Three generations on Boston's rooftops

Founded on Dorchester Avenue in 1962 by a slater's son from Galway, still family run, and still more interested in saving a roof than selling one.

Crew restoring the roof of a historic porch-front house

Our story

Francis Aherne learned to split and hang slate from his father in County Galway before emigrating to Boston in 1956. Six years later he bought a used truck, borrowed a ladder and took a job re-slating a Pinckney Street rowhouse that three other roofers had quoted for tar and shingles.

That job set the pattern. The company grew by restoring the roofs other contractors wanted to replace: Back Bay mansards, Cambridge Victorians, and later the triple-deckers and flat roofs of Dorchester and Jamaica Plain. A copper shop opened in 1974, the reclaimed slate yard in 1988, and a formal apprenticeship in 2011.

Today Francis's granddaughter Nora Aherne-Castillo coordinates preservation work and permits, and the company runs four crews with more than 60 people. The shop is still on Dorchester Avenue.

Walk through the 60-year timeline

Historic brick rowhouses in Boston — Brick rowhouses near the Pinckney Street job that started it all.

Years on Boston roofs: 64
Roofs restored or replaced: 4,860+
Historic district projects: 212
Rating from 1,137 reviews (sample): 4.9

What we stand for

Repair before replace
If a roof can be restored, we say so, even when replacement would be the bigger invoice.
Respect the building
Original materials, original profiles and details that a preservation officer would sign off on.
Train our own
Nineteen apprentices have completed our four-year slate and copper program since 2011.
Treat it like home
Tarps on the hydrangeas, a magnet sweep every evening and a foreman who answers the phone.