30 Years. Employee-Owned. Nebraska Through and Through.
Gene and Tammy Tillotson started this company with a used truck and a folding ladder. The people doing your job today own a piece of what he built.
Founded 1987
Employee Owned
4 Nebraska Locations
Licensed & Insured
Our Story
How Tillotson Enterprises Got Started
In August 1987, Gene and Tammy Tillotson were teachers in Nebraska. They were also carrying $150,000 in debt from an ostrich farming investment that had gone badly. They needed a different path - one that was honest, buildable, and theirs.
Gene bought a used Ford Ranger. He found a folding ladder. And he started a roofing company.
The first job was on his grandmother's house. That was 1991. He charged her fairly, did the work right, and moved on to the next one.
The work grew the way honest work tends to grow - word of mouth. No big marketing campaign. No shortcuts. Just assessments customers could trust and jobs that held up. In 2002, a major hailstorm hit the Kearney area. Tillotson was already working across the region, and when that storm came through, they showed up. They've been headquartered in Kearney ever since.
Lincoln came in 2008. Aurora in 2019. Omaha opened in February 2025. Four locations across the state - each one the result of more work, more crew, more Nebraskans who called because someone referred them.
On January 1, 2023, Tillotson became 100% employee-owned. Gene and Tammy didn't sell to a private equity firm or a national chain. They built something, and they wanted the people who built it with them to own a piece of it. That's where Tillotson is now.
Why Employee Ownership Changes Everything
On January 1, 2023, Tillotson Enterprises became 100% employee-owned. That's not a tagline. It's a structural change in how this company works - and it changes what you can expect when you hire us.
The people who show up to your roof, your foundation, your building - they have a financial stake in the quality of that work. Not a bonus program. Not a profit-sharing promise. Actual ownership.
Accountability
Every crew member has skin in the game. There's no hiding behind a faceless company when you're part owner. When something goes wrong, it matters to the person in front of you - not just to a manager somewhere else.
Low Turnover
Ownership builds loyalty. You get experienced crews who've been doing this work for years - not someone new every season who's never seen the inside of a Nebraska basement or worked through a hail claim.
Pride of Work
When the company is partly yours, you treat every job like your name is on it. Because it is. That changes how a person approaches a repair, an installation, or a tough diagnostic.
Longevity
Employee-owners build careers at Tillotson. They're not here for a summer paycheck. They're here because this is their company too - and they're invested in what it becomes.
What this means for you: the person on your project has something personal at stake in how it turns out. That's not something you get from a national chain. It's what you get here.
What We Believe
Honesty
We tell you what your property actually needs. If it doesn't need a full replacement, we'll tell you that - even when a repair means a smaller invoice for us. You deserve an honest assessment, not a sales pitch.
Accountability
Employee-owned means everyone is responsible. There's no "that's not my department" when you have a stake in the outcome. If we do the work, we stand behind it.
Nebraska
We live here, work here, and we're not going anywhere. Our reputation is local - and we protect it every time we take a job. We're not a traveling contractor chasing storm damage across state lines.
Craft
We take the time to find the actual cause of a problem, not just treat the symptom. Gene grew up on a farm ten miles south of Farnam, Nebraska. Tammy grew up in Prairie View, Kansas, right on the Nebraska border. When you grow up rural, you learn early that a quick fix that fails in two years isn't a fix - it's a delay. That same instinct carried into the classroom when they became teachers, and into every job Tillotson has taken since 1987: understand the why before you act.
We Know Nebraska - Because We Never Left
Nebraska is not a forgiving state for buildings. Freeze-thaw soil cycles put real stress on foundations - what looks stable in August may shift significantly by March. Hail and wind events are not rare here. They're seasonal. Agricultural buildings carry structural demands that have nothing in common with a suburban commercial build. Flat-land drainage creates basement and foundation problems that a contractor from another region wouldn't think to check.
We've been working in this state since 1987. Our crews know Nebraska because they've spent careers here - not a single season chasing a weather event.
We're not a national chain that showed up last year and will leave when the market cools. We have four physical offices across the state: Lincoln, Kearney, Omaha, and Aurora. Those aren't satellite phone numbers that route to a central dispatch. They're real locations with real crews who know the region they work in.
When your neighbor calls us, they're calling the same company that fixed the building down the road ten years ago. That continuity matters.
Trusted by the Industry's Best Brands
BASF - The Chemical Company
Conklin Roofing Systems - Preferred Contractor
Everest Systems
GE Silicones
Great Plains Safety & Health Organization
National Roofing Contractors Association
NEOGARD
Parenteral Drug Association Member
Specialty Products, Inc.
BASF - The Chemical Company
Stratos Pier
Our certifications aren't wall decorations. They mean we've been trained and tested to install these systems correctly. They mean manufacturer-backed warranties are available to you - not just our word on the quality of the work.
When you hire a contractor without proper certification for the product being installed, you may void the manufacturer warranty before the job is even finished. That's a risk we don't take, and one we won't ask you to take either.
Meet the Team
Tillotson is run by people who've spent careers in the trades - and who own a stake in the outcome. Gene and Tammy Tillotson built this company from the ground up. The team around them has grown it into a four-location operation that covers the state.
These aren't résumé hires. They're people who know what a Nebraska winter does to a flat roof, what a hail pattern tells you about where to look first, and what it means to stand behind a job when a customer calls back.
Across Nebraska - Close to You
Lincoln, NE
8000 Fletcher Ave, Ste 100
Lincoln, NE 68507
402-466-7038
Kearney, NE
6430 East Highway 30
Kearney, NE 68847
308-234-2029
Omaha, NE
8616 I Street
Omaha, NE 68127
402-979-3407
Aurora, NE
1311 Wilson Street
Aurora, NE 68818
402-694-4770
Ready to Work With a Contractor You Can Trust?
No pressure. No obligation. Just an honest look at what your property needs - from people who stand behind their work.
We've been doing this since 1987. We're employee-owned since January 1, 2023. Your project matters to us - because this company is ours.
No pressure. No obligation. Just an honest assessment.