Get ahold of us

Cox Crew: Meet Ron Cox, semi-retired at Cox Roofing

Ron Cox does what he wants, when he wants, and that’s exactly how he likes it.

In 1979, Ron Cox started Cox Roofing as a way to serve Springfield with high-quality, professional roofing services. In the 41 years since, he’s been working and supporting its mission of better, quality roofs in a variety of roles. But this might be his favorite job yet at Cox Roofing.

 

Q: “How would you describe Cox Roofing in two words?”

A: “Taking care. We take care of our customers, and we take care of our employees. That’s the basis of everything we do. We give our customers the best service around and we’re there when they need us. We do the same thing for our employees, taking care of them by paying them well, providing the best benefits of any roofing company around. None of our guys retire poor. If you take care of your employees, your customers, that ensures continued success.”

 

Q: “What’s the most challenging part of your job?”

A: “Finding the right people, and not growing too fast. In the construction business, you have to work at not growing too fast or too slow. Too fast, and the quality of your work suffers, and you’ve got to have the right people to do it; we struggle getting new employees that are right for us. This year because of Hailey, the hail storm, it was a crazy year, and we had to slow down and make sure each roof was done right. Our customers were patient with us because they know we’ll get the job done right.”

 

Q: “What’s the best part of working at Cox?”

A: “It’s family. Rebecca, our office manager, she’s my niece. My brother just recently is getting ready to retire after 40 years; we’ve got a lot of guys who have been here 20 years. It’s family. Most our guys, if they’re here a couple of months, they’re probably here for 20 years, and I like it that way.”

 

Q: “Share your funniest memory at Cox.”

A: “I like to do things on my big chief tablet, my piece of paper and pencil. And sometimes, the phones go out, and our computers go down, and all the calls from our answering service go to my cellphone. And then the girls in the office get frustrated, because they want to answer the calls and log them on the computer. I just hand them my phone and a piece of paper. Sometimes, the old ways work.”

 

Q: “What’s the best vacation you’ve been on?”

A: “My wife Janine and I have been married 50 years, and we love cruises. We’ve been to the Bahamas, to the Caribbean many times. Alaska is fun in the summertime. Our first cruise was on a boat called Carnival, and it had 400 passengers. Our last cruise had maybe 6,000 people. I’ve never been on a cruise I didn’t enjoy.”

 

Q: “What are your hobbies outside of work?”

A: “Work isn’t just work, it’s also my hobby. I wouldn’t do this job unless I wanted to do it, and I really do enjoy it. I went to a four day week, and I’ll eventually probably just do Monday through Wednesday, then Monday to Tuesday. I’m still here not because they can’t live without me, because they can, but because I enjoy the work. I still contribute, fill in where I can. It’s a great job.”