JB WHOLESALE - SANTA BARBARA

Keith Jones founded JB Wholesale Roofing & Building Supplies Inc. (JBW) in 1979 in Chatsworth, Calif., located approximately 25 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. After working for several years with suppliers who did not understand the needs of their customers, Jones was determined to build a business based on relationships. Without any startup money, he began making transactions guaranteed with a handshake – the same philosophy that guides the company today.

Over the years, and even through major corporate consolidation within the roofing distribution industry, JB Wholesale remains an Independently Owned and Family managed, customer-focused business, competing with national suppliers throughout Southern California.

Jones is a natural hard worker and was an ironworker before being drafted. He served in Vietnam and was awarded a Purple Heart for wounds he received in an explosion. “When I came back, I needed to do something to get my right arm working again,” he explains. ”I started shingling and kept going along for a few years before joining up with a different distributing company. I founded my own a few years later because I knew I could better serve roofers.”