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Episode 7 - Living Local with Shepherd Benson of United Contracting & Roofing
Date: 11/6/25
Duration: 23:41
Guest: Shepherd Benson
Website: United Contracting & Roofing Greenville
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Episode 7 Summary:
Special Guest Shepherd Benson with United Contracting & Roofing
In this episode, Ed Frisbee sits down with Shepherd Benson from United Contracting & Roofing, serving Greenville, Asheville, Hendersonville, and North Georgia. They talk about what homeowners should know before replacing a roof, how to tell when it’s time for an inspection, and why roofing is one of the most important investments in your home. Shepherd shares his path from working at Chick-fil-A to construction sales, his passion for helping people, and what makes this region such a great place to live.
The conversation also dives into local favorites—from Campfire Grill and White Duck Taco to Brooks Tavern—plus outdoor spots like DuPont, Pisgah, and the Blue Ridge Parkway. It’s a relaxed, insightful chat about homes, community, faith, and life in Western North Carolina and the Upstate.
📞 Contact Shepherd: 864-660-3529 | sbenson@roofingunited.com
Keywords: roofing tips, home improvement, Hendersonville NC, Greenville SC, Asheville homes, United Contracting & Roofing, real estate podcast, local business spotlight, Western North Carolina living
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Episode 7 Transcript:
Ed Frisbee (00:22)
Hey, it's Ed and we're excited to have our special guest shepherd Benson with United Contracting and roofing out of Greenville, South Carolina. They also service the
Hendersonville Asheville market as well and in Georgia I've learned but I'll let Shepherd tell us all about that. Shepherd thanks for joining us. It's my pleasure. Give us a quick overview and then have lots of questions for you. Yeah oh boy. So United Contracting Roofing started in Clarksville Georgia about nine years ago and then they started growing a lot more and so they moved up into the Greenville area and so that's where I've been. a Hendersonville native though so I was you know raised in Hendersonville been here my whole life.
I just got married a couple months ago and so hoping to move down towards the Greenville area. But I asked my bosses and everything, I was like, well, what do you guys think about Asheville and Hendersonville markets and stuff, like if I have jobs up there? And they said, man, go ahead. If you've got people up in Hendersonville, we'll service them as well. And so it's a growing company, but they've been really good. And have you had many opportunities in this area to do roofing? I've had a couple opportunities. So there's been people that I knew just from growing up.
and they would give me a call. And so I've gone and done a couple of inspections and things like that. Awesome. I'm amazed at how many South Carolina plates I see from different ⁓ vendors that are in the area. I mean, it's been happening for years, but especially since I think Helene, a lot more have moved this direction. Yeah, for sure. definitely like a lot of crossing over from, you know, North Carolina and South Carolina. And it's funny because oftentimes when I'm doing a job for somebody in South Carolina, they see that I have North Carolina plates because I live here.
at the moment and they're like, you're from North Carolina, what are you doing here? And I'm like, guys, I promise I'm like 30 minutes up the road. Like I'm still from this area, I'm not running out on you, not a carpet bag or anything. You can trust me. So yeah, there's a lot of crossover for sure. Which is crazy in real estate because I don't think many people look at a map and realize the proximity ⁓ for Hendersonville to Greenville. mean, it's...
Depending on which part of metro Greenville you consider, but if it's travelers rest or something then it's 30 minutes away Which is basically the same distance to Asheville. Mm-hmm. So which is a great position to be in So what have you learned since you've been in roofing man? I've learned quite a lot. I came from the service industry I came from Chick-fil-a and so this was the very first thing that I did and kind of construction Contracting that kind of industry and so I learned a lot about
roofs in particular, because that's what we specialize in, and mostly just how important a roof is. It's the number one investment that you make in your house, because if the roof is leaking, everything underneath is not protected anymore. And so it seems like kind of a boring upgrade or like a boring thing to work on or to get replaced, but in actuality is the number one most expensive and most important part of your house. So all roofs are not created equal? No, no, there's definitely some like lower grade ones.
There's some higher grade ones. The lower grade stuff costs around like $400 a square. And when you say stuff, meaning shingles, right? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Cause we go all the way up to metal. There's even like slate that you can put on your roof. And so like the lowest stuff is about, um, $400 ish a square. And then a square is just, you know, a hundred feet square. So $400 a square. And then the top stuff is like a thousand a square, something like that. 2000 even.
And does it change by appearance or just by quality and longevity? That's good question. It changes a lot of different things. So the higher end stuff that you get is going to increase the lifespan of it because nowadays we've got metal roofs and those don't wear and tear at all. know, like unless a tree comes down and runs all the way through it, then you really don't need to replace it, especially if it's something like standing seam roofing. There's a lot of them that
look like shingles, but they're actually metal roofing. And it's called stone coated steel. And so it looks like it's an asphalt shingle, but it's actually metal. So there's a lot of cool options coming out. There's even, they're even working on stuff like solar powered shingles. And so it's like- even tell it's a panel? Well, you can a little bit. It's not like, wow, I wouldn't even know, you know? But instead of putting a solar panel on top of the roofing system, you're just, whole roof is a solar panel.
Essentially, so that's really interesting So you've been on roofs? Yeah a couple of them and do you ever get nervous or wear special ropes or anything? yeah, definitely we on roofs that are pretty steep I mean, I've got my special boots called cougar paws and it's like foam pads on the bottom. They're called what cougar paws? ⁓ and they legit that's yeah It is and so it helps you stick to the asphalt shingle
really really well. Do they look like those big slippers I've seen advertised with paws? No I wish that would make them really cool but no they just look like work boots but they've got this weird like membrane on the bottom and so it helps you climb a lot safer and then we've also got ropes if it's really steep so I mean I grew up doing rock climbing and stuff so it definitely was freaky at first to trust your equipment because
When you put the cougar paws on, it doesn't seem like you should be able to stand on that steep of a roof. And so your brain is like freaking out, like you need to put like all hands on deck. Like you should be freaking out right now. But once you trust your equipment, then it's like, ⁓ they really do work. Yeah, they really do. That's really interesting. I've never heard of that. Yeah. Maybe that's what Spider-Man wears. It's possible. I think he's got something like that for sure. So, ⁓ gosh, if you're on steep roofs or roofs in general, and here it is in the fall, do y'all hang Christmas lights?
That's a great, you know for the right price I'd do about anything Ed. That's good to know. That's for sure. So I have more roof questions, but since people are listening and might be wondering how do they reach you? So if they like what you said already. Well that's the ticket. So my work number is an 864 number that I use. It's 864-660-3529 and then they can also just email me. It's sbenson at roofingunited.com. Gotcha. There's a couple ways.
And so not to be confused, there is another roofing company in the Greenville area with United, but they're called something different. They're just United Roofing. But you are United Contracting and Roofing. That's correct. Gotcha. Yeah. And y'all do commercial as well or just residential? Yep. We do commercial and residential. I'm on more of the residential side, but I definitely know the people on the commercial side. So if you got questions. And same for this area, Asheville, Hendersonville area. Yep. Commercial or and or residential.
So what made you jump into roofing? Because you've kind of been all over the board. Shepard used to help me with social media. He's great with photography and drone work, and he's creative mind. And as he said, he recently got married. He has a big heart for missions. He's kind been all over the board. But yeah, what brought you to roofing? So yeah, that's an interesting question. ⁓ Like I said, I grew up in Chick-fil-A. And so I knew, like, my heart wasn't
completely locked into that industry, like the food and beverage industry. And so I was like, you know what, I gotta try some other things. And God led me to Mexico where I was a missions director for a church down there. And that's where we got to know each other a little bit better when you came and visited me. we had a trip together. And then I came back, I worked for a hotel doing their in-room dining for a little bit. And it came to the point where I was like, you know, I really need to try...
something different, like a different style of thing. And at that hotel, I was making some tip money. And I really liked it because I was like, man, if I do my job really, really well, and I put on a really good face and people really like me, they end up tipping more. And I can make more doing the same amount of work if I do it with all my heart and I put my all into it, like I normally do, because I like to do things with excellence. And so I just did a couple tests to see what I might be good at, and sales is something that popped up.
And so I took, I just researched a bunch of jobs on Indeed, found one in sales and I was like, well, might as well try it. And what do you know, I like it a lot because it gives me lot of freedom of schedule and it also equates like how much I make is how, depends on how good I am at the job. And so because I have a conviction to do everything with excellence, I'm able to make a little bit more than if I was just doing an hourly job or a
salary position or something like that. So I really love connecting with people as well and I love getting to know new people and I just love the I guess the sales space. It's fun for me. fits in do well at it. You speak well. You look at people. You're a good looking young man. So those are all positive for you. I don't mean that in a creepy way. So yeah, so I never thought about this till as you were talking about it, but you grew up in the
Hendersonville area you keep mentioning Chick-fil-a because your family has a Chick-fil-a or two in the area. Yeah Your siblings have worked in Chick-fil-a. So I Asked this for personal reason and I'm not jabbing at any of my children But it's natural for them to get out of this area because it's a smaller area, right? Yeah, did you ever have those struggles? And if so, what brought you back to the area? Yeah, that's a really that's a really good question because
I mean, I did leave for a little bit and I went to Mexico and I kind of was able to try some different areas. What I really love about this specific area is just, it's a good home base. know, like it's hard to leave the Appalachian mountains and not want to come back. You know, we have the mountains, we have the ocean that's pretty close. We have four seasons. That's, that's something that you don't get a lot of other places. And so this is definitely home for me and I want to build, you know, a home base and put down roots in this area.
⁓ It was good to get away for a little bit just to kind of find out who I was outside of my family and just kind of grow up and be my own person, if that makes sense. And so I would say at the end of the day, the biggest thing that brought me home wasn't all of that. was God. Like God brought me back to this area and I didn't know why. And because I thought, you know, there's this is a small town, like what is there for me here? You know, I don't know what I'm doing here, but God brought me back.
and I didn't know why, so I just started getting involved in anything that I thought God would want me to be involved in. So I started going to Young Life, volunteering with them and a lot of other things and that's actually how I found my wife. He brought us together through that. And so now looking back, I'm like, ⁓ well, he brought me back because he was trying to get me together with my wife. Had you ever known her before? No, which is crazy. this small town? Yeah, 10 years. We both lived in the same...
city of Hendersonville, small town, 10 years, never ran into each other. We have the same friend groups and everything and never crossed paths. So that's encouraging for people out there that are looking for a spouse. like, I need a bigger pond. No, no you don't. You just need to meet everybody in your small town. You know, was talking with someone earlier and they came from, they call Tri-Cities Johnson City, Tennessee area, right? And just because the shape of North Carolina, you know, we think of
People from not from the area always think gosh Greenville, South Carolina must be far away or Knoxville or Johnson City must be far away. And really it's not. You know, we think of Hendersonville and Asheville area kind of our area, but again, Greenville's 50 minutes away. Johnson City's our way. Unless you're in Asheville, then it's 40 minutes away. Right. So I don't think people have a good understanding the geography of this Western North Carolina area. But so when Shepard's talking about a home base, at least I hear him say.
It's kind of that big circle vicinity. It's not necessarily Henderson per se, it was within a driving distance. Yeah, for sure. There's quite a bit to offer in this area. Yeah. Topography, climates, of entertainment, foods and all that. Food. Let's talk about food, Shepard. I like talking So if you have some, like, visiting the area, do you have some places you recommend, hey, you got to try out? yeah. Dude, I definitely, I've been making a list of like me and my wife's favorite places to.
Because of the podcast you've been making a list or just in general? No, I didn't know this was going to be a question. This is off the dome. So, uh, top one that me and my wife would love right now is Campfire Grill. Have you been to Campfire Grill? It's right over there in Flat Rock. I know where it is and I've never eaten there. I've met somebody there, but I did not eat. watched them eat. Yeah. Yeah. You need to hear great things about it. You're the first to tell us that. I appreciate that. Yep. Okay. Maybe I'm divulging a secret and I'm going to crowd the place.
It's already pretty crowded. What's your favorite dish there? Man, I've been trying everything. So their burgers, fantastic. What ⁓ is it that I had this last time? Their queso. It's not just queso. Really? ⁓ it's really good. Wow, and you've lived in Mexico and El Paso. Yes, I have. That's a lot to say. is. Yeah, they hand make their own chips that you dip in the queso, put their own seasoning on it. my gosh. Gosh. it's so good. I didn't know. Yeah.
I'm gonna interrupt you said burgers you have to try it's a acoustic cafe. They're smash burgers delicious Yes, I had that the other week acoustic cafe is one of our favorite spots. Okay, right there on the acoustic trail You know get your coffee ride a bike It's good. I interrupted so your number one was yeah number one fire grill campfire grill We do love the classics, you know white duck taco can't go wrong with white duck Do you like tipsy taco tipsy tacos also very good?
You white duck better. I guess, right? This is controversial. I definitely like white duck better. My wife likes tipsy better, but here's why. She loves their queso. And so the queso has, it's got more weight to it. You know, it's a weighted kind of test. So she weighs the queso heavier. I weigh the tacos heavier. See, like tipsy better than white duck, personally. Really? Yeah. They're both great, but for whatever reason. All right. So number three.
Number three, man, I'm going to have to say Brooks Tavern. It's a local spot. I don't know if you've been to Brooks Tavern. Their bacon is fantastic. Oh my gosh. They let you order a of forgot about their bacon. Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's huge. There's not a lot of places that will just let you order a pint of bacon. And I do it about every time. That's funny. It's good stuff. And then obviously Chick-fil-A. So yeah, Chick-fil-A. What about in Asheville or Greenville? Do you have some places?
food. Asheville and Greenville. You don't have to, just curious. You didn't have to Kendersville per se. Biscuit Head, fantastic. In Asheville. Good place. And they've expanded. They have, yeah. They've got a few locations now. Just like Tupelo Honey expanded. And then Greenville.
Man, we haven't been to like a ton of places in Greenville yet. We're still like trying all these different, you know, spots. One that I really want to visit though is called Pickle Park. I don't know if you've heard about Pickle Park. They got pickle ball, they got food, and we're just trying to clear our schedule one night so we can go down there and hang out. I've heard- They probably serve pickles. I would hope so. Yeah, nothing like a good pickle. Right? So, you're outdoorsy.
Right? So, but if you have friends, family visit, what are some of your top places you tell them, Hey, you got to do this while you're in town. would say definitely got to go to, you know, DuPont, Pisgah. Those are some beautiful mountain views. You get to see the waterfalls. You get to, you know, have a good time. Definitely got to see the fall colors for sure. Blue Ridge Parkway. Got to go up there. Me and my wife are just up there. I guess this past week. And how do you get to the Blue Ridge Parkway?
So I go up all the way to like the Biltmore house exit and then we get on there and then we actually go towards like the Pisgah direction. towards Brevard and get off that that'd be west. Yeah, Brevard. And it's really pretty. There's some good pull offs up there. It's very vibrant. And we got like a week or two left. I know we're getting towards the end. Did you still see damage from the hurricane? Right? While I was up there? Not on the parkway? No, not a whole bunch. No, we didn't drive for like a whole long period of time.
But I know they definitely had to rebuild some spots because you could tell though. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I think it was good. The colors are good this year because in my opinion, we haven't had like a giant downpour because normally when it gets to its best, we get a giant downpour. It knocks all the leaves off. But this year we haven't had that. You know, we had a little bit of rain, but it wasn't heavy rain. So it's been a light, steady rain. It's been good. Kind of like a Seattle rain. Exactly. I think you're right about that. Thanks. So you said
DuPont. ⁓ Golly, I went blank. Pizga. Thank you. Parkway. Anything else? Let me think.
Man, the downtowns in this area are fantastic. Like downtown Hendersonville, downtown Brevard, cute little downtowns. Just go walk downtown, go to a coffee shop, eat some food. It's a good day. I'm thinking about some bacon. telling you. A pint of bacon. I'm sorry, I'm going back to that in my head. How big is a pint of bacon? So last time I went, they brought it out in like...
know what they would normally use this for. You know, sometimes they put fries in like that conical basket. It's like that but just bacon. Is that on the list? Like on the menu? Yeah. It's as I've never seen it as a side. As an appetizer? ⁓ yeah. Or like an appetizer. Wow. That's fantastic. If you get a burger there, definitely got to replace because they have the special bacon and then they have the regular. It's like peppered bacon and then the regular. Definitely got to substitute the peppered bacon on any burger you get there.
So you like the peppered bacon? yeah, that's the that's what's in the that's the pine of bacon is peppered. Got it. It's so good. Speaking of bacon, have you ever had a bacon and peanut butter sandwich? No, Ed, I've not. That's got to be one of my favorite sandwiches. Honestly, my dad did it growing up. I'm to have to walk out and I thought it was disgusting, but I love a bacon and peanut butter sandwich. OK, so how does that work? Is it like strips of bacon? Yes.
or crumbles, it strips. Yeah, it's slabs of bacon. It strips of bacon on toast and peanut butter and it's warm. The peanut butter is warm because of the toast, right? Right. Put the bacon on it, the bacon's warm. Golly, it's delicious. You hear people like bacon and mayonnaise sandwiches or some random stuff. No, peanut butter and bacon. Absolutely delicious. You know, I might have to try that. You try it and let me know. When my wife's out of town. Sure. Because she would...
never let me hear the end of that. like bananas and peanut butter, right? I've never done that, but I have. Weirdest thing I've done with peanut butter is eggs, eggs and peanut butter. Yeah. Sounds crazy. If you put a little bit of peanut butter in it though, it's almost like Kung Pao chicken. You know, how's that kind of little nutty taste? Yowzer doing the eggs like scrambled eggs. Yeah. Really? Yep. You put the peanut butter in, you scramble it with the eggs. Yeah, I did it. I did it when I was like
get one of the gems super consistently and I just needed more protein and everything and I was like peanut butter has protein and I just slapped it in there and wow it wasn't bad I'll try that if you try the bacon and peanut butter sandwich. a deal. I'll do it. Just let me know like back to Shepard used to have me do stupid stuff on social media try to get more views it was nasty we don't even have to talk about that it's probably still up there I guess yeah it's out there you gotta look at the videos those were horrible days
Alright, so I think we have to wrap it up soon. We've talked about restaurants, we've talked about United Contracting and Roofing, how to reach you, how do they reach you again? They call you? Yeah, phone number, email. Phone number is usually best. I pick up my phone for any call I get. Wow. Yeah. Even if it's spam. Exactly. Yeah, I get like probably 20 spam calls a day and I pick it up and they say, hello, this is business listing verification or something. I'm like, I'm sorry.
How do you answer your phone? This is Shepard with United Contract Roof or just a Shepard? just say hello. I'm just like, Hey, this is Shepard. How's it going? And what's the number? 8 2. 8 6 4. Yeah. Business number 8 6 4 6 6 0 3 5 2 9. Awesome. United Contract Roof commercial or residential. You can not do free estimates. Yeah. So if you're, especially if your roof is over 10 years old, usually between 10 and 15 years old. Mine's 40, I think.
40 years old, man. You might not have a roof on there anymore. It feels like it is, but it probably isn't. Yeah. So before 10 years old, you're probably going to be okay, unless you've had like a tree fall on it or you had a bunch of hail, like big, big hail. Normally they're pretty resistant to everything up until 10 years. 10 years is when it starts breaking down, getting a little bit more brittle. So between 10 and 15, that's usually where we find some degranulation, a little bit of damage up there, things like that. And then...
That's usually when insurance will come in and they'll be able to pay for some stuff. So normally if it's your, if you're in that range of 10 to 15 years, that's like the sweet spot of getting your roof replaced. That's the cheapest time to do it. Gotcha. So it's like 20 or 30 year old roof. Yeah. actually insurance companies have started, uh, pro rating the roof after 15 years. And so it goes from paying for a full replacement at 14 years.
to now they're only paying 50 % of the roof's value. Wow. 15. So not You should have asked this earlier. Yeah. It's a very important thing to note because people are like, man, I've got like a 30-year roof on my house. Like, it's going to be completely fine. It's like, yeah, that's true. It might last 30 years. We get a lot of inclement weather up here in this area. And so oftentimes, it doesn't last 30 years. And so the best time to get it replaced is that 10 to 15-year mark because then that's hopefully.
If you have any damage up there, insurance would pay for it. ⁓ Sounds like Shepard's coming to visit our house. Hey, there we go. Awesome. All right. Well, we're going to wind it up. Anything you can think of we missed? I don't think so. Awesome. So we've learned about some favorite spots to eat, favorite spots to visit, where to get your roof repaired. You have any questions for Shepard? He's giving you his number 864. 660.3529.
Awesome. Feel free to call or text him. He loves talking to people. That's right. Well, thanks again, Shepherd, for taking time. Thank you all for listening and watching and keep living local. Yeah. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.