The Roofer’s Son

Ken Hendricks dropped out of high school to work for his dad. How, then, did he become a billionaire?

Getting Even

As a roofing contractor, Ken Hendricks was fed up with the lousy service he was getting at home-building supply centers. But he didn’t get mad—he started his own company. Talk about getting even.

Today, 25 years later, Hendricks is CEO, chairman and sole owner of ABC Supply, the nation’s largest wholesale distributor of roofing, siding, windows and gutters. With $3 billion in sales last year, the company operates 350 stores in 45 states and the District of Columbia. Not all that long ago, Hendricks was making $10,000 a year at two full-time jobs.

He built the business on old-fashioned family values. The son of a roofer, Hendricks grew up in Janesville, Wisconsin, just north of Beloit, where the company is based. “My dad was a hardworking, honest person,” says Hendricks, now 66. “He’d go to work at six in the morning, carrying a bag lunch, and work until six at night. He worked every Saturday and took one week off a year to visit his brother in Oklahoma.”

But in a town where the social divide between the country-club set and blue-collar workers was indelible, he says, “my father didn’t get any respect because of what he did.” When Hendricks dropped out of high school to work with his dad, he saw that attitude was extended to contractors by the business owners who sold them building materials.

“They didn’t understand the business at all,” says Hendricks. “They were interested in one thing: selling something. Whether it worked or not, they didn’t care.” Hendricks took that lesson to heart, determined to put the customer first.

After 20 years of running his own roofing business, he had the finances and experience to make a move when he heard of three supply centers that were for sale. It was 1982, the middle of a recession, and the best loan Hendricks could secure came with a 22 percent interest rate. Worse, all the centers were losing money. Nonetheless, he and his wife, Diane, took the plunge, and ABC Supply was born. His goal was simple: “I wanted to change the roofing industry.”

In four years, the company acquired or opened nearly 50 stores and racked up $183 million in sales. Hendricks revels in turning around an unprofitable business without changing managers, employees or customers. “One thing we’ve done differently from most companies is to always keep the people in place.”

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