Founded in 1879 by James DeForest Candler and Charles Wrench as Candler & Wrench. Prior to this venture James was associated with Candler Brothers Builders, a ship building company. Candler and Wrench was originally a hardware company but also did furnace work, jobbing repair and sheet metal work. James D. Candler eventually bought out his partner, Charles Wrench, and changed the name of the company to J.D. Candler & Company. As J.D. Candler & Company continued to grow over the years, James broadened its scope to include the roofing trade.

In 1910, James D. Candler incorporated the business and renamed it J.D. Candler Roofing Company. The company’s attention eventually turned entirely to roofing and sheet metal. By 1928, the company was using about a million pounds of asphalt roofing materials and fifty thousand pounds of sheet copper a year. The company has worked on some of the largest buildings in the Detroit area over the years such as the Ford Motor Company, the Packard Motor Car Company, Michigan Central Rail Road, Fisher Body Corporation, Fisher Building, and the Masonic Temple.

The Company is currently owned and operated by business partner’s Tom Brown and Ken Kreichelt. They continue the Candler legacy of being “On top since 1879”.

From the Owners:

They say that you are only as good as your last job. As we approach nearly a century and a half of continual operation we have a lot of last jobs. The slightly worn JD Candler sign in our lobby remembers when Detroit had dirt roads, horse drawn carriages and Six Mile was the suburbs. JD Candler has survived the Spanish American War, World War I, the Great Depression and World War II. We've roofed the factories that were legendary as the "Arsenal of Democracy", and the homes of early auto, retail and industry pioneers.

At JD Candler this is a legacy we take very serious. We know that our next job will soon become the last job our performance is graded upon. The goal of every JD Candler employee is to perform in a manner consistent with our legacy of pride and quality in all aspects of our business.

Call us to discover for yourself what makes JD Candler one of the oldest continually operating commercial roofing companies in the country.

Sincerely,

Tom Brown - Ken Kreichelt;
Owners JD Candler Roofing