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Mike Grennan has been caring for roofs for over 34 years. It started with his first bundle of shingles, carrying them one bundle at a time, up a ladder, to the roof. Roofing is hard work! “We didn’t have rooftop deliveries in 1989,” says Mike.

Mike’s first roofing job was for one of his youth hockey coaches. He offered him a summer job. Both Mike and one of his hockey buddies labored as a human roof-top delivery service. Mike would tell you with a laugh, “On the second day of work, my buddy showed up with a suspicious smile and a makeshift shoulder pad for both of us. This was to ease the pain of the shoulder bruising from all those bundles we carried up on our first day.”

For a year or two, as most roofers do, he jumped around from crew to crew. “Some crews didn’t have steady work,” Mike says. “Other times, when one crew was unsteady, a better opportunity would present itself, and I’d jump right on it.”

When Mike was 19 or 20 years old, he met a pair of roofing partners who were willing to give him a shot. “As a kid, one of the things I liked about roofing,” he says, “was that you could start the day as a new guy on a roofing crew with an honest approach. It was incentive driven. I’d offer to work the first day with an open payment arrangement. The terms were that at the end of the day, they’d evaluate my performance, and pay me what they thought I was worth. “They were the first ones to pay me $100 a day.”  Again, Mike offers, “That was a big deal back then, $100.00 a day; I felt rich. They spent extra time with me, and I paid attention. They taught me my first set of real flashing techniques. They taught me priceless lessons about real life stuff.”

In 1992, jumping around from crew to crew, Mike landed a position as a “shingler” on a new construction crew.  “There were tons of new homes to be roofed, and the pay was fifteen dollars a square; I loved getting paid by the square,” says Mike. (For those who are wondering, a square is three bundles of shingles.)

That winter, chasing squares, he fell off a roof. He believes something protected him that day. He has a hunch mixed with a lot of uncertainty. Maybe an angel? Maybe Divine intervention?  One thing he’s certain about is this: he knows he is grateful!

The day prior to the fall, he had noticed that one of the only two, two-story ladders, was broken. When he showed up that cold, snowy morning, his goal was to “lay some squares, and earn a paycheck.” It was a steep, sloped roof. “It was a borderline; you can or can’t walk this kind of roof. It was probably a 10 pitch, and it was slick,” Mike remembers.

Because he was the low man on the totem pole, and the other guy was using the only ladder to nail off his jacks and boards (safety stuff for walking on steep roofs), Mike had to wait. “There’s a bunch of upsides for getting paid by the square, opposed to being paid by the hour,” says Mike.  “Like, the harder you work, the more you’ll get paid; it’s your choice.” Maybe.

Sitting in the van, avoiding the cold, waiting impatiently to lay some squares, a bad idea came to Mike. He thought, “I can walk up the ladder, shimmy down the back slope of the roof, cradle myself in the valley, and nail off my first couple roof jacks.” He did just that.  

He doesn’t remember the fall. What he says though is, “When I woke up, I was on my back. I saw a few faces standing over me. It was the EMS workers and my boss.”  Mike talks about what he remembers last before he took the fall.  “I had nailed off the first roof jack. I remember being crouched on that jack, reaching out as far as I could to get that second jack nailed off. And that’s it, other than a literal split-second, flash-back memory of seeing the fascia board pass my eyes. I woke up on the ground.”  It was December in Michigan, and the ground was like concrete. Mike had sustained numerous injuries. He had to undergo a few surgeries, physical therapy, and more. He progressed from wheelchair, to crutches, to a cane, and back to roofing.  Mike was blessed to be alive, move, and think.