A third-generation roofer burned out running the owner-operator grind, went and sold for someone else to learn how a real company runs, then came back and scaled his family's revived brand from $1.8M to nearly $5M in a year, with $8 to $10M in sight.
Build the systems to run your roofing company without you: https://ownersos.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=ownersos&utm_content=how-baja-roofing-scaled-to-5m-by-cracking-hoa-work
On this episode of the Roofing CEO Podcast, host Mike Abramowitz sits down with Jeremy Lara of Baja Roofing in Los Angeles. Jeremy walks through nearly breaking himself trying to grow too fast, what he learned building a solar company's roofing division at 30 roofs a month, the financial literacy gap that almost sank him, and how breaking into HOA and commercial work opened six-figure jobs with a fraction of the competition. If you're a roofing owner stuck in the owner-operator trap, this one's for you.
Jeremy Lara is the CEO and co-owner of Baja Roofing, a third-generation, family-owned company in the Los Angeles area working residential, commercial, and HOA projects. He also coaches roofing owners through his Scale Method program.
What you'll learn in this episode:
- Why growing too fast as an owner-operator nearly broke him
- How selling for another company taught him the systems to scale his own
- The financial literacy gap most roofing owners ignore until it hurts
- How Baja broke into HOA and commercial work, where competition is surprisingly thin
- His three-year plan to split verticals and scale to $20M at 15% net
This show is brought to you in partnership with Forge and D2D Experts. If you're a roofing CEO trying to get out of the day-to-day, Owner's OS is the operating system built for it: the org chart, role clarity, KPIs, and one-on-one system that let the business run without you. Start your free trial: https://ownersos.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=ownersos&utm_content=how-baja-roofing-scaled-to-5m-by-cracking-hoa-work
Connect with Jeremy and Baja Roofing: Instagram @baja_roofing and @jeremy.untucked · https://www.bajaroofing.com · Scale Method (free community plus one-on-one consulting)
Chapters:
0:00 How to plug in with Forge and D2D Experts
1:14 Meet Jeremy Lara, Baja Roofing
1:47 From owner-operator burnout to learning systems
4:20 Building a solar company's roofing division
6:49 The financial literacy learning curve
8:56 The three-to-five-year vision
13:42 Break
14:33 Inside the Scale Method
17:39 Breaking into HOA and commercial
20:01 Wrap