Builds on the past, offers a glimpse into the future
It’s official: Rice Lake ‘is on the map’
January 12, 2026
SHEBOYGAN – A new roof or siding can be a major home expense, and Michelle Gellings – VP of marketing and sales at Gellings Siding & Roofing – said weighing durability, cost and style is important.
In an effort to make these decisions easier for customers, Michelle – whose husband, Nick, serves as the company president and owner – said Gellings Siding & Roofing’s recently opened showroom at 2123 S. Business Drive in Sheboygan gives them a chance to see and handle samples in a relaxed, living room–style environment.
“It’s hard to picture how your whole roof, for example, would look from just that little sample, or how to picture your whole siding with these little samples,” she said. “So, we wanted to build something where people could come and see larger samples and get a bigger scope of it.”
More than a showroom
Michelle said the main showroom features samples from the various manufacturers Gellings works with, including four different window brands.
Visitors, she said, can open and close the window samples just as they would with actual installed windows.
The window displays showcase a range of options, Michelle said, including different colors, wood grains and painted finishes.
The showroom also features a wall displaying a variety of siding samples, Michelle said, where visitors can touch the samples to get a sense of their texture and durability.
Options, she said, include vinyl, composite, rustic cedar and engineered wood siding.
For vinyl siding, Michelle said customers can even take small samples home, similar to selecting paint swatches.
Gellings’ in-house showroom, she said, provides a neutral, public space where people can explore materials and discuss their projects without the pressure of having a salesperson come into their home.
“There’s a privacy thing these days that I think is important for people, especially if they’re leery about a stranger coming to their home,” she said.
Michelle said the public setting also reduces pressure, easing concerns for customers who might worry about a pushy salesperson insisting on a signed contract before leaving.
“By coming into the showroom and design center, there’s no pressure, and they can leave whenever they want, whether they’ve decided on having work done by us or not,” she said. “We’re about service, not high-pressure.”
Michelle said the showroom is designed so visitors can explore at their own pace, handling samples without feeling pressured while making important home improvement choices.
“These are big investments and decisions shouldn’t be made quickly,” she said. “When they’re here, [customers] don’t have to feel like they’re being pressured or are wasting anyone’s time. We’re here no matter what.”
One unique feature of the new showroom, Michelle said, is the customer design center.
Visitors, she said, can bring in a photo of their home and use a “visualizer” tool to experiment with different options, including doors, windows, siding, roofing, gutters, leaf protection, soffit and fascia.
“They can change things to different colors and so forth,” she said. “The imaging is so realistic – it’s not cartoony – so it really gives a really good feel of how it’s going to look, and a customer can make a much clearer decision. And people can use this feature whether they have us do work for them or not.”
All the materials and products in the showroom, Michelle said, come from manufacturers Gellings already approves and works with.
However, she said the company isn’t so brand-loyal that it would refuse a customer request to use a product from a different manufacturer.
“We pretty much will put on anything that people like and want,” she said, “but the ones we have chosen and are represented in our showroom are ones we feel are the best in the industry.”
Though Gellings doesn’t take kickbacks from manufacturers, Michelle said the company can provide clients with advantages like transferable warranties.
“For example, if you have a roof put on and six years later you decide you want to sell your house, in many cases the warranty doesn’t transfer to the new owner,” she said. “There are very few companies that do that. But through the companies we deal with, we do, and that can be a nice sales feature if selling your house.”
Master Elite status
Like many contractors, Michelle said Gellings uses GAF roofing materials, North America’s largest roofing manufacturer.
While it’s common for roofers to use GAF materials, she said very few achieve GAF Master Elite Certification.
With only 2% of roofers nationwide holding the title, Michelle said Gellings Siding & Roofing takes pride in being one of them.
Earning the distinction in 2024, she said, was the culmination of years of quality workmanship, in-depth knowledge of every aspect of roofing and exceptional customer service.
Michelle said the team takes pride in offering GAF products – not only for their quality but also for the manufacturer’s strong support, a rarity in the industry.
“Even if we shut our doors tomorrow and somebody had a 30- or 40-year warranty, for example, GAF will still back it,” she said. “Of the majority of the businesses out there, I don’t know of anyone else who does that.”
Trades need young talent
Michelle said the move from 900 to nearly 4,000 square feet has given Gellings room to expand offerings, including a large conference room and other spaces for educational training programs planned for spring.
One of the organizations they’re going to be partnering with, she said, is the GRIT Foundation, an organization led by industry experts across the country to help bridge the skills gap by introducing youth to the trades.
“Young people just aren’t entering the trades like they once did, so by doing this we’ll be able to get students in here to see the trade up close to see if they like it,” she said. “It’ll be mostly high school students, and it’ll be an all-day workshop where they’ll get some hands-on experience.”
Michelle said different stations will be set up to highlight areas such as siding, windows and roofing, giving students a chance to see the skills required for those jobs.
“That’s something we were never able to do before, because we just didn’t have the space necessary,” she said. “We’re really excited about doing this and any other STEM-type opportunity for kids that might be available.”
A company with heart
Ever since Gellings started in business 23 years ago, Michelle said the company regularly supports nonprofits and individuals in need, many of whom are recognized on a wall in their new location.
The company, she said, completes one major project each year based on need, along with numerous smaller jobs using leftover materials.
Last year, for example, Michelle said they installed a new roof for an elderly man entirely free of charge.
“There was a 90-year-old man who had a tree fall on his house, and the insurance company said they weren’t covering it because it should have been taken down – so, he was basically out of luck,” she said. “He wasn’t sure what he was going to do, so we just decided to do it for him.”
In other cases, Michelle said the company has used leftover materials from jobs to help people with smaller repairs.
“If we’d have left-over shingles from a job, or this or that, and we saw a need someone had, we’d just do those little jobs for people,” she said.
Michelle said there is a section on Gellings’ website (gellingsroofing.com) where people can apply for assistance, with recipients selected internally by the company.
“We look at everything in an application and make a decision in house for that one big project a year,” she said. “Then we do the little ones when we have leftover product. Doing those smaller jobs doesn’t cost us anything but the labor and allows us to give back to our community and help people. You never know how much a $400 repair can mean to somebody when it’s free.”
Michelle said Gellings Siding & Roofing also has a long history of partnering with nonprofits, including organizations like Habitat for Humanity.
“We also sponsor billboards for Freedom Cry – a human trafficking organization – and we help sponsor Roofers in Recovery, an organization for roofers combatting alcoholism,” she said. “There are a ton of different things we do to give back and show others we care about our community.”
Michelle said it’s important for people to see companies that are part of the community and here to stay, rather than ones that appear after storms and vanish soon after.
“They do the work, get their insurance money and are gone,” she said. “Unfortunately…, there’s no one to call to have them stand by the work if there’s a problem. But we’re visible, we’ve been here for 23 years, and we’re here for the long haul.”
