San Francisco Bay Area

The roofer who
still answers the
phone in 2036.

Most roofing companies do not survive their third slow winter. The warranty goes with them.

We are a funded California corporation with a board, an office and committed capital, built to hold for decades rather than to flip. In this trade, that is the rare thing.

Where the gap is Careers

Where you are. Where a company built to hold puts you.

The same four problems, from whichever side of the roof you are on.

Today, in this tradeWith Truehold

If you own a roof

Three bids, three numbers, none of them say what is included or what happens if the deck underneath is bad.
One estimate in your words: what comes off, what goes on, what we are not touching, and what each surprise costs if we find it.
The price moves on day two. The tear-off finds rot, and you have no leverage left.
Hidden conditions are priced before the tear-off. The number cannot be moved on you afterwards.
A full replacement quoted where a repair was the honest answer, because replacement is what pays.
If it is a repair, we say so. Nobody here is paid to talk you past that sentence.
A warranty from a company that is gone before the first winter tests the work.
A board, an office, committed capital, and a named foreman who picks up the phone in year eight.

If you work on roofs

Work that stops when the season does, and a paycheque that depends on it.
Year-round work and payroll that runs on time, from a company funded past the slow winter.
One truck, one phone, and the back office is you at the kitchen table at 10pm.
Insurance, permits, materials and paperwork handled by an office in Santa Clara that actually exists.
Your licence rented out under somebody else’s name, with none of the authority.
The licence stays in your name, equity from day one, and the authority to run the work is real.
Crews that turn over every job, gear you bought yourself, no plan for later.
Tools and safety gear provided. Health, dental, vision, and a retirement plan with a match.

The failure mode is not bad roofers.

It is good roofers inside businesses too thin to survive a slow winter. The crew leaves, the warranty evaporates, the phone stops being answered. Every roofer in the Bay Area says quality. Almost none can say they will still exist. That is the position we are taking, and here is what it is made of.

Three numbers, no reasoningBids that cannot be compared because none of them say what is included, what is assumed, or what happens if the deck underneath is bad.
The number moves on day twoThe tear-off finds dry rot, or a second layer nobody mentioned, and the price changes after the work has started and you have no leverage left.
Sold a roof you did not needA full replacement quoted where a repair was the honest answer, because replacement is what pays.
The crew that vanishesStorm-chasers and one-truck operators who are gone before the first winter tests the work.

You should understand the system before you are asked to pay for it.

Most homeowners are asked to approve a system nobody has ever drawn for them. Here are the three we work on, layer by layer.

Comp shingle

  • Shingles, laid to the overlap the maker specifies
  • Underlayment, the second line when wind drives rain
  • Sheathing, the deck we inspect once it is open
  • Rafters
  • Drip edge, cheap, and skipped constantly

The common Bay Area roof. Most failures here are a detail somebody hurried, not a shingle that wore out.

Tile

  • Concrete or clay tile, the visible layer
  • Battens, holding the tile off the deck
  • Underlayment — this is the actual waterproofing
  • Sheathing and rafters, carrying real weight

Tile outlives the layer beneath it. A tile roof that leaks usually needs the underlayment replaced and the same tile put back, not a new roof.

Flat and low slope

  • TPO or PVC membrane, one continuous sheet
  • Heat-welded seams, where flat roofs live or die
  • Insulation, to slope water toward the drain
  • Sheathing and rafters

The scarcest skill in this market. A flat roof fails at a seam or a penetration long before the membrane wears out.

Also: wood shake, standing-seam metal, torch-down, flashing and valley detail, skylight and penetration work, leak diagnosis, and coatings where a full replacement is not the honest answer.

Written before we had a single customer, so you can hold us to it.

Three roofers, three numbers, no explanation. That is the normal experience of the most expensive repair on a house. Ours is a document you can read at the kitchen table and compare against anyone.

The scope, in the words you would useWhat is coming off, what is going on, and which parts of the roof we are not touching.
What we cannot see yet, and what it costs if it is thereBad decking, dry rot, a second layer. Priced before the tear-off, so the number cannot be moved on you afterwards.
When a repair is the right answerIf your roof does not need replacing, we will say so. The estimator is never paid to talk you past that sentence.
Who is on your roof, and who to callA named foreman, not a number that reaches a call centre.

Built to still be here in ten years

The failure mode in this trade is not bad roofers. It is good roofers inside businesses too thin to survive a slow winter, so the crew leaves, the warranty evaporates and the phone stops being answered.

We are a California corporation with a board, an office in Santa Clara, and committed capital. Not a truck and a phone number. We are building this to hold, not to sell.

What that buys you: payroll that runs on time, materials paid for before the job rather than out of your deposit, insurance and permits handled by an office that exists, and somebody who answers the phone the winter after the work is done.

Our people have built and run operations in other trades on the same pattern: put a real back office behind the work, keep the people who know it, and hold the business rather than trade it. We are building this one in the order that produces a company worth calling — the licensed operator first, then the foreman, then the crew.

Status, stated plainly: Truehold Roofing’s California contractor’s licence application is in process. Until it issues we are not a licensed contractor, are not performing contracting work, and are not quoting jobs. The seats below are open now.

Where we work

Santa Clara, San Mateo and Alameda counties, and the Bay Area cities between them: San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Fremont, Hayward and Oakland. Residential and light commercial.

In this trade the people are the company.

So these are the most important decisions we will make. Year-round work, payroll that runs on time, tools and safety gear, health, dental, vision and a retirement plan with a match. If you are curious rather than looking, that is a fine reason to text.

Operator & Licence Holder

The first hire The person who holds the licence and runs the business behind it. The seat the whole company waits on. Bay Area · Salaried · Equity from day one · Competitive pay and benefits, based on experience Full description

Never held the licence yourself? This part is written for you.

California asks for four years of journey-level experience in the last ten — journeyman, foreman, supervisor, or running your own crew. There are no educational requirements at all, and a completed apprenticeship or trade school can count toward the four years.

If that is you, we cover the application and the exam fees, and the licence stays in your name. If you held one at any point in the last five years the exams are waived outright. Past that window they are not, which is the Board’s rule rather than ours.

The work

You are the qualifying individual on the licence and the operator of the business behind it, responsible for the work that goes out under your number. You run production: crews, schedule, quality, and the money each job makes or loses.

What the seat carries

  • Qualifying the licence, and standing behind it. A real responsibility, not a name on a form, and we will not structure it as one.
  • Building the bench beneath you, so the business is not one person deep.
  • Owning the relationship with the CSLB, the bond, and workers’ compensation.
  • Estimating and pricing, or holding whoever does to the standard on this page.

On how this is structured, since you will ask

A qualifier who is not genuinely running the business is an arrangement the CSLB treats seriously, and so do we. If the seat is real, the authority is real. We will not offer, and will not accept, a licence-renting structure by any name.

What it comes with

Equity from the beginning rather than an earn-in. A salary that does not depend on a deal closing. Back office, payroll, insurance and permits handled, so you run roofing rather than paperwork.

Roofing Foreman

Early A working foreman, on the roof, leading a tear-off while running it. Bay Area · Competitive pay and benefits, based on experience Full description

What we look for

  • On the roof, not a clipboard. Leading a tear-off while running it.
  • Holding a schedule, a crew and a standard at once, and saying so early when one of the three is slipping.
  • Enforcing OSHA and site safety as a habit rather than a briefing.
  • Checking the work against the standard before the customer does.
  • Materials on site before the crew is, and the paperwork done after they leave.
  • Bilingual English and Spanish is a real advantage on most Bay Area crews.

What it comes with

Truck and fuel, tools, safety equipment, and work that does not stop when one job finishes. Health, dental, vision and a retirement plan with a match.

Roofers

Early Comp shingle hands, flat-roof people, and anyone who can find a leak nobody else found. Bay Area · Competitive pay and benefits, based on experience Full description

What we look for

  • Real hands-on experience with comp shingle, and the judgement to spot a bad deck before it is covered.
  • TPO or PVC experience carries the most weight. Flat-roof skill is the scarcest thing in this market and the hardest to teach quickly.
  • Tile, wood shake or standing-seam metal is a genuine plus.
  • Finding a leak nobody else found, and fixing it once.
  • Turning up on time, and leaving a site clean.

What it comes with

Tools and safety equipment, year-round work rather than a season, and health, dental, vision and a retirement plan with a match.

Roofing Estimator

Second wave Climb it, measure it, price it, and explain it at the kitchen table. Bay Area · Base and commission · Competitive pay and benefits, based on experience Full description

The work

You are the number the whole job rests on, and you are the person who delivers the standard above. You will never be asked to sell a roof somebody does not need, or to hold a number you did not agree with.

What we look for

  • Comp shingle, tile, flat and torch down, tear-off and overlay, and you know what the surprises cost: the deck you find once the old layer is off, the dry rot, the second layer nobody mentioned.
  • Homeowners, property managers and insurance work, each of which reads an estimate differently.
  • Measuring and scoping accurately enough that the crew is not renegotiating the job from the roof.
  • Owning the estimate through to the finished job, so what was priced is what was built.
  • Bilingual English and Spanish is a real advantage here, not a footnote.

Talk to a person.

Every message is read by a person. If you are in the trade and curious rather than looking, that is a fine reason to get in touch. A text is often better than a call.

(408) 475-4706
[email protected]

Homeowners: we are not quoting work until the licence issues, and we will not put you on a list to be sold to later. When it issues, this page will say so.