Most roofing contractors think growth comes from more leads.

John Starry took a different approach.

In just three years, he built Steadfast Roofing into a $13 million company while earning nearly 800 Google reviews, creating a strong company culture, and building systems that support sustainable growth.

In this episode, John shares how his team generates referrals from every project, follows up with leads faster, creates a consistent customer experience, and tracks profitability as the company grows.

If you’re looking to grow your roofing company without creating more chaos, this episode is packed with practical lessons you can apply immediately.

• How John built a $13M roofing company in just three years
• How Steadfast Roofing earned nearly 800 Google reviews
• The review process that creates consistent 5-star customer experiences
• Why speed-to-lead is critical for converting expensive leads
• How to generate referrals from every job site
• The systems and processes that support sustainable growth
• How company culture impacts accountability and performance
• Why job costing and profitability tracking matter as you scale

00:00 Introduction

05:13 Starting Steadfast Roofing

08:36 Growing to $3.7M in Year One

12:00 Neighborhood Marketing and Referrals

13:42 How They Earned Nearly 800 Google Reviews

16:47 Lead Generation That Works

18:40 Speed-to-Lead and Follow-Up

23:39 Building a Website That Converts

25:40 Growing to $13M

30:45 Managing a Growing Sales Team

33:13 Building Company Culture

34:29 Production Systems and Communication

42:00 Job Costing and Profitability

47:24 Managing Growth and Cash Flow

51:32 Lessons Learned

53:19 Final Thoughts

SMA Support

Missed calls, poor follow-up, and stale estimates are costing roofing contractors thousands every month.

SMA Support provides trained virtual assistants, inside sales support, lead follow-up, CRM management, and administrative support built specifically for roofing companies.

Learn more:

https://theroofercoach.com/sma

ProLine

ProLine helps roofing contractors streamline operations, automate follow-up, improve communication, and gain visibility into every stage of the customer journey.

From lead management to production and reporting, ProLine helps contractors create the systems needed to scale.

Learn more:

https://theroofercoach.com/proline

The Roofer Coach

https://theroofercoach.com

Free Roofing Business Resources

https://theroofercoach.com/resources

Roofing Business Success Audit

https://theroofercoach.com/resources

CONNECT

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About The Roofer Show

The Roofer Show Podcast helps roofing contractors grow their businesses, make more money, and have more free time.

Hosted by Dave Sullivan, The Roofer Coach, the show shares practical advice on roofing sales, marketing, operations, leadership, and financial management.

What separates a roofing business from a roofing job?

In this replay episode, Dave Sullivan sits down with Tommy Mello, founder of A1 Garage Door Service and one of the most influential entrepreneurs in the home service industry.

Tommy shares lessons learned while building a highly valuable company, including how to create a business that works without you, why profit must come before growth, how to hire and retain great people, and why most contractors never build a company that can actually be sold.

Whether you’re trying to grow your roofing company, improve profitability, or build a business that gives you more freedom, this episode is packed with practical insights.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• The difference between owning a business and owning a job
• Why most contractors struggle to build a sellable company
• How EBITDA impacts business value
• The importance of profit before growth
• Why hiring A-players changes everything
• How to create accountability with KPIs and scorecards
• The power of delegation and building systems
• Why culture is one of your greatest competitive advantages
• How successful contractors build teams that operate without them
• Lessons from scaling a home service company

• Tommy Mello
• A1 Garage Door Service
• Home Service Millionaire
• The E-Myth Revisited
• Rocket Fuel
• The Dream Manager
• The One Thing

ProLine CRM: theroofercoach.com/proline

Built specifically for contractors to help manage leads, sales, production, follow-up, and customer communication.

SMA Support: theroofercoach.com/sma

Virtual team members for lead management, appointment setting, customer follow-up, CRM management, and administrative support.

Website:

https://theroofercoach.com

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@DaveSullivanRooferShow

Subscribe to The Roofer Show for weekly conversations focused on the business end of the roofing business

About The Roofer Show

The Roofer Show Podcast helps roofing contractors grow their businesses, make more money, and have more free time.

Hosted by Dave Sullivan, The Roofer Coach, the show shares practical advice on roofing sales, marketing, operations, leadership, and financial management.

Thinking about starting a roofing business in 2026 — or trying to grow the one you already have?

In this episode, Dave Sullivan sits down with former Roofer Show co-host John DeLaurier to break down what it actually takes to build a profitable roofing company in today’s market.

John started a roofing business from scratch, built it into a successful company, eventually sold it, and now works with roofing contractors across the country through ProLine CRM. Together, Dave and John discuss the systems, numbers, leadership, marketing, customer experience, and technology that separate successful roofing businesses from the ones that struggle.

They cover:

• Why profit matters more than revenue
• How to reverse engineer your business goals
• The importance of branding and customer experience
• Speed to lead and follow-up systems
• Hiring and building a sales team
• Marketing strategies that actually work
• CRM systems, automations, and KPIs
• What most roofing contractors get wrong when starting out

If you want to build a roofing business that’s profitable, scalable, and less dependent on you — this episode is packed with practical advice.

SPONSORS:

SMA Support

As your roofing company grows, the chaos usually grows with it: production tracking, supplements, admin work, scheduling, follow-up, and more.

SMA Support helps roofing companies simplify operations with trained virtual assistants, inside sales support, CRM management, and back-office help so owners can focus on growing the business instead of constantly putting out fires.

Learn more at:

https://theroofercoach.com/sma

ProLine CRM

Most roofing companies don’t have a lead problem — they have a follow-up problem.

ProLine CRM helps roofing contractors automate follow-up, manage pipelines, track leads, build proposals, and sell more jobs without the chaos.

Learn more at:

https://theroofercoach.com/proline

Use promo code DAVE50 for 50% off your first month.

WEBSITE:

https://theroofercoach.com

YOUTUBE:

https://www.youtube.com/@TheRooferShow

Looking for guidance and accountability to help build a more profitable roofing business?

Schedule a strategy call at:

https://davesullivan.as.me/free-strategy-call

About The Roofer Show

The Roofer Show Podcast helps roofing contractors grow their businesses, make more money, and have more free time.

Hosted by Dave Sullivan, The Roofer Coach, the show shares practical advice on roofing sales, marketing, operations, leadership, and financial management.