How Rachelle Starr Built Trinity Commercial Roofing From the Ground Up
By Janice Mullaney, Director of Operations, Trinity Commercial Roofing
When most people look up at the roofline of a school, a historic landmark, or a gleaming commercial building, they see architecture. Rachelle Starr sees a promise kept.
As the owner of Trinity Commercial Roofing, Starr has spent more than a decade building and leading a women-owned, women-operated commercial roofing company in one of the most male-dominated industries in the country. But to understand what Trinity really is, you have to go back to the beginning to a thirteen-year-old girl in Colorado who decided, quietly and without fanfare, that she was going to figure it out.
Forged in Colorado
Rachelle Starr is a Colorado native in every sense of the phrase, rooted here, shaped here, built here.
At thirteen, faced with circumstances that would have broken most adults, Rachelle made a decision that would define the rest of her life. She left middle school so she could support herself and her younger brother, simply so he could stay in school. While other kids her age worried about homework and weekend plans, Rachelle was learning how to support a household,picking up trade after trade, through hard work, observation, and the kind of hands-on education no diploma can fully capture.
What she learned wasn’t just how to work with her hands. She learned how to solve problems under pressure, earn trust from people who had every reason to doubt her, and manage herself with no safety net and no one telling her what came next. That foundation, laid in hardship before most people have their first job, became the bedrock of everything that followed. The guidance of people who believed in her along the way helped shape the leader she would become.
[Quote from Rachelle]
A Different Kind of Contractor
Today, Rachelle Starr is a mother of two and the owner of Trinity Commercial Roofing, a company she built from the ground up with the same grit and tenacity that carried her through her earliest years.
Trinity’s portfolio spans the full commercial spectrum: retail centers, office complexes, mixed-use developments, historic preservation sites, schools, and even airplane hangars. In a trade where women make up less than four percent of the skilled workforce, leading that kind of company is more than a distinction for Rachelle, it’s a mission.
Trinity earned its reputation project by project, for clients who quickly learned that the best crew for the job happened to be led by a woman. That technical excellence is perhaps best illustrated by a distinction no other Denver roofing company can claim. Trinity is the only Colorado based certified installer of WindSmart engineered wind-vented roofing systems in the city. These systems use the force of wind to create negative pressure, ensuring tight membrane adherence without harsh bonding adhesives dramatically reducing tear-off costs and delivering one of the lowest life-cycle costs of any commercial roof available.
“WindSmart engineered roofing systems provide a cost-effective alternative to roof replacement for clients, allowing us to provide a full range of options from roof coatings to entire system replacement that we can tailor to fit any budget.” John Repede, Director of Production / Lead Estimator
The Team Behind the Roof
Rachelle will be the first to tell you that Trinity’s success is not hers alone. One of the most important lessons her journey taught her is that who you surround yourself with determines everything. High standards mean nothing without a team that shares them. And at Trinity, that alignment runs deep.
From the crew on the job site to the estimators, project managers, and sales representatives, everyone at Trinity operates from the same set of values: precision, integrity, accountability, and genuine care for the client and the community. It is not something Rachelle posts on a wall. It is something she hires for, nurtures, and leads by example every single day.
That shared culture is what allows Trinity to take on the complexity of a historic restoration one week and the scale of a commercial warehouse the next, without missing a beat. When the hearts and the work ethic align, the results speak for themselves.
Community at the Core
Ask Rachelle what drives her beyond the business, and she doesn’t hesitate. Her life story, the sacrifice, the struggle, the self-reliance born of necessity gave her a profound sensitivity to people fighting to find their footing. That’s not a coincidence. It’s a calling.
Her heart belongs first to The FullCircle Program (fullcircleprogram.com) a no-cost recovery organization serving teens, young adults, and their families through the hardest chapters of their lives. For a woman who had to grow up too fast, supporting a program that refuses to let young people face their darkest moments alone is deeply personal.
Trinity has also brought its craft to bear for Happy Crew and their Happy Crew Coffee House in Lone Tree (happycrewcoffeehouse.com) a nonprofit dedicated to teen mental health and suicide prevention where every cup of coffee funds youth programs. When Happy Crew needed a rooftop deck for their coffeehouse, the elevated space where teens now gather and are reminded they matter, Trinity showed up with support and materials to make it real.
Rachelle also serves on the board of Re-Fined (re-fined.org), a Colorado nonprofit committed to protecting and restoring individuals out of sex trafficking and exploitation, walking survivors from crisis all the way through to healing. For a woman who knows what it is to be young, alone, and without a guide, this commitment runs bone deep.
And the Trinity team brings that same presence to Denver Children’s Home (denverchildrenshome.org) one of Colorado’s oldest institutions for vulnerable youth showing up not just with resources, but with their time and their hearts. When you know what it means to have no one show up for you, you understand exactly how much it means when someone does.
Built to Last
She carried her brother. She sought the right mentors that taught her the trades. She built a company. She raised a family. That kind of life doesn’t make you tired. It makes you purposeful.
Rachelle Starr stands as proof of something this industry and this community needs to hear: that the best person for the job might be the one who had every reason to give up and chose not to.
In a field defined by what you build and how long it lasts, Trinity Commercial Roofing and the woman who built it is built to last.
Trinity Commercial Roofing is a women-owned, led, and operated commercial roofing company serving Colorado and beyond. To learn more or request a consultation, visit www.thetrinityway.com or contact 720.648.7663
