Business
Commercial Roofing Company Continues Legacy of Excellence
Parsons Roofing recently moved its headquarters to Peachtree Corners to remain close to family and poised for growth in the southeast U.S.
Those familiar with local history know that the Parsons surname is synonymous with development in the area. The Parsons Family Stores were staples for more than a century.
Calvin Parsons and his wife Kate inherited her father’s general store that began in 1876 as a single trading post outside of Lawrenceville. Parsons grew the business to several stores throughout north Georgia that sold everything from groceries, clothing, and dry goods to hardware and building materials.
Today, the Parsons name continues its legacy of quality service in the southwest Gwinnett County area. Parsons Roofing Company recently moved operations to Peachtree Corners. Its owner, Jay Thornton, is the great-grandson of Calvin Parsons.
In the 1960s, the building supply division moved to a separate location south of downtown Duluth and was operated by Jay Thornton’s grandfather. One of the Duluth location’s mainstays was selling roofing products.
The present-day Parsons Roofing Company is a commercial roofing contractor and no longer sells roofing products. The company now focuses on the installation, repair, and restoration of commercial roofs.
As a fifth-generation member of a family dedicated to hard work and forward vision, Thornton noted that Parsons Roofing Company has grown into a regional business with clients across the southeast.
Thornton started a residential shingle roofing company out of his grandmother’s basement 10 years ago. His work ethic and dedication to quality helped his business take off. He gained a partner in Eric Abell and eventually turned the focus to commercial projects.
“I started this company with a strong belief that consumers need a roofer they can trust. Before I started Parsons Roofing, I had worked in the roofing industry for years and was disheartened. Every company I worked for cared about money first and the customer second,” Thornton states on his company website.
“I felt that it should be the opposite. I believe that if you are honest and take care of the customer first, everything else will fall into place. So that’s what we’ve built our business on here at Parsons As our customer, you’ll feel the trust and respect for your needs from us right away.”
Growing the business
Abell and Thornton opened up their first office in the Chamblee area as Prestige Roofing in 2018. The business model was so successful, they outgrew the space. As it turned out, they continued to outgrow their accommodations so they’re now in a space on Medlock Bridge Road in Peachtree Corners.
The move is perfect for many reasons, said Jennifer Sudderth, director of sales and marketing. It’s near family and the community that the company wants to be a part of, it’s in the heart of metro Atlanta — one of the hottest commercial building markets in the country — and it’s centrally located to other growth areas where Parsons plans to extend business, like Nashville, Orlando, and Raleigh.
The company already has major projects in the works in Nashville with plans to open an office there by the end of the year. Next will be satellite offices in Orlando and Raleigh, keeping a manageable distance from home base.
Although the pandemic may have had adverse effects on many businesses, Sudderth said Parsons Roofing barely felt the impact.
“Roofing is a need, not a want,” she said. “If you’re a commercial operation with a leaky roof, there’s not an option to put it off.”
And supply issues didn’t plague the business, either. Most roofing companies don’t keep a lot of inventory, and commercial roofing doesn’t come in a variety of styles and colors. It was possible to store enough supplies to get through rough patches when goods weren’t being transported on time.
Even though Parsons Roofing isn’t going to be a household name, the company believes in community connections and family ties. It has joined local chambers of commerce and other business organizations and is involved in philanthropic endeavors locally.
Although Peachtree Corners is the largest city in Gwinnett County, it has a small-town, homey vibe, said Sudderth.
That hometown connection, along with expanded technology, economic development, and business growth, should keep Parsons Roofing in the area for another century.
Leroy Hite, founder of Cutting Edge Firewood — a luxury brand specializing in wood for fireplaces, grills, pizza ovens and firepits — shared his journey from starting a company to gaining national recognition during the PCBA Business After Hours Speaker Series in December.
Hite highlighted the industry’s disorganization and his innovative approach to firewood, including using ovens to dry the wood and improving on delivery methods. And he emphasized the importance of customer experience, branding and counter-cultural thinking.
Despite initial challenges and financial constraints at the beginning, his company grew significantly (even during the early days of COVID-19), achieving a 400% increase in sales.
Entrepreneurial spirit
The disorganization and lack of focus within the firewood industry is what initially prompted Hite to question its methods.
He thought he’d found the answer when he started a firewood company with friends while in college, winning a Kroger account for the entire Southeast. But the limited experience of Hite and his co-owners became evident quickly.
“We discovered how backwards the industry was for three college students to get that account with a username and password,” he said. “On the day of the bid, whoever put in the lowest number won the account.”
With the contract in hand, the guys were able to get loans and bought hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment that they didn’t know how to use.
“It would break every single day, so I had to teach myself how to fix it,” he said. “We hired 30 to 35 people off of Craigslist; I don’t advise you to do that.”
In the end, the guys realized they were in way over their heads. They couldn’t keep up with Kroger’s demand. But the experience gave Hite insight into a better way to deliver firewood.
“At the time, industry-wide, you would put the firewood in the back of a pickup truck, get a wheelbarrow, put it where they wanted it,” he said. “… to do a second delivery, you have to drive back and get more wood. So maybe you can do two deliveries a day.”
Hite devised a plan to have the wood palletized and use a mini skid steer, which allows you to get it closer to where it should be. What had taken 16 to 18 hours for two deliveries would now allow seven or eight deliveries in the same time frame.
After the first firewood business shut down, Hite worked with Chick-fil-A and then Enterprise Rent-A-Car for several years.
“It was great experience,” he said, though he couldn’t get firewood out of his mind.
Taking another chance
Hite considered getting back into the firewood business as a side gig, but eventually decided to leave his corporate job and pursue the business full time.
“A fire is like a beautiful sunset,” he said. “No one on earth dislikes it. A fire can be the center of a wedding party and can also add great taste to food — whether it’s steak, pizza or barbecue.”
When he started Cutting Edge, Hite wanted to fix the poor quality of wood and lack of branding and customer service.
He had an opportunity to purchase an existing business, but lacked the funding. So, he took a leap of faith.
“I had an outdated website. I had a truck, and I had a customer list. I realized I was going to be a supplier and that I needed to reinvent how to deliver firewood,” he said. “I [tried] to get a second loan on my house, [but] no banks would talk to me at the time.”
Hite convinced his wife, pregnant with their third daughter, to sell the house.
“We moved into a rental home, and I completely redid the branding. I reinvented how to do deliveries. I invented a rack that could be moved with a hand truck. And I found a hand truck that will go up and down stairs and one that will go across rough terrain,” he said. “So, the delivery went from two hours to about 15 minutes per delivery. And it was also a lot safer.”
Though COVID caused many businesses to go under, his thrived. It seemed that people stuck at home got a taste for food cooked over “fancy wood,” as he put it.
Goals and standards
Cutting Edge Firewood has two goals, Hite said: To provide unparalleled customer service and deliveries. And to provide the best firewood available. Period.
According to company literature, the Cutting Edge team “works with the best suppliers to ensure they consistently meet our high standards. All of our firewood undergoes the most rigorous drying process in the industry: each piece is conditioned for 48 hours in 250-degree heat. And our trained specialists hand-select each piece of firewood … ensuring that you only receive the very best — photoshoot-ready firewood that lights easily and burns brightly.”
Future plans
Although Hite didn’t go into detail, he sold Cutting Edge Firewood in August 2024, having built a strong brand and customer base in Atlanta and throughout the country.
“[Entrepreneurship] definitely isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s both demanding, disheartening and rewarding all at the same time,” he said. “I love it. I went in with a not-too-thin skin, but I definitely exited with very thick skin.”
Now that he’s been bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, Hite indicated that he wants to venture out again. He reflected on the challenges and rewards of running the business, including the importance of customer experience and branding.
“The brand is very, very well-known in Atlanta. We were named a couple of times in Atlanta Business Chronicle as one of the fastest growing companies,” he said. “It’s rewarding. I’ve had Coca-Cola executives say that [they] know the branding and the customer service … [and] I’m pretty sure that Cutting Edge Firewood is being used in the White House.”
Hinting of a desire to move on to new ventures, possibly focusing on disrupting existing markets rather than creating new ones, Hite again emphasized the importance of counter-cultural thinking, pushing through discomfort and being driven by a passion for customer experience and innovation.
For more information about Cutting Edge Firewood, visit cuttingedgefirewood.com.
The Peachtree Corners Business Association (PCBA) awarded a check for $500 to the United Way of Greater Atlanta (Gwinnett County) at their Business After Hours networking event in November.
The local organization was chosen by PCBA’s Outreach Committee because of their commitment to providing assistance and bettering the lives of children within the community.
United Way of Greater Atlanta
The mission of United Way of Greater Atlanta is to engage and bring together people and resources to drive sustainable and equitable improvements in the well-being of children, families and individuals in local communities.
“Greater Atlanta is one of the most vibrant regions in the country, but the region has significant barriers to realizing its potential in the future because of its continued ranking at the bottom of the list of metro areas in income mobility,” stated Vanessa Roussell, United Way senior director of corporate relations.
“Children born in low-income households have only a 4% chance of getting out of poverty in their lifetime,” she continued. “We at United Way of Greater Atlanta don’t like those odds. Our work is about changing them so that children — regardless of where they’re born — have the chance to realize their potential and build lives that sustain themselves, their families and their communities.
Assessing needs within the county
The organization’s goal is to help every child unlock their full potential, by improving education, healthcare, resources and economic mobility in the communities where they live. Their “every child program” includes every child in Gwinnett.
Based on the 2023 census track for Gwinnett County, 94,308 people living in Gwinnett County are at risk, particularly in and around Sugar Hill/Buford, Duluth, Norcross, Lawrenceville, Lilburn and Snellville. The highest-need residents are located in the I-85 corridor, mainly around Duluth, Norcross and Lilburn.
Giving back to support the community
“The PCBA is proud to donate a check for $500 to United Way of Greater Atlanta (Gwinnett County),” said PCBA President, Lisa Proctor. “Our outreach committee and board are committed to supporting our community, and investing in the well-being of the children in our community aligns with our core principles. We know that our dollars will be targeted to help those at highest risk … We are glad to have the local Gwinnett chapter located right in our community.”
Funds for the PCBA Community Outreach Program are raised throughout the year from PCBA membership, sponsorship and an annual charity event. Donations and scholarships are awarded at their monthly events so that members have the opportunity to learn more about the community organizations and their programs.
Over the past 12 years, the PCBA has awarded 19 scholarships to outstanding graduating high school seniors and donated in excess of $165,500 back into the community.
About Peachtree Corners Business Association
“Where businesses come to grow,” the Peachtree Corners Business Association (PCBA) is a business membership organization that focuses on innovative approaches, programs, shared resources, community outreach and opportunities for member businesses and professionals to connect, develop, grow and prosper.
The PCBA is made up of businesses of all sizes and types who want to expand their reach and grow their business within Peachtree Corners and the greater metro Atlanta area.
For more information visit peachtreecornersba.com.
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