Inside PJ Fitzpatrick, Greg Cummings uncovered how disciplined culture, customer trust, and leadership development are helping a fast growing home improvement company scale without losing its soul...
In a powerful PowerChat interview, Lauren Kingsley, a leading home service growth consultant, explains why traditional contractor growth models are breaking and how companies can scale with stronger teams, better systems, and protected margins in a rapidly changing market.
PJ Fitzpatrick has become one of the most trusted names in exterior home improvement by staying focused on the things that matter most to homeowners. Known for roof repair and roof replacement, siding, replacement windows, doors, gutters, and bathroom remodeling with wet area bath systems, the company has built a strong reputation for doing quality work and standing behind it.
For decades, homeowners across the Northeast have turned to PJ Fitzpatrick not only because they need a roof repaired or windows replaced, but because they want a company they can trust inside their home. In an industry where fast growth can often weaken service, PJ Fitzpatrick continues to prove that growth can strengthen a business when the right values lead the way.
That was the focus of Power100’s recent visit to PJ Fitzpatrick headquarters.
Power100 is the only unbiased third-party platform that recognizes and elevates the top leaders and most impactful companies in the home improvement industry.
As part of this featured office interview experience, Greg Cummings, CEO of Power100, spent time inside PJ Fitzpatrick’s weekly business review and sat down with leaders across operations, sales, human resources, learning and development, and post installation service.
What emerged was far more than a story about revenue growth or market expansion.
It was a closer look at the systems, leadership habits, and cultural discipline that allow PJ Fitzpatrick to grow while protecting the values that built the brand.
Across every conversation, one thing became clear. PJ Fitzpatrick is intentionally scaling around four enduring pillars.
People first culture.
Disciplined growth.
Community responsibility.
Customer trust.
From trusted roof repair that puts homeowners first, to leadership development programs that create new career paths, to community involvement that reaches beyond the jobsite, PJ Fitzpatrick is building a model that shows what long term growth in home improvement can look like.
In home improvement, growth often creates distance.
As companies get bigger, leaders can become harder to reach. Departments can begin working in separate lanes. Training can lose consistency. Customers can feel the difference long before anyone inside the business says it out loud.
That is what made the office visit to PJ Fitzpatrick so revealing.
The purpose of these interviews was simple but important. Greg Cummings wanted to go beyond surface level reputation and see how a trusted exterior home improvement company actually operates from the inside. That meant sitting inside the weekly business review, listening to how leaders talk about the business in real time, and hearing directly from the people responsible for roofing, repair, operations, training, recruiting, and growth.
What emerged was not a polished corporate presentation.
It was a real working view of a company that is expanding across markets while working hard to protect what made homeowners trust the brand in the first place.
For homeowners searching for an honest roof repair company, a trusted roof replacement contractor, a reliable window replacement company, or a team that can handle siding, gutters, doors, and bathroom remodeling with care, these conversations mattered because they revealed what happens behind the scenes before a crew ever arrives at the home.
The audience for these interviews reaches far beyond homeowners.
Contractors, industry leaders, future employees, and business operators can all learn from what is happening inside this organization. The home improvement industry is under more pressure than ever to grow faster, hire better, and maintain quality while customer expectations keep rising. That makes this story especially relevant now.
The scale of what is happening is hard to ignore.
A business that once had around 100 employees is now approaching 800. New markets are opening. New leaders are stepping forward. New systems are being built. Yet inside the office, the focus remains close to the customer, close to the team, and close to the values that shaped the company from the start.
That is what made this visit stand out.
The interviews showed something rare in today’s market.
Rapid growth does not have to weaken service. It does not have to dilute culture. It does not have to create distance between leadership and the people doing the work.
Inside PJ Fitzpatrick, growth appears to be doing the opposite. It is creating stronger alignment, deeper trust, and a clearer standard for what long term success in exterior home improvement can look like.
The most valuable part of the office visit was not simply watching meetings or walking through departments.
It was hearing directly from the people carrying the business forward every day.
Across conversations with leaders in repair, sales, operations, human resources, and learning and development, a clear pattern emerged. Every leader described growth differently, but all of them pointed back to the same truth.
The company is getting bigger without becoming disconnected.
That is rare.
In many growing companies, culture becomes something people talk about after the work is done.
Here, it felt woven into the work itself.
During the weekly business review, leaders from across markets came together to speak openly about what is happening inside the business. Capacity issues, hiring needs, service concerns, training gaps, and market opportunities were all discussed in one room. That kind of visibility creates something powerful. It keeps departments from drifting apart.
Amanda Kleiman, Senior Director of HR, explained the purpose simply.
“Alignment. I think it’s an opportunity for us to align every week, make sure we all see kind of what’s going on within the business instead of being siloed.” Amanda Kleiman, Senior Director of HR, PJ Fitzpatrick
That weekly rhythm matters more than it may appear.
In home improvement, fast expansion often creates invisible walls between departments. What stood out here was how leadership keeps those walls from forming. The result is a stronger operating culture that supports everything from roof repair and roof replacement to window replacement, siding installation, gutter service, and bathroom remodeling.
One of the clearest moments from the interviews came inside the repair division.
Patrick McGuigan, Director of Repair and Post Installation Operations, described a philosophy that feels increasingly uncommon in home improvement. When a homeowner calls for help, the first goal is to solve the problem. Not turn the call into a forced replacement.
That distinction matters.
For customers looking for an honest roof repair company or a trusted exterior home improvement company, the difference between true service and disguised sales pressure is often the difference between trust and skepticism.
Patrick put it this way.
“What we found where the real value lied was kind of shifting more of our focus towards thinking of ourselves as a branding mechanism, as a force multiplier for the company.” Patrick McGuigan, Director of Repair and Post Installation Operations, PJ Fitzpatrick
He explained that doing the repair, helping the customer, earning a five star review, and creating long term goodwill often creates far more value than pushing a quick sale.
That philosophy is one reason the company continues to build strong referral business, repeat customers, and long term homeowner confidence across roofing, siding, replacement windows, doors, and gutters.
One of the strongest themes across the interviews was not market expansion.
It was internal movement.
Again and again, leaders described their own journeys.
Patrick McGuigan started as a service technician.
Sarah Hutton began as a sales trainer.
Lance Hill came in as an installer.
Jeremy McKinney was once one of the top sales representatives before returning to lead sales.
That pattern says something important.
Growth here is not just about opening new markets. It is about creating real paths forward for people already inside the company.
Jeremy McKinney, Vice President of Sales, explained why that matters.
“Knowing my story, having the opportunity for our employees to grow and grow with us, not have to leave the company to go find either greener pastures or that promotion. I love that we’re providing that here.” Jeremy McKinney, Vice President of Sales, PJ Fitzpatrick
For homeowners, this matters more than it may seem.
A company that promotes from within often creates leaders who understand the customer because they once did the frontline work themselves. That knowledge shapes better service, better decisions, and stronger accountability.
Training can often become a checkbox in fast growing companies.
That did not feel true here.
Sarah Hutton and Jen Foley described a learning system designed to keep people growing at every level. Technical training, sales development, leadership readiness, coaching, field assessments, role play, and structured leadership programs all play a direct role in how the business performs.
Sarah Hutton, Sales and Development Manager, explained the responsibility clearly.
“If folks are not trained properly to do the work, it trickles down. Work’s not getting done correctly. We’re not getting great customer reviews.” Sarah Hutton, Sales and Development Manager, PJ Fitzpatrick
That statement connects training directly to what homeowners experience.
For customers hiring a window replacement company, siding contractor, roofing contractor, or bathroom remodeling company, confidence often comes down to the consistency of the people doing the work.
Jen Foley, Senior Learning and Development Specialist, also pointed to something deeper.
“We want people to grow. We want them to grow personally and professionally.” Jen Foley, Senior Learning and Development Specialist, PJ Fitzpatrick
That kind of investment does more than improve performance.
It creates stability.
As organizations expand, community work can sometimes become symbolic.
That did not come across in these conversations.
Amanda Kleiman spoke about charitable involvement not as a public effort but as part of the company’s identity. She traced that commitment back to the founding values that still shape the business today.
“It’s just something we’re passionate about, give back to the community.” Amanda Kleiman, Senior Director of HR, PJ Fitzpatrick
That mindset matters because it reveals how leadership sees the company’s role.
Not simply as a roof replacement contractor, a window replacement company, or a provider of wet area bath systems.
But as a business connected to the neighborhoods it serves.
That kind of community rooted thinking tends to show up in quieter ways too. In how homeowners are treated. In how problems are solved. In how trust is earned over time.
The final theme running through the interviews was growth.
But not growth in the usual sense.
Leaders certainly talked about new markets, acquisitions, and expansion into places like North Carolina, South Carolina, and Cincinnati. Yet what stood out was how often growth was described in human terms.
More opportunity.
More responsibility.
More room to lead.
More chances to step forward.
Lance Hill, Director of Operations, captured that feeling well as he looked ahead.
“We have an opportunity here in our Philly market to do more than we’ve ever done, break every record that we’ve ever set.” Lance Hill, Director of Operations, PJ Fitzpatrick
Sarah Hutton also pointed to what makes growth meaningful.
“Nothing is better for us in the learning development team than to watch new folks get out and spread their wings.” Sarah Hutton, Sales and Development Manager, PJ Fitzpatrick
That may be the strongest insight from the entire visit.
The growth story here is not only geographic.
It is deeply human.
It is about creating more opportunities for people while still protecting the customer experience that built the brand in the first place.
For homeowners looking for a trusted roof repair company, a reliable exterior home improvement company, or a partner for replacement windows, siding, gutters, doors, and bathroom remodeling, that balance matters.
Because companies do not scale well by accident.
They scale well when people grow with them.
Discover more about PJ Fitzpatrick.
The leadership conversations made one thing clear. The culture inside PJ Fitzpatrick is intentional.
What makes that even more compelling is what is happening outside the office.
The signs of progress are not limited to internal meetings, growth plans, or leadership development. They are showing up in the wider industry, in employee feedback, and in the communities the company serves every day.
That outside validation matters because it gives homeowners another reason to trust the people behind the work.
One of the strongest recent examples is the recognition of James Freeman as a finalist for the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year. This recognition celebrates leaders who are driving growth, innovation, and meaningful impact in their industries. For PJ Fitzpatrick, it reflects something deeper than business momentum.
It reflects a style of leadership rooted in doing business the right way.
For homeowners looking for a trusted exterior home improvement company, an honest roof replacement contractor, or a reliable window replacement company, leadership like that matters. It shapes how decisions get made long before a crew ever pulls into a driveway.
Another milestone says just as much.
PJ Fitzpatrick was also named a 2026 USA TODAY Top Workplace, an honor based entirely on employee feedback.
That distinction carries unusual weight. It was not awarded by a panel looking in from the outside. It came from the people inside the company who experience the culture every day.
In a business built around roofing, siding, gutters, doors, bathroom remodeling, and homeowner trust, that kind of recognition is powerful proof that the values discussed in interviews are not staying in the conference room. Employees are living them.
Then there is the part of the story that reaches beyond the business itself.
Through PJ’s Giving Hammer, PJ Fitzpatrick continues to invest directly in the communities where its teams live and work.
That effort carries forward the spirit of founder Pete Fitzpatrick, who believed deeply in helping people quietly and meaningfully.
As the company has grown, that mission has grown with it.
Over the years, PJ’s Giving Hammer has supported organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, Ronald McDonald House, Exceptional Care for Children, and AIDS Delaware.
Sometimes that support comes through financial help.
Sometimes through home improvement services.
Sometimes through volunteers willing to show up.
That matters because it shows that improving homes is only part of the company’s mission.
Improving lives is part of it too.
Taken together, these recent milestones tell an important story.
Industry recognition.
Employee trust.
Community action.
They are all different signals pointing to the same truth.
PJ Fitzpatrick is not only growing. It is earning the kind of credibility that can only be built over time.
By the end of the office interviews, the clearest takeaway was not simply that PJ Fitzpatrick is growing.
It was how the company is growing.
In home improvement, scale can sometimes create distance. What once felt personal can start to feel mechanical. The customer can feel farther away. The mission can feel less clear.
That did not feel true here.
What stood out across the conversations was something quieter, but far more meaningful. Growth has not pulled the company away from the values that built its reputation. It appears to be sharpening them.
There is more structure now.
More leadership depth.
More confidence in the next generation of people stepping forward.
More readiness for new markets, new homeowners, and new opportunities.
Yet through all of that movement, the human side still feels close.
The care shown to homeowners looking for honest roof repair.
The pride behind helping families choose the right replacement windows, siding, doors, gutters, or bathroom remodeling solution.
The belief that good work should still feel personal.
That may be the real story behind these office interviews.
Not that PJ Fitzpatrick is becoming larger.
But that, it is becoming stronger without becoming less itself.
As the company continues to grow, that may be the standard that matters most.
For the home improvement industry, it offers something important to pay attention to.
For homeowners, it offers reassurance.
And for the people building the future inside the company, it offers something even more powerful.
Proof that growth does not have to cost a company its soul.
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Power100 is the nation's premier CEO ranking and media platform for the home improvement industry. Using a proprietary 5-layer evaluation system, Power100 identifies and celebrates the top CEOs, companies, and strategic partners driving innovation, customer satisfaction, and leadership excellence across the country.
