It was an unseasonably cold night in central Texas last February, and a crowd of roofing industry professionals huddled into heated tents at the historic Alamo to ironically watch a little history unfold.

A team of about a dozen employees from Best Contracting Services Inc. of Gardena, Calif., were purposely parked at a tabletop directly across a screen flashing images of outstanding commercial roofing projects from around the country. And it was easy to know when an image of one of their projects slid across the screen, as the entire tent — and Alamo courtyard — filled with loud cheers.  

What they were physically applauding for was truly impressive. Their work on the 203,000-square-foot PVC roofing system atop the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., was named the Project of the Year by Sika.

These weren’t C-suite executives or company ownership applauding. These were members of the office staff, sales team, installation and marketing teams. They were proud of what they and a group of 500 others accomplished, whether the rest of the industry recognized it or not. 

“Because it was a true team effort,” Chief Administrative Officer Jesse Torres said, recalling the moment a few months later. “We all had so much pride in the project and what it took to get there.”

Working on memorable, landmark stadiums and other projects is not new to Best Contracting, which took home the same award just a year earlier for its work on Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium. But this one felt, and was celebrated as, feeling different. The project included a large, custom blue Sika PVC roofing membrane and an under-vegetated area using a Sika Hydrotech waterproofing system. 

The project was completed despite significant challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, including material shortages and unpredictable lead times. 

Building the Best

Best Contracting was founded in 1982 by Moji Taba, who remained president until handing over the reins to Sean Taba. Over the years, the company has diversified its services to include all building envelope-related disciplines, including roofing, waterproofing, sheet metal, glazing, and more.  

Today, company officials say they strive to serve as a professional, diverse specialty contracting firm that provides the highest quality building envelope services. While a formal mission statement exists, company leaders see the job in practical terms, with a mission to see a client’s problems through their eyes and to provide sound, economical solutions. 

“Those not only solve the problem but make you feel good about the result,” said Sean Taba. “Our approach is based on life-cycle analysis rather than a quick, thoughtless, low estimate simply to acquire business.” 

That philosophy wasn’t always the case, but about 15 years ago, as the company recovered from the Great Recession, BEST’s leaders made a concerted effort to get more involved with general contractors and new construction. As a union bid shop, that opened a lot of doors into municipal, stadium, and K-12 education work. At the same time, they recognized a softness in the market where requirements for disabled veteran-owned companies were not being met. They formed their own company as a subsidiary that’s 51% service-disabled owned and is still functioning today.  

“There was an untapped market here and we were able to take advantage of that opportunity to get work that we otherwise would not have had the resources to perform those jobs,” said Kayhan Fatemi, executive vice president.

That versatility and ability to seize the moment was important not only to stabilize Best Contracting’s finances following the major economic downturn, but tested the company’s entrepreneurial spirit in a way that lead to a positive outcome. They’d soon learn those don’t always turn out that way.

Northern Exposure

Buoyed by its success in California and flexibility to take on new business models, Best Contracting looked to expand north — way north into Washington state in 2018. 

Fatemi said it started innocently enough with a few phone calls from general contractors working in the area who needed roofers they could trust on bonded jobs.  

“They gave us work, and we took it, but the problem was we were bidding work there like we were here in California. And they’re totally different places,” Fatemi said.

A solid record of high-quality installations suffered as crews were called back to fix or reroof projects that didn’t sustain the climate in the Pacific Northwest. Fatemi said branches there officially closed a few years ago, but crews just recently completed their last contracted jobs there.

“We did not account properly for working in the rain,” Fatemi reflected. “Millions of dollars later, we learned what not to do in the future.”  

Part of that included a re-evaluation of company structure and key staff. Some of the younger managers at the time really pushed for the Washington expansion because of the growth opportunities, but they turned out not to be the right fit, Fatemi said. Finding someone locally to manage the projects was also a challenge, which compounded the problem. Now, middle managers working in the company’s key markets also have to bring the Washington work into their worlds. Lessons were learned the hard way.  

“We were an old-school company with a lot of guys with experience, and we had some up-and-coming, strong middle managers that couldn’t really blossom until retirements occurred at the appropriate time,” Fatemi said. 

Those managers are now elevated into key roles that have brought new ideas, including a focus on company culture and putting employees first.  

Fatemi and others believe they are truly a different company now. 

“Over the past five years, our company has demonstrated exceptional resilience, adaptability, and growth in the face of unprecedented industry challenges,” Taba said in a written statement. “From navigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to overcoming material shortages and economic uncertainty, we have emerged stronger than ever, achieving record-breaking success.”