Meet Tobi McMullen – Answer Me This! Winner

By Cass Jacoby, RCS Reporter. 

Each week someone wins a prize for answering a question, next week’s winner could be you!  

The Answer Me This! giveaway is sponsored by Gibraltar Building Accessories as part of their ‘Construction Solutions’ campaign designed to help them build products based on contractor feedback. Participating is easy! Simply answer one simple question and you’ll be entered into a drawing for a prize. If selected as the winner, you’ll get your choice of prize from an RCS box of love, donuts or a pizza! 

Our newest winner is Tobi McMullen, the vice president and operations manager of McMullen Roofing. We recently spoke with her about her experience in the roofing industry and her answer to our Answer Me This! question: What is the busiest time of the year for you and your company? 

McMullen Roofing is a family owned and operated business established in 1985. “It was literally out of our living room when I was a kid and [my father] grew the business and once he retired, my husband and I took over," says Tobi. “So now we operate the business.” 

Within her role as the vice president and operations manager, Tobi wears many hats. “I do primarily administration, which is a wide range, you know,” says Tobi. “All the things that need attention in the business I'm kind of the go to person for.” From an employee issue to signing a million-dollar contract to payroll to the service department, Tobi covers it all. 

While she grew up around the roofing industry, she hadn't considered taking over the family business until she was asked by her parents if she and her husband would be interested in learning more about roofing and taking it over.  “We really took the time to learn the business. My husband was out in the field for a couple of years on the roofs in Florida and the heat and he put his time into gaining a hands-on understanding of roofing and how it works,” says Tobi. “It was a bit of a process but it was really family driven; to be with our families and be a part of something that my dad had created; we wanted to see it carry on.” 

When answering our contest question, Tobi says in Florida, there is no winter season, so they remain fairly busy most of the year. That being said, she still finds that summer is the busiest time of the year. 

“There's a couple of reasons for that. One is primarily the rain. Once the summer kind of pattern kicks in which is very, very hot during the day we'll have afternoon storms build up and so we get a lot of rain in the summertime,” says Tobi. Second, “we have tropical storms and always the threat of hurricanes. So that is what really drives you know, a fair amount of our work for sure.” 

Tobi says that RoofersCoffeeShop had been a huge part of her learning the industry as an adult and helping bring new people into the business. “What I love about RoofersCoffeeShop is that it's a tremendous resource, it has been a tremendous resource for our business. You know, we brought in some new people and they didn't have a lot of roofing experience.  I was really glad to be able to point them to the site, because it has a lot of articles, information, webinars,” says Tobi. “RoofersCoffeeShop shows the future of roofing; we love the messages that you guys are sending regarding inclusion and diversity and how we can help elevate our industry. That's been very inspiring for us.” 

By participating in the Answer Me This! survey, you are elevating the industry by helping Construction Solutions provide the best products, programs and experiences to contractors. 

Want to try to be next week’s Answer Me This! winner? Submit your answer to the latest question here.