Feze now has 14 exceptionally loyal Hispanic workers, three of whom have worked there for more than 15 years. “The one with the shortest tenure has been with me seven years,” Feze says. Feze has been able to tap into a network of family and friends within the Hispanic community to maintain a stable workforce.
The contractor says he owes his success to a management style that embraces Hispanics as more than just employees. Feze allows them to work flexible hours and gives them time off when they need it. He insists they learn and understand English, primarily for jobsite safety reasons. “Ten years ago, I stopped chasing money. What motivates me now is when I see my employees get married and have babies and buy their own homes.” A few years ago, Feze had his crews working out of state for several months, and as a thank-you to their families, he took them all to Mexico for vacation. “Some of these guys had never seen the ocean,” he recalls.
Recently, though, Feze has been fighting to protect his workers’ job security. Over the past three years, immigrants from Poland, Russia, and Ukraine have poured into the Chicago area. A sizable number have set up installation companies that Feze claims are wreaking havoc on all roofers’ profits. “There are literally hundreds of these guys working out of their trucks and cutting each other’s throats,” he says. “Trying to sell value is out the window. We used to be able to charge $2.60 per foot; now it’s $1.50 to $1.75.” Feze says he’s lost as much as $2,000 on residential jobs because of such competition. He claims Eastern European contractors are able to low-ball their prices because they aren’t carrying workers’ compensation insurance. “The challenge is starting all over again.”
To survive, Feze has cross-trained his Hispanic crews — whom he pays between $20 and $22 per hour for laborers and $33 per hour for foremen — to work primarily on commercial roofing, which accounts for half of the company’s $2.5 million in annual sales but fetches considerably higher margins than residential jobs that Feze now mostly subs out at a cost of around $70 per square. Feze still has his own people inspect those residential jobs, and he demands that the subcontractor present a certificate that its applicators have workers’ comp coverage.