Minnesota roofing company stability just became a headline issue after a major Twin Cities private-equity-backed contractor shut down overnight, leaving homeowners across the Metro scrambling. When companies owned by distant investment firms fold under financial pressure, customers end up with half-finished projects, lost deposits, and zero answers. This blog breaks down what happened, why it keeps happening, and why locally owned contractors—who aren’t propped up by Wall Street debt—remain the most reliable option when your home actually needs work.
Recently, homeowners in Rochester, Byron and surrounding towns watched as Twin Cities company, Minnesota Rusco, a 70-year-old home improvement legend, disappeared in a single news cycle – consumed in a private equity bankruptcy. Generations of Minnesotans could sing along to their jingle, and the company was a long time sponsor of the Minnesota State Fair and other community activities.
But nostalgia doesn’t protect a company from debt structures built far away from the homes they serve. And as Minnesota Rusco vanished overnight, one thing became painfully clear: in this industry, stability isn’t a luxury. It’s the whole job.
The engine behind that collapse was Renovo Home Partners, a national roll-up created and funded by private equity, whose entire business model depended on rapid acquisitions and heavy borrowing. When Renovo filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, everything inside the structure went down with it—including Minnesota Rusco. As Roofing Contractor reported in detail, Renovo’s debt-driven expansion simply couldn’t survive rising interest rates, higher operating costs, and the realities of a craft-based industry that doesn’t scale like a software startup.
What happened next was exactly what happens when any highly leveraged national platform hits financial turbulence: the shutdown was fast, the communication was nonexistent, and the people closest to the actual work—homeowners, installers, sales teams, support staff—absorbed the entire shock. No amount of legacy branding, familiar jingles, or decades of presence at the State Fair could insulate Rusco from structural decisions being made far away from Minnesota.
And that’s the quiet truth in all of this: the issue wasn’t “private equity” as a concept. The issue was misalignment—between national financial strategy and the day-to-day realities of home improvement. In roofing, siding, windows, and exterior trades, stability doesn’t come from scale; it comes from stewardship.
Once the news broke, the immediate question for homeowners was simple: Who’s finishing my project?
The second question: Who’s honoring my deposit?
And to their credit, several locally owned Minnesota companies—particularly those closer to the Twin Cities—stepped up immediately. They opened their phone lines, fielded job applications from displaced Rusco staff, and looked for ways to help homeowners caught in the middle. That response wasn’t coordinated or corporate. It was simply local contractors doing what local contractors do: taking responsibility for their communities.
At All Craft, we admire that. It’s exactly the kind of leadership that keeps Minnesota’s home-improvement industry grounded in real relationships rather than distant corporate structures. These companies didn’t wait for permission; they just acted, because customers needed help and the work needed to be completed.
And that distinction—local ownership driving local action—is what brings the conversation naturally back to why companies like All Craft matter in moments like this.
For All Craft Exteriors and many long-standing contractors across the state, the Rusco collapse served less as a shock and more as a reminder of why our industry has traditionally been built at the local level. Home-improvement companies deeply rooted in their communities don’t vanish overnight. They don’t lock the doors and disappear behind a bankruptcy filing. They stay, even when things get messy.
All Craft’s model is built on exactly that kind of stability:
Locally founded and locally owned
Crews who live and work in the same communities as our customers
Lifetime labor warranties backed by people who plan to be here long-term
In-house quality control – even when municipalities don’t require it
No parent company, no distant boardroom, no acquisition rollercoaster
Local companies in Rusco’s territory stepped forward to support homeowners because the responsibility landed close to home. It’s a reminder that, big or small, a company’s values – not its size – are what truly matter.
Perfection is great, but more than that, Minnesotans value consistency, craftsmanship, and someone who stands by their word. The collapse of Rusco shows how fragile distant ownership can be, but it also showed the strength of companies that grow with their communities, not out of them. At All Craft Exteriors, that connection is at the core of how we work. Our commitment is to be here for our customers, our team, and our communities long after the storms (literal or metaphorical) have passed.
If All Craft Exteriors can help you with windows, siding, roofing or gutters… please give us a call.
