serving the industry.
Today, Choice Roof Contractor Group is the core contractor network within a larger 360 Commercial Roofing ecosystem. Top Roof Contractors provides an advanced membership level, while 360 Commercial Roofing gives us a broader framework for working with contractors, manufacturers, suppliers, educators, technology companies, associations, service providers, and others that can bring real value to the roofing community.
To explain how this all came together, it helps to go back much further than roofing.
I Started With Computers
I started a small computer business when I was about 12 years old.
I was too young to drive, so customers would pick me up and take me to their homes or businesses to repair computers and troubleshoot network problems. Word spread, and by around age 18 I had approximately 150 customers within about an hour of my parents’ house.
I was known for being a computer nerd, but what I really liked was figuring out how to solve problems.
As you can imagine, some of my computer customers happened to own businesses. A few did not have websites yet, so computer repair led to building websites. Websites then led to other marketing needs.
My first websites were certainly not my best work, but I learned quickly. As more requests came in, I also realized that I did not need to personally become an expert at every facet of web development. I needed to understand the problem, recognize where my abilities stopped, and surround myself with people who were better than me in those areas.
That still influences how I build teams and solve problems today.
Roofing Was Not the Plan
My introduction to commercial roofing came through my uncle William. He had been in general construction and decided to get into commercial roofing. Because he trusted me, he asked me to handle the marketing.
I initially said no.
Commercial roofing was complicated with high stakes, and I did not want to claim expertise in an industry I did not yet understand.
What changed my mind was access to experienced people who were willing to help. William was connected with other commercial roofing contractors, so I could ask questions, learn what was working, and get advice from people with far more experience than I had.
That support gave me enough confidence to start.
Some of our early work involved websites and direct mail. Direct mail made me particularly nervous because it was much harder to know what happened if something did not work. Was the mailing list bad? Was the design wrong? Was the message weak? Did the mail even get delivered?
We compared results with other contractors and found that our campaigns were performing especially well. As word spread, more roofing contractors came to me for direct mail and website work. Over time, that became Top Roof Marketing.
I did not choose roofing because it looked like a good niche. It became a specialty because referrals kept bringing more contractors to us, and before long roofing became the largest industry I served.
This Group Grew From a Similar Idea
That early experience also showed me how valuable the right group of people can be.
Choice Roof Contractor Group began in the fall of 2013 from a vision of bringing independent commercial roofing contractors together. I helped shape that idea and bring it to life as an organized network where contractors could learn from one another while continuing to operate their own independent businesses.
The early group was closely connected with Conklin training, roofing systems, events, distribution relationships, and contractor mentorship. Experienced contractors answered questions, reviewed unusual project conditions, shared lessons from the field, and even traveled to help newer applicators.
As contractors grew, their needs expanded. Members encountered different roof assemblies, specifications, suppliers, and other requirements. The group expanded accordingly.
Today, Choice Roof Contractor Group has become much more multifaceted. We still recognize the important role Conklin played in building the foundation and continue connecting contractors with people in that network when it can help them. At the same time, we now develop relationships with a broader range of suppliers, educators, service providers, and other companies that can bring value to contractors.
You can read more about that evolution on our History of Choice Roof Contractor Group page.
Looking Back With Roofer Reflections
I recently had the opportunity to discuss some of this with Tats on Roofer Reflections.
We talked about the computer business, how I ended up in commercial roofing, some of those first marketing campaigns, and what I have learned from working alongside contractors.
One comment from the conversation summarizes a lot of what still motivates me:
“It’s about connecting people, seeing good guys win, helping companies make more of what they already have.”
The last part is especially important.
For many years, a big part of my work has been helping contractors generate leads. Good opportunities obviously matter, but getting the lead is only part of the result.
A contractor can have good marketing and still lose opportunities because nobody follows up consistently, information gets lost, the proposal does not communicate enough value, or the company simply does not have a good process after someone shows interest.
This is something I have been emphasizing more in my recent writing as well. More is not always better. Sometimes the biggest opportunity is making better use of what you already have.
That idea is an important part of where 360 Commercial Roofing fits.
Where 360 Commercial Roofing Fits
360 Commercial Roofing gives us a broader way to support contractor needs that extend beyond traditional marketing or networking.
Through Choice Roof Contractor Group, Top Roof Contractors, Top Roof Marketing, and our industry relationships, we can draw from different capabilities depending on the problem.
Sometimes a contractor needs marketing. Sometimes the problem is follow-up. Sometimes it is a weak proposal or sales process. Sometimes a contractor needs better technical education, a checklist, an interactive calculator, or useful chatbot. And sometimes the right answer is simply introducing two people who should know each other.
There is no reason to force all of those problems into one predefined service. Not everything useful needs to become a paid marketing project either. Sometimes helping means providing the right resource, making an introduction, or connecting someone with expertise we do not personally have.
That is also how we are approaching relationships with suppliers, software companies, equipment providers, educators, associations, and other contractor-facing organizations through 360 Commercial Roofing.
Instead of assuming the first step needs to be advertising or a sales pitch, we can start by creating something useful.
That could be a webinar, contractor checklist, training recap, case study, calculator, chatbot, video, sales resource, or another practical tool. Contractors get something they can actually use, while everyone involved has a natural reason to stay connected and keep building on it.
I Am Still Pretty Nerdy
Technology remains a big part of how I approach these problems.
I am still most comfortable behind the scenes building a process, analyzing data, developing a tool, or figuring out how different systems can work together.
Artificial intelligence has opened up a lot of new possibilities, but I do not think the answer is simply using more AI. I recently wrote in CoatingsPro Magazine that AI works best when it supports a process you already understand. That is how I try to use it. For example, a roofing company may already have years of project photos, inspection knowledge, customer stories, proposals, and lessons learned. AI can help organize that information and make it easier to use for sales, training, marketing, or internal knowledge.
The same principle applies to automation and software. If an existing platform solves the problem well, use it. If two systems simply need connected, connect them. If a repetitive process can be automated reliably, automate it. If the problem really does require something different, then it may make sense to build a custom tool. The important part is whether it solves a useful problem. That is really the connection between what I was doing at 12 years old and what I enjoy doing today.
What Hasn’t Changed
A lot has changed since customers were picking me up to repair computers in their homes because I was too young to drive. The technology is considerably better. The problems are more complicated. There are also a lot more people involved.
But what I enjoy most has not changed very much. I still like figuring out problems, finding people who know more than I do when their expertise is needed, building useful things, and connecting good people.
That is how I look at Choice Roof Contractor Group and the larger 360 Commercial Roofing ecosystem today.
We now have access to more contractor experience, industry relationships, resources, technology, and specialized capabilities than we did when the group started in 2013. My goal is to keep finding ways to bring those pieces together so good contractors can build stronger businesses, better serve their customers, and make more of what they already have.
