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How Nick Grote Built a Modern Roofing Company with Roofr and ABC Supply
Nick Grote, CEO & Founder at California Roofrunners
The challenge.
When Nick Grote first entered the roofing industry, it wasn’t exactly by design. Armed with a business management degree from San Jose State, he envisioned a career that didn’t involve climbing ladders. But a friend from high school—already deep in the trade—pulled him into the business side of roofing. What started as a marketing and operations role soon turned into a crash course in inefficiency.
“I joined this roofing company where everything was being run off of Excel,” Nick recalls. “They were copying the playbook of a local industry giant—no innovation, no tech. I saw a huge opportunity to modernize.”
The solution.
And modernize he did. Quietly at first.
While his then-employer clung to legacy tools and workflows, Nick started exploring better options behind the scenes. One of the first upgrades he made? Swapping expensive EagleView reports—purchased through ABC Supply—for affordable, fast Roofr reports.
“I was paying $12 out of my own pocket just to give customers accurate quotes without having to drive 45 minutes,” he says. “It wasn’t even the cost of gas.”
Nick’s stealth use of Roofr didn’t go unnoticed for long. After a year of juggling Excel proposals and Roofr-generated quotes, he moved on to another roofing company—this time, with leverage.
“They brought me on at double the pay, and the first thing I did was get everyone in a meeting to talk about Roofr. I introduced Roofr’s measurement reports, proposals, job flow tracking—everything. It wasn’t just about making my job easier. It helped the entire company scale.”
Soon, another company came calling. Same story: higher pay, bigger role, and full ownership of operations.
“At that point, I only ran things one way: Roofr all the way.”
Honesty, efficiency, and smart technology.
By the time he launched California Roofrunners in Silicon Valley, Nick had three roofing company transformations under his belt—and a strong conviction about how a modern roofing business should operate. Roofr became the foundation for quoting, proposals, job tracking, and even customer communication. And thanks to Roofr’s integration with ABC Supply, Nick streamlined material ordering too.
“We don’t waste time going back and forth. The ABC integration lets us move from measurements to material lists quickly and with confidence. That speed makes a big difference.”
Today, California Roofrunners is lean, profitable, and growing steadily. With two crews completing up to 16 roofs per month, Nick’s team is on track for $2–4 million in annual revenue. Not bad for a two-year-old company.
“The Silicon Valley market is affluent but price conscious. We have to move fast, be transparent, and show value. Roofr helps us do all three.”
Explore our suite of tools
Instant Estimator
Instant homeowner estimates with your pricing that empower you to quote and qualify fast.
Measurements
$13 roof measurement reports beloved for their ease and accuracy, delivered in as little as 2 hours.
Proposals
Stunning, fully customizable digital proposals you can create and send off for e-signatures in minutes.
Invoicing
Create invoices from proposals in seconds with pricing you can trust to always be accurate.
Payments
Request and collect payments from your customers online, and process them securely right in your Roofr dashboard.
Material Ordering
Our Material Ordering tool empowers you to turn Roofr Proposals into detailed and accurate orders without a single manual calculation needed.
Financing
Offer your customers direct financing options through our GoodLeap partners, without worrying about getting paid.