Roofing Road Trips Podcast: Michelle Boykin

By Lauren White, RCS Reporter.

Michelle shares her journey of starting a service department from nothing.

Michelle Boykin has been instrumental in the development of the service department at Rackley Roofing.  She filled many roles as the service department grew. Starting as a receptionist, she then worked as a service coordinator and in sales, and now she’s the COO at Rackley.  Michelle shares her experiences and insights about starting and growing a successful service department with Heidi J. Ellsworth, RoofersCoffeeShop® partner.  They also speak about Michelle’s involvement in various roofing industry organizations, how Rackley continuously incorporates technology into the workplace, and Rackley’s dedication to hiring women.

Rackley Roofing was started in 1974 by Bill Rackley.  Based out of Tennessee, Rackely is the official roofer of the Tennessee Titans.  In 2010, Curtis Sutton purchased the company, which was the same year Michelle joined Rackley.  When she started working, she was shocked to discover the company didn’t have an established service department.  

Michelle jumped into action, and with Curtis’s help, started a service team.  For a while, the team consisted of just Michelle and Curtis. “We were the sales people, we were the ones taking the calls, we were the ones scheduling the crews, we were doing everything…” Michelle shares.  Later on, they took people who they saw as leaders in the company and “turned them into service crews and then a service division,” Michelle explains. In one year they had three crews, year two they had five crews, and now they have more than 23 service crews across the state.

Also an RCS Influencer, Michelle is very active in the roofing industry.  She serves as the Treasurer for the Executive Committee of National Women in Roofing (NWIR) and started a Tennessee council.  She shares, “I’ve seen so many women better themselves, better their companies, promote their organizations in ways that never would have happened if there wasn’t a platform for this.”  Rackley Roofing is a Founding and Platinum Sponsor for NWIR and purchases NWIR memberships for every woman in the company. “Once we joined NWIR we could really see the value of having women on the roof and women working in this industry, it really changed our perspective,” Michelle reveals.  

In addition to her other roles, Michelle is also a member of the Roofing Technology Think Tank, RT3.  Michelle explains, “RT3 is a group of thought leaders and we get together and we talk about new technologies.  We go outside of the industry to find things that are happening innovation-wise that we can bring back to the roofing industry.”  Their most recent discovery is a new technology that offers translation services, making it easier to communicate effectively with crews and in the office, thus helping break down the language barrier that is prevalent in the roofing industry.  

Michelle has come a long way from starting as a receptionist at Rackley Roofing.  Throughout the years Michelle has built a successful service department for the company, which has led to impressive growth, and she has also developed as a professional and an individual through her involvement with roofing organizations.  Rackley Roofing continues to be dedicated to customer service, involving women both in the office and on the rooftop, and finding ways to incorporate technology into the industry.  

Listen to the podcast to hear more from Michelle.  Check out the RoofersCoffeeShop® podcast page for even more.