A software fit for every roofer

By Jesse Sanchez. 

One contractor’s search for a truly all-in-one tool led to a surprising standout find. 

When Kim Baxter joined O’Hara’s Son Roofing (OSR), she was tasked with an ambitious goal: build a national service program nearly from scratch. But before she could do that, she had to tackle something far less glamorous, finding the right software for the job. And that turned out to be a bigger deal than anyone expected. “We were looking for something that would do everything for us,” Kim said on this episode of CoatingsCast, hosted by Karen Edwards. “We only had nine employees. We needed something that would do accounting and production and service and work with our contractors.” The OSR team scoured the market, digging into platforms big and small. But no singular system seemed to check every box, until they came across Dataforma.  

“Dataforma is the only one that could do every single thing we needed it to do,” Kim said. “It was time saving for us and it was just all-encompassing.” That all-in-one capability is exactly what Brian Cook, senior vice president at Dataforma, says sets them apart. “We didn’t try to build a software fast,” Brian explained. “It was built over two years really just to be for our company.” 

Brian’s background is steeped in the roofing industry. He spent six years traveling across the country, visiting contractors weekly. That on-the-ground experience shaped Dataforma into what it is today, a platform designed from real jobsite challenges. The software’s strength lies in its ability to silo and scale. “If I run the Tampa, Florida office, I only need to see Tampa,” Brian said. “But if I’m the owner, I can run reports on the entire company or on each individual division.” 

For OSR, those capabilities weren’t just nice to have, they were essential as the company rapidly grew its footprint. And Kim didn’t hold back when it came to championing the switch. “I pulled Luke aside at one point and I said, ‘How loud do you want me to be about software?’” she recalled. “And he goes, ‘You be as loud as you need to be.’” That endorsement from leadership helped seal the deal and, according to Kim, they haven’t looked back since. 

Listen to the podcast or Watch the conversation to learn more about how OSR and Dataforma are building a smarter future together and what’s next for the software!