The Roof Depot is currently in the midst of completing the largest student housing project in the country for Disney, a project that has involved every aspect of the company for the past two years.

It’s a long way from the maintenance repairs Roof Depot handled for condo associations in Atlanta when it formed in 1998, and a testament to President and CEO Terry Dickerson’s philosophy of staying ahead of the curve and devoting resources toward employees and customers.

“We believe that we need to train our associates to be the most knowledgeable in the means and methods of the roofing industry, then to find out our customer’s needs and help them to find the right solution for their needs,” Dickerson said. “And then, while we are continually building those relationships, we will do some roofs for those individuals.”

“Some roofs” is putting it lightly. The Roof Depot’s success is evidenced by its continued appearance on RC’s Top 100 list, with this year being no exception despite the pandemic. The company earned $66.2 million in 2020, snagging it the 24th spot on this year’s list. That is more than double the revenue ($30 million) it earned back in 2015.

Thanks to a diverse range of products and services, combined with its use of digital technology and five locations throughout the country, The Roof Depot continues to show its comprehensive plans for sustainable growth can endure everything from recessions to pandemics.

“Some roofs” is putting it lightly. The Roof Depot’s success is evidenced by its continued appearance on RC’s Top 100 list, with this year being no exception despite the pandemic. The company earned $66.2 million in 2020, snagging it the 24th spot on this year’s list. That is more than double the revenue ($30 million) it earned back in 2015.

Thanks to a diverse range of products and services, combined with its use of digital technology and five locations throughout the country, The Roof Depot continues to show its comprehensive plans for sustainable growth can endure everything from recessions to pandemics.

Pandemic Leads to Possibilities

Like other roofing contractors across the country, Roof Depot experienced difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Being a company focused on its people, the pandemic was a gut punch to its culture.

“I think the biggest challenge is our culture plans slipped, and once we let it get away from us, it was a challenge to pull people together again due to distance,” Dickerson said.

Dickerson said although it’s been difficult to ignite interest again, this opens the opportunity for Roof Depot to restart its culture plans from scratch and find talented mentors within its group to lead internal training.

“COVID has created some challenges with our plans, and we as a company feel like we are more distant than before and are currently planning on sparking the interest of all our associates again this fall,” he said. “We have an internal culture plan that helps all our associates work off the same playbook. This way we train and learn together with a focus on our associates, and we believe the outcome has many benefits for our associates and customers, manufacturing partners, suppliers ... basically, anyone we interact with.”

Despite feeling distant, Roof Depot has remained connected throughout the pandemic. Thanks to embracing technology long before Zoom became the norm — perhaps a hangover from Dickerson’s time in computer school prior to becoming a full-time roofer — Roof Depot has been insulated from slowdowns.

“We had been corporately using Microsoft Teams and communicating internally via webcams for years before it hit,” Dickerson said. “We fared well and were already geared up for the digital world that became the big need.”

The shift to digital affected marketing as well. The previously-mentioned culture plan sees Roof Depot’s associates posting photos of the company’s work through internal channels and social media. More traditional advertising, like TV and radio, have taken a back seat as Roof Depot shifts its focus to marketing its reroofing business in commercial and residential sectors.

Its strategic shifts like these that have allowed Roof Depot to endure tumultuous periods, much like how it focused on military housing in advance of the Great Recession, which led to a $2.5 million contract to reroof base housing at the U.S. Marine Corps Logistics Base at Camp Lejeune, in Jacksonville, N.C.

But Dickerson knows no roofing contractor goes it alone. He said companies like GAF, CertainTeed and Beacon Building Products have been essential to helping it grow for the past two decades.

“We have a number of relationships that have been working closely with us over the years,” he said. “Our company, our people seem to be alike in many ways: good people!”