Today we’d like to introduce you to Steve Smith.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Steve. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I am the youngest of four children born and raised in Fort Madison, a small town in South East Iowa situated along the banks of the Mississippi River. It was a typical rural Midwestern town with farms on the outskirts of city limits and small mom and pop stores in town. Besides the jobs that agriculture provided, the main sources of employment were the various factories throughout the area. My dad worked at the Breck plant, which was later bought by Ortho and then finally Scotts, while my mom worked at Sheaffer Pen.
Sheaffer Pen was one of the first of what became an all too familiar tale of factories closing down their doors and taking their jobs with them. After I graduated high school, I worked at a couple of different factories, including the Scotts plant where my dad and by then my older brother worked.
I soon became restless though, and wanted to explore someplace with more opportunities. I had friends who lived in Houston, so I decided to take my luck in the Lone Star State. I worked in retail for a while, but I knew that I had found my calling after starting my first sales job selling home security systems. I immediately loved it. It was unlike anything I had ever done.
After Hurricane Ike I tried my hand in the roofing business. I had worked on a roofing crew one summer as a teenager so I had a good understanding of how the construction side of things went. This prior experience allowed me to transition quickly into roofing sales. It helped me explain the process to homeowners who may have never gotten on a roof or ever really thought about getting one replaced.
I enjoyed the roofing business and was good at it. Good enough that I was blessed to be able to start my own roofing company in 2010. Over the last eight and a half years I have worked hard and have been fortunate enough to find good, hardworking people to help me build and grow a business into something I am extremely proud to own.
Has it been a smooth road?
As with anything in life worth pursuing, there have been many challenges over the last 8.5 years. The biggest challenge has been to grow the business while maintaining high standards of quality and a commitment to excellence that the business was built on and that I expect from myself. Along the way we have had to implement a series of checks and balances to sustain that level of quality. At first we had the sales representative’s double check that everything had been done properly. As we grew that proved to be insufficient. We needed a full time project manager. So we hired one. Someone dedicated solely to the oversight of each project. Combine things like this with our continued effort to work and evolve with our crew has allowed us to maintain a 1.5% warranty issue rate.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Blue Ribbon Roofing is a residential roofing company that specializes in insurance restoration work. Through our commitment to honest work, integrity and the use of superior products, we bring award-winning customer service to Houston one roof at a time.
As a proud member of the Houston area Better Business Bureau, we are extremely honored to have received an award EVERY YEAR we have been in business. Of the over 500 roofing companies accredited through the BBB of Houston, Blue Ribbon Roofing is the only roofing company in the last eight years to win 6 Awards for Excellence and 2 Pinnacle Awards (only one of these is given out a year in each industry).
Whether it be a leak that just popped out of nowhere, damage sustained due to a storm or you just need a new roof… give us a call! We would love to come out to assess your roof and complete a free inspection. Always better safe than sorry in this crazy Houston weather.
What were you like growing up?
I suppose that overall I was a pretty typical kid growing up. I always looked up to my dad so it is no surprise that I inherited his sense of humor and the fact he always enjoyed making people laugh. I loved playing sports. I LOVE BASEBALL… just like my dad. When I wasn’t playing or watching sports, my nose was usually in a book. My mom was a voracious reader and some of that trickled down to me.
One thing that I am grateful for is that my parents instilled a strong work ethic in me from an early age. I got my first job as 8 years old delivering newspapers in my neighborhood. The paper route was a tremendous responsibility and great training. I had to collect the monthly fees from customers and pay for each paper individually that I delivered. After that I started mowing my parent’s lawn, which turned into the whole street by the end of the summer.
Experiences like these helped shape an entrepreneurial mindset and create a big picture understanding of business, which has undoubtedly molded me into the salesman made business owner I am today.
Pricing:
- Remember, our roof inspections are free. Regardless of your situation, let us come take a look before you decide you need to take on the added expense of buying a new roof.
Contact Info:
- Address: 16245 Singapore Lane
Jersey Village, TX 77040 - Website: www.blueribbonroofingllc.com
- Phone: 713-299-1930
- Email: blueribbonroofing@gmail.com
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/blue-ribbon-roofing-jersey-village
- Other: https://www.bbb.org/houston/business-reviews/roofing-contractors/blue-ribbon-roofing-llc-in-jersey-vlg-tx-90014418
Getting in touch: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
