Ami Feller
Owner, Roofer Chicks
Photography by David Teran
What sets your business apart from your competitors?
We are a high-quality residential roofing contractor that provides excellent customer service – from showing up on time to that first appointment to getting 99.9% of all the nails cleaned up at the end of your project. Our staff is approximately 70% female, which is pretty unusual. We are 100% woman-owned.
What do you enjoy most about your work?
My favorite thing in the world is being up on top of a roof and seeing for miles and miles. It’s so peaceful up there, and I feel so small in a humongous, beautiful universe. Another favorite thing is teaching young ladies about roofing and changing their lives. Unfortunately, the trade is not something many women think of when they consider career options. My dream is to help women support themselves and not feel trapped by their circumstances. Roofing has a very low barrier to entry and unlimited potential for earnings. It’s hard work, yes, but extremely rewarding and fun.
What career path led you to where you are today?
My career path was definitely not a straight line! My brother and I roofed together in the late ’90s and paid for a sizable chunk of our college tuition, but I never even considered construction as a viable career path. My degree field was transportation and logistics – I’ve worked for big-name logistic companies: Walmart, Caterpillar, Airborne Express, DHL Express, and Coca-Cola. Over the years, I’ve gone from roofing to logistics and back to roofing about three times. I think I was not created to work in Corporate America, but I kept trying to make it work because that is what I thought successful people do. When my brother and I started over this last time, in 2012, I finally began to see that I could be an entrepreneur, even though it had never been my dream. My brother was always the entrepreneur – the dreamer – and I’ve always been more of an implementer. In 2016, when I split off from my brother and his wife, I was scared out of my mind. I never wanted to own my own company, and I almost felt like I was a hostage to it – I was too invested in it to stop. Now I absolutely love it, but it has not been easy by any stretch. To me, it’s complete proof that God gets us to where He wants us to be – because this definitely was not my idea, and there is no place I would rather be.
What is it like to work in a male-dominated industry?
I definitely think it’s to my advantage to be in a male-dominated industry because we stand out as being different. I have a lot of men who work for and with me, and I would never want to do this without them. I rarely feel discriminated against in a negative way – most men in the industry are extremely supportive and helpful and have taught me oodles and oodles, starting with my big brother, Scott. Sometimes I must prove myself first, but that’s too easy – I can do that!
What community or non-profit groups do you support?
I am involved in several organizations – I probably need to work on saying “no,” but my community involvement is one of my favorite aspects of my job. I’m a member of Rotary Club in New Braunfels, the New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce (where I serve as a Blue Coat), NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners), and Million Up (a sub-group in NAWBO). This year I joined my first two boards: I am on the Habitat for Humanity board and also the Brauntex Theatre. I prefer to support organizations that support women. Some of my favorites are Girl Scouts, Pink Warrior Advocates, and Moms of New Braunfels Uncensored.
Who has influenced you the most in your life or career?
My big brother Scott has definitely been my greatest influence, whether I like it or not! Please don’t tell him because it will just make his ego that much bigger. I would never have been in the roofing industry at all if it were not for him, and I certainly would not be running my own company. He taught me so much – about selling, pricing, labor markets, marketing, presentation, professionalism, power tools… Even though I have my BS in business and my MBA, I think I learned far more from him and from doing this thing hands-on than I ever learned in college.
Roofer Chicks
(830) 629-7663
