Kauaʻi born and raised sisters, Lana Simmons and Alia Galvez are breaking barriers as Native Hawaiian wāhine stepping into the traditionally male-dominated industry of roofing.
Simmons and Galvez are the proud owners of Kauaʻi Island Roofing LLC, serving communities across the island of Kauaʻi. Their introduction to roofing began around 10 years ago, when the sisters found themselves at a place in life where they were able to take on something new and separate from their role as wives and mothers.
“I had a friend who was the office manager of a roofing company based on Oʻahu,” said Simmons. “They were looking for salespeople and I thought okay, let me try it – and I ended up doing good on the sales side.
“I asked my sister if she would join because I needed a little help, and we did it together as partners through sales. We would end up doing everything from beginning to end for the business, so we eventually decided to start our own business and get our license. That’s kind of how this happened.”
In 2019, Kauaʻi Island Roofing LLC was born.
Initially, the sisters’ clients were mainly their family and friends, and their work focused on residential roofs. Today the company has expanded, doing more commercial work.
Their clientele has grown without any formal marketing efforts other than the “coconut wireless” with the testimonies of their clients playing a crucial role in their success.
Simmons and Galvez work side-by-side with their four-member roofing team.
“We do everything from top to bottom. We don’t have office staff so, between the two of us, we take on all the tasks,” said Galvez. “It works well for us right now and the fact that we get to do this together is a huge plus.”
Roofing is typically an industry dominated by men; however, the sisters’ passion for their work led them to become entrepreneurs in a field where women are either absent or marginalized.
“I feel like it works to our advantage. We are very thorough, organized and responsive, so I think we have the upper hand,” said Galvez. “There are a lot of male roofers and sometimes potential clients will be like, ‘you guys can’t handle this job,’ but we’re up to the challenge. We can figure it out and get it done.”
Simmons and Galvez incorporate Hawaiian values into their business practices and put the families that they work with first.
“[Our values] drive everything that we do. We are working with people that we are going to see at the grocery store or a family party,” said Galvez. “We are going to give our extreme best effort because we have that value at heart and always make sure that we take care of the homeowners to get them a solid roof.”
“A lot of our roofs are for local clients, and that was initially our start. We wanted to help all the locals be able to get a new roof, not just the tourists that are moving here and buying houses,” added Simmons. “Now we’ve expanded a bit, and we can take care of both sides.”
Watching their mother operate her own business influenced the sisters’ ambition to become business owners themselves.
“Our mom has also always been a business owner, and she raised us with the mindset where ‘you can do that, you can start that, you can take the risk and go for it,’ so she definitely played a role as far as giving us that push to do things,” said Simmons.
To date, Kauaʻi Island Roofing’s biggest and most memorable job was working on the Kauaʻi Museum. The sisters had several partners to help make that project happen.
“We used a very special clay tile that took months to make. As it is a historical building, we dealt with the historical society, getting permits, working with the county and with other Native Hawaiians,” said Galvez. “Chucky Boy Chock, the museum director, played a crucial part. He is Hawaiian and he wanted a Hawaiian company to do the work, so it was a special experience.”
As for the future of their business, the sisters hope to acquire their own equipment and company trucks and would love to see their roofing team grow large enough to take on multiple jobs at once.
“We are very grateful for where we are today, and we are thankful for all the blessings that got us here,” said Galvez. “We look forward to the future and all the exciting things that are going to happen with our business.”
call: (808)652-1613 or (808)625-2967
Follow them on social media:
- Instagram: kauaiislandroofing
- Facebook: /kauaiislandroofing
