Roofr of the Month

Chandler Pedini didn't choose roofing. His dad had him up on roofs by age ten, running his own business in Buffalo, New York. By high school, Chandler was calling in sick to class so he could work a job site instead, and his dad was in on it. He spent a few years on the ground before he ever picked up a nail gun.

But Chandler saw the impact that a life in roofing had on the body. His dad had both hips replaced by the time he turned 50. So he looked at other options.

College almost pulled him a different direction. Chandler enrolled in accounting, figuring a desk and a screen sounded easier than a roof and a truck. That lasted one day.

16 years later, Chandler is a sales and project manager at Five Star, a Buffalo-based contractor that does roofing, siding, kitchens, baths, and additions. They just wrapped a 6,200-square-foot new build. But roofing is still the moneymaker: 350 roofs last year, all residential, no insurance work, and just over $10M in sales. This year, they're on track for close to $12M.

Five Star runs mostly in-house crews instead of subcontractors — a rarity in an industry that's increasingly gone all-sub. Chandler calls it control: he knows exactly who's on a given roof, what they're good at, and what the homeowner is actually going to get. It certainly costs more, with trucks, insurance, a bigger back-end bill. But the team's decided the trade-off is worth it.

Those crews are cross-trained in roofing, siding, framing, and tile, which keeps people working through Buffalo's brutal winters. Five Star shuts down roofing from around Christmas to March, but framing and remodel jobs carry the team through. Chandler says it also makes better roofers. Guys who've framed a house understand how water actually moves through one.

His plan for 2027: do less work and make more money. Tighter processes, more automation, and a hard look at material costs and supplier pricing.

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