Zach Reece describes himself as a “CPA gone rogue.” The tongue-in-cheek phrase creates an intriguing image of the mastermind behind Atlanta’s Colony Roofers, who took a sharp turn in the road in 2018 when he veered away from his flourishing, a high-speed career in the financial world to partner with his father in running a fledgling family roofing company.
What inspired Reece to take on the leadership role of one of Atlanta’s fastest-growing roofing companies?
A Man on a Mission: Why Roofing?
After earning his Economics degree as a Tarheel at UNC in Chapel Hill, Reece started his career as a CPA at Deloitte, the esteemed financial services firm, where Reece focused on tax compliance and mergers & acquisitions (M&A).
When he left Deloitte, his aim was to “try on” roofing for a change of pace. Entering an entirely new field proved challenging, but the highly driven Reece persevered through grit, determination, and curiosity. Even as he took on ownership of Colony Roofers, he partnered it with his family’s real estate development and investment firm, Guided Capital, for which he served as Vice President of Finance.
Yes, this man does everything at full tilt. “I actually never intended to get into roofing, or construction at all for that matter,” he says. “When the opportunity presented itself, I thought it might be a good thing to try on. The only problem is I don’t know how to ‘try on’ anything. I only know full-speed and overdrive!”
As to what rewards him in his role as a small business owner and contractor, Reece gives us a hint when he says, “The satisfaction that my team brings to the owners, PMs, and GCs we serve is now something I take great pride in.” Reece has built Colony Roofers into one of the best roofers in Atlanta in just a few years.
Achievements of This CPA-Turned-Roofer
Reece and his team at Colony Roofers are closing in on 3000 completed roof installations, repairs, and replacements in the greater Atlanta metropolitan area, including over 500 storm damage claims.
A native son of Atlanta, Reece learned a lot from his father’s expertise in construction. He’s made it a top priority to hire employees with roofing experience, a strong work ethic, and integrity. Under his leadership, the Colony Roofers team has built a reputation for quality and workmanship, with an A+ rating by the BBB.
A Life of Experience Leads to Expertise
In shaping his family-owned-and-operated roofing company, Reece developed the Colony Way of customer service, including a dedication to quality, trust, and value.
While growing up in Atlanta, working as a CPA and with his family’s investment firm, Reece learned what it would require to take his roofing company from the ground level to the top as one of Atlanta’s premier providers for residential and commercial roofing.
Now, in 2022, Reece has acquired roofing contracts with FirstKey Homes, Resipro, and two Nissan dealership locations in South Union City and Morrow, on top of countless commercial and residential accounts across the greater Atlanta Metro area.
Reece’s Three-Pronged Approach
Reece and his team have found technology solutions to streamline their operations at Colony Roofers and save their clients millions over the six years since they opened.
In the roofing industry, as in many other industries, the supply chain and staffing shortages are wreaking havoc on manufacturing, transport, and delivery timelines. Reece has developed a three-pronged solution, using technology to manage his supply chain issues,. These prongs include:
● Staying organized. Colony Roofers embraces a proprietary system to manage its workflows, using a Kanban board managed by the CRM and JobNimbus project management software.
● Maintaining customer communication. VoIP systems, automated email updates, review requests, and more help to maintain a constant stream of communication with customers so they never feel left out.
● Increasing efficiency in updating proposals. Inflation is causing constant shifts in pricing for roofing materials, which means that proposals often need fast updates to the current pricing. Reece uses software like SumoQuote to manage the current pricing of materials in the system and automatically update referenced material costs on job proposals for clients.
Industry Contributions to the Media
You may hear about Zach Reece and his team in the news, as they are publishing articles and writing press releases to grow their company into a roofing behemoth in the Atlanta Metro region.
Reece recently published an article on roofingcontractor.com titled “Using Technology to Deal with Supply Chain Issues.” In it, he describes the software and technological strategies for managing the operations at his roofing company to deal with supply chain problems, inflation, and communication with community developers, general contractors, and insurance companies.
Reece and his team also occasionally contribute to the online Atlanta Real Estate Forum, ensuring that local realtors, developers, and home buyers know what to look for in a professional Atlanta roofing company.
This rogue CPA seems to have found his niche as a roofing entrepreneur, and he and his company continue to make waves in the greater Atlanta Metro area as a winning roofing choice.
