Another Year of Learning at Simon Roofing

BOARDMAN, Ohio – Even with 119 years in business, Simon Roofing makes it a point to never stop learning.

Owned and operated by third- and fourth-generation family members of the company’s founders, the national commercial roofing contractor and materials manufacturer is headquartered in Boardman and maintains 66 service centers around the country.

“Learning leads to innovation and that’s the backbone of Simon Roofing,” says Anthony Vross, co-owner. “The more you learn about something, the better you’re able to improve upon it, and that’s what we encourage our employees to do every day.”

That improvement and innovation has helped Simon Roofing rank among the 20 largest roofing companies in the United States. While almost half of its employee base works out of its corporate headquarters and manufacturing plant, both in the Mahoning Valley, the remainder are at branch offices and service centers throughout the country.

The company’s sales performance increased last year 15% over 2017, meeting or exceeding all of its revenue targets. The company’s employee base also grew 9%. Further, Simon Surfaces, a division of Simon Roofing, grew a remarkable 90% in sales over the prior year, Vross says.

Among the clients of Simon Roofing and Simon Surfaces are recognized national retailers and restaurant chains, as well as regional multibuilding complexes such as manufacturing plants, distribution centers, college campuses and health-care facilities.

Because of the increased demand on a regional level for the products and services it offers, Simon Roofing plans to open sales offices in seven new markets in 2019 and expand its service center presence into another six more markets, according to Vross.

“When it comes to expanding our regional footprint, we do a lot of preliminary research to determine the best strategic direction,” he says. “Our due diligence helps us to accurately assess the potential of each growth opportunity, and our defined marketing strategy helps us to maximize that potential.”

To continue its momentum in 2019, the company is further investing in enhancing the customer experience. This will provide timely feedback directly from customers as to where expectations are exceeded and where there’s room for improvement.

Another planned initiative involves the rollout of an online portal that will allow customers 24/7 access to a broad range of real-time information about their roof, including time of arrivals, inspection data, outstanding work orders and service history.

Whether it’s the customer overseeing as many as 100 different buildings across multiple states or the facility manager responsible for a multi-building facility in one of its regional markets, this portal will be a valuable resource in providing tracking of work performed and work scheduled to be performed, as well as notifications as to when technicians have been dispatched on service calls.

Simon Roofing is unique in the commercial/industrial roofing industry as it serves as both the manufacturer and installer of its proprietary roofing materials, Vross says. Growth in sales resulted in a 4% increase in product manufactured last year alone.

As for anticipated challenges in 2019, the company’s business growth brings the ongoing challenge of recruiting and retention – especially for roofers and technicians in the field. In addition to expanding the company’s presence at job fairs, Simon Roofing is engaging social media, human resources software, online recruiting tools and online applications to make it easier to attract job candidates.

In the area of employee engagement, the company is implementing plans for ongoing evaluation of employee satisfaction, as well as investing in additional employee learning opportunities.

One example is the planned February launch of a learning management system that will increase and improve the flexibility, convenience, course offerings and reporting function of Simon Roofing’s online training resources.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.