Raising the roofing industry despite a pandemic

Some, if not many, St. Louis-area businesses that serve the commercial real estate community have managed to do well despite the pandemic restrictions and frustrations of the past 18 months. Roofing Services & Solutions (RSS) is among them.

RSS was part of the MHS Legacy Group, a St. Louis company that also had operations in Nashville and Orlando, and a special projects division that worked around the country. The company was sold to TectaAmerica toward the end of 2019, according to Joe Lauberth, current RSS president and past general manager— just as hints of the pandemic were starting to appear. Lauberth and colleagues tried to buy the company but that didn’t work out; TectaAmerica had a better offer.

“I was skeptical at first, because parts of TectaAmerica were non-union and we’re a union shop, but we’re still a union shop, and I’m extremely pleased with the way things have gone,” Lauberth said. “It has worked out well. They allow us some autonomy. They have a lot of resources we can fall back on.”

In fact, 2020 — the first full year as a TectaAmerica company — was “exceptional; a record for RSS,” Lauberth said. Although he said that roofing is a very cyclical business, revenues have increased by 400 percent over Lauberth’s 15 years with the company. 

Success in the past 18 months of COVID-19 can be traced to following safety and health precautions while keeping the company doors open, projects moving and communication channels clear. Being designated an essential business, since roofing is considered part of the construction industry, was an important piece of that puzzle. 

RSS/TectaAmerica works in St. Louis primarily with public schools and municipal districts, although current clients include Boeing, Anheuser-Busch, Bayer (formerly Monsanto), Washington University and the Washington University School of Medicine, Barnes Hospital and the U.S. Department of Energy. 

One factor in recent success has been the arrival of Lindsay Pietroburgo as sales account manager with a primary responsibility for coop activities.

Pietroburgo graduated from Illinois State University and worked for State Farm Insurance as a field inspector for 13 years, with several promotions. She came to RSS/TectaAmerica in 2020 when she decided to look for an active role in construction and saw a posting at indeed.com. Thanks to her insurance background, she was familiar with issues that could affect building roofs.

“Roofing is the first line of defense in bad weather,” Pietroburgo said. 

Pietroburgo’s initial responsibility was to work on the company’s coop opportunities. Commercial public entities like schools and municipalities have to use public funds for roofing. The coop is a group of schools that can lets potential clients and providers bypass the traditional bid process but still follow guidelines.

“It’s a rigorous process to be approved and have a bid reviewed,” she said. “It’s still a bid process, but is faster by months.”

“This isn’t a new process, but it’s new to us,” Lauberth said. “It gives public entities an opportunity to get projects done efficiently.”

Pietroburgo is also focusing on expanding marketing efforts by developing relationships with colleagues and growing the company’s LinkedIn page, which she called invaluable free marketing. She has joined local chapters of CREW, BOMA, IFMA and other professional organizations in commercial real estate to boost company visibility; the company had been a member in the past and Pietroburgo is renewing those connections with an eye to expanding the company’s variety of clients.

“Associations provide connections to private companies, and we want to nail business from both sides: property managers and facilities management,” Pietroburgo said.