The idea for Civic Roofing Inc. as a business came as a result of many years spent by company President Derek Diddens in and around the roofing industry. Diddens started the company in 2005 after a solid year of planning. Beforehand, he had spent many years working for another large roofing company before striking out on his own, which enabled him to learn the tools of the trade.
After completing his apprenticeship and earning his Red Seal (a national endorsement for tradespeople), Diddens found opportunities to work in roofing administration and sales as well as within the trade itself. After only a couple of years, he secured a financing partner in a former customer who had a large portfolio of buildings, allowing for the cash infusion necessary to launch Civic Roofing in its home of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
When summarizing what Civic Roofing brings to the table above others in the field, Diddens tells us that the business has a quality-based focus to its services that pairs with the strength of its catalogue, and that the entire team remains focused on relationship-building with its diverse clientele. Within these relationships, Civic Roofing strives to understand every owner’s goals and priorities when it comes to a roofing job, which dictate the elements needed for success.
“A personable approach and quality people and installations are what set us apart,” Diddens says, a formula that has underpinned the company’s direction for two decades and counting.
Recent years have seen continued success on major projects for Civic Roofing. In 2024, the company executed a large project with a Sobeys grocery store in Winnipeg, which Diddens says is the biggest footprint on a job the firm has ever done. This was a unique project in that it required the removal of old single-ply rubber membrane roofs that were under-performing, which presented challenges with compatibility between assemblies. It was also particular in how the company managed its temporary fields and daily transitions to keep the grocery store dry and safe while executing on the project. Despite the membrane providing a healthy challenge, the project turned out very well and Diddens says that his workers did a terrific job on it.
Elsewhere, Civic Roofing has performed roofing work on over a dozen Tim Hortons stores across Manitoba and into parts of Northern Ontario. Diddens says that the company has a unique understanding of the needs of these stores because they are detailed installations with a lot of mechanical equipment. Some of these projects are renovations while others are new builds, often carrying a lot of humidity because of the omnipresence of hot water. This means that the roof systems need a quality vapour barrier to stand up to moisture migration. Thanks to the expertise the team has built up, Diddens anticipates a lot more roofing jobs for Tim’s restaurant locations in the future.
The company’s biggest project to date is still ongoing, as it is involved in roofing for Fort Richmond Collegiate high school in Winnipeg. This project, Diddens says, has continued to grow in terms of scope despite still being in the early stages. With a tight timeframe in which to work, the project is challenging, but Civic Roofing has worked with Fort Richmond Collegiate for years and is looking forward in turning over a quality result.
Diddens tells us that, when it comes to the company’s growth over the past 20 years, the firm has embraced the opportunities in front of it. Diddens says that the biggest catalyst to growth in the past few years has been taking on Ukrainian refugees to Canada as Civic Roofing employees, all of whom have been able to overcome the inherent language barrier. Their hiring has been nothing short of transformational for the company because of the high-quality performances each worker has put in, with the company rolling through a lot more work thanks to the workers’ positive attitudes and growth mindsets. In fact, the new workers have been so easy to teach that many are moving up to becoming foremen. Diddens is pleased to be part of the personal and professional growth of all his employees and to help them transition into the next phases of their careers.
From his perspective, the construction and roofing industries overall have been healthy for a number of years; despite a slowdown in activity last year, business has picked up in mid-2025 and things have remained busy. The roofing industry specifically has experienced holdups this year because a number of government projects were shelved thanks to the Manitoba provincial election. However, work has come back on the horizon since the end of the election and, as Diddens says of the company’s prospects for the rest of the year, “there should be enough work out there if you’re a good roofer.”
Indeed, Civic Roofing’s future is looking bright as it passes the 20-year mark. Going forward, the team will be identifying the goals they want to achieve and the directions they want to take. Never one to shy away from innovation, the team has been engaged of late with hot work applications, meaning universal roofing installations done with an open flame. These are necessary because of the area’s cold climate; while some new products are coming to market that will make it more palatable to install self-adhering roofs that don’t require heat for installation, some of the self-adhering products are not suitable once the colder temperatures hit, which is where hot work comes back into play.
And more change is on the way for businesses in any realm of the construction sector. Diddens says that there is new legislation forthcoming that will aid the entire industry in obtaining financing. This will hopefully help with the age-old problems Civic Roofing and all its contemporaries have encountered and, in turn, should generate healthy competition within the industry and keep everyone on their toes. The ultimate goal, as always, is to keep the entire roofing ecosystem healthy and wealthy moving forward.
After 20 years in business serving the greater Winnipeg area, Diddens says that the biggest lesson learned by the company has been quite simple: “There’s no greater resource than people.” When it comes to growing a business over the long term, one needs to focus on the people who do the work with you and remember that a team of people is always more effective than going it alone.
High-quality customer relationships are only possible when a group of people—like the team of workers found at Civic Roofing Inc. for the past two decades—is committed to the very best in service. At Civic Roofing, this commitment has never wavered.
