SWA Vendor, North American Roofing, celebrates thirty years as a national commercial & industrial roofer
Asheville, NC October 29, 2009 – No other roofing company can claim what North American Roofing can. With roots tied to Firestone Tire & Rubber and Home Depot, three generations of family leadership; commercial and industrial roofing repeat customers like WalMart, Home Depot, Sears, HealthSouth, Toys R Us, Grainger and more, national agreements with Grubb & Ellis properties and Cushman Wakefield, and SWA customers like U.S. Cold Storage, Halls Warehousing, Triad Warehousing, Twin City Warehousing, Piedmont Interstate, Faucett, Taylor and Laney and Duke Terminal Warehousing; a national team of employees many of which have been with the company more than 15 years, and growth in a somewhat shaky economy, North American Roofing is clearly on top of its game as it turns 30.
Founder Carl Verble loved to bring people together and in 1979, while working as a commercial developer in Indianapolis, Indiana, he seized two opportunities in one: he formed an in-house roofing division to handle the roofing of his developments, and identifying a shortage of competition in the manufacturing segment, created the idea that giant Firestone Tire & Rubber manufacture the roofing material (EPDM initially, then all major roofing systems). He took the idea to an executive at Firestone and initiated a partnership that Firestone manufacture EPDM and Verble’s roofing company would install it. Firestone Building Products, a division of Firestone Tire & Rubber, and North American Roofing Company were born. Firestone Building Products is now the largest single ply manufacturer in the nation.
The opportunistic Carl and his ambitious son Mike rallied the North American team with a revolutionary concept: North American Roofing would private label all major brands of roof systems. The roofing manufacturers had such respect for the installation quality of North American Roofing that they were on board. North American continues to private label all systems today, as well as install all major manufacturer brands.
Mike took over the reins from dad in 1989 and relocated from Indiana to Asheville, NC in 1993. His team created a patented installation system for EPDM called Perma-Lok which churned great results in the marketplace and secured North American as a solution-oriented company. Mike also started Installed Products USA (aside from North American Roofing), which became Home Depots first national at-home services contractor and grew to over $175MM in less than five years, eventually selling to Home Depot in 2003 and establishing the relationship that exists today with the retail giant.
About this same time, a third generation Verble, Brian, stepped into the role of Senior Vice President at North American Roofing. After attending Duke as an All-American linebacker, Brian worked in various roles throughout the companies before being recognized as the next Verble to continue the working spirit that had become North American Roofing. Brian became President in 2006 and succeeded his father in 2007 as CEO. The third generation Verble, much like his grandfather, leads with an open door, strong values and genuine appreciation of the opportunities that lie ahead for his carefully constructed team of loyal, experienced long-timers and strategically welcomed newcomers.
“While the roofing industry is down as a whole” says Brian, “North American is growing and increasing its market share. I attribute this to the foundation my grandfather and father set up and grew, and the team I am fortunate to work with every day.”
North American Roofing values its relationship with the SWA and welcomes the opportunity to work with more members on their roofing needs. For more information about North American Roofing, visit naroofing.com, email info@naroofing.com or call 800-551-5602.