Marianne Sumter - Keeping Legacies Alive

By Cass Jacoby, RCS Reporter. 

Marrianne Sumter speaks about taking on the business of her late husband and how the empowerment from women in the industry granted her so much success. 

In this episode of Roofing Road Trips, RoofersCoffeeShop® Partner Heidi J. Ellsworth visits with the owner of Wil-Mar products Marianne Sumter, manufacturer of roofing accessory products including the Wil-Mar Pipe Collar. They discuss how to carry on a business after losing a partner and the importance of relationships in the roofing industry. 

Marianne got into the roofing business in 1995, following the death of her husband who was a roofing contractor with his own business. She made the decision to take over what he had started when his idea for Wil-Mar was only which was five years new. “There was a lot to do and learn, but it worked out really good,” said Marianne. “I had a lot of friends that were very helpful and helped me with a lot of things that got to be a bit overwhelming, because I had a lot of things to do as far as closing down the roofing company, and then getting really going with Wil-Mar.”  

Marianne gained a great deal of freedom enlisting a fulfillment company to handle her product, warehouse it and ship orders, but attributes most of her success to the importance of friends. She discusses meeting Vickie Sharples and starting a 25-year-long connection that has blossomed into a beautiful and supportive friendship that helped her nurture her business.  

The biggest piece of advice Marianne has for people joining the industry or finding themselves in her position is to “be open, and if you need some help, reach out to your friends. There's a lot of people that are willing to help you with whatever you might need.” At the end of the day, Marianne stresses that the industry is all about the relationship: “having a good comfortable conversation with people, and sometimes they like to open up and then you have the next thing you know, you got yourself a nice new friend, or somebody that's comfortable to talk to...really that's kind of where it's at.” 

Marianne finishes out the podcast with the story of how Wil-Mar's Pipe collar was invented by her late husband, Bill. “He knew that how they were flashing that pipe that came out the roof was not a good thing. It was with mastic and tape, and then it would deteriorate, and then they have to go back. They get leaks and whatever. So, he came up with this idea, and he started using it on his own roofs. And then, of course, he had contacts with roofing distributors that he had purchased roofing material from for his jobs, and he got some of them to carry his product. And it just went on from there.” says Marianne. “They're really important on the roof. I mean, they're a very simple part of the roof and not very costly. Go to RoofersCoffeeShop® and request a free sample. That's just the biggest thing, get yourself a free sample of this pipe collar from us, and then you'll have it in your hands, and you can see what it's all about.”  

Listen to the entire podcast to learn more about the Wil-Mar Pipe Collars and women supporting each other in the roofing industry.