Today we’d like to introduce you to Marcus Eytcheson.
Hi Marcus, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Construction is about the only thing I have ever done. Specifically roofing has been a big part of my life since high school. I’ve worked as a tear off (ground guy), installer, trainer, salesman, and now an owner. I’ve done a little bit of everything roof related along the way in the roofing industry. In the past five years, I’ve been blessed with team members that help fill in gaps and account for my weaknesses in the business. We have grown to be a nice sized roofing company for our area with a four different locations pitching in to build our brand of Local Roofing. Our main office is in Fairmont, MN (Fairmont Roofing), and we also Folie Roofing in Waseca, MN, Becker Roofing in Becker, MN, and Hayward Roofing in Hayward, WI. Folie was an existing roofing business that was owned by a friend in the industry. He was looking to move on from ownership in the roofing industry. I decided that Folie Roofing was a good fit and we made the decision to purchase the company and add it to our brand. Blending our unique team members has worked very well and the transition was relatively painless.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Struggles along the way have been many to say the least for a new business. In our first year in business, we had a company not pay us for materials or services totaling over $100,000.00, which at the time was crippling for our brand new business. We battled through the situation despite never recovering the funds and kept the lights on. We considered it a lesson learned. The first year of the Covid pandemic didn’t affect our business as much as many other businesses were affected. People were at home, taking notice of house projects that needed attention. We were fortunate to stay busy. However, the second year of Covid has taken a major toll on our business. Sourcing building materials is becoming more difficult by the day. Price increases on materials have been announced almost weekly across all the vendors we work with. Honoring our contracts that we have signed with our customers is important to us, and that has been the biggest obstacle to overcome this past year. We’ve honored all of our contracts and contract prices despite some of our suppliers leaving us holding the bag. It’s been disappointing to watch and take note of how our business was undervalued to some of our suppliers, if you will, but it has been a great lesson for us as a company moving forward. We have to take every opportunity, no matter how difficult, to learn and grow as a company.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Our company specializes in roofing products and installations. We offer our customers many options for material types, colors, styles, and installation techniques to give them the best roofing options for their home or structure. Our niche in the roofing industry is stone coated steel roofing. We install multiple types of stone coated steel shingles, shakes, and tiles. Stone coated steel is an amazing roofing product that offers a host of benefits to the consumer. This makes it an easy product for our team to approve of and offer our customers. We have installed stone coated steel all over the midwest and have the teams trained to do so at a high level. Church steeples are probably my personal favorite type of roof to install. They are such a show stopper when they are completed; I just love that feeling of accomplishment and knowing that people will view these projects for years to come.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
If you truly value your team and treat them right they will take care of you. It is not just about a paycheck with taking care of your team. Actually caring about the individual and asking questions goes a long way. Don’t keep score when you give out a bonus or pick up a tab. You can do these things because you care and not just for the sake of another tax write off. I really strive to treat my team better than I would expect to be treated by an employer.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.local-roofing.com
Image Credits
Marcus Eytcheson
