Roofers don't just roof and repair homes and commercial buildings. Sometimes,
they're white knights who come to the roofing rescue 24 hours a day.
Audrey Borders owns and operates a roofing business. It began as a joint
venture with her husband. When he passed away, Borders continued to run the
business. Her son is now a co-owner, making it a true family-owned and operated
business.
Borders has had her share of roofing recoveries -- and remembers one particularly
harrowing job that saved a hospital over a million dollars. It was 2 a.m.
during a violent rainstorm. Borders got an emergency phone call from a local
hospital.
"The roof was leaking directly over a brand new heart monitoring machine
-- and the hospital had paid over a million dollars for it!"
After the emergency call, Borders hurried her crew out of bed and met them
at the hospital. With heavy rain beating down on them, Borders and her team
conquered the elements and patched the roof. Their dedication paid off. The
million-dollar heart machine was saved.
"My customers know that they can reach me anytime. We've been called out
in the middle of the night to fix cracked beams after heavy snows. People
are always glad we're there." Borders' dedication to excellence is paramount.
Her passion? Simply doing a good, quality job.
Patrick Ward, owner of a roofing business, has a harrowing Hurricane Andrew
story. "I quickly awakened to the phone call. It was a major food store chain
which had sustained lots of damage, but wanted to open at noon the same day."
Knowing his client needed to open the store that day or face losing thousands
of dollars in lost sales and damaged merchandise, Ward assembled his crew,
braved the elements and went to work.
"I quickly checked on my family and home and headed out to fight gale-force
winds and rain as we patched up the roof of the grocery store.
I remember the general manager there with us sweeping away water and drying
the areas we had to patch. I remember the $250,000 in cash which laid everywhere
in the store office as people tried to catch up with the hectic activity of
the day before."
Despite havoc, devastation and heavy winds, Ward and his crew successfully
patched the roof. The store opened on time. Yet again, a roofer saved the
day.
What keeps Ward motivated day after day? "The satisfaction of doing a good
job and being able to stand back and observe for yourself that you did a good
job. I love to work and see what I create."
But it's not all hurricanes and snowstorms. Sometimes, roofers can look
forward to routine jobs, simple fixes and smooth sailing. Ron Todosychuk is
the owner of a roofing business. "We're like the Maytag repairmen of the roofing
industry," he says. "It can get pretty darn boring!"