These Women are Roofing the Florida Keys

By Karen L. Edwards, RCS Editor.

Dion Watson and Deborah Shirley are owners of one of the largest roofing companies in the Florida Keys with locations in Marathon and on Stock Island.

Several of us here at the Coffee Shop have a fondness for the Florida Keys. We also love roofing – and especially hearing about women in roofing. So, imagine our delight when we came across this interesting article in Keys Weekly about how two women came to own and operate one of the largest roofing companies in the Keys!

The article, by Sara Matthis, details how Dion Watson and Deborah Shirley met in 1989 and moved to the Keys in 2006. The two were both human resource executives for a large company in Arkansas. They gave up the corporate life, headed to the Keys and took jobs working at a local marina and in aviation service.

Dion was working at the marina and knew that the business was not doing well. One of the boaters there approached her about opening a roofing business in the Keys. He already owned a roofing business with locations in Tampa and Fort Pierce according to the article. Dion told Keys Weekly that she thought about it for several months and then called him back to see if he was serious. Turns out he was.

Dion decided to dive into the business idea and knew of a roofing business in Key West (Tony’s Roofing) that was closing. She wanted to buy the phone number, so she drove down to visit. When several hours had gone by and Deb still hadn’t heard back from Dion, she had a bad feeling. Deb gave her a call and learned that not only did Dion get the phone number but that she had bought the entire business!

That was the start of Keys All Area Roofing. Before Hurricane Irma hit, the company had five employees and a solid business of commercial and residential work. They had completed about 500 roofs and repairs. After the storm, the crew grew to 70 in order to meet the demand and Deb officially joined the business to help out.  The team has completed nearly 400 roofs in the months since the storm.

Learn more about these inspirational women when you read their full story at Keys Weekly.

Photo credit: Keys Weekly