For many people, when they see a crisis, they only see the negative. There are a few people who can see beyond the immediate problem and instead envision opportunity.
That is true for Shane Navarro, owner of Oregon Metal Roofing and Gutters LLC of Cottage Grove.
“I started working in roofing with my grandfather in Redding, Calif., and learned the business from him,” Navarro said. “We really got going in 2004 and were slowly and steadily building it up until right about the time of the great recession in early 2008.”
As many will remember, that deep and dark recession was started and fueled by a housing crisis that created record-level foreclosures on homes that people could no longer afford to keep due to ballooning loan payments.
And here is where Navarro saw an opportunity within the crisis to build up his fledgling business. Located on the South Coast, Navarro became keenly aware of what was happening in the economy locally and nationally, as home after foreclosed home sat empty while the banks tried to figure out what to do with the properties.
“I started calling all the banks in the area and offered my services to repair and maintain roofs and gutters on the foreclosed homes,” he said. “I knew the banks would eventually sell those homes and they didn’t want a bunch of distressed assets on their hands. So, I was able to go in and repair and update many homes and get them ready for sale.”
Soon those calls to bankers paid off handsomely for Navarro and before he knew it, he was busier at the height of the recession than he had ever been before. In fact, much of that work helped him expand his company. “I started advertising in local papers and steadily built up the company. We were operating in the South Coast area, and I decided to make the move to Cottage Grove so that I could operate in a larger community with more need of my company’s services.”
Move he did, and for the past four years, Oregon Metal Roofing and Gutters has operated in Cottage Grove and the surrounding areas. At around the same time of his physical move, Navarro decided to make a product move toward more robust and longer-lasting metal roofing options.
“Metal roofs are really the gold standard in the industry and while we still offer shingle roofing for residential customers, our metal roofing and seamless metal gutters have become top sellers for us,” Navarro said.
After establishing his company in Cottage Grove, and purchasing specialized equipment for metal roofing, another crisis showed up in the form of the pandemic and forced Navarro to again find the opportunity within.
“Covid was so challenging for everyone, and it was very tough to see how lockdowns and shutdowns impacted the community and other businesses,” he said. “For us, there were certainly challenges as we navigated the initial wave of the pandemic, but we also saw the chance to provide services to many folks who were utilizing their time at home to make much-needed repairs on their dwellings.”
Once again, Navarro and his team became increasingly busy despite a nationwide economic slowdown as they went about filling a need in the community.
As he looks into the future, Navarro believes that his business will be able to expand beyond Lane County. “My goal is to become a statewide business and serve customers up and down I-5 and all over Oregon.”
Yet no matter how big his business gets, he is deeply rooted in the community of Cottage Grove. “I just love the smaller-town feel of Cottage Grove and the opportunity to really get to know my customers and my neighbors,” Navarro said. “We are a family-owned business, we hire locally, and we really enjoy being a part of the business community here in South Lane County.”
One way he works to be a part of the community is giving back to local youth and sports. “We love sponsoring teams throughout Lane County and doing our part to ensure our kids have the opportunity to play sports today and into the future.”
As Oregon Metal Roofing and Gutters continues to serve the community and continues to expand, it’s easy to imagine that Navarro and team will be ready for the next opportunity – no matter what form it may take.
