Roofing Contractor ProfileSteep Slope Roofing
Contractor Profile: Sal Ferro, Alure Home Improvements
By Tom Watts
Sponsored by Allied Building Products Corporation.
Sal Ferro of Alure Home Improvements in Plainview, N.Y., became president in 2002. He sums up the company's philosophy this way: "We go to extremes to build your dreams."
Alure Home Improvements of Plainview, N.Y., was started as a painting company in 1946, but current President/CEO Sal Ferro is glad the company embraced the decision to switch to roofing residential homes a few decades later.
"Alure was founded by Sol Hyman as a painting company in 1946 and after World War II he began his own business," Ferro recalled. "It remained a three-person paperhanging business until 1971."
In the 1970s, Hyman's sons, Carl and Bob, joined the business before Ferro was hired as a production manager in 1989, which eventually led to Ferro becoming a partner in the mid-90s and president in 2002.
"My focus has been to help build a culture focused on the customer experience and creating raving fans, while maintaining a team of employees committed to carrying out that mission," said Ferro, who noted the company has a showroom in East Meadow, N.Y., and corporate headquarters in Plainview. "The majority of our work is residential homes. However, we do multi-dwelling roofing for large communities as well, and currently have about 100 employees."
Ferro said Alure Home Improvements' commitment to service their customers is the company's top priority. "Exceeding their expectations and offering specialists in every facet of remodeling are just a few of the philosophies that make us special," he said. "But it all comes down to having the right people in place to deliver the mission. Our philosophy has been and will always be take care of your customers and they will always take care of you."
Ferro said the company's vision statement is what employees live by every day. He sums it all up this way: "We go to extremes to build your dreams."
Building dreams is what Director of Exterior Sales Chris LoCascio does. He has been with Alure for 22 years and runs the day-to-day sales for all exterior services. LoCascio recalled a recent jobsite on a house built in the late 1800s.
"The opportunity came to us as an insurance job due to damage from a storm, and from that smaller job it transformed into a complete cedar shake roof removal using CertainTeed roofing shingles," LoCascio said. "The house was an old Victorian, and all the chimneys needed to be re-flashed because they we all deteriorated. The project included a beautiful wraparound porch, cultured stone and a complete siding job with many intricate details to match the period of the home. The completed project came out absolutely gorgeous and house became the focal point of the community."
The company has dealt with the uncertain economy by focusing on a couple of key ideas.
"First, always ensuring our top priority is exceeding our customers' expectations with a focus on superior customer service," Ferro said. "Additionally, we have done some cross training, made some internal moves to better utilize our existing staff and maintain our personnel through ups and downs, and we've controlled our marketing costs and other expenses to ensure that when things pick up we'll be ready. Our diversification and one-stop shopping have contributed to our success by being the solution for all of our homeowners' remodeling needs."
KEYWORDS: Alure Home Improvements residential roofing
Tom Watts is the associate editor of Roofing Contractor. He can be reached at 248-244-1738 or wattst@bnpmedia.com.
Contractor Profile: Jeff Kaliner, Power Home Remodeling Group
Contractor Profile: Nick Yadron, M&M Home Remodeling Services
Contractor Profile: Thomas Martin, Metropolitan Construction Systems Inc.