I didn't set out to be a roofer. I set out to do work I could stand behind.
Where it started
I got into this trade through C&G Industries, working on commercial roofing. It taught me the fundamentals — how water moves, how buildings breathe, why details matter more than square footage.
But commercial work is about speed and volume. I kept noticing the jobs I cared about most were the ones where craft mattered: the slate repair nobody else wanted to touch, the copper bay window that needed a patient hand.
Going out on my own
In 1994, I started Roofing Specialists Inc with a simple idea: specialize in slate, tile, cedar, and copper roofing — and do it better than anyone in the Southeast.
The roofs that last a century, installed by people who've spent their careers learning how. That's the work I wanted my name on.
It was a gamble. Turning down work is never easy. But every year I spent learning slate was a year well spent.
What thirty years teaches you
You learn that the cheapest bid is the most expensive roof. You learn that architects remember who showed up and who didn't. You learn that a crew that's been together 25 years can do things a pickup crew can't.
Mostly you learn this: a roof is a promise. When we put our name on one, we're saying it will outlive the mortgage. Thirty years in, we've kept that promise on hundreds of homes across the Southeast.
We're just getting started.
— Gary Shank