Today we’d like to introduce you to Austin Hill.
Austin, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was born into the roofing industry and tried my best to get away from it. I have a fairly unusual background compared to most roofers as I’m an engineer out of West Point and have an MBA from UT Austin. I started a roofing distribution company in 2014 and that’s where I was educated on roof restorations and liquid applied roofing systems. In short, instead of tearing off a roof and creating a lot of waste and downtime to the occupants, we can keep the original integrity of the roof by placing a waterproof barrier on top of it.
Most roof coatings can be completed in half the time and 60% of the cost of replacing a roof. These types of systems have been used in other parts of the country for years, but for whatever reasons, hadn’t caught on here in Texas. I sold my ownership in the distribution company and started a roofing company the next week. We’ve learned a lot in the past five years, but continue to get better at what we do and have become much more selective about which roofs we decide to restore.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
“If the road is smooth, you took the wrong path” – Me. I just made that up, but it’s kind of catchy? I’ve started six companies as of today and all of them have unique struggles. With Flat Roof Tech, a recurring theme is finding good, reliable labor. We’ve got a really great team and I feel a lot more confident about our quality of work than we did in the beginning. Unlike any other industry I’ve been a part of, roofing is uniquely challenging as we get blamed for any water that enters the building. We routinely get called out for HVAC problems or even other issues where water has entered the building through porous brick, stucco, and windows. The absolute worst thing that happened was installing a product where the manufacturer stated that the coating was waterproof- and it was not. Absolute disaster, but we extensively test any new product that we use in our warehouse/lab before we put it on a customer’s roof. Live and learn.
We’d love to hear more bout the company.
We are a boutique commercial re-roofing company. We are really good at installing the best roofs. Instead of trying to install all types of roofs for every customer, we have deliberately decided to get really good at two things: Single-Ply Membranes (TPO/PVC) and Roof Restorations. We have done the big roofing company thing and it’s not for us. Taking on several employees, trucks, product lines and overhead lead us to take on projects just to keep everyone busy. While our revenue did increase, roofing wasn’t fun anymore and we lost the high-touch customer service that the company was founded on. We reviewed all of our customers, projects, roof systems, and services and decided to focus exclusively on the customers and roofing systems we are best at and enjoyed the most.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
The biggest help for any business I have been involved is my membership in EO Houston (Entrepreneur Organization) and my forum. I grew up in the roofing industry and my dad retired last year. His reputation really helped open doors with certain manufacturers and he helped me get out of a bind more than once. I don’t think he ever wanted me to get into roofing, but he was supportive and helpful nonetheless. While we both owned commercial roofing companies, we weren’t competitors and he helped track down some leaks that my entire team had been banging our head against the wall (roof?).
Contact Info:
- Address: 3531 Pinemont
Houston, TX 77018 - Website: www.flatrooftech.com
- Phone: 713 401 2398
- Email: contact@flatrooftech.com
- Instagram: @flatrooftech
Image Credit:
Austin Hill
Suggest a story: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
