How Creatum Became a Roofing Company

Here’s Our Story

In 2019, my grandmother mentioned that she had multiple trouble areas in her roof leaking into her home. After requesting various estimates, she wasn’t sure she could afford a new roof over her head. There were layers after layers of roofing on the home due to many DIY work and patches, along with years of neglected warped sheathing underneath. I decided it was time to step in and look at all our options. I reviewed some estimates and realized a severe lack of information regarding what was covered; it was time to do some digging!

Justin to the Rescue

I will brag a little about how amazing this guy is as a person. Justin is the type of guy who has always been willing to help. I came home in tears one day after being completely disrespected at a job that I was working; this hadn’t been the first time I had struggled with management there. He had me quit and pulled extra hours to support the household until I found a new job. He’s a bleeding-heart guy who will make hard sacrifices to make the world a little easier to live in. Naturally, when I brought up the situation with my grandmother, he mentioned, “Well, I know how to roof.”

Justin went on two deployments to the Middle East and one to Europe, and like many other veterans, Justin struggled to find solid work when he was released from duty. Sailing positions for Navy vets in the beautiful state of Montana are few and far between. He landed a job with another company where he learned shingle roofing and metal. He continued to grow with this company until he decided to return to school.

(If you are still wondering, yes, Justin still likes his old boss, and we send people their way sometimes!)

A Little About Me

Before starting this venture, I went to college for business management. I also have a few years of experience in management and administration work. I worked for a beautiful tech company in account management and was no stranger to paperwork and contracts. In my previous work experience, I learned that I loved numbers, statistics, networking, researching, and teaching new things. I love working with my clients to find the most cost-effective and efficient solutions to their problems. I am the type of person who, if I don't know the answer, I probably know someone who does, or I will do my best to find it.

My passion may be in the office, but I also enjoy roofing. The fresh Montana air, sunshine, and a little exercise are good for the soul. Of course, each project comes with its own challenges, and I have never been on a roof that did not teach me a valuable roofing lesson. As much as I enjoy the challenges of entrepreneurship if your dog needs a ball thrown for them and I'm there, they will always come first.

"Woofs before Roofs"

Creatum Roofing Was Born

Back to my grandmother's roof situation, I worked with the insurance company, which only wanted to cover essential tools and materials. I had never roofed a day in my life, so this would be an adventure. Justin and I worked together to get our business up, licensing, and everything legitimate so we could do the work. Once all that was completed, we took some vacation time and planned to start our first project together. We had yet to learn there would be a second, third, fourth, etc.

Another problem arose as we got closer to the project start date. Just two days before the project, Justin received a message from his manager about his already approved time off.

"If you take this time off, don't bother coming back."

Confused by this, we were back to the drawing board when I asked him, do you really want to go back? When the answer was "not really," deciding to become our own company was effortless.

Of course, this meant I had to leave my job; however, my manager was amazingly supportive. She knew my drive and mentioned that she saw this coming. She knew I was going before I did! I remained there for another few weeks to train my replacement while Justin stayed home and got our ducks in a row. Shortly after my departure, we landed job #2 and were off!