jan-2018

44 45 were going to close it down,”he continues.“With the economy failing in 2008 and a dying customhome market,which is what I was doing at the time,I took advantage of what I believed to be a great opportu- nity.I was always entrepreneurial–I startedmyfirst business at 24,and I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do,next.We ended up closing the deal that September.In 2018,we’re still here and going stronger than ever!” Today,Rooftops Silicone Distributors Inc.has over 35 employees and itsmarketing region covers St.Croix,St. Thomas,and St.John in the USVI.“Over the historyof the company,we’veworked as far as Guyana in South America; we’veworked in theTurks and Caicos; and the BritishVirgins,”Bressi adds.“Our headquarters are in St.Croix,andwe’ve got an office in St.Thomas.I go backand forth fromSt.Croix to St.Thomas,dealing with field crews in St.Thomas and administrative duties in St.Croix.I have a staff which includes our technical director,PatrickKodran,who has worked for the company since 1995.Alongwith hismetal form- ing expertise,Pat introduced the first standing seam metal fabricating equipment to the islands in the‘90s. I put him in a league byhimself when it comes to the technical aspects of all types of roofing that we do in our region.We relyon hima lot.” ROOFTOPS SILICONE DISTRIBUTORS INC. Bressi stresses that the companyhas no“typical” clients,per se,and there are no“typical”types of jobs. “Atypical client is anybody,”he asserts.“It could be a $500 client; it could be a $5,000 client,a $50,000, or a $500,000.It doesn’t matter.We service anybody that needs us and that we can get to–residential and commercial.We’re currentlyworking on a very large project at themoment called Limetree BayTerminals -a local oil refinery.We’ve donemovie theaters; we do residential,standing seam–that’s reallya veryunique, symmetrical type of roof with no exposed fasteners and architecturallyverypleasing.It’s somethingwe’re very,verygood at,modestyaside. “We still do a lot of fluid-applied,coated andmet- al roofs.We’re doing the Universityof Virgin Islands’ Medical ClassroomBuilding in St.Thomas,which is a commercial-type roof.We’re Firestone-certified in- stallers and this is a Firestone roof that’s going on that building.We’re also certified in certain coatings provid- ing long-termwarranties with KMCoatings,which is a company that makes both acrylic and silicone products that we use. “We do a lot of gutter work.I thinkwe’re the only company in the U.S.territory that has a seamless com- mercial boxgutter machine.People prefer a seamless gutter so theydon’t have leaks where the joints are,