Cameron Rigsby, the owner of R & R Storm Restoration.
This guy’s been running a roofing labor ripoff for some time.
His name doesn’t roll off the tongue, nor is it a name that you can find if you type it into Google.
But ask Cameron Rigsby, the owner of R & R Storm Restoration, and he’ll tell you that despite his company not having a website, his twelve-man ensemble of salesmen still sells $4-5 million worth of jobs, every month.
For a contractor who claims to have been in business for almost four years, Rigsby certainly has defied convention (please note the sarcastic tone of this sentence).
“I’m a very firm believer in if you take care of your employees, they’ll take care of you,”
Rigsby told Roofing Insights CEO Dmitry Lipinskiy during a recent phone call.
Rigsby also mentioned how he and his partner Austin Rodhouse do a lot work for homeowners who are members of the military.
See, for a guy like Rigsby, it’s important to give back and share the wealth. For him, selfishness is not an option.
“That’s what I hate the most about our industry. There’s a lot of greed out there,”
he said before explaining to Lipinskiy how he’s gone under the radar as a $40-50 million company.
“We really kill it with door-knocking,”
Rigsby revealed, then likening the skills of his salesmen to that of Ben Menchaca, the highly talented and respected storm chaser.
“We also have a very good referral program,”
claimed Rigsby, but without any type of social media presence, Lipinskiy was left to take Rigsby at his word, which was no easy task after hearing the blasphemy Rigsby spewed in the first couple minutes of their conversation.
Lipinskiy then asked Rigsby if his company has worker’s comp insurance in each state that they operate in.
Of course, a mastermind like Rigsby would never leave his valuable crews vulnerable to financial distress, which is another reason why R & R Storm Restoration has been able to do so well over the years, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’ve been extremely blessed through COVID,”
Rigsby told Lipinskiy when asked to share how much volume his company does.
“I couldn’t even tell you how much we’ve done so far [this year].”
When pressed to estimate his company’s totals, Rigsby then gave Lipinskiy a number that would make many roofers envious.
“I fully expect to do at least $4-5 million a month, just off residential,”
deadpanned Rigsby.
Yet when asked to confirm that number, Rigsby quickly began to walk back on his statement.
He told Lipinskiy that he always sets high standards for his salesmen, but that
“we usually don’t get anywhere close to that [$4-5 million].”
Further confusion arose when Lipinskiy asked Rigsby how much money he made in August. After being asked, Rigsby hemmed and hawed before later saying that he was unable to log in to his QuickBooks account.
At this point, needing concrete answers, Lipinskiy became more assertive with Rigsby, asking him to again explain how he can gross $4-5 million per month without having made any effort toward building a website.
“That’s been an issue. I’m not going to lie,”
Rigsby uttered.
“For the last year, I’ve been having to settle on showing them [customers] pictures. I’ve even taken customers to the jobsite before, and it does make me feel bad, kind of like an idiot sometimes. That’s just not professional.”
Rigsby’s attempt to get Lipinskiy to believe customers were willing to check out his Polaroids proved futile, so Rigsby also mentioned that he had hired lead gen companies for extra support.
“I hired a Malachi guy for leads. The worst mistake I’ve made in a while.”
Rigsby was referring to Malachi Makin, another bonehead in the industry who couldn’t make cents if he rubbed two nickels together.
Rigsby getting finessed by Makin is poetic justice for a man who has no business being in the roofing industry.
The conversation then turned more serious when Lipinskiy asked Rigsby if he owes any of his subcontractors money.
“No,”
Rigsby resoundingly replied.
“All our guys are on contract with us. We have a specific billing system set up with the company we’re working with. We’re very transparent with our guys. I’m very transparent with the companies that we work with as well.”
And this is where Lipinskiy could no longer sit idly and let Rigsby purport lunacy.
“I’ve seen a few reports on you from within my network, that you’re just a broker and you’re not paying your bills,”
stated Lipinskiy.
“Well, that’s news to me,”
a suddenly rattled Rigsby responded.
“Do you know Connor Jones in Arkansas?”
“Hm, no. Connor Jones?”
“Yes. He’s one of them [people accusing Rigsby of not paying subs]. He has two crews, and I spoke to them, and they say you didn’t pay them. You keep claiming that they did not give you insurance and they showed me that in fact they actually sent you their insurance five times. And you just would not pay them.”
“Who is this?” We haven’t been in Arkansas in damn-near two months. We stopped going to Arkansas back in July.”
[brief pause]
“Here’s the thing: I think you’re a liar. I think you’ve been lying to me this entire conversation. I don’t believe that you’re doing $4-5 million a month. That would make you a $40-50 million company. I think you’re stealing from the crews. I have proof from at least five crews who you stole money from. I’m coming after you. I’m telling you this right now because you stole from a lot of people and you’re a freaking crook.”
[Rigsby, meekly]
“What are you talking about?”
“You are a liar and a crook without a website so people cannot even trace you. This is going to end very soon. You’re going to reap what you sow. The whole world will find out what you did to those guys. I’m giving you seven days to pay the guys that you did not pay yet, and if you’re not going to do that, I’m going to give them my lawyer, and I’m going to sue your ass until you pay every penny to every hardworking guy you ever stole from.”
End of conversation.
Thieves in the roofing industry, beware:
Roofing Insights will find you, and we will expose you.
