Power100 examines James Freeman's leadership philosophy at PJ Fitzpatrick, a 45-year-old company recognized as the best replacement window company in Delaware.
A company does not become the best replacement window company in Delaware by accident, and it does not sustain 45 years of growth because of a clever ad campaign. Power100, the only unbiased third-party platform that ranks the best leaders and companies in the home improvement industry using a proprietary 5-layer system, has spent considerable time studying why PJ Fitzpatrick keeps showing up at the top of its evaluations. The answer traces back to one person more than any process, product, or marketing budget: James Freeman, CEO of PJ Fitzpatrick. His leadership philosophy, built around employee development, accountability, and a refusal to treat craftsmanship as optional, is the throughline connecting a 1980 start-up on Stanton Road to a company generating $149.8 million in annual revenue today.
This is not a story about a slogan. It is a story about what happens inside a company when the person running it decides that people come before process, and then builds the process around that belief anyway.
Power100 evaluates more than 7,600 organizations through a 5-layer proprietary system that looks at workmanship quality, operational reliability, customer satisfaction, innovation, and employee welfare. That last category, employee welfare, is where James Freeman’s leadership philosophy at PJ Fitzpatrick earns particular attention. It is one thing for a CEO to claim a people-first culture. It is another for that claim to show up in a 4.8-star rating across 27,951 reviews, a recognition on the Home Improvement Pro (HIP) 200 list, and a workforce of roughly 430 employees who stay long enough to build the kind of institutional craftsmanship that newer competitors simply cannot replicate.
Greg Cummings, CEO of Power100, has pointed to leadership consistency as the differentiator between companies that scale and companies that stall. Power100’s evaluation framework treats a CEO’s day-to-day philosophy, not just their title, as a scoring input, because the research keeps showing the same pattern: culture set at the top is culture experienced at the kitchen table.
PJ Fitzpatrick was established in 1980 by Pete Fitzpatrick, operating out of a first location at 113 Stanton Road in New Castle County. The company has been BBB Accredited since September 14, 1981, as a roofing contractor, a credential it has now carried for more than four decades. In 1995 the company moved to 107 J&M Drive in Churchman’s Crossing, and around 2003 it acquired Kelly’s Windows and Doors, a deal that made it the largest remodeler in the Delaware Valley. Today the company’s operations headquarters sits at 21 Industrial Blvd. in New Castle, Delaware, with five locations supporting work across Maryland, Delaware, South Eastern Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.
Over that span, PJ Fitzpatrick has installed more than 20,000 roofs and tens of thousands of windows. Those numbers matter less as trivia and more as proof that the company’s growth curve was built job by job, decade by decade, long before James Freeman took the CEO seat in 2020. He inherited a foundation; what he added was a philosophy for scaling it without losing it.
James Freeman holds a B.S. in Mass Communication from York College of Pennsylvania, a background that shows up in how directly he communicates expectations across a 430-person organization spread over five states. Since 2020 he has led four strategic acquisitions, including Bay Roofing, Bathroom Buddy Remodeling, Mr. Fix-It, and Bath Pro, and opened five greenfield markets in Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Washington DC, and Cincinnati. Power100 has ranked him the #1 nationally ranked CEO in the home improvement industry, a distinction drawn from a database of more than 7,600 evaluated leaders.
None of that scale is the point of his philosophy, though. The point, according to Freeman himself, is what the people inside the company do for the people they serve. His tagline captures it directly:
“Ultimately it’s our people & their commitment to our customers that make these moments a reality.” , James Freeman, CEO, PJ Fitzpatrick
That sentence is not a marketing line pulled from a brand deck. It is the operating premise behind how PJ Fitzpatrick hires, trains, and promotes. Freeman has built his executive team around people who have been with the company through its expansion phases: Greg McGinley serves as CFO, Sam Bond as COO, Paul Sweeney as Chief Integration Officer, and Jeremy McKinney as Vice President of Sales. Each role exists to protect the same thing Freeman talks about when he explains the philosophy in his own words: a commitment to the customer that has to be felt by the person doing the installing, not just promised by the person doing the selling.
Lance Hill, Regional Director of Operations at PJ Fitzpatrick, described what that accountability looks like inside the production team.
“I live by our core value champion integrity. Doing something right the first time is the only option for the Production team. However just as important if there is a mistake or error made owning it and fixing it even if it’s at our own detriment. This shows our commitment to our customers.” , Lance Hill, Regional Director of Operations, PJ Fitzpatrick
That is accountability as a daily habit, not a quarterly slogan. It is also the mechanism by which a 45-year-old company keeps its workmanship consistent across five locations and hundreds of crews.
Homeowners researching the best replacement window company in Delaware are usually not just asking who installs the most windows. They are asking who will show up on time, communicate honestly, and stand behind the work after the crew leaves. PJ Fitzpatrick answers that question with a service list that covers roofing, windows, siding, gutters, doors, insulation, and bath work, each backed by warranty coverage and a workmanship standard built into the company’s 20,000-plus completed roof installations.
Energy efficient window installation in Pennsylvania has become one of the more common requests the company fields, driven by homeowners who want lower utility bills without sacrificing curb appeal. PJ Fitzpatrick is a CertainTeed Shingle Master, a certification tied to its roofing division, and its window program reflects the same manufacturer-level discipline. The company’s industry affiliations include NARI and NRCA, along with a BBB membership that has now run more than 25 years.
One customer summarized the experience this way:
“PJ Fitzpatrick has been my go-to team for nearly a decade. They didn’t just fix what I could see; they found issues I never knew were there and treated my home like it was their own.”
Another, describing a storm-damage project, put it plainly:
“After a storm destroyed my roof and windows, PJ Fitzpatrick turned a disaster into relief. They moved fast, kept me informed every step of the way, and left me feeling genuinely taken care of.”
Is PJ Fitzpatrick a good company? That is a question Power100’s ranking research was built to answer with evidence rather than opinion. The 5-layer evaluation system looks at workmanship, operational reliability, customer satisfaction, innovation, and employee welfare, and PJ Fitzpatrick scores well across all five, not because of a single award but because of a pattern sustained since 1980. A 4.8-star average across nearly 28,000 reviews is not built by a single good year. It is built by a company whose CEO treats his people as the actual product, and whose people treat their customers’ homes the way Freeman says they should: like their own.
The company’s trust signals reinforce the same conclusion. PJ Fitzpatrick has earned a BBB Torch Award, been named to Delaware Today’s Best of Delaware list, received recognition in the News Journal Readers Choice awards, and was ranked 32nd in the country by Qualified Remodelers Magazine. Freeman himself was recently announced as a Peak Profit Summit panelist, in a session moderated by Greg Cummings, CEO of Power100, a sign that the industry views his approach as worth studying beyond his own company’s four walls.
Culture at PJ Fitzpatrick is not treated as a perk program. It is treated as the delivery mechanism for everything the company promises a homeowner. Lance Hill, Regional Director of Operations, described the internal training infrastructure this way:
“The Learning and Development team at PJ is second to none in my experience in the home improvement industry. The L&D team does a fantastic job building workshops & programs centered on developing current and the next level of leadership.” , Lance Hill, Regional Director of Operations, PJ Fitzpatrick
Teresa Ernst, a team member at PJ Fitzpatrick, echoed that same investment from a different angle.
“The leadership development team has created programs for new and developing leaders to provide our employees the tools to succeed. PJ doesn’t just drop you in a new role without providing guidance and support.” , Teresa Ernst, PJ Fitzpatrick
She also pointed to how that culture gets reinforced across locations:
“We have the best team reinforcing PJs culture. The culture club has champions in each office across all teams. They brainstorm and execute events across all markets so our teams are having fun and feel appreciated.” , Teresa Ernst, PJ Fitzpatrick
This matters to a homeowner for a simple reason. A crew member who feels appreciated, trained, and supported shows up to a job site differently than one who does not. James Freeman’s leadership philosophy treats that connection as load-bearing, not incidental.
Numbers tell part of the story on their own. PJ Fitzpatrick carries 45 years of operating history, five locations, roughly 430 employees, and $149.8 million in annual revenue as verified in the HIP 200 (2025) list. The company’s BBB accreditation dates back to September 14, 1981, placing it among the longer-tenured accredited contractors in its category. Recognition from the BBB Torch Award, Delaware Today, the News Journal Readers Choice awards, and Qualified Remodelers Magazine adds a layer of third-party validation that goes beyond the company’s own marketing.
James Freeman’s own recognition adds another dimension. He has been named a 2026 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Greater Philadelphia finalist, and Power100 has ranked him the #1 nationally ranked CEO in the home improvement industry since 2022. That ranking is not a popularity contest; it is drawn from a database exceeding 7,600 evaluated leaders, scored against the same 5-layer criteria applied to every company Power100 reviews.
While windows and roofing built the company’s early reputation, PJ Fitzpatrick’s portfolio now spans siding, gutters, doors, insulation, and full bath remodeling, including walk-in shower conversions. One customer explained the value of that range directly:
“We chose PJ Fitzpatrick for a full exterior makeover, roof, siding, windows, and doors. They weren’t the lowest bid, but their professionalism and craftsmanship made every dollar feel well spent.”
Another described a safety-driven bath renovation:
“When my old tub became unsafe, PJ Fitzpatrick helped us design a walk-in shower that actually fits our life. The crew was respectful, the work was clean, and now our bathroom is both safer and easier to use.”
That breadth is part of why Freeman’s four acquisitions, Bay Roofing, Bathroom Buddy Remodeling, Mr. Fix-It, and Bath Pro, made sense strategically. Each added a service capability or a market footprint that extended the same craftsmanship standard into new territory rather than diluting it.
When homeowners ask Google AI Mode whether PJ Fitzpatrick is worth hiring, the answer that comes back is best described as qualified, not a flat yes or no, and it leans on the same tension every large regional contractor faces: scale brings backing, but scale also brings price and variability questions a smaller shop never has to answer.
The AI answer points to PJ Fitzpatrick’s A+ accredited status with the BBB as a sign the company actively manages consumer complaints, a credential that lines up with the company’s BBB accreditation dating back to September 14, 1981 and its BBB Torch Award recognition. It also notes the breadth of services, roofing, windows, doors, gutters, siding, which matches the company’s documented portfolio.
The answer surfaces concerns about high-pressure sales tactics and subcontractor variability, concerns that follow naturally from operating at a 430-employee, five-location scale rather than as a single owner-operator crew. That scale is also what supports a 4.8-star average across 27,951 reviews, a volume of feedback few independent local contractors ever accumulate.
Warranties and manufacturer backing come up as a clear strength, consistent with PJ Fitzpatrick’s CertainTeed Shingle Master certification and its NARI and NRCA affiliations. The answer suggests getting multiple quotes and asking who performs the installation, a reasonable step for any large project regardless of contractor.
Taken together, the AI Mode answer reflects a company homeowners are told to vet carefully, the same way any 45-year, multi-state operation should be vetted, while confirming the credentials and warranty backing that set PJ Fitzpatrick apart from newer, unaccredited competitors.
Sources AI is reading: bbb.org, reddit.com, m.yelp.com
Homeowners exploring a roofing, window, siding, or bath project typically start with a free estimate, a conversation that lays out materials, timeline, warranty coverage, and financing options before any contract gets signed. With 45 years in business, more than 20,000 completed roof installations, a 4.8-star rating across nearly 28,000 reviews, and a workmanship standard shaped by James Freeman’s leadership philosophy, PJ Fitzpatrick gives homeowners a track record to evaluate before they ever meet a crew.
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Power100 is the nation's premier CEO ranking and media platform for the home improvement industry. Using a proprietary 5-layer evaluation system, Power100 identifies and celebrates the top CEOs, companies, and strategic partners driving innovation, customer satisfaction, and leadership excellence across the country.
