Kevin Butler - A Career, Not Just a Job

By Colin Sheehan, RCS Reporter. 

Building relationships, providing solutions and the importance of loving the work you do. 

In this episode of Roofing Road Trips, Heidi J. Ellsworth is joined by Kevin Butler from Tremco Roofing and Weatherproofing Technologies Inc (WTI). Kevin and Heidi discuss how he built a thriving career as a roofer, foreman, manager and now senior field advisor in the commercial roofing industry. They also talk about the importance of loving your job, building relationships and providing solutions to customers. 

Kevin got his start in the roofing business right out of high school in 1983 when a summer job became a lifelong career. He spent 15 years with a local contractor learning the trade before starting with Tremco, where he’s been for the last 23 years. 

“It's been a journey that's for sure,” said Kevin. “As you can tell by the gray hair, I'm a senior field advisor for Tremco and I am responsible for the about 14 counties in Northeast Ohio, and the upper panhandle of West Virginia and basic day-to-day duties.” 

At Tremco, Kevin began as a technician doing roof patch and repair work by himself before moving onto the position of field manager for patch repair crews for the entire U.S.  

“I did a lot of traveling and finally got to the point where it was time to do something different. I had an opportunity to go into sales and I started in sales about 17 years ago now. And it's been a great career for me.” 

Tremco is part of the worldwide Tremco Construction Products Group, and the company makes roofing and building maintenance products. WTI is the services and engineering division of Tremco with multiple divisions including a general contracting division, a general services division and diagnostics division. Even through Kevin’s transition from working with a local contractor to working with Tremco, he’s maintained long-lasting customer relationships. 

“Some of the customers that I work with currently, I have known for 30-plus years because I worked with them when I was a roofer. Then when I came to Tremco I just continued with that relationship. A customer relationship at Tremco is the key to everything, because we are a relationship business and some of the relationships I've built with customers over the years, they've become some of my very close friends.” 

Kevin is proud of his career and finds a lot of value in the work he does, in taking care of and maintaining the roofs that protect people and properties.  

“After all these years, I am still a roofer and very proud of it. It's not a job, it's a job if you make it a job,” said Kevin. “I don't want young people to think that it's a summer job because it's not, you can truly make a career out of. It's hard work at first, it's like anything else, you've got to start at the bottom of the ladder and work your way up, but it can turn into a lifelong career for you.” 

Listen to the entire podcast to hear more from Kevin Butler and how he developed his fulfilling career.