EP 283: Roofing Done Right: A Husband-Wife Team's Approach

What makes Dana and Don McCollum with North Texas A-2-Z Roofing Good Neighbors?

What happens when decades of hands-on roofing experience meets genuine customer care? Dana and Don McCollum have the answer. This husband-wife team has transformed the roofing experience for homeowners across North Texas with their refreshingly personal approach to an often impersonal industry.

Starting their women-owned business in 2021 but armed with contracting experience dating back to the 1980s, the McCollums have deliberately chosen quality over quantity. "We do one roof at a time," Don McCollum explains, highlighting what makes North Texas A-2-Z Roofing different from competitors who juggle multiple projects simultaneously. Their commitment to excellence extends beyond installation—Don personally oversees each project from beginning to completion, ensuring every detail meets their exacting standards.

The business model they've built stands in stark contrast to industry norms. They take no payment until the job is complete and the customer is satisfied. They provide comprehensive documentation including before-and-after photos, manufacturer registration, and a lifetime warranty on labor. Most importantly, they prioritize education—explaining their "winterization program" for maintaining roofs between replacements and warning homeowners about the one-year window insurance provides for claiming storm damage. As Dana notes, "The longer you wait, the more they charge you for depreciation."

Their approach has earned them not just an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, but something far more valuable: a steady stream of referrals from delighted customers who can't help but recommend them to neighbors and family. It's proof that in today's digital age, quality work and genuine care still generate the most powerful marketing of all—word of mouth.

What makes the McCollums a good neighbor? It’s their commitment to honesty, education, and personal attention—every homeowner is treated like family. With their hands-on approach, no-pressure assessments, and unmatched integrity, they’ve set a new standard for what it means to do roofing the right way.

To learn more about North Texas A-2-Z Roofing, go to:
 NorthTexasA2ZRoofing.com

 North Texas A2Z Roofing

 214-728-7286

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Sophia Yvette.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Are you in need of a roofingcompany?
Well, one may be closer thanyou think.
Today I have the pleasure ofintroducing your good neighbors
Dawn and Dana McCollum, withNorth Texas A to Z Roofing.
Dawn and Dana, how are youtoday?
We're well.

(00:34):
Thank you so much for having us, Of course, and we're excited
to learn all about you and yourbusiness.
Can you start off by tellingour listeners a little bit about
your company?

Speaker 3 (00:39):
Well, we are actually a women-owned company we're 51
and 49% but we are a team 100%husband and wife team, local
business here in Tarrant County,and we also do the surrounding
counties as well take care ofthem in Dallas County and so
forth and we started ourbusiness back in December of

(01:03):
2021.
And we started our businessback in December of 2021.
But we both have contractingexperience Don since the 80s and
myself since the 90s.

Speaker 4 (01:17):
So what would you like to say?
Well, we also cover.
We go all the way to GraysonCounty, which is right close to
Oklahoma.
We've gone all the way to Waco.
We don't mind traveling to do agood job, and our two main
goals are, number one, to makethe customer happy and number

(01:38):
two, to make sure that the rooflooks beautiful.
When we get done, everythinghas to match, and that's our
goal.
When we walk away, we want tosay that pops, that looks good,
and we never get callbacks forweeks.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Wow.
So, don and Dana, how did youget into this business,
especially as a married couple?

Speaker 3 (01:58):
Well, I'll start and then Don can add to it.
But when we first met six yearsago, don was working for
another company that was notconstruction related, and I knew
that he was not happy with hisjob, and so I said we can do

(02:20):
this.
We both have the background, weboth can, we both have a sales
background, we all have acontracting background, and so
it just made sense along with myreal estate, because I am a
licensed realtor as well that wecould combine many of the
aspects between homes that arebeing sold or buying and need

(02:42):
new roofs.
So Don came on board with thatdecision and we've been a
partner ever since.

Speaker 4 (02:52):
And for me personally , I started doing roofs in the
mid to late 80s and I went fromthere and when I say I started,
I'm talking back in my youngerdays and I was the one carrying
the shingles up.
I was the one nailing theshingles down.
I'd done it all and I went fromthere.
I've been in construction.

(03:12):
I've built houses from theground up, poured the cement all
the way up to the ceiling,drywall, everything, and I've
been in construction.
My whole family has been inconstruction my whole life and
it's something that's verygratifying.
The biggest part is to make thecustomer happy, and that's what

(03:33):
lacks in today's business worldis gratitude.
You know a lot of roofingcompanies and I'm not talking
down any other roofing companies, but a lot of roofing companies
.
They want the job, they want tosend a crew there and that's it
.
They won't ever show back upuntil they get the money or
whatever, and a lot of timesthey try to get the money up
ahead.
We don't take any money untilthe job is done and the customer

(03:55):
is satisfied.
And I'm on the job from thebeginning, before the crew gets
there, until the job is complete.
And and I'm on the job from thebeginning, before the crew gets
there until the job is complete,and I make sure that everything
is done.
We don't do two and three roofsa day, we do one roof at a time
.
When that roof is complete,we'll start the next job and I
make sure that everything isdone exactly the way we want it
done.
Dana takes care of all theinsurance.

(04:16):
Me and Dana both work with thehomeowners, but she does more of
the homeowner talk on the phone.
I don't like the phone, I liketaking care of business.
She does great with insurance.
She does great with thehomeowners and the homeowners
love it when me and her cometogether, because I think we
make a great team.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
Well, it sounds like your love was really brought
under one roof.

Speaker 3 (04:40):
Absolutely.
Now, who are your targetcustomers and how do you attract
them?
Well, we used to go door todoor.
Okay, and that is just not agood way to go.
We did have some success withdoor to door, but our most
success now, even after fouryears, is our referrals.

Speaker 4 (05:05):
Word of mouth.

Speaker 3 (05:06):
Word of mouth.
We're members of the BetterBusiness Bureau with an A plus
rating.
We, we take care of businessand that's now finally, as our
company has grown, has gettingout there.
And again, we do not strive tobe the top dog in roofing.
We, just like Don saidpreviously, we do one roof at a

(05:26):
time, make people happy and moveon with the next one.

Speaker 4 (05:31):
We got a phone call last night.
We did a roof two months agoand we have a program called a
winterization program to where,if your roof is in pretty good
shape but you have some failingparts, like your protrusions,
that come out of your ceiling,your roof we call it a

(05:51):
winterization.
We'll take the old caulk off,put new caulk on, do this, do
that.
Well, we've done this toseveral houses in this one
neighborhood and then all of asudden they got a hail storm and
one of them people that we'vedone the winterization on called
us and said hey, can you comeover here and look at my roof
Because we got a bunch of hail.
So we went over there andlooked at the roof.
Long story short, the roof wastotaled.
We, long story short, the roofwas totaled, we replaced the

(06:15):
roof and, like I said, I'm therefrom the beginning to the end.
And then last night we got aphone call and this is from two
months ago.
And last night we get a phonecall from the neighbor across
the street and he says well, wewant you all to do our roof,
because my wife was really happywith the fact that Don was
there from the beginning untilthe end walking around that

(06:36):
house and doing this and we'veseen the quality of work and it
goes from one neighbor to thenext neighbor, to the next
kinfolk, to whoever References.
Is the best way to grow yourbusiness other than advertising?

Speaker 3 (06:53):
Right.
So, organically, we'veincreased our business through
referrals and we love that.
And and then those referralsare happy to give us a good
review on our Better BusinessBureau account.
So there you go.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
Now we know marketing is the heart of every business.
Have you ever thought aboutdoing your own podcast?

Speaker 3 (07:16):
No, ma'am, we have not.

Speaker 4 (07:20):
I'm not photogenic, I'm not good looking in person,
but I'm sure not good looking ona camera?

Speaker 3 (07:27):
No, we have not.
That's way out of the comfortzone.
I haven't done it even in myreal estate, because I'm just,
you know, I'm just me.
And again, a lot of ourbusiness comes through referrals
.

Speaker 4 (07:44):
So I helped my son start a roofing company in
Grayson County and he has growntremendously and he does do
podcasts and his business isgreat.
Does do podcasts and hisbusiness is great and I worked
with him for a while and then meand dana decided hey, let's go

(08:04):
to arlington, let's do our thing, yep so well, that's awesome.

Speaker 2 (08:09):
Now please tell our listeners, because I'm sure you
have delivered a lot of greatinformation.
But one thing they shouldremember about North Texas A to
Z roofing.

Speaker 3 (08:22):
Well, again, like Dawn had said earlier, we're not
like the other companies.
We take photos from start tofinish.
The homeowner gets those,receives those photos.
We register the roof with themanufacturer.
We have a lifetime warranty onour labor.
Um we, uh.

(08:44):
What else do we do?

Speaker 4 (08:47):
we pride ourselves on cleanup yeah the way it looks
and the way afterwards there's,you're not gonna.
You know, I've heard a lot of.
I've heard a lot of horrorstories and seen a lot of horror
stories about people that say,hey, now I've got four flats
after y'all done the roof.
No, we don't have that.
We, we make sure that we cleanthe job up after we're done.
Very well, it looks better.

(09:08):
I've had people say that myyard looks better after y'all
got done than what it did beforey'all started.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
And how can our listeners learn more about North
Texas A to Z roofing.

Speaker 3 (09:22):
Well, you know there's myths on roofing that
people think that you got a roof, it's good.
Well, north Texas, we have, Ican't even.
We have countless stormsbetween hail, wind, rain,
tornadoes, you name it, we haveit.
And so we want the listeners toknow that you still have to

(09:46):
take care of your roof as if itwas your annual HVAC inspection,
your spring and fall annualHVAC inspection, your spring and
fall.
Well, if you know you've haddamage to your roof, insurance

(10:06):
only allows it to go out oneyear from the storm date.
So that means if you've got hada storm and you've had
significant hail, wind et ceterayou're seeing shingles flying
off the house, call us and we'llcome out and do a complimentary
, no charge roof inspection tolet you know, prior to calling
insurance, what the situation is.
It could just be a repair orbad enough to go ahead and call

(10:28):
in for an insurance claim.
And again, if there's nothingwrong, it doesn't hurt to have
your roof looked at every coupleof years to make sure all the
roof penetrations still havecaulking on it, because it melts
away and rots off and so forth,and we would refresh it and do
a winterization.

Speaker 4 (10:47):
And that's where the winterization comes into.
Like all the roofs that we'vedone winterizations on, they
know that every two to threeyears you need to have that roof
checked at again.
We go up there and if we haveto do another winterization
program we'll do it, but at thesame time when we're on that
roof, we're completelyinspecting that roof.

(11:10):
The thing with insurance is ifyou've got a problem, the longer
you wait, the more they chargeyou for depreciation.

Speaker 2 (11:19):
So the quicker we catch the mess, the better off
you are, saving money as ahomeowner and where can our
listeners go to learn more aboutNorth Texas A to Z Roofing?

Speaker 3 (11:31):
They can go to NorthTexasAtoZRoofingcom.
They can go to our North TexasA to Z Facebook page.
They can also reach out to usand call us direct.
My number is 214-728-7286 andDawn's is 903-328-7127.

(11:51):
And we're not your typicalcompany that shuts the phone off
at five o'clock or don't answerthe phone on the weekends or
Sundays, because some insurancecompanies are now scheduling
appointments for Sundayafternoon, say, two o'clock.

Speaker 4 (12:07):
And we were there this Sunday.

Speaker 3 (12:09):
And we were exactly.
We were here this last Sundayto another home, and so again,
we pride ourselves on customerservice.
Again, from start to finish.
We want them to be happy andhave a good experience with such
an expensive remodel to theirhome.
So there you go.

Speaker 2 (12:27):
Well, Dawn and Dana, I really appreciate you both
being on the show.
We wish you and your businessthe best moving forward.

Speaker 3 (12:35):
Thank you so much for having us and we greatly
appreciate this opportunity tospeak out to everyone that's on
this podcast and we look forwardto phone calls, so thank you
thank you for listening to thegood neighbor podcast.

Speaker 1 (12:50):
to nominate your favorite local businesses to be
featured on the show, go tognpfriscocom.
That's gnpfriscocom, or call469-221-9345.