S1: E8 Stories from the Roof – Conducting Business During Turbulent Times

By Colin Sheehan, RCS Reporter.  

With 40+ years working in commercial and residential roofing, Mike knows what it takes to keep a business running.  

On this episode of Stories from the Roof, an original RoofersCoffeeShop® (RCS) podcast series, RCS influencer Mike Pickel of Texas Traditions Roofing sits down with Heidi to discuss his ideas on how to conduct a successful business, even in turbulent times.  

Six years ago, Mike co-founded Texas Traditions Roofing with his brother-in-law in Georgetown, Texas. While the business always intended to do both commercial and residential roofing, it has its origins in residential roofing. This initial plan was for the first year to be completely residential before branching out into commercial construction. Six months into business Mike and his brother-in-law, Gary, soon realized plans would need to change. 

“That plan went out the window because somebody I'd worked with in the past asked if I would be willing to bid a commercial job. And we did that and won it and we've been pressing hard in residential and commercial ever since,” said Mike. 

Mike attests the success of the business to the group of dedicated employees working hard to keep Texas Traditions Roofing afloat. In fact, he claims his best business decision was the hiring of more quality people, “I stopped trying to handle everything myself. We hired good people for a reason. It was hard to let go of this or that, but you can't manage the business if you're micromanaging what your people are supposed to be doing.” 

He and Heidi continued to talk about current concerns in the roofing industry, like the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the ups and downs of the market. While Mike sees these issues as concerning, he sees a company reputation as more personally concerning for the health of his business.  

“My biggest concern is maintaining our company's reputation. I have to be concerned about that and I am concerned about it every day because I am one client away from ruining my reputation. I'm a month away from having multiple clients complain about us and what we're doing or how we're doing it or how we treated them, and you can't get that back. And so, it's what we focus on, and we're not always successful, but...that's my concern, losing that reputation.” 

Listen to the full podcast here. 

Learn more about Mike Pickel on his RoofersCoffeeShop Influencer page.