London Inc. September 2021 - 30

So, You Want My JobM J
S,Y
ROOFING COMPANY OWNER
Meg Sim, founder of Meg Sim Roofing, talks about hanging
out her shingle, competing in a male-dominated industry
and the skilled labour struggle
MEG SIM FOUNDED her business, Meg Sim Roofing
(www.megsimroofing.ca), in January, using knowledge
she gained a decade earlier working on a roofing crew in
Sarnia. Born in Oshawa, she has lived most of her life in
London and attended Sir Frederick Banting Secondary
School. She has worked as a personal trainer, and
she spent two years in Sarnia and three years in Fort
McMurray, before returning to London six years ago.
Her partner in life is Jordan Bartol; she is the sole
owner of the business. Sim, 32, has a dog named Ollie
and a cat named Bunny. She enjoys gardening and is
keen to book a trail running trip when travel opens
up more.
Congratulations on establishing your business.
The transition from personal trainer to roofing
is not an obvious one. How did that happen?
When the pandemic started in March 2020, I had
been working as a full-time personal trainer and
part-time as a server. Restaurants and gyms closed on
the same day, so I lost both jobs at once. At the start of
the pandemic a few people called me for repairs, since
they knew I used to roof on a crew in Sarnia when I was
21. I loved that job and always told people about it, so
friends started calling. I started doing small roofing
jobs on my own, getting jobs purely by word of mouth,
and then Meg Sim Roofing was created.
Starting a business amid a pandemic might
not be ideal, but I suppose roofing was not as
restricted as the fitness sector? Yes, the fitness
industry was hit hard, and I didn't see a way out of
that situation that I would be happy doing. Roofing,
and home improvement in general, spiked during this
pandemic and it isn't slowing down. People spending
more time at home really made them see the improvements
they needed to make.
30 | londonincmagazine.ca | SEPTEMBER 2021
The home construction and renovation
industries have been plagued by supply
shortages during the pandemic. Have you had
difficulty getting materials? Shingles were not
hard to get, but metal for fascia and flashing was a
bit harder to get at times. For the most part, I did not
struggle in this regard. What I have struggled with
is finding people. I have found an amazing crew and I
am constantly looking for more, but that's been harder
work than I expected, and I think the pandemic has a
lot to do with that.
Many people rely on referrals when hiring
roofers. What have you done to break into
the market? The gym I worked at before as a fulltime
trainer had 800-plus members. I did a mobility
series for multiple weeks where I put out a 60-second
mobility tip video every Tuesday. I gained a lot of
followers from that series and used that following to
draw attention to my new business and started posting
everything I was up to.
http://www.megsimroofing.ca http://www.londonincmagazine.ca

London Inc. September 2021

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