Perhaps the importance of business experience has never been more critical than in the roofing sector.

Pinnacle Group Inc., operated by the father and son team of Graydon and Brandon Hexham, President and Vice-President respectively, holds plenty of knowledge in the roofing market it serves. Experienced with all types of roofing products and systems, Pinnacle Group is an expert in new construction, replacement, retrofit, restoration and repair. Those services, of course, are diverse, including roof condition reports, specification and tender documents, inspection services, testing services, and infrared thermography services, among others, all customized to meet the unique needs of its market and growing clientele.

Pillars of its success

The Pinnacle Group was founded in 1991 after Graydon learned the trade serving as a sales manager for several manufacturers over the years. In that 20-year history, the company has seen significant growth, beginning from its early days of working out of the house, with a truck, a roof rack and a ladder, to the growth and the development that is the Pinnacle Group today. Over the past two years, the Pinnacle Group has been involved in more than 800 projects, a particularly impressive feat given the financial limbo of the construction sector over that time.

It is interesting to note that the recession seemingly had little impact on the Pinnacle Group. Sales have increased in each of the company’s 20 years, which can be attributed to the company’s diverse client base, which includes shopping malls, hospitals, insurance companies, property management companies, industrial clients, governmental agencies, condominiums, school boards, universities and more.

Quite simply, the Pinnacle Group has grown to become experts in its market, experts in roofing and building envelope inspection because of its superior technical knowledge, experience and service.

“We have some very large customers that give us a lot of work,” said Graydon, noting that Pinnacle Group tries to stay in Ontario, aside from its national accounts. “We are mostly trying to get into other areas of expertise in building construction, mostly for inspection and testing. We always like getting into interesting projects, things we haven’t done.

“We also try to recycle and reuse when we can, materials already on the roof that are not damaged and wet, like reusing insulation, the most expensive component [in the roof].”

Trusted employees

In training its employees to best represent the company, Pinnacle Group places a strong emphasis on employee development through education.

“Our management is hands-on and has been out in the field with a well-rounded education.

We spend a tremendous amount of time on education of our staff,” said Graydon, adding that new hires are not simply released into the sector, but rather serve as a shadow to a senior employee for two years, building their own experience, confidence and know-how, until Pinnacle Group feels the new employees can properly do the work.

Today, the company stands at 16 employees, with hopes of growing to 30, through sector diversification, such as asphalt and paving, overall greater aspects of the complete building envelope. It is with that the company rebranded itself about four years ago as the Pinnacle Group, previously known as Pinnacle Roofing Consultants, and with that, new and existing clients realized the company conducted the entire building envelope, realizing then it could do more. Pinnacle Group is certainly not typecast to the roofing sector and there are surely plans for further future diversification.

Competitive edge

According to Graydon, Pinnacle Group is among the top three companies in Ontario servicing the roofing sector. An emphasis on funnel-down leadership separates the company from the rest.

“We do a lot of things differently than a lot of our competitors,” said Brandon. “We have an online system that we use for bidding projects, as well as for reading reports and retrieving reports for property managers or owners, so it is easy to get information in an instant.”

Pinnacle Group has expanded quite a bit already and the goal for the future remains more of the same. Clients of Pinnacle Group are eager for the expansion and look forward to giving more work to the company when the time comes.

Graydon added, “When one segment [of the economy] goes down, the other goes up. We seem to ride those waves. We have good, solid blue chip accounts that have money put away for the work that needs to be done. [Clients] know that the costs only go up if you do not attend to the business properly, so the work gets done.

“We certainly feel that we are experts at what we do and it is to other people’s advantage. We are always anxious to talk, even if to only educate people or help them with a problem. We want to continue being what we consider as the leaders.”  

www.thepinnaclegroup.ca