Real Estate Professional of the Month: Roberts Roofing celebrating five years of quality service

Written By JULIA LLOYD

Justin Roberts is a young, hard-working business owner who promises Orangeville residents complete transparency and reliability if they choose his firm, Roberts Roofing.

Mr. Roberts says roofing is a tough business because of all the competition in small towns and a lack of fully qualified roofers.

“We basically haven't had any new employees for the last five years, because they usually show up, say they can do things and then end up getting fired because they actually do not know what they are talking about.” 

Mr. Roberts started his business on his own five years ago when he was 25 years old. He had worked with many other companies before then. In total, he now has 15 years of roofing experience. 

Mr. Roberts says he found himself frustrated working for other people when he first started out. 

“I wanted to open my own business because of the lack of knowledge for the people I worked for,” he explained. 

He first started in the business as a summer job while still in high school; however, he started enjoying the trade and went on to continue and open his own roofing business. 

The tough thing about the roofing business, he explained, is that anyone thinks they can roof and there's a lot of roofing businesses. 

“Competition comes and goes. There is usually three or four new ones every year and then they are gone,” said Roberts.  

He says he opened the business in Orangeville because of the closeness of the community and it was where he was then residing. He's now living west of Shelburne but travels every day to the current roofing site. 

Mr. Roberts says he truly cares about his clients and does his best to work one-on-one with them all. 

He explained that his business is smaller but quality-based, unlike many of his competitors. He focuses a lot on the installation, he explained, whereas some companies just send a sales person to quote the job and then send random employees to do it. 

“I take comfort in the fact knowing that we're probably doing the best job for the person out of anybody. I like that aspect, sort of going in knowing that we're going to be doing the best job we possibly can.”

Mr. Roberts says potential clients can call his business number and set up a time for him to come an estimate the cost talk to them about multiple options. 

Roberts Roofing also offers multiple types of roof styles, such as, steel roofing, residential re-roofing, shingles, eavestroughs and flat roofing. Mr. Roberts said that steel roofing is the most durable but also the most expensive. As well, most roofing companies don't offer it. 

The most common roofs, he said, are asphalt shingles because they are the cheapest option and aren't looking for a forever roof but one that would last 10 to 15 years. 

Roberts Roofing has six full-time employees including the owner and his brother, who is 31 years old and has been roofing for a long time. His other employees are roofers he has known for a long time. 

“It is hard to find employees like I said earlier, It is more of a summer job and most people don't consider it a career,” he explained. 

Roberts Roofing is trying to expand their reach in Orangeville and surrounding communities by offering services for more agriculture structures, like barns for example. 

“It is just a matter of trying to set ourselves apart from everyone else,” he said.