Trademark Roofing, established in 2015, had a goal to grow across Southwest Florida. Hurricane Ian accelerated that growth, prompting the fledgling company to open a new Sanibel Island headquarters.
Trademark cut the ceremonial ribbon Tuesday at 1149 Periwinkle Way, on an island in dire need of new roofs more than a year after the devastating storm struck Sept. 28, 2022.
The new office opens just as roofing prices have started to stabilize, which should bring good news to current and future Trademark clients, CEO Tristan Starbird said.
“Right after the storm, the first email we received was from our suppliers,” Starbird said. “They told us the prices were going to go up at least 15 to 20% for our materials. Of course, we had to pass that on, but that was the reality.
“Then we fast forward 13 months. It’s very stable now. Costs have been very stable. I wouldn’t say they’ve gone down, but I would say we haven’t seen any increase across the board for the longest time since COVID. We were getting routine price increases month to month after COVID. And then the storm.”
The price stability has given Trademark Roofing a bit of a breather, Starbird said.
“This has been nice,” he said, “because we’ve been working seven days a week. It has slowed down the last three months in terms of demand, but there’s still a lot of work to be done.”
Trademark recently completed a new roof at the Bubble Room restaurant on Captiva Island.
“Basically, we’ve been growing year over year. Pretty healthy, ever since,” said Starbird, who joined the company in 2018. When Indiana transplant Doug Littler founded Trademark, he had about 20 total employees. Now, he has about 20 employees staffing its offices and about 120 employees on its roofing crews.
“And then the storm happened,” Starbird said. “And so, part of our business model has been to figure out how to expand our reach and also improve our customer service. We feel like Sanibel and Captiva and then Fort Myers Beach—because they were so badly hit—need more help. There are still a lot of people waiting for insurance. They are still waiting for a ruling on the 50% rule.”
That accelerated Trademark’s efforts to establish an office on Sanibel.
“We wanted to grow there eventually,” Starbird said. “Then the storm kind of sped that plan up. After the storm, it became possible. And now we’re going to be able to use that as a hub to provide better service to everybody on the island. We’re already seeing a difference. Just telling people that we’re on the island, they’re already more trusting.
“We’re not storm chasers. We’re committed to that level of care and service. We feel like there are other opportunities in other places in the future.”