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Providing customers with top-notch service and roofing experience: Behind the Business with Bucci Roofing, LLC in North Scituate, RI
Eric Bucci founded Bucci Roofing, LLC in North Scituate, RI. He started the business in 2016, and today he has over 20 years of experience in the industry. Before launching his company, Bucci worked for another contractor, selling sunrooms and conservatories, roofing, vinyl siding, and replacement windows. Then, a family situation prompted him to rethink things.
Starting his own business “turned out to be a necessity” for Bucci and his family. He said, “I had to do something because my wife became ill with sarcoidosis, which not very many people know about. It's an inflammatory disease. It's very painful, and they don't know why you get it. There's a group of people with sarcoidosis that after the first two years, it disappears. The main group of people has to manage it with steroid medications. There's about 15 percent of people who can never get rid of it. That's the situation my wife is in. So at the time, I was working for another company where we split the profit 50-50. Then, unfortunately, my wife went from being a great provider, working every day, to not being able to work at all, to now being disabled.” Bucci shared that the family lived on one income for three to four years. “We had a house and three kids and chewed through our savings until there was almost nothing left. We were literally three months away from bankruptcy,” he said.
The financial stress inspired Bucci to start his company. “I just remember one day looking outside at everything we owned and thinking, ‘why am I not doing this for myself?’ I thought, ‘If I do this for myself, and I'm successful, then I can keep 100 percent of the profits, making up for my wife’s lost income’” When Bucci worked for a previous company, many of its roofing jobs came from insurance claims. In addition, Bucci trained under a licensed homeowner’s insurance adjuster for two and a half years. So, he trusted this expertise would help him be successful. “I just told myself, ‘If I can just get three good insurance roofs, then I shouldn't have to look back.’ And the second insurance roof I got was Spring Green Memorial Baptist Church in Warwick, RI, and it was a 70-some square job. I never looked back. And that's it. I'm very lucky. We'll be heading into our eighth year,” Bucci said about his business decision.
The roofing contractor said that his business is primarily residential, and his company “specializes in wind and hail homeowner’s insurance claims. “This means that we can handle the entire claims process for the homeowner, and they don’t have the worry or frustration that comes with the claims process. We carry the weight for them,” Bucci said.
The roofer provided some insight into his company’s day-to-day operations. “I have three crews, and generally, we can roof up to 30 squares in one day.” For those unfamiliar with what a roofing square is, it’s equivalent to 100 square feet. Bucci also mentioned that he is a preferred Owens Corning contractor and LP SmartSide preferred contractor. Owens Corning manufactures asphalt shingles, and LP SmartSide is a type of siding for homes. Recently, Bucci Roofing became a preferred installer for Velux, which manufactures skylights.
Speaking of siding, the business owner mentioned that his company recently began offering that service. “We started up a siding division about a year ago. So now we're installing vinyl siding, wood shingles, wood clapboard,and also Hardie Board siding, which is a cement board” he said. Bucci is licensed in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.
When asked how he gets new business, Bucci shared that most of his work comes from referrals. “I think we have about an 85 or 90 percent referral rate,” he said. Bucci added that he appreciates his customers taking the time to write reviews about his work on the Better Business Bureau’s website and in Google reviews. “People are taking the time to review us, and prospective customers spend a lot of time looking at those reviews, especially with the economy starting to slow down. I think customer reviews are going to make a big difference for us in the near future,” Bucci said.
For more information about Bucci Roofing, LLC, check out their BBB Business Profile. To learn more about BBB and read more stories like this, visit Behind the Business Stories with BBB in Eastern MA, ME, RI & VT.
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