New Building Gives FPS Roofing Room to Grow
CANFIELD, Ohio – FPS Roofing was “busting out at the seams” at its former location, 330 Newton St., said co-owner John Petruzzi. Now, at its new site, the business has a chance to continue to grow, he said.
“We have expanded to the fact where we have our own metal shop where we are able to make all our own metal for jobs,” Petruzzi said. He joined co-owners John Christopher and John French and their employees at a ribbon-cutting Thursday morning for the new space at 580 W. Main St.
Petruzzi declined to disclose the purchase price, but said the new building was a “sizable” investment. In addition to the metal shop, the building has high bays and doors for larger equipment, such as the company’s Lull forklifts.
“You need to invest to be able to grow and that’s what we’re doing right now,” Petruzzi said. “We’re centrally located between Pittsburgh and Cleveland, and we do a lot of work going both directions. It’s nice because we can dispatch from here and respond promptly to any kind of service calls we may have.”
Petruzzi, Christopher and French have more than 60 years of roofing experience, Christopher said.
“We’re excited about getting things rolling here in the spring,” Christopher said. “We outgrew the old building, this came along and we had the opportunity to get it.”
FPS
Since 2001, the commercial and industrial roofing company has served area residents as well as customers in 38 states, Petruzzi said. Through its 24-hour emergency repair service, it has done work at the Boardman Plaza and area hospitals.
While FPS is still in the planning stage for this year, some of the roofing projects Petruzzi is eyeing include industrial facilities, hospitals, plazas and retail shopping centers, he said. Every now and then, multimillion dollar projects will pop up, but Petruzzi has gotten used to the usual, every day projects that come along, he said.
Petruzzi says FPS installs all major types of roofing systems, such as ethylene propylene diene terpolymer, which is a durable synthetic rubber roofing membrane widely used in low-slope buildings; thermoplastic polyolefin, which is a single-ply roofing membrane that covers the surface of the roof; and polyvinyl chloride, which is a thermoplastic covering for a roof.
In addition, FPS works in roofing repair and maintenance, Petruzzi said, as well as completing roof extensions so the life of an owner’s roof can be extended.
“By going out and evaluating it with the tools and our technicians, we can come up with a plan to do the servicing on the existing roof and give them some additional life to their roof to save them money,” he said.
Depending on the time of year, between 30 and as many as 80 are employed at FPS, Christopher said.
“A lot of it depends on the weather,” Petruzzi said. “We may have five, six or seven crews that we run through the height of the season and it does taper off during the winter months. But, we’re always looking for manpower workers. There’s a value put on them and with our growth, we need to have more workers.”
When it comes to employees, safety remains top priority, Petruzzi said.
“We value our employees and we want to make sure they don’t get hurt,” he said. “We want to protect our assets as well as the assets of our clients when we’re working on their roofs.”
Working at FPS is like working with family, said Ryan Krispinsky, regional manager and service director.
“All three owners are very hands-on, which helps when dealing with clients,” he said. “There’s not a huge disconnection and we’re small enough to give great customer service but large enough to help larger clients.”
Pictured above: FPS Roofing at 580 W. Main St., Canfield.
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