Dec 2016 as published in Construction News

When Gary Cram started his roof-ing business three decades ago, his goal resembles what he has now achieved.

In November, Cram Roofing celebrated 30 years in business with a party to honor the important milestone.

Cram started off doing the over-looked jobs that set up a solid foundation for his business.

“When I started, most of the roofing contractors in San Antonio were not interested in doing repair or small jobs be-cause they were not viewed as profit-able,” Cram said. “I realized that and start-ed in that arena with some large customers to get my feet on the ground.”

Since then, Cram has grown into a company that does jobs all over the country out of one office in San Antonio. When Cram Roofing works out of state, the company provides its own employees to ensure established standards of quality.

“One of the things that makes us different and unique, is that we actually travel,” COO Mark Eichelbaum said. “All of our equipment and people are based out of San Antonio, but when we do a job in Boston, we take our crew from San Antonio to Boston.”

Another part of the business that makes Cram Roofing unique is owning its own sheet metal fabrication machines. Having its own equipment not only keeps costs down, but prevents leaks in a problematic area.

“We have a very modern sheet metal facility and we’re able to break up 20 foot sheets of metal with what is called a double bender, which bends the metal both ways instead of having to twist it,” Gary Cram said. “It’s kind of the latest and greatest in metal bending.

“We’re able to produce 20-ft sheets of trim with fewer joints, which is the most common place for a roof to fail.”

Along with sheet met-al, Cram does tile, slate and low-sloped roofs in a variety of different types.

Not only does Cram Roofing have the machines to keep ahead in the business, but also the software to make the jobs efficient and as accurate as possible.

“We always want to be very efficient with our time and costs, so most of our superintendents are using an iPad or a laptop with technology and other pro-grams that expedite the process,” Cram said.

With 30 years on the books, Cram aims to keep doing what has made them successful in the past to continue growing, providing excellent quality and customer service.

“We want to keep serving our customer and doing the right thing every-day,” Cram said. “We will probably grow, but we’re not growth-only driven. We will continue to serve the great customers we have.” –cs