About Us

Award-Winning Quality, World-Class Service, & Uncompromising Integrity

Whether it is a clay, slate, or copper roof repair, a complete restoration, or a new installation of a traditional type of roofing that is needed, The Durable Slate Company can work with the owner to determine the project scope that best fits the owner’s budget, time constraints, and needs.

  • Serving the Eastern US & Beyond

    The Durable Slate Company provides slate, copper, and clay tile roofing services throughout the Eastern United States. The Durable Restoration Company is an award winning restoration contractor employing craftsmen specializing in more than a dozen traditional trades covering the interior as well as exterior envelope.

  • Slate & Specialty Roofing

    Our expertise in historic methods and materials combined with our dedication to outstanding customer service is exemplified by the dozens of awards we have received in the areas of craftsmanship, safety, business integrity, and for training employees that have reached the pinnacle of the industry.

  • Unmatched Workmanship

    At Durable Slate, we train our artisans on the knowledge accumulated over generations of experience from expert slaters as well as from our thousands of completed projects. This pride of creating and restoring beautiful roofs that lasts generations has resulted in numerous local and national awards for craftsmanship to many of our fine artisans.

Meet Our Experts at Durable Slate

  • John Chan

    Owner of The Durable Slate Company

    John started slate, tile and copper roofing at The Durable Slate Company while on summer breaks during college in 1986. He resumed his career full- time after graduating from UCLA with a degree in Economics in 1989.

    After working through the ranks in the field, he became one of the principles of the company in 1992. In 1996, he moved and opened the Cincinnati branch office. Once that office was fully staffed, he went on to open up the New Orleans branch office in 2006. Over that time span, he has worked on over 10,000 slate and tile roofs all over the United States and Europe. John is currently the President of the National Slate Association.

  • Gary Howes

    Chief Operating Officer of The Durable Slate Company

    Gary started his career in the company in 1989 working in the field. He became quite an artisan and was awarded the Builder’s Exchange Craftsmanship Award in 1995. Having held numerous technical positions in the company, Gary was able to master the Durable Way, and rose to the level of principal and Executive Vice President of Operations in the company. Gary has also been certified to purchase and install historical mortars provided by the US Heritage group. Gary is currently the Chairman of the Board for the Slate Roofing Contractors Association.

  • Scott Schroer

    Historic Preservation Specialist of The Durable Restoration Company

    Scott is the winner of the Master Craftsman Award by the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation. He has been in the construction business for over twenty years along with running a successful custom home building business for eight years and has overseen millions of dollars of construction. Scott is an expert in historic masonry and is certified in stone patching. He played a key role in the Old Bostwick School House, which won the Florida Trust Award. He has been the project manager over many notable jobs such as Amelia Island Lighthouse, Fort White Railroad Depot, Carson Bryan House, First Baptist Church in Frankfort, Kentucky, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Westcott House.

  • Shane Day

    Assistant Vice President Production

    Shane started in the construction business in 1994. He joined The Durable Slate Company in 2001 as a foreman and proceeded to work his way up to holding the Assistant Vice President of Quality Control position. He was then promoted to the Director of Special Projects position and currently holds the position of Assistant Vice President of Production where he oversees all of the production for The Durable Slate Company and The Durable Restoration Company. During this time Shane has become a trained expert in slate, tile, copper, masonry, plaster, terra cotta and stone patching. Shane has consulted for and worked on thousands of historic buildings throughout his career including churches, lighthouses, museums, statehouses, etc.

The Durable Way

A successful project for any type of historical roofing is comprised of the many parts that we call the Durable Way.

Proper Assessment

Proper assessment and the resulting plan of action are extremely important in the repair and restoration of all historical roofing types. Many of the “basic principles” and diagnostic techniques used by generic modern day roofers do not apply to historic roofing as slate, tile, and copper roofing have quite different properties to asphalt roofing. Our extensive experience on diagnosing roof problems on old buildings (some that date back 300 years) also provide us a great advantage in new installations as we have seen the methodologies that have worked and failed in our thousands of observations of historical roofs. Our senior technical expert, John Chan, serves on the board of the National Slate Association, and is one of the leading experts in slate and clay tile roofing in the country.

Appropriate Materials

With one of the largest stocks of re-claimed slate and tile in the country, we can provide matching pieces for most slate or tile restorations. Most of the clay tiles made fifty to hundred years ago are no longer manufactured and the only way to match existing is a reclaimed tile. On the other hand, many types of slate that were used on older buildings are still quarried but have weathered to a shade that can be vastly different than that fresh out of a quarry. Choosing new materials is just as critical of a choice. Factors such as weathering, the quality of the clay or stone at the time of quarrying, the quality of the stone at the time of cleaving and cutting, etc. can contribute greatly to whether one has a one hundred year product or a much inferior product. When it comes to new installations, we source only materials that have a proven track record to last many generations and use suppliers who have a similar integrity to provide only the very best.

Skilled Artisans

At Durable Slate, we train our artisans on the knowledge accumulated over generations of experience from expert slaters as well as from our thousands of completed projects. However, the restoration and installation of historic roofing requires extensive practice and application of that knowledge to a high level of skill. The difference between a roof installed with this knowledge and skill or lack thereof can mean a hundred plus year roof or one that will not perform satisfactorily for more than a few years. This pride of creating and restoring beautiful roofs that lasts generations has resulted in numerous local and national awards for craftsmanship to many of our fine artisans.

Quality Control

Our Quality Control staff ensures that every single job is completed to the same uniformly high standard. They are responsible for the training and apprenticing of our personnel in the Durable Way. This high standard of integrity in the company has lead to multiple awards for ethics and integrity including the International Award for Marketplace Ethics from the Better Business Bureau.

Licenses

  • Alabama: Residential License #10398
  • Florida: Certified Roofing Contractor #CCC1327270, Certified General Contractor #CGC1514873
  • Georgia: #GCQA002039
  • Louisiana: Building Construction License #44869
  • Maryland: Home Improvement License #105029
  • Michigan: Residential Builder License 2101201404
  • Mississippi: Building Construction License #15345
  • New Jersey: Home Improvement Contractor License # 13VH07094100
  • North Carolina: General Contractor License #72522
  • North Dakota: Class A Contractor License #34981
  • South Carolina: General Contractor License #114866
  • Tennessee: General Contractor License #59190
  • Virginia: Class A #2705140896
  • Washington D.C.: Business License #4105120004009
  • West Virginia: General Contractor License #WV037484

In addition, we are state registered in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Iowa, Pennsylvania, and New York.

From Our Clients

I wanted to take a minute to thank Durable Slate and John, the foreman on our recent roofing job, for the work just completed. John was very helpful in explaining and updating me on the work. Despite on-and-off rain, John completed the job without delay which is very much appreciated. The roof not only looks great but it has improved the appearance as the tiles needed to appropriately cover the area were located by your company and installed by John and his crew. A nice upgrade!

— Todd Witt – Cincinnati, Ohio