It takes a team to succeed

By Emma Peterson. 

Austin Philips explains why strong relationships, mentorship and collaboration remain the foundation of every successful project. 

Austin Philips started as a high schooler working odd jobs for his uncle’s company. Now, over 15 years later, he’s the estimating manager at that same company – Kodiak Roofing and Waterproofing. To hear more of his story and what he’s learned over the years, we brought him onto the Stories from the Roof podcast.  

Looking back at the beginning of his career, Austin can’t think of much he would want to change. He shared, “I’m really happy where I am, I have learned so much, I can put a roof on from start to finish and I’m still getting to learn every day. I don’t think I would go back and change anything because I like the way things went.” 

Austin credits a fair amount of his career satisfaction to the people around him:  

I think about a project we worked on for the Stockton Courthouse. I had been doing a lot of single-ply roofing but not much else at the time. And this project was single ply, but it also featured metal and hot rubber and all these things that were new for me. I remember spending a lot of time learning and asking questions of the crews that were working; I needed them as much as they needed me to get this project done, and it was a great relationship of mutual support. And that collaboration, that teamwork is really what makes projects fun and enjoyable. 

And it’s the importance of teamwork and collaboration that Austin highlights whenever someone newer to the industry asks him for advice. As he put it, “You need a good team. You need all those different players doing their roles in order to be successful. And if that team works together, now you're a family... And none of you are perfect, but you’ll all be successful because you’ll find a way to work through the mistakes together and improve.”  

Want to hear more of Austin’s insights? Listen to the whole Stories of the Roof podcast he was one!