Ross-shire roofer on a high as head-turning designs create worldwide following
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A ROSS-SHIRE craftsman helping revolutionise roofing is on a high after creating a niche which has seen him acclaimed around the world.
Gary McIntyre (41) moved to from Clydebank to Dingwall 13 years ago where he started working for Macleod Roofing.
Keen to add a personal touch, he came up with the idea of embedding a stag into the roof of one property he was working on and never looked back.
He said: “Just before Covid in 2019 I was working on a property which was a shooting estate. I approached the manager with the idea of embedding a stag into the roof, but unfortunately it was a listed building so I couldn’t do it. Around the same time I was doing a job for a friend, and I told him about the idea and he let me do it, so that's how I started off.
“He and his wife were over the moon with it. So they asked me to come up with the idea for a salmon. I got my drawing pad out and that’s how I came up with the idea for An Afternoon's Fishing, with a salmon and a fisherman."
The design, completed in 2021, won an accolade at 2022's UK Pitched Roofing Awards.
Working on designs in his free time with the help of his colleague Adam Schuerman, he has come up with several designs – among them a bat on a house in Balblair (in which bats had nested in the attic) and one on Telford Road in Inverness inspired by Banksy's Girl With Balloon.
“It kind of snowballed from there," he said. “The online attention that I get from them is brilliant. I have now become a bit of a celebrity in the roofing word online! A lot of people that are interested in having works of art on their roofs are now getting in touch. I have started a bit of a revolution within the UK roofing industry for roofers trying to do artwork."
He said: “The only country in the world that does ornamental slating courses is Germany, they have a very prestigious courses. When I did the lead stag, the director of the Masters School of Slating in Cologne contacted me saying that I could skip the queue – which has a waiting list of five years – to join their courses."
“I am so passionate about my work,” he said. “When you go into work, you you kind of fumble out the door un the morning – but when I have to work on my designs, I run out of the door!”
He now runs his own business but acknowledges a debt of gratitude to Sandy Macleod.
He said: "He put me through so many different courses, from forklift to scaffolding, he invested a lot of time and money in me, so I am eternally grateful for the opportunities they gave me."
The future looks bright with more project requests coming in. He aims to recreate the Fyrish Monument on an Evanton rooftop this summer.
“I am really excited to work on new designs,” he said. “So far I have been doing mostly animals but I would like to experiment also with trees and foliage as well as birds."
Asked about passing on his trade and become a teacher in the future, he said: “I am only 41 now, I still have plenty of gas in the tank!”
