Raising the standard for roofing in the Big Apple

By Anna Lockhart.  

Taking on roofing in one of the toughest cities in the world is no easy feat, but one roofer is finding success through tried and true processes: doing things the right way, always. 

In a recent episode of Stories From the Roof, host Megan Ellsworth sat down with Sean Levine of Royal Renovators Inc., a trusted source for quality roofing services across Queens and New York City. For over three decades, their team has excelled at installing flat roofing, conducting roofing repairs and overseeing replacements. In this conversation, Sean shared how the company continues this legacy by prioritizing customer experience and utilizing innovative practices. 

In prioritizing quality customer service and satisfaction, as well as reliable installation work, Sean emphasized the importance of understanding what customers want and then delivering. In New York City, many flat roof homes are incredibly valuable, and the owners expect a roof made of equal quality. He shared, “It’s high stakes. Homeowners expect the best, and we’re doing our best to do the best. I realized there’s a major gap in what’s being offered, and that’s where there is a demand.”  

So, Sean set his sights on being that leader, offering premier roofing options to clientele that expect the best. “While I realized there's a demand for premier options, there's also a need unrelated to the money or the business. There's a need here to simply get genuine help. So, that’s a need I’d like to work on bridging the gap on,” he noted.  

In learning the ropes, working with local home and building owners, Sean learned a lot. One such piece of advice was to stick to what’s right and best, even if that’s not what some people want to hear. He shared, “With roofing, there’s a right way and a wrong way to do things. While you shouldn’t think so black and white in relationships, when it comes to roofing, you need to prioritize what’s the best way to get the job done, and stick to it. You have to do things the right way. It’s not always the easy way or the cheap way. Sometimes it requires enormous amounts of money, enormous amounts of sacrifice.” 

He continued, noting that, while customers might not want to hear that truth, it’s the reality at the end of the day. And the best way to handle that is being honest with customers about how roofing works. Cutting corners might be acceptable in one area of life, but with roofing, the costs you’re already spending on a half-effort job will turn around and triple in costs by the end because roofing done only half-heartedly will come back and cost you more to fix the damages guaranteed to come. As Sean emphasized, “Your job is not to sell them, it's to educate them on what is the process so they can make their best decision for themselves. It's not just knowing how to do a roof right; it's also being able to explain things to someone to get them to do it the right way. It is very difficult, but it’s what makes you look back and have a legacy you can be proud of. All by doing the right things the right way.” 

Read the transcript or Listen to the podcast to learn more about Sean’s journey into roofing and how he’s found success working across the Queens and New York City area.