Overview
Meet Kevin & Denise Brauer, owners of Storm Guard Roofing & Construction of SW St. Louis. They provide professional services such as roofing, siding repair, gutter installation and window replacement in the St. Louis Missouri area.
Q: What did you do prior to joining Storm Guard?
Kevin: Regional Sales Manager of Web, Print, and Processing for
Tesa Tape, North America
Denise: Radiologic Technologist and Health Education
Q: What is your greatest accomplishment in the business to date?
When I hear our teammates on the phone encouraging and helping a
homeowner, talking to them and coaching them through the restoration
process, hearing how they engage with a homeowner during a color
meeting at our office, going the extra mile for their homeowners, day or
night, seeing how hard they work at the job site, knowing they embrace and
share our culture with others, I consider that our greatest accomplishment.
Q: What is your role in the business and has that changed over time?
When we first opened, Kevin wore many hats. He worked in Sales,
Production, and took care of invoicing and payroll. As we have grown
and added staff, we have been able to offload some of those tasks.
We have created a Management Team that allows us to fine tune our
process and analyze numbers and trends to make improvements more
quickly, and keep us on track.
Q: What does the “Storm Guard Family” mean to you?
We truly enjoy connecting with all the franchisees and the executive team
at our yearly meetings. It means supporting each other when there are
challenges, and cheering for and celebrating each other on the victories.
You have multiple locations all over the country in your corner and wishing
you success! Its the stuff in your heart that can’t be measured that means
so much.
Q: How long have you been in business and what does your team look like today?
We opened in April of 2014. In January of 2018, we relocated our office from Chesterfield to Pacific, MO. Our staff consists of a Production Manager, Sales Manager, 4 Sales Associates, a Supplementer, and 3 in-house Production team members. Kevin is our General Manager and Denise is our Office Administrator.
Q: Can you tell us about your family and the lifestyle you enjoy now that your location is up and running?
Through Storm Guard and our vendors, we have met life long
friends. We enjoy taking trips with them and spending time engaging
in outdoor activities. We purchased an RV this year and try to spend as much time relaxing at the camper as we can. We live and work as a family. Scott, my brother-in-law is our Sales Manager, Mitch, our oldest son, is
in Sales and also performs many Production tasks to help the team out, and Trevor, our youngest son, fills in and works with us when he is home from college.
Q: As you evaluated franchise opportunities, what caused Storm Guard to rise to the top?
The roofing and construction industry seemed fragmented to
us. We liked the idea of a franchise and business that could
bring consistency, quality, and a name brand to the consumer
not only in our area, but nationwide. We saw the opportunity to not only help
homeowners in our community, but the ability to help our employees grow and advance in an industry with many career options available.
Q: Do you have a book, motto or quote that inspires you? What is it?
I really enjoyed, “Covert Cows and Chick-Fil-A,” by Steve
Robinson. “Make each day count!”
Q: How would you describe the support you’ve received as a franchisee?
Be dedicated 120%. Follow the system that Storm Guard has put in place for
you. Know that there will be long hours and weekends worked to keep up with
demands. With that comes satisfaction in knowing you provide a great product, help others, provide jobs, have support from all the other franchisees, and in turn, have a positive impact on your world.
Q: What advice would you give to potential franchisees looking to join the family?
Be dedicated 120%. Follow the system that Storm Guard has put in place for
you. Know that there will be long hours and weekends worked to keep up with demands. With that comes satisfaction in knowing you provide a great product, help others, provide jobs, have support from all the other franchisees, and in turn, have a positive impact on your world.
Q: How would you describe the support you’ve received as a franchisee?
The support is a critical piece of why we chose Storm Guard and to be part of a franchise. We both started the business ownership venture later on in life and we knew we needed the infrastructure, IT, CRM, FBC’s, marketing creation, and other components that being part of a franchise would offer us. Having those pieces already in place helped us focus on growing other aspects of the business at a quicker pace than if we had had to create those items on our own.
Q: What does success at Storm Guard mean to you?
Success at Storm Guard means customer satisfaction while continuing to grow the business. Those two things have to work in tandem. We strive to provide peace of mind for our clients and encourage our staff to grow personally and professionally. Another version of success at Storm Guard is when our team members work together to cover jobs, adjuster meetings, and go the extra mile not only for their homeowners but for each other. That is success.
Q: What do you enjoy most about the business/our business model?
Being able to help homeowners and coach them through the restoration process. As you know, many homeowners have never made an insurance claim before, and even if they have, they depend on, and trust us, to look out for their best interest. We strive to provide quality installs and great customer support for our homeowners. We also enjoy the relationships we have developed with homeowners, team members, vendors, and manufacturers.
Q: What is the biggest challenge in your business and why?
Finding personnel. It can be challenging to overcome a person’s hesitation about climbing ladders, performing roof inspections, knocking on doors, and the construction industry in general. We are diligent about finding the right people to fit in with our culture and standards of quality we provide for our homeowners. Our industry provides so many life time career opportunities, we need to be more vocal and get the word out about the roofing industry.
Q: How has Storm Guard enabled you to give back to your community?
We have been blessed to be able to give back to our community in many ways. We have sponsored scholarships for Queen candidates for our local fair, volunteered and donated at Bike MS events, held canned food and coat drives at our office, sponsored many Little League baseball and softball teams, the local high school FBLA club, and many high school athletic events such as golf tournaments as well. We encourage our team members to volunteer and serve our community as well.
