Ralph Simon Salazar

Here's the distinction, because it matters: a shingler who can tear off a roof and nail down shingles is not the same thing as a roofer. And a roofer is not the same thing as a senior roofing technician. At Stellar, that title has a hard standard behind it: a minimum of five years of full roof replacement experience, followed by at least another five years of exclusive repair work across a wide variety of roofing systems, all of it trained directly under an existing senior roofing technician. It is not a title handed out, and it cannot be self-taught into. Which is what makes someone like Ralph so hard to find: people with this level of skill are rare, and the master artisan roofers capable of training them are rarer still.

Thirteen years in the trade, nearly nine of them working alongside Stellar's owner, and by now Ralph has seen, diagnosed, and corrected many thousands of roof problems: full replacements both residential and commercial, repairs of every kind, metal roofing, flat roofing, shingle roofing, custom flashing work, skylights, siding, you name it. A true master of the craft, his knowledge runs past roofing into the trades it overlaps: framing, siding, industrial and residential applications alike. When something on a roof doesn't make sense, Ralph is the one who makes sense of it.

And one more fact for context: next to owner Paul Aikens himself, who still loves getting his hands on the work, Ralph carries the most experience at Stellar. Put those two on the same roof, any roof, any situation, and you don't just have a couple of the best guys in the state. You have some of the best roofing technicians in the entire industry. Period.

Day to day, Ralph is the tip of the spear: the operator who actually executes the repair. By the time a job reaches him, it calls for the highest level of hands-on skill Stellar has, and that is exactly what shows up. He traces problems to their true source, the one others miss, performs the repair the right way the first time, and explains what he did in a way that's actually easy to understand. He's also one of the most consistent, reliable, dependable people around, which at Stellar carries a specific meaning: if Ralph is on your roof, the expectations that were designed and engineered for your project won't just hold. He'll exceed them. Phenomenal craftsmanship, patience, and a keen eye for the details, because he understands the importance of every single one.

His certifications have kept pace with his experience. Ralph is GAF Certified, CertainTeed Certified, Mule-Hide Products Trained and Certified, and Lomanco Ventilation Trained and Certified. He holds his MIOSHA 30-Hour Construction safety card, is certified in roof coatings, and stays sharp through ongoing manufacturer product and safety training covering roofing systems, repair techniques, ventilation, and installation best practices.

But ask Ralph what drives the standard, and it's bigger than any certificate. The work he leaves behind on your roof is three things at once: his livelihood, his reputation, and his legacy, all nailed down in the same repair. He treats every job accordingly, and it shows in what he's proudest of: the trust he's built with homeowners, and the fact that every successful repair means another family has peace of mind knowing their home is protected.