Design Roofing & General Contractors is a roofing and general contracting company based in Houston, Texas, with project management reaching as far as Austin. Its entire workforce consists of 1099 subcontractors, a crew structure common in residential roofing.

Much of its work is insurance restoration. Roofs damaged by storms move through a claims process that involves homeowners, insurance adjusters, project managers, and the crews who complete the work. In busy stretches, the team takes on dozens of new insurance claims in a matter of weeks, and every one must be entered, managed, and eventually paid out.

Design Roofing is led by an ownership team with deep experience in sales and field operations. Managing Partner John Anthony Hernandez, a United States Marine Corps veteran, leads business development and team leadership, while his partner and Chief Quality Officer, Adam Thigpen, oversees the company's materials operations. Under their leadership, the company has grown and expanded steadily.

The Challenge

In its early years, Design Roofing managed its back office the way many growing roofing companies do: through instinct and hard work rather than defined processes. The owners handled payroll and bookkeeping as best they could while also running sales and field operations.

That approach worked while the company was small. As the business grew, the gaps became harder to ignore. Design Roofing's leadership recognized that sustained growth in roofing depends on reliable bookkeeping, accurate payroll, and clear communication across the business

Several pressures stacked up at once:

• Commission-based pay. Crew and sales payouts depend on job-level percentages tied to each insurance claim. Getting them right requires close attention to every job's numbers.
• A subcontractor-heavy workforce. Paying 1099 subcontractors accurately means collecting W-9s, confirming tax classification, and keeping bank details up to date. Missing crucial vendor information has caused year-end 1099 compliance problems for them in the past.
• Claim volume. Each new insurance claim adds work to track from intake through payout, and volume can spike quickly after a storm.
• Limited back-office bandwidth. The owners' strengths are sales and field leadership, not bookkeeping.

Design Roofing's leadership recognized that bookkeeping and payroll fell outside the company's core expertise. To support continued growth, the company needed specialists who could manage these functions accurately and consistently.

Why Design Roofing Chose Lumber

Design Roofing was not looking for another piece of software to learn. It needed a partner with deep knowledge of construction payroll and bookkeeping that could take that work off the owners' plates.

Leadership wanted specialists who could manage these functions reliably and give the company confidence its back office was in capable hands. Like many business owners, they wanted a complete solution rather than another tool to manage.

Lumber's combination of a construction payroll platform and a hands-on support crew matched that need. Design Roofing selected Lumber for both payroll and bookkeeping. The setup required no integration with the company's other systems, which kept the transition simple.

The decision also ran against conventional wisdom in the industry. Longtime roofers and owners had long held that the back office of a roofing business was too specialized for any single outside partner to handle. Design Roofing's experience with Lumber challenged that assumption.

The Solution

Design Roofing implemented Lumber’s payroll and bookkeeping services, covering commission-based payments and 1099 compliance for its subcontractor workforce, and monthly bookkeeping, all supported by a dedicated Lumber team.

Payroll built around how roofers get paid. Lumber's payroll team learned Design Roofing's commission structure in detail, including the job-level percentages that determine what crews and sales staff earn on each claim. Weekly payroll calls became review sessions rather than working sessions.

Subcontractor payments and 1099 readiness. Lumber handles payments for Design Roofing’s entire 1099 subcontractor workforce. Over time, the two teams built a process to collect W-9s, confirm tax classification, and verify bank details, so contractor records are complete before year-end filing.

Bookkeeping that keeps the numbers organized. Lumber's bookkeeping team maintains the company's books and provides monthly revenue reporting, giving leadership a clearer picture of the business without the burden of doing the work in-house.

More self-service as the company matured. The Lumber platform gave the Design Roofing team the option to onboard its own subcontractors directly, supported by a Lumber-provided guide, and to review and submit its own weekly payroll drafts. This ensures that Design Roofing's team stays in control of routine steps while Lumber handles the specialized work.

A partner that adjusts as the business changes. When Design Roofing switched to a different roofing CRM, the Lumber team adapted alongside it, keeping payroll and bookkeeping aligned with the company's new systems as their business grew.

Results on the ground

Leadership Back on the Business. The clearest change is where Design Roofing’s leadership spends its time. With Lumber managing payroll and bookkeeping, leadership can focus fully on sales, crews, and field operations. The time leadership once spent on payroll and bookkeeping has dropped significantly, removing a steady source of back-office stress as the company grows.

Lumber’s team has learned the company’s systems, commission percentages, and payout structure in detail, so weekly payroll calls are now a quick review of work already completed.

Accurate Commission Payouts at Claim Volume. Even when dozens of new insurance claims arrive in a short window, commissions are calculated against each job's numbers. Referral payouts are recorded separately as marketing expenses, giving project managers a clean view of commissions on every job.

Structure Ahead of Tax Season. Where many roofing companies struggle with back-office organization, Design Roofing has built a dependable structure with monthly bookkeeping and contractor records tracked through weekly check-ins, the company approaches year-end with the documentation it needs.

Design Roofing also stays proactive, working closely with Lumber to confirm every subcontractor record is complete before 1099 filing. As a result, tax season no longer brings anxiety, and leadership approaches it confident that the back office is in good hands.

A Process the Team Can Run. Self-service subcontractor onboarding and weekly payroll draft approval give Design Roofing’s own staff a repeatable process. The result is a back office that is organized, structured, and easy for the team to sustain. Subcontractor onboarding through the platform has run smoothly, with no issues reported.

A Long-Term Partnership. As Design Roofing has grown, its partnership with Lumber has grown with it. What began as payroll and bookkeeping support has deepened to include subcontractor compliance, self-service tools for the company's own team, and support through changes to its core systems.

Today, Design Roofing works with Lumber as a true collaborator, sharing insight on how back-office support can better serve the roofing industry. The relationship is built on clear communication and dependable execution, and Design Roofing views the Lumber team as a trusted extension of its business.

Results at a glance:

• One trusted partner for payroll and bookkeeping, set up around how a roofing business operates
• Commission-based payroll that reflects job-level percentages, even at high claim volume
• Payments for an all-1099 subcontractor workforce managed in one place
• A defined process for W-9s, tax classification, and bank details ahead of 1099 filing
• Self-service subcontractor onboarding and weekly payroll approval for Design Roofing’s own team
• Tax season approached with confidence instead of anxiety
• Leadership focused on sales, crews, and growth instead of the back office

For Design Roofing, the back office is no longer a source of stress but a foundation for growth, giving leadership the freedom to focus on serving homeowners and building the business while Lumber keeps payroll, bookkeeping, and subcontractor compliance running smoothly.