Getting to know the Gottrons

By Emma Peterson. 

Learn the story behind how the Gottron family became a powerhouse in the roofing industry with a legacy that spans three generations.  

This episode of Coffee Conversations saw Heidi J. Ellsworth heading East to the Duro-Last® headquarters in Saginaw, Michigan. There, she sat down in person with the Gottron family — Jeff, Mike, Bryan, Chris, Trevor and Austin — to talk about how they have built a multi-generational family business that has achieved hundreds of millions in sales across the Midwest United States.  

Their story starts when Joe Gottron Sr. and his son Jeff became one of Duro-Last's first independent sales representatives. An independent sales rep acts as the in-between guy of the industry. They know the manufacturers and the contractors and help connect them to build stronger working relationships. It’s a critical part of the industry and Duro-Last's reps, like Joe Gottron Sr. are known for their talent and dedication. Jeff shared a bit about how he and his father found himself in this area of the business, saying, “Back in '83, it was the Jimmy Carter era where the interest rates were about 20% and nobody was hiring. And so I didn't have a job when I was graduating college. Then my father called me on a Tuesday morning after a poker game on Monday night.”  

His father, Joe Sr. had been talking to one of his friends, Bob Pitts, who was already in the independent rep industry for pool liners. Bob was already working in over a dozen states and recently been approached about also representing roofing products in Ohio. He was too busy, but he did pitch the offer to Jeff’s dad during that poker game. Jeff explained, “Dad was unemployed at the time and he said, ‘Let's go check this roofing company out of Saginaw, Michigan and see if we can be the first reps in Ohio.’ So dad and I drove up to Saginaw, we met John Burt and if you ever met John Burt, first thing he's going to tell you is his dreams of making Duro-Last the world's best roof.”  

John’s passion inspired Joe Sr. and Jeff, and they became the first independent sales reps in Ohio in June of 1983. They then roped in Mike in 1985. Mike actually was Duro-Last's first national sales manager! He shared a bit of how that happened, saying, “My background is HR and I was hiring people for Tenneco Oil, one of the top biggest companies in the country. Jeff and dad were pretty excited about being associated with Duro-Last and I was going to be coming home for Christmas to visit the family and they took me to see what they were doing with Duro-Last.” Mike was introduced to John Burt, was offered a position as a sales manager and found himself moving from Texas to Michigan. 

Bryan, the last member of the middle generation of Gottron’s didn’t join until 1996, because he was 10 in 1983 when his father and brother met John Burt. He shared his story, saying, “I grew up just kind of watching everything that they were saying as far as them going out on sales calls and contractors coming by or Mr. Burt coming by and all that kind of thing. But I never really gave it any real consideration as a career. I was interested in engineering.” He went to Ohio State and was planning on applying to engineering jobs when Mike stopped by right before graduation. He pitched independent representation to Bryan and he started working with his family at Duro-Last a month after graduating in March 1996. 

Now, over two decades later, the third generation of Gottron family independent reps is carrying on the legacy. The first of this group was Chris, who joined the family business in 2018. He shared his story, saying, “I grew up in the business, if you will, but at an arm's length. It would be weekends of cleaning out the back storage room or inputting business cards or anything to kind of just help things along. And so I went to Ohio State for finance and then worked for Nielsen TV Ratings.” After four years working for them, he got a call from his dad, inviting him into the family business. That was June of 2018 and he’s been in the family business since. 

Most recently, Trevor and Austin came into the business this last year. Trevor shared, “Kind of like Chris, grew up around Duro-Last my whole life. I went to Northwood in my community college for marketing and it's funny how marketing sticks with you and that kind of stuck with me my whole life.” There had always been the niggling thought of joining the family business, and the louder voices of the family encouraging him too, and Trevor listened to those thoughts in March of 2018 and hasn’t looked back since. As for Austin, he had some roofing background as an estimator and then sales experience with power tools and technology. But, through his different career paths as he met incredible people and had great experiences, Duro-Last stuck in his mind. It happened that the timing worked out this year and Austin joined the family legacy. He shared a bit of the experience, saying, “It really is an honor to be able to learn from these guys and learn from the best really, and also be able to carry on that legacy. And we're really not the only people who have been so loyal to Duro-Last. So many people around the company have been here decades and that really speaks to the power of Duro-Last." 

Read the transcript, Listen to the episode or Watch the recording for more about this powerhouse of a family and their work with Duro-Last.