Reaching 35 years in business is a significant milestone in any segment of construction. For Stybek Roofing, however, the anniversary represents more than longevity. It marks a period of transformation that has reshaped the company from a respected single-ply roofing contractor into a full-service commercial roofing provider serving clients across Ontario.
Based in Kitchener, Ontario, Stybek Roofing has built its reputation on service, reliability, and long-term relationships. Today, the company works with commercial, industrial, and institutional clients throughout the province, delivering roofing, maintenance, emergency response, coatings, insulated metal panel systems, metal fabrication, and asset management services. While those capabilities continue to evolve, the company’s commitment to customer service remains rooted in the values that have guided it since its founding.
The defining chapter in Stybek’s recent history began with a succession plan that would ultimately reshape the business. Following the unexpected passing of longtime General Manager Peter Steikow in 2011, his wife Rita stepped into a leadership role to guide the company through the years that followed. As retirement approached, attention turned toward ensuring the future of the business and preserving the culture that had helped establish its reputation.
That future began to take shape when Andrew Selbie joined the company in 2019 as General Manager. Bringing roofing and operational experience to the business, Andrew worked alongside Rita and the existing team to evaluate the company’s direction and identify opportunities for growth. At the end of 2021, Andrew and Kate Selbie acquired the company, officially becoming owners on January 1, 2022.
Rather than simply preserve the business as it was, the new ownership team made a deliberate decision to expand what Stybek could offer. Historically, the company had been known primarily as a single-ply roofing contractor. While that expertise remained important, Andrew and Kate saw an opportunity to build a broader platform, one capable of supporting clients across the full lifecycle of a commercial roof. That shift has been intentional. Over the past several years, Stybek has expanded its capabilities to include built-up roofing, modified bitumen systems, roof coatings, insulated metal panels, enhanced fabrication services, preventative maintenance, emergency response, and roof asset management. The result is a company that now looks considerably different from the one many long-time market contacts may remember. As Kate explained, the transformation has also required a cultural shift inside the business. “Ownership to us means more than having your name on a company. It means the person on that roof at seven in the morning owns the outcome of that job. That’s the culture we’re trying to build, people who care about the work because they understand why it matters.”
“Ownership to us means more than having your name on a company. It means the person on that roof at seven in the morning owns the outcome of that job.”
This idea of ownership has become central to Stybek’s current identity. It is present in how the company approaches its projects, how it manages client relationships, and how it thinks about the people carrying out the work. For Kate and Andrew, roofing is not a one-time transaction. A roof is a critical asset, one that protects operations, equipment, inventory, tenants, and people. Treating it properly means thinking beyond installation and considering performance, maintenance, budgeting, and long-term planning.
That long-term view is especially important for clients managing large facilities or multiple properties. Many of Stybek’s relationships begin not with a major capital project, but with a repair call, service request, emergency response, or maintenance issue. From there, the relationship often grows as clients come to rely on the company’s responsiveness and technical knowledge. “It’s what we’re doing over the long term that makes a difference, because that’s where the relationship piece is critical,” Kate explained.
Service, then, is not a new direction for Stybek. It has always been part of the company’s foundation. What has changed under the current ownership is the structure, scale, and resources dedicated to that side of the business. Dedicated crews, stronger internal systems, broader technical capabilities, and a more formal asset management approach now allow Stybek to support clients more comprehensively over time.
The company’s client base reflects that wider role. Property managers often require immediate support across large portfolios, which is why Stybek maintains 24/7 service availability. Manufacturing clients, particularly across Ontario’s industrial markets, need multi-year planning strategies because roofing work can affect production, equipment, and operating continuity. Consultants, meanwhile, look for clear communication, responsiveness, and technical confidence. “Consultants have seen everything. They know when a contractor is technically confident and when they’re not. Showing up prepared and actually knowing your systems, that’s how you earn credibility with that group. You earn it,” Kate said.
This is where Stybek’s evolution into a full-service contractor becomes most important. Instead of approaching each project through the lens of a single system, the company can assess what the building actually needs. That may involve single-ply roofing, built-up roofing, modified bitumen, coatings, insulated metal panels, custom metal work, or an ongoing maintenance plan. The aim is not to sell one type of solution, but to provide the right one.
Within Stybek, the people on the roof are not treated as an afterthought to the business story. They are the business. Their work is technical, physically demanding, and often carried out in difficult conditions, yet it is also the work that determines whether the company’s promises to clients are fulfilled. Stybek’s leadership sees those crews as the foundation of its reputation. As Andrew explains, this is a major reason the company has been able to expand without losing sight of quality. “The people on this roof every day are the ones delivering on every promise we make to a client. That work is hard and technical, and we don’t take it lightly. It’s our job to make sure they have what they need to do it right.”
This emphasis on professionalism is also reflected in the company’s recent acceptance into the Ontario Industrial Roofing Contractors Association. For Stybek, OIRCA membership is not simply another credential. It represents alignment with a higher standard of safety, quality, technical competency, and professionalism. It also reflects the company’s broader effort to define itself not by size, but by trust. “The most recent thing, which has been a true testament to the evolution of this business and its growth, is we became official members of the Ontario Industrial Roofing Contractors Association this year,” Kate said. For her, the accreditation fits directly into the company’s long-term vision. “Everybody wants to be the biggest. Everybody wants to be the best. But we’re not trying to become the biggest roofing company. We’re trying to build the most trusted company,” she explained. “Our ownership in that is doing what we say we’re going to do. That’s reliability, and that’s trust.”
Trust remains an important differentiator in a competitive sector. Kate acknowledges that the commercial roofing market can be difficult, particularly in an industry where reputations are often shaped by inconsistency. “The Canadian roofing industry does have a reputation,” she said. “With so many people jostling to get into the market, it can get rough-and-tumble at times.” Stybek’s response has been to focus on changing what clients expect from a roofing contractor. “We’re fueled by something a lot bigger than just putting a roof on a building, and moving on,” she said.
Recent projects show how that approach translates into work across Ontario. For Dream Industrial, Stybek completed roofing work at 220 Water Street in Whitby, Ontario. The project encompassed approximately 400,000 square feet across two logistics buildings and involved the installation of RhinoBond’s membrane fastening system, designed to reduce penetrations and minimize the potential for water intrusion. Valued at approximately $60 million, the project was completed on schedule and demonstrates the company’s ability to deliver large-scale industrial roofing solutions.
The company has also been involved in the expansion of Ferrero’s manufacturing operations in Brantford, Ontario. Ferrero, the city’s largest employer, has committed approximately $445 million toward expanding its facilities, ultimately increasing employment to roughly 1,800 workers. Stybek completed roofing work on the new cocoa bean processing facility during Phase One and has already begun work on Phase Two of the expansion.
At Burnbrae Farms in Kitchener, Stybek completed a roof replacement project for the company’s manufacturing and food processing facility. The work required careful coordination because production continued below while roofing work progressed overhead. In downtown Toronto, Stybek also installed the roofing system for a new Enbridge office facility, using an EPDM system on the four-story building.
Together, these projects reflect both the diversity of Stybek’s capabilities and the geographic reach of its work. While Kitchener remains an important part of the company’s history, Stybek is not a local or regional contractor in the narrow sense. It serves commercial, industrial, and institutional clients across Ontario, and that provincial identity has become increasingly important as the company continues to grow.
That growth is now entering another significant phase. In late summer 2026, Stybek plans to open a second location in Hamilton following the acquisition of a new property. The Hamilton facility will become the company’s new headquarters, while Kitchener will continue to operate as a key branch location. The move reflects both the company’s expanding footprint and its intention to build a platform capable of serving clients across the province more effectively.
Looking ahead, Kate and Andrew remain focused on intentional, sustainable growth. That means continued investment in people, leadership development, service infrastructure, safety systems, training, fabrication capabilities, and asset management relationships. The company’s future is not being built around growth for its own sake, but around capability, reliability, and the ability to stand behind its work.
For Stybek Roofing, the story of the past several years is not simply one of expansion. It is a story of transformation through ownership, culture, and capability. A company once widely known for single-ply roofing has become a full-service commercial roofing partner with a province-wide outlook, broader technical offering, and a clear sense of what it wants to become. “Growth is not always about revenue. It’s not always about footprint,” Kate said. “It’s the capability, but also building something durable. You want a great reputation. You have to be able to stand by what you say you can do, because in absence of that, you really have nothing.”
