From Cleaning Up to Climbing Up
Ami Feller’s journey wasn’t paved with easy wins. It started with cleaning up construction sites for her brother’s roofing crew, because, as she puts it, that was the only ‘suitable’ job for a girl on a roofing team. But everything changed the day a particularly difficult customer pushed her to take charge. With a two-story, steep-pitched roof staring them down, no one on the team wanted to take the risk. Ami did.
That moment changed everything. From handing tools on the roof, she quickly transitioned into running the entire crew. By the following summer, she was calling the shots while her brother took summer classes. But life had different plans for her before she found her true calling.
Corporate America and the Breaking Point
After graduating, Ami found herself in the structured world of corporate logistics at Caterpillar, later moving to Airborne Express and Coca-Cola. She excelled professionally but struggled personally. Long hours, grueling commutes, and the pressures of single motherhood weighed heavily on her. When Coca-Cola required her to get a CDL and start making deliveries to cover for the driver shortage, she hit a breaking point. She picked up the phone and called her brother.
The Texas Gamble and a Harsh Reality Check
Ami and her brother had already attempted to start a roofing business in Texas years earlier, but the labor market was unrecognizable from what they knew in Iowa. Bad hires, stolen tools, and financial losses nearly wiped them out. She had walked away from it then, but this time, she was determined to build something different.
Roofer Chicks: A Brand with a Bold Statement
Originally part of Feller Roofing, Ami made a strategic move, she rebranded to Roofer Chicks. In an industry dominated by men, she embraced her identity as a female roofer and took it a step further by hiring women repair workers. The positioning worked. The brand stood out, and customers took notice.
With a mix of bold marketing moves, 13 wrapped trucks, strategic local sponsorships, and a constant presence in real estate investor groups, her roofing business skyrocketed. Even when she landed a million-dollar worth of jobs in San Antonio after a storm in 2016, she lacked the infrastructure but refused to turn the client away. She figured it out, and that’s been her philosophy ever since.
The Art of Getting Customers
Ami built her business on referrals, but she wasn’t afraid to experiment. She worked with HomeAdvisor in the early days but moved away from lead-gen platforms once her company grew, choosing to compete on quality rather than price. Google ads, billboards, chamber of commerce networking, and even something as simple as always wearing a Roofer Chicks hat in public turned everyday interactions into business opportunities.
Her biggest learning? Fire fast. “I used to get emotionally attached to employees who weren’t working out. Now, I give them a couple of chances, but if they don’t improve, they’re gone.”
Riding the Seasonal Waves & Scaling Smartly
Roofing is seasonal, and Ami has learned how to manage the ebb and flow. She stops marketing during slow seasons and lets go of employees who don’t meet the standard. Currently generating $5M in revenue with a goal of hitting $7M, she handles 200-250 roofs annually, with repairs making up 20% of her business. Why invest in repairs? Customer loyalty.
Lessons for the Next Generation
Ami’s advice is blunt and battle-tested:
- Learn roofing before chasing money. “A lot of people want to make money fast, but they don’t understand quality installation.”
- Keep your books tight. “I was focused on the work, not the transaction level. That was a mistake.”
- Don’t grow too fast. “When I split from my brother, I expanded too quickly. Quality control suffered. I should’ve scaled smarter.”
From Rooftops to Boardrooms
Today, Ami isn’t just a roofing entrepreneur. She’s a respected voice in the industry, active in the chamber of commerce, a board member of Habitat for Humanity, and a recognized leader in roofing circles. Whether it’s through magazines like Roofing Contractor or active participation in roofing-focused Facebook groups, she continues to learn, engage, and innovate.
But at the core of it all, she’s still that same determined woman who climbed onto a two-story roof to prove she belonged.
And now, no one questions it.
Want to learn more or get in touch? Visitrooferchicks.com today!