Produced by April Reeves and Written by Tom Faunce, US Builders Review
Based in Cumming, Georgia, Tecta America Southeast (TAS) is a division of Tecta America, the largest national commercial roofing company in the United States. The company’s services span installation, replacement, new construction and repairs, disaster response, portfolio management and advanced sustainability options.
Pinkston-Hollar Construction Services Inc., dba Construction Services, was founded in 1960 and is a founding member of Tecta America. In 2000 the company merged with 9 of the nation’s strongest roofing companies to form Tecta America and embraced a new vision for the commercial roofing industry. The vision of its inception was to form a new kind of roofing company by forging the strengths of operating companies and sharing resources across the country. By maintaining strong relationships with manufacturers, TAS can explore numerous options to provide the best roofing solutions. TAS is roofing redefined.
Adapting to the market
Integrity, professionalism, quality, and safety are the core values of TAS. These values have become the foundation for the success of the company. “Our reputation is everything,” says Chris Pinkston, vice president of TAS. “Our field and office staff are well-trained and very knowledgeable in what they do. It’s important for them to stay current on new roofing specs and techniques.
With safety as a top priority in the roofing industry, TAS has been able to maintain one of the best experience modification rates (EMR) of any roofing contractor in the industry. “We want our employees to go home to their families every day,” says Pinkston.
When the recession hit in 2008, the construction industry felt the brunt of the economic downturn. While many companies were forced to downsize or even shut down completely, TAS was able to adapt due to its solid reputation and ability to adapt to the market. With the new construction market slowing down, TAS turned to service and reroofing as a specialty as many owners in the commercial sector were investing in existing real estate, rather than new facilities.
“There was not much new construction work out there, so we just had to redirect our focus,” says Pinkston. “As a result of that, much of the work we do today is re-roofing, service, and maintenance.”
RSMCA involvement
With offices throughout the Southeast, TAS is a member of the Roofing and Sheet Metal Contractors Association of Georgia (RSMCA). Among the many benefits of membership, Pinkston feels that it is important to support the association on the local and state level. “With the licensing, safety training and networking aspects, the association does a lot for the industry,” Pinkston explains. “It really does a lot for the professionalism of all contractors involved.”
When it comes to networking, the RSMCA provides the opportunity for both competitors and noncompeting companies to work together and offer solutions to one another. With roofing companies experiencing many similar issues on a day-to-day basis, having a platform to discuss those issues and solutions with peers creates a welcoming environment and is beneficial to the industry as a whole. “We all deal with the same issues and problems,” says Pinkston. “It’s just good to have people to commiserate with when it comes to exploring solutions.”
The relationships that have been established through the association have created opportunities for companies to help each other, whether it’s borrowing equipment or even sharing manpower. “We’ve even had instances where we had collaborated with other companies when they had too much work to handle on their own,” Pinkston elaborates. “I don’t look at my competitors as enemies; I see them as friends and business associates.”
Pinkston has served on the board of the RSMCA and even served as president for some time. After moving to Atlanta in 1987, Pinkston soon joined the association and immediately began networking and taking advantage of the opportunities available to him and TAS. By volunteering his time with the association, Pinkston feels it has been a rewarding experience. “I’ve always felt that it is important to give back to the community, regardless of what industry you’re in,” he notes. “With volunteer work, you usually get back even more than you put into it. That has certainly been true with everything I have done with the association.”
In his years with TAS, Pinkston is proud of the reputation the company has achieved as a quality roofing contractor. Continuing to be an asset to the industry, which in return creates a successful company, is of the utmost importance to Pinkston and TAS. “Every individual within this company works extremely hard every day,” he says. “At the end of the day, we can acknowledge the fact that we work as a team and we do it the right way.”
As a member of the largest roofing contracting company in the United States, Tecta America Southeast has proven that long-term success stems from having a great team that values integrity, quality, safety, and trust.