Sam Frank | Quitting Corporate for Construction

It took quitting a corporate job and living in Morocco for a year for Sam Frank, co-founder of and partner at Four Twelve Roofing, to realize that his heart belonged in the city he’d grown up in.

Sam was inspired by the incredible design projects and architecture he saw in Morocco and wanted to bring that kind of beauty to Baltimore. There was just one problem: He didn’t have any experience in construction.

Fortunately, he was introduced to someone who did: his eventual co-founder Shea Frederick. 

Sam describes himself as the “inside” partner while Shea specializes in the rugged outside work. However, they both get excited about bringing life back to derelict houses. Initially, the pair renovated and sold historic houses using their own money, but they eventually shifted their focus to roofing.

“We really got at this business from a place of wanting to do the sexy stuff: the historic restoration stuff, old hardwood floors, and carpentry and building a whole house,” Sam says. “Going into roofing has been an unexpected journey, but it's been really enjoyable.”

That’s not to say it’s always been easy.

“We definitely messed up some projects, but those are fantastic opportunities because when you mess something up, being able to make it right is one of the most important parts of building a quality brand and reputation,” Sam says.

Over the last five years, Four Twelve Roofing has built a steady following in Baltimore. “I can't tell you how many people I've run into that say, ‘Oh man, I see your vans everywhere’ or ‘I heard you guys on the radio’ or ‘My neighbor got their roof done by you.’ And it is really neat,” he says.

The media agrees. In 2020, Four Twelve Roofing was ranked as number one of the 50 fastest-growing companies by the Baltimore Business Journal. Inc. also placed it 122nd out of its 5,000 fastest-growing private companies, “which actually ranks us first amongst roofing contractors in the country,” Sam says.

In the summer of that same year, while the economy struggled, Sam says that Four Twelve Roofing “hired like crazy” to fulfill the demand built by its reputation.

“I was driving around the city the other day and there are so many — we've done a roof on every block. To be able to point it out and see that we've been a part of projects like that is pretty neat.”

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🧑 Name: Sam Frank

⚙️ What he does: As co-founder of and partner at roofing company Four Twelve Roofing, Sam leads sales and business development to land construction projects that improve the city of Baltimore.

🏠 Company: Four Twelve Roofing

💎 Words of wisdom: “First figure out what product you want to sell. You want something that you can scale. For us, roofing was a great product: There was a need in the marketplace where we worked and it was something that didn't seem to be saturated, so there was definitely an opportunity for us.”

🔍 Where to find Sam: LinkedIn

🔍 Where to find Four Twelve Roofing: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Website

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💡 Itchy feet: After graduating from Northwestern, Sam felt lost in a corporate job. He took some time off to travel, and was inspired by the wonderful design he saw while living in Morocco.

💡 Constructing a partnership: Back in his home city of Baltimore, Sam was introduced to Shea Frederick. After a couple of beers and one insulation project, they teamed up to form Four Twelve Roofing.

💡 Baltimore raving: Having grown up in Baltimore, Sam says that the city is being regenerated and doesn’t deserve the bad reputation outsiders often associate with it.

💡 Fix and flip: Initially, the plan was to renovate historic houses and sell them: Four Twelve is named after the first set of houses that Sam and Shea restored and sold together.

💡 Shifting focus to roofs: However, Sam saw roofing as a chance to alleviate the stress of managing an entire project, while also allowing them to focus on satisfying details.

💡 Pet projects: Sam’s favorite projects are still those that involve historic details or renovations, or that use specialty materials.

💡 Baltimore and more: The company has built a strong reputation in Baltimore, which ultimately led to a hiring frenzy in 2020. Sam wants to invest more in their local market before setting his sights on bigger cities.

Sam Frank:

“I ended up hanging out in Morocco for the better part of a year. I saw so many cool projects where people were working on hotels or restaurants that were in unique places, doing really cool design work with really purposeful missions. After that, I decided to move back to Baltimore, be closer to my family, and do projects like this.”

“I'm the salesman in the relationship. Shea couldn't care anything about sales — he's the anti-salesman. We say that I'm the inside guy and he's the outside guy: He builds it and I’m in the office.”

“It's fun to be part of something where you're hiring continuously. You get all these new faces, you’ve got great people contributing. We just bought a building, we’ve got 15 trucks on the road. It's fun to be playing the game and watching it grow.”

“We're super fortunate because roofing is an essential business. If you don't have a roof over your head, it's hard to sleep at night.”

“There's a bit less stress being a subcontractor, as opposed to being the general contractor. It allows you to specialize in a craft and get really good at it. And then you can do projects where all the details are done in a way that you can really have pride in them.”