All paths lead to the roof

By Emma Peterson. 

A candid conversation about how family, mentorship and hard work forges lasting careers in the roofing industry. 

In a new episode of Stories from the Roof sponsored by Duro-Last, Megan Ellsworth got the chance to talk with Bill Wourms, Tony Wourms and Brian Lybarger of Technical Roofing and Bryan Gottron of Engineered Systems about their paths and experiences in the roofing industry.  

Bill and Tony Wourms 

Bill and Tony, as the last names might imply, are related. Bill founded Technical Roofing in 2006 and brought Tony, his son, into the fold around 2009. But even before the founding of Technical Roofing, Bill has been around roofing. He shared about his path into the industry, saying, “I was in a different line of business and when I happened to get out of that, I had a friend with a roofing company. I got in contact with him and he took me on as a young guy.” 

As an installer at that company, Bill went straight onto the roof as an installer. He talked about the process of learning, sharing, “I got taught by surrounding coworkers. From there, I started rising through positions like service tech and supervisor. Eventually, I found my way to starting Technical.” 

For Tony, it was his dad’s work with Technical Roofing that led him into the industry. He explained, “He tried for a couple years to get me in here. Then when I was in college, I just decided one day, ‘All right, we'll go try it. I'll quit my seven to three job and decide to work five to nine instead.’” Now, 16 years later, he’s the operations manager at Technical.  

Looking back at his journey, Tony wouldn’t change it. He shared a bit about what makes him so passionate about the work Technical does, saying, “It's about the clients and our people. We take care of and motivate our people. In turn they create a good culture and extend that to our customers, really building a community.”  

Bryan Gottron 

The family element of Bill and Tony’s stories is something that resonates deeply with Bryan G. His introduction to the industry came from his father and older brothers, who were some of the first independent representatives for Duro-Last back in the 1980s. He shared a bit about that, saying, “I'm quite a bit younger than my older brothers and was going to college to be a civil engineer. And in the 11th hour before I selected an engineering job, my brother twisted my arm and talked me out of going down that road and into giving a shot at helping him in the roofing rep business.”  

Now, 29 years later, Bryan has built his career in roofing. It wasn’t the path he expected for himself, but he couldn’t be happier getting to work with companies like Technical day-in and day-out. He shared, “I just have the utmost respect for contractors who are able to do this very, very difficult job, like the team at Technical. They’re literally protecting people and homes every day. It’s a noble profession and I’m honored to get to work with them as a sales rep.”  

Brian Lybarger 

As for Brian L., he’s the newest to roofing. He is the marketing manager for Technical and, at the time of recording, had been in that role for about six months. Like the others on the panel, Brian L. was never planning to go into the roofing industry. He explained, “I was at a previous employer at the time that fell through and I had known about Tony and Bill from some networking events. They were looking to build a marketing department to increase their business. We sat down together, had a conversation and now I'm working with this awesome crew.” 

But just because he wasn’t expecting to wind up in roofing doesn’t mean that he’s not passionate about it now. He shared, “It’s amazing, being a part of the team that is called and trusted to protect someone’s home and family.” 

Listen to the rest of the podcast to hear more from these men about their journeys in the roofing industry.