Business View Magazine | November 2019

70 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 2019 ROMAN ROOF ING that we are truly a family-owned and operated business. Some people say you can’t work with friends and family. I disagree. My wife runs the office/accounting side, my brother oversees all the permitting, my best friend from high school runs our commercial department and new construction, my good friend Mike runs our service department, and Mike’s son assists with production. Another advantage the Roman brand carries in the community is that it is Cape Coral’s only certified Master Elite roofing contractor through GAF, the largest shingle manufacturer in America. Most recently, the company eclipsed 400 GAF golden-pledge warranties this year – more than any roofing contractor in Florida. Indeed, GAF’s Master Elite program is enjoyed by less than one percent of roofing contractors nationwide. “It allows us to offer our clients a 25-year ‘golden pledge’ warranty,” Dopfer explains. “The standard warranties in the industry are two or five years; every now and again you’ll get someone desperate and throwing out a ten-year warranty with no guarantee that they will be around in 10 years or longer. What GAF warranties provide is peace of mind for the homeowner. If any Master Elite Contractor goes out of business or sells the company, those warranties are in an escrow account with the Good House Keeping Seal of Approval and no matter what happens, all they have to do is call GAF and they’ll send the next closest Master Elite Contractor out to service their house, free of charge. It’s basically an insurance policy for our clients – it covers labor and materials for 25 years.” “Another key component to our success is from our supply houses,” Dopfer points out. “We are one of the few companies that pays ours bills not just on time, but in fact, early. Obviously, we get a discount for doing so, and by doing so, we have buying power and we also have delivery power. When our production department is ordering from the supply house, they know that Roman Roofing is going to pay our bills early and consequently, they will schedule our deliveries as we need and ahead of others. So, if we have a customer that says, ‘I have my house listed for sale; We need the roof done,’ I can make a phone call and make things The Dopfer Family happen that are exceptional, typically, the next day. So fortunately, Roman has a lot of pull in that area. We give a lot of credit to Suncoast Supply. Here is a company that knows the roofing game and have a deep understanding of the material and its applications. They also know how to manage our expectations. They certainly know that the Roman team is fast-paced and high-tech, and they’re able to service us when most supply houses couldn’t keep up with our pace.” For the first four years of its existence, Dopfer says the company did no advertising. “We relied purely on word-of-mouth from start to finish,” he states. “I was able to develop relationships with business owners and companies, and a lot of locals who have been here their entire lives by doing honest work with great craftsmanship. These groups of people are not only repeat customers, but people who are happy to give your name out because they have trust in our company. While we do have repeat customers at times, we understand the average homeowner is going to replace one roof