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Roofer

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AVG. SALARY

$40,410

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EDUCATION

No standard requirement

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JOB OUTLOOK

Stable

Interviews

Insider Info

Roofers don't just roof and repair homes and commercial buildings. Sometimes, they're white knights who come to the roofing rescue 24 hours a day.

Audrey Borders owns and operates a roofing business. It began as a joint venture with her husband. When he passed away, Borders continued to run the business. Her son is now a co-owner, making it a true family-owned and operated business.

Borders has had her share of roofing recoveries -- and remembers one particularly harrowing job that saved a hospital over a million dollars. It was 2 a.m. during a violent rainstorm. Borders got an emergency phone call from a local hospital.

"The roof was leaking directly over a brand new heart monitoring machine -- and the hospital had paid over a million dollars for it!"

After the emergency call, Borders hurried her crew out of bed and met them at the hospital. With heavy rain beating down on them, Borders and her team conquered the elements and patched the roof. Their dedication paid off. The million-dollar heart machine was saved.

"My customers know that they can reach me anytime. We've been called out in the middle of the night to fix cracked beams after heavy snows. People are always glad we're there." Borders' dedication to excellence is paramount. Her passion? Simply doing a good, quality job.

Patrick Ward, owner of a roofing business, has a harrowing Hurricane Andrew story. "I quickly awakened to the phone call. It was a major food store chain which had sustained lots of damage, but wanted to open at noon the same day."

Knowing his client needed to open the store that day or face losing thousands of dollars in lost sales and damaged merchandise, Ward assembled his crew, braved the elements and went to work.

"I quickly checked on my family and home and headed out to fight gale-force winds and rain as we patched up the roof of the grocery store. I remember the general manager there with us sweeping away water and drying the areas we had to patch. I remember the $250,000 in cash which laid everywhere in the store office as people tried to catch up with the hectic activity of the day before."

Despite havoc, devastation and heavy winds, Ward and his crew successfully patched the roof. The store opened on time. Yet again, a roofer saved the day.

What keeps Ward motivated day after day? "The satisfaction of doing a good job and being able to stand back and observe for yourself that you did a good job. I love to work and see what I create."

But it's not all hurricanes and snowstorms. Sometimes, roofers can look forward to routine jobs, simple fixes and smooth sailing. Ron Todosychuk is the owner of a roofing business. "We're like the Maytag repairmen of the roofing industry," he says. "It can get pretty darn boring!"