CENTIMARK & EDWARD B. DUNLAP
AMERICAN
SUCCESS STORY Edward B. Dunlap, Chairman & CEO
1968-1970s: Beginning
Edward B. Dunlap started D&B
Laboratories as a part-time industrial
cleaning products business in the
basement of his home in Pittsburgh,
PA, and then started Northern Chemical
Company with $1,000 and one
associate in 1968. The upstart building
maintenance products and services
business produced first-year sales
of $98,500.
In response to customer needs, the company shifted from
product sales to installation, maintenance and repair of
commercial roofs and floors.
By 1974, sales reached $1 million. In March 1975, the official
company name was Consolidated Enterprises, Inc. - a holding
company for Northern Industrial Maintenance, Southern Industrial
Maintenance and Western Industrial Maintenance. The first sales
office outside Pittsburgh was established in 1976 in Harrisburg,
PA, as the company began its geographic expansion.
The entrepreneurial Dunlap took a chance on a new product:
a single-ply rubber (EPDM) roof system. The newly developed
roofing membrane was durable, waterproof and cost-effective
and became one of the fastest-growing roofing products in
the industry. The company was casually known as “the rubber
roofing company.”
In 1978, salesman Steve Hecht sold the company’s first
rubber roof to a school in St. Mary’s, PA. On the roofing crew
that installed that roof was Dunlap’s son, Tim Dunlap (now
CentiMark’s President and COO).
1980s: Growth
Starting with $5 million in sales in 1980,
the company reached $50 million in sales
by 1989. With geographic expansion,
Dunlap’s divisions of Northern, Southern
and Western Industrial Maintenance
needed a common brand. Thus, the
company rebranded as CentiMark
Corporation in 1987.
“Centi” referred to the 1987 goal
of achieving $100 million in sales (which it achieved in
1994). “Mark” recognized the company’s unique mark on
and contributions to the roofing industry - all visions of
entrepreneur Dunlap:
1. CentiMark established the first National Accounts Program
in the roofing and flooring industries in 1979 with customer
Owens Illinois Forest Products (now Owen’s Brockway).
2. CentiMark became the first roofing contractor to achieve a
4A1 (and now the only roofing contractor with a 5A1) credit
rating from Dun & Bradstreet, based on a strong credit
appraisal and a net worth in excess of $50 million.
3. CentiMark was the first company to offer Single Source
Warranties on both workmanship and materials.
4. CentiMark has grown through geographical expansion,
not acquisition.
As the company grew, CentiMark established an employee
stock ownership program in 1988 to reward associates
for their dedication and hard work. As part owners of the
company, our crews take great pride in their workmanship
and customer service.