This week on Behind the Brand, I sat down with Dan Keller. Dan runs George J. Keller and Sons, a third-generation family-owned roofing company right here in Flanders, NJ. He came back to the family business in 2006 after five years at Chubb Insurance, bought out his father’s side in 2009, and has owned it with his wife Heather since 2015.
For the last three years, private equity firms have been knocking on the doors of family-owned roofing companies offering 15 times EBITDA. That is life-changing money. A lot of his competitors have said yes. Dan said no.
What a Family-Owned Roofing Company Does Differently
What I keep coming back to is what Dan said about the day after a family company gets sold. The customer does not talk to his sister Corey anymore. They get routed to a call center in another state. Employees stop being people and start being employee numbers. The company that was built on showing up for its neighbors becomes a quarterly report.
If you own a service business, the lesson runs deeper than roofing. A family-owned roofing company can give a homeowner a 600-dollar repair when that is all the roof needs. A private-equity-backed roofer has quarterly revenue targets to hit. That is the difference between a business that exists to serve customers and one that exists to be sold.
Connect with Dan:
- Website: gjkeller.com
- Phone: 973.927.0963
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