AMERICAN WEATHERSTAR’S GROWTH IS THROUGH THE ROOF

Business View – December 2021/January 2022 / Small Business of the Month

Founded in 2004, American WeatherStar employs 36 employees at its Irvington location. Photo by Mike Dumas

Eight years ago, American WeatherStar (AWS) was named the Mobile Area Chamber’s Small Business of the Month, then in 2015 the company was selected as a Small Business of the Year finalist. Since that time the fluid-applied roof restoration company has steadily continued to grow.

Since founding the company in 2004, owner Brian O’Donnell has believed in an organic business model, where company success and targeted enterprise dictate its growth. That’s how AWS progressed from renting space to owning its own building off Halls Mill Road to establishing a five-acre campus in south Mobile County.

The 36-employee company is once again recognized as Small Business of the Month.

Industry expertise and a long view of expansion dictated another major shift for the company, which had for more than a decade sold goods manufactured by other companies. Three years ago, O’Donnell and his team decided it was time to make their own products, moving from a private-label model to one where the quality of the AWS brand would extend from source manufacturing to contract fulfillment in more than 35 states across the country, as well U.S. territories Puerto Rico and Guam.

“It has been the biggest change ever for us,” O’Donnell said. “That evolution took hold shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic shook up businesses around the world. Because all businesses have roofs, they can use the products and services for which AWS is known.”

Above all else, weathering such enormous challenges allows O’Donnell to keep AWS’s employees as his first priority, a philosophy that connects directly to customer service. “I treat my people as equals and teammates, and just by their nature they are going to take care of the customer so that our business will prosper,” he said. That spirit filters to the company’s philanthropic endeavors, as well, as AWS supports a range of projects, including organizations such as the Child Advocacy Center and those benefiting veterans and the families of law enforcement.

“It’s simply the right thing to do,” O’Donnell said. As a 16-year member of the Mobile Area Chamber, he’s had a chance to sample a wide range of Chamber events, and the annual Business Expo has long been his favorite.

COMPANY NAME: American WeatherStar

LOCATION: 8095 Padgett Switch Rd., Irvington

WEBSITE: americanweatherstar.com

PHONE: 800.771.6643

COMPANY OWNER: Brian O’Donnell

Click here to read the Business View – December 2021/January 2022

Additional information is on the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce’s website at mobilechamber.com, on Facebook at @MobileChamber, Instagram at @mobile-area-chamber and Twitter at @MobileChamber.