Canton, Georgia
I own a roofing company called Onsite Roofing, here in Canton. That's the short version. The longer one has a couple of detours in it.
The trade
My dad was a roofer for forty years. He worked just about every corner of the trade at one point or another, and when I was sixteen he started taking me out to jobsites. That's where I started learning it — not out of a book, but standing on a roof next to him.
I didn't go straight into it, though. I went to UGA and came out with a degree in biology and a minor in philosophy, then went back and got an associate's in ultrasonography. For a few years I worked in hospitals as an ultrasonographer — abdominal, vascular, OB/GYN. It's a strange line to have on a roofer's resume, I know. I came back to the trade at twenty-eight, first as a repair technician and then in sales.
Working for other companies, I helped build out a division aimed at property managers and HOA communities — figuring out how to actually serve people who are responsible for a lot of roofs at once. Eventually I left to start Onsite Roofing on my own. The honest reason was time. I wanted more of it with my family, and more say over my own schedule.
My dad had a way of framing the work that stuck with me. He figured that as a roofer you're there to provide a service — the satisfaction comes from meeting what the customer actually needs, not from how much you can pull out of the deal. I run the company that way.
Away from the roof
Most of my time outside of work goes to my kids. We homeschool, which is less a decision you make once than a project you keep showing up for — I could talk your ear off about the programs we're working through. I do a fair amount of building, too. Most recently I put up a big chicken run for my parents.
I've always been a reader, even if I have less time for it than I used to. These days it's mostly audiobooks, during the day and while I'm working. Right now I'm somewhere in the middle of the Honorverse series and in no hurry to be done with it.
The work itself
If you came here looking for the roofing side of things, that lives over at Onsite Roofing. You can also read more about how I work there.