Kilker Roofing crew on a North Texas roof

Family owned · Est. 1976

From farm roofs to North Texas

Kilker Roofing started with a barn in northern Illinois in the 1970s. Fifty years later, it’s still a family business, and the owner still gets on the roof.

How it started

A neighbor needed a barn roof.

Derik’s grandfather owned a farm outside Rockford, Illinois. In the 1970s a neighboring farmer asked if he and his sons could re-roof a barn. They did. Then the next farmer down the road asked. Then the next one, and the next. That’s how Kilker Roofing was born.

Derik’s father went to trade school to learn to build, and the family started building houses alongside the roofing. That’s where the “Construction” in the name comes from.

Derik Kilker as a young boy, 1991 — Derik, 1991

Derik Kilker on a roof with his grandfather, 1995 — On a roof with his grandfather, 1995

Derik Kilker roofing a two-story house as a teenager in 1995 — Roofing in Illinois, 1995

Illinois, 1990s

Third generation, hands-on.

Derik grew up installing roofs with his grandfather, his father, his uncle and sometimes even his sister. When his father moved away, Derik took over the roofing business at 18 while his grandfather ran the farm. Illinois required a roofing license, which meant months of studying and a long, detailed exam.

After enough long northern Illinois winters, he sold most of the trucks and equipment and moved the business to North Texas in 2011 to start over. He built Kilker Roofing back up here, one job and one referral at a time.

How we work

Old school, on purpose.

Being raised on a farm, mostly by his grandfather, made Derik a little old school. He’s the kind of guy who could make a deal on a handshake.

That shows up in how we work. We show you what we find. We tell you when a repair will do. We clean up like it’s our own yard. And when you call, you can talk to the owner.

“I want to be the roofer for life. The one you remember and call every single time.”