World renowned Olympic gymnast Mary-Lou Retton likes to tell her motivational program audiences how her famed Olympic coach Bela Karoli, used to literally brainwash his talented performers with an acronym he would recite regularly: Together Everyone Achieves More.

 

Delmarva Roofing & Coating, Inc co-owners Sheldon Swartzentruber and Verle Schlabach might not have made Karoli’s Olympic Gymnast Team, but they are certainly living proof of the Together Everyone Achieves More way of thinking.

 

The two boys grew up across the fields from one another—Verle’s family with a hog farm and Sheldon’s family with a dairy farm, and experienced both their fathers using Conklin products (circa 1976, before Conklin formalized their Roofing Systems business). They attended school together, and dabbled in various construction projects, both on their farms and off, before settling–independently—on becoming roofing specialists.

 

Because they both had the practical skills, and trusted one another, they would often work together on one another’s roofing jobs. These exposures set the foundation for a lifelong friendship built on teamwork, and a successful business partnership built on friendship, trust and mutual respect.