Serving Missouri, Illinois, and Arkansas

The History of Arrowhead Building Supply

After working in the late 1950s as a roofer for Wilmesherr Drusch Roofing Company, Stephen Sylvester Schulte decided to go off on his own. Schulte Roofing Company opened shop in 1962.

In the early 1970s, Steve attended a trade show where he realized that he should be in the material handling business, not the roofing installation business. Steve believed he could be more successful by becoming the roofing contractors supplier, rather than their competitor.

Contractors Appliance was formed as a roofing and appliance supplier, later refining the company name to Contractors Roofing & Supply, Inc.

In 1984, Steve built a brand new facility in St. Peters, Missouri, and just four years later, Steve again relocated the company; this time, into a facility twice the size that he himself designed.

After losing his company in a difficult divorce in 1996, Steve formed a new company with a small team of friends who remained loyal to him from the previous company. On April 1, 1997, Steve Schulte, Jerry Pogue and Larry Saxe opened for business as Arrowhead Contractors Roofing Supply.

Always the visionary, Schulte branched out into a second location in Pevely, Missouri, which was well under construction when he passed away unexpectedly on August 16, 2000. In honor of his vision, the Pevely location was completed to his original plans, opened on April 1 2001, and a stone monument remains embedded at the front entrance of the Pevely store, dedicated to Steve’s memory.

Schulte’s leadership and focus, along with innovations in material handling, had already made their mark on the company’s goals, and under the new leadership and vision of Jerry Pogue and Larry Saxe Arrowhead not only survived but grew to levels that Schulte had yet foreseen.

Arrowhead Contractors Roofing Supply began sales and operations by delivering shingles on borrowed conveyor trucks from a friendly competitor. Soon, they fabricated two new trucks and a few shingle dumpsters and had the start of the Arrowhead fleet. By 1999, it became clear Arrowhead needed a separate facility to build their own equipment. By 2004, Arrowhead innovated the design and construction of the longest truck-mounted roofing conveyor in America – the 54-foot Long Loader, and unleashed a fleet of Shingle Recycling Bins to aid their roofing contractors.

In 2006, Arrowhead opened a third location across the river in Belleville, Illinois, inside a small, existing facility. 2008 saw expansion into Southwest Missouri with a fourth location in Strafford, near Springfield. And having grown to sales of all manner of building materials, the company name was officially changed to Arrowhead Building Supply, Inc.

Ready for a fifth location, Arrowhead went back to the drawing board to design and build a facility that would be the perfect combination of beauty and practicality, supporting sales and enhancing operations. In the Spring of 2010, the new store was built in the Branson area in Hollister, Missouri, and introduced a 4,000 s.f. showroom, a drive-thru window for customers, and a 2,000 s.f. conference room for educational seminars, which morphed into Arrowhead University.

In April 2011, Arrowhead not only debuted the Job Locker, but discovered the building opportunities of Bentonville in Northwest Arkansas, and opened a sixth location in an existing facility in Lowell, Arkansas.

A major highlight of 2012 was earning a Better Business Bureau TORCH Award for exceptional customer service and ethical standards.

Ready for a bold statement of success, Arrowhead relocated their Strafford store to a brand new, 42,000 s.f. building with a 5,000 s.f. showroom in Springfield, Missouri in the Fall of 2012. Arrowhead clients seeing the advantage of building supplies being on display necessitated an Illinois showroom, so a new building went up in Fairview Heights, Illinois in 2014, and the Belleville store relocated.

The vision and innovation of Arrowhead Building Supply began with a small band of friends and has grown into a family business. President Jerry Pogue’s son, Rick, oversees new services and new companies like Discovery Design, Inc., while his daughter, Tami, is part of the management team. His grandchildren hold sales and administrative positions in the company, as well.

This family atmosphere translates into several team members who started the 21st century as rooftop delivery drivers and now hold upper management positions. Fostering strong internal relationships results in innovative thinking and exemplary customer service for the building industry. The growth of Arrowhead’s influence in the building materials marketplace is a direct result of the growth of the contractors and homeowners who rely on Arrowhead for their building success.

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     ABS construction shingle truck rentals APRIL 1997 Founder Steve Schulte at the launch of Arrowhead Contractors Roofing Supply

    First Arrowhead Build Supply Trucks

    SPRING 1997 The first two Arrowhead delivery trucks, borrowed from friendly competitors

    First Shingle Recycle Bins

    SUMMER 1997 The very first shingle recycling bin designed and built by Arrowhead

    Arrowhead building supply team

    SUMMER 2003 Larry Saxe, Jerry Pogue and his son, Rick, the assistant sales manager

    Arrowhead award

    FALL 2012 Jerry Pogue and Larry Saxe accept a BBB Torch Award for customer service and ethics

    ABS History

    JANUARY 2018 Jerry Pogue presents Larry Saxe with a 40 Years of Service trophy

    arrowhead team

    2018 The management team of Arrowhead Corporate

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