James Freeman and PJ Fitzpatrick discuss how workplace support, employee feedback, leadership care, and long term career growth are helping build sales teams that feel seen, supported, and ready for the future...
In a PowerChat hosted by Greg Cummings, Power100 CEO, James Freeman, CEO of PJ Fitzpatrick, shares how a trusted home improvement company in New Castle, Delaware builds stronger sales teams through workplace support, employee feedback, leadership care, and long term growth across the Mid Atlantic.
Many home improvement companies work hard to hire salespeople, fill training classes, book appointments, and grow revenue. But keeping strong salespeople is often harder than finding them. In a demanding field where sales teams carry pressure, meet homeowners in real life moments, and help families make big choices about roofing, siding, windows, doors, gutters, bath remodeling, and home repairs, James Freeman, CEO of PJ Fitzpatrick, believes leaders must build more than a sales force. They must build a workplace where people feel supported, equipped, and able to see a future. In a PowerChat conversation hosted by Greg Cummings, CEO of Power100, Freeman shared that strong sales teams are built in places where people know others are rooting for them, not only for today’s win, but for long term growth one year, three years, and five years ahead.
For PJ Fitzpatrick, a trusted home improvement company based in New Castle, Delaware, serving homeowners across Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and the wider Mid Atlantic region, that belief connects employee experience directly to customer experience. Freeman explained that salespeople need the right tools, clear support, and a workplace people want to come back to. He also shared how employee feedback helps the company learn, grow, and better understand the team experience from the inside.
Power100 is the only unbiased third-party platform that recognizes and elevates the top leaders and most impactful companies in the home improvement industry. Through this PowerChat, Freeman’s message gives the industry a clear reminder that sales success is not only built through commission plans or lead flow. It is built through people, trust, support, and a workplace strong enough to help talent stay and grow.
During the PowerChat conversation, James Freeman focused on a challenge many home improvement companies are facing across the industry. Finding salespeople is only part of the battle. The harder challenge is creating a workplace where people want to stay, continue growing, and feel confident about their future inside the company. In an industry built around roofing, siding, windows, doors, gutters, bath remodeling, and home repair services, sales teams often work in fast moving and high pressure environments. Freeman explained that strong companies cannot only think about short term performance. They must also think about the employee experience that shapes long term success.
That became one of the most important directions of the conversation. Instead of talking only about sales numbers or hiring strategies, Freeman focused on what happens after someone joins the company. He explained that people perform better when they feel supported, equipped, and surrounded by leaders who want them to succeed beyond the next sale. This kind of workplace culture is becoming more important as companies compete to attract and keep strong talent.
The conversation also highlighted how employee experience now affects much more than internal morale. It directly shapes the customer experience. Salespeople who feel supported are more likely to communicate clearly, build trust with homeowners, and represent the company with confidence inside the home. Freeman shared that support must go beyond training alone. Employees need tools, leadership guidance, feedback, and a clear sense that the company is invested in their growth over time. That long term thinking helps turn jobs into careers and teams into stronger communities.
Freeman also spoke about the importance of listening to employees instead of only speaking to them. He explained that PJ Fitzpatrick uses employee feedback platforms like Glassdoor as a way to learn from the real experiences of team members. That approach reflects a larger belief that growth comes from listening, improving, and creating a workplace people are proud to be part of. For a trusted home improvement company based in New Castle, Delaware, the conversation showed how workplace trust, leadership support, and long term career growth are becoming major competitive advantages in the future of home improvement.
As the discussion continued, Freeman’s message became larger than one company or one sales strategy. It became a conversation about the future of leadership in home improvement. The companies that continue to grow will not only be the ones with strong marketing or lead generation systems. They will be the ones that build workplaces where people feel seen, supported, respected, and excited about the future they are building together.
Freeman explained that strong companies are not only focused on production goals or sales numbers. They are also focused on the environment that helps people succeed every day. For him, a workplace should feel like a place where employees know they are valued, trusted, and supported when they walk through the door.
“Along the way, you need to create a workplace that people want to come to work, where they know that when they come to work, they’re supported,” said James Freeman, CEO of PJ Fitzpatrick.
That message carries real weight in the home improvement industry. Salespeople often spend their days helping homeowners through major decisions involving roof replacements, siding upgrades, window installation, bath remodeling, door replacement, and exterior home repairs. Those conversations require confidence, patience, and trust. Freeman explained that confidence begins before the appointment ever starts. It begins in the workplace employees return to every day.
For PJ Fitzpatrick, workplace culture has become part of the company’s larger customer promise. Employees who feel supported internally are more prepared to guide homeowners with care, professionalism, and confidence. That support also helps create stronger teamwork between departments, stronger communication, and a better experience for families trusting the company inside their homes.
Freeman’s perspective also reflects a larger shift happening across the Mid Atlantic home improvement industry. Employees today are not only looking for a paycheck. They want to feel proud of where they work and hopeful about where their future can go.
Another major part of Freeman’s message was his long term view of leadership. He explained that real support cannot only focus on today’s performance. Leaders must think about where employees can grow in the future and what kind of path the company is helping them build over time.
“Looking for ways for them to be successful in the future, whether a year from now, three years from now, five years from now,” said Freeman.
That idea gives this conversation a deeper meaning. Many companies focus on filling open roles quickly, but Freeman described a different approach. He spoke about helping employees build careers that continue growing over time. That means giving people opportunities to improve, take on more responsibility, and imagine themselves succeeding inside the company years into the future.
For a trusted roofing, siding, windows, doors, gutters, and bath remodeling company serving the Mid Atlantic, this kind of long term thinking helps create stronger teams and lower turnover. Employees who feel there is a future ahead of them are more likely to stay committed, continue learning, and represent the company with pride.
Freeman’s perspective also points to an important leadership lesson for the industry. The strongest companies are not only the ones hiring talent. They are the ones helping talent stay, grow, and become stronger over time. In home improvement sales, where pressure and burnout can be common, long term support becomes one of the biggest reasons employees choose to remain part of the team.
Freeman also emphasized the practical side of support. He explained that motivation alone is not enough. Employees need tools, systems, training, and leadership support that help them perform at a high level while serving customers with clarity and confidence.
“They have those tools to be successful,” said Freeman.
That support can take many forms. It includes onboarding, product education, customer communication systems, financing knowledge, technology, and ongoing training that helps employees continue improving after their first weeks on the job.
“Training and onboarding never ends in sales,” Freeman explained.
For homeowners looking for trusted roofing, siding, windows, doors, bath remodeling, gutters, and home repair services, those tools matter because they help create a smoother customer experience. A prepared salesperson can explain products more clearly, answer questions with confidence, and guide homeowners through important decisions without confusion or pressure.
Freeman’s message also highlights the role leadership plays in removing roadblocks for employees. Strong systems help people focus less on uncertainty and more on serving customers well. When companies invest in training and support, employees are better prepared to grow into trusted advisors rather than simply sales representatives.
One of the most human parts of the conversation came when Freeman spoke about leadership support. He explained that employees need more than managers tracking numbers or checking reports. They need leaders who genuinely care about their growth and success.
“They have people that are rooting for them to be successful, not just today, but looking for ways for them to be successful in the future,” said Freeman.
Salespeople often experience difficult moments. Some days bring rejection, pressure, missed opportunities, or challenging homeowner conversations. Freeman explained that leaders must help people through those moments instead of only focusing on outcomes.
“That manager that supports them is their life coach, their friend, their counselor, and the person who picks them up in their worst of moments and celebrates them in their best,” he said.
That perspective changes the way leadership is viewed inside a home improvement company. It turns leadership into something more personal and more connected to employee wellbeing. Freeman’s message suggests that employees grow stronger when they know leadership is invested in them as people, not only as performers.
For companies across the Mid Atlantic home improvement market, this kind of support can become a major advantage. Employees who feel encouraged and backed by leadership are more likely to recover from setbacks, continue improving, and build stronger trust with homeowners over time.
Freeman also spoke openly about employee feedback and how PJ Fitzpatrick uses platforms like Glassdoor as more than a recruiting tool. Instead of treating feedback as something to avoid, he explained that the company uses it as a learning opportunity.
“We utilize Glassdoor not just only to be able to share our story with customers or customers as employees or potential employees are who we are, but we use it as a ground to learn from the experiences that those employees have and they share,” said Freeman.
That perspective reflects humility and openness from leadership. Freeman’s message suggests that companies improve when leaders are willing to listen to what employees experience every day. Feedback becomes valuable because it gives leadership a better understanding of where support is strong and where growth is still needed.
This approach also connects naturally to PJ Fitzpatrick being named a 2026 USA TODAY Top Workplaces winner through employee feedback. That recognition helps reinforce the idea that the company’s culture is being felt by the people inside the organization, not only described publicly.
For trusted home improvement contractors serving the Mid Atlantic, employee trust is becoming an important part of long term business success. Companies that listen carefully to their teams are often better prepared to improve communication, strengthen culture, and create environments where employees want to stay.
As the conversation continued, Freeman connected everything back to the homeowner. He explained that customer trust is shaped by the people representing the company inside the home. When employees feel prepared, supported, and proud of where they work, that confidence becomes visible to the customer.
“That customer in most cases has already decided that PJ Fitzpatrick is a company that they’d be willing to do business with,” Freeman explained. “They decide whether they want to do business with us based on that person in front of them.”
That statement highlights the deep connection between workplace culture and customer experience. Homeowners searching for trusted roofing, siding, windows, doors, gutters, bath remodeling, and home repair services are not only choosing products. They are choosing the people guiding them through the process.
Freeman also explained that PJ Fitzpatrick wants employees to see long term potential in the company instead of viewing sales as a temporary position.
“We don’t want to have a sales rep that’s working a job. We want a sales rep that is working their career,” he said.
That long term approach helps create stronger customer relationships because employees who see a future inside the company are more likely to care deeply about the homeowner experience. They bring more patience, trust, professionalism, and consistency into every appointment.
The ideas James Freeman shared during the PowerChat are not only showing up in conversation. They are also becoming visible through the way PJ Fitzpatrick continues to grow, support its people, and earn recognition across the home improvement industry.
As a trusted home improvement company serving homeowners across Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and the Mid Atlantic region, the company’s recent milestones reflect a larger commitment to leadership, employee experience, and long term team development.
One of the clearest examples came when James Freeman was named a 2026 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Greater Philadelphia Finalist. The recognition honors leaders who are helping drive innovation, growth, and meaningful impact within their industries. For PJ Fitzpatrick, the recognition also reflects Freeman’s continued focus on building a company rooted in strong leadership, customer trust, and a workplace culture designed to help people succeed over the long term.
The recognition matters because it aligns closely with the message Freeman shared throughout the PowerChat conversation. His focus on creating a workplace where employees feel supported, equipped, and encouraged is not being treated as a short term business strategy. It is being built into the company’s long term direction. From roofing and siding to windows, doors, gutters, bath remodeling, and home repair services, the company’s growth continues to be connected to the people helping deliver those experiences every day.
PJ Fitzpatrick also earned national recognition as a 2026 USA TODAY Top Workplaces winner, an honor based entirely on employee feedback. That distinction gives additional weight to the company’s people first approach because it reflects the real experiences of the team itself. In a fast moving home improvement industry where employee retention and workplace culture are becoming major challenges, recognition driven by employee voice carries deeper meaning. It shows that the company’s culture is not only being described publicly, but also being experienced internally by the people helping move the organization forward.
Another important example of this internal investment can be seen through the company’s Emerging Leaders program. The first year of the internal leadership initiative recently wrapped, highlighting PJ Fitzpatrick’s effort to help team members continue growing beyond their current roles. Employees participating in the program committed themselves to personal growth, leadership development, and stepping outside their comfort zones as they prepared for larger opportunities within the company.
The program also reflected the company’s long term view of employee development. Instead of only focusing on immediate performance, the Emerging Leaders initiative showed how PJ Fitzpatrick is investing in future leadership from within its own team. That kind of internal growth creates stronger continuity, stronger culture, and stronger trust throughout the organization.
A special part of the program’s success came through the leadership of Jen Foley, whose guidance helped shape the experience for participants throughout the year. Her role in leading the class with care, encouragement, and intentional support reflects many of the same leadership themes Freeman discussed during the PowerChat conversation.
Together, these milestones help reinforce a larger point about the company’s direction. PJ Fitzpatrick is not only focused on growing as a trusted roofing, siding, windows, doors, gutters, and bath remodeling contractor across the Mid Atlantic. The company is also investing deeply in the people behind that growth. Through leadership recognition, employee driven workplace honors, and internal development programs, the organization continues building a workplace where employees can see a future, develop new skills, and feel connected to something larger than the next sale.
James Freeman’s message offers the home improvement industry a different way to think about sales success and long term growth. The companies that continue to stand out will not only be the ones hiring quickly or offering competitive pay. They will be the ones creating workplaces where people feel supported enough to stay, confident enough to grow, and encouraged enough to build a future inside the company.
That future begins long before a salesperson enters a customer’s home. It begins in the everyday experiences employees have with leadership, training, feedback, teamwork, and support. When people feel trusted and equipped, they bring a different level of confidence and care into every homeowner conversation. They communicate more clearly, solve problems with more patience, and represent the company with greater pride.
At PJ Fitzpatrick, that long term thinking can be seen in the company’s focus on employee experience, leadership development, workplace support, and career growth. James Freeman’s perspective shows that building stronger sales teams is not only about helping people succeed today. It is about helping them continue growing into stronger professionals and leaders over time.
As the home improvement industry works to attract and keep the next generation of talent across roofing, siding, windows, doors, gutters, bath remodeling, and home repair services, Freeman’s message points toward a more sustainable future. The strongest companies will be the ones that help employees see not only what they can achieve this month or this year, but also who they can become years from now.
That is the larger lesson behind the conversation. When people feel seen, supported, and invested in, they are more likely to stay, keep growing, and help create the kind of customer experience that builds lasting trust for the future of the industry.
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