Starkweather Roofing Inc.

Starkweather Roofing Inc. (SRI) has been in business in Arizona since 1997 when Jeff and Diane Starkweather founded a small, local commercial roofing company. The business has established a reputation in the industry for high-quality work, efficient projects and lasting value. The team demonstrates broad capabilities, including new roof construction, re-roofing, repair service and preventive maintenance work, across an expanding geographic footprint in markets, such as New Mexico, Texas and Idaho.

Jeff and Diane still own the business today, with Diane being the company’s majority shareholder. SRI is a certified woman-owned business and is recognized by the city of Phoenix as a Small Business Enterprise. Such qualifications have helped the team to break into the competitive government sector, even as a relatively small operation.

The Starkweathers work closely with an experienced managerial team, including Chris Walker, vice president of marketing and business development. Chris started with the company in 2009 and works to foster relationships with the local business community, general contractors, property owners, as well as property managers. Chris is proud to note that after more than 17 years in business, SRI has established strong working relationships with several local and national general contractors that call the team into action for diverse and challenging new construction projects.

A diverse and growing portfolio

SRI often takes on between 10 and 20 new construction and re-roofing projects at a time. The business has more than 70 full-time employees, including a service department with approximately a dozen professionals working year-round. These technicians specialize in emergency leak repair work, large roof repairs, preventative roof maintenance and tenant improvement work, such as flashing in new penetrations to existing buildings.

Non-emergency work keeps the crew busy throughout the seasons. “If a customer has a roofing problem of any kind, we can respond quickly with experienced technicians who are qualified to make those repairs,” Chris explains.

Service work is only one component of what SRI offers to clients. Over the years, the team has been selected to install a diverse range of projects. The company’s target markets include commercial retail, professional, institutional, health care, educational and government projects.

One of the company’s more high-visibility projects has been ongoing work at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix. Working with Arizona-based general contractor Pono Construction LLC, in addition to the school directly, SRI has performed new construction roofing for multiple large campus expansion projects at the college, including student housing, guard stations, parking structures, the student union center, utility buildings, mailbox buildings, food venues and classroom buildings.

The team performs a large amount of education work for community colleges, elementary schools, as well as private institutions, including a 44,100-square-foot coated asphalt built-up re-roofing project for Motorcycle Mechanics Institute in Phoenix.

Furthermore, SRI recently completed 95,900 square feet of foam and coating for Maricopa County Community College at the Gilbert/Williams campus, as well as 14,300 square feet of restoration coating at Mohave Community College.

“Our most recognizable project to-date came from partnering with Mortenson Construction on all new roof construction performed at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick – the spring training home of Major League Baseball’s Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks,” Chris details.

SRI’s other portfolio highlights include the company’s work in health care, such as working with Wespac Construction on the North Scottsdale Surgery Center where SRI installed metal roofing on the medical facility. SRI has also worked on large restoration, re-roofing and new construction projects with Cigna Healthcare, Banner Health, John C. Lincoln and Aurora Behavioral Health.

According to Chris, health care new construction and re-roofing projects make up a solid portion of the crew’s current work in the southwest. SRI also has a growing presence in the government sector, including installation of 19,000 square feet of bitumen roofing with urethane coating at Phoenix City Hall.

Mounting possibilities

The SRI team has enjoyed steady growth in recent years. Chris explains that while the market has not presented any challenges to the stability of the company, the task at hand is to manage  growth. “Our greatest challenge is keeping up with demand,” he explains. “We have been very fortunate over the years. When our clients come to us with projects, we have been able to take on the work in a timely manner. But as we continue to grow, we are dependent on finding and developing skilled installers who are able to meet our extremely high-quality standards.”

Moving ahead, SRI is looking to increase staff and the company’s capabilities. With such growth, efficiency has become more important than ever. “Right now we are working on streamlining our processes, such as project management, as well as the ability to turn around bids quicker,” Chris explains. “For example, our bids look great and we provide detailed, transparent proposals, but our process to get them completed is fairly labor intensive. We are working on a system that will allow that process to be much more efficient while producing the same high-quality output. This will help us keep up with increasing requests for bids while simultaneously improving our batting average.”

SRI’s office is in downtown Phoenix, which has worked out perfectly for the team’s current geographic range. As the business grows, however, SRI is taking on work with repeat clients in new areas. “If a general contractor we work with awards us a contract for an out-of-state project, we are happy to take it on,” Chris notes. “Although it is not currently a major portion of our business, we do have a bit of a track record with out of state work and are contemplating opening satellite offices to offer a physical footprint in some of these key areas.”

At the end of the day, Chris, Jeff and Diane have a straightforward goal: safely install high-quality roof systems for clients with integrity. “We wouldn’t mind being the most boring roofing contractor in the world,” Chris laughs. “We strive for projects to go as planned, finish on time and within budget. While others attempt to swing for the fence, we are content hitting a lot of singles and doubles.” Chris’ positive attitude says a lot about the company and where SRI is headed.

In the coming years, Starkweather Roofing Inc. will continue to focus on providing safe, high-quality, uneventful roofing services throughout a growing coverage area in the southwest.