After graduating from high school in 1999, Michael Dier needed to make a living. By chance, he spoke with long-time friend Steven Watkins who told him about working on the roof of an apartment complex in North Jackson, Miss.
As it turned out, Steven’s dad, Bud Watkins, owned the company working on the roof. In 2000, Dier followed in the footsteps of his own father and joined the roofing industry, making $10 an hour as a laborer working on that apartment complex. It took roughly one-and-a-half years to complete, removing cedar shakes and installing 24-gauge R panel. With the job finished, the company took out an ad in the Yellow Pages, officially forming Watkins Construction & Roofing in 2002.