What would make someone leave steady work to start a roofing company in one of the most competitive markets around? In this episode, I sit down with Houston Colson, founder of Roof Stepper Roofing, to uncover how a 12-year-old transplant to Johnston County built a business on consistency, trust, and doing what others in his industry often skip. From storm chasers to insurance battles—would you know the right first step if your roof was damaged?

When somebody offered him a job and he just really started to enjoy it. We talked to him a little bit about why he started roof stepper after seeing what he thought were some inconsistencies in the service and the product being provided by some of the roofing companies that he was working with. What he's trying to do with roof stepper to differentiate himself in a crowded market and common mistakes homeowners make in choosing a roofer and deciding whether they can get a new roof and whether the insurance will actually help pay for that roof.

Welcome to another episode of Best of Johnston County, brought to you by Breeden Law Office. Our host, Jonathan Breeden, an experienced family lawyer with a deep connection to the community, is ready to take you on a journey through the area that he has called home for over 20 years. Whether it's a deep dive into the love locals have for the county or unraveling the complexities of family law, Best of Johnston County presents an authentic slice of this unique community.

Jonathan Breeden: Hello and welcome to another edition of The Best of Johnston County Podcast. I'm your host, Jonathan Breeden, and on today's episode we have Houston Colson, the owner and founder of  Roof Stepper Roofing out of Clayton, North Carolina. We're gonna talk to him a little bit about.

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Welcome Houston.

Houston Colson: Good morning. Welcome.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, good, good. I appreciate you coming back. I know we had technical difficulties. We recorded this a few weeks ago, so tell the audience what your name is, what you do.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, that's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah. And, I think you moved to Johnston County when you were maybe in middle school.

Houston Colson: Yeah, I was 12.

Jonathan Breeden: You were 12? Okay. Where'd you move here from?

Houston Colson: Greensburg, Indiana.

Jonathan Breeden: Greensburg, Indiana. All right. And then I think you went to Corinth Holders High School, right?

Houston Colson: I did, yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. Did you enjoy that? It was a new school when you went?

Houston Colson: It was a great school. I mean, I didn't have the best ahead space, so I took advantage of a great opportunity 'cause Corinth Holders is a great school. And then before Corinth Holders, I went to  Archer Lodge Middle School. Which is not too far away from like the Percy flower area.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah.

Houston Colson: Yeah.

Houston Colson: I had a couple friends funny story. The two first people I met when I moved here were brothers and they got introduced to the industry. My first job actually was McKinley's on Highway seven.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, yeah the, the restaurant.

Houston Colson: Yeah, the restaurant. My first official job. And then I was looking for more consistent pay instead of bar backing. And then I was introduced as a laborer. So we were traveling to the mountains pretty much installing, primarily standing, seeing like retrofit roofs for schools, warehouses, military bases, and stuff like that.

Jonathan Breeden: It's hard work.

Houston Colson: It's very hard. Yeah.

Houston Colson: Yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah I, I think about you and your teams and the other teams, what I see out there. When you see these a hundred plus heat indexes day after day after day.

Houston Colson: Yeah. We got a heat advisory today.

Houston Colson: Yeah, we kind of prepare with systems, whether that's, so we have a job that generally takes us a day. We might prepare to do a fraction of that in one day and then finish the following day so we don't overwork ourself.

Also being humble enough and patient enough with the crew, with myself and our homeowners to take breaks, so. 30 minute rotations. If we have four or five nailers, I'll have them come on the ground, get some shade take a break, hydrate eat, and then have a couple guys up there and and rotate.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, that's a pretty smart idea.

Houston Colson: Yeah. Or else you're just gonna, you'll black out, you'll,

Jonathan Breeden: yeah. And if you fall off the roof, that wouldn't be good.

Houston Colson: No, no.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah. No, that's cool. Well, good. I'm glad. I'm glad you do take safety precautions. Always wonder how y'all do that. So what made you decide that you wanted to start roof stepper and what were you trying to do differently than what you were seeing in the industry?

Even within the same organization, there's systems and processes that are being deviated. From which ultimately determine the quality of service and experience that the homeowners are getting. So if one guy's doing one thing, you know, say I work for a company, I'm supervising my jobs day in, day out, but then you have four or five other guys that are a project manager, but they're not overseeing the project.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Houston Colson: I think that was the biggest thing.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. So what ways have you, I mean, you've got tons and tons of five star reviews and that's hard to get in roofing, just like it's hard to get in family law, so I got a lot of respect for that.

What has differentiated you that's allows you to get all these five star reviews in such a short period of time?

Houston Colson: I would say to simplify it, the consistent service, meaning if I work for you when I come out, what you'll get, if you refer to me to somebody else, they're gonna get the same package.

So it's really transparency, it's honesty, high quality services. It's, no cookie cutter process. We're very thorough. We show up on time. If we're gonna be there at seven, we're there at six 30. It's really laying out all the cards on the table before making sure they're comfortable. We never push anybody.

So the entire process is being documented. It's being emailed, it's being texted. So you look up, it's a new roof, it looks great, but was it installed per manufacturer specifications? Did we run out on underlayment and go to the van and grab a different brand? Like is it a uniform system? So really just being transparent. Fulfilling our end and actually doing what we proposed on contract.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, that's important. Let's transition to some of the mistakes people make.

Houston Colson: Yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: Contract.

Houston Colson: Yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: How important is it you have a written contract with whoever's doing the roofing at your house?

Jonathan Breeden: Right? So I don't know what it is, right?

Houston Colson: So it's checked off. Did it actually get installed? You're being charged for it. Did it actually get installed? So contracts especially important, but that's where it comes back to being transparent and being thorough. Again, reputable, honest motivated companies will offer references, Hey, go to our BBB, go to our Google and look at, you know, we're transparent, we're honest.

We actually do install what we're proposing on the contract. So the, contract is important, but it's also the additional due diligence

Jonathan Breeden: I can understand

Houston Colson: that plays a big factor,

Houston Colson: Yeah. I mean, I mean, primarily

Jonathan Breeden: You're growing, but you're visiting the job site.

Houston Colson: Yeah. I just commuted from one, so I don't know if you guys smelt me. I apologize, but like I'm drenched. I was up there tearing off with the guys.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh. I mean, it's so hot out there right now. I mean, it's, it's in the morning.

It's still hot.

Houston Colson: Yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: So, you know. Should homeowners educate themselves over the products that are being proposed for their roof?

Houston Colson: I think they should.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. And how should they go about doing that?

Houston Colson: Really finding, that's a good question actually, right. How to educate their self on some of the roofing material? I mean there's really highly respected and reputable teams and like YouTube channels, so you have roofing insights. Dmitry Lipinskiy is very, very respected within the roofing industry and that's actually where I would suggest any homeowner to go to if you want to educate yourself.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

Houston Colson: Or maybe talking to some neighbors, friends, families that have also pursued the same process.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. I gotcha. And is, it's important I think for, you talked about the references, but also to look at the credentials of the roofer.

Houston Colson: Mm-hmm.

Jonathan Breeden: Correct.

Houston Colson: Yeah. So making sure. Before you sign any contingency or contract, make sure the company you're committing to is licensed, insured certified, preferably with the manufacturing company that shows that they've been in the game for a little bit. Not every company can just be certified at the highest ranks with one of the top tier manufacturing companies, so that's always a good sign.

But also just looking at the consistent reviews across the board. So Google might say one thing, but what's Facebook saying? What's BBB saying? What's the neighbors saying? So that would

Houston Colson: Yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. So what should a homeowner, if they think they need a roof or they're having a problem, how should they go about dealing with their insurance company and should they call the insurance company first, or should they call a roofer first?

Houston Colson: So what I would suggest with that, and it ultimately depends on the circumstances. If it's purely from age, do not just contact your insurance company if you have a small leak do not pursue an insurance claim and call your insurance company. Look up three roofing companies.

My rule of thumb is three companies 'cause you can always sniff the oddball out and just request for a complimentary inspection. Start there. Anybody that's been within the industry that knows what they're looking at, will be able to determine. If it warrants an insurance claim.

Then generally depending on your insurance company, assuming there's consistent damage up there you've been insured with that carrier within the data loss of that. So if we had a storm a year ago, you've been with Farm Bureau for five years, state of North Carolina, you have three years to file an insurance claim, so you still would be eligible for that.

Not everybody knows when we. When the roof has been impacted from a significant amount of wind and hail, because you look up, you don't know, you can't always identify it from the ground. So if you start experiencing a leak a year later and then you get that free inspection, somebody gets up there, Hey, this leak probably started because a year ago we got 70 mile gust and you have mission shingles everywhere.

At that point, you would pursue an insurance claim if they think it warrants a full roof replacement.

Houston Colson: Yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: Get a free inspection and then they can advise you as to whether you should call your insurance company or not.

Houston Colson: Yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: 'cause they're trained in what insurance may or may not train.

Houston Colson: Correct.

Jonathan Breeden: May, may or may not pay for it.

Houston Colson: And the representation's a big factor. 'cause insurance companies, I'm kind of biased 'cause I'm in the roofing industry and, insurance companies don't work for us. We're kind of working for them, coming out for the homeowners, but it's, insurance companies are not in the game to spend money.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay?

Houston Colson: Right. They, They save money to make money. That's kind of the name of the game. So I would not file an insurance claim without proper representation of somebody that knows how to identify the damage and actually go up the bat for you. When the adjuster comes out to the property.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. I gotcha.

Jonathan Breeden: What kind of warranties should people be looking for? Are there standard warranties in the industry?

Houston Colson: Standard warranties as far as workmanship warranties back through the company itself. A lot of companies will do a one year, a two year, maybe even a five year.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Houston Colson: Standard manufacturer warranties as far as like asphalt shingles, what's most generalized in the industry is like 30 year lifetime architectural shingles.

So you have, you have manufacturer warranties that warrant 25 years on the dark streaks. You ever notice, you go buy a go buy a house and it's all dark. It just looks like crap. There's streaks. It's generally from a lack of sunlight, lack of ventilation insurance or not. Insurance company manufacture company companies, a lot of 'em will warn it up to 25, 30 years.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Houston Colson: So we're not perfect. We may go out of business, we don't plan on it.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

Houston Colson: But if we do, and we installed everything per manufacturer specifications, you're still eligible. For that 25 year leak warranty back through the manufacturing company.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Houston Colson: So there's perks to being certified at the highest ranks 'cause we're able to offer that to you. Okay. And that also gives you additional peace of mind.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. Awesome. Awesome. How important is it to have somebody with local expertise? I mean, you're from Clayton, you've been in the roofing business for 9- 10 years now, right. In this area. How important is it to understand our roofs, our weather? All of that in deciding what's the best roof and getting that roof on correctly.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. I mean, I'm just saying like I would think it would be important in something like roofing to have people that are experts that are familiar with this area. Like we have different types of weather, I mean, you know what I mean? I think that would be important to understand in choosing the product that would be best for roofs in this area.

They were storm chasing.

Jonathan Breeden: Storm chasing. Yeah.

Houston Colson: So whether you know the, whether you being aware of the weather that determines the product that choose, I would just go local. 'cause you can Go with the local reputable company 'cause you can hold 'em accountable to

Jonathan Breeden: Well, and we met through launch JoCo.

Houston Colson: Yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: And I guess I am your mentor in this product, which I, in this process, which is cool. Why did you choose to get involved with Launch JoCo, which is a business incubator program through Johnston Community College that is absolutely free to small businesses that are out there that would like to get involved and get some coaching. What was your thoughts in joining Launch JoCo?

Houston Colson: The approach was a no brainer because I'm not perfect. I got a lot to learn, so it exposed me to a lot of flaws within my systems, a lot of opportunities introducing me to great people. Growing my network, gaining more trust from the locals in the community.

Jonathan Breeden: It helped you with business planning.

Houston Colson: It's been a great, yeah, it's been significant.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, that's awesome. That's awesome. And I've enjoyed working with you and, and the other people and Launch JoCo. I think it's, I think it's great. I've been involved with Launch Garner for a few years.

I've enjoyed working with the small businesses there as well. So the last question we ask everybody on this podcast, what do you love most about Johnston County?

Houston Colson: I would say that was so enthusiastic, I would say. So being here for 14 years, I just, the growth, the ongoing developments, I the amount of support within the community really we, we have school system's. Great people are great. Everybody's receptive, everybody wants to help each other. The food's great.

Jonathan Breeden: That's true. That's awesome. That's true.

Houston Colson: So, and we could probably just keep going on.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah, no, you're right, you're right. So how can somebody reach out to you and roof stepper if they're interested in, in maybe getting a new roof?

Jonathan Breeden: and you'd be happy to just call. You're happy to come out, give 'em a free, no obligation estimate, or tell 'em what they think may or may not be wrong. And it may be that they don't need a new roof.

Houston Colson: Correct.

Jonathan Breeden: But they might be needing one in a few years, kinda like me,

Houston Colson: correct? Yeah. And they'll give you a peace of mind moving forward. So there's a reason why we get a vehicle inspection every year.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

Houston Colson: Whether you have to pursue and repair something, you get a peace of mind on what needs to be addressed.

It's no different than a roof. I don't know why people overlook the most important aspect of your temple that protects you when you're sleeping. So having a peace of mind of just the overall condition's important.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, that's cool. Alright, well we would like to thank Houston Colson and roof stepper for being our guest on this week's episode of The Best of Johnston County Podcast.

If you have any questions for Houston, leave us those questions. We'll make sure we get, get those to him and see if we can get you an answer. Until next time, I'm your host, Jonathan Breeden.

That's the end of today's episode of Best of Johnston County, a show brought to you by the trusted team at Breeden Law Office. We thank you for joining us today and we look forward to sharing more interesting facets of this community next week. Every story, every viewpoint adds another thread to the rich tapestry of Johnston County.

If the legal aspects highlighted raised some questions, help is just around the corner at www. breedenfirm. com.