June 15, 2011 | Filed under: Company Info
We’re coming up on our five-year anniversary in Louisville so I hope you’ll allow me a few paragraphs to reflect on this milestone. Recently our president and C.F.O. came for a visit to see our operation first-hand. As they were getting ready to leave, one of them said to the other, “We really have something special here.” Of course I was glad to hear that but the simple fact is, it’s true.
I’m not one to spend a lot of time tooting my own horn. I used to joke with customers that if I show up on time, and sober, I’m ahead of half of my competition in the roofing business. People would laugh, but many realized that, sadly, it’s actually pretty close to the truth. The things that we do in order to stand out, to be special, are really nothing but Golden Rule type stuff; but it is what we do and do very well.
I know that when a new installer joins our crew for the first time, one of the things he’ll hear from the other guys is, “To us this is just a job. We’ll finish it, move on, and if we do it right we’ll never see it again. But to these homeowners, this is something they will look at just about every day for the rest of their lives.” Just that simple understanding and care belies a mindset that what we’re doing isn’t just about us.
As I write this, it’s mid-June and we are booked out to…well probably very close to September with our main crew. Because we are a relatively small outfit, we only get the opportunity to serve a very limited clientele each year. We’ll be lucky to get 20 roofs installed this year, maybe 22 at the most. Our installation process involves craftsmanship, not an emphasis on speed. I doubt any other company would want to talk about how FEW jobs they do in a year but it is part of what makes us special—the time and attention we spend and the relationships we develop with each and every customer. Every job start is exciting and every completion day is a little bit sad, because we’ve enjoyed our time there.
Very soon we’ll have to figure out how to grow and as we do so we will have to maintain that level of caring; it’s what got us here and we can’t afford to abandon it or even slightly turn away from it.
For me personally, I’ve been with Classic 18 years this year. For a couple years in the early days, I didn’t really understand the value of what I was a part of. I just saw it as roofing. But now that I get to experience everything at the end-user level, to see the homes transformed and the people so thrilled with the changes we’ve made…I just find it so rewarding and I can’t imagine doing anything else. Thank you for reading and for your interest in Classic Metal Roofing. I hope we’ll have the opportunity to serve you in the future.
Sincerely,
Joe Knife
Branch Manager