Cody Kline started a roofing company focused on standing seam metal roof systems for new construction and primarily commercial applications. He also did high-end residential projects, too, and over five years evolved into coatings and single-ply roofing. The key to relatively early success came from emphasizing preventative maintenance and services, which fed reroofs. The volume of work attracted enough attention that investors bought it in 2021.  

Kline found himself at a crossroads before age 30, did some deep introspection, and now he’s onto his latest venture in the roofing industry where he hopes to share and duplicate the success with other contractors. 

RC:  How did you get your start in roofing?  

CK: I started a metal roofing company in 2016 after working as an installer, a production manager, then a sales person, post my stint in the Air Force. Over the course of five years, we had built up to 16 employees (including installers) and over $6 million per year in revenue. We also had a metal roofing supply house. In 2021, I sold both the businesses to a nationwide roll up of companies (Restoration Builders) and was appointed area director of Texas. For six months, I ran operations for the southeast region over 60 employees. Since then, I took a hiatus to climb Mount Everest and upon my return last month, launched a new company called CommercialRoofer.com. 

RC: What is that?

CK: CommercialRoofer.com is a coaching program for owners or managers that want to get started or grow their commercial business and a training platform for their sales departments, teaching them how to prospect, navigate the sales process (insurance, retail, service, and preventative), scope and estimate opportunities, and close deals.

RC: How does it work? 

CK: Our new company is a 12-week coaching program for roofing owners to learn and implement the same strategic planning we did for our business and also provides their entire sales organization with a training platform for commercial roofing, with our commercial roofing sales academy. 

RC: How would you explain your success in roofing? 

CK: My companies are successful because we put real time and effort in on the front end of planning these ventures. We strategically plan out our “offers,” our lead generation plans, our sales processes, the hand-off to production, the fulfillment of the project, and then execute continuity plans for creating long-term monetization of our customers. In the roofing company, this was done with ongoing and preventive maintenance. 

RC: What area of your roofing business are you the most passionate about? Why?

CK: I have always been passionate about sales but as I age into my 30s, I have had a shift to where the most satisfaction comes from the relationships I am building and differences we’re making within the industry. Seeing a widespread influx of companies wanting to improve their processes and utilize our tactics for monetizing more opportunities through selling service and preventative maintenance is what keeps me ticking each day. 

RC: Do you see your age as an advantage or disadvantage in this business? 

CK: Being in this industry since I was 21, I have always thought of my age as an advantage. I grew up in an age of technology and social media and instead of allowing them to consume me as a user, I have leveraged technology on the lead generation, sales, and production side of the roofing business and leveraged social media to reach the masses. We utilized it in the roofing company and now to reach an audience of roofers that need our help. 

RC: What’s next?

CK: Our plan is to take over the education space for commercial roofers and build a new generation of technologically-savvy roofers that monetize more deals with a sales process that leverages what's best for the client. Our roofers are educated on how to generate leads and sell consistently profitable insurance jobs, retail jobs, service, and preventative maintenance. 

RC: What are you doing when you’re not thinking about roofing?

CK: Climbing big mountains; racing motorcycles; life and health optimization; and being the world’s best father/husband.