The work of C. G. Bostwick Co., which has been in business for 107 years, can be seen throughout the state on numerous historical buildings, including the state Capitol.
Bostwick’s niche for installing high-end slate and clay tile roofs and copper gutters has evolved into a historical roof restoration and maintenance business. The company has become expert in the field and even served as consultants in the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island restorations.
Located in Hartford for about 80 years, the company recently moved to Bloomfield, where it modernized its workflow to incorporate lean manufacturing processes.
Bostwick’s file cabinets hold nearly 12,000 roof plans, including countless churches. Steeples are one of its specialties.
While some businesses owners change their core business over the years, not so with C.G. Bostwick, who hired and trained his replacement, Dexter Ordway, who then trained his son, George, to run the company. George Ordway hired and trained his successor, the company’s current owner and president, Richard D. Susca, who joined the business in 1986 and eventually bought the company in 1998.
Bostwick continues to produce and install roofs much the same way it always has. While the business is more complex than it was 100 years ago, the technique of producing and installing has not changed very much, Susca said.
Sheet metal journeymen, with 8,000 hours of training , continue to cut and bend flat sheets of copper into louvres and gutters much the same way they did a century ago.
Bostwick’s 10 employees — there are 10 — still examine the raw materials piece by piece to select the right color and shape to create a seamless restoration of an existing roof.
However, the focus of the business has changed over time. When C. G. Bostwick founded the company in 1902, its bread and butter came from the installation of new roofs.
That focus has shifted to the restoration and maintenance of those original roofs, such as the Connecticut Historical Society building on Elizabeth Street. As those original roofs now hit 100 years old, the bulk of Bostwick’s business is historic roof restoration.
Even though slate roofs last for more than a century and copper gutters about 50 years, they requires regular maintenance, creating another component of Bostwick’s business. Property owners want to protect their investments in the roofs, so Bostwick has found itself busy conducting routine annual inspections and providing annual maintenance. Cost-conscious institutions and private homeowners prefer to replace a few tiles or a few metal pieces rather than replace their entire roof, Susca said.
The appeal of using natural products that offer environment-friendly qualities is also helping to grow Bostwick’s business. Next on Bostwick’s horizon is to work with solar roof contractors by combining its natural products with solar roof systems. “That would be a good place to be,” Susca said.
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Diane Weaver Dunne is the Hartford Business Journal managing editor.
