Pride of the Industry
Tenn. Contractor Steps in and Replaces Widow’s Roof for Free
Knoxville, Tenn. roofer steps in after woman’s previous contractor declared bankruptcy
WATE-TV, which first reported this story, said widow Donna Maloney “had every reason to be worried about her new roof.” When WATE visited her home, a reporter said lots of water was “dripping from the soffits on her roof” and spread about four feet under her front porch.
— Image courtesy of WATE-TV
A story out of Lenoir City, Tenn., about 30 miles north of Knoxville, should put a smile on some faces. Donna Maloney, a widow, was in a pickle after the roofer she had hired unexpectedly filed for bankruptcy before fixing her reroof; a Knoxville roofing contractor stepped in the breach to help.
As first reported by WATE-TV, the contractor Maloney originally hired last summer went out of business, but the new roofing company doing the work — for free — expects to be around for a while.
Maloney is getting a new metal roof courtesy of Tucker McGuire, principal of McGuire Roofing and Construction, who saw a report on the woman’s situation and then called the television station offering to help.
“When he came out and told me what they were going to do, I couldn’t believe it,” Maloney told WATE. “I did not believe that someone would do this for me.”
As viewers discovered when her story aired last January, Maloney's original roof had caused her great concern; she said things were “just a mess” and feared water backing up into her house.
“I’m basically worried about it backing up into the house, coming through the roof in the house, the ceilings,” said Maloney in January. The leaking water had spread about four feet under her front porch.
Maloney employed the original Knoxville-area contractor, United Veteran Builders, last August. She said she hired the firm because her late husband had been a Navy veteran, and he “…trusted vets to do the job.”
After a heavy rainstorm in December 2023, multiple leaks were discovered, but the contract provided a two-year workmanship warranty. She didn't receive a response when she contacted UVB because the company had already gone out of business.
WATE reported the landlord cleared out the contractor’s office in late October; UVB filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy liquidation on January 9, 2024.
Once McGuire Roofing got Maloney’s job on their busy schedule, they went to work. The new metal roof should be good for nearly half a century, which pleases Maloney.
“With her husband passing away right after this happened and the nightmare started, we just really wanted, we felt like we should help out here,” McGuire told the television station. “So, we partnered with True Metal Supply, [which] helped with the material.”
As for widow Maloney, she exuded gratitude: “I just feel so blessed; I am amazed that a company would come forward and do this for me.”
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Bryan Gottlieb is the online editor at Engineering News-Record (ENR).
Gottlieb is a five-time Society of Professional Journalists Excellence in Journalism award winner with more than a decade of experience covering business, construction, and community issues. He has worked at Adweek, managed a community newsroom in Santa Monica, Calif., and reported on finance, law, and real estate for the San Diego Daily Transcript. He later served as editor-in-chief of the Detroit Metro Times and was managing editor at Roofing Contractor, where he helped shape national industry coverage.
Gottlieb covers breaking news, large-scale infrastructure projects, new products and business.
email gottliebb@enr.com | office: (248) 786-1591
