Roofer Profile: Shawn Wittenberg – Duration Construction

Experienced roofer, Shawn Wittenberg, answers questions about composite roofing for his roofing projects.

Know your target audience. Great advice for any roofing contractor. Especially when you’re trying to upsell with composite roofing. For Duration Construction, their ideal target audience is the small inner ring suburb of Ladue, outside of St. Louis.  

With under 9,000 people, Ladue has the highest median household income of any city in Missouri with a population over 1,000. Which makes it perfect for Shawn Wittenberg, president of Duration Construction, and his team to target when building their construction and roofing business. 

Q: Tell us about the Ladue area and why it’s your “sweet spot” for company growth. 

A: Our ideal customer for composite roofing is really anyone who can afford it. We typically install somewhere in the 400-800 squares per year range of DaVinci composite slate and shake products, and we sell a lot of it in the Ladue area of Missouri. 

Q: Is there a favorite project you’ve worked on? 

A: Absolutely. The project on Trent Drive in Ladue is a stunning home. The DaVinci slate creates terrific curb appeal. We did a lot of custom fabrication of unique flashing details. This is our “hero project” that we’re all extremely proud of. 

Q: What type of growth do you expect to see for the composite industry in your marketplace within the next few years? 

A: We’ve seen about a 10-15% steady yearly increase in composite roofing over the past few years. The product has a quality reputation, so I expect that trend to continue. We certainly plan to capitalize on the success our company has had selling DaVinci products for almost two decades. So we’ll keep focusing on sales of their products. 

Q: What’s the key way you’re selling the composite product? 

A: Sometimes the simplest way is the best. We offer composites as a great alternative to natural wood shake and natural slate. Once we review all the product features with homeowners, they’re very interested. 

Q: Do you have a tip for roofers installing composite roofing? 

A: Yes indeed. If you’re in a snowy area like we are, make sure to recommend snow guards. Especially if your project has a roof pitch under a 14/12, they’re essential. We really like the Alpine PD-10’s and PD-40’s. Composite roofing products are slick and snow can avalanche off them easily. A snow retention system is an important investment for a homeowner. 

Q: Finally, just a fun question. If you were given $3 million and had to spend it all within 24 hours, what would you do? 

A: That’s easy. 10% would go to my church. Then I would finish funding my son’s 529 for college and $500,000 would be used to purchase more equipment for our company’s sheet metal shop. After that, I would buy mutual funds with the remaining dollars.