Jake Denning spent eight months moving All Ears Roofing from ninety percent insurance to ninety percent retail, trading the storm-chasing rollercoaster for predictable revenue.

Grab the free Business Playbook: https://ownersos.com/business-playbook?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=ownersos&utm_content=how-this-roofer-switched-from-insurance-to-retail

On the Roofing CEO Podcast, host Mike Abramowitz talks with Jake Denning, owner of All Ears Roofing (formerly Manchak Roofing) in Webster, Texas. Jake explains why he deliberately shifted from an insurance-driven model to a retail one to cut volatility, and how that forced him to rebuild the whole machine: separating canvassing from in-home sales, generating leads so reps run one to three appointments a day, and treating recruiting and a three-week training program as the real engine of growth. He shares how he and his partner split the business and why a five-star experience for both customers and employees is the priority on the road to twenty to thirty million.

Jake Denning is the owner of All Ears Roofing (rebranded from Manchak Roofing in 2025) in Webster, Texas, a retail-focused roofing company in the $5 to $10 million range. He came up through insurance and storm restoration before building a retail operation.

Questions this episode answers:

• How do you switch a roofing company from insurance to retail?
• Why go retail instead of insurance roofing?
• How do you recruit and train retail roofing sales reps?
• How do you build predictable revenue in roofing?
• How do you structure a retail roofing sales team?

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why Jake moved from ninety percent insurance to ninety percent retail, and what it did for stability
• How the retail model forced a full redesign of hiring and sales roles
• Separating canvassing from in-home sales, and feeding reps one to three appointments a day
• Why recruiting and a three-week training program are the real scaling engine
• How he and his partner split marketing and sales versus training and production on the way to $20 to $30 million

This show is brought to you in partnership with Forge and D2D Experts. A predictable, sellable roofing company runs on systems, not on storms. Owner's OS is the operating system built for it: https://ownersos.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=ownersos&utm_content=how-this-roofer-switched-from-insurance-to-retail

Connect with Jake: allearsroofing.com · Instagram @allearsroofing

How do you recruit young people into roofing and turn them into closers?

Andrew Matson runs Home Court Roofing like an entrepreneur factory, and one of his 20-year-old reps went from UPS night shifts to buying a Corvette.

Grab the free D2D Blueprint: https://ownersos.com/the-d2d-blueprint?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=ownersos&utm_content=how-to-recruit-and-develop-roofing-sales-reps-playbook

On this episode of the Roofing CEO Podcast, host Mike Abramowitz talks with Andrew Matson of Home Court Roofing in Louisville. Andrew treats his company as a place to develop reps and leaders, not just to sell roofs.

He walks through the 90-day curriculum he runs on new hires, the mindset shift from employee to value-seller, and his mission to make Home Court the premier place in Louisville for young people to learn roofing, sales, and entrepreneurship, including rebuilding university pipelines to bring in students every summer.

Andrew Matson has owned Home Court Roofing in Louisville, Kentucky for three years, with a leadership focus on developing young reps into closers and future leaders.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• The 90-day development curriculum Andrew runs on new hires
• How a 20-year-old went from UPS nights to $10k-plus months
• Building a roofing company as an entrepreneur factory
• Rebuilding university pipelines to recruit students every summer
• Why developing people beats chasing tactics in a changing insurance market

This show is brought to you in partnership with Forge and D2D Experts.

If you're a roofing CEO trying to get out of the day-to-day, Owner's OS is the operating system built for it: the org chart, role clarity, KPIs, and one-on-one system that let the business run without you.

Get the Owner's OS operating system: OwnersosOwnersOS helps home-service companies scale

Most roofing companies stall out around $10 million. Josh Steinberger blew past it to nearly $50 million, and he's building toward $100 million with a model he calls "Walmartized."

Grab the free Scaling Playbook: https://ownersos.com/scaling-playbook?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=ownersos&utm_content=how-to-scale-a-roofing-company-to-100-million

On the Roofing CEO Podcast, host Mike Abramowitz talks with Josh Steinberger, CEO of NextGen Restoration, a nationwide roofer doing roughly $46 to $50 million a year across four markets. Josh breaks down the profitability breakpoint that traps most roofers around $10 to $12 million, why owner income can hit zero at $8 million, and how replacing early hires with higher-skill managers frees the founder from the day-to-day. Then he lays out his blueprint for $100 million: seeding multiple $8 million local offices while centralizing logistics and back-office to keep overhead low and results predictable.

Josh Steinberger is the CEO of NextGen Restoration, a roofing and restoration company operating in four markets nationwide with over fifty team members and roughly $46 to $50 million in annual revenue. He started in door-to-door sales in 2008 and built his way into ownership.

Questions this episode answers:

• How do you scale a roofing company past $10 million?
• Why do roofing companies get stuck at $10 to $12 million?
• How do you build a multi-location roofing business?
• How do you reduce founder dependency as you grow?
• How do you build a roofing company toward $100 million?

What you'll learn in this episode:

• The $10 to $12 million profitability breakpoint, and why owner income can hit zero at $8 million
• Why you have to upgrade early hires with higher-skill managers to keep growing
• The multi-office model: multiple $8 million local offices plus a centralized back-office
• The "Walmartized" consistency that makes a business investable
• Josh's path from door-to-door in 2008 to a nearly $50 million operator

This show is brought to you in partnership with Forge and D2D Experts. Scaling past the $10 million ceiling is a systems problem, not a sales problem. Owner's OS is the operating system built to get you there: https://ownersos.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=ownersos&utm_content=how-to-scale-a-roofing-company-to-100-million

Connect with Josh: nextgenrestoration.net · Instagram @joshsteinberger

A third-generation roofer burned out running the owner-operator grind, went and sold for someone else to learn how a real company runs, then came back and scaled his family's revived brand from $1.8M to nearly $5M in a year, with $8 to $10M in sight.

Build the systems to run your roofing company without you: https://ownersos.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=ownersos&utm_content=how-baja-roofing-scaled-to-5m-by-cracking-hoa-work

On this episode of the Roofing CEO Podcast, host Mike Abramowitz sits down with Jeremy Lara of Baja Roofing in Los Angeles. Jeremy walks through nearly breaking himself trying to grow too fast, what he learned building a solar company's roofing division at 30 roofs a month, the financial literacy gap that almost sank him, and how breaking into HOA and commercial work opened six-figure jobs with a fraction of the competition. If you're a roofing owner stuck in the owner-operator trap, this one's for you.

Jeremy Lara is the CEO and co-owner of Baja Roofing, a third-generation, family-owned company in the Los Angeles area working residential, commercial, and HOA projects. He also coaches roofing owners through his Scale Method program.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why growing too fast as an owner-operator nearly broke him
• How selling for another company taught him the systems to scale his own
• The financial literacy gap most roofing owners ignore until it hurts
• How Baja broke into HOA and commercial work, where competition is surprisingly thin
• His three-year plan to split verticals and scale to $20M at 15% net

This show is brought to you in partnership with Forge and D2D Experts. If you're a roofing CEO trying to get out of the day-to-day, Owner's OS is the operating system built for it: the org chart, role clarity, KPIs, and one-on-one system that let the business run without you. Start your free trial: https://ownersos.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=ownersos&utm_content=how-baja-roofing-scaled-to-5m-by-cracking-hoa-work

Connect with Jeremy and Baja Roofing: Instagram @baja_roofing and @jeremy.untucked · https://www.bajaroofing.com · Scale Method (free community plus one-on-one consulting)

Chapters:

0:00 How to plug in with Forge and D2D Experts

1:14 Meet Jeremy Lara, Baja Roofing

1:47 From owner-operator burnout to learning systems

4:20 Building a solar company's roofing division

6:49 The financial literacy learning curve

8:56 The three-to-five-year vision

13:42 Break

14:33 Inside the Scale Method

17:39 Breaking into HOA and commercial

20:01 Wrap

Private equity comes knocking once or twice a month. Cory Getz keeps saying no, and he'll tell you exactly why.

Build a roofing company that runs without you: https://ownersos.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=ownersos&utm_content=why-this-indiana-roofer-keeps-turning-down-private-equity

On this episode of the Roofing CEO Podcast, host Mike Abramowitz talks with Cory Getz, who runs Unrushed Honest Quality (UHQ) in Carmel, Indiana.

Cory has been in roofing for about 25 years and has run his own company for over a decade. He gets into how the industry changed since he was chasing hail storms after Katrina, why today's educated homeowner buys differently, and the systems that got him out of sleeping under his desk.

He also explains why he almost sold to private equity in 2023 and why he'd now rather hand the company to his own people than a buyer.

Cory Getz is the owner of Unrushed Honest Quality (UHQ), a roofing and siding company in Carmel, Indiana with a team of about a dozen. He also helps contractors across the country grow through the James Hardie Alliance program.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• How the roofing and insurance-restoration game changed over 25 years
• How to sell to an educated homeowner who wants online pricing before a sales call
• Why online estimators and Answer Engine Optimization now drive his lead flow
• The systems, templates, and CRM workflows that let him stop doing everything himself
• Why he walked away from a private equity deal and what "healthy growth" means to him

This show is brought to you in partnership with Forge and D2D Experts. If you're a roofing CEO trying to get out of the day-to-day, Owner's OS is the operating system built for it: the org chart, role clarity, KPIs, and one-on-one system that let the business run without you.

Start your free trial: https://ownersos.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=ownersos&utm_content=why-this-indiana-roofer-keeps-turning-down-private-equity

Wondering what it really takes to start a roofing company from scratch?

Two partners, an Air Force veteran and a lifelong builder, break down their honest first year building Cornerstone Roofing in Delaware: why they left steady work, how they split the company 50/50, and the parts nobody warns you about.

Build the systems to run your roofing company without you: https://ownersos.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=ownersos&utm_content=how-to-start-a-roofing-company-from-scratch

On this episode of the Roofing CEO Podcast, host Mike Abramowitz sits down in person with Chaz and David of Cornerstone Roofing. Chaz spent six years in the Air Force as an air traffic controller before moving into roofing.

David has been in construction since 16 and knocking doors since he was a kid, and spent years running a company for someone else before the two started their own.

They get real about the difference between running someone else's business and owning yours, the fires that land on an owner's desk, and why they chose integrity and the right people over fast growth.

Questions this episode answers:

• What does it really take to start a roofing company from scratch?
• Should you start a roofing company with a business partner?
• Is it better to own a roofing company or run one for someone else?
• Do you need roofing experience to start a roofing business?
• What's the hardest part of starting a roofing company? (Hint: it starts with a conversation with your spouse.)
• How do you build a roofing company the right way, without cutting corners?

What you'll learn in this episode:

Two very different paths into roofing, from the military to lifelong door-knocking

• How a 50/50 partnership actually splits the work and the risk
• The real difference between running someone else's company and owning your own
• The fires that land on an owner's desk: sales reps, customers, suppliers, and crews
• Why integrity and the right people beat chasing fast growth in year one

This show is brought to you in partnership with Forge and D2D Experts. If you're a roofing CEO trying to get out of the day-to-day, Owner's OS is the operating system built for it: the org chart, role clarity, KPIs, and one-on-one system that let the business run without you.

Get in touch: https://ownersos.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=ownersos&utm_content=how-to-start-a-roofing-company-from-scratch

Petey Freeman got frustrated on his lunch break, swiped on a roofing job on Indeed, sold a roof his very first day, and never looked back. Now he owns Halo and hires by one blunt question.

Build the recruiting engine behind a real sales team: https://ownersos.com/the-d2d-blueprint?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=ownersos&utm_content=from-indeed-swipe-to-roofing-company-owner-playbook

On the Roofing CEO Podcast, host Mike Abramowitz talks with Petey Freeman, founder of Halo in Georgia. Petey tells the story of stumbling into roofing through an Indeed post in 2018, making eight to ten grand on his first day in the field, and realizing he'd found his calling. He gets candid about recruiting reps through Indeed, why most people fold the first time they feel real rejection, and the blunt interview question he now uses to find people who can handle the door.

Petey Freeman is the founder of Halo, a roofing company based in Georgia. He started in roofing sales in 2018 and built his way to ownership.

Questions this episode answers:

• How do you get into roofing sales with no experience?
• How much can you make selling roofing?
• How do you recruit roofing sales reps on Indeed?
• How do you tell if someone can handle door-to-door rejection?
• What should you look for when hiring salespeople?

What you'll learn in this episode:

• How Petey went from a frustrating lunch break to a first-day roofing sale
• Why the first real taste of rejection washes most new reps out
• The blunt interview question he uses to gauge rejection tolerance
• The hit-and-miss reality of recruiting reps on Indeed
• How falling in love with the work turned into owning the company

This show is brought to you in partnership with Forge and D2D Experts. Finding reps who can take the door is a system, not a guess. Owner's OS gives you the recruiting, onboarding, and accountability structure to build a team that sticks.

See it here: https://ownersos.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=ownersos&utm_content=from-indeed-swipe-to-roofing-company-owner-os

Tucker Pies went from selling cars and RVs to running the top-rated roofing company in Bend, Oregon, and the turning point was realizing roofing isn't sold like anything he'd ever sold before.

Find out what your roofing company is really worth with a free business audit: https://ownersos.com/audit?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=ownersos&utm_content=from-car-lots-to-bends-1-roofing-company-playbook

On the debut episode of the Roofing CEO Podcast, host Mike Abramowitz talks with Tucker Pies, founder of All Concepts Exteriors in Bend, Oregon. Tucker traces his path from high school car sales to RV sales to roofing, the brutal first 90 days selling roofs until he realized he was selling a need and not a want, and how he built a door-to-door setter and closer team to about a million dollars a month before starting his own company. He gets candid about the hardest part of becoming a CEO: letting go of control, getting himself out of the bottleneck, and learning from his own dad's plumbing company as a cautionary tale of a business built around one person.

Tucker Pies is the founder of All Concepts Exteriors (allconceptsexteriors.com) in Bend, Oregon, recognized as the area's top-rated roofing contractor. Before starting his company three-plus years ago, he spent seven-plus years in roofing as an installer, a salesperson, and a regional sales manager.

Questions this episode answers:

• How do you start a roofing company?
• Why is selling roofing different from selling other products?
• What is the setter and closer model in roofing sales?
• What is keyman risk and how does it affect selling your company?
• How do you move from working in your business to working on it?

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why Tucker says "roofing chose me," and his path from car and RV sales to roofing CEO
• The need-versus-want realization that turned a terrible first 90 days into real sales
• How he built a setter and closer team to about a million dollars a month
• Building comp plans that stay uncapped but attainable
• Keyman risk, and why a business built around you is hard to sell or pass down, with his dad's plumbing company as the cautionary tale
• His one piece of advice: build and sell trust before you sell anything else

This show is brought to you in partnership with Forge and D2D Experts. If you're a roofing CEO who wants the option to sell or pass it down one day, it starts with getting the business off your own shoulders. Owner's OS is the operating system built for exactly that: the org chart, role clarity, KPIs, and one-on-one system that let the business run without you. See it here: https://ownersos.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=ownersos&utm_content=from-car-lots-to-bends-1-roofing-company-os

Connect with Tucker: allconceptsexteriors.com · Instagram @allconceptsexteriors