Cory Rutter started his roofing business a decade ago with plans for the future, a strong work ethic, and one truck. After ten years on the job, Cory’s thriving company has earned an excellent reputation and covers a 1200 square mile service area, with his wife Ashley managing operations. But the biggest, most significant impact to Rutter Roofing and all of its team members was never part of Cory’s business plan. 

Back in 2014, Ashley and Cory were focused on building Rutter Roofing. They were also excited, expectant parents preparing their home and their lives to welcome a new baby in just a few months. But then the unexpected happened: the Rutters’ baby was born almost four months early, at just 25 weeks, weighing only one pound. 

Instead of bringing their baby home to their nursery, the Rutters stayed by his side in the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia NICU, watching, waiting, and hoping for the best. Cory made direct blood donations to the Red Cross for each of the baby’s transfusions, and finally, after months of round-the-clock care, carefully monitored weight gain, and the development his medical team worked so hard to bring about, Cory and Ashley were overjoyed that Gavin was ready to come home. Now five years old, he is an active, healthy kindergartner who loves coloring, hockey, and spending time with his family. 

How could a feisty, but very tiny baby bring about a fundamental change to his parents’ business? Cory had grown up in adversity, used to relying on his own wits to push through hard times, but during those months at CHOP, when nothing mattered more than keeping Gavin stable and healthy and helping him grow, were the hardest he’d known. One thing helped: the huge outpouring of support from friends, family, and the community at large. The Rutters’ core values — love, respect, and kindness — were reinforced and “community” now meant something new. 

“This is why we feel so family-oriented as a company,” says Ashley Rutter.  “Relationships are important. We know what it’s like to have a family, to have things happen that you can’t control.”  

That culture of familial, community strength is now at the heart of the Rutter Roofing company’s approach to work and business. All about service, the Rutter team is well-known for responsiveness, reliable, responsible attention to detail at every job site, and for treating each home as if it’s their own. In the community, Rutter Roofing is actively building roots and giving back.

Services and Expertise 

So much more than just roofing, Rutter is a high-quality one-stop for exterior home renovations, offering roofing of all styles, siding, window installations, new doors, and decks. Rutter also provides 24-hour, 7 day-a-week emergency maintenance! True to the communal responsibility ethos, Rutter promises not just an excellent finish to all work, but meticulous clean-up and removal at every jobsite, even  using a magnet-sweep for stray nails. 

“We hold ourselves to a high standard and we want our customers to hold us to a high standard,” says Jackie Blinebury, Rutter’s Director of Business Development.

In accordance with this expectation, Rutter Roofing uses the best in products, creating advantageous preferred partnerships with vendors and receiving training and accreditation that brings heightened expertise, better quality, and even superior warranties  to customers and their homes. Rutter Roofing is a proud CertainTeed SELECT Shingle Master, a designation given to only 1% of roofing companies in the country. Rutter is a James Hardie Alliance Partner, and Windows and Doors Pella Certified. These partnerships mean that from roofing to siding to windows and doors to new decks, Rutter provides the highest quality materials at the best prices. 

“We stand behind these products knowing that they’re going to outlast the competition,” says Jackie. 

Community Outreach and Giving Back

Inspired by the many who came to their aid during Gavin’s early months, since his birth Cory and Ashley have been devoted to giving back to the communities in which they live and work. Maintaining a philanthropic presence in the community is so important to their way of life and work, Rutter Roofing developed a company-wide CSL initiative, to demonstrate and embody the meaning of community, service, and leadership. As a part of the CSL pledge, Rutter selects a non-profit organization or a person in need each fiscal quarter to donate time, work, and/or fundraising.

In 2019, Rutter held their annual March Madness event to support Today is a Good Day, an organization that helps families navigate the NICU, a cause near and dear to the Rutters for clear reasons. For Memorial Day, Rutter Roofing organized a Facebook nomination campaign to honor a deserving veteran, and the team installed a brand new roof for the winning nominee on September 11th. In the third quarter, Rutter was a co-sponsor for an event to benefit Alex’s Lemonade Stand, and to round out the year, the team is collecting non-perishable food donations to be delivered to Philabundance, the Delaware Valley’s largest food bank. 

Company Culture

Within the company structure, responsibility, compassion, and giving are just as important as in the Rutter family and in the community at large.

“We like employees to feel that this is a second family,” says Ashley. “We want our customers to feel like that too. We’re there for the long haul.”

This teamwork atmosphere serves the Rutter team and customers in the community equally. The sense of responsibility and commitment to excellence even goes so far as to occasionally require the Rutters to turn down a job. It happens rarely, says Jackie, but, “We won’t do a repair or any work if it’s not in a homeowner’s best interest. Integrity matters.”  

And not least of all the things that matter in the Rutter Roofing family: fun.

“One thing that is really nice about our company is that we laugh,” says Cory. “We love to laugh, we love to joke with each other, we love to have fun. We try to go about each day as if we were casually out with friends. We never sacrifice professionalism or ethics, but we have no problem cracking a joke to lighten the day!”

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Rutter Roofing is the proud beneficiary of the Main Line Parent 2019 Love Award, along with numerous other awards, distinctions, and recognitions from the community in which they are so deeply invested. Contact the Rutter team for the best in home improvement service!

This sponsored story by Karen Barbuscia supports the Main Line Parent community. Photography by Amrit Gluck, Perfectly Paired Photography.