Good Neighbor Podcast: Frisco

EP 283: Roofing Done Right: A Husband-Wife Team's Approach

• Sophia Yvette

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What makes Dana and Don McCollum with North Texas A-2-Z Roofing Good Neighbors?

What happens when decades of hands-on roofing experience meets genuine customer care? Dana and Don McCollum have the answer. This husband-wife team has transformed the roofing experience for homeowners across North Texas with their refreshingly personal approach to an often impersonal industry.

Starting their women-owned business in 2021 but armed with contracting experience dating back to the 1980s, the McCollums have deliberately chosen quality over quantity. "We do one roof at a time," Don McCollum explains, highlighting what makes North Texas A-2-Z Roofing different from competitors who juggle multiple projects simultaneously. Their commitment to excellence extends beyond installation—Don personally oversees each project from beginning to completion, ensuring every detail meets their exacting standards.

The business model they've built stands in stark contrast to industry norms. They take no payment until the job is complete and the customer is satisfied. They provide comprehensive documentation including before-and-after photos, manufacturer registration, and a lifetime warranty on labor. Most importantly, they prioritize education—explaining their "winterization program" for maintaining roofs between replacements and warning homeowners about the one-year window insurance provides for claiming storm damage. As Dana notes, "The longer you wait, the more they charge you for depreciation."

Their approach has earned them not just an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, but something far more valuable: a steady stream of referrals from delighted customers who can't help but recommend them to neighbors and family. It's proof that in today's digital age, quality work and genuine care still generate the most powerful marketing of all—word of mouth.

What makes the McCollums a good neighbor? It’s their commitment to honesty, education, and personal attention—every homeowner is treated like family. With their hands-on approach, no-pressure assessments, and unmatched integrity, they’ve set a new standard for what it means to do roofing the right way.

To learn more about North Texas A-2-Z Roofing, go to:
 NorthTexasA2ZRoofing.com

 North Texas A2Z Roofing

 214-728-7286

Speaker 1:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Sophia Yvette.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a roofing company? Well, one may be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbors Dawn and Dana McCollum, with North Texas A to Z Roofing. Dawn and Dana, how are you today? We're well. Thank you so much for having us, Of course, and we're excited to learn all about you and your business. Can you start off by telling our listeners a little bit about your company?

Speaker 3:

Well, we are actually a women-owned company we're 51 and 49% but we are a team 100% husband and wife team, local business here in Tarrant County, and we also do the surrounding counties as well take care of them in Dallas County and so forth and we started our business back in December of 2021. And we started our business back in December of 2021. But we both have contracting experience Don since the 80s and myself since the 90s.

Speaker 4:

So what would you like to say? Well, we also cover. We go all the way to Grayson County, which is right close to Oklahoma. We've gone all the way to Waco. We don't mind traveling to do a good job, and our two main goals are, number one, to make the customer happy and number two, to make sure that the roof looks beautiful. When we get done, everything has to match, and that's our goal. When we walk away, we want to say that pops, that looks good, and we never get callbacks for weeks.

Speaker 2:

Wow. So, don and Dana, how did you get into this business, especially as a married couple?

Speaker 3:

Well, I'll start and then Don can add to it. But when we first met six years ago, don was working for another company that was not construction related, and I knew that he was not happy with his job, and so I said we can do this. We both have the background, we both can, we both have a sales background, we all have a contracting background, and so it just made sense along with my real estate, because I am a licensed realtor as well that we could combine many of the aspects between homes that are being sold or buying and need new roofs. So Don came on board with that decision and we've been a partner ever since.

Speaker 4:

And for me personally, I started doing roofs in the mid to late 80s and I went from there and when I say I started, I'm talking back in my younger days and I was the one carrying the shingles up. I was the one nailing the shingles down. I'd done it all and I went from there. I've been in construction. I've built houses from the ground up, poured the cement all the way up to the ceiling, drywall, everything, and I've been in construction. My whole family has been in construction my whole life and it's something that's very gratifying.

Speaker 4:

The biggest part is to make the customer happy, and that's what lacks in today's business world is gratitude. You know a lot of roofing companies and I'm not talking down any other roofing companies, but a lot of roofing companies. They want the job, they want to send a crew there and that's it. They won't ever show back up until they get the money or whatever, and a lot of times they try to get the money up ahead. We don't take any money until the job is done and the customer is satisfied. And I'm on the job from the beginning, before the crew gets there, until the job is complete.

Speaker 4:

And and I'm on the job from the beginning, before the crew gets there until the job is complete, and I make sure that everything is done. We don't do two and three roofs a day, we do one roof at a time. When that roof is complete, we'll start the next job and I make sure that everything is done exactly the way we want it done. Dana takes care of all the insurance. Me and Dana both work with the homeowners, but she does more of the homeowner talk on the phone. I don't like the phone, I like taking care of business. She does great with insurance. She does great with the homeowners and the homeowners love it when me and her come together, because I think we make a great team.

Speaker 2:

Well, it sounds like your love was really brought under one roof.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely. Now, who are your target customers and how do you attract them? Well, we used to go door to door. Okay, and that is just not a good way to go. We did have some success with door to door, but our most success now, even after four years, is our referrals.

Speaker 4:

Word of mouth.

Speaker 3:

Word of mouth. We're members of the Better Business Bureau with an A plus rating. We, we take care of business and that's now finally, as our company has grown, has getting out there. And again, we do not strive to be the top dog in roofing. We, just like Don said previously, we do one roof at a time, make people happy and move on with the next one.

Speaker 4:

We got a phone call last night. We did a roof two months ago and we have a program called a winterization program to where, if your roof is in pretty good shape but you have some failing parts, like your protrusions, that come out of your ceiling, your roof we call it a winterization. We'll take the old caulk off, put new caulk on, do this, do that. Well, we've done this to several houses in this one neighborhood and then all of a sudden they got a hail storm and one of them people that we've done the winterization on called us and said hey, can you come over here and look at my roof Because we got a bunch of hail. So we went over there and looked at the roof.

Speaker 4:

Long story short, the roof was totaled. We, long story short, the roof was totaled, we replaced the roof and, like I said, I'm there from the beginning to the end. And then last night we got a phone call and this is from two months ago. And last night we get a phone call from the neighbor across the street and he says well, we want you all to do our roof, because my wife was really happy with the fact that Don was there from the beginning until the end walking around that house and doing this and we've seen the quality of work and it goes from one neighbor to the next neighbor, to the next kinfolk, to whoever References. Is the best way to grow your business other than advertising?

Speaker 3:

Right. So, organically, we've increased our business through referrals and we love that. And and then those referrals are happy to give us a good review on our Better Business Bureau account. So there you go.

Speaker 2:

Now we know marketing is the heart of every business. Have you ever thought about doing your own podcast?

Speaker 3:

No, ma'am, we have not.

Speaker 4:

I'm not photogenic, I'm not good looking in person, but I'm sure not good looking on a camera?

Speaker 3:

No, we have not. That's way out of the comfort zone. I haven't done it even in my real estate, because I'm just, you know, I'm just me. And again, a lot of our business comes through referrals.

Speaker 4:

So I helped my son start a roofing company in Grayson County and he has grown tremendously and he does do podcasts and his business is great. Does do podcasts and his business is great and I worked with him for a while and then me and dana decided hey, let's go to arlington, let's do our thing, yep so well, that's awesome.

Speaker 2:

Now please tell our listeners, because I'm sure you have delivered a lot of great information. But one thing they should remember about North Texas A to Z roofing.

Speaker 3:

Well, again, like Dawn had said earlier, we're not like the other companies. We take photos from start to finish. The homeowner gets those, receives those photos. We register the roof with the manufacturer. We have a lifetime warranty on our labor. Um we, uh. What else do we do?

Speaker 4:

we pride ourselves on cleanup yeah the way it looks and the way afterwards there's, you're not gonna. You know, I've heard a lot of. I've heard a lot of horror stories and seen a lot of horror stories about people that say, hey, now I've got four flats after y'all done the roof. No, we don't have that. We, we make sure that we clean the job up after we're done. Very well, it looks better. I've had people say that my yard looks better after y'all got done than what it did before y'all started.

Speaker 2:

And how can our listeners learn more about North Texas A to Z roofing.

Speaker 3:

Well, you know there's myths on roofing that people think that you got a roof, it's good. Well, north Texas, we have, I can't even. We have countless storms between hail, wind, rain, tornadoes, you name it, we have it. And so we want the listeners to know that you still have to take care of your roof as if it was your annual HVAC inspection, your spring and fall annual HVAC inspection, your spring and fall.

Speaker 3:

Well, if you know you've had damage to your roof, insurance only allows it to go out one year from the storm date. So that means if you've got had a storm and you've had significant hail, wind et cetera you're seeing shingles flying off the house, call us and we'll come out and do a complimentary, no charge roof inspection to let you know, prior to calling insurance, what the situation is. It could just be a repair or bad enough to go ahead and call in for an insurance claim. And again, if there's nothing wrong, it doesn't hurt to have your roof looked at every couple of years to make sure all the roof penetrations still have caulking on it, because it melts away and rots off and so forth, and we would refresh it and do a winterization.

Speaker 4:

And that's where the winterization comes into. Like all the roofs that we've done winterizations on, they know that every two to three years you need to have that roof checked at again. We go up there and if we have to do another winterization program we'll do it, but at the same time when we're on that roof, we're completely inspecting that roof. The thing with insurance is if you've got a problem, the longer you wait, the more they charge you for depreciation.

Speaker 2:

So the quicker we catch the mess, the better off you are, saving money as a homeowner and where can our listeners go to learn more about North Texas A to Z Roofing?

Speaker 3:

They can go to NorthTexasAtoZRoofingcom. They can go to our North Texas A to Z Facebook page. They can also reach out to us and call us direct. My number is 214-728-7286 and Dawn's is 903-328-7127. And we're not your typical company that shuts the phone off at five o'clock or don't answer the phone on the weekends or Sundays, because some insurance companies are now scheduling appointments for Sunday afternoon, say, two o'clock.

Speaker 4:

And we were there this Sunday.

Speaker 3:

And we were exactly. We were here this last Sunday to another home, and so again, we pride ourselves on customer service. Again, from start to finish. We want them to be happy and have a good experience with such an expensive remodel to their home. So there you go.

Speaker 2:

Well, Dawn and Dana, I really appreciate you both being on the show. We wish you and your business the best moving forward.

Speaker 3:

Thank you so much for having us and we greatly appreciate this opportunity to speak out to everyone that's on this podcast and we look forward to phone calls, so thank you thank you for listening to the good neighbor podcast.

Speaker 1:

to nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpfriscocom. That's gnpfriscocom, or call 469-221-9345.