Slipping into the role of leader in snow retention

By Emma Peterson. 

A few questions snowballed Terry Anderson into his role as a leader in the snow retention sector and now he and his sons are pushing the technology forward. 

The roofing industry is full of family-owned businesses like TRA Snow & Sun! For this episode of Roofing Road Trips®, Ben and Terry Anderson stopped by to talk to Heidi J. Ellsworth about TRA’s journey. Terry has been in the roofing industry for almost 45 years now, starting in the concrete tile sector. He explained the connection between his background and what he does today with TRA, sharing, “During that time, I found some problems that really bothered me, especially with snow and ice on tile roofs causing a lot of breakage in valleys and other areas and penetrations that were getting ripped off.”  

When he brought this problem to the manufacturers, they were stumped. And so, Terry kept looking for more answers and came across snow retention. The only answer he could find was to put a row along the eave and call it a day. Terry explained, “It was really obvious to me that there was no engineering behind this. It was just a guess to maybe protect gutters or something.” And so, he kept researching and finally came across the work of Dr. Nigel Cherry and the European solution to this issue - an actual engineered solution. Terry brought that back to the U.S. and from there it snowballed into his role as a leading resource on snow retention and TRA’s work.  

And Terry’s legacy is not slowing down. Ben, his youngest son, works in TRA’s operations, explaining, “I work with trainings and architects and a few different sides of things, and with the end users, the contractors, the wholesalers and the homeowners.” He helps them learn about the importance of these systems and connects them with the right system for their roof.  

Ben’s brother works on the other side of the business as the company’s CFO. Ben explained “He has a master's degree in business and in engineering. So, he handles all the background data, making sure that these calculations are tested correctly and thoroughly. And he handles all the black and white finances.” It is clear Terry has passed down his determination, his quest for answers and his commitment to innovative solutions. TRA Snow & Sun will be protecting people and roofs for another 45 years and more. 

Read the transcript or Listen to the full episode to learn more about TRA Snow & Sun’s history and role in the industry.