How a Roofer, A Hippie, and BBQ Royalty Changed my Life
A Note From CJ: Why I Started Writing for Freetail Roofing
Howdy. My name is CJ. For the last couple of months, I have been writing the blog posts for Freetail Roofing.
And frankly, I muffed it.
I was so focused on SEO optimization and over-polishing and “searchability” that I completely missed the one thing I promised Michael was the most important part of all this. Authenticity. The very thing that makes Freetail Roofing what it is. The thing I value most. The thing he asked me to hold on to.
So this blog is a bit different. You may not learn how to spot hail bruising or tell the difference between ridge caps and starter strips, but you will hear the real reason I believe in this company. A roofing company of all things. Why I choose to write for them in the middle of everything else I have going on in my life.
I am not a roofer, but a roofer believed in me
I do not come close to doing the work of a roofer. I sit in my home office writing blogs while people like Michael, Matthew, Travis, Sunny, and Yza do the actual heavy lifting. Literal heavy lifting. In 2020 I found myself in the middle of a life I did not recognize. I was a former youth pastor with an infant daughter, no job, and no clue what came next. I posted a desperate plea on Facebook saying I would do anything. Data entry, grunt work, whatever it took to keep my family standing while I figured out what my life was supposed to look like.
A week later I found myself sitting across from Michael Kalish at Texas Taco Kitchen in Liberty Hill. He is going to hate that I’m writing about him specifically, but he can deal with it- he’s not my boss. Here was this quiet man with a greying beard that told the story of someone who had felt the same pressure I was feeling. Someone who had walked through the kind of season where everything feels uncertain, and somehow came out the other side with scars but also with strength.
We both knew pretty quickly that I was not going to be much help on a roof. I weighed over four hundred pounds at the time. I could barely climb stairs, much less a ladder. But he saw something else in me. Something he thought was worth investing in. So he gave me a phone and told me to start making calls. And that simple act changed the entire trajectory of my life.
Over the next year, I found new ways to contribute. And I kept finding new ways because, for the first time, I was working for someone who cared about me as a person and not as a tool. Someone who cared about my family. I worked alongside people like Travis and Matthew who saw roofing not just as a way to make money but as a way to take care of their community. A way to live out what it means to show up for people. Being around them made me want to show up too.
This is about more than roofs
On the day this is posted, Michael and Matthew will not be on a roof. They will not be chasing sales leads or trying to build a marketing platform. They will be teaming up with Project Liberty Hill to cook and prepare dozens of turkeys to bless families right here in our community. Families they know. Families whose kids go to school with their kids. Families who matter to them.
That is the core of this company. Not shingles. Not sales. Not branding. Family. Community. Showing up for people because it is the right thing to do, not because it is profitable. That is why I write these blogs. Not to impress Google. Not to chase rankings. But to tell the truth about a group of people who show up in ways most companies do not.
I am proud to share space with folks who will stop their workday to cook a meal for someone they have never met. I am proud to stand with a company that treats people with dignity whether they are buying a full replacement or asking for help on a small repair. And I am proud to call these people my friends. And it truly is about that- I no longer am employed by Freetail Roofing. My life took a different trajectory, but these folks continue to mean so much to me that I want to contribute to their success.
The work under the work
Roofing is just the surface. The shingles. The hammer swings. The part you see from the street. But the deeper work happening at Freetail Roofing is something else entirely. It is people choosing to be kind in a world that often forgets kindness. It is generosity in a trade that is too often known for the opposite. It is leadership through quiet faithfulness instead of loud promises.
I wanted this blog to help people understand roofs. Now I want it to help people understand the heart behind the people who install them. Because your home deserves a roof you can trust. And your community deserves people who show up when it matters.
So if you ever wonder why some guy named CJ keeps writing these posts, here is the simple truth. I am not writing because I love roofing. I am writing because I love the people who do it. And if my words can help even one homeowner feel a little more confident in who they choose, then that feels worth it to me.
There is a story behind every roof. And there is a story behind the people who put those roofs on. I am grateful to be part of it, even in the smallest way.
Thanks for reading. Really. It means more than you know.