Local First: How Brentwood Roofing Built a Business & Trust in Just 1 Year

ou're listening to the Roofer Report, the ultimate podcast for roofing professionals, business owners, and entrepreneurs. Get insider access and hear about the highs, lows, and tales of triumphs from thriving business owners. Brought to you by roofer, hosted by Pete McKendrick.

Pete: Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Roofer Report. I am your host, Pete McKendrick, and I am happy to be joined here for, yet another roofer of the month. We've been doing these now, about a year. they've been great to just kind of get some insight into how people are doing business and get to know, some industry folks a little better.

And, you know, Brent and I have had the chance to meet in person back at what IE right? Was it IE we've met at, yeah. so that bad down in San Antonio this year. So, really excited to have Brent on today. So welcome Brent Gerard of Brentwood Roofing and he is our roofer of the month for June.

So, welcome, Brent.

Yeah, man. We're excited to chat a little bit and just kinda get some insight into the business. so let's start out by telling us a little bit about Brentwood. Where are you guys located? how big are you as a company? How long have you guys been in business? Just some of the simple background stuff on Brentwood

Brent Girouard: So Brentwood Roofing is in the suburbs of Houston. We're about halfway in between Houston and Galveston and Friendswood, Texas. we've been in business for one year. I've been in the roofing industry for about six years. we're a small company. we have large crews. We can tackle big projects, in one day, two in a day, or just, two smaller projects one day.

I have recently, hired some sales guys, project managers. they do both of those roles and a sales manager to manage them. just recently they're out working right now. Some of 'em haven't even met, until today. So that's real new. and, it's exciting, to have new guys so I can work more on my

company instead of in it all the time. So that's been good.

Pete: Yeah, I mean this is, it's great. one of the things that I've really enjoyed about this roofer of the month, thing that we're doing is getting to meet a lot of companies that are fairly new, you know? Their first couple of years and really hearing, how they got going and what they have going on.

hats off to you guys for jumping in and, taking on the challenge, of running your own business. I have some buddies right now that I used to work with, at a former company in the roofing industry that are doing the same. They just, started their own roofing company and branched out a little bit.

So, it's really cool to see everybody kind of maturing and, taking on that challenge, of running their own company. So let's dive into it a little bit here with you, Brent. How did you, let's get a little bit of the backstory, right? So you said you've been in the business about six years.

how did you come into roofing? how did you end up, in roofing and then what did you do? prior to owning Brentwood.

Brent Girouard: well, I had, several, some of my older brother's friends had asked me to work for their roofing companies. I just didn't, I just didn't really take it, that seriously. And then people kept trying. there's a lot of roofs to be done around here with being close to the coast. they had a couple of storms, about 10, 15 years ago.

finally I just gave in and said, all right, I'm gonna try it. I, worked for a company and I was doing everything that I'm doing now, but for somebody else's company. I started doing this on my own for myself and, it's been really good.

And being able to, control the quality, control the timelines and bring in my people that I choose. Instead of training somebody else's guys. And then, not having really anything to show for that, is kind of why I left. But everybody's still friends with, the companies that I've worked for before.

But, we're doing things the Brentwood way now, so

Pete: I like it. Now, Houston is a very competitive market, right? So what are you guys doing, you know, as obviously as a new company, right? You're in a market that's very established, like you said, tons of work. are you guys working in Houston? Are you working outside of Houston? What are you guys doing to separate yourself from, you know, the rest of the roofers around there?

Brent Girouard: Well, I do a lot more work on this side of Houston, going all the way to Galveston Island. to separate ourselves from other companies. we're a smaller company, so I think obviously our customer service is a lot better. We're big enough to tackle, complex jobs and finish 'em in one day.

But we're small enough to really, care for our customers and their specific needs and, really cater to them

and what they need for their home.

Pete: I love it.

Brent Girouard: some of these more complex jobs that are on the coast, you know, sometimes there are three stories 'cause they're, you know, they're built up and, so there's a lot more in involved, when you have, windstorm certificates

and, and all those guidelines that we have to adhere to.

Pete: Nice. Yeah, I mean, I think that's an interesting niche, right? Especially for a small company starting out to realize like, hey, there's, you know, a very unique subset of roofs that we can do, and if we handle them correctly, like we can kind of corner. That market and, you know, rather than just being another roofer in Houston, like obviously you guys have figured out a little bit of a niche there down in Galveston and being able to manage those jobs on the coast that probably some of the other roofers aren't willing to go get.

You know, I remember, I worked with a company out of. Allentown, pa and he had done something similar. He was a small company, like you said, kind of nimble and flexible, and easily, you know, easy to kind of move around and handle his customer's needs. Well, one of the things that he did was he went into an area that was downtown buildings close together, really hard to work on, and he just embraced that and said like, Hey, I'm gonna be the guy that does these that no one else wants.

Right? And because of it, now he's. Essentially that roofer that is, known as the guy that will go in there and do those jobs that the other roofers don't wanna do. in this case you guys have kind of carved that out as well of being this guy that, you know, maybe with all the other certifications and things that you gotta manage with those jobs, it's probably something that a lot of roofers don't wanna touch.

And so now you guys have kind of been able to jump in there and quickly find success there.

Brent Girouard: Right, and I. Had somebody, saw one of, one of my, social media ads, and when I mentioned Friendswood, they, when they called me, they were like, yeah, I heard you're in Friendswood. I didn't want a Houston roofer specifically said that. And so, I mean, obviously I guess I'm marketing the right, zip codes and, and, so that, and that's exactly what I want.

I'd rather not have to go into Houston. there's plenty of roofs down here in the burb, so. We like doing that. And then of course the ones on the coast are, are challenging, but we're, we wanna be your neighborhood roofer, local roofer and not a, a bigger company that's just gonna, put you on the back burner.

but we're always gonna answer the phone calls. We know who it is when they call in.

Pete: It's interesting 'cause we're, you know, I live in Kentucky and we just went through

a big couple of big hailstorms and a lot of roofs damaged here. And that, you know, what's really been stressed to folks via social media and also, you know, in person is, you know, hey, look for the local guy, right?

Look for that neighborhood roofer guy who is the guy that lives down the street from you? Who's the guy that's done business here for years? you know, start there. You know, and so I think that, being that neighborhood roofer, obviously if you're in a market where storms are prevalent like you are, you know, I think that that's even more important to some aspect to be that local guy.

Because when that storm comes, It has been very interesting to watch it kind of unfold is that local people are looking to those local companies to be the authority and to tell them, you know, Hey, this is how it should be. Right? This is what you should be watching out for.

This is what needs to be done to your house. This is how you're gonna handle your claim. Like, you don't necessarily need to work with us, but as your local roofer, I'm gonna essentially be the authority and I'm gonna tell you like, this is how it needs to roll. and the people are respecting that, right?

And because of it. They're turning away everyone. I mean, there was a guy. Here that was complaining. 'cause he's 30 minutes outside of town and they were turning him away as not being a local roofer. And he is like, I shop in your town. Like I am kind of a local roofer just 'cause my office isn't there.

But you know, the people were literally saying to him like, where are you located? And he, you know, he said, I'm not in town. And they said, well you're not a local roofer so I'm not gonna use you. And so it's really interesting how that's played out and I think that. Buyers are becoming more and more aware, like you said, they don't want somebody from up in Houston.

They want somebody that's more local to them, you know, that knows what they need and understands the situation better. very smart move by you to kind of, narrow your scope a little bit and not try to just jump into that bigger market and be that neighborhood guy. 'cause you've probably got a ton of work right there in your backyard.

Brent Girouard: We do. it is, you know, we have jobs lined up, but we just can't get to 'em 'cause of the rain. but, and then, like you were saying about the local, I got a call, I hired a senior in high school guy to, to go hang door hangers for me. the, and this is, I just started doing this recently, got a call from a guy and, he had some bigger roofer companies, out, companies out that, really, really competitive bids too.

But he chose fine because I was right here in Friendswood, that's the first

one we're doing as soon as it stops raining, right here by Friendswood High School. So.

Pete: Nice.

Brent Girouard: happy that the door hangers worked and it, you know, I think it shows it has, that we're a friendswood company and when they see that door sign, I think it just lowers their guard a little bit.

They know that we're local and we're not going

anywhere, and it puts 'em at ease a little bit. So.

Pete: Yeah, I thought one of the most interesting comments made

during that whole storm thing was made by a local roofer that said, as a homeowner, you need to think about, yeah, I'm getting my roof replaced, but what happens if. Three months from now, six months from now, you have an issue with that roof that was just installed.

Where's that roofer gonna be? If he's not a local roofer, is he gonna come back from 500 miles away to do a repair? Probably not. And he said, as a local guy. I'm not necessarily gonna just go in and repair someone else's roof. He's like, because then it's on me. now you've created yourself this whole scenario of having a roof on your house that's not supported because you chose an outside guy,

And now I'm stuck having to potentially deal with the fact that, you have Another person's roof on your house and you want me to fix it. Right. And I may tell you we need to tear the thing off and redo it. Right. So, 'cause I don't trust their work. So it makes for an interesting situation and I think that, like you said, you being local and them knowing that you're gonna be there, if they need you again, it plays into it a lot now.

I think the homeowners are savvier than they've ever been, and they're taking that kind of stuff into account.

Brent Girouard: Yes, and there's a lot of information for homeowners on the internet. Some of it's good, some of it's not good, but, we're finding our homeowners are a lot more educated than they were previously. And, that's a good thing. and after these storms, not everybody

needs to just. file a claim

Pete: Yeah.

Brent Girouard: so it's important that they have several people that are qualified come out, look at their roof.

Pete: So, you've been in business about a year now. Let's talk a little bit about some of the challenges that you've faced. things that you've struggled with, that maybe you didn't predict. you said you were kind of doing most of this stuff for another company, so you kinda had a pretty good feel for it.

But what are some of the things that you've run into this year that. You look back on, you're like, man, I wish I would've thought of that ahead of time, or I didn't see that coming.

Brent Girouard-1: there's always things I wish I would've started.

Pete: Yeah.

Brent Girouard-1: and so, you know, everybody always says that I wish I would've gotten into sooner. so mainly, having good help is good. I wish I had more time to train these guys the way that they need to be.

I was never trained. I was told the only thing I needed to do was knock on doors, get on roofs and chalk to chalk the roof with. That was it. so I don't want those guys to feel like I'm the same thing that was done to me years ago. so that's why I brought in a sales manager. They're out right now riding around altogether. and I do want them to kind of be friendly, competitive with each other so that, we can give 'em bonuses for who does the best, each week. to answer your question, challenges, is good help. and just getting people scheduled when they want to be. I can't get, we can't get to every lead that comes in, immediately, but it's okay. To send even a greener guy out just to make contact with the homeowner the same day or the next day and just say, Hey, I tell 'em it's okay to say you don't, you don't have to know all their answers to all their questions, but that you're there to take pictures and that you're gonna share 'em with the sales manager, with me, We get back to you. the expert will be out on Tuesday, but at least somebody from

Brentwood has met them. So they know that we're taking them very seriously. And,

Pete: Yeah. that's a smart play on your part because we. Often talk about speed, the lead, right? And how quickly are we responding? How quickly are we getting to folks? like I tell a story of I had a plumbing issue in my house and called a couple of people to work on it and couldn't even get a call back, got a voicemail and I didn't wait for those people to call me back.

I just moved on to the next person on the list, you know, and the first guy who picked up the phone and actually had a conversation with me is who won the job. Being that responsive person, I think plays a huge part in, landing these jobs and being successful at converting these leads.

And so It's a smart play on your part to, you know, say, Hey, maybe you're not qualified yet to go out and fully quote this roof, but let's still go out there. You can do the inspection. This is, what you need to do. Make that first contact, and at least put your mind at ease, that, Hey, we're gonna get to you as quickly as we can.

we're going to do our due diligence here and get our information together, and then we'll get back with you. But at least you've made that contact and you've started that relationship with the customer. You're not leaving them hanging, saying, Hey, I can't get to you for two weeks or something like that.

We're busy. Like you guys have figured out a way to bridge that gap, until you guys can get there. So smart.

Brent Girouard-1:

Yeah. One of the other problems that I was facing, a while back was, Getting quotes to the customer within a certain amount of time before they just, go with somebody else. but with the proposals where I can, get 'em cranked out pretty fast now, within a couple of minutes, I can do one and it's accurate because we're using y'all's measurements, which has been fantastic.

So, Insurance pricing too. but I've found that just getting them a number, and saying, Hey, this, this is a retail estimate to where this is your estimate for not insurance. this is if, if I'm just dealing with you and me and where, you know, you pay us at the end of the job, that's this price.

If we're gonna go through insurance, your price pretty much is your deductible. And so, but just getting them out, a proposal pretty quick like that. Has been, has been real helpful for us, so.

Pete-1: I mean, we, there's a stat that Nick and I have talked about before on some of the masterclasses where if you are the first person in the door, if you're the first quote on the table, you're seven times more likely to win that [00:15:00] job in the end, right? Because now everyone else is getting compared to you. So, you know, it's, it definitely is a huge benefit to be able to pump those proposals out very quickly. you have that kind of process in place and things are streamlined, like you said, you can pull that measurement and then, Hey, I'm gonna give you a retail bid, you know, if this turns into an insurance job, 'cause you have damage, we find damage in our inspection or whatever.

We'll worry about that when we get to it, but at least here's a price. You know, here's a bid based on the size of your job and. Size of your house, and then we'll go from there. smart man to get in the door and kind of like establish yourself as quick as possible, and then you can always kind of work back into whatever the actual situation presents.

Brent Girouard-1: Yeah, and Pete, sometimes I, Don't email 'em. I like to print 'em out. The same proposal that you provided, through Roofr, I'll print 'em out and then I'll take a folder that has the stages of the roof I take in there sometimes I don't wanna email it out to them until I've done that.

Sit down in person, showed 'em, let 'em touch some materials, and, see some colors in person. But I'm finding out that if I can't get to them, you've just gotta sit, like you were saying, be that first one. Even if it's in the form of an email, just sending it out and then,

following up in person if we can,

Pete-1: I mean, we have a user, Amanda, from Maven, who sends it out via email and then follows it up with a text message, and the text actually has a link, to the proposal. just a couple different ways of getting it in their hands, so they can review it and like you said, even if it's just to get it to them so they can take a look at it then you're going behind it making in-person contact. At that point, you can answer any questions and iron out the details smart, the way you guys are playing that to where you have got some processes in place early on to get to the customer fast and to start to develop that relationship, and establish that rapport because, so much of this is just about selling that relationship, more so than the roof.

I think a lot of times it's, you know, establishing yourself as the person they wanna work with, right? And that they trust.

Brent Girouard-1: Absolutely. And the fact that you said that I had this, gentleman in, league City and when I sat down at his dining room table, I saw, two other companies that, big companies locally. They both start with the letter B. he said that he went with me because he trusted me and that, and I'm sure they had similar proposals, we were all pretty in line from what he was saying as far as pricing.

But he just said, and that made me feel really good. And then when I went back to pick up the final, insurance check recently, he, sat down and he goes, wanted to make sure he was leaving me a review, right there at the table. And I thought that was really nice of him. so getting reviews, I love that.

One day, two weeks ago, I had a review every day for five straight days

Pete-1: Now, do you guys have a process around asking for those reviews or are they just unsolicited more or less,

Brent Girouard-1: For, I think about two weeks ago, I was making it a point to text him, saying, Hey, if you don't mind leaving us a review. And I do it when we're basically doing the walkthrough at the end of the job in their front yard. I text 'em and say, and re, while I'm talking to 'em, I'm gonna go, Hey, do you mind leaving us a review?

it helps people find us on Google. that's it. I just text 'em a reminder so the next time they come to text me or something, they'll, they'll see that, oh yeah, I didn't do that. And, and sometimes I, I forget and they still show up.

Pete-1: No.

Brent Girouard-1: I wouldn't mind, doing an email, automation or something to remind them.

that's something we can get to later

for sure.

Pete-1: Yeah. So let's talk a little bit about, you know, you guys have been in business about a year. Obviously you found some success. You guys are carving out a niche a little bit there for yourselves.

what's the plan for Brentwood? What long term.

Brent Girouard-1: In the next couple of years, I'd like to, get about 10, sales and project managers to where, we can branch out and get, because Houston's so big that I'd like to be able to have, some guys that live closer to the north side. some people, closer, going all the way towards Beaumont. I'd like to get a little bit bigger because it is great being local to Friendswood, but.

I mean, some of these guys that, I really trust to work for Brentwood, I want them to kind of carve out the, neighborhood, representative for their area. I think that would be great. we also, we just want, we're real lean right now. I wanna stay that way, but at the same time, just not grow too fast.

I don't wanna grow too fast. I wanna still be a neighborhood roofer. but, just carefully,

growing is what I foresee in the next couple years.

Pete-1: I like it, especially, I think that it becomes a challenge when you're in a market like yours, right? Like any given time, you guys could get potentially a surplus of work. Like we see it in Florida right now. They had the hurricanes, you know, some of those places that were fairly slow are now just blown with work.

here's a perfect example. am I our guys here locally in Kentucky doing just regular retail work? just a normal every day. And then next thing you know, there's. 57,000 homes with hail damage here. Right? So it's like, all of a sudden now you've got two, three years worth of work probably, and you're getting flooded with leads and phone calls.

And I think it's very easy to fall into a trap, especially for a younger company, right? To say like, okay, there's a ton of work, like, let's get on it. Let's figure out how we can do this. So I think it's a smart approach to, take a step back and say, Hey, we're in this area where it could get crazy, but, let's be smart about this and grow at a nice, steady pace and not overwhelm ourselves or potentially put ourselves in a bad position

Brent Girouard-1: Absolutely, and roofing it, it's daily. It's always about managing chaos. that's the name of this game. It's not about marketing or. Anything. to own a roofing company and run it effectively, you have to be prepared on a daily basis to manage chaos because builds can get chaotic.

Storm, restoration, tarping right after a storm. It's chaotic by nature. So, however you can manage chaos is how you're gonna sink or swim. And if you're not ready

to manage chaos on a daily basis, then this is not

for you.

Pete-1: Yeah, no, I think it's smart and I think there's, you know, like you said, there's a lot of moving parts, right? And there's a lot of, what is always crazy about the roofing industry to me is that as a roofing company owner, there's a lot of factors that are outside of your control, right? Like weather specifically is a huge one, right?

You're kind of at the mercy of that. I used to own a landscaping business, very similar. you're kind of at the mercy of the weather. I was in Florida, right? So it was like, it rains every day there. So you're constantly having to deal with schedule and you know, all that kind of stuff.

and it is, like you said, if you can kind of stay ahead of it and think ahead of the chaos a bit and, and be prepared, I think, you know, you definitely. On the road to success. So, well, thank you, Brent. This has been fantastic. thanks for coming on, some great insight.

And I think you guys are, taking a really smart approach and you got some really cool stuff going on. Really smart ways of, standing out from the crowd, in a very competitive area and establishing yourself as the neighborhood roofer. congrats on being the June roofer of the month, and, thank you for jumping on with us today.

Yeah. Well, thank you everybody for listening. I hope that you were able to gain some insight here. We're always looking to grab a little golden nugget outta every one of these, conversations that we have. and thanks again to Brent for hopping on here with us today. And, we will talk to you all next time on the Roofer report.

Thanks everybody.

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