Position: Branch manager
Company: West End Roofing, Siding and Windows
What they do: Sell roofing and other construction products
Revenue: $8 million
Next Goal: Become the area’s leading commercial distributor
When Pyke Babin and his business partner first started Louisiana Roofing Supply less than five years ago, their Prairieville office was a small trailer with a lean-to.
The speed with which the company experienced success surprised Babin. In its first year, his company earned $3.5 million; it earned $8 million in 2009. So when Beacon Roofing Supply, one of the largest distributors of residential and nonresidential roofing and building products in North America, expressed interest in Babin’s business, the decision wasn’t easy.
Babin says he mulled over Beacon’s offer for six months before accepting it, and the change went into effect in April.
“Fifteen years ago, when I got into this business, the housing market was booming, and mom-and-pop places were the way things were going,” he says. “Now, with the economy and the housing market the way it is, it’s going back toward track builders, your big guys, and those people want to go to the one-stop-shop places where people offer more than just roofing.”
Beacon has 12 regional companies in 37 states and three Canadian provinces, with 178 locations and more than 2,100 employees; the Swamp Road site joins Louisiana locations in Harahan and Lafayette.
Babin’s company was renamed West End Roofing, Siding and Windows, a subsidiary of Beacon. Babin stayed on as branch manager, but his partner left to pursue other interests.
“The buyout has been absolutely wonderful,” he says. “The hardest part has been that we’re bringing in lots more inventory than we ever had before. But working with [Beacon] has been pretty much the same way it was when I owned it.”
In addition to roofing supplies, the business now sells doors, windows, moldings, patio covers, insulation and other supplies. The emphasis also has shifted from residential building to commercial.
At a time when building suppliers are feeling the effects of the economic slowdown, Babin feels more secure than ever about his business.
He predicts the addition of new products will generate several million dollars’ worth of additional revenue, adding the Prairieville location is on track to earn $10 million this year. He also hired an additional person since the buyout, and believes more hiring could occur in the future.
“We thought that this was brought to us for a reason,” Babin says. “I have absolutely no regrets about selling. Not at all.”
