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Initially, this roofing business Owner was consumed by the day-to-day struggle of keeping the company afloat while managing family expectations, legacy employees, and an unproductive business partner.
Recognizing that the company’s future required clarity, the owner set a strategic direction: he decided to take full ownership, simplify the leadership structure, and align the business for profitable growth.
The real transformation came through the business - using daily leadership decisions to connect field performance with strategic goals. With the assistance of T-suite tools and frameworks, this Owner:
letting go of legacy employees and family members who no longer contributed to growth, while buying out his brother’s share of the business.
creating a team aligned around clear expectations, performance, and results.
positioning them as top-producing salespeople and reinforcing a performance-driven culture.
creating separation between family dynamics and business priorities so decisions could be made for the health of the company.
Since taking sole ownership in 2012, the business has grown from $2.5M to more than $13M in revenue, with net income climbing from $42K (split between two owners) to over $1.5M annually. Today, after nearly a century in operation, the company is on solid footing, and preparing for its fifth generation of leadership.
Taking over a roofing business from the original owner is difficult. Whether the child of the original owner, an employee, or someone from outside purchasing it from the original owner – it’s never easy. Now imagine the business has been around for over 80 years, it was your great-grandfather’s business, and it has been passed down from father to son ever since.
Not only are you taking over a business where your father’s employees still work, but, incredibly - some are your grandfather’s employees! Pile on top of that, your brother is your partner and brings no real value to the business. This is typical of what happens when you are the successor to a legacy business.
This Owner is one of the best people you will ever meet. He’s easy going, a super nice person - the kind of guy who would give you the shirt off his back and then let you stay at his house for 3 weeks while you got back on your feet. All of those problems described earlier were piled onto this Owner, while his brother was given a free pass of low expectations and still reaped 50% of the net income. This is where this Owner was when he first bought in to T-suite processes. He was trying to hold everything together for the family business, trying to please all his family members, and trying to not make waves. And none of this was making him happy.
When a business has been around as long as this one, the family and the business do not operate independently. No, the two become entangled. And for the health of all these relationships, this Owner was forced to make some tough decisions. Imagine trying to untangle a 100-foot extension cord, in the dark, and you can only use your feet. That’s what it’s like to untangle 4 generations of family business make it your own, and make it right for the family members who were pulling their weight.
Eventually, he came to the difficult realization that he needed to let a number of legacy employees go. Some of his father’s employees were let go, some of his grandfather’s employees were let go, family members were let go, and his brother was sent home and bought out of his shares in the business. After a lot of heartache and a number of months cleaning house, the business was finally his. And this Owner has done great things with it.
Since becoming the sole owner, things have really taken off. Since 2012, the business has grown from $2.5M in revenue to well over $13M in revenue. In 2012, he was splitting the $42K in net income with his brother. Now the company generates over $1.5M in net income. Family members still work in the business, and some of his cousins are the highest producing salespeople in any of the hundreds of businesses we deal with. After over 95 years in business and a solid decade of sole ownership, things are on solid ground as the business gets prepared to pass on the 5th generation.
