Earl Ward is the Vice President of Exterior Contractor Alliance, a company that is headquartered in Marietta, Georgia.

Ward recently stopped by the Roofing Insights studio to visit Dmitry Lipinskiy and cover myriad topics, but perhaps the subject most intriguing is when Ward began to discuss the crazy stories he has accumulated after working in the industry for so long.

This included the occasional theft that Ward experienced when he was working for Roof Depot.

Ward explains that sometimes ex-salesmen would call and order shingles for an address, with the bill being sent to the company they allegedly worked for. Per protocol, the supplies were sent to the listed address, but the next day the supplies would be gone, and the contractor would be stuck with a surprise bill, courtesy of his past salesman.

But it’s not just the scammers who Ward remembers.

He adds that because his company processed thousands of orders every year, on occasion mistakes would be made.

For example, every so often the wrong color of shingles would be shipped to a homeowner.

"Sometimes you deliver 200 roofs per day at Roof Depot, and sometimes things would go wrong,"

Ward explains, adding that whenever this happened, he was quick to intervene.

"I always got involved when we delivered the wrong color shingles,"

he says.

Ward explains that he personally intervened when mistakes were made because as a high-ranking member of the company, he felt it was his inherent duty to be judicious and work to remedy any issues that arose.

As far as having the wrong color of shingles delivered to a job site, Lipinskiy says he is no stranger to this type of occurrence.

"That happened to me once when I ordered from Roof Depot,"

he says.

When this happened to Lipinskiy, to make amends, he offered to deduct $1,000 off the homeowner’s invoice.

Fortunately, the homeowner that day was more than willing to oblige Lipinskiy, citing the fact that the $1,000 Lipinskiy was going to save her could then be used to go on a shopping spree.

Ward chuckles at Lipinskiy’s story, before mentioning that these types of mistakes seemed to happen once or twice per year.

"These things used to happen about once every six months, and whenever these things would happen, I would call the contractor and ask for the homeowner’s number. I wanted to call them personally and apologize. I did this because I created the problem and I needed to solve it,"

explains Ward.

Not only was Ward taking responsibility for his actions, but he was also eager to reimburse the homeowner for the inconvenience.

His strategy was simple: if he could write them a check, the contractors would not need to come back to the home and re-shingle the roof.

"As long as the amount was reasonable, I would hand deliver a check to their house by the end of the day,"

says Ward.

This tactic almost always worked.

Ward says only one homeowner refused his offer, and he says the reimbursement amount usually was the same as well.

"The typical dollar amount they [homeowners] came up with was $1,000,"

recalls Ward.

As a show of goodwill, Ward says that on his way to a home, he would also stop by a local restaurant and purchase a $100 gift card.

To Ward, this act of generosity was pivotal in keeping contractors’ and homeowners’ minds at ease over the unfortunate blunder.

"We got so much mileage from that attitude [fixing the situation], rather than trying to blame someone else. Here’s the thing: you screw up, you fix it, and you move on. That way, you make your contractor happy because you’re taking it off their shoulders, and you make the consumer happy because they’re getting something out of it,"

Ward says.

The best part of all this?

"What I found is most people were reasonable, and ultimately you end up still making money on the job,"

Ward reveals.

Talk about turning a potentially catastrophic incident into a positive outcome.

Earl Ward.

What a guy.

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