It Must Be HAIL Season in Texas... Look at this trailer wrap I just saw!

Just had to take a picture!

clover83 "Chuck, they carried you to the job?"

Yes. They would have a guy there to help me chalk the lines and he would carry the shingles up for me, load them on the ridge and then leave. They called me BipBap because they said that's what it sounded like when I was hand nailing. Bip-bap-bip-bap-bip-bap-bip-bap in rapid succession. :huh: I would put on 15-20 sq. a day. Most of the houses were 15-25 sq. walkable 1-story.

Good stories guys.

Chuck, they carried you to the job? Sounds familiar, my Dad's old boss used to wake him up w/ a twelve pack. The boss said he didn't like doing it, but he couldn't find anybody else that would produce as much as him! Thankfully he quit drinkin in 86 or else things would be different!

When I was in my teens and early 20's contractors would come to my house early in the morning without even knowing if I was at home or not. I did not even have a telephone or a car. They would carry me to a small new construction house and I would often roof the whole house in a day and get paid.

When I was around 26, I once sub-contracted tear offs out of a station wagon. I just threw all the tear off on the ground and the company I worked for would send someone else back to clean the mess up off the ground.

Around 30 when I started my own business for the first time, I had an old 4 wheel drive truck that like Lefty said would leak oil all over the driveways if I didn't put something under it. I had magnetic signs made for the doors, picked them up and stuck them on, took off down the road and they both blew off because I didn't realize how much bondo was on the doors. :laugh:

When I went on my own in 1987, I bought a 1975 3/4 ton chev pickup. One of those classic rust buckets. It was so bad that after we fired the shingles off the roof into it we would have to sweep the rust off of the driveway when we did the final cleanup. I tried to fix it up a little by taking the tin snips and cutting some of the rust off around the wheel wells but it kind of looked like a bad haircut when empty. Loaded down with a ton of shingles looked ok though.

Sold that to my lead hand and bought a 1980 ford supercab. That was a rust bucket too. I remember when we dropped a tarp loaded with about 400 lbs of gravel off a 3 story apartment into the box and the whole bottom of the box caved in over the rear end and axle. The sides of the box were angled inwards also. Probably should have taken physics in school and I might have thought that through a bit more before we let it go. Had to get a welder to cut it out and install a piece of 1/4 inch plate steel to patch her up and put in some angle bracing to straighten the sides of the box so the tail gate would fit again. Lots of rust to sweep up after that episode.

Roofguy said "The truth is, the ability was all his all along".

Everyone has ability. Most never do anything with it. A lot of that is because most do not train others to use them.

Without you there is a good chance he would not be where he is.

Lefty, I think my best "helped a guy" story is about a guy I hired out of high school. He only worked for me two summers. He transfered to a big school, probably Ohio State, as he lives in Columbus now.

He walked up to me at a wedding about 8-10 years ago. We both looked a lot different, but easily recognizeable. He just stuck out his hand and "Mike I just wanted to thank you".

"Hi John, good to see you. What in the world do you have to thank me for?"

"Well, you remember the xyz building we did?"

"Yes"

"Remember how there was that big awning we were under and how it had to be 130 degrees under there?"

"Yes".

"Remember that skylight that we looked down into with those guys in suits sitting at their desks."

"Yes".

"Well I swore right then and there, that would be me someday. Today I own my own investment firm, with (I forget how many brokers) and three attorneys on staff. Without you, it would have never happened."

Wadda ya do? In the wrong frame of mind, or delivered with an air of superiority, it could have been taken as a slam, but he was entirely sincere.

Good for John, if that's what he wants. Sounds like prison to me.

When I went into business for myself, I may have put on 10 roofs. I needed a job so I went into business. I always hired guys with more experience then me. LOL That was not hard to do, since I had very little experience.

Read wrappers and cans, watched carefully while I tore the roof off,{this taught me how to put it back together}, watch the guys I had working and picked up all their tricks.

Somehow if you are quality oriented, you know when someone is doing something wrong, even if you do not know how to do it. It was a very rare occasion to have a callback even when I did not know anything.

Hahah. Lefty: I hear stories about how rough(hardcore, hard working yadda yadda) other things about my old man. His nickname: Hillbilly.

Best one recently: I sold a tearoff and while we were there doing it the 80 year old man said "do you guys want to see my bowling trophies?"

My Dad said "I've seen them"

Old guy: "that's impossible, they've been locked in that shed"

Dad: "You showed me when I roofed this place in '78"

Old Guy: "I think your mistaken, the guy who roofed it showed up on a motorcycle with his tool belt and did the whole job his self"

My Dad just raised his hand and said your right about that.

-We have all kinds of equipment now, so the old man could hardly believe it. That was a 20 year shingle, lasted 30 years somehow!

I'm glad I missed the days of removing the tearoff from the back of the truck at the end of the day!

I earned my way through college lettering trucks and ended up owning an advertising and sign company. So when I started in roofing no matter the age of the truck or trailer either it was lettered properly or I left it blank and clean.

Roofguy, I have a lot of truck stories. Will never forget where I come from. It is good when I find a guy who is struggling and he will listen to my stories and improve his business. Most just keep doing what they are doing and wonder why they can not make it work. I know you go through this too.

I was tearing this little flat roof off on a July 4. It was a resturant they closed down I had to do it that day. The tempature was 98 degrees. Threw it in the back of my pickup. Went to the dump to throw it off a couple of days later. Would not come out. Here it was coal tar. It molded itself to the bed and became one big lump. It was still there when I got rid of the truck.

Every time I went to the dump, I would get a little out with an axe. LOL

I started out with my hand tools. I borrowed the truck and ladder. I got a lot of work off of farmers when I started. They had the equipment I just needed to get to their place. People would drop the ladder at the job I would drive there in my car and do the work. Borrow a truck at the end of the job and clean up the garbage.

Finally had enough for a cheap truck. Had to have cardboard with me at all times. Needed to put it under the engine so I did not put oil spots in their driveway. Every job after that I would buy some tool.

Those were the days throw the shingles in the back of the pickup. Go to the dump and throw the shingles off the back of the pickup.

Today some customers tell my salesmen and workers "you should have seen him when he started", then tell them some of the stories.

I gotta admit, that trailer is a HUGE step up from anything I had when I first started.

I had one ladder one hand torch one dragon wagon two 100# propane tanks one 40# one 20# and a handful of hand tools. If it didn't fit in my single cab pick-up, it wasn't making it to the job.

Is that thing hooked up to the car?

I would have just left the trailer plain so no one would know! :laugh: